A Jersey Experience

Dairying - A Family Tradition

2010-01-26T15:45:00.000-08:00

In 1937, my grandfather purchased his first registered Jersey heifer. That heifer, Rebecca's Poppy would become the matriarch of my family's registered Jersey herd. Some 73 years later, we still have descendants of Rebecca's Poppy in the herd, in fact one of her descendants Berretta's Linnette was even named as the American Jersey Cattle Association's #1 cow in the country for her pedigree a couple years back.

As my grandfather's small herd began to grow (and mixed in with my great grandfather's herd of grade cattle) our family used their milk, high in butterfat and protein to churn butter, took it about 30 miles north and sold it in the Columbus, Ohio area. Eventually, we sold our milk to Wetherell Dairy in Pickerington, Ohio where it was sold under the Jersey Creamline label.

Over the years, my grandfather and father have served as National Directors on the American Jersey Cattle Association's board, we've hosted hundreds of vistors to our farm, my uncle has earned international acclaim as a dairy judge, my aunt is a former professional dairy photographer and I've served as the National Jersey Queen. Furthermore, my brother has earned many Jersey youth accomplishments and my cousin has helped to groom many national class winners and champions. I've listed some of our activities because I believe that they showcase what our family is all about... registered Jersey cattle! At holiday dinners, guess what we talk about? Cows! Where do we go on vacations? Cow shows and events! Where do we go when we need a moment of peace and quiet and a place to think? The Barn!

Raising cattle is my passion and has become a family tradition of ours. Keeping in mind my perspective, others must understand how frustrating it is to hear of organizations speaking out against agriculture. My family's farm and the well being of our cattle is one of the top priorities in our lives. We work hard every day (no matter if it's snowing, raining or Christmas morning) to ensure that our cattle are healthy and living in the best conditions we can provide for them. I've even been known to raise small, pre-mature baby calves in my laundry room to help shield them from the freezing temperatures outside.

Dairy farming is a family tradition for many and is a way of life for all who choose it as a career (or are born to parents who made that choice for them). I wouldn't trade this life for anything and would welcome the opportunity to speak with those in the general public who don't understand my love for this industry!

What do you want someone who doesn't live on a farm to know about your cattle?

2010-01-26T15:20:00.000-08:00

In my spare time (the little that I have), I am a 4H advisor for a dairy only 4H club. Being a 4H advisor includes teaching impressional young minds ethics and responsibility in caring for their livestock, good sportsmanship, and the importance of consumer education. Each year, we utlize our county fair as a venue to teach the public about our projects, our farms and our passion for raising dairy cattle. This past year, the members of our club took time out to answer the following question... As someone who's watched them grow and change over the years, I must say that I was extremely proud of their responses. It's important to note that the kids answering the question ranged in age from 9 to 18.

What do you want someone who doesn’t live on a dairy farm to know about your 4H Dairy projects?

**My 4H project is always being watched, eating right so she can stay healthy and lives in a freshly bedded area. Cows are awesome!

**I feed my heifers before and after school and take special care to make sure they don’t get sick – if that happens, we call our veterinarian.

**I like the unique bond that you can develop with some cows.

**The best part of showing dairy animals is the competition – it’s fun to always try your hardest, especially if you win!

**Our farm hires a dairy nutritionist to create a balanced diet for our cows. Along with their normal feed, they have free choice access to water all day. We bed our animals’ pens twice per week and we wash them with moisturizing shampoo at least once per week. When our animals’ hooves grow too long, we have a hoof trimmer come to our farm and trim their feet.

**There are a lot of responsibilities to taking care of animals like feeding and milking. You also have to make sure that they get their feet trimmed regularly as well as making sure to wash and brush them.

**My family has been breeding registered Jerseys since 1937, growing up on a dairy farm has taught me to make responsible choices for my animals and always uphold a high standard of ethics. Raising livestock is a lot of fun!

**The best part of owning livestock is working with them at home – you can’t skip a day of chores because they depend on you to care for them.

**My Brown Swiss heifer, Marquis is fun to work with because she has a silly personality – sometimes she chews my shirt and she likes to lick my hand!

**When the baby calves are little, I help give them 2 bottles of milk. I also give the big calves hay every day and I help give the big calves grain. During summer, I practice showing calves. When I get big, I want to drive tractors and pick up bales with a loader tractor or skid loader.

