Time to Wake Up!

We have this little chicken....a rooster actually. He's one of the two hatch-lings I let our broody hen hatch a couple of months ago. In the last couple of days he's started this pathetic, scratchy crowing, like an adolescent rooster who's voice breaks in all the wrong places. I heard him the first time today, and thought, what is that...a chicken with an egg stuck? When I realized the little guy had found his voice, I smiled, and thought about our fledgling Occupy movement that is just starting to find its own unified voice. Like that little rooster, the Occupy movement is young and full of energy, and sometimes our voice breaks as we all try to air our grievances with the corrupt corporations that run our politicians and our country. But I have no doubt, that like that young rooster that lives up the hill in my llama barn, the Occupy movement will find its unified voice and grow strong, singing out across the nation and around the world. "Cock-a-doodle-doo." "It's time to wake up!"

Last week Richard and I took our kids and headed down to the first Occupy Pueblo demonstration. What a life changing event! I reunited with an old friend, made some new friends and watched as people joined together in a courageous attempt to stand up for themselves against the corporate system of greed that has taken so much of our power away as a people, and as individual human beings...the evil, brainwashing, soul-stealing 1% that would keep us all in our sheeple skin, unquestioning, punching time clocks, making profits for them as they sit in their ivory towers and comfortable lives, turning a blind eye to the people they step on in their endless greed. Can it be that we as a nation have finally woken up? And not just to the greed that runs rampant in Wall Street and our political system, but maybe some of us have begun to wake up spiritually from the slumber our spirits have been in since the consumerist ideology has told us we can only be good enough, pretty enough, smart enough, wealthy enough if we go out there and support the capitalist system. More, more more.

Our entire society is based upon a failing system. Peak oil has passed, wall street has crashed and the big banks got bailed out. A few young people...college students...in New York City decided to band together and say enough is enough. College students can't pay their student loans (heck, I'm middle aged, a late in life graduate, and I can't pay mine), houses are getting foreclosed on at an alarming rate, jobs are being eliminated, and our hardworking Americans are being thrust out into the streets, creating a huge, HUGE, population of homeless people that includes veterans, and families with young children. The unemployment rate is absurd. No one can live on minimum wage, if they are lucky enough to have a job, and the banks are pounding on our doors: "Give us more money!" The big corporations who got bailed out won't give us a break. They got to write off their debts, why can't we?

So, Occupy Wall Street was born on September 17, 2011 in a park in NYC, across the street from Wall Street...a peaceful protest of individuals gathered together to voice their unhappiness and frustration with the Coporatocracy that has been running this country, been running the world with their unjust wars, their environmental degradation, their corrupt healthcare system and unhealthy agricultural system.

Finally! Here it is then, the wake up call for the American people. The American Dream is over folks. Even if you can get a decent paying job with fairly good health insurance, it can only last so long. And sure, some of us might be able to get by until our last days, when we hand our planet over to a younger generation who is asking, "what do I do with this mess?" But I think it has become our responsibility to stand up and fight the fight with those brave souls who began this, dare I say, Revolution?

When Richard and I fled the city, we were looking for a better place where we could raise our own food and raise our children in a cleaner, safer place while the world fell apart. Isn't it ironic then that my kids and even myself are not healthy, but suffer from unknown symptoms, even though we eat an organic, locally grown, no red meat, little dairy diet? What is going on?

Yesterday we attended the first Occupy Canon City demonstration, where a couple of dozen brave souls stood together on a corner in front of the Wells Fargo to show our solidarity with our brothers and sisters across the nation and around the world in the Occupy movement, and to support the Occupy Wall Street Occupiers, where this Revolution began.

It's a scary thing to put yourself out there and stand up for your rights and the rights of an American people, most of whom are still asleep at the wheel, driving to their dead end jobs for very little pay, and going home to a house they can't afford or a house that's value has dropped so significantly in the past two years--what is called "upside down." We had one of those babies in the Springs, a beautiful 100 year old Victorian, we had to offer in a short sale, because the interest only payment was too high as Richard's pay continued to be cut every year so the "corporation" could see more profits. Everything we put into it over seven years...new windows, landscaping, remodeled bathrooms...all lost. We were lucky to walk away without a bill.

