Leap Day

Like a jar of pennies,
leap day saves seconds we have left every day
so the humans have a neat tidy calendar
except every 4th solar calendar February.

monk ton news flash...
$1.442 million to teach 160 kids in our little town.
sorry, was a little shocked when fred read me the town report
(civics lesson:our VT property taxes pay for this)

In my 30 something year experience living in Vermont,
Normally (ok, my normally) Leap Day in Vermont
has been frigid, miserable, a cold stinging slap in the face
adding another day to a long and difficult winter.

2012 Leap Day
is milder than normal,
an open winter,
more snow south of here
thankfully
Great Ski-conditions w/the snow heavy up in the mountains.

Posting on the fly,
gotta get to work.
Happy Leap Day.

Gems in the Day

Sunday, I got lost in the world of preparing for taxes,

a whole afternoon gone,

fortunately cold and windy, sunny late February,

I threw open the curtains for some radiant heat

and sat there, filing papers,

punching you tube,

surfing the videos of musicians here and some are gone.

So I meandered to the Grateful Dead after seeing Bobby Weir's video with Levon et al.

Hmm, where first?

I had not searched before for the Dead and held my old memories,

the 1970's.

My number one favorite song is Box of Rain

So I heard it once and again.

Then Youtube teases you with ideas.

I saw the band interviewed about American Beauty,

my number one favorite album.

It was as special as the song and with a new layer of understanding.

I skipped around more, Etta James, Janis Joplin, The Carter family.

They all went well with organizing for yearly US and state taxes,

(where is my tea?) rote organization of meaningless paper

and I thought computers was supposed to get rid of all this?

My computer is unable to sort my papers, or tell me what is important, what is missing?

Still it is the conduit for the gems in the day like Box of Rain and Phil Lesh paying tribute to his father

with his memories that led to this perfect song.

They lead to memories of concerts past, lost friends,

The taxes, a burdensome ache,

softer with some decent music.

Flea Away, Flea Away...

This year, without frigid temperatures,
a few hardy fleas are still hanging on.
We have been trying to limit the toxic chemistry for ourselves, cats and any one else.
We did sprinkle Borax on the rug and let sit a few hours and vacuum.
Have been vacuming more.
And still needed more...
I looked for a flea trap and expected to pay a lot.
Then I discovered
a link to the best anti flea video:

http://video.about.com/cats/Make-a-Homemade-Flea-Trap.htm

We caught about 20 fleas over 5 days and now see none.
So it is a trap and a monitor.
The water evaporates quickly in our dry air.
We just added some more water.

Thanks to whoever thought this up-safe, non toxic, effective.
Happy Monday!

Interview with a Clone Chapter 4

Dr. Susan Wolf stood in front of the crowded U.N. meeting room, people standing in the aisles, crammed together

like no other meeting in recent history.

People were excited to see the “Girl Wonder” who had perfected animal cloning

By the age of 27 and stood in front of a worldwide audience of leaders and said

“Good Morning” in 87 different languages fluently.

Photos of her flying, sailing, skiing, gardening flashed overhead in a

Multimedia video produce by her friend Georgia who sat in the audience.

Georgia watched and was silently critical of her timing on the video, never satisfied and pushed for time,

She would edit it tonight for the next dog and pony show.

Georgia, Susan’s friend, confidante, and now agent, in this cut throat world

Where success often brings demons and dragons in equal proportions.

“Take the bad with the good,” Georgia’s mother used to say.



Dr. Wolf recited the “Good Mornings” and scanned the room relaxed

yet totally alert and engaged. She had a talent for detailed scanning if you will,

Reading the crowd, engaging those who like eye contact, respecting, turning away when needed, a natural Intuitive. She felt it was her sense of smell, observation, memory,

Her sense of nature’s order.



The last photo,

A Monkey,

Corky.

Dr Wolf paused after the 87th greeting.

The music, once inspiring, stopped.

The murmuring from the naturally rude people

Stopped.



“Corky, my friends, is a clone.”

Then the video, Corky in Susan’s arms, affectionate, kissing

And loving Susan, and Susan loving back.

The audience was there,

Susan was cheered for 5 minutes straight while the video rolled of

The sweet Rhesus monkey and his

Adoptive mother, Dr. Susan Wolf playing, interacting.

Georgia closed her eyes, sighed and smiled a little. This moment was 95% of the battle for funding, buy in, distribution, the global market.



Finally the applause died down.