**Our cows get regular veterinary care and are monitored daily as they get close to calving to make sure their delivery goes smoothly. Once the calf is born, it is immediately fed high quality colostrum, which is full of antibodies to help strengthen its immune system. Calves are housed in individual hutches and before each use the hutches are sanitized to help ensure the calves are being placed in a clean environment!

**I enjoy working with my animals to prepare them for the fair, but my favorite part of showing is that my cousins all show cows too, so it’s a time for me to hang out with my family. We work together as a team to get our animals ready for our shows!

Most of the kids in our club live on dairy farms and live this lifestyle everyday. They are young people committed to providing safe, high quality milk and dairy products. Many of them hope to carry on their family's tradition of farming and become second, third, and even fourth generation dairymen and dairywomen!

Happy Birthday

2010-01-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

All I can say... wow.

ZWINGLE, Iowa - Ask this Iowa wife if she got the perfect birthday present and she'll tell you her hubby "dung good."

Carole and Dick Kleis live on their eastern Iowa farm. This year for her birthday, Dick used more than 120,000 pounds of manure to spell out a special message. It basically says 'Happy Birthday, Love You,' but in shorthand.

And it only took three hours to spell it all out in a stinky, but mushy way.

"It's not hard," said Kleis. "Any manure will work but the good, soft, gushy, warm stuff works the best. It kind of melts the snow."

Carole say Dick's birthday is in May and she's already thinking of ways to beat out his gift.

--myFOXDetroit.com Staff

2010 Goals

2009-12-30T12:36:00.000-08:00

At the end of the year, we always seem to find ourselves reflecting over the prior 12 months and planning for what's ahead of us. As I've spent some time thinking about what I'd like to accomplish in 2010, I've really drilled it down to two items...

1.) Last month, my community experienced the loss of someone they held very dear, 28-year old Greg Ginther. Greg and I graduated from the same, small class of 2000 at Northwestern High School. While in school, we were both members of our FFA chapter and shared a few classes over the years, however my fondest memories of him were from the Wayne County Fair, where many times, he'd just "show up" at milking time and help me lead my cows to the parlor! As the years wore on after high school, he and I seemed to grow apart as our lives took us in different directions, however when he passed away unexpectedly, it made me think about the friendship we used to have and had lost over the years. In 2010, I'd like to make a concentrated effort to re-connect with friends that I've lost touch with and also to develop stronger realtionships with some of my current acquaintances.

2.) The second goal that I've set for myself in 2010 is to become more health conscious (boring I know, me and 50 billion others probably have this same goal!) I've made a 3 month commitment to a local gym to help me in becoming more healthy in the coming year!

What are your goals for the coming year and what are you going to do to reach them?

Jersey Jug Charm

2009-12-28T09:23:00.001-08:00

Jersey Jug milk can charm
Originally uploaded by cowartandmore

I have recently purchased this charm from cowartandmore.com and absolutely love it! Growing up with and still owning Registered Jerseys has been an awesome experience for me... what better way to symbolize that than with a traditional jersey jug?

Grown-Ups

2009-12-26T20:32:00.000-08:00

THE HOUSE
The color scheme in our home includes mostly reds, sage green, browns, mustard yellow and sometimes even a plum color. Somehow, I've managed to mix vintage Jersey prints, natural elements (like grapevine) and ecclectic antiques (i.e. a 1960's bronze three pendant floor lamp in my living room and upholstered, cushioned chairs on each end of my dining room table) to make a homey atmosphere for Dustin and I. I can't say that I always get the look I'm going for the first time around, but when I beg my mom to come help, she's almost always willing to lend a critcal eye and a helping hand to put things together a better way!

THE CELEBRATION
Keeping the usual decor of our 150-year old farmhouse (and adding items from the many totes located in the loft above the summer kitchen), I love to decorate for Christmas! Obviously, Christmas is important to me because it's when we celebrate of the birth of baby Jesus with family and friends and I really enjoy preparing for the festivities! Sometimes, I am probably a little too particular about things like: using coordinating gift wrapping paper and ribbons with handmade bows for each, creating little vignettes on antique tin serving trays with vintage bottle trees, paper mache churches, celluloid deer, etc. to place on my coffee table, hanging winter specific artwork on my walls and putting up three trees - one in the living room, one in the dining room and yes, even one in the bathroom.