It has been our dream and our goal to live sustainably on a piece of land and cut our ties to the consumerist culture that has hoodwinked so many people into lives of slavery to the system. So, certainly when this movement began, we were supporters from the get go and will hang in there until drastic change comes about in the American political system and the Corporatocracy is disbanded and eliminated. Richard and I have always been about building local community, and it is in the days, weeks and months ahead that that community will become so important as we help each other to survive the coming chaos.

Yes, I think this is the beginning of what all of the great spiritual masters would call the Global Awakening" and it ain't gonna be pretty folks. It is also the collapse of an American, no, WORLD culture of consumerism, which was on its way after we reached peak oil. We can stand in our towns and Occupy and band together to stand up against the 1%, which is phenomenal, but we really, really need to think about what our future as America looks like. We need to rebuild our communities and learn from the Occupation on Wall Street. In one month they have formed a egalitarian, working society in their park, a community where every individual is valued for what he or she brings to the table. Remarkable and wonderful. I am in awe of the way things are working out.

And of course the Corporatocracy will fight it. And mainstream America will fight it too for a while. People are scared. What do we do next? What happens when it all falls apart? Where do we go when our jobs no longer exist and the shopping malls have been shut down? That's where community comes in. Find it. Build it. It will save your life.

Last night when we got home from our Occupation, followed by a dog training class for my girl Honey, who was very well behaved at the protest, there was the most horrendous noise in the neighborhood. Metal on metal, squealing. They are drilling another well in the oil drill across the ravine. There is already a pump in, next to the evaporation pond. I suspect this new hole is for dumping the chemicals to extract that hard to reach oil that hides between layers of shale and rock. I'm pretty sure they are fracking less than a mile from my house.

I'm crying now, as I think of how we moved here to give our kids a chance...a future. And now we are stuck with a house we can't sell...it is just worth what we paid for it two years ago...dropped in equity 50K. Before we joined the Occupation, we were making a list of pros and cons about abandoning this place, this house, this property we have built barns on and put gardens in, and running to a clean piece of land we could buy outright with our next tax refund. Sure, we'd have to start over, and maybe live in a tent or a camp trailer for a few years, but maybe my head would stop hurting and my kids' autistic symptoms would go away.

Yeah, I'm ready for a Revolution! I will stand and fight this fight as I can, for my children, for my neighbors, for the planet. It is time to start over. Abolish the corrupt systems and begin again. Clean slate.

Cock-a-doodle-doo! Wake up!!!

Revolution underway?

Big Ugly...about 3 1/2" long.

I was going to write about all of the critters I have encountered since we've been here at our little farmstead...like the tarantula stuck in the tire, going round and round (note: I put a large rock in the tire so he could crawl out), or the fat toad I caught one night on my way to put the chickens to bed, or the cows that ran rampant through the neighborhood one spring morning, or the wild donkey herd that came last summer, but that will have to wait because big things are afoot in our nation that I can't help but comment on.

Occupy Wall Street began as a movement to let Corporate America know that the other 99% of America is fed up with the 1% who holds the wealth and power in this country. I think the protestors have been in place for two weeks now (correction: since Sept 17) and holding strong in NYC. Good for them! And to show solidarity and support, other cities across the nation have joined in, creating an "Occupy" movement around the country. I am so proud!

Could it finally be happening? The moment I've been waiting for...the new American Revolution underway, as citizens of our sad country become fed up enough with the powers in control (that 1%) and join together (that other 99%) to make a difference?

It began when I saw a brief mention on the local news of the Occupy movement coming to Colorado Springs, soon to be followed by another movement starting in Pueblo. There was enough interest, at least in my own household, to find out more, and to find out how we could be a part of the growing revolution, and on the heels of our own 350.org protest walk Sept 24, we are ready! I think activism feeds more activism...or maybe I've just been tired for so long of all of the stupid crap happening in our great nation, I am eager to join in wherever I can. Too bad I didn't have the foresight to start this thing (or the power and ability), but it turns out one of my dear old best friends from years ago does, and she and others are rallying the masses for a protest march in Pueblo on Friday. I am so thrilled!

But herein the questions arise. What are we marching for? What are we trying to gain from this? Will there be trouble? Should I worry about taking my kids (If I don't, I can't participate). Could I get arrested? How could I pay bail? What would happen to the kids? Should Richard call in sick to be a part of it? Will anyone else from our community be there? Should we start an "Occupy Canon City" movement? Where would we protest? The one Wells Fargo in town? My head is full of What ifs and What fors, along with my usual  anxiety or dizziness issues, and it is not pretty.

