Of mice and men

When my gut says that the noise I'm hearing in the car is the scrabbling of mice, apparently I really SHOULD believe my gut. A new air filter, re-attached muffler, and a repaired strut = a MUCH quieter and smoother-riding vehicle!

Truck-driving brother was in town on Monday. I dragged him to dinner with my in-laws and we fed and socialized him for an hour or so. Very good times. My favorite story of the evening was when he told of parking his new-to-him semi in eldest brother's driveway. Nephew (~2 or 3 at the time) came out and stomped his foot, emphatically saying "Optimus, TRANSFORM!" several times. Ahh... the power of a father's influence.

I have a tentative exit date at work and a trainee to train.

A loved one has said the long goodbye to her grandmother. Thoughts are, and have been, with her.

I'm working 7 days a week and living with the in-laws. I'm being spoiled rotten.

Sold my car (poof goes that debt!)

We're on track to pay off another 1/3 of our non-mortgage debt before the end of the year.

House is still on the market. Nothing much happening there.

Goats are moved to their new home. Across the street from my in-laws!! :-D

Calves are getting shipped to Iowa next week (I won't be riding along to see the sale/visit family.)

Another truckload is tentatively planned for the January 22nd sale.

I haven't strapped on my roller derby skates since September.

Hockey season has started without me signing up for the team.

I finally retired my old flip phone and have the new iPhone 5. OH MY GOSH FACETIME IS AMAZING.

Oh hey, Thanksgiving is next week. Where did Sept/Oct/Nov go?!?!


And that, in a nutshell, is what has (and hasn't) been going on the last several months.

Moving house

We literally moved a house today. Dixie's dog house is in the moving truck, waiting for it's ride out west. It took three people, but it's in. I'm covered in gasoline from emptying the generator's tank and pretty much every muscle is sore. The brain checked out several hours ago while trying to carry on a conversation with my mom, who was out helping load.

Mom let me catch an extra hour of sleep this morning (I took the couch so she could have the air mattress. Luxury accommodations we have around here.) Coming downstairs to a drastically smaller pile of boxes was pretty much magical. I planned on being on the road mid-day at the latest but between screwing up the truck rental, taking FOREVER to load, and losing a cat to the great outdoors... well, this trip's departure is getting delayed until the morning. There are a few odds and ends left around the main living quarters. The big things left to pack/load are the tools/basement and cat supplies. Whether I've got one cat or two will modify some of the plans. There is a Havahart currently baited on the porch with cat food but I'm not counting on that working. Oh! The couch and armchair finally got sold and the buyers picked them up this morning. Getting them out the door was major. Now the only furniture left in the house is a folding table, two bedside tables, two folding chairs and a dresser from my parents.

There are some power tools waiting to be loaded and a wall full of hand tools to pack/load, along with gardening supplies. After they're in then it's time to get the cats and their things and hit the road!

Can. Not. Wait.

And the wheels keep rollin'

Hubs is out in Missouri now. He left Saturday morning (uh... the fifteenth, to be precise) in the truck with dog and rented trailer in tow. We keep reminding ourselves that the separation is only temporary and that we'll soon be working on OUR dreams together.

While he's out there, I've got changes going on back here on the flat track. I got back on skates for practice this past Tuesday. It was the first league practice that I've been on skates for since... uh... late February or so. The big change is that I was skating as ref-in-training. *shudder* Oh how I'd rather play.

With the big move actually (for REALZ) happening now, I got on the wait list for Philly's WFTDA officiating clinic in hopes of getting a couple days of referee training in without the additional expense of plane tickets. I'll still need lots of practice at scrimmages before I can officiate a bout, but it's a chance to practice without skaters depending on my making the correct call (or really hoping that I goof and they can get away with stuff!) Last year's clinic ended with volunteer skaters "scrimmaging" and the head ref directing skaters to play out completely illegal scenarios in order to see who was paying attention amongst the ref crew. I volunteered to skate that and it was fantastically fun.

The house is scheduled to be listed on July 1st, so going to the officiating clinic leaves me with even less time to prepare the house before showings. A few people are coming out on Sunday to help clean/pack/sort. The realtor needs to come in before the listing goes up and get pictures taken for the listing. The chicken fencing *should* be taken down, chickens moved to their new home and the chicken yard re-seeded. That's looking less and less likely to happen. I still need to work (can't that robot just program itself?!) and bigger projects need to be taken care of.