GROWN-UPS
The tree in the living room is 7 feet tall and has about 1000 white lights on it - earlier this week, Dustin and I had just gotten home from a trip to town when I stopped the car in front of the house to admire the tree's lights from the road. As I peered into the window, I thought to myself how "grown up" it looked and when I mentioned this to Dustin, his reply was "we are grown up". As I pondered his comment that evening and again over the last few days, it still seems surreal to me that I'm 28 years old. I know that 28 probably sounds "young" to many people out there, but his comment did hit me rather funny - where has the time gone? (However, I do know the answer - 4H Camps, FFA Camps, Farm Bureau Camps, our milking parlor :), about 400 books, college, family, friends, my career, etc.) I've had so many experiences in my life, the vast majority of them positive although some have certainly been negative (however I do hope I was able to extract a life lesson from each bad event). Over the past few days, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a grown up and where my hopes and dreams for the future will take my life and those who are a part of it. While it's fun to decorate for the holidays and host parties for friends, it's only a small part of what being an adult is all about. As an individual, I often feel lighthearted and at ease with the world because I believe that you get out of life what you put into it. As I reflect on being a "grown-up", I definitely don't think that it's a switch that gets flipped when the clock strikes midnight on your 18th birthday (or even your 21st Birthday), its the person that you evolve into as life happens...

Considering that my late night cup of coffee is beginning to wear off, I'm going to end this with a top 10 list of how to be "Grown-Up" (I'm putting this out there as I am openinly admitting that I don't necessarily feel grown up all the time...if you think I'm off base, please comment!!!).

TOP 10 WAYS TO BE A GROWN UP:

1. Take responsibility for your actions and understand their good and bad consequences
2. Strive to see the best in others and cherish them for those qualities instead of faulting them for their shortcomings
3. Be considerate of those in your presence
4. Find comfort in your individuality and be true to yourself in all that you do (aka "do what's right, not what's popular")
5. Make good on your promises to others
6. When you believe that you've just done your best work, raise the bar and push for better next time
7. Understand that the only way to have good friends is to be a good friend
8. Enjoy life's simple pleasures and share them with those around you
9. Help those who are less fotunate when it comes to wealth, health or anything else
10. Learn to be okay with some things - you can only control your own thoughs, words and actions

You know your an American dairyman/dairywoman if:

2009-12-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

1. you don't remember the last time you showered before work
2. you get home at night and find syringes in your pocket
3. you laugh when your friends complain about having to work on a Saturday
4. you have ever accidentally or non-accidentally medicated yourself with animal grade drugs
5. you have experienced a wet tail to the face before breakfast
6. you have experienced a wet tail to the mouth before breakfast
7. you have seen a dog eat a week old placenta
8. you have drank milk straight out of the bulk tank
9. you know that all calves have no will to live
10. every pair of pants you own has a tit dip stain on them
11. you agree that the 5 gallon bucket is one of the greatest devices ever invented
12.. all beef cows look fat to you
13. you have ever said "good enough for a barn" while working on your house
14. you have ever combined pajamas and rubber boots to do midnight calf checks
15. you own a pair of insulated coveralls/bibs and they are usually crusty
16. you've ever broken an Olympic track and field record running away from a bull
17. you have dehorned calves and carried the smell with you for the rest of the day
18. when a city friend grimaces about the smell of a dairy you are passing on the road you have said "smells like money"
19. you have ever witnessed a cow nearly killing herself trying to jump over, under,out of or into something
20. you have had to use some type of power tool to extract said cow from said situation
21. you cant eat cottage cheese cuz it reminds you too much of mastitis
22. you have ever been shoulder deep in a cow (either hole)
23. you have ever had a bolus/ magnet spit on you
24. you know the value of a mid-afternoon nap
25. you have ever taken said nap in a barn
26. you wake up at chore time even when on vacation
27. you have ever used milkhouse chemicals to clean your bathroom
28. you can accurately weigh a cow with your eyes and be within 50 pounds
29. you can back a shit spreader up with your eyes closed
30. you have ever pulled a shit spreader with your pickup, through town
31. the smell of corn silage is one of the best smells in the world to you
32. your biggest fear in the world is milking a treated cow into the tank
33. you can name at least five antibiotics and their milk withholds off the top of your head
34. you don't know what to do with a day off
35. putting in a new barn cleaner chain changed your life
36. your car smells like baby poo but you are totally oblivious
37. you have ever shot a cow point blank in the face
38. you wish you could replace the cow in #37 with a member of peta
39. you own more syringes and needles than a heroin addict but you recycle them anyway
40. you are better than mcgiver when your milking equipment breaks down during milking
41. Caramel pudding reminds you of calf scours
42. you have ever used a cattle trailer to move your personal belongings or somebody else's
43. you mention a dam and people think that you're swearing

Wicked Cool!