Logistics aside, I think I have to try to go because this is what I have been waiting for for so long...enough people on board to make a difference. We are trying to gain the upper hand. 100 monkeys. Throw it over into a snowballing, growing majority of fed up Americans who really want to change the control of our nation, who want to take back the democracy so that we the people can make the important decisions about our nation, instead of that 1% of white, rich, power hungry men who are hell bent on destroying the world we live in for their own profit. This is what it is all about! The lack of jobs, the environmental degradation, the sickness of our people because of Agribusiness and big Pharma. The circular nature of it all...keep them sick and poor and charge them more...so we, the Corporatocracy can maintain control of the world (ha ha ha ha haaaa... evil villain laugh).

I don't remember them asking me if I wanted a new oil drill less than a mile away from my farmstead. (Are they horizontally drilling???? That means fracking people!) And now they are putting in another across the road. What the Hell???? Because Corporate America has enticed the landowners with a small lease profit for the right to drill? Told them what? Like the rest of the country...we need that oil so our country can function...so we don't have to rely on oil from other countries (does that mean the wars will end?).
It is all BS. And when my household water starts to smell like diesal fuel (like down there in Walsonburg) I will still have no recourse in the face of BIG OIL, because I am nobody and my children are nothing and my head doesn't hurt constantly from the weird crap coming from the "evaporation" ponds across the ravine.

Yeah, I'm tired. I'm tired of arguing with my family about why they should recycle. Tired of defending myself over my children's gluten free, casein free, additive, preservative, colorant, corn free organic and local diet. (yeah they are kids and I'm sure almost every kid nowadays exhibits autistic behaviors, but if I can help them stop constantly twirling or jumping off the kitchen table, or running into traffic, or stuttering or tantrumming ten times a day by changing their diet, them I'm damn sure going to try!)

I'm tired of mainstream America being so closed minded that they cannot even see what this Corporatocracy has done to us as a nation, as a world and as the human race. That 1% is insulated from the environmental toxins (wish I could afford to move to a clean place and have a real organic farm). They are insulated from the price of food rising constantly...especially clean, organic food. They can afford gas for their fancy cars, insurance for their families, and I'm sure they don't have student loan debt that follows them everywhere they go (mine keeps going up...ten years and still climbing). At the same time, they can close their eyes to the toxins in the water (its not their water) and to the climate changes that are becoming more catastrophic (they live in better houses and can afford to evacuate if the need arises) because they will be long dead and gone when the Earth is no longer habitable. But what about my kids? My three and four year olds who may very well see the end of humanity (Human extinction) because of corporate greed? Is that acceptable? Is the rise in health issues related to environmental toxicity and food contamination acceptable? Is the fact that we are trapped into house payments and car payments and can't abandon the crappy, capitalistic lifestyle acceptable?

No, no, no and more nos. None of it is acceptable. I'd like my voice to be heard when I tell people that our world is not safe. That our continued search and reliance on fossil fuels is going to kill us all. That my children deserve the right to life and a future without breathing masks. I've given up on paying off my student loans, reliable health insurance, or ever finding a job that will pay enough to support my family, but I have not given up on saving the planet and creating some sort of future based on clean energy, clean food and egalitarian principles for my kids!

Every protest counts! And if you can extrapolate yourself from the capitalistic world and live sustainably that is truly divine and a goal worth following. That is my goal. Bail out on corporate America and refuse to participate. Our family belongs to a local bank. We grow a lot of our own food. We shop at thrift stores and make a lot of gifts instead of buying as much as we can. We only drive we we have to and make every trip multi-functional.We are trying to build community in our small town through the Co-op and neighborhood farms, and teaching sustainability. We use reuseable grocery bags.We recycle, even though we have to save up our recyclables for months to take up to Colorado Springs when we go that way.

I am boycotting Christmas 2011...at least the corporate, capitalistic Xmas we are all so accustomed to. Try regifting, or shopping locally, or spending time with friends and family, instead of shopping for more useless crap that makes the corporate world go round and lines their pockets and gives them even more power. Pull your money out of Corporate banks and watch the system fall. If we all stopped paying our mortgage, what would they do? Is the police force, the military big enough to take on the 99% of the nation that is tired of being puppets to the Corporatocracy? Are the police officers and soldiers not people like the rest of us? Wake up America!!!!

