Larking About: Death, Life and all things in between

Curled up in bed. Toes frozen. They won't warm up in this empty bed. Greg in Vegas. They keep me alert. Awake. Which is maybe a good thing. Allowing me the space to stop and catch a breath and tell some tales from the adventure that is this life I adore and cherish. My aunt has told me step refers the writing to the video which I guess I will placate her some as it also means I can stay curled up.

So it's been a busy week and a half almost since my last post and.. well... Lets start start with Halloween...

Connor was a vampire in the spirit of

Vincent Price.

Willow was a peacock.

I was a gypsy jellyfish and Greg rounded out the lot of us as a monkey man. Irie and Aden opted out this year and stayed to pass out candy to non existent tricker-treaters. The weekend before there was a trunk or treat event at a friend of Connors church, willow had a party to go to, and Connor Greg and I attended a Halloween creepy event at a library put on by the local herpetological society. In other words, we went to check outs snakes and spiders and cockroaches and other such form of slithering and crawling creatures. Good times. Later during the week there was a costume parade at school and parties. The upper grades had a dance which I chaperoned. Chaperoning equates to maintaining the food tables. It was a feast which needed bowls to be filled and drinks to be ready. I assume Willow had a good time but only she could tell you for sure. That night was trick or treating. Which was your standard fair. Not much to say other than it was chilly and bitey.

During the week, Connor had a science project to do for school. I happened to catch it on video. Watch my boy burn through his experiment!

In the evenings, I attended a number of school board meetings. Checking out the currents and testing the high school waters. Long story short, there is a program track at one of the local high schools that we have had our eye on. However in the last month an announcement has bee made that the program wished to become a district charter. The process towards that has begun and it has happened quickly. Parents are shell shocked with the news but its moving with such speed because it needs to. If the charter does not move forward and we put Willow in the program ( assuming an inter district transfer is approved and willow qualifies for the program with her grades) then she will be in a school with 1300 students and class sizes of 35 to 50 students. Wha?! Yes 50 in a class. This is an excelled program and the aim for the charter is to get the students out of these overpopulated general classes and get them more focused studies. Hmmm... And if the charter passes well we will still need to transfer and acceptance to get in which means this choice is not a done deal. . In a few weeks we will tour a private all girls school. Through Surfrider I am already acquainted with a couple of teachers there and am certain of the quality of teaching and care of students. Class sizes are about 18. She would do magnificently there. You get what you pay for and I expect I will need to get a job by next fall.

And speaking of work.. I've been mentioning the options that face us here at the ranch.. And.. other than the mushrooms.. We have decided/realized that we are not the farming kind and have let the land lord know that we won't be able to move further in that direction. With Greg's travel and our already brimming full lives it is just not feasible. But... What about starting a food co-op like what has been grown in Reno? If I can get it off the ground...There is my job. If I can get it off the ground.. There is a win for me, for the comunity, and for our region. Im angry at the way things are, the evil driving force of food manufacturing corporations. Taking this on will be a stab at the vile beast. One of the vile beasts anyway.. for evil has many faces. (Maybe more on that later?! Deep topic needs delving first!) Anyway.. Change has to start somewhere. We are stronger when we build a community.. when we strengthen the ties. Why not give it a go? What is to loose? So I will be exploring that in depth next trip home and seeing about the steps are needed to move forward... towards a truly better world and towards private school.

This weekend I cleaned out the garage .. ick... rodents.. it is the country after all. Greg began prepping logs for inoculation out in the grove and we attended a day of the dead party at one of our new neighbors where we learned Mexican dancing. It was quite enjoyable and discussions are in the works for a weekly neighborhood dance workout.

This week Willows class put on a poetry reading. They have been preparing for some time and all I can say is WOW!! I was unable to get any footage but let me tell you these kids are talented. Their voices ringing out clear and proud and strong. Poems ranging from dealing with watching a grandmother die of cancer, to ruminations on technology and how it disconnects us from the moment, to declarations of self possession and identity, to simply playing with sound. Mr. T had indicated that the presentation was intended to invoke deep emotion and it did just that. I laughed, I questioned, and I cried.. only a little.. tears staining the corners of my eyes. I didn't want to embarrass Willow in front of her classmates with a fit of sobs and tearing into the tissue although some of the poems certainly could have carried me to the realm of soulful weeping. It was a wonderful and inspiring experience. And given the totality of these children's voices and their depth of character I realize just how bright our future can be. Bravo!

I killed Charlie. That's right, he is dead. I slit his throat Tuesday and tonight we ate him. My first kill ever (well not counting fish.. so removed from our food we are (said in my head with a Yoda-ish accent ). Warm blood bathing my hands. Neighbors pulling up to watch.. seriously.. sort of.. I picked a day and time when I could be alone to do this, allowing me to prepare emotionally and keep my mind on the task. I made a sacred killing space a pace away from the house so the blood would not bring predators into our space. I dedicated a new, sharp knife and cleaver to the task. I strung up Charlie. Hung him upside down. They go passive and calm that way. Id say he didn't see it coming but I told him on the walk to the killing ground and thanked him for. He looked at me and emitted a single "bawk" in response. As if to say "What?!" To which I looked him right in the eye and replied "You know what." After which he accepted his fate with dignity. The deed was done quickly, honorably and thankfully. Then I dunked him in hot water and the plucking was easy.. That's when I realized I had an audience. They were not watching, distracted with the work they were doing in the adjacent field. Im not even sure if they saw me.. but they were there. Sharing the moment with me. Part of the circle of life... tending to the crops. We all have to eat. The rest of the process was harder and more time consuming. Skinning and gutting. Interesting.. here is the lung.. here is connective tissue.. Here is the craw.. That part took me the better part of two hours. But dang if he wasn't tasty. The meat in his legs was sooo dark. Darker than any turkey drum I have seen at Thanksgiving and certainly darker than any I have ever seen on a chicken from the store.