• Been a few weeks or so now, but it all started with hauling a horse for someone. It was a day that had a good share of rain earlier in the day. Went out to my Mom’s farm to pick up my trailer and headed out some back roads near to Louisville. Picked up the horse and had a good conversation with the barn owner and horse owner. Headed on out to just the edge of Lexington, oddly enough down some back roads there that I used to cruise around on a motorcycles when I tuning them. Getting back to do horse stuff on some level was such a good thing and getting paid for it was even better.
• I let a good friend of mine talk me into taking a fishing trip with him. Granted, most of the dirt was on his tires for the trip, as he hauled his boat. Though I did back his truck down the ramp (that was ugly) to get it back out. Anyway, that was a blast and reminded me just how much I do enjoy fishing, something I have done very little of the last three or four years and really not a lot in the last ten compared to it used to being an almost every weekend event. Since then we have went back once more, this time I drove and I have also been several times to the lake/pond in the park that I call my backyard.
• Got out to the farm to take care of my own horses and get in a little bit of riding. I have been back several times, as it is the fly season and Angel has such issues with the flies during this time of year around her face. I think I have mostly under control right now, but it is about time for another dose of the stuff.
• In addition to that trip out the farm, I have also been to several equestrian events the last few weeks, none of which have been a great deal of dirt on the tires – though all have been picking up or dropping off the horses in the mud and the rain. Some of them were just symposium/training with the SCA and others were actual jousting events. All of them have been a lot of fun.
• Somewhere in the middle of all this, I had some scrap metal that I had been collecting for a bit, along with some other minor amounts of recycle materials. I am not sure why, but the scrap yards are almost always muddy and surely always have a hole somewhere with muddy water in it. It makes me feel good to collect enough to make the trip worth while and contribute to recycling while getting paid. Though in this case, it was questionable in the amount – I did run into someone who knows my brother and we had a good conversation over the small amount of the check I got in return.
• A little bit further back, but after hauling the horse to begin with, a good friend of mine had some part of the family get somewhere with a broken down truck. Not a big deal normally, but in this case, they had hauled pigs. Remembering a time they picked me up when I blew a transmission with horses a few years back, I volunteered to take my truck and trailer and pick them up. By the time we got loaded out (show people are not always farm people and it was slow in front of us) it was pouring rain and the bay was at the bottom of a hill. Lots of mud, rain, and pig stick but the conversation was good and all got back just fine late in the evening, though I was closer to just in the morning. It did make me long for the day of when I had the farm and pigs myself.

• Willie Nelson cut his hair sometime last week.  I kind of missed the details on this one and may have heard it the day after.  Then again, I am not the type to be on top of the world on such fashion statements.  Still, he has had that long hair for a LONG time, to the point it had become one of his trademarks.  Hopefully this is not a subtle sign that he is calling music quits or anything of the sort.
• Willing Nelson is still a major force in regards to the Farm Aid program with which he has so long been associated.  I suppose this letter to the editor of the St. Louis Today publication indicates that Willie is in New England and the current time.  However, the true message of the open letter is that family farms, especially of small and medium size are disappearing rapidly.   The cultural strings in rural American that go with those smaller size farms are being torn apart and to that end the fabric of America is similarly under attack.  I could say much more, but go read the letter, Willie does a good job with words even without music accompaniment.
• Unsubstantiated at this point (as I have been both to busy and to lazy to pursue confirmation) but several sources have noted that prior to prohibition and especially in the later 1800′s the fine Commonwealth of Kentucky was one of the leading producers of grapes for vinting and indeed Jessamine County had the first commercially licensed winery in these United States.  Lacking still more information, it would seem that Henry Clay’s Ashland Estate will be hosting some sort of wine tasting event in September of local Kentucky wines.  I will be searching out date information and confirmation sometime soon.
• I was thumbing through a Music Entertainment tabloid the other morning and came across a looking back section that listed musical happenings from 20 years ago (1990) that were happening in June in and around Lexington.  One such stated Lexington (back in the 1990′s) did not have enough baroque and a newly formed Back Ensemble was performing just such a selection at Christ Church Cathedral.  So, it was not a rock concert, but I love baroque music and did attend the event.  Wonder if they still exist?  Ironically, I did catch the Kiss show at Rupp that was mentioned below that in July.  Talk about feeling old and historic on both accounts.
• It is summer time and the arts festivals along with the live music concerts (a lot of which are free or low cost) are popping up everywhere.  Thursday Night Live in Lexington has been rolling for several weeks now, though I have not seen any acts yet I just can not live without, expecting some soon.  Southland has a venue on Tuesday nights featuring bluegrass called the Jamboree, several good groups in the lineup coming up soon.  Two big art shows coming soon are the Woodland Arts Fair (good especially for buyers) and the Friday night Gallery Hop, which is June 18th – I am almost certain.
• Just reminded, the farmers markets are hitting a full stride just about now.  Go out, buy local (and eat) local food.  Keep your money circulating local too.  It is better for you and everyone else involved and will undoubtedly taste better to you as well!
• Any idea of the number of tabloid and magazine publications in the Lexington area?  I can think of about ten that are published weekly and/or monthly.  I was startled to find about fifteen of such things that are online.  I will note though that most seemed like a good idea that has stuttered (the online ones mind you) as several seem to be weekly or even daily in nature and have not been updated in several weeks to months.  I was sorely disappointed at that, and even more so to find a few of the printed pubs have websites that are out of date based on the current publications they have the streets.
• Lastly GRUB changed my menus today.  I am not 100% sure, but I think this is a second offense of these since I installed Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.4).  Turns out that my customization process of altering menu.lst no longer works, but I did find a grub.cfg that looked right.  Word of warning, do NOT ignore that little warning about not editing that file.  Turns out in GRUB 2 (when and where did that happen?), there are some files in the grub.d folder that script what goes in the grub.cfg file, along with the scripting in the /ect/default/grub.  Every time update-grub is ran (like any updates to grub and then some it would appear) it regenerates the grub.cfg file.  Glad I finally took the time to read it, as I was starting to think my machine possessed.

Despite my overwhelming desire otherwise, no GRUBs were killed or injured in the compiling of this blog posting.

Of my chief concern is the number of things I am still wanting to accomplish and things that I am involved in that seem to be taking time and probably more so money away from those other things.  I am opening weighing these things out in my head and to lesser degree in a public forum here on my blog.  I am not saying that anything is going to change or such going forward at this point, but just kind of throwing things on the proverbial wall and seeing if anything sticks (or in the case, on the blog wall and seeing if anything stands out in a dramatic way).   So I am going to start out with the listing of things I am either actively involved in and/or desire to be pursuing at current time and giving some pluses and minuses on each of them.   Note, that the list is in no particular order, so do not try to infer from that some ranking in my head.

• Medieval stuff – This umbrella includes a lot of ground, like jousting, the SCA, re-enacting, competition, and so much more.  I have made some major strides the last year or so in getting to be more authentic in both hard and soft kits.  I feel like I am, when practicing on a regular basis, a pretty good jouster.  My ground fighting, well, to be honest never gets enough time devoted to it.  I also have so many things I wish to do with this from arts and science types of projects to get more authentic.  The obvious is minuses are just the amount of time, effort, and especially money that is involved in this activity.  Most projects require multiple levels of tools and equipment to make them happen and sometimes by the time I get around to part A I have forgotten that the plan for part B had changed somewhere along the way.  One can only imagine the cost of going to events on regular basis.  Now add to that the cost of dragging horses along to them on a regular basis.  Of course the pluses are friendships and common bonds of doing something, especially like the jousting, in which so few actively participate.  Beyond that of course is the relaxation and getting away from it all that occurs.  Combine that of course with the adrenaline rush that occurs both in fighting on the ground and especially when going down the list on horseback with lance in hand.  I have almost talked myself out of this one a couple of times, especially as friends and our group tended to break up over the last few years – but darn I like this activity and just need to find a core group of very authentic late 14th  century folks to get uber involved with again.  I have conceded for the most part, not participating in Ren Faires anymore and that should be enough for now – right?
• Farm - I have made little bones about my desire to get back to a farm.  But not just any farm.  One that is self sustaining both currently and for the future.  In other words, a farm that is making enough money to pay for itself at some point in the future and at the same time, leaving the land in better condition for the future after I am gone that what it started.  A combined practice of using older methods of doing things while at the same time focused on a product for marketability is the way accomplish this.  I have always thought pasture raised animals and given my knack for hogs (and the prospering I see from a friend I helped start int hat direction) seems right.  Of course I also love the horses too and have thought the breeding operation of those – but the market is so down without turning to race horses or something akin that I wonder about that side of things.  And of course I would love to use draft power on the farm as well.  The same kind of escape can occur on the farm as the medieval stuff brings me, though rarely the adrenaline rushes.  It is hard work and required a lot of time.  And the minor fact of money to get the land to begin with has been a huge hold up at current time.  Money that is spent on other things seem to always push this one a bit further down the list in my head constantly.  It is perhaps that realization more then anything that is prompting the composing this open memo to myself.  What needs to be done to make this more likely to occur on sooner rather then later time frame.
• Family - As I have said before, this one is something that has really only come into focus the last few years.  But it is a major one.  Getting married is a good step in the right direction on this front.  Some tell me that is a first step and truth be told, though not required, it probably makes this aspect of things a lot neater going forward.  Of course, not that I resent or in anyway am complaining, but a huge amount of expense is going along with this marriage.  Perhaps it would have been enough to make the farm land purchase occur later this spring.  But the farm in my mind has always been a family affair and to that end sometimes priorities have to be set.  Besides we love one another and it just seems right now to pursue things the way.
• Green Living – I use that to describe a lot of things.  Mostly though I am focused on being less consumer oriented with especially that which is disposable.  Instead I am trying to focus on reduce, reuse, and especially recycle.  It ties in nicely with my thoughts toward the medieval stuff and especially that of the farm and sustainable practices.  When using something that is a disposable item I try to focus on it being both something that is easy to reproduce and also biodegradable in fairly short order, hopefully even returning to the soil something positive in the process.  I think being on a farm gives a lot more options in this matter, but still there is a lot that can be done when not on a farm.  I do often question myself though when having a fast food meal just how that fits in with this grand scheme.   Actually it is beyond just fast food, but it is especially it is seen there.  I also really question how this fits into the scheme of driving three hundred or more miles with horses in tow to do a medieval event.  After all, the amount of fuel used and carbon produced is a huge amount in such situations.  I am almost of the opinion that all the things that I try to do and am looking forward to doing with getting back to the farm are fundamentally wiped out by the several trips I make like that each year and probably more so.
• Writing – This one is almost all but completely being left out these days.  I have only sporadically worked on blogs the last several months.  Beyond that though, I have not done much with my journal and especially the books.  They lay waiting for my attention but rarely are getting it these days.  Some of the issue is just the flux life is taking right now, but some of it too is just a like of time and maybe to a lesser degree a somewhat lack of interest.  I have gotten some stuff done with the blogs the last few weeks, though I have probably spent more time on the technical side and making notes of blogs to be written rather then actually writing.  Will just have see how this goes, as I know that with plans for family and farm the time for such things are likely to get less.  Of course I have to be honest and admit that of late I have been to bed typically a bit earlier then I have in the past.   Losing an hour or two most evenings and on a few occasions maybe a few more then that really has a impact on such things.  So yeah, I am sleeping my life away…

Well, enough of my dribble…  like I said, just sounding board to the blog.  Enjoy and accept my apologies all at the same time.

Before I get into my full blown rant about the subject, let me start by saying that I have nothing against engineers in general (well, excepting those that were on the Saturn design team, but that is another story completely).  Matter of fact, being a computer scientist by training and trade, I am probably more closely in tune with engineers then I am with a LOT of other folks.  Add to that, I spent several years working at IBM/Lexmark in development, both for and with engineers of several types and I feel like I have a good relationship with most of them.  Matter of fact, I count amongst several better friends engineers.

That being said I have to take issue with the term on three fronts:

1. First is the question of just where does the Speed School of Engineering think the term horsepower originates from?  The answer is of course from James Watt, who after having made notable improvements on the steam engine, needed a way to show cost savings to his potential consumers in what it would cost to convert to the steam engine compared to the horse.   The history on that is that clearly there were some high estimates of what a horse can do consistently but the general idea has stuck and is based on bringing a measure of water out of a well.  Taking the idea a bit forward, there is a number of different definitions today based on the application, but fundamentally they all track back to this original establishment.  Ironically over a short burst a horse can achieve an easy 13-14 hp, an well trained athlete upward of 3.5 hp, but over time both would average well less then 1 hp.
2. Horsepower, meaning the use of draft animals is still very much in use today.  Given the cost of fuels and such for most of modern powered equipment the looking toward the output achieved there for cost is worthwhile.  This is especially when 0ne considers the cost in relation to the effects on the environment that various mechanized devices as such internal combustion engines and coal fired power plants tend to produce.  I will allow the argument of efficiency to stand for most modern devices versus draft power.  However, if you had to assign a cost to both things like the environmental affects as well as all the things involved in producing the engine that drives you car compared to that of the horse, I am not sure that the huge gain we currently have with modern technology stand over time.  I will even go far to assert the easily obtainable power from fossil fuels has made engineers today lazy.  I see a lot of applications where instead of working through the problem – juts give it a bigger power house.
3. I will take this one step further.  I am sure most modern, especially small, farmers will agree. Farmers are by definition engineers, always coming up with the way to make things work.  Take this thought back to the time when draft animals were the power source and I would argue that a lot more engineering was done at the time to facilitate how to gain better conversion from the know quantities of power that were had.  Primarily water when it was running, the occasional wind device, but especially draft animals.  This was particularly true with those animals in regards to both mining and especially agricultural applications.  I will agree, that perhaps a lot of those farmers, both then and now, did not have the formal schooling, but many would work circles around a degreed engineer in lot of problem situations in finding workable solutions given constraints.  Lastly, I will add most of the state universities in the 1800′s were founded as agriculture and engineering schools for a reason.

Okay, that is enough to get my thoughts out there and I will let it rest from my point, allowing you all to comment further if you wish.

Turns out to have been one of the better purchases that I made last fall.  Fate had an odd way for determining who would attend with me, as it went through several possibilities, each having to decline based on prior plans, until a much younger friend of mine thought it was a cool idea.  The plan being to get there just a bit early have a beer or three while things were getting going and just generally kick back and have a good time, enjoy the music, and such.

We arrived as I recall just about as planned and things got underway just about on the time it was announced and that for a concert was a refreshing change.  The concert was a small one, and the location was Austin City Saloon in Lexington.  If you have never been there, it is your typical rowdy kind of country/western place and could be the set for any movie that works with the genre.  It is a small place, respectively speaking, but that smallness made for a nice intimacy with the performing couple that would not have been possible in a larger venue.  I am not sure of the number of tickets that were sold, but I can say that it was one of the largest crowds I have ever seen at Austin City.

Anyway, back to Joey and Rory.  First, let me just say the performance was just about as awesome and full of energy as any that I have ever seen.  It was just the two of them, his guitar and a smallish sound system with some tracks laid down for accompaniment.   For this pair it worked extremely well.

One of the things that I really like about the couple is that they are country the way it is meant to be.  There is so much that is played on the country radio stations today that would have passed as light pop back in the days when I was growing up and some of it would have been even further off base then that.  Just exactly I mean by that varies with any particular song you want to pick.  Sometimes it is just that obvious sound and beat that was just meant some Texas two stepping, other times is that down home feeling with a bit a country twang and a gut feeling that just makes you know they are truly country in reality, and yet other times it is just that extra twang and a bit of sadness in the lyrics and voices that just speaks old style country to the listener, but yet it does so subtly.

