The Farmette Report

2005 Antietam luminary display scheduled for December 3rd

Speaking of Google searches, the Farmette Report is starting to get some hits from folks who are looking for information on the annual Memorial Illumination at Antietam National Battlefield. Barring seriously inclement weather, the Illumination is always  scheduled for the first Saturday in December. According to my calendar and the National Park Service, that means this year's display will be held on Saturday, December 3rd. Go here for more information about the luminary display, or click here for last year's blog post about how gut-wrenching it is to view 23,000 luminaries, knowing that each candle represents a human life, the dead, the missing and the wounded from the bloodiest single day of fighting in the Civil War.

If you've never gone to the Memorial Illumination, it's well worth the visit. A couple of hints if you decide to make the trip: 1) take a bathroom break before you get into the line of cars waiting to get into the park - the wait and the slow five miles through the park can take up to two hours; and 2) bring a little cash for the small "suggested donation" at the park entrance.

Time for some tangy sea air

Yes, yes, yes! We're going to kayak here:

Gawd, I'm such an idiot

If you have an eBay account or a PayPal account, you know how you sometimes get those fishy emails (more like "phishy" emails) that look like an official communication about your account, but they're really just spoofing the big name sites in hopes that you're stupid enough to kindly supply them with all kinds of juicy private information ripe for the identity thieves. You know this. You know how they do it - and you don't fall for it, not for a second, not ever. If ever you get an email of that type, and you're the least bit concerned about it possibly being legitimate, you know not to click the link that the spoofer has so thoughtfully furnished you, but instead you click open another browser window and you type the trusty URL in yourself, or you use a trusted bookmarked link that you saved previously, and you log into your actual account and find out for yourself what's going on.

But maybe one sleep-deprived morning, you get this email from some guy calling himself "Will D" and he's asking you about some link on your Amazon.com account and you do a mouse-over to check out the link before clicking it. It looks good, so click you go. Ah, hell, it takes you to the sign-in page, and you wonder why it is that Amazon wants you to sign in for every little thing as you close the browser window and contemplate writing back to "Will D" whose email address, oddly enough is williams.greg@AOL.com which sounds like he should be called "Will G" or more likely "Greg Williams," which gets you thinking that maybe there's something a little off about this Will guy, so you say "later for you, Will" as you move onto something else and promptly forget about him.

And then a couple of days later, another early morning, friend Will is writing again with the same question. Geez, he sounds like he really needs some help, so you click that link again and you look around, but you really don't see what he's talking about - not even after you, you know, sign into your account.

(This is where you would cue the ominous background music.)

SmartBob strikes again

This is outside my normal bloggin' purview, but I just can't resist pointing out this Reuters "news" article to y'all:

Doomsayers Say Benedict Fits World End Prophecy

Now, I love a doomsaying prophecy as much as the next gal, and I don't really want to rain on anyone's doomsaying parade, but did you happen to click on the link and see the last paragraph of that article? Did you? Well, in case you didn't notice it, here it is:

Since Benedict is already 78 years old, they say Peter the Roman must be coming soon, and with him, the end of the world.

"His reign will only last a few years at most. This signals that we are living in what may be the end of days as we know it," said one Web Site entry by someone calling himself SmartBob.

That's right. Reuters, which used to be a respected news agency, is quoting some blogging crackpot who is apparently known only as SmartBob, and they're quoting him as though his opinion is news-worthy and meaningful. This would be hilarious if it were on The Onion, but as it is, it's a real indication of the sad state of journalism these days. Maybe there's a doomsaying prophecy about that.

A donkey and his best buddy

It has been over a month since I promised pics of the little spotted donkey down the road (aka the former lonely little donkey) and his buddy.

Not only is the donkey's pal not another miniature donkey, as you can see by this pic, he's not a donkey nor a mini of any type! Yet the two are inseperable as they follow each other around their field.

We are corny and obvious when it comes to creating nicknames for other people's animals (and sometimes even with our own animals), so we have taken to calling the mini donk "Spotted Jack" and the big guy "Buddy." Click below to continue reading more about Buddy and to see more photos.

Red scarves

Before signing on to the Red Scarf Project, I had recently completed another scarf for myself. It's red, but not exactly red enough to qualify as "good luck" red. And it was fun to make, my first time doing yarn overs and drop stitches and knitting with ribbon yarn.

The pattern is from Candi Jensen's Knit Scarves! and the yarn is Tartlette from Knit One Crochet Too in Velvet Rose - exactly the color and type of ribbon yarn used in the book, but I used it only because I stumbled across a good deal for it on eBay.

I really need to learn how to photograph knitting projects. Oh, and I need to learn how to knit better, too. I'm still plagued by uneven tension and by binding off much tighter than I cast on. Nonetheless the scarf turned out really cushy and springy and fun to wear. Doubled up like this, it provides just enough warmth on a not too cold winter's day. And it can be left on and worn like jewelry.

As for the Red Scarf Project scarf, that one's finished, too!

I knit a red neckerchief based on a design from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Halverson. Beyond being relatively quick and easy (necessary for this newbie to be able to stick to her commitment), I chose the pattern for several reasons: it's not your conventional scarf in that it can be worn around the neck or as a head scarf, so that its suitability is independent of the season. It is knit on the diagonal the same way as a popular yet basic baby blanket pattern, which provides a nice connection to the original impetus for this outreach project. Also, it's small enough so that it could be knit from one skein of yarn - resulting in no broken threads, which is important to the tradition that the project idea was drawn from. The yarn... well, I'll admit that it is a very practical sport-weight acrylic, Red Heart's Luster Sheen in Warm Red, which actually has a very nice silky feel and drape. (Yeah, I know. Acrylic. I need to find a real yarn shop close to hand, instead of relying on those craft-box places when I'm in a hurry.)

