Rivers, farms, and China travels
July 31, 2021 I will be at Index Art Festival to sell and sign my book https://www.fairsandfestivals.net/events/details/2021-index-arts-festival
It runs from 10 AM to 6 PM… come for the day and stay for the atmosphere:)
There will also be Writer’s Coop Anthology books available for purchase.
Come and lets talk 中文 China, and whatever else you might have on your mind!!
Should be stellar day in the Cascades!
Arlington Street Fair: http://arlingtonwa.org/downtown-arlington-street-fair-annual-event/
Come Sunday from 10 AM till 3 PM and find me at booth 3-E-5. Let’s meet up and chat about life here and abroad like Chengdu China!
Spring time is physically the most challenging time of the year. Caring for steers, (poop and fly management), preparing gardens for plantings, firewood bucking and splitting, and this year building a nearly one mile long fence. It is also the most rewarding time of year; spring flowers, new leaf buds, grass growing tall and wild, and the return of song birds and frogs make life full of wonder. Again as last year a bunny family has taken up residence under the wood board walk by the garage. The long fat Garter snake awaits me on sunny days along the trail. Fly hatches flit about in the late afternoon sunshine with their pixie dust air.
The steers, Bro and Junior, are settling in nicely. I can hug Big Bro and just lightly touch Junior’s muzzle. I’ve been feeding them a few treats; kale and Sweet Swedish Fish, which they can’t get enough of.
The following photos show different aspects of the Farm this year. The flower garden is full of color (Daffodils and tulips), vegetable garden preparations, and fence installation…
Starting the third year of raising two steers for grass fed beef market. The two arrived April 7th on a cold wet rainy day. Who knew in another week it would begin to feel like summer time!
This year the steers are an Angus cross Simmental and a pure Angus. They tipped the scales at nearly identical weights of 795 pounds. Bro, Angus/Simmental, has easy going attitude… Brooo! The Angus one, Junior, is a bit of a handful. Often curious but just as easily spooked by his own shadow:)
Look forward to getting to know them better. This year the care regime is focused on reducing flies. Specifically, face flies. The flies are out early and numerous as the warm unseasonable weather has promoted their numbers. About 18 fly traps have been installed around the perimeter of the North Pasture. Most already have 50 to 100 flies in each. Using Equiderm Neem fly repellant when I can get them to stand still. It does help! Poop patrol is occurring with covering up fresh manure to keep flies from getting into it.
This year the plan is to add an additional three acres of pasture within the south field. Building a 4 smooth wire live stock exclusion fence with three gates. More on this later.
Where: Everett Mall, Washington. Inside the mall by the Burlington Store
When: Sunday April 11, 2021 from 11 AM to 6 PM
Who: Writers Cooperative of Pacific North West, http:Writers.co-op.com
Why: Everett Mall Book Sale Pop Up Event
I’ll be there to chat and sign my book. I’ll even put my chop on it for you 🙂
The delightful author Toni Kief will be there too. Her “Old Baggage” tales are sure to keep you turning the pages.
Come and chat, it is a great way to meet local artists, crafts, and authors!!! See you there!
Yesterday, online for PNW Writers Coop, I did my first semi public reading of Chengdu: sojourns in the land of abundance. The selection was from chapter ten Paradise City–Fuling. It covers my taxi ride from downtown hotel in Fuling to the Fuling train station.
All and any comments, edits, and critiques are welcomed. Enjoy!
The following morning, I departed Fuling. I got a taxi in front of the hotel. The lime green, white-roofed taxi was driven by a young twenty-something-aged fellow. His cropped black hair and wide smile put me at ease. I had practiced my request to go to the train station. He understood and said it was no problem. Famous last words . . .
He drove through town, weaving in and out of the early morning commuter traffic. He talked incessantly on his cell phone. We entered a long tunnel inside which the traffic noise squelched loud and harsh on the ears. It reverberated with loud rumbles from trucks and high-pitched brakes. The concentrated exhaust fumes smelled bad.
The chatty taxi driver lost his focus on the traffic flow. In front of us, the tunnel traffic had come to a standstill. The driver didn’t notice. Imminent danger loomed in front of us. Swiftly, I reached my left arm across his chest and yelled, “Watch out! STOP!” But I was too late. We rear-ended a big, white SUV. The SUV lurched forward and rear ended another car in front of it. I slid forward in my seat with my right hand outstretched to catch the dashboard while my left laid firm upon the driver’s chest lest he go crashing into the steering wheel. The taxi’s front hood crumbled up and back. Smoke steamed up from under the damaged hood.
The one thing I had feared most of all in China had now happened: being in an accident on the highway. The fear was omnipresent, and it didn’t matter who drove. How people drove on the roads simply frightened me. They weaved, swerved, tailgated, and drifted in and out of traffic lanes without care. Blinkers and rearview mirrors went unused. People drove in the oncoming traffic lane as if it was an extra lane available to anybody on a first-come, first-serve basis. It maddened my Western driver’s etiquette, but beyond that, the recklessness and lack of any decorum on highways displayed a complete misunderstanding of physics. It denied that metal mass times velocity resulted in a mangled steel carnage of great proportions.
The driver told me to stay in the car. He remained with his ear glued to the cell phone. I waited ten minutes and saw that nothing had changed. I got out. The four-lane tunnel hummed with cars, buses, and trucks. Their headlights blinded me. The noise made me deaf and crazy. The exhaust suffocated me. Behind us, I saw that another rear-end accident had occurred. The situation tunneled into a nightmare. The two other cars’ occupants from our three-car crash gathered to exchange information. The two lanes on our side of the tunnel studied hard on how to merge. Behind us, the other fender-bender tried to sort itself out
I felt helpless and unsure about my options. I had a train to catch, but I was stuck below ground with a restless, mean, exhaust-spewing dragon. I decided I had to get out. I shouldered my daypack and gave a goodbye to the driver. I had him accept fifty yuan for his troubles. He tried to refuse, but I told him to keep it—it was he who was having the bad day. He turned and waved goodbye. Along the inner wall of the tunnel clung a two-foot-wide elevated walkway. I took it and escaped the snarling dragon tunnel. After about a twenty minute walk, I emerged into the hot sunshine. I searched for a bus stop, found one, and waited . . . but obviously, with the tunnel plugged, no buses would come anytime soon. I walked to an off-ramp petrol station to use the bathroom. There I found a bus, #102, that assured me it was headed for the train station.
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.
Andy Loch