2009-11-25T14:54:00.000-08:00

Last Friday evening after work, Jackie and I headed north on I-71 towards Cleveland on our see Chandra Lee Schwartz (as Glenda) and Donna Viviano (as Elphaba as they performed in Wicked at Playhouse Square! The show was, in my opinion, Wicked Cool! For those of you who don't know the story, the play outlines the events leading up to what we know as the story of The Wizard Of Oz. The acting and singing were phenomenal, the costumes were great, and we had some of the best seats in the house!

Since I haven't been on here in a few days, I'd also like to send a shout out to my friend, Will for helping to deliver a healthy baby heifer calf for us last week! One of my best cows, Schirm Avery Shelby EX92 needed some help delivering her 6th heifer calf in a row and Will came out to lend a helping hand. Thanks for being a great friend, Will! You're the best!

With today being Thanksgiving Eve, I'm a little reiminiscent of this day - six years ago - when Dustin and I had our first date! Thanks to Roger and Lisa for hanging out with us that night! Good memories!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Kristin

Dairy's Million Dollar Club

2009-11-17T09:31:00.000-08:00

Last week when I first learned the news about Eastside Lewisdale Gold Missy selling for $1.2 million to Gert Andreasen of Denmark and Morsan, I knew immediately that I wanted to do some research on the “top selling cows of all time”. Over the course of the weekend, I spent a considerable amount of time surfing the internet (and making new friends on Facebook who were willing to “talk cows” with me) and came to learn that many of the world’s highest selling cows did not sell as individuals, but rather as packages that included the individual as the anchor, but came with different combinations of bulls, embryos, daughters, etc. As I attempted to rank them on their price tag alone, it became very difficult because they were all so very different. In the end, I decided (with the help of a friend… thanks Dan!) that it might be more fun to compare the sale of the most recent million dollar cow, Missy at $1,200,000 to the sale of my favorite bull and first known member of my million dollar club from the early 20th century, Sybils Gamboge who sold 90 years ago for $65,000 in 1919 (inflated value in November 2009 was equivalent to $919,530 – that’s almost a million and since it’s my club, I get to make the rules)!

Sybils Gamboge
(Photo Source: www.westfieldinsurance.com)

Those of you who know me very well know that I work for an insurance company. Those of you who know me even better know that I’m a little crazy about the story of Sybils Gamboge and his connection to that same insurance company! Ok, let’s get started… rewind to the year 1919 and imagine yourself in a small farm town that boasts the headquarters of the Ohio Farmers Insurance Company (OFIC) which was founded in that same town 72 years earlier in 1848 (Yes, we’ve been here for 161 years). OFIC, today known as Westfield Insurance had just purchased a small, 51-acre dairy farm and its herd of registered Jerseys from the Benham family. The Jersey herd included around 30 females and a mature bull that had been imported earlier that summer from the Isle of Jersey, Sybils Gamboge. Just a few weeks after OFIC purchased the farm, he was re-sold on August 4, 1919 in one of Edmond Butler’s sales for $65,000 to former Connecticut State Senator, L.V. Walkley. At this same sale, 15 of his daughters sold for $44,600 (an average of $2974), one of which, Bagot’s Gamboge Crocus brought $10,100.

Sybil’s Gamboge demanded such a high price due to the fact that he had been line bred for a number of generations. If you study his pedigree, you’ll notice with each generation back, you see the same sire on the top side of his pedigree (and many times, the same dam) repeated over and over – back 2 generations, Oxford Majesty, 3 generations back Majesty made it into 3 of the 4 matings and 4 generations back Oxford Lad was the sire in seven of the eight pairings. If you go back even further, you see Flying Fox and Queenies Prince 2nd and so on. Line breeding actually purifies the genetic base of an animal when defects don’t present themselves. As the lineage for both of his parents was linebred separately and then combined to create him, a large number of dominant qualities were brought together from both sides, which eliminated many inferior recessive genes. This resulted in very reliable results for calves sired by Sybils Gamboge (obviously bull proofs weren’t available at that time). The best part of the story is not just that he was reliable, but it’s that he threw good calves that became good cows and he did it almost every time!