Wake up America and let us be heard! It is time for that revolution! Occupy Pueblo! Occupy Colorado Springs! Occupy Wall Street!

And Boycott Christmas 2011!!!

Moving Planet Walk

Yesterday we worked like mad to make enough signs for our walk this morning...and we had more than enough for everyone.

Making signs

It was a great turnout with around 35 people walking with us from the power plant driveway through the Saturday Farmer's Market and ultimately to the steps of the county building.

The crowd gathers.

Getting ready to march.

It was a great day for a short walk (about a mile) and I think everyone had a good time getting our message out and joining in the Moving Planet movement for 350.org.

At the county building.

And on the Fremont County, Colorado administration building steps.

 Richard and I would like to thank everyone who came out and participated today.

And our kids would especially like to thank everyone for joining in to save their planet and their future!

The future of our planet.

Moving Planet, 350.org, Fremont County walk

This Saturday, September 24, is a big day for the nation, for the world and for our own little Fremont county, Colorado as we all join together to voice our concerns about climate change.

Check out 350.org to get involved in a town near you. What is happening is something called Moving Planet, and involves activities all over the world where people come together with signs and messages about moving beyond fossil fuels and getting our world carbon footprint back down to around 350 parts per million...the so called safe zone for our happy little planet to survive and keep the human race from extinction. Can it be done?

So, because there was no local event near us here in Southern Colorado (go figure) Richard decided to start his own. It's called Moving Fremont Forward. We will be walking from the coal power plant (soon to be shut down...yippee!, but replaced by a bigger and scarier power plant in Pueblo...boooooo!!!) in Canon City on Highway 50 and 1st st (meet in the driveway, park in the park across the street or on Riverside drive, but not in no parking zones, and please, please do not trespass!) through the Farmer's Market on 5th in front of the library, and over to the county building with our handy little petition, asking our local government officials to please start talking about climate change and leading our county into the future with a zero emissions policy. (Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing?)

Everyone is invited to join us...the more the merrier and hopefully it won't just be Richard, me and the kids! Bring your signs and let's make our position known. We want to see some options for renewable energy! We want our towns to start thinking about a post peak oil world and how our communities can be resilient in the face of the very big changes to come. Why not start now?

What can you do to reduce your carbon footprint?

How many of my friends and neighbors are on board the sustainable future for our planet train?

Please, everyone, find an event near you (I know there is one in Arroyo Seco, for you Taosenos out there) and let's all work together to get our Planet Moving!!!

Check out 350.org to find an event near you and to find out more about the walk in Fremont county.

The time for being quiet is over. Let's get active people!

Road trips away from the poison house

Had a rough few weeks with anxiety attacks out of control. I thought it was the house...it might be...our manufactured home is poisoning us. So we decided to get out of the house more. We took several short road trips around the area. One day we went to the Wetmore library to donate some books I no longer have any interest in. (Funny how the novels I used to love irritate me so these days.) Then we headed through the San Isabel Forest, stopping by a long time favorite, Bishop's Castle, and onward to Rye because I saw a house for sale that was cheap down that way. Rye has about 8 more inches of precipitation than where we live now--something to consider for the future of Southern Colorado that might be on the way to a permanent drought.

Bishop's Castle, front

I'm always impressed with Bishop's Castle, the design and the sheer enormity of one man's creation. We took the little kids up inside the first floor (another generation introduced to the castle), but it was overwhelming for me to stay there with my new chronic dizziness and random head pains. It was also chilly up there in the forest, so we admired and moved on. Check out the website at http://www.bishopcastle.org/

Bishop's Castle, San Isabel National Forest

Bishop's Castle, towers

It is worth visiting the castle, if you ever get the opportunity. It has been built out of local stone from the forest by one man with a dream. Pretty incredible...as is his fight with local government entities over the castle. Why can't they just leave a man alone? Why can't they just leave everyone alone? If one wants to run off into the woods and build a castle...or an Earthship that collects and recycles rainwater...you'd think one could do that. But not here in the good old US of A. And where this castle was built...no building codes, and yet they harassed him anyway. Home of the free...my home land. Makes me proud (sarcasm).

