charming

Good news, everyone!



All of my charm necklaces in our shop have sold! YAYYYY! I'm so excited that a goal I had for myself this year has come into fruition, and with awesome results! (so many exclamation points...)















It's made me realize how far I've come in my craft, and it rekindles my fire to create even MORE miniature creatures. I'm going to focus my energy on our shop here, since I don't have to deal with shipping, BUT there are still a few small pokemans in my shop without a home, and there's always the custom option. I am always open for custom charms, just message me on etsy and I will respond right away.

Otterly Charming

where eagles fly (or are tethered)

I went to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN in February, which was a definite eagle-filled experience and all around good time! I guess it's about time I shared pictures of things that happened TWO MONTHS AGO.

a very wordy, and possibly controversial, blog post

This weekend I was busy participating in my second to last class to obtain my graduate environmental educator's teaching certificate, Sustainable Foods and Energy.



I'm a...passionate person, to say the least (aka loud and angry about many topics, especially when they have to do with the environment and conservation). We watched Food Inc. tonight and it opened my eyes to a lot of wrongdoings that I had an inkling were occurring, but didn't truly know the full extent of. Vegetarians and vegans who abide by the laws of PETA and who don't eat meat because of the cute piglets and brown-eyed cow babies that get slaughtered for meat consumption are being vegetarians for the wrong reason (to be harsh). I completely disagree with the thought process that meat should not be consumed because it is unethical to eat another animal; animals have eaten other animals for centuries. Omnivores, carnivores, and sometimes even accidentally by other herbivores, animals have become food for others. I disagree with our meat consumption because it is terrible the way animal are treated in the meat processing industry; it is completely and totally unethical. It is also destroying the environment. To eat a plant-based diet would mean to cut down on two and a half TONS of CO2 emissions that would otherwise be derived from cows, their unnatural corn-based diet, and transportation of the entire industry. THAT'S the right reason to eat a plant-based diet.

However, there are those of us (such as me) who still really like meat and would enjoy continuing to eat it, though I do not actually consume it all that much. In that case, it's important to NOT SUPPORT THESE COMPANIES. The companies that pack in animals, feed them antibiotics because of their corn-based diets, which make them sick, inject with rBTG, a growth hormone that has been clinically proven to cause young girls to enter puberty early (that's just scary), and then kill in inhumane ways and package in unsafe conditions, causing illness. Instead, we need to support grass-fed, local beef as much as possible, as well as free-range chickens (truly free-range). A couple of years ago, my dad saw Food Inc. and decided that from then on, we needed to buy organic animal products. At first I complained about the inconvenience, and I'm completely ashamed at how I reacted now. I am my father's daughter, raged at Food Inc, and thought about my role in helping to choke this inhumane, un-environmental industry. Now I want to make some changes in my eating and food intake, which I'll describe now to hold me semi-accountable for it.



1) About a year ago, I decided I wanted to only eat beef once a month, if at all, in order to not support the beef industry in all its corn-growing, cattle pushing glory. However, I pretty much failed since hamburgers are delicious and I am weak in that aspect. Now I realize that I am not eating beef very often, living at an environmental education center. I'm attempting to only eat beef once a week now (giving myself a little more leeway), and if I do eat beef then it should be organic and grass-fed if possible.

2) Go meatless at least once a week, more if possible! I tried going vegetarian when I was in middle school and after a week I was cranky, sick, and tired. That's because I was eating absolutely no protein AKA I was only eating pasta. So even though things haven't really changed that much, I'm still never going to be a completely plant-based diet person. Well, maybe someday. But not now. So in order to cut down on some CO2 emissions, I'm going meatless at least once a week.

3) One of the points made in my class for creating a cleaner world was to dedicate a larger portion of your paycheck to food. I don't often have to buy my own food, but when I do I have the luxury of buying items that are better for the Earth. Even though I'm dirt poor, I still need to attempt to buy organic, in season, and maybe even non corn-based. This will be a tough road, but I'm going to start the walk. There's an organic store in town (surprisingly), so I believe I'll see what prices of milk is there and go from there. I can buy fruits and vegetables that are in season, and if I ever buy meat for myself (which will probably never happen), then I'll buy organic. I just learned the eggs the local grocery store supplies comes from a chicken farm with terrible conditions that has multiple environmental issues, so I need to stop buying those. Basically, food that is treated humanely will continue to be expensive until everybody makes the decision to buy ethically treated food. That is when the change will happen.

4) Make better choices for myself and for the planet. I need to start being healthier in what I eat, what I choose to eat, and what I do. I should also probably start brushing my teeth more...