Susan began, “I understand language…applause….

And I understand Genetics….applause…as a photo of Corky, the captivating monkey

Stood 2 stories tall, inspirational music blaring, infusing the entire room into

Collective bliss.

Language and genetics are connected, similar, complicated, necessary, and

I understand them….applause.

And I know the future of sustainable living on the Earth and other planets like Mars or the Moon, and it was said it



Could never be done.

And I am here to say,

That

Corky here

(point to the screen…applause…no interpretation needed,

Just Corky’s charming sweet smile)….applause



Corky is the future of our success at space travel

And colonization….applause………..



Gigi Fairweather stood crammed next to the bathroom door listening.

She was a little jealous of her beautiful talented now famous roommate

In Air Force training and college. Still she loved Susan dearly and deep down

Wanted a piece of the action. That moment Gigi vowed to be the first

Captain to Mars and would be part of the first settlers, the first colony,

And she and Susan would do it together.

Hey Another Saturday Night 2

Hey Another Saturday Night,
must be a Ramble
goin on

We have been fortunate to see Levon helm et al a number of times.
I saw the Dead in the late 70's

my dead ticket stubs are somewhere distant,
save them for another post.
here are a few more recent Band & Levon Helm Band concerts we have been to

So incredible.

Today this youtube gift link appeared,

enjoy this link to great music & synergy

Monkton Chronicles election 2.23.12

Monkton Chronicles

election results

Thursday 2.23.12 Vote

(that's a weird day)

on the

Unified Planning Document

(huh?)

Unofficial results from phone call

passed 130-128

(not on the website?)
(what is all the fuss about?)

monktonvt.com

check out unified planning document & minutes from 1.26.12 selectboard mtg

The election results should be contested
and hopefully one of the 128 will protest,
or maybe one of the 90%
who did not vote will protest? (if they did not know)

Either way, I am limited in my ability to fight.
I am not, however, limited so far in my freedom to speak
in my blogosphere.
Hope this will serve as historic record of
a vote
where property owners lost something
and not quite sure what it is yet.
When you read the UPD, the unified planning document
and then you look out the window at monkton,
a rural town of less than 2000 people,

you wonder why we need all these additonal restrictions
on our property.
You wonder who profits from these rules,
who benefits,
who pays.
There is too much fine line, ink and lawyering behind many rules
like gravel extraction.
rocks is about all we have left,
they want to take that away too.
I hope for skeptics to come forward
and stand up
against the strange tactics that got me out to vote on a Thursday,
no crowds, no waiting, parked right in front
one of the 128.

mary gerdt all rights reserved.
the feelings expressed herein are my own,
i am a person,
a woman,
a voter,
not a household couch
(this refers to we got a courtesy postcard re the vote last saturday
before the vote addressed
to my husband only. I asked about this and was told
it was a courtesy and only went to households.--is that like corporations are people? I want my name, the wo-man voter in the house also on the postcard. mary)

Friday Music link

Thanks to Herrad across the pond who shared this gem of a
link to
the Kinks
happy friday!

Battle & Reflection

Battle & Reflection



tommy & me
reflections



it is a strange little shadow box

with a mirror back,

found @ a rummage sale

& I in put little special stones,

one 82 cal lead slug

&

Florence Nightingale's quote,

"I think one's feelings are wasted in words,

they should all be distilled into actions

which bring results."

Not that I totally agree with that which was

the reason for the dinosaurs, 'gators,

rocks & the elephant gun slug

we bought in Chambersburg,PA

(& why I am a nurse blogger, not a war nurse)

Florence was a nurse in the Crimean War

which gives a layer of meaning to her quote.

She started forensic nursing then, lending

sensibility, order & science to abhorrent conditions.

In our daily battles,

 when dodging monsters,

sticks & stones,

we are grateful

& there is no doubt we are guided by

Guardians Angels

obvious after some time

&

 further reflections on the battle.