When we got to the lovely little town of Rye, my dizziness had started to subside, and I thought as we drove amongst the tall Ponderosa pines, that perhaps I belonged in the forest after all. Maybe my physical symptoms were a spiritual message to get out of prison land and move someplace entirely different. After all, with Richard's back issues and the kids and their issues, maybe it's now my turn to hear the wake-up call. But do I heed the messages from beyond, if that is indeed what they are? How does one decipher any of it...the mundane ego world and the esoteric spiritual world?

The trees smelled divine...absolutely wonderful, reminding me of something...my childhood spent in the forests of Colorado, perhaps. And the cute little house that is for sale down there is like a cottage in the woods...a fairy tale dwelling for sure. It may not have enough land to take the llama boys too, though, and it was really in the trees.

Am I too much of a desert rat to relocate to the forest? (Tried it once when we moved to Oregon...but we ended up in the dismal, dirty, crime infested city...over priced and our budget put us in the ghetto...so I never really got to live in trees.)

In any case, I enjoyed my day in trees (think Nine Inch Nails) and Richard told me that to him the Ponderosas smell like butterscotch, but to some people they smell like strawberries...a little trivia from his career as a boy scout.

Nuh uh, I thought, they just smell like trees...big, beautiful pines. Smell it," he said. "Get out of the car and put your nose against the bark." So, I did, wondering if someone was going to come out of their little house in the woods to ask me what the heck I thought I was doing, smelling their tree. And, as I leaned in, anticipating the fresh pine scent, I was struck with the pungent smell of strawberry candy, just as my nose grazed the bark of the nearest tree. Amazing!! Just like when the kids open a strawberry lollipop...that's what that tree smelled like.

Can't wait to try that again. Lucky for me there are no Ponderosas near my house or I'd be giving the neighbors something new to talk about.

And last weekend we went to Salida...another favorite, maybe. It sure sounds promising. Artsy. Liberal. Progressive. Outdoorsy. What more could a girl want? We drove around looking at the farms on the outskirts of town, and at the little Victorian houses in town. Everyone was riding a bike and it seems every house had a family of bikes parked on the porch. Good for them. And three health food stores! I found the kids' natural suckers in one. But I fear, Salida is too trendy and overpriced for us to be able to move there, but I'll keep my eyes open anyway.

The drive to Salida always reminds me of the drive from Taos to Santa Fe...next to the river. There is even a set of railroad tracks that follows the river on the far side. The road is just as curvy and the mountainsides full of rocks ready to fall on the unsuspecting traveler. But in NM, the rocks are all netted and fenced in, and here, they have only done that in one spot. I couldn't help but think about the rock slide last year that closed the road for at least a week, and I told those rocks to stay up there on the mountains as we slipped by.

We made it back without incident, and as we headed into our little home town, my head started to pound again. What is wrong with me? Brain tumor or anxiety attack?

We decided not to enroll the little ones in preschool. We went to every single one of them on our list and interviewed teachers and checked out the facilities, and not one single one made me feel good. Too much mainstream crap. I don't want my kids indoctrinated into a culture I don't buy into and one that is on the verge of collapse anyway. Where is the preschool with yoga and guided meditation? With art time, story time, dance time, nature time and teachings on saving the earth? Oh yeah, it doesn't exist.

I coudn't help but think that we, as their parents, could give them more education and support and safety at home than a preschool ever could. So we passed on the IEP program and decided to try it ourselves, checking out more books on homeschooling, the Montessori method and autism. We did get the kids up to the Springs to run the blood tests and we have an appointment in November to get them in for an official diagnosis...or not, if it turns out that way.

So, I'm trying to detox now, thinking there is something making me ill, all the while trying to figure out what the next move is...should we stay here or should we go? Thinking we should take a drive over to Paonia (another expensive town, but a county without building codes). That town keeps popping up these days...in literature on global warming and one of the Co-op members is headed over that way for a juicing retreat of some sort.

For now we are stuck where we are planted, so if I could just get past my head issues, maybe I could see some blooming future here. We are taking the kids to story time at the two libraries for "socialization," and I'm looking for a liberal leaning, free thinking homeschool group to join (not having much luck there, locally...may have to start one). And Richard is giving canning classes (one on pressure canning this Sunday), I'm trying to sell some of my strange water colors at the Farmer's market, and most importantly, I'm on the look out for a Ponderosa Pine to interview as my new best friend.