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Speakers' Biography
Pete McBride
Pete McBride, a Native Coloradan, has spent almost two decades studying the world with his camera. A self-taught, award-winning photographer, he has traveled on assignment to over 60 countries for the publications of the National Geographic Society, Smithsonian, Outside, Men's Journal, Esquire, and many others. After a decade working abroad, Pete decided to focus his cameras closer to home on a subject closer to his heart. Combining his passion for aviation and his belief in conservation, he partnered with Jon Waterman and spent over two years documenting his local river — the Colorado. This journey culminated in a coffee table book: "The Colorado River: Flowing Through Conflict", an award-winning short film, "Chasing Water" and a traveling museum exhibit/lecture currently on display at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
When not lost on assignment, you can find Pete in Basalt, Colorado where he serves as a local council member, or on his family's cattle ranch nearby working in the fields where he grew up,cutting hay or "chasing water" (irrigating). You can see samples of Pete's work at: petemcbride.com
Jonathan Waterman
Jonathan Waterman is the author of The Colorado River: Flowing through Conflict (coauthored with Peter McBride), Running Dry: A Journey from Source to Sea Down the Colorado River and nine other popular books. Three-time winner of the Banff Best Adventure Travel Book award and a NEA Literary Fellowship, he works as an immersion journalist, making arduous passages through remote landscapes to develop an intimate sense of place. Supported by the National Geographic Society during many of these journeys, he is now researching and photographing 16 drying rivers in the southwest, in hopes of affecting public policy before these waterways are lost. For more information see: jonathanwaterman.com
Justice Greg Hobbs
Justice Greg Hobbs has served on the Colorado Supreme Court since May 1, 1996. He earned his J.D. from Boalt Hall, University of California at Berkeley, 1971, and has a B.A. in History from the University of Notre Dame, 1966. He practiced environmental, water, transportation, and land use law for 23 years before becoming a member of the Colorado Supreme Court. During his legal career, he worked as a law clerk at the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, an enforcement attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency, a Colorado First Assistant Attorney General for Natural Resources, and a partner with the law firms of Davis, Graham & Stubbs and Hobbs, Trout & Raley. He is Vice-President of the Colorado Foundation for Water Education and a co-convener of the Western Water Judges educational program, Dividing the Waters.
Justice Hobbs is also the author of a number of books including: In Praise of Fair Colorado, The Practice of Poetry, History and Judging (Bradford Publishing Co. 2004), Colorado Mother of Rivers, Water Poems (Colorado Foundation for Water Education 2005), The Public's Water Resource, Articles on Water Law, History, and Culture (Continuing Legal Education in Colorado, Inc. 2007), and Living the Four Corners, Colorado Centennial State at the Headwaters (Continuing Legal Education in Colorado, Inc. 2010). Learn more about Justice Hobbs by clicking here.
Lawrence MacDonnell
Lawrence MacDonnell is a Professor of Law at the University of Wyoming College Of Law teaching courses on Water Rights, Public Lands, and Natural Resources. He is also the faculty advisor for the Wyoming Law Review. MacDonnell has previously served as the original director of the Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado School of Law and as an Assistant Professor in Mineral Economics at the Colorado School of Mines. He has worked in private law practice, as a consultant, and for nonprofit organizations.
Professor MacDonnell's research, writing, and speaking focus on water, natural resources and the environment. He is especially interested in ways to make development and use of natural resources more environmentally sustainable. He has also been instrumental in the organization and establishment of community-based watershed protection and restoration groups including the Colorado Watershed Assembly and the Colorado Water Trust. Learn more about Professor MacDonnell by clicking here.
Bart Miller
Bart Miller is Water Program Director at Western Resource Advocates (WRA), a non-profit law and policy organization dedicated to protecting the West's land, air, and water. At WRA he directs projects throughout the region to improve urban water use efficiency, minimize the water-related impacts of energy development, and protect and restore river flows and other habitat in many river basins. He represents other conservation organizations in civil litigation, lobbies for legislation, and promotes forward-looking environmental policy.
Prior to joining WRA in 2000, he spent 4 ½ years as an attorney-advisor in the Solicitors Office in Washington, DC, on the legal staff that advises the many agencies within the United States Department of the Interior. Mr. Miller graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1988 and received his J.D. from University of Colorado's School of Law in 1995. He is admitted to the bar in Colorado. Click here to learn more about Western Resource Advocate's Water Program.
Jennifer Pitt
Jennifer Pitt manages the Environmental Defense Fund's efforts on the Colorado River, to protect and restore the delta and reform water policy. She works with water users throughout the Colorado basin to develop practical programs to restore river habitats, and critically, to dedicate water to environmental resources. Her expertise includes the US-Mexico border environmental issues, the legal and policy framework for Colorado River management, the economics of water use and water transfers, and the science of river restoration.
Prior to joining EDF in 1999, Jennifer worked on river restoration for the National Park Service, and as a legislative aide to Congressman Mike Kopetski (OR-5). She has also worked as a ranger at Mesa Verde and Sequoia National Parks. Jennifer has an AB from Harvard College and an MES from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Click here to learn more about Jennifer and her work at EDF.
Tom Chart
Tom Chart is an East Coast native that fled for the West immediately following high school. He received undergraduate and M.Sc. degrees in Fishery Biology from Colorado State University in the 1980's. His graduate studies got him hooked on the native fishes of the Colorado River system when he studied the initial effects of mainstem impoundment on the fish community of Colorado's White River.
He has worked for a variety of State and Federal agencies throughout his career, most recently accepting the position of Director of the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program in 2009. Tom met his wife Leslie at CSU; their sons Seth and Nate are currently attending college in the Pacific Northwest.
Learn more about the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program.
Beth Conover
Beth Conover has worked for twenty-five years at the intersection of environmental protection and economic development. As policy advisor to Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, she was the architect of Greenprint Denver, one of the nation's earliest and largest urban sustainability programs, and helped lay the groundwork for the greening of the Democratic National Convention in 2008. She is a graduate of Brown University and holds a joint MBA/masters of environmental studies from Yale University. Conover is a founding partner in the consulting firm Econover, LLC, which does strategic planning, program development and policy consulting on resource sustainability and climate change issues in the public, private and non-profit sectors. She is a native of Denver, Colorado, where she lives with her husband, Ken Snyder, and their two sons. Learn more about Beth Conover by clicking here.
Stephen Saunders
Stephen Saunders is the founder and president of the Denver-based Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, which works to protect the West and its climate by bringing about action to reduce heat-trapping pollution and to prepare for the impacts of a disrupted climate. Stephen oversaw RMCO's Colorado Climate Project, in which 117 leading Coloradans developed a statewide agenda of actions to reduce Colorado's contribution and vulnerability to climate disruption, including the first outline of statewide actions in the interior West to meet future water needs in the face of climate change. Stephen is the lead author of several reports on climate-change impacts, including Less Snow, Less Water: Climate Disruption in the West and Hotter and Drier: The West's Changed Climate. He formerly served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior over the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as the national policy director in a presidential campaign, and as staff director and senior staff member in a congressional policy organization, two congressional committees, and in the offices of Colorado's Representative Tim Wirth, Senator Gary Hart, and Representative David Skaggs. Stephen has a law degree from the University of Denver. Learn more about Stephen and his work here.
Jeff Lukas
Jeff Lukas is an Associate Scientist for the Western Water Assessment, a joint effort of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science at CU- Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Jeff's research focuses are climate variability and climate change in the interior West and their impacts on human activities and ecosystems, extraction of multi-century climate records from long-lived conifers, and the application of tree-ring data to water resource management. Jeff has worked on numerous publications regarding climate and water management, as well as having presented to groups such as Denver Water Planning Forum and the Upper Colorado River Basin Commission. Learn more about the Western Water Assessment by clicking here.
Bidtah Becker
Bidtah Becker, a member of the Navajo Nation, is currently employed with the Navajo Nation Department of Justice where she focuses on pursuing and protecting the Nation's water rights. She is a graduate of the University of New Mexico School of Law and the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. While in law school, Ms. Becker was a founding member of the on-line Tribal Law Journal, http://tlj.unm.edu/. She is married to Paul Spruhan and they have two beautiful children, Bahe and Tazbah. Click here to learn more about the Navajo Nation's water rights and the Colorado River Basin.
Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta
Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta is the Director of the Water and Wetlands Program and the Associated Director of the Birds Program of Pronatura Noroeste, based in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora. He obtained his PhD, specializing in Wildlife Ecology at the University of Arizona. Osvel has worked in research and conservation projects in Northwestern Mexico since 1997, especially in riparian and wetland areas in the Desert of Sonora.
In recent years, he has designed and directed the efforts to restore the Colorado River delta, including the implementation of strategies to reestablish the water flows in the river and the implementation of reforestation activities and wetland restoration. Nationally and internationally, he has participated in the design of strategies for the conservation of rivers and wetlands, the conservation of key areas for birds, and in the design of monitoring protocols for protected species. Learn more about Osvel and his work with ProNatura, Mexico's oldest environmental group.
Harris Sherman
Harris Sherman is the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the United States Department of Agriculture. As Under Secretary, he oversees the United States Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Before joining USDA, Sherman served from 2007 until 2009, as the Executive Director of Colorado's Department of Natural Resources, under Governor Bill Ritter where he oversaw Colorado's water, energy, wildlife, parks, forestry, and state lands programs. Previously, from 1975 to 1987, he was Colorado's DNR Director under Governor Richard Lamm. Sherman has also served as Chairman of the Colorado Oil & Gas Commission, Commissioner of Mines, Chair of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission, and Chair of the Denver Regional Air Quality Council. Between his two stints as Department of Natural Resources Director, Sherman was the Managing Partner of the Denver Office of Arnold & Porter, an international law firm, where he specialized in natural resources, water, energy, public lands, and American Indian law. He has served on a wide variety of public and non-profit boards including the Denver Water Board, the National Advisory Board for Trust for Public Land, the Nature Conservancy, and Colorado College. Throughout his career, Sherman has dedicated himself to conserving and improving our Nation's natural resources. He received a B.A. degree from Colorado College in 1964 and has a law degree from Columbia University Law School.


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Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) July 26, 2013 Prudential PenFed Realty is happy to acknowledge its real estate pros and their achievements as highlighted by Actual Developments and The Wall Road Journals The Thousand: The Prime 2013 1,000, the annual awards offered by Prudential Genuine Estate for accomplishments in 2012, and Prudential PenFed Realtys yearly awards recognition. […]Read the rest of this entry »
Prudential PenFed Realty Regarded in The Wall Road Journals The Thousand and Prudential Genuine Estates 2012 Award Winners
As Temperatures Soar so does the Opposition for the Women in the Metropolis Girl of Achievement Award 2013
London, Uk (PRWEB United kingdom) 26 July 2013 Leap into action this summer and nominate an exceptional woman for the Girls in the Metropolis Girl of Achievement Award 2013. Senior degree ladies who, in addition to fulfilling a demanding position, are actively supporting the progress of females are inspired to enter the prestigious Award scheme. […]Read the rest of this entry »
Akerman Senterfitt's Joseph Hatchett Gets NAACP's William Robert Ming Advocacy Award
(PRWEB) July 19, 2013 Akerman Senterfitt these days introduced that Joseph Hatchett, co-chair of the firm's Appellate Exercise, has been honored with the NAACP 2013 Once-a-year William Robert Ming Advocacy Award for his determination and sacrifice to his job. &#thirteen The Award is provided every year by the NAACP to a lawyer who exemplifies the […]Read the rest of this entry »
104-yr-aged Noble Peace Prize Nominee Sir Nicholas Winton Honored with Golden Goody Award
Santa Monica, CA (PRWEB) July 16, 2013 Sir Nicholas Winton, also recognized as "Britains Schindler," is being honored this week with a Golden Goody Award in conjunction with "Nickys Household" documentary launch on Friday July 19th in New York, Los Angeles and VOD everywhere. This top award is currently being offered practically to Sir Nicholas […]Read the rest of this entry »
Continental Honors NXP with "Provider of the Year" Award for 2012
Eindhoven, Netherlands and Regensburg, Germany (PRWEB) June 25, 2013 Continentals Automotive Group has awarded NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) the title of Supplier of the Calendar year in Electronics (Discretes & Standard ICs). The Automotive Team pays tribute to its best suppliers every 12 months in early summer. Dependent on a systematic annual appraisal of […]Read the rest of this entry »
Power Vocabulary Builder Is ESL Friendly And Deserving Of three Stars Award, Boffin Announces
New York City, NY (PRWEB) May 02, 2013 The website Computer software Assessment Boffin has just released a review of vocabulary computer software that outlines the characteristics of the Energy Builder Vocabulary software item. The testimonials principal conclusion is that the software is a very obtainable and helpful application solution, specially to learners of English […]Read the rest of this entry »
Lime Vitality Receives National Award from Alliance to Save Strength
Huntersville, NC (PRWEB) June 19, 2013 Lime Vitality Co. (NASDAQ: LIME) declared that they will be accepting the Tremendous Nova Star of Energy Efficiency Award from the Alliance to Help save Strength on October 2nd in Washington, DC. Lime Strength gained this award on behalf of their modern Modest Enterprise Direct Install (SBDI) model, which […]Read the rest of this entry »
OPM Professionals Nominated as Finalists for a 2013 Golden Url Award
Montreal, QC (PRWEB) June 07, 2013 An incredible run that continues: for a fourth consecutive year, OPM Pros has been nominated for a LinkShare Golden Link Award in the category of OPM/Agency of the Year. The Montreal-based affiliate management agency won the award in 2011. We are honored to be nominated once again for […]Read the rest of this entry »
Kristine Chen Frost Wins Leading Producer Award and Named to Prudential Genuine Estate Networks Presidents Circle
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) June 14, 2013 Kristine Chen Frost owes considerably of her good results to enthusiastic referrals from hundreds of pleased clientele as nicely as a sturdy on-line presence which includes the Chicago true estate blogs E. Randolph St. and North Harbor Dr. She also has a new real estate search app for cellular […]Read the rest of this entry »
Two New Award Profitable Applications from Doug Hannon ESPN TV's "The Bass Professor" Famous Angler Life on By means of Greatest Fishing Manual and Fishing Paradise 3D Recreation Applications
(PRWEB) June fourteen, 2013 He remaining us significantly as well shortly, "The Bass Professor" Doug Hannon handed away unexpectedly March 25th, nevertheless his award successful studies and observations from over and below the water's surface will stay on without end.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Then I did a little on-line shopping. Wool/Cashmere mix sweaters start at $350 0r $400! When did this happen? How long have I been asleep? I could feed Susie and myself for three weeks for that, and even have swordfish every so often.
I think I better go back to sleep.


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Welcome to the IndepenDANCE Studio Registration Page! Simply enter required information on form, enroll in class(es) you are interested in, and we will take it from there!
If you have any questions at all, please call OR text 352-337-0017. You can also email us at email@example.com or email@example.com.
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If you wish to register for a Primary, Intermediate or Advanced Class, someone from IndepenDANCE will review these registration requests and contact you with approvals or correct class placements within 2 business days.
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Please use the parent portal to enroll in an unlimited number of classes.
I've read the above and agree.


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I have now reached the end of Phase One of the radiotherapy treatment. Phase 2, the Boost stage, is two days old and next week will be the last 5 days of treatment. I am so looking forward to just being able to stay at home and not go to Wellington every week.
Phase One didn't leave my skin very happy and the fatigue associated with radiotherapy has well and truly set in. I have one depleted boob to which three types of different emollients should be applied on a twice daily basis. I have one cream for a mild itchy area on my rib cage, another for the area of the hot pink boob. Under arm and under boob is a whole other story, with both just being beds of pain combined with a fearful itch with the skin having turned quite a dark brown. I have another gel to be applied there and am on regular painkillers to control the pain side of things. Of course the bed of pain under my arm also coincides with the edge of my bra. I have been given medical pads to insert over that area but am not allowed to tape it in place as the most mild of their sticking tapes disagrees with my skin and at all costs the thing to be avoided is having any broken skin.
Whoever thought this would be a breeze. However, I have to keep reminding myself that I am one of the luckier ones who didn't have to undergo chemotherapy as well.
Boost therapy means that they now add the contraption above to the circular part of the machine in the previous post and the radiation blasts are now considerably shorter and aimed specifically at the site the tumours were removed from. This contraption concentrates the beam to a point where it is only about 1.5cm above my skin. The have to put a moist pad on me, presumably to prevent drastic burns while the machine irradiates me. Nearly all the measurements have changed now, except the first one.
The first session of this Boost treatment probably didn't go as it should have. I was sited and swiveled according to all their new measurements, still with arms outstretched above my head. Firstly they didn't have all the pieces of the additional contraption pictured above, One bit arrived, then the second bit, but there was one bit they couldn't find. Finally it arrived, a thick lense which was inserted into the bottom of the contraption at the point nearest my skin. Secondly, they had to take an X-ray and then the treatment was supposed to start. After I thought the X-Ray had been taken the therapists dashed back into the room and said that the treatment would be delayed a couple of minutes while they amended my 'plan' – just a matter of some "data entry, that's all". So after some twenty minutes in this artificially contrived position I was in they finally came back, apologised, and said that they would take the X-ray again and then the treatment would commence straight away. Fortunately, with all the right pieces in place, and the right data in the plan, the second run went rather more smoothly than the first. But I was so relieved to get off the hard table and bring my arms back down beside me.
After the Phase 1 treatments I have felt like a heated fry pan from my waist up for several hours after the treatment. To put it indelicately sweat has just poured off me in rivers. Clothing has stuck to me, how many tissues have I gone through soaking up the rivers off my face. I've tried all sorts of ways to cool myself but nothing would work and any physical exertion just made it worse.
The second of these boost treatments was yesterday. So on the day of the second boost treatment I woke up and from the moment I arose there it was all over again, sweating rivers before I had even made it to the bathroom! And I hadn't even had the treatment for the day. I had a cool shower and that made no difference, went down and had breakfast, all cold with a cold water to accompany it – no difference. I had an early appointment yesterday so went over to the hospital at 8.10am. It's only a 5 minute walk but I was dripping buckets by the time I got there. Even the radiation therapists were surprised by the volume of it. So much so, that they hastily organised an appointment with a doctor for straight after the radiation treatment. The treatment at least went smoothly, but the beautiful hospital gown was stuck to my back by the time I rose from the table. The doctor checked me out. My observations were taken and noted down on a paper towel!!! But in the end the doctor could find no explanation for it. But there was nothing sinister behind it, she said.
I went back to Margaret Stewart House and packed my bag for the homeward trip later in the day. Because yesterday was my session at the 'Look Good Feel Good' seminar, I then walked back to the hospital and took a taxi to the location in Taranaki Street where the seminar was being held. I was dripping all the way and my clothes and tissues continued to soak up the rivulets while I was in the Taxi. I was thinking that there would be no way anyone could ever apply make-up to my face while it was in such a state of drip. When I arrived I was greeted at the entrance by an old friend I had worked with at Bell Gully many years ago. We chatted, and I dripped. Inside I was shown to a long table where (for me) there was an inedible morning tea being served, but at least I had another cup of water. During the morning tea I chatted with another lady whom I had met at the House and dripped more. I was really getting worried by then. Eventually we were asked to take our places at the named spaces around tables which had been set up with mirrors and were laid out with make up and skin care products, specific to each of our needs and/or choices. And strangely enough, confronted with all that (four hours after it had started) I suddenly began to cool off and the drip dried up. I was so relieved.
The Look Good Feel Good organisation is allied with the Cancer Society and gives Women with any type of Cancer, and at any stage of treatment a few hours tuition on how to make yourself look good mainly with make-up products, while you have cancer and ongoing. There was also a small session at the end for women who were undergoing chemo and different wigs/headwear available for them to look at and try out. After a full, personal makeover with the makeup and the relevant tuition we all (about 30 of us) left with over $700 worth of makeup and skin care products. I was lucky enough to take second prize in a raffle as well, so I had a bit extra booty to bring home.
I was expecting the worst again this morning but, thankfully, I have had no repeat of the dripping rivers. Two loads of washing on the line and the weekend can only get better. Tomorrow Frith (our elder daughter) arrives in Wellington to help me through the last week of the radiation therapy, one unexpected bonus of this whole wretched experience.


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By Amber Leventry
Every mom has a unique and memorable birth story for each of their children. But before every birth story is a conception story. Some women and couples are able to conceive a child with ease. Others need time and patience. Some face the heartbreak of a miscarriage. We needed fertility help. Having kids is hard, but trying to have kids can be even harder. In this, the second of a two-part series, I will share the conception stories for my children. We are all bonded as mothers, but the journey to parenthood is not always straight.
Read Part One, Two Pregnancies, Four Babies
Selective Reduction and A Lot to Carry
The doctor quietly and methodically labeled the fetuses A, B, and C. The nurses were ecstatic. The doctor was focused, almost solemn. Amy and I were dumbfounded. I can feel my emotions on that day better than I can describe them.
When the doctor was done with his work, he told us that all of the fetuses were healthy and strong. We were happy, but confused. We had so many questions. Our first priority, as it was with our first pregnancy, was health. What dangers did this pregnancy bring to Amy's health? And what dangers did this pregnancy bring to the fetuses' development and health? How did this happen?
We knew our appointment was going well beyond the time allowed, so the doctor suggested we come back for a follow-up consultation. He gave us a little information and a lot to think about. Based on the ultrasound and the number of follicles present before the insemination, multiple eggs were released and three were fertilized. Triplets. But before we could grasp the concept of going from one child to four, the doctor told us we should consider eliminating one fetus through selective reduction.
We had never heard the term before. For those of you who haven't either, selective reduction is a procedure that ends the life of a fetus. Based on many medical factors that are unnecessary to detail here, the chosen fetus is the one that provides the best chance of maintaining the pregnancy. Unlike an abortion, the goal is to maintain the pregnancy, not end it.
Between legal documentation to protect our rights as parents to believing someday gay parents will just be considered parents, we had gone through so much planning and hoping to make a family. We wanted kids. We wanted to be moms. Why would we consider eliminating something we wanted so badly? Because the risk of carrying multiples is considerably more dangerous with triplets than twins.
Carrying triplets is considered a high-risk pregnancy. A normal scenario for carrying triplets is this: 32 weeks gestation, eight weeks in the NICU, and additional pre-term health related issues. Other scenarios are far worse. We could lose a baby, multiple babies, or the entire pregnancy. We could have babies with serious birth defects. If Amy tried to carry triplets, she would put her own health at risk and would likely end up on bed rest for a portion of the pregnancy.
Reducing a triplet pregnancy to a twin pregnancy has its own risks, including the loss of the entire pregnancy. But the best case scenario produces two healthy, close to full-term babies, though the health risks of carrying twins still exist.
Amy and I left that initial ultrasound appointment in complete shock. For the next several hours, all I could do was repeat the word triplets, as if saying it enough times would let me see the future. If only I could wrap my head around the word, then I could wrap my head around what to do.
I realize this is a controversial topic. And I fully understand both sides of the argument. Amy and I had several weeks to turn over all of them. I will easily tell you I am pro-choice. But when it came to making this decision for my family, it was the toughest choice to consider.
Another thing we considered was the impact a triplet pregnancy would have on our daughter and our marriage. No matter what the outcome, triplets would test all of our relationships. What was fair for our daughter? For us? For three unborn babies who we wanted to give the best possible chance at a healthy and happy life?
Driving our decision was always the health of Amy and the babies she was carrying. While we knew the risks of carrying triplets, the risks of a selective reduction can cause heartbreak too. The thing nagging at me was the possibility that we could be one of the families who had healthy triplets. I wanted to be hopeful; I wanted to fight the odds. But something told Amy she couldn't carry triplets. Gut instinct or mother's intuition told her three was too many.
I agreed, but it took me longer to find peace with our decision. Amy and I received advice from the doctors who delivered Eva. We were better educated about the procedure at our follow-up consultation appointment with our doctor at the infertility clinic. We searched the internet and read every article on the subject. We were thankful for the bloggers who wrote candidly about their experiences when they faced the possibility of a reduction. I didn't feel so alone when I read their stories.
On December 27th, 2012, a year to the day we celebrated my second parent adoption of Eva, we reduced our triplet pregnancy to a twin pregnancy. We had the procedure done in Boston and have nothing but high praise for the doctors and nurses who we met at Brigham and Women's Hospital. They made a very hard and sad day go as smoothly as possible.
We were already parents, so we knew the potential joy and love we eliminated and sacrificed that day. But we hoped our sacrifice was for the benefit of our daughter, the two babies we wanted to add to our family, and to Amy, the amazing woman carrying our children. It wasn't until several weeks after the reduction, when we felt confident that the pregnancy would be a healthy one, that we told people we were pregnant with twins. Twin boys.
Thankfully the rest of Amy's pregnancy was healthy, but when she started to dilate at 29 weeks, we knew we had made the right decision. Three would have been too much to carry. And when I held my boys seven weeks later, I knew two was more than enough.
When I see families who have had triplets, I see the decisions they had to make before I actually see their children. I wonder if they felt like there was a decision to make. At conception and the months before birth, we make parental choices before we meet our child or children. The best we can do is to make educated decisions based on science, faith, and what we feel is right.
Seeing a family with triplets makes me wonder how things would have turned out for us if we had decided against the reduction, but I do not regret our decision. Our goal was two healthy babies and that is exactly what we got.
During the moments when all three of my kids are happy, it's easy to imagine one more in the room. I imagine another daughter for Eva to call a sister. I imagine another son to complete the trifecta of boy. I imagine we could have handled the chaos of having four kids.
But during the hardest moments, when the kids are sick with colds or all crying at once and when I don't think it's possible to emotionally or physically take care of one more living thing, it's impossible to imagine having a fourth, especially if one or more of the four has special needs or health problems.
After the reduction and when Amy and I knew we would be having twins instead of triplets, we were sad and cautiously optimistic. But when we took Ben and Ryan home from the hospital, we were thrilled.
We had the family we had always wanted and the one we were meant to have. The road to parenthood is long and hopeful, but it is not always straight.
Happily pulled in many directions as a partner, parent, and business owner, Amber is a writer for VT Mommies and InventorSpot where she reviews products for parents and kids. She loves the challenge of learning how to relax. This article was originally published on VT Mommies.


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Why Postural Correction Exercises?
The human body responds, develops, and is maintained
according to basic neurological and biomechanical principles.
However, when the body experiences an accident, surgery,
trauma, chronic over use or even the lack of purposeful
physical activity apparent in today's lifestyles, misalignments
and weaknesses almost always occur to some degree.
This process in turn causes the premature breakdown of our
musculoskeletal systems, making them susceptible to injury,
reducing performance and quality of life and prolonging
recovery. Left untreated, these compensations and weaknesses
can lead to further misalignment.
Postural Correction Exercises are principle-based exercises
grounded in the fundamentals of physics and biomechanics.
Postural realignment is accomplished by applying a progression
of properly sequenced exercises that have been systematically
oriented toward each client's unique needs.
These exercises retrain the neuromuscular system and the
biomechanical systems of the body, reminding each muscle of
the function it was designed to perform.
The goal of the Postural Correction Exercise is to bring you to
a state of muscular and internal balance. Unlike "core training"
or other specialty training, this exercise program is designed to
make your body a balanced unit, with all of your muscles
working together in balance and harmony.
• It is a method that seeks long term pain relief.
• Postural Correction exercises do not require special
equipment and are designed to strengthen your body
• The primary sources of resistance are your body weight and
the force of gravity.
• By doing a postural assessment the therapist can determine
your true dysfunction (i.e. the cause of your pain).
• By having your exercises sequenced in a specific order you
will learn to move your body


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Arabtec Holding, a leading contractor for social and economic infrastructure, says its wholly-owned subsidiary, Arabtec Construction has been awarded a Dh1.025-billion ($279 million) contract from Dubai Properties for the Amaranta and La Quinta phases of its Villanova project in Dubailand.
Mammoet, a leading provider of solutions for lifting and installing large and heavy structures, says it has played a key role in the Dubai Mall extension project. The company was contracted by Malaysian engineering and construction company Eversendai to help erect the new bridge that will connect the existing mall to a new section.
Salini Impregilo, a specialist in the construction and civil engineering business, has won contracts worth a combined $300 million in the GCC. The Italian construction major says it will build a $100-million water desalination plant through its subsidiary Fisia Italimpianti in Oman.
L&T inks big Saudi, UAE substation contracts Indian construction giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) says its power transmission and distribution business has won two big orders from the GCC region worth nearly $250 million.


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Fall Asleep Naturally
Tryptophan-Rich Foods Help You Fall Asleep Naturally
Your diet plays an important role on your sleep and wakeful states. The quality of your sleep and wakefulness is also affected by your diet. With regards to falling asleep, the amino acid tryptophan offers a natural and nutritionally sound aid for quality sleep. Tryptophan is the precursor of serotonin, the primary neurotransmitter that induces sleep. It is also the precursor of melotonin, another sleep-inducing neuropeptide.
Tryptophan is an essential amino acid because your body can not produce it from other metabolites. Your body must obtain it from foods or supplements. Tryptophan is a neutral amino acid and it is the biggest amino acid in the body in terms of its molecular weight (204.32 g/mol) It is noted for its anti-depressant and anti-insomnia effects. Some of the important substances that are produced from tryptophan metabolism in your body include serotonin, melatonin and niacin (vitamin B3). Serotonin and melotonin are beneficial for inducing sleep. Vitamin B3 helps to elevate the level of your good cholesterol (HDL).
Tryptophan is a neutral amino acid, and it competes with other neutral amino acids for absorption from the small intestine. Therefore, it is poorly absorbed from protein-rich diets (neutral amino acid-rich diets). Absorption of Typtophan is optimized if the ingested food has disproportionately higher concentration of tryptophan.
Another reason for consuming foods that are disproportionately rich in tryptophan is that inclusion of amino acids and proteins from a variety of sources can introduce into the mix, amino acids like phenylalanine and tyrosine which are alertness-promoting amino acids. These latter amino acids can counter-act the sleep-inducing effects of tryptophan and melotonin.
rovides you a natural aid for falling asleep. In the brain, tryptophan is the substrate for a chain reaction that produces serotonin, melatonin and numerous other neurochemicals. Serotonin and melotonin are the sleep-inducing neuropeptides. Some of the cofactors and metabolites that support the metabolism of tryptophan to produce serotonin and other neuropeptides are magnesium, vitamin B6 and folic acid.
Role of Insulin in the Tryptophan-Induced Sleep
Insulin facilitates tryptophan's entry into the brain. To reach its target site of action, the neurons of the brain, tryptophan must cross the blood-brain barrier. Blood-brain barrier is a net work of exchange vessels and cells that filters blood that goes to the brain. Blood brain barrier (BBB) may also be viewed as structurally modified capillary beds in the brain that are impermeable to many substances, particularly large molecules, viruses and bacteria . The BBB acts as a shield that protects the brain from toxic substances and microorganisms. Tryptophan goes through this blood brain barrier very poorly in the absence of insulin.
Other amino acids competitively prevent tryptophan from going through the BBB. They block the limited absorption sites in the BBB so tryptophan can not get through. These competitor amino acids are the neutral large amino acids (tyrosine, phenylalanine, and the branched chain amino acids, leucine, isoleucine, and valine) . Insulin selectively facilitates the entry of these competitor amino acids into the muscles and other organs. This gives a competitive advantage to tryptophan at the BBB, so significant amounts of tryptophan can then enter the brain tissue.
You need an effective strategy for getting the consumed tryptophan into the brain tissue. Ideally you want to eat foods that have high concentrations of tryptophan and low levels of the amino acids that compete with tryptophan at the BBB. Since it is hard to find foods that have low concentrations of the competitor amino acids, a different strategy needs to be put in place, and this is where insulin comes into the picture.
You can consume tryptophan-rich foods such as turkey along with a carbohydrate such as mashed potato, pasta or rice. The consumed carbohydrate would stimulate insulin release from the pancreas and raise the plasma level of insulin. A breakdown product of the carbohydrate is glucose, the primary activator of insulin release from the pancreatic beta cells. It is more effective to induce insulin release with complex carbohydrates instead of glucose because this produces a more stable and sustained level of insulin.
Sources of Tryptophan
Turkey is a well-known source of tryptophan-rich proteins, but it is not the only source of this amino acid. Tryptophan is found in red meats, sea food nuts and some vegetables. Some tryptophan-rich foods are shown below. It should be noted, however, that the sleep-inducing effect of each food is not determined only by the concentration of tryptophan in the food. The other determinants include: the concentrations of the other neutral large amino acids in the food; your plasma level of insulin and insulin sensitivity.
Crimini mushroom
Mustard green


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METRO VANCOUVER - A small but vocal group of Richmond seniors were despondent Monday after city council rejected their call for a bylaw quashing Chinese-only signage in a city where more than half the residents are of Chinese descent
"We are the new minority," Marlene Esplen, who has lived in Richmond for more than 20 years, said outside city hall Monday. "A lot of people around here are too scared to talk about this issue."
Ann Merdinyan and Kerry Starchuk, Esplen's niece, presented a council committee with a 1,000-signature petition asking the city to create a bylaw forcing businesses to include English or French on their signs.
"We gave them a lot of information about what has been going on in the past 20 years and we feel excluded from a certain part of the city," Merdinyan said. "Because we love Richmond and we love multiculturalism, we thought we might be able to persuade them to include us in a decision that would put English or French, and a heritage language, on the signs — because that includes everybody."
Council voted to add the petition to city files, but every councillor — except Chak Kwong Au — voted against referring the matter to staff for further study.
Mayor Malcolm Brodie said a small group of residents have been expressing concerns about the lack of English on storefront signs, but the community as a whole is dealing with the issue and he doesn't see a reason for bylaw officers to "go out and measure signs and measure lettering and do all those kinds of things."
"They remember what Richmond was like in the past and they were pleased with it and would like to return to it," Brodie said. "We welcome people from all over the world to come live in Richmond and to set up their businesses in Richmond.
"I just don't think arbitrary rules and regulations are the way to address this kind of an issue."
If a complaint about a business's lack of English signage is made, bylaw officers remind the business owner that "they're cutting out a very large portion of their market," Brodie said.
"I see more Chinese on signs in the Cambie-No. 3 Road area," he said. "But while we notice the Chinese, I believe if you added up the signage in Richmond, the vast majority is in English.
"With a population of half our people or more being of Chinese origin you can't be surprised you'll see some Chinese language."
Merdinyan and Starchuk's group wanted the city to adopt a signage policy similar to that of Aberdeen Centre. The policy, which covers all centre retailers, requires at least 70 per cent of signs to be English/French and the remaining 30 per cent a language of the retailer's choice.
Henry Beh of the Richmond Chinese Community Society didn't support the petition but said businesses, like at Aberdeen Centre, should embrace bilingual signs.
"If you have a restaurant, and don't do an English sign then you lose your customers — that's not smart," he said.
Beh said he showed up to Monday's meeting to try to calm tensions between Chinese-speaking business owners and those who signed the petition. He said his organization has signage in both languages because it wants "to respect the people."
"I'd like to see harmony in the city of Richmond," Beh said.
Merdinyan said her group had written federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, who told them that although the federal government could not do anything, provincial or municipal governments have the power under the Constitution to enforce signage rules.
A representative of the minister was not available before press time.
With a file from the Richmond News


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Sherwood by Martha Coaty 2012
The creative team at Milwaukee Magazine responsible for the publication's photo essays and photography will form the jury for the CoPA/Alverno exhibition entitled, Assignment: Portrait Milwaukee.
CoPA members may submit up to five pieces in a series that express their unique vision of Milwaukee. (Limit one series.)
About the judges:
The Milwaukee Magazine creative team has collectively worked for the magazine for 15 years producing award-winning photo essays and other projects that revolve around photography. Brock Kaplan, Kelly Rippl, and Kenny Yoo have endeavored to spotlight some of the most celebrated and hard hitting stories originating in our city. These documented snapshots of the place we call home are meant to move Milwaukee towards becoming a stronger, more diverse community.
From the judges:
– Portraits are extremely important within the pages of Milwaukee magazine. Images of people/subjects in their environment or outside of their typical environment help us create a connection between the reader and the subject, comfortable or uncomfortable—capturing a moment that is specific to that individual and then sharing it with the reader.
– Portraits are more than simply a record of someone's appearance—they expose the power, weakness, importance, beauty or contrast of the subject to her or his environment. Portraits tell a story and draw connections.
– A moment in time that tells a story or gives a glimpse of Milwaukee
– Connections or contrast between the subject and environment
– Subjects outside of their element or where the environment is the subject and has its own story of Milwaukee
– Breaking down walls, creating intrigue, capturing moments, a need to know the history/story/record city-centric, portraits of Milwaukee, personalities in unexpected places
– How do you see and experience the city, your place in the city, how you see your city as home, where/what is considered home
– The photographer's vantage point of the city, 'self-portraits' of the photographer in their city or how they experience Milwaukee through their specific and unique lens
– The unexpected/unseen Milwaukee
Submissions open: June 6 / 12P
Submissions close: Extended to Sunday, July 8th/ 11:59P
Notifications: PENDING…as soon as I know, I'll let you know!
Drop off at Alverno Art & Cultures Gallery: August 16 12-7P
Drop off at Alverno Art & Cultures Gallery: August 17 12-7P
Opening Reception: Alverno College Art & Cultures Gallery: September 5 / 4:30P – 8:00P
Pick up at Alverno Art & Cultures Gallery: September 22 10A – 4P
Open to the public:
Wednesday, August 22
Gallery hours: Monday – Saturday, 10A to Not extended hours Thursday from 10A to 7P
Exhibit runs from August 22 – September 21, 2018
Alvero College Art & Cultures Gallery
3400 S 43rd Street
Milwaukee, WI 53234


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Bubblegum pop, exaggerated-Americana vocals, the soundtrack to many a millenial's youth, Busted are what they are, and on 'Half Way There', they've completely accepted that. Initially, their reunion was embraced with open arms, but then Busted released a new album… and then another. If 'Night Driver' was their attempt to move on, 'Half Way There' is an acknowledgement it didn't work.
Returning to their winning formula, this is the cheesy pop-punk we know and love, or rather, know and loved. Each track's a nod to the past, with comfortingly familiar riffs and hooks, whilst lyrics reflect on what could've been as the band long for the old days. There's a handful of attempts to offer something new, but it's predominantly business as usual. But what more did you expect?
This isn't the band to listen to for pioneering sonic experimentation or playful lyricism: they are what they are, or rather what they were. Busted were never taken too seriously, why start now?
Words: Johnny Rogerson
Dig it? Dig deeper: Son Of Dork, McFly, Nothing But Thieves
- - -
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Join us on Vero, as we get under the skin of global cultural happenings. Follow Clash Magazine as we skip merrily between clubs, concerts, interviews and photo shoots. Get backstage sneak peeks and a true view into our world as the fun and games unfold.


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10/27/2015 0 Comments
Recycled T-Shirt Cape
I think we can all agree that capes make everything in life more interesting. And this recycled T-shirt cape is the perfect addition to any last minute Halloween costume.
The only supplies you need for this no-sew project are an old T-shirt and a pair of scissors.
(Talk about super easy, super procrastinatable...super awesome.)
Follow the steps below and you'll have your own cape in no time.
Do you have a few extra shirts? Make your whole family into superheroes! Then again, why limit these capes to superhero costumes only? Kitty cats, pirates, cowboys? Add a cape and your costume takes on a whole new level of awesome!
I know I described this as a no-sew project, but designing and sewing are my superpowers!
So, naturally, I added a few optional steps of designing and sewing on a Super Coen logo.
These capes are so cool they may find their way into your regular wardrobe rotation. Don't say I didn't warn you!
Easiest DIY costume ever, right?! Be sure to comment with pictures if you incorporate this recycled T-shirt cape into your Halloween costume or wardrobe.
Check out my other DIY and No-Sew Projects.
If you enjoyed this T-shirt project, try out all the projects in my Recycled T-Shirt Project Series.
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply.
By Jordan
August 2016
All DIY Home Sewing Series Kid Friendly Miscellaneous No Sew Recycled T Shirt Series


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Wednesday, October 31, 2012
A Celebration Is Upon Us!!!!
It is a time of great turmoil and disaster. There is the upcoming election with all the mailings, the unsolicited telephone calls at all hours, the constant barrage of commercials and accusations, and the endless analysis by the "specialists". This election is overtaking our air waves and I, for one, will be happy when it is completed if only to get my music back!
Then there is Hurricane Sandy. They could have picked a better name, in my humble opinion. The devestation and lives lost are very painful to listen to and watch. I am amazed, however, at the efforts taken in preparation for the arrival of the storm. Many, many more lives could have been lost. Perhaps Katrina did teach us something, after all.
Here on the homefront, life continues to be full of lives saved, lives rescued, and lives re-homed. After working for several weeks, I believe we have found the absolutely perfect home for the two Clydesdale geldings, Andie and Turbo. This has been a challenge but last Sunday's tour was very productive and next Tuesday, it is my hope, that the deal will be sealed. I will rest much easier knowing we have re-homed these two gentle giants and have averted the sudden decision to "just be rid of them". The owner is a good man and a compassionate man but the time it has taken me to find the right home for his boys has been twice what I had estimated to him. That means more money out of his pocket but he is holding tight, bless his heart!
The kittens continue to grow and thrive. Now eating canned moist food for breakfast and using the big cat food bowl the rest of the day is a huge time saver from bottle feeding all five of them. Cuter than a bug's ear, they continue to grow, explore, and find the world a wonderfully fun place to be! This house is full of boxes to climb, furniture to hide under, and big cats to sleep on and with. Kidd seems to be a gentle one with them and even Victor snuggles and cleans them. Crooked Head is a great Mother to them and they seem to be learning all the things their real Mother would have taught them.
And tomorrow, we will accept two more horses originally destined for Saturday's sale barn in Marion, WI. An elderly Standardbred and an elderly Shire. Both horses have worked and performed for their owner in their younger years and, luckily, they fell into the hands of a man that doesn't "like to see a horse go to slaughter". This man has boarded the horses for us until Trish comes this way for the Gala so tomorrow, she will stop and retrieve our newest two horses. Believe it or not, they will be #859 and #860. We'll work hard to re-home them before the winter season sets in and I will be eternally grateful to this stranger who called one evening when we were sitting around the table stuffing Gala invitations.
Finally, there is the race going on around THE FARM in preparation for an event that we host once per year. We take a hunk of our barns and a few of The Herd and we head to the University of Minnesota Equine Center in St. Paul. We work hard and convert the horse arena into a Gala hall. And then, magically, people appear and we spend an evening together as we celebrate another year of saving lives!
The Fall Gala & Auction is this Saturday, November 3rd, with the doors opening at 6:30pm. The program begins at 7pm and you will not want to miss a moment of what we have planned!
Our welcome message will be a personal one and I look forward to expressing my gratitude. Then, a few moments later, we will celebrate our hard work with a video created of specifically selected photos and set to specifically selected songs. The video tells of twelve years of sweating and freezing and working until you thought your muscles would snap. But it shows the faces of the people and the horses whose lives are better off because Refuge Farms was there. I've watched the video each morning for the past week to remind me of why we are so frantic and crazy. Why we are working so dang hard and sleeping so little. It is to celebrate and reach people. To explain our Missions in pictures and yes, with live horses and humans, too.
Babee Joy and Jeri-Ann will be in the corral for all to marvel at. They are "The Babies of THE FARM"
and they will be there in all their spendor and grand size. Guaranteed to steal your heart, you will want to attend if only to witness perhaps the largest horse you will ever touch and see!
And then, toward the end of the evening, our farrier, Isaac, will appear with Helen in full harness. What a thrill to see this mare who was destined to be euthanized on February 22nd come into that arena! She will have her head high and her feet coming straight out in front of her! She will be proud and Isaac will be beaming! He loves to drive her and she loves to be in harness! I can hardly wait to see that picture as it unfolds!
Finally, after that grand entrance, there will be "the surprise". Now, I can't tell you what it is but I can tell you that it will surprise you! In fact, it will surprise all of us since it is something we have never done before! Truly! We will make history Saturday evening at the conclusion of our Gala and you will NOT want to miss being a witness to the event! Trust me!
Tickets are $35 at the door and you are welcome from 6:30pm on throughout the evening. We will have finger foods for you and a cash bar. Our silent auction will entice you and help you with your holiday gift shopping . . . and maybe even spoil yourself a bit, too! And then there will be the horses. Ah, the horses.
Join us, won't you? In the midst of the hurricane, the election, and all of the "noise" of the world, come and spend an evening of celebration. An evening to recognize the work we volunteers do at Refuge Farms. Simply because we believe in it . . . we believe in working to save a life.
For directions or more information, simply email THE FARM at firstname.lastname@example.com. We'll be waiting for you!
I'll close with a poem written by one of the people working "behind the scenes" for The Gala, Jodi Giroux. She is an animal lover and recognizes the care and work we commit to in loving and rescuing these creatures. Her poem is a great observation and also kind, in its way. Transparent, it seems to me. Thank you, Jodi! Enjoy!
See you at The Gala!
Sandy and Jeri-Ann and Babee Joy and Helen and . . . .????????
I feel tension in my 'parent,'
Not only her,
but others who help
"What could be going on?"
"Is everything in check?"
Sandy wonders
" volunteers, music and food,
I hope it is a successful Gala"
I eat my grain,
Enjoying my treat,
But what's going on with all
This hustle, bustle and Gala thing?
"The logos! Donations!
Will they be sent in time?"
I have to get volunteers lined
Up at the U!"
I know my 'parent' loves me
I sense her relaxing around me
I think this craziness is for me
And my friends
Does she realize how grateful
We already are?
"So many places!
So little time!"
A checklist here, and
A checklist there
"We need the money to carry on
To keep these horses living on."
I whinny and give a stomp,
She's too busy and refuses
To look
I whinny and shake my head and
Finally! She turns a glance!
"What's going on my friend?"
Sandy asks
"Only if she can read my heart,"
He feels
They stand in silence
Looking at each other
Simultaneously expressing,
"Thank you and I love you!"
With a pat on the head from her
And a whinny from him
They go their ways
Knowing it'll all be okay!
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Time to Share!
It becomes such an easy thing to do . . . or not to do. To become so buried in these "TO DO LISTS" that communicating is left for another day. A rainy day. A day when the sun isn't shining and I am forced to be inside. A day when my chest is about bursting with news and I can no longer ignore the need to share.
Today is such a day. Yes, the sun is shining and it will be warmer than it has been in days. Yes, I have desk work beyond belief! Yes, the Fall Gala is less then a month away. And yes, my list of outside tasks that must be done is still four pages long. Literally. However, there is just too much to tell you!
So grab a cup of coffee. Settle in. Meet a few new ones that now live with us. Share in a few minor but significant-to-us victories. And catch up with the news of THE FARM! I do, truly, have so much to share!
On August 29th, I drove a short distance to Eau Claire to retrieve a clydesdale mare that had a "bad case of the scratches". As I walked around the corner and saw her, I knew immediately that what she was carrying was not the scratches and was quite severe, whatever it was. The odor from her legs was that of oozing pus and decaying flesh. The flies were black on her swollen tissue. She was gentle but even so, touching her festered legs was something that she really did not want you to do. This mare did not kick at you, she just brought her leg up quickly away from you. Just the look and the smell of the legs caused the faces of all who met her to wrinkle in disdain.
She loaded fairly well and as I drove home, my shoulders felt the weight of what had just happened. I have come to call it "assisted abandonment". The owner of the unwanted horse will tell you anything - how they will sponsor the horse, hold fundraisers for the horse, volunteer in the cares of the horse. They tell you anything they can think of to help you move to the point of saying "yes" to them. Then once the horse is in the Refuge Farms trailer, the owner disappears. Relieved of the burden of the animal. The horse is out of sight. Abandoned. With assistance, but abandoned, none the same.
And by that, I don't mean she is hard to handle. On the contrary! I have rarely seen such a compliant, trusting creature. The daily work to clean and treat her legs is the handful. Every day. Regardless of the lists or the weather or the day. Every day. Regardless of the work schedule, the tour schedule, or the event that day. Every day. A ninety minute process to clean, treat, and dry her legs.
We can already see progress in her legs and her personality and her body. She is still an easy 300 pounds too thin with those big hip bones sticking out and her neck nearly invisible. But she is starting to build a layer over her ribs and her bumps and welts are disappearing. She now allows me to clean her eyes which was not possible when she arrived. Touching her face at all was forbidden! Now, in a moment of pride I will - without thinking - kiss her nose. We both stand and - with all four of our eyes wide open in surprise! - we look at each other in total amazement! I touched her nose and she let me! BOTH of us are alarmed! And then we laugh. Touch is getting easier every day.
Her legs are better but far from healed. They will never be normal and she will never be healed. This will be a lifelong condition for her and I dread the thought of hot, humid summers. But by then, we'll have a routine and a handle on the treatments and both she and we will be better prepared to deal with the heat and the flies. Until then, we both learn. We learn how to treat her and she learns to trust us. It will be a long journey with this lovely mare but she is deserving. And we are willing.
RockMan has come to live with us. All the way from Illinois!
A foundation quarter horse gelding, this elderly man is quite a sweetie. Blind for quite some time, he is shy and unsure about being loose in a pasture. Each day, I take him into the big pasture, relieve him of his halter, and ask him to be a horse. Each day he does his best but is eager to have me put him in the small corral at the start of the evening. It is still too much to ask to have him be naked and free and mingle loose with the others. However, it will come in time.
The owner told me her vet had informed her that moving a blind horse was inhumane. That her horse should be put down instead of relocated. I wonder what RockMan would say to that if we were to ask him! He loves his feed and has just about demolished his first round bale. He wanders the yard and picks what remains of the lawn with Clyde Mare. The two are quite a couple and they kindly share the blades that still remain. His demeanor is a match for the big black mare - easy, soft mouthed, curious, slow to respond, and gentle. They have actually been very good for each other. Companionship is important to ease the fear of a new home and these two have both weathered the change very well. Thanks to each other.
The eyes of RockMan concern me. There is abnormal growth of his third eyelid in the socket and will require that we surgically remove that tissue. His teeth clank which tells me a floating is due. And his feet will be trimmed as soon as our Isaac appears on these grounds. But his flanks are not thin although his muscle tone is poor. Give him a few months wandering around the pasture and the yard and he will begin to build up his muscle again. His eyes water and that tells me they are uncomfortable. So the best thing we can do for this polite character is to resolve his eye situation. We'll be holding a fundraiser just for RockMan's eyes, so please stay tuned!
Our dear PONY! developed a touch of colic again last Wednesday evening. Looking back, I was focused on the lack of urine. However, I now realize that PONY! was positioning and extending simply to attempt to remove the pain he was experiencing. It was a long night of watching and checking and waiting. Afraid each time I put my hand on the door knob of the barn of what I would find when I went inside. Would PONY! be up or down? Eating or standing? In pain or resting?
"It" seems to have passed and the "normal" life has returned to him. He eats, follows Faith religiously, drinks, and licks us when we put on a blanket against the first of the winter north winds. As this horses ages, he is a sensitive creature and it is now our job to insure we maintain an even way of life for him. Keep him calm and without severe or sudden changes. Good rules for all of us as we all age!
And just this past week, the rescue side of this business has been kicked into high gear as well after going quiet for a short time. A very short time!
We have received calls for horses needing homes every single day of the week. A calm day was only one call that day. The busiest day was three calls with five horses. I believe the team of clydes has a home. The young Arab/Morgan gelding still is in need. He is healthy, trained, and beautiful! Please check our "Horses Needing Homes" bulletin board if you have room and an interest in a high caliber show horse who needs a home! And, in conversations and visits to four homes, six lovely creatures were helped over the bridge this past week. Six in one week. Tears cannot find a way out of me any more this week. That's too many in too few days. There are just so many unwanted horses.
Every time this week became too much for me, I went back in time to just two weeks ago. Whenever I was too tired to move. Too cold to move. Too weary to clean Clyde Mare again tonight. Too afriad to answer the telephone's ring. And too sad for words. Any time this past week that the world of rescue became too much for me, I went back just two weeks ago.
You see, two weeks ago today, I attended a parade in Wayzata, MN. And two very, very special boys were in that parade - our very own Dude and Randy! How handsome they were! How calm and at ease they were! And how very proud and thrilled I was to witness them walk down that quaint little street in that fancy neighborhood! Little did I know that day that I was creating a memory that would hold me together on rougher days. Little did I know that I would tape a picture to my wall to remind me how good it can be. How what all this work and all these tears can create. How, in some cases, what we give is the greatest gift of all. We give the gift of life!
Both Dude and Randy jiggle when they walk. And I love it! They are poised and confident and truly adored by the Zuhrah's. They travel in style and are treated like kings. I am so grateful for how well both of those horses "have landed". The answer to many prayers. And these horses live after many nights of worry and days of hard work. And then to see them in a summer parade! Oh, it just heals the heart of this old woman!
Many times this week, I've simply taken a break and walked the pasture. Stood and looked at the pudgy, round bellied Duchess as she eats her way to the center of the round bale. Stood and watched as Roman grazes and sleeps in the big pasture. Still in need of Miss April not far away but no longer having to be so close that he is touching her. He is gaining weight at a very slow rate, but he loves his feed and can now eat it! His mouth is healed and you can visibly see that the horse is content and enjoys simply being a horse in the company of other horses.
I watch as Clyde Mare becomes buddies with Lanna. And I see how Lanna smells the big mare and realizes she has issues in her legs but that she, too, is a big girl. As Lanna stretches up to find the withers of Clyde Mare you see on her face the realization that she has a big sister in the pasture with her now. Oh, how much fun they will have in the snow! And I watch as Hollie and Helen and Alexius bond even tighter. How PONY! thrives on his life surrounded by women. And how Faith patiently waits for her husband to catch up to her.
Yes, the Wayzata parade was a good thing to do going into this winter season. To remember how we found Dude half dead and dying. How we found Randy so thin that he put himself down in the trailer so he wouldn't fall down. And to see them walk down that street so round and shining! My heart needed those pictures that day. And I'm so happy to have witnessed their new lives in full blossom.
Thanks for listening. I needed to share all of these stories. To get these names in front of you so the stories of RockMan and Clyde Mare can continue. So you'll know where they came from and what we are facing with each of them. And so you'll know that with everything else going on, we are still working to rescue those that are out of options. Quietly and steadily. Working many times in the silence. Coming to the aide of the ones no one wants.
And yes, at times the act of rescue means helping them cross. A tough, tough lesson to learn. And an even tougher reality to face and try to accept. I still struggle with it after all these years and all these lives. But to walk away and leave them there? To leave them in the field? Like that? It isn't an option. At least not for Refuge Farms.
Take care of yourselves. Keep us in your prayers. And visit us, if you can. We are here. Saving lives. And changing the world one horse at a time.
Enjoy the journey of each and every day,


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text:
I guess some raises and bonuses are in order.
Well, you have to attract and retain the right sort of people…
That's probably the biggest unintentional risk to IT security…
Nobody outguns the insider-threat-IT-guy; but if you want people who have access to juicy information in the normal course of employment, are freqently unsavvy enough to open dubious attachments and the like, and often have enough institutional clout to flout onerous restrictions placed on lesser cube drones, just look at HQ.
yes, MBAs are Master Bullshit Artists, look what happened when we elected one president.
its not just internet security they're oblivious to.
What part of "The rules don't apply to us" don't you get?
Not mentioned in that article - the Cs and Vs will often insist on actively downgrading company security measures for their convenience, sometimes to the point where it actively puts everyone else at risk (not just indirectly when they get infected).
I remember one who just turned off the company's gateway firewall because it was interfering with his music pirating.
I'd be the last to argue that institutional IT isn't (in some locations) infested with incompetent, hidebound, obstructionists who really shouldn't be in the industry and/or are basically fucking with you; but one reason why the 'enterprise' IT user experience is so comparatively miserable is that the 'home' IT experience takes some crazy risks in the service of ease and convenience… Also, backwards compatibility and legacy systems integration.
"Everyone has to pass through the eye of the needle.
Except these people."
Oh, yea. That's one of my faves. In fact, I was at a place one day when there was a big meeting and some asshole decided that he HAD to have this fucking Elvis song as his "intro" - no one had a copy of it they could find quickly, so the infrastructure IT director became the pussy of all pussies and told the network guy to open the firewall so he could grab it from Lime Wire or whatever. Clearly this story pre-dates itunes/amazon, etc…
That was the day I lost all respect for that schlub.
I was in a roundtable meeting at one company where the CEO bitched about security being too tight - in a company regulated by the FDA of all things.
This thread could go on for weeks if just a handful of BB IT readers dropped a few stories. Sometimes it's a damn wonder some companies still function at all.
Seems pretty common. Long ago I was an intern in the office of a university's president. She didn't like dealing with email or other computer based tasks, so I'd read her emails to her and let her dictate responses. This gave me access to all of her email. She also didn't like using the university's enrollment management system, so I was tasked with that too. Since IT wouldn't give me more than the most basic access, she gave me her account credentials, which allowed me full access to all records for all students and alumni. While I never got up to any hijinks, it would have been easy to do on a massive scale undetected.
Many systems I set up during my consulting years had tons of exceptions built in for executives and their administrative staff. When CEO Bob is out of town, you can't have an approval holding everything up, so secretary Sam had an exception that let him do unlimited approvals. Since CEO Bob might be out of town or just out on the golf course at any moment, there was no restrictions on secretary Sam's ability to be CEO.
Often the problem is that the systems are initially designed with the theoretical way people think a company operates rather than the reality of how it operates. Once the system goes in place and the difference is discovered, holes are poked all over the place so those actually doing work can get it done. If you're a poor slob who isn't well connected in the company, good luck on getting one of those holes poked for you. Near the executive suite? Poke away!
This happens everywhere. For years I worked in a bank, preparing the cash that went straigt to ATM's all over the state. On one hand, they would drill into us how important that being the last line of defense in counterfeit detection, it's important that we scruitinize every bill that's flagged by the machines; on the other hand, if we're not keeping up production, we must be slacking off.
If a supervisor ran a currency counter that beeped too much, she would turn off all of the detectors so that she wouldn't be iconvenienced. If anything bogus got through to the ATM's, all they cared about was that it came through my office.
Every time you get cash out of an ATM, check the bills on the spot, no matter what the PR department tells you.
Can I flag a comment TIL?
The same basic principle is at play with national security. It has ever been that the "purchasers" of national security information (kings, queens, politicians, etc) were/are able to play fast and loose with the information they obtained (even - and especially - when doing so explicitly risked ongoing national security) in ways that got/gets peons executed, or at least sent to the Tower.
A number of years ago, I was working to stand up a SOC team, for an organization that was just standing up IDS/IPS and SIEM (obviously, now that you have it, you need people to interpret it. … )
I had noticed that some of the brute-force SSH assaults were coming so hot and heavy, that they approached saturating some of our smaller circuits and firewalls. So I noted the fact, and included it as part of an argument to enable rate-limitation on the firewalls (a fairly standard measure for dealing with DDOSs and brute force attackers. . . )
I then get called onto the carpet at end of day, a day or two later, where manglement is fretting over my "admission" that we were nearly DDOSed. I told them, no, I saw a potential problem, and wanted to fix it BEFORE it rose to DDOS levels. They would not let me leave until I added nearly a page of weasel-words, to the already-plain statement that this was a PREVENTATIVE measure because I saw the POTENTIAL for some occasional DDOS's in the future.
The same group INSISTED that I had not detected a trojan, that the workstation in question had tested clean, etc.
Until an outside audit group found the Trojan I had detected, AND the email chain of them denying what I had found.
Now, in a NORMAL world, I would have gotten a small bonus and a promotion. . .but what REALLY happened was at the end of the option year, they dropped the SOC Lead position, saying it was un-needed. . . . and so, once again, I found that no good deed goes unpunished. . .
Thinking about this some more, it seems that once people get to a certain level - be it in politics, intelligence, or business - they cease to think that they are part of the organisation (be it government, spook city, or corporation) and that the organisation is theirs, their plaything, to do with as they will. They don't have to follow the rules, because they set the rules, and it's effectively impossible for them to "break" the rules, because the rules are whatever they deem them to be. "When the President does it, that means it is not illegal" is the most public example, but far from the only one. Enron is another excellent example.
So, senior execs aren't a threat to IT security at all. IT security is exists to serve them, so if they deem that IT security is an embuggerance, well, let's not forget which is the horse and which is the cart. IT security can go to hell. And if the senior exec should royally screw the pooch … shrug the next senior exec position is only a golden parachute away.
No surprises here. I've seen this so many times I could've just screamed. But, I didn't. I just turned into a mega-bitch diva. Working as a consultant for many years showed me the horror show that exists many times.
Perhaps the worst company-company abuse was a company I worked for that charged a well-off Native American tribe close to a half million to install their new accounting system - which was a beta. And no back-ups of the original data was done! And yet, they love to say 'risk-management' in their round table meetings.
Or, a federal agency that had accounts existing for workers who hadn't been there is as much as 7 years, plus current accounts with killer access to sensitive information. Why? Because despite having hundreds of IT people on staff, they'd happily pull them off-task at any time to do special favors for execs until there was nothing left for the essentials. And then, they fell in love with their Blackberries - one of the crappest platforms I have ever encountered. More manpower lost.
I think the very worst were the 2 federal employees who harrassed a contractor so heavily that one day, he just went home and blew his brains out. Literally. They neither knew nor cared that the guy already had a history of depression and was being treated, but it wasn't enough to get past what he had to deal with every day. It does happen. Kind of made all the rest of the malware and virii and executive entitlement pale in comparison.
I suppose I could chime in with some of the silliness I've seen over the years, but instead I'll give props to my boss: she doesn't insist on any special treatment or IT privileges. She doesn't even have local admin on her laptop, and doesn't ever whine about it, either.
tl;dr: not everyone with "President" on their business card is a clue-free moron; just most of them.
Does it strike you that, due to the vast majority of clueless idiots, the type of boss like you have now become…I dunno, almost saintly to us in a way?
As someone in IT I've got to say; "Tell me something I don't know".


text:
August 2, 2016
The Thoughtful Branches stamp set is available to
order today. It's an EXCLUSIVE stamp set and
framelits bundle that is available only this month
and is only WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.
This month's card class will feature the
Thoughtful Branches stamp set.
Our new home in Port Dover
We spent July moving to Port Dover.
The move didn't quite go as planned. We had to
put all of our things into storage and then get them
back out of storage. Needless to say we are so happy
taking a well deserved break.
Thanks for visiting today!
Denise Donald
Craft D Cave


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Is there a recipe for the frosting you used?ReplyDelete
Hi! Yes, I just used white frosting and whipped in some Wilton's icing coloring. You have to do it very little at a time to get the pastel colors, just dip a toothpick into the coloring and then mix into about 2 cups of frosting (or so) to start.Delete
I think you could probably use chocolate and just dip them in and it would be good aswell. Going to give it a shot this week :)ReplyDelete
i think u buy white frosting in put food coloring in it or something to make the colorReplyDelete
Cool Easter treatsReplyDelete
I am going to make these. What a great idea! ThanksReplyDelete
It looks delicious and very decorative.. Great IdeaReplyDelete


text:
When I saw Woody Pines at Abilene during last year's Jazz Fest, I remember remarking to myself or to the like-minded yahoos I was hanging out with that in spite of all the references to ragtime and old time boogie, the Pines' drumless outfit — save for random visits to beat on the lone floor tom parked up front — reminded me of The Johnny Burnette Trio. If that doesn't help, let's just call it hot music; jumpin' old-time jazz with maximum stomp and shake appeal.
Woody Pines plays Wednesday, January 14, at Abilene Bar & Lounge, 153 Liberty Pole Way. 8:30 p.m. $10. abilenebarandlounge.com; woodypines.com.


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Hey guys, We're building a community for startups and entrepreneurs (http://teamstoryapp.com) iOS is currently live with invite-only: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/teamstory/id834137499?mt=8 and Android is in development right now (launching in summer) We have angel investors reaching out to us and asking about the valuation & pre-seed investments. We are just wondering how much we should raise in this case... 1. What are some valuation range for a startup / product like this? 2. How much of our valuation should we give to the investors (we're talking about a small investment like 50K) 3. Should we get investments at all for now? Right now we're silent launch with 300 iOS users and 1000 on waiting list on both android and iOS. Thanks
To answer your questions:
1) Mobile companies at your stage usually raise angel funding at a valuation equivalent of $5,000,000 for US based companies and $4,000,000 to $4,500,000 for Canadian companies.
2) The valuation is a function of how much you raise against that valuation. For instance, selling $50,000 at $5,000,000 means you are selling debt that will convert into shares equal to roughly 1% of your company.
3) I would encourage you to check out my other answers that I've recently written that talk in detail about what to raise and when to raise. Given that you've now launched and your launch is "quiet", most seed investors are going to want to see substantial traction before investing.
It's best for you to raise this money on a convertible note instead of actually selling equity, especially if you are intending on raising $50,000 - $100,000.
Happy to schedule a call with you to provide more specifics and encourage you to read through the answers I've provided re fundraising advice to early-stage companies as well.
Been there done this and got a major investor on board. Let me know if you'd like to chat.
First thing first, this purely depends on where you guys are based. If you're based in Silicon Valley you could potentially raise more money at a better valuation. My experience however is raising money in Europe, specifically in the UK and Portugal, and although I have raised from angels across the world from places like China, Singapore, US, and the Middle East, I will speak to the mentality of European investors.
At the stage you are at right now, I would suggest going for a 100,000 GBP round. Whatever amount you decide on, DO NOT CHANGE IT. Throughout the entire fundraising of this round (whether it is one week or two months) make sure not to change the asking amount. So be very picky with this number.
Second, set a minimum investment amount from each investor. Since you are dealing with a seed stage round, I would suggest to go with around 10k GBP (so max you end up with 10 investors with minimum amounts). If you feel that is too high then drop it to 5k, but then also bring your asking amount down to 50k.
Valuation range for your stage and startup (in Europe only) would be less than 1 million GBP (around 500k to 800k). If you're lucky and have a ton of interest from investors and can create competition among them, you could potentially get up to 1.5 million GBP. This means that if you're raising 100k GBP as a seed round, you'd be giving up between 10% to 25% depending on your valuation.
I would recommend not giving up more than 25% in a seed round, and know from experience that unless you're lucky or dealing with investors who don't know what they're doing, you will need to give up more than 10%.
I'm happy to speak in more detail about this if you feel it would be helpful.
Ali Ahmed
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