By May of 1921, his offspring had sold for a combined figure of over $500,000 and were always the tops of any sale they were a part of – according to a New York Times article from May 29, 1921, “Every calf of his has been worth $1,000 at the age of 3 weeks and many of them have sold for over $3,000 apiece” (these figures were not manipulated to account for inflation, but are represented as they would have appeared during the time of sale).

Sybil’s Gamboge was bred by Mr. Charles Mourant of the Isle of Jersey where he was born in 1914, prior to being imported to the U.S. in 1919. It has been said that Mr. Mourant “probably contributed more to the reputation of the imported Jersey in America than any other island breeder”. After Sybils Gamboge sold for the world record price of $65,000, he was shipped by railcar to New York where he was paraded down Wall Street to prove the investment value of a dairy animal! Sybils Gamboge died in 1924. On November 6, 2009 the inflated value of $65,000 from 1919 was worth $919,530!

Eastside Lewisdale Gold Missy VG89 – 2YR
(Photo Source: Eastside Holsteins)

Of more recent interest, Eastside Lewisdale Gold Missy turned many heads as she crossed the auction block last week, bringing $1,200,0000 during Morsan’s “A Road to the Royal” sale which was held at the Vanhaven Sale Arena in Uxbridge, ON Canada. Missy was bred by Frizzell’s Valleyview Farm in Hunter River, PE Canada and had been owned by Morsan for about a year and a half prior to last week. She sold with $230,000 in embryo contracts and also with six $500,000 Semex Royalty bull contracts. Her only daughter, Valleyville Dolman Missy (April 2008 Dolman out of Missy) sold for $70,000 in November 20008 during the Sale of Stars also to Gert Andreasen of Denmark with Morsan Farms of Pononka, Alberta retaining a partial interest. Missy’s recent accomplishments include being named the Grand Champion at the 2009 Western Fall National and also holding the title of All-American and All-Canadian Jr 2 year old for 2008. As of August 2009 Missy was the # 1 Type Cow in Canada at +22 with an LPI of +3042. To dig deeper into her pedigree, check her out at on Holstein Canada’s website by clicking here (I have to admit, Holstein Canada has an awesome site – if you’ve never been before, I suggest checking it out! Once the link opens, click across the tabs to learn lots of details about Missy)!

I came across a great article last night outlining what made Missy so valuable (other than the potential for$ 3.23M in contracts). To read more, check out Nathan VanderKlippe’s article, Missy the Million Dollar Holstein.

In closing, over the last 90 years, our general industry has seen a lot of change… including items like: automatic milking machines as opposed to three-legged stools, buckets and strong hands; trucks and livestock trailers in place of railcars to haul cattle; artificial insemination, embryo transfer and in-vitro technologies and even the use of genomics to speed up genetic progress versus natural service; and probably so many more changes that I could never list them all. All of that being said, I think it’s amazing that the desire for deep genetic merits in registered cattle have not changed… really good cattle are not a dime a dozen and we’re all still striving to meet the million dollar mark!

Renewable Energy for Dairies

2009-11-13T06:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I attended a Renewable Energy Workshop in Wooster, Ohio. The agenda of the day included panel discussions on the following: Solar & Wind Energy, Energy Efficiency, Bioenergy and Transportation Fuels. While the day was very interesting, I was the most engaged with the topic of bioenergy!

Large Scale Anerobic Digester Systems
At a very high level, I learned that there are a number of a anerobic digester systems, including covered lagoons, complete mix digesters, plug flow digesters and solid state anerobic digesters. Solid state anerobic digesters can process between 20 and 55% solids and have a higher reactor efficiency than other types of systems. The downfall is that while today they are commercially available in Europe, the technology has not reached us here in the US.

Naturally, as the workshop was located at ATI/OARDC, we discussed the methane digester curently being built on campus. http://www.schmackbioenergy.com/pages/newsdailyrecord031209.html). The goal for this digester is for it to be producing 1/3 of OSU-ATI's energy by the end of Q110. The speaker, Clemens Halene, shared that the hardest part of installing a digester is obtaining the permitting due to various state EPAs, various community governments, etc., although he believes that as we continue to learn more about digesters, the permitting process will become easier in the future.