Asterisks

somehow i found the patience

to calmly explain to annie

that i was not implicating her in

my frustration

with the

confusing

medication copay assistance program glossy paper

and still i told her that

i had to express it was wrong

of me to have to pay $250 for 1 month

when they said i only had to pay $35,

it was

that

asterisk,

you know,

*

* <---there

do you see it now?

i told annie that when they put an asterisk,

perhaps they should write,

in your case,

$35 is $250...

i told annie, it is not right not to explain exactly what i owed

and she said they changed the rule yesterday

and now 35 is 35

and not 250

and she was sorry,

it does not count for me

for last week

but it would from now on.

i explained to annie,

that if i was not a neuro nurse with 4 years of taking copaxone

experimentally

(now suddenly happy for 4 years w/no copays, no insurance claims)

so i could see how well it made me

then when i had to deal with a 250$ a month copay,

i would probably say bag the whole mess,

especially after I got a bill for $750 for 30 days

(my 20% copay),

but they said do not worry,

and

and i thanked annie

and for her mental health i terminated the phone call amicably.

then wondered how i ever could capture my emotion

to put on my blog and i find

myself a little

sprachlos,

except what i could squeeze out above,

it does not capture my total feeling

of being a cog,

and suffering the inability to control

this pharma-machine

i read my fellow bloggers w/ms

and what crap we all have to deal with to get

just what i feel are the basics.

hope you do not become incapacitated

by

the battle w/ the MonSter

or the struggles against

the

asterisks

******************

Goldenrod

Goldenrod
monkton,vt

It is the source of the best golden honey.
The source also of the myth that it is the allergen responsible for
ragweed allergies (so I heard and hold on to.)
It is just the most visible culprit, ragweed looking kind of ragged
and dull.
Goldenrod & Ragweed bloom at the same time and often together
in the same old field.
When my Dad was much younger and I was knee high to him,
I rushed home one day with a giant bouquet of
Goldenrod.
It was his birthday and I wanted to give him something special.
His reaction was seriously dissaproving and also repulsion, covering
his mouth and nose lest he have worse allergy symptoms.
He was already hacking and sneezing in the humid soggy late summer
thick pollen laden air.
I quickly ran out the door and threw them somewhere,
not sure what I had done, learning again
that sometimes a good deed just comes out wrong,
and Dad really dislikes the pretty golden flowers I found beside the road.

Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln II

Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln II

[*if there was a fictional or theoretically possible alternative path for Mr. Lincoln,
would it go something like this?]

Abe woke up in the hotel room, air cool and to his liking, with a freshness that
cleaned his mind.
Ah, for a moment, his sleep so delightfully deep, free from the awake world.
Waking can be stressful, and dreaming he felt a lightness, a rebirth so to speak.
The war was over.
Again and again, would every day left in his life start this way?
His shoulder pinched and he winced as a drop of blood came to the surface.
Another reminder of a miracle, that night, at the Ford Theater.
That night Elizabeth their waitress was bringing drinks and tripped over Abe's feet as the gun was raised
and the trigger was pulled. Abe fell forward and the bullet intended for his head glanced off his shoulder, ripping and tearing flesh and bone.
There had been some time elapse now and healing was marginally successful.
He reminded Mary of that often as she griped at his incapacitation.
He was alive, they were alive, and finally in Vermont as Mary had planned.
Their presidential suite at the Equinox was stunning, comfortable and worth settling into.
He may very well die here. Abe agreed to several speaking engagements in exchange
for permanent residency at the hotel. He and Mary left Illinois and Washington DC
for Vermont to escape all the rat races, the assassins, the political animals.
He sipped the local spring water and nudged Mary.
"It is time to vote."
She smiled and slowly mobilized.
December 18,1880.
Women had gained the right to vote.
Abe was 71, Mary 62.
They were feeling their age, but they proudly walked to the town hall
to vote in this historic election.

And yet there is a story perhaps farther fetched and still possible...
as Abe grew accustomed to local politics in Vermont, he started to notice
that while each voter was free to speak up, very few voters actually did speak up
and some did not vote at all.
As he wanted to level the playing field, he practised with
representing local people in their local town political fights.
Could you imagine how hard that was for local elected officials?
pretend monkton chronicles headlines Christmas 1880
Abe Lincoln is up against you...how dare he...he is representing that uppity town citizen
who used to be quiet...
Abe Lincoln came to the town meeting again last night...says that is not how
they do in Illinois..well maybe we should show him what we do to flatlanders...
Abe Lincoln thinks his wife should vote, well nah nah...
Abe Lincoln believe town meeting antiquated in 1880....
So he thinks if he won the Civil War he can tell us how to run a town meeting?

OK, it did not happen,
Abe was assassinated and never made it to Vermont.
Abe's only child to live to adulthood, a son, lived in Manchester and built a mansion, Hildene.
Now all of Abe Lincoln's descendants are gone.
What if events had turned ever so slightly?
Just speculating on another way it might have happened,
Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln