Does VT Celebr8 BHM? IDK. But they do like the VDay Phntm

I've searched through the publications in the area and couldn't find any Black History Month (BHM) programs. But there sure was buzz about the Valentine Phantom- An odd, harmful, silly local lore... It was on the front page of the local paper. http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100215/NEWS01/2150337 Anyway, I didn't even realize it was BHM until NPR announced a program was sponsored by Annie E Casey Foundation in honor of BHM. Also, CNN had on another Black in America segment. And I watched a provocative short on HBO entitled Red Eye about how Black men are viewed through the lens of different perspectives.

I subscribe to the school of thought that Black History (and Native People's History and Mexican History) should be an integrated part of our society, not relegated to a particular month of the year. Besides, February has a lot of other distractions like the Olympics, Lent and as my coworkers declare, American Idol. I love the Olympics. It's the ultimate sporting event; a celebration of cultures and countries and sports. The pageantry and spectacle of it all is amazing. Plus the back stories of some of the Olympians are quite interesting. And yes, even in the Winter Olympics, there are some Black folk in there. Just last night there was an adorable young Australian ice skater whose father was Chinese and mother was Black (from Louisiana). And the night before one of the female bobsledders from Canada was Black.

Then Mark is driving down the interstate going home from a quick home improvement job and gets pulled over by a state trooper. Mark drives a late model red Dodge Ram truck with CT plates (no we haven't changed them over yet) and his records aren't quite straight. When the trooper approaches the driver's side, Mark asked him what the problem was. The trooper responded that he wanted his autograph. Mark is tall, 6 foot 5 inches tall. So he "excuse me" to the trooper. The trooper responded, "come on Mike. I know who you are. I just want your autograph for my kid." Mark responds that he is mistaken about who he is. The trooper laughs and says "I know you're Michael Jordan, I just want a quick autograph". Then a call comes over the radio and the trooper shoved the booklet at Mark. Mark scribbled his signature (which looks like scribbles). The trooper says thanks, runs back to his car and peals off. Mark said he drove 50 mph the rest of the way and didn't stop shaking til he got home.

I'm sure if we venture up to Burlington, the largest city in VT, we could find something happening. But it's not like CT or CA where there is evidence everywhere. Just something else to deal with being one of the few Blacks in VT.

You Know It’s Hard Out Here For A… Farmer!

We've divided up chores and among other things, I'm responsible for feeding the cats and rabbits before catching the bus at 6:15am. Mark feeds the chickens, goat, sheep and alpaca before he leaves for the day. Now that my commute will be half of what it was, (I was just hired as part of a Community Health Team) I will pick up the chickens.

We built the rabbit hutch and chicken coop ourselves. When we budgeted for the animals, we didn't take into account a number of very important things. Did you know that when temperatures dropped below freezing that would mean that the water for the animals would freeze? We had to invest in heating lamps. We also didn't take into account that that the heating lamps wouldn't necessarily work as well in a large space. So we needed to invest in a heated water bucket for the barn/shed (another ghetto project)

for the goat, sheep and alpaca. We had wanted to use our shed as a barn, but it's on a solid rock ledge, so sadly we couldn't use it. New barns run $1500-$3000 depending on size and materials used. And we weren't up to building a barn from scratch. Instead, I found a shed on craigslist that we had to disassemble for transport and reassemble on our property. Another ghetto project and it only took us a WHOLE month…

We also thought that the garage (where we house the rabbits and cats) would maintain temperatures above freezing, but it doesn't. We were fortunate enough to get a wood stove for free! But there's this little issue called wood that we didn't think through. As noted in a previous post, Mark is a pyromaniac. He has been cutting up fallen trees and using them as wood in our (now-ruined) outdoor fire pit, since we moved in.

So it didn't seem like much of a leap to use that wood for the woodstove in the garage. Well… Mark says it's not as easy as we thought. Especially since he's now cutting and splitting wood in sub-freezing temps. Thankfully, he does it and now the garage is toastier than the house!

Besides our hot water… you know what else runs on oil – our HEATERS! We dumbass city slickers thought our heaters ran on gas. When we ran out of oil a few months ago, the weather was mild so we didn't realize the heaters weren't working. We went through the last oil fill-up fast! Now that it's cold – it was -1* (minus/negative one degree) the other day – we noticed when we ran out of oil! It's funny how you use more oil in the winter. And we didn't budget for this. We still have animals to feed, not to mention feeding ourselves. Fortunately, the oil company is willing to work with us. They only charged us half of the non-route/emergency fee that they would have… Mark is now rethinking the wood stove project I lobbied for, that he previously protested when it was warm outside. We are not going through this again. It sucks.

I've been riding to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center for the past four months on a commuter bus. Although it's only 30 minutes from my exit to the hospital exit, on the bus it's about 90 minutes each way which includes the various stops on the way. It doesn't make sense to drive everyday when the bus is only $1 each way. Although I did start ridesharing two days a week.

It's been rough (for me) on the bus since I have motion sickness issues, I leave home at dark and get home at dark, and from the time I get on the bus in the morning to the time I get off at the end of the day is 12 hours. Although it was a great place to work, I won't have to worry about all that anymore. Anyway, some of us were chatting the other day and this one woman was talking about how she spent $6500 on oil to heat her home in one season. She was trying to be frugal and kept her heat set at 60* - which is cold. She said she dressed in layers and slept with her dogs. $6500 to be cold?!?!?!?!? Another woman was saying that they kept their thermostat at 65* and dressed in layers. We all agreed that we want to be able to walk around in our undies and be comfortable, whether it was winter or summer. The woman with the dogs just moved into an energy efficient home and her house faces south, so her heating bills are a small fraction of what they were, plus her electric bills are under $50 month! That's what I'm talking about.

These experiences have made me realize that in addition to the books/manuals and helpful advice from friends and neighbors, we need instruction. I am proudly about to begin taking farming classes - All part of a University of Vermont Women's Agricultural Network program. Budgeting is included! Hopefully this will be the end of just plain ghetto and the beginning of structure with alittle flavor.