Joey is just as beautiful as you would imagine from her television appearances and such, though even more petite then I would have expected.  She had a beautiful voice, is quick to smile, and from my perspective not only the more musically talented, but also the one who I suspect nudges any disagreements in her favor when it comes to it.  Rory seems huge compared to her, but I think probably more average in reality.  He play pretty good guitar and is a nice offset to her from a backup standpoint.  He is, apparently responsible for writing  a good number the songs, as well as writing some for other folks.

Together they seem to be a great match and duo to watch.  I personally like several songs off the debut CD and a few more that the performed live very well.   I could go into detail, but I think we are all familiar with the big success of Cheater, Cheater. The title track, Life of a Song is a beautiful ballad type of song, oddly enough about  a song.  It has powerful vocals and is very moving, but I think they would do a bit better with a more a personal ballad like the one on the album called Heart of the Wood – or even borrowing from another power duet, something like the teen tragedy ballad Joey from Sugarland.  Lastly, the Freebird cover they did both on the CMT show and the album is the best ever cover of it I think ever done – but to sell it, frankly, it has just been done so many times at this point.

I think they have gotten caught in a time when there were several other duets struggling to surface with the overwhelming shadow of Brooks and Dunn.  I think as that clears the way for folks, an opening toward a greater success with a sophomore release will be found fairly easily.  Being a year late, I think things are about done on this one album and I hope they are letting the farm and such take care of itself for a bit and in the barn out back putting together some new and original material.  I know I will be looking forward to it.

** Picture is from the album cover, my copy of which is now signed inside – as they stuck around for everyone as best as I could tell.

I just really wanted to get a post out there about this movie, but I have several more to follow up.  This one is also going to be very short.  I am actually very tempted to say something like go see the movie, here is the URL to the information about the movie and what it is about.  After you see it stop eating fast food, start thinking about where your food comes from, and visit a farmer’s market or better yet a farmer soon to get a real perspective on your food.

It does, however need perhaps a little bit more explanation then that.  So the movie food is (as I said above) a documentary that focuses on the industrial nature of our food system here in the grand ole United States of America.  That is not to say it does not exist elsewhere, but we are certainly the leaders in this area and we, as a country, suffer more from it I think that anyone else.

The movie itself has a LOT of information and probably should have been broken into a couple of different ones, which is something some of the reviewers had to say about it.  Though I am not completely sure that it would have had the audience it had if it was broken into smaller parts to be completely honest.

So quickly, the movie really does push us toward knowing where I food comes from, where it was produced, buying locally and with a knowledge about it, and of course with minimum impact on the environment as the food is being produced.  What is not to like about that set of thoughts?  I will wait and address some of the more specific points after folks have had a chance to see it.  I have not looked at the schedule, but I am sure it is playing through the next few days at the Kentucky (and likely not elsewhere anywhere nearby, due to the nature of it, but when I saw it on Thursday there was a good crowd at the theater).

Enjoy the film and eat locally with a thought about the food and where it comes from and how it got be on your plate!

* – Image is from the movie Food and I am sure that will appreciate you visiting the site!

Let me make sure,  that no one gets the wrong idea on two different counts.  First is the fact that I do really like Frank Deford’s commentary when I occasionally catch it.  I think his often meandering, slightly funny and often sacarstic approaches to his coverage of all things sports and life in general is usually right on the mark, and as the occasional case when I disagree (as in this morning) I still appreciate his delivery style enough to listen to him all the same.

Second is that I have nothing against August.  The month I dislike (and that is only becuase it equally or more dislikes me) is July.  My August has been wonderful.  When compared to July it has been even better then wonderful.  It started with several days at Pennsic with lots of good friends and good times.  Things are, despite some setbacks, getting accomplished at the office, and it is in general heading toward my favorite time of year – fall.   That August leads from the last long warm days of summer to the quiet cooler days of September is the one thing upon which Deford and I agree.

