Shit Happens

One of the life changes I didn't anticipate when we moved to a rural area was The Whole Excrement Thing.

When the wind blows from the north, we smell the horse farm. When it blows from the west, we smell the pig farm. And when it blows down from above our house, we smell the gas from our own septic field.

Our chickens, duck, and turkeys create waste that we can easily reuse. The humans, dogs and cats present more of a problem since we are all meat-eaters. I know that The Humanure by Jenkins gives ideas about recycling human waste (haven't read it yet), and our Septic System Owners Manual is wonderfully indispensable.

Grabill Library

I've been at Grabill Branch for about 6 months now, and I continue to be excited about meeting new patrons and finding out about their interests, as well as getting to know the other folks who work here. I've met many patrons who are also interested in farming, rural living, animal husbandry, and books and reading.

Since I've moved from an urban branch to a rural branch, I'm now in the minority in my political and religious views. I'm a pants-on-fire liberall, and most of the people I serve are very conservative. While it was fun to serve urban patrons who were "like me," there's something essential that I'm trying to learn about serving people with a different world view than the one I have. I haven't really figured it out yet, but I'm working on it.

Earlier this summer, we had a visit from my dad who lives in Portland Oregon (Portland is probably the most ruralexperi city there is, props to all you chicken owners in Portland!). We visited Plainwell, Michigan to see the Wiggins clan and play some family baseball.

Hair, Flow it, Show it

After clumps of hair started coming out each time Zoe shampooed, I knew that something was wrong. We went to visit our family doc, who tells me she has a type of alopecia. Zoe will probably lose about 90% of her hair, but in six months or so she'll start growing it back.

Needless to say, I've been ruminating on why (that answer will come with our blood test results next week), as well as the meaning of hair in general. Why am I so devastated for her?


If you were a caricature artist drawing a picture of my family, you'd draw me with a big nose, my husband with a bald head, my son with ears that stick out like a car with both doors open, and Zoe with really big hair. Her hair is her most salient feature, the curly mop I've been so vain about since she was born. My own hair is thin and fine, soft but insubstantial, but Zoe's hair is a wild and sensuous. It is part of our bond as mother and daughter, and I am responsible for washing it, putting it up, getting it cut, and stroking it when she's sick or can't sleep. I know that of all the things that could go wrong with a child's health, this is not the worst. And yet.

Thanksgiving

Inspired by Barbara Kingsolver, I bought our turkey, Thanksgiving. She runs around behind me in the yard, and if you've never seen a turkey run, you're missing out on hilarity.

Unfortunately, she's such a gentle giant that the hens and roosters peck at her, so she has to be kept separate from them. Lesson learned - Never get just one of any animal. It's a lonely life.

The Windmill

Here's our new 20 foot windmill, built by Mark and installed by Mark and Nub. The windmill is aerating our pond so that it will be less mucky and more swimmable. As you can see, Pudge finds it perfectly swimmable already!

It took Mark several weeks of work in the garage to get most of the unit built. The last section was so large it had to be finished in our yard. Then we packed the whole thing on our John Deere and drove it to the site. Post holes were dug, cement* poured, and the windmill is now firmly anchored. When we get a good gust, the top turns to catch the wind, the compresser inside the top does its magic thing, forcing air through the tubing into the airstone sunk at the bottom of our pond. Little bubbles come up from the bottom.

*Note: A fan of this page (okay, it was my husband) has explained to me that cement is what you pour, and concrete is what it becomes. My original post used the word "concrete" when I should have said "cement."

Kudos to Scottie

My big brother Scott works in New York doing party planning, hosting, captaining, serving, tear down, the whole party shebang. I'm excited to see that Sara Moulton at Gourmet Magazine mentioned him and his best friend Gunna in her blog. She's sharing Scotty and Gunna's tips for party prep. Enjoy!

Click here to learn Scotty's Secrets

Vintage 1968

Big birthday tomorrow for the hubby! We'll be inviting everyone over in June to celebrate; By then, he should be done being bummed out.

Listen to a bit of Wilco to celebrate!

Not Bill's best work

My new favorite call number.

Our new pet

Introducing the newest member of the ScheniWigg family . . . Darla the Beagle! She came from an Amish farm just outside of Grabill, where she lived with her many howling brothers and sisters.

Serving the Amish

My new job includes serving a population I had not served before - The Amish. While every population we serve in libraries has its stories of injustice, today I'm working on one related to Old Order Amish.

Old Order Amish people do not have their photos taken - this relates to the issue of "graven images" in the Bible. I have a patron who needs to travel to Canada for his job. He can get through the border with a passport - which requires 2 photos - or with his birth certificate and photo ID. I have talked to our local passport offices, to our federal Passport offices, and to the Department of Homeland Security. None of them could help. Now I'm calling the borders in the US and Canada at his specific points of entry and departure to see how we can ensure he can get into and out of Canada.

The person at Homeland Security agreed that this religious issue needs to be resolved - After all, she said, we wouldn't "make a Jewish person to eat a porkchop" to get into our country.

yep, that's a gater

Guess where the photographer (me) is? BEHIND the truck, with the door open so I can hop in. Hope Mark doesn't expect me to fight that prehistoric man-eater with him, because he's on his own.

Winter's Last Day

Here's our (hopefully) last day of snow in Indiana. As usual, Zoe is forgaing for art supplies in the woods.

Grabill

Good news - My library just got rural, too. I'm now managing a branch library in a town which is bigger than the town where I live, but small enough to be called rural. You can see more at http://grblibrary.wordpress.com/

Zoe does a "Christmas Story"

My daughter stuck her tongue to a metal hitching post in our yard, in sub zero weather. Her tongue will heal, and in the meantime, we're eating a lot of soft foods. Why, why, why would a child who has seen "A Christmas Story" do this? I think some people just have to lick the 9 volt batteries and touch the electric fences in life. She's one of them.