Here and here are blog posts that really encompass how I feel about the whole eating meat thing, especially the "ethical" side of it. In fact, her entire blog is great and you should probably read it.



I'm probably "preaching to the convinced", as mentioned in Food Inc., but I wanted to get this off my mind. So many people have different opinions about food in general, and I just want them to watch this documentary and make their own decisions from it. I often talk about how PETA and Greenpeace use blatant propaganda to try to sell their "product", but sometimes you do have to look at the facts, that this is real and something should be done about it. It doesn't mean stop eating burgers, it means please stop eating them as much, or try getting a grass-fed burger!



I believe the whole movie can be found on Youtube :) It's akin to a horror movie, but unlike most, this one is ACTUALLY based on true events. Even the soundtrack of this documentary had a definite horror theme chill to it, an eerie combination with scenes of acres and acres of miserable feed lots packed with cattle.

But don't let that discourage you, it really is a great documentary, and really helped me open my eyes.

happy easter

I almost forgot Easter was this weekend, but remembered when I paused to reflect on why everyone seemed to be going home for the weekend. That left just the kids who couldn't catch a plane ride home for just two days, so we had our own Easter celebration!





We dyed Easter eggs, I wore my pretty new dress (even though I had to feed my owl in it and tromp through lake-like puddles), had FOUR egg hunts inside our house (all of which started off violently as we attempted to thwart other people's egg search), made ham and risotto for dinner, got drunk off of the wine we made risotto with, played picture telephone, made sugar cookies, and I chatted with my family on skype. It was a really awesome day.



Fun Fact:

-last year for Easter, my Oma and Opa set up a huge Easter egg hunt for my brother and I that included money eggs. They asked if we wanted to split the money evenly after we'd both found all the eggs, or if the eggs we found were the money (or no money) we got. My brother scoffed and boasted that he would find them all anyway, so to keep it "fair" he would split it. I agreed and we set off to find the eggs. We were ALMOST even, but I found a couple more than him that just so happened to have ALL the money in them. So it's lucky for him we decided to split the monies. THE END.

I know I've gone back to being a bad blogger. It's getting to be our busy teaching season again, but I do really want to share photos from these past few months, so we'll see what happens posting-wise.

See you soon, raccoons!

I've finally uploaded and edited all of the pictures on my camera from the past several months and have them ready for blogging and overall sharing of them via the Internet. Unfortunately, my Internet is being a dick right now (what? Huh? No, I didn't say that...) so basically I am DONE attempting to do anything more complicated than just writing this post and going to bed.

Here are some things I've done this past week:

-took Tim Tam Slams on the living room floor
-used a heat gun to melt caulk off of wooden frames
-made a lot of sexual inuendos while melting said caulk off of the wooden frames (my favorite quote from Jeff, "That's good caulk")
-waited patiently for an uncooperative owl to step onto my glove
-did most of my taxes (actually, my dad basically did them for me. THANK YOU, DAD!)
-studied owl calls on a Saturday night
-created a big cats only zoo on Zoo Tycoon called "No Dawgs Allowed"
-Traveled to Eagle Bluff and met cool new peeps
-Helped flight train a kestrel (one of the best moments of my life)
-Leapt off of a platform forty feet in the air (it was a zip-line. A terrifying zip-line)
-recovered from multiple wounds and a nasty hangover from our St. Patrick's Day party
-sold one of my charm necklaces in our gift store!

Writing it all down makes me realize that I have a pretty good life.

when the parents came

Once upon a time, my beloved mam and dad flew east to what is known as the midwest (sort of confusing, but that's because I used to live in what I refer to as the real west. In fact, Alice and I agreed that we basically live in the west coast... ...) When they arrived, I was so excited that I basically just frothed at the mouth and gave them a whirlwind tour as if I were on crack cocaine. Then they bought us all pizza and booze (and when I say us all, I mean EVERYONE! Including the Minnesota fam!) and we partied it up. No pictures were really taken except for one of my dad and I on the lake in front of the sunset because I was so just so excited that they were there. That night we watched a movie (I think?) and then M and D headed back to their comfy lodgings.



The next morning was sunny and bright (and luckily the weather was in the double digits the entire time they were here, yaaaay!)

We made breakfast sandwiches and then headed out for adventures.







I feel like Dad looks like a celebrity who is pissed off at a paparazzo (me)



I brought a kicksled out for them to try.





Dad really liked it, he was surprised by how fast it was.



Then he gave Mam rides! Awwww!





We went to the barn so I could show Cica off to my parents.



Little perfect bean :)

After Cica, it was time for other creatures. My mom really dislikes snakes. A LOT. But she conquered her fears and held Vulpes, our super sweet Fox Snake.



















