Traders Point Horse Show

My Kiddies and Me

It's been awhile since I have written. Something about Summer has been exhausting to me. I don't know if it is the warm weather, the increasing busyness of Brady, the normal tornadic nature of my beautiful daughter or what. Whatever the reason, I have been pooped at the end of most days. In fact, I haven't seen 9:30 for the past 3 nights. Ahhh, but Summer..... I still love it.

Things at our house have been good. As I have done in other posts after an extended absence, I will give you the highlights.

1. My small but mighty vegetable/fruit garden is finally producing. I have picked a dozen or so cherry tomatoes, just as many green and red peppers and a few cucumbers, although I must admit I purchased the pickling variety back in May by mistake. Most impressively, my watermelon plant is kicking butt. I am geeked at the thought of maybe getting one good watermelon out of it.

2. The kids and I have been spending some good time at the pool we joined in Carmel. It is so fun to watch Avery run around between the giant sandbox and the toddler pool laughing and enjoying herself. I must admit that by the end of each outing, I feel as though I might have a breakdown as I do much "chasing" and "redirecting" and very little relaxing. I realize, however, that relaxation and pool won't go together in the same sentence for at least a few more years.

3. Adam and I are gearing up for a long weekend away... just the two of us. He has been planning a "surprise trip" for my 30th birthday here at the end of the month and I couldn't be more excited. We realized that this will be the 2nd trip we have taken since getting married. The first was our HONEYMOON. So, I think we're due for some rest and rejuvenation.

4. Adam and I have been tearing through a lot of great books recently. For him, The Last Lecture, The Preacher and the Presidents and a number of "who done it" titles. For me, The Omnivores Dilemma ( I still have a few more pages in this one), The Shack and a couple parenting books. It's been fun to head up to bed early and spend an hour or so reading... something Adam and I use to do a lot more than we have done in recent months.

5. This weekend... not much on the agenda. Tonight we are hosting Andrew Smith for dinner. He's in town visiting his folks and we're lucky we get to spend an evening with him. And, hopefully, on Sunday we'll head to the Indiana State Fair. It's something I have done annually with my father for as long as I can remember. Even with kids of my own, it isn't a tradition I will give up on. So we'll hopefully load up everyone, grandparents included, and head on out to see some sheep and horses and pigs and, of course, eat insane amounts of food.

Blessings,
Kate

Fun In The Sun

RBGH Hormone In Milk

Although banned in most other industrialized nations due to the health risks to humans and harm to the animals, Monsanto’s genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST) is still injected into dairy cows in the US to increase milk-production. Monsanto has tried twice now this year to affect legislation and regulation in Indiana to prevent dairies from labeling their milk as rBGH-free. They argue that it creates unfair market advantage to those milk producers who don't use rBGH.

So why was rBGH approved for use in the US? The approval of rBGH in our country is a story of fired whistleblowers, manipulated research, and a corporate takeover of the US Food and Drug Administration. US dairies responding to the health concerns of consumers by not injecting their herds, now battle with Monsanto for their right to label their milk as rBGH-free. For those familiar with the history of this controversial drug, and Monsanto, this is no surprise. Monsanto’s controversial past is plagued with toxic disasters, lawsuits and cover-ups.

This 18 minute film goes thru the science, political, and health history of rBGH. If you're not up on this issue, this will give you a good understanding. It covers the politics of Monsanto's people taking jobs at the FDA to approve Monsanto's drugs, the newspaper and journalists silenced from reporting the facts, the people and cow diseases from the drug, hospitals banning rBGH milk, and what's happening now.

http://www.seedsofdeception.com/GMFree/rBGHinDairyProducts/index.cfm

Charlie McNamara

So I promised a long time ago to share some of the fruits of my creative writing class that I took earlier this summer. Well, there were a lot of bits and pieces, but nothing that goes together well and actually starts a story, so I thought I would just introduce you to a character, share one random scene and leave it at that. -adam

Charlie stood. At about six foot two he stood taller than the average guy but not tall enough to get noticed. His coffee brown hair began each morning thoughtfully messed until the stress of the day caused it to become truly disheveled. Gray had evaded him through the years, though now in his early thirties he secretly wished for it, hoping it would add a distinguished angle to his boyish attractiveness. His teeth were perfect despite his mom’s warnings that they were sure to fall out if he continued to drink so much pop as a teenager. Not so for Charlie. His grin had become the most intoxicating of his many charms. His shoulders were broad and his body fit, but not muscular. His fingernails were nonexistent. As long as he could remember he gnawed at them from edge to edge, often till they bled. It was perhaps the only visible flaw to his exterior, and while it embarrassed him, Charlie carried himself with such a comfortable confidence that one would never even suspect that he had reason to bite his nails. Charlie greeted men with a firm handshake and shoulder pat while most women, even strangers, were welcomed with a hug.

********

“I don’t get it.” Quinn said curtly.
Charlie cocked his head like a confused puppy. One way, then the other.
She shook her head and rubbed her temples. She mumbled her annoyance but Charlie couldn’t make it out. They had stopped for coffee and decided to sit outside. Charlie always wanted to sit outside. He pretended not to notice that she was less than comfortable on the outdoor patio furniture.
Quinn looked up quickly and set her styrofoam coffee cup on the table hard enough that a few drops spilled out of the lid. She started in about how she didn’t understand how a Harvard MBA could wind up at an ad agency in the Midwest and how Charlie was so intelligent and graduated near the top of his class and could have gone anywhere in the country and made so much more money.
Charlie perked up in time to remind her that he actually could have gone anywhere in the world. “Remember the gig in London I told you about?”
Quinn tossed her wadded up paper napkin at him, got up and snatched her keys off the table.
“Okay, okay,” he said as he caught up with her. “Lots of reasons. Can we sit back down though? I really don’t want to go back to the office yet.”
“Fine, go,” she said as she sat on the edge of the wraught iron chair and pressed her elbows into the table.
Charlie seemed very sincere as he convinced Quinn that there were lots of great reasons to live here. Quality of life, he said, the cheap beer and even the clean air.
“Since when do you give a crap about the air?”
“Oh, you didn’t get the memo? I’m going green.” He smiled.
Quinn rolled her gigantic brown eyes, got up again and marched back into the coffee shop and right into the ladies room.