The Red Scarf Project

This is very worthwhile - and even a knitting newbie like me can participate. Heck, even non-knitters can participate. Check it out:

Traffic: no alpaca gets away clean

Who would ever guess that dealing in "hot" alpacas was such a booming industry that Peruvian farmers would have to resort to high-tech methods of thwarting the problem? Somehow, the thought of alpaca rustlers conjures up a mental image of a band of yarn-crazed spinners, weavers, and knit-o-philes, yet the reality of breed-quality alpacas selling for $20,000 in this country makes the concept of "jacked" alpacas not so very outlandish after all. So check out the AP story:

Microchips Counter Andes Alpaca Smuggling

And be sure to check out the cuties pictured in the slideshow (see some vicuna, too).

Alpacas and vicuna are part of the camel family. That must include llamas, too, as they are all in the genus Lama. Which would explain the spitting thing.

(P.S. - the "no alpaca gets away clean" tag is just a silly riff on the Steven Soderbergh movie, nothing more. Also, I'd like to apologize for not posting more in recent days. Life right now isn't proving conducive to blogging.)
 

Taking stock... of what's important

At the risk of sounding downright Grinchy, let me just ask "What the hell is up with all the presents, people?!" No, I'm not talking to you, dear family and friends. I'm talking about my well-meaning co-workers who supposedly agreed that this year we would not resort to buying everyone in our entire office suite a silly tchotchke. Supposedly, we all agreed to make donations to the local women's shelter.  So, why is it that every time I turn around, there is another gift bag on my desk? Do I look like I need any more candy? And I certainly don't need any more holiday candles or votive holders. Okay, sure, I appreciated the little jars of jam. And the homemade oatmeal bread made for a fabulous pairing. But a deal is a deal!

For years, I used to over-compensate and over-give when it came to holiday gift giving. I bought or made little presents for any number of co-workers, and bought extra "generic" items to hold in reserve in case I had inadvertently left someone off my list, a need made all the more urgent if that forgotten person had somehow remembered me. After all, it would never, never, and I mean never do to have a gift go unreciprocated. Then somewhere along the line, I finally learned that a gift can be received graciously, and all that was really needed was a nice, prompt thank-you note. What's more, this is the preferred route if one wants to politely discourage future gift exchanges of the same sort.

So, when I came home with four more presents today than when I had left my office before Christmas Eve, I told myself that it would be right and proper to acknowledge the thoughtfulness of these colleagues by sending thank-you notes, but that also I wanted to let them know that I had made an extra gift to a worthy cause on their behalf (instead of a knick-knack). Since there are no shortages of worthy causes, I began to think of something in addition to the women's shelter. I had been leaning towards a gift through Heifer International, but since hearing the news yesterday, have been haunted by stories of all the victims of the earthquake-borne tsunamis in Bengal Bay.

Michelle very kindly included the links and some compelling images on her blog, so I cemented my decision to make a disaster-relief donation to the Red Cross. I urge you to make a donation, too. As I type this the Red Cross' web site is loading very slowly because of all the traffic. Just be patient. It will load. Or, go to the American Red Cross site, which is loading a lot faster, and make a donation there:

You can help those affected by this crisis and countless others around the world each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance, and other support to those in need. Call 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the International Response Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp.

PS - After making the Red Cross donation, I went ahead and bought someone a llama through Heifer International. I had been meaning to do it anyway, so why not? It all helps. Check them out, they are a very worthwhile cause.

Sharpsburg in the news

The sleepy little town of Sharpsburg, Maryland, made news headlines today, but not for anything worth bragging home about. Seems our claim to fame and distinction has to do with some very special smallmouth bass found in the Potomac River near Sharpsburg, male bass that have been discovered to have a talent not usually associated with their sex. These guys are growing eggs - or, to use the scientific parlance, they are intersexed.

More, from the Associated Press article linked above:

Authorities say the problems are likely related to a class of pollutants called endocrine disruptors, which short-circuit animals' natural systems of hormone chemical messages.

... Endocrine disruptors comprise a vast universe of pollutants capable of driving a hormone system haywire. Some are hormones themselves — such as human estrogen from women taking birth-control pills or animal hormones washed downstream with manure — that can pass through sewage plants untouched.

...Many scientists are concerned that people, as well as other animals, might be affected. "It's not good news that there's something that feminizes male fish in your water," said Gina Solomon, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

But the Environmental Protection Agency has not set standards for many of these pollutants. Because of this, many drinking-water plants make no special efforts to remove them.

That's because the EPA doesn't exist to protect the environment from the many depredations that we visit upon it. "It's not good news that there's something that feminizes male fish in your water"  - that must be the understatement of the week! And the thing is, this problem isn't new to Potomac River tributaries. Last year scientists observed the same symptoms about 170 miles upstream from this latest finding, which since it is only 60 miles from Washington, DC, is sure to garner a lot more interest:

The Potomac River is the main source of drinking water for the Washington metropolitan area and many upstream communities. It provides about 75 percent of the water supply to the 3.6 million residents of Washington and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

Remember: we all live downstream from someone....