After Vulpes, we got Picasso, our Painted Turtle, out for some playtime.









Om nom nom





Like mother, like daughter

Then we got out the big guns, our 7 foot Bull Snake, Arnold.



That sort of put mom over the edge of her comfort zone, so she politely declined. She gained courage when she saw how laid back he was in my arms (since he makes such a territorial show over coming out of his enclosure), so she reached out to pet him. Unfortunately, he hissed at her as soon as she made contact, so that was a deal-breaker. I put Arnold away and brought out Poppy.



Mam LOVED Poppy, but Dad was sort of getting bored at this point. I promised that I'd only bring out one more fantastic creature and put Poppy away.



Out came Spikers! It was actually awesome to have him out and playing with us, because in the process I could get some good photos of him.





He climbed his tree for us, so I gave Mom some rodent pellets to feed him.



Awesome photo (if I do say so myself...)







Look at those strong claws for tree-climbin'!









Yeah...I sort of went into a frenzy of porcupine obsession







Dad was pretending to be excited about Spike, but he really just wanted to go cross-country skiing (just kidding...sort of).



Spike crawled into my lap! I love that porcupine.



I put Spike away and then we headed out into the woods for some good old cross-country skiing. My dad loves cross-country skiing (as mentioned before), and I love it too, I'm just pretty bad at it.





I was doing okay until...



..a slight hill came out of nowhere. Aaaaand I was down.





But I got up again (I'm a pro at getting up) and we were on our way! p.s. these pictures were all courtesy of my mom, who said, "What if I take pictures of you falling?" to which I responded, "Do it, that will be hilarious!" and then she literally took a second by second shot of me falling and then trying to get back up. I have some fairly embarrassing ones of me getting up. Just because I'm pro doesn't mean I'm graceful at all. Maybe one day I'll share them...

We headed up to the cultural site and the yurt so I could show them those areas, and at that point Mom and I were tired so we started to head back for a snack.



But first I had to feed Cica.



Love her. We headed out to Tobies to get some snack foods (aka a pile of fried things and soda) before I went into volunteer for Dinner at the Lake. I always work the drink table with Megan, so even though I was technically off, I poured drinks with her at the table and then went to eat with my parents and hear the talk (which was about wolves). It was fun! Plus I got a lil tipsy.









The next day both Megan and I woke up early (5 AM) to do barn before we headed to The National Eagle Center in Wabasha, which is definitely another post in the making. We spent the whole day there, looking behind-the-scenes, going to a cowboy bar for lunch (weirdly), and looking for golden eagles before we drove back home and the peeps dropped me off at a low-key Italian place in the cities to meet my parents for dinner. It was their anniversary (hurray!) so my mom thought it would be fun to explore the Mall of America. She hated it and said their parking situation was akin to hell. We ate a delicious dinner together and then headed home to pass out.

The next day we headed up to Duluth to hang out, go owling, and then (of course) go to FITGER'S!!!



While owling along the North Shore, we saw THREE Great Grey Owls!!! OMGGGG is all I can say about that! I can now officially say I no longer need a BVD of that particular species.



I saw a car parked alongside the road and immediately screamed, "BIRDERS!" so that my dad would pull over. I rolled down the window and the couple simply pointed up at a dead snag across the road, where we saw this beauty. We watched him for a couple of minutes, where I took approximately a thousand pictures of him (plus an accidental video) before we continued down the road. My dad spotted another one almost perfectly blending in with a tree, and the next one was swooping low over a field and then into a tree. It was amazing! Fitger's was also amazing, though my parents weren't as eye-battingly in love with it as I was (but they did agree that the wild rice burger was pretty damn good). We also went to Canal Park to look for Snowies, but had no luck there :(











Also they both got their first look at Lake Superior, which was pretty awesome :)

We drove home after Fitger's and watched Easy A in Schwyzer, our haunted historical lodge on site. I bravely determined that I could stay in there alone while my parents got ready to join me, but it was also a fairly windy night and I literally yelped at a couple of points when the wind blew down the chimney. I had to text Megan, who was probably only 500 feet away, about how scared I was. Fortunately, my parents joined me a few minutes later and we got crunk while watching the movie. It was so much fun, I love my parents!



The next day was spent doing some grocery shopping, eat lemon bismarks, and hanging out together before they left :( I'm so happy they got to come up and spend a couple of days with me, though.

Today I've mostly spent lounging in bed, updating my blog, reading other blogs, downloading photo apps to my phone recommended by Gala, creating an eight hour long dance jams playlist (just in case), and making jello shots for tonight's St. Patrick's Day party. In fact, I hear people beginning to take shots downstairs now! See you on the prowl, Great Horned Owl!