On the robotics side of things, I've finally gotten back into the groove of hammering out nitty gritty details in my protocols so that SNP genotyping can be restored to its previous mostly-automated status at the core. (I should probably actually try to remember what the core's latest name is. It changed while I was out for Baby Brother's wedding.) I have to trouble-shoot some of the programming that has been running for a few months on the new instrument as well as dance around the unforeseen drawbacks of the older instrument's upgrade. At this point it is a lot of repetitive, line-by-line alterations as I attempt to emulate a human's motions. It's funny how our "automatic" movements are so simple to us yet so difficult to define and execute via mechanical means.

Hopefully this weekend I'll get some sleep and a decent cup of coffee. I'm one of those needs-coffee-before-making-coffee people and am usually lucky I don't pour the hot water into the toaster. Or try to put it in the cupboard with the coffee beans. Yesterday's walking into a veritable sea of maggots all over the kitchen took coffee-making to a whole new level of Not Happening. (I still have no idea where exactly they came from but a general purging seems to have cleared them. I'm suspecting the frozen (and I thought fully sealed) items that had to be pulled out when the freezers were sold are the origin of that adventure.)

Aaand once again it's WAY past bedtime!

How to scare your mother.

So I called my mom up today to wish her a belated happy Mother's Day. I hear it ring a couple of times and then I can hear her talking to someone as she answers the phone. And then I get greeted with an "Is everything OKAY?!?!" in a very alarmed tone of voice. "Um... yeah Mom... I'm a bad daughter and didn't call you two days ago for Mother's Day, why?" "Oh, the weirdest thing just happened. Your brother called not 30 seconds ago and I didn't answer. When you called right away, I thought something was wrong."

*headdesk* My brother and I should have been born as twins. I mean... really.

I then had my own phone beep as I got an incoming call that I've been waiting for, so I hastily (*cough* basically) hung up on my poor mother.

Yep, that's how we roll for Mother's Day around here.

A Hamster's Vent

Hey science-types!

Have you thanked your hamsters recently? Both publicly AND privately? Are you breaking new ground with your research data?

We know you're busy and tons of people may have contributed to the project and all that, but seriously. If there is someone who has handled every single sample from ALL of those oh-so-many people and also brings years of experience to the process to boot - YOU CAN SPARE A LINE FOR THEIR NAME! Not just the institutional name - the PERSON.

Put it in print. Put it in print even when you think they'll NEVER see it.

Acknowledgements are easy and rather painless compared to the headaches you went through to get all of that other information you are now SO excited to share.

You'd be surprised at what a difference cookies can make. After all, giving us cookies gives you an excuse to spread the news of your research into an even wider circle.



Just don't ask for my picture. Put up a baby goat picture instead. Thanking your hamsters really doesn't have to be an exercise in visual boredom. We're hamsters, not supermodels.

Things I learned from hockey.

I'm busy packing up the coaching books for hockey. There are some gems of advice in these books that I'm having a hard time putting away!

Angling In: Skating into the boards at an angle means better puck control and less risk of injury.
- Skating in on an angle affords players a better approach angle to the puck, and by giving the body a safe position to accept an impact with the boards, it allows players to keep skating and gain control of the puck.
- When players skate into the corners at an angle, the risk of hitting the boards with their helmets first is greatly reduced. A leg, side or arm will absorb most of the impact.

Important points of "angling in"
- Go in on an angle.
- Keep a low center of gravity.
- Knees bent, back straight and head up.
- Absorb the shock over the widest possible part of your body.
- Keep your feet parallel to the boards.
- Forearms - hands - legs ready.
- Lean into the impact.
- Never hit the boards or glass with the tip of your shoulder.
- Check over your shoulder to see where your opponent is.

Taking a Check:
Heads up - don't duck.
Keep your head out of it.
Know where your opponents are.
Skate through the check.

Giving a Check:
Separating the puck from your opponent, not separating your opponent from consciousness.

The box count is at...

9 small and 1 medium.

DVD's, the good china (packed with some of my fabric), books, textbooks and canning/camping supplies.

2 kitchen cupboards are completely empty, several bookshelves in the den are half emptied and the DVD bookshelf is 2/3's empty.

We've still got a lot of packing and sorting to do and the wall of boxes is already looking intimidating. Next up are the rest of my college textbooks and then probably sorting through old clothes before hitting the sewing supplies. Then I may have the gumption to start packing canned goods. I'm a little scared of breaking one of those in transit!!!

The Crowned Flower screens are hopefully ready for use. I think I may have to touch up one before I can use it. I'll be glad to get those shirts printed and sent off. One more project complete is one less on the to-do list! I've got a long-overdue housewarming gift + baby gift ready to go as soon as I can find everything. One of the items is hiding in the clean clothes and I've yet to locate it. There's a dress hanging up for the niece that needs some embellishment, then it will be ready to ship out.

Alrighty. Rambling post, but I had to note that packing is starting! Trying to sort out the excess as I go, but that may not last long. I'm already tired of packing! Just throw it all in boxes!! YERGH!!!

A little bit of law.

Farmer to Consumer has this blurb up. (This is the case of raw milk being transported across state lines and distributed in a type of raw milk buyer's club in Georgia. The case is depicted in the movie Farmageddon.)

"FDA's Views on Freedom of Choice

Here are some of FDA's views expressed in its response on 'freedom of food choice' in general and on the right to obtain and consume raw milk in particular:

"Plaintiffs' assertion of a new 'fundamental right' to produce, obtain, and consume unpasteurized milk lacks any support in law." [p. 4]

"It is within HHS's authority . . . to institute an intrastate ban [on unpasteurized milk] as well." [p. 6]

"Plaintiffs' assertion of a new 'fundamental right' under substantive due process to produce, obtain, and consume unpasteurized milk lacks any support in law." [p.17]

"There is no absolute right to consume or feed children any particular food." [p. 25]

"There is no 'deeply rooted' historical tradition of unfettered access to foods of all kinds." [p. 26]

"Plaintiffs' assertion of a 'fundamental right to their own bodily and physical health, which includes what foods they do and do not choose to consume for themselves and their families' is similarly unavailing because plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish." [p. 26]

FDA's brief goes on to state that "even if such a right did exist, it would not render FDA's regulations unconstitutional because prohibiting the interstate sale and distribution of unpasteurized milk promotes bodily and physical health." [p. 27]

"There is no fundamental right to freedom of contract." [p. 27]"

Document Referenced: http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/litigation/ey100426--ds%20mtd%20memo%20in%20support.pdf


I find this paragraph particularly interesting:

"Plaintiffs argue that “FDA could use a less stringent means of regulating raw milk,” such as warning labels stating that the products are unpasteurized. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 79-81, 105-108. In promulgating 21 C.F.R. § 1240.61, FDA specifically considered “the use of labeling to ensure that consumers who voluntarily choose to consume raw milk are informed as to the risks inherent in that choice,” but FDA concluded, for reasons it explained, “that labeling is not an acceptable alternative approach.” 52 Fed. Reg. at 29,513 (explaining that “the risk of infection . . . does not arise from the misuse or abuse of the product but rather from its customary food use,” and those who “are particularly susceptible to serious risks of infection,” including the elderly and children, “may not have the ability or the opportunity to understand the risks identified in labeling”). FDA could have also prohibited intrastate sales but concluded “that State and local authorities may be better situated to deal with the public health problems attributable to unpasteurized milk.” Id. Whether FDA used the least restrictive means to accomplish its goal, however, is immaterial under a rational basis review. See Heller, 509 U.S. at 330 (holding that whether a less restrictive means exists to further the legislative aims “is irrelevant in rational-basis review”)."

Basically, warning labels are inadequate because children and elderly may consume this "risky" product.

Initial digging shows that individuals who travel across state lines to purchase raw milk will not have enforcement action taken against them by the FDA. (FDA's authority to regulate interstate commerce is challenged, and dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa Western Division.)

"(FDA’s response to the court’s questions ante); 3 Plaintiffs’ Appendix (as amended) at 292 (FDA’s press release, dated November 1, 2011, stating, inter alia, “With respect to the interstate sale and distribution of raw milk, the FDA has never taken, nor does it intend to take, enforcement action against an individual who purchased and transported raw milk across state lines solely for his or her own personal consumption.” (emphasis in the original))."

It appears that the GEORGIA Department of Agriculture ordered the dumping of Wagoner's raw milk, not the FDA. The FDA's code is as follows:
"(a) No person shall cause to be delivered into interstate commerce or shall sell, otherwise distribute, or hold for sale or other distribution after shipment in interstate commerce any milk or milk product in final package form for direct human consumption unless the product has been pasteurized or is made from dairy ingredients (milk or milk products) that have all been pasteurized, except where alternative procedures to pasteurization are provided for by regulation, such as in part 133 of this chapter for curing of certain cheese varieties."

Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund is apparently trying to use the dumping of Wagoner's milk in an argument against the FDA's code concerning distribution of raw milk in interstate commerce. The FDA has stated that farmers who sell to out-of-state consumers may attract regulatory action. The court system pretty much takes the stance that the case is not ripe.

At some point I'd like to dig further into the Morningland case, and read more of the Farm to Consumer papers.
Morningland Dairy's story

Case 5:10-cv-04018-MWB Document 11-1 (Brief in support of case dismissal)

Oh, and a local farm - Meadowsweet Farm

If I have to go to work on a Saturday...

Then I'm doing it while wearing all things soft 'n fuzzy.

Kind of like our Team Neon vs Team Black scrimmage. We can, so why not?