Realistic Use of Digesters in the US
Today, there are only 140 anaerobic digesters operating in the United States and each of those digesters is supported by about 17,000 animals producing waste as their fuel. The average cost of build one of these digesters is about $1,000,000 and many of them are operated in a partnership between the farmer and a consultant or utility.

The reality is that the average dairy farm in the US has less than 500 dairy cows and is not suitable for anaerobic digestion systems due to their lack of scale... of the 70,000 dairy farms in the US, only 3500 of them would actually be suitable for anaerobic digestion systems, due to this necessity of scale, the great majority of farms will not have the opportunity to create alternative energy.

One of the presenters, Jay Martin of OSU proceeded to discuss a research project that he is leading at the Waterman Dairy Farm to test a small scale Fixed Dome digester for it's practical uses on the remaining 66,500 smaller-scale dairies in the United States. As someone whose family operates a smaller scale dairy of about 200 head, I am planning on following his research throughout the coming year to determine the outcome of his findings.

Take Care,
KT

All American Jersey Show 2009

2009-11-11T13:15:00.000-08:00

I've been home from the 2009 All American Jersey Show for a few days now, but can't keep from reflecting on everything that happened...

... I had the opportunity to visit with my Grandma and Grandpa Schirm. I have so much respect for them and the lives that they've lived - being married 61 years, breeding and living for the Jersey cow, dedicating time throughout their lives as advocates for our industry, all the while being strong in their Lutheran Faith. They are both true role models and people that I hope to make proud through the decisions that I make.

... Speaking of being proud, I am so proud of my brother Kyle who received many awards during this year's National Jersey Youth Banquet! Some of his accolades include: placing 6th during his first year competing in the Jersey Achievement Contest, accepting an award during the Pot 'O Gold contest as well as receiving the Russell Memorial Scholarship for $1000. Kyle also purchased Prairie Harbor T-Bone Buttercup during this year's Pot 'O Gold sale, so there'll be more to come in future years on how she turns out!

...While I'm on the topic of the Pot 'O Gold Contest, I had the opportunity to spend some time visiting with Jana Kortus of Mainstream Jerseys, Lynden, Washington on Sunday morning. Jana informed me that Schirm Rocket Vintage - ET, who I sold in the Pot 'O Gold back in 2005 to Michael and Melissa, just went EX-90 and is expected to make just under 40,000 pounds of milk this lactation! I am so excited that she's doing well for them and I can't wait to hear if she actually makes 40,000#!

...And of course, I spent time with my most treasured cow friends of all time - some are old friends and some are new friends, but they're all equally important to me, so here's a shout out to those of you who made my weekend extra special!! The Luchsinger Family - especially Ali; Jeana, Jory and Jason Fremstad; Bobby Stiles; Tara & Eric Yoder; Rachel White; Sherry Smith & Kassi Krebs; Patty Holbert; Derrick Frigot; and yes, even Kenny Deaver the mullet man!

...other brief highlights include purchasing a new charm (which should be coming in the mail in the upcoming weeks) for my Jersey charm bracelet - this one is going to be about one inch by one inch and is of a Jersey bust - it's enameled on both sides and will have brown Swarovski crystals all over it. This will be true Jersey bling!

...my ending note of what made the All American special for me this year... walking to the Jersey booth, having to weave my way through the massive crowd of breeders and enthusiasts to pick up a recent copy of the Jersey Journal, opening it to Neal Smith's editorial and getting choked up as I read/walked down the center aisle of the barn at the 2009 All American Jersey show reading his comments about dealing with such a trying time in the dairy business and reminding ourselves that in times like these, Jerseys are proving themselves - mind you I'm reading this while I'm walking past some of the best brood cows in our breed... it really hit home for me, there is a future in this business for those of us who follow the strong leadership of our organization and continue to share with those who are still learning, what we've always known about the Jersey cow!

I can't wait until November 2010 to do it all again!

Today is the first day of the rest of my life...

2009-11-11T13:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was inspired to begin a diary of my life by a young twenty-something (namely, Rachel White) who has recently began doing the same thing. I'll update more later! KT