In the piece this morning, Deford was of course focused on sports and largely seemed to imply that nothing is going on in August.  He further asserts that it truly used to be the end of summer, the last days before school started and well prior to the beginning of football.  A month when nothing was to be done but to just relax and do, well,  nothing.  I do agree that all those things are moving up the start dates at an alarming rate.  School for instance was almost always after or right around labor day when I was a kid.  Now it is beginning with days early in August for some students which seems nearly crazy.  However, as Deford himself pointed out, the boys of summer are still playing.  He failed in fact to mention, despite the long season prior to this point, the races for the pennants are just really starting to get exciting.

Beyond that, historically the reason so many schools started after labor day was the harvest.  The harvest time on a farm, especially from mid August up through early September is one of the busiest times.  It often falls that multiple row crops are coming in at the same time as hay operations and the occasional threat of rain and marching time of soon cooler overnight temperatures are driving forces.  I know I did a good share of harvesting, especially working in tobacco here in Kentucky as a teen prior to the start of school.  And truthfully I suspect (if any elders are to believed) that the harvests of past years was even harder, required more manual labor, and had to be done with much cruder equipment.

My modern life says has it a being a rush to get in those last rides after work prior to the days becoming to short and darkness coming on so quickly that is not practical to rush out to the barn.  It also allows extra grooming and loving to be given to the four legged friends.  There are also those last evening walks that sometimes catch the blinks of the fireflies before they are gone for the season.

I will also say that the last week or two of August is actually some of my favorite fishing time.  I love to fish the creeks of my youth, wading up the streams where it is practical to do so.  The use of ultra light gear in such a situation makes for a very thrilling experience and the water is the perfect temperature to do it in just a pair of cotton work pants and old tennis shoes.  I admit, I have not done that in a number of years , but I miss it.  It is truly one of the better parts of the year.

So to Deford I say – live a little in August and I think you find there is plenty to do in this month.  And the things to do are certainly more enjoyable in the last half of August as compared to the month that shall remain nameless that immediately proceeds August.

** Frank Deford in the picture, used from the NPR website.

My gut feeling for the answer to the question was yes.  My theoretical answer was also yes.  My theory was based on the fact that, while most people hibernate inside during the winter months, I had always felt it was easier to loose weight during the winter.  My reasoning was that during the winter months when I have been out feeding and doing those farm chores that were required, I was also burning a lot more calories to keep my body warm.    Compared to doing those same chores during the summer, the amount of energy spent is less from your own bodies reserves, because there is no need to burn extra calories to keep you warm.  In fact, you heat up and beyond the level required during the summer months, but unfortunately your body does not use extra energy to keep cool.

Science actually proves this out very nicely if you think about just what a calorie is.  Fundamentally it is the amount of energy unit equal to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1°C at 1 atmosphere pressure, and yes, for those that generally do not use the metric system, if you are counting calories you are indeed.  So, given this, if you drink ice cold water compared to the same volume of water at room temperature, you know your body has to raise the temperature of the water once consumed.

So, for those of you wondering, from a diet stand point, yes indeed.  Drinking your  minimum recommended eight glasses of water at an ice cold temperature will result in an additional seventy calories burned by your body on water that contains no calories itself.   Of course my immediate thought went to ice cold beer would have a similar effect, though at a much higher calorie consumption, but still, with a light beer (not that I would generally consume such) at the end of six you are at a net of rougly five beer’s worth of calories consumed if they are ice cold.  What a diet plan!

As I am coming back I want to shout a big THANK YOU to everyone that visited the blog the last few weeks.  It is nice when the numbers, while not as high as when I post daily, only fall off to a certain level and generally maintain.  An especial thanks to the folks that visited Thursday and Saturday – as without new posts those days got up there in posts and were not far off from record highs.

As was noted back before I went out, I have set up the eligius blog where I will be posting all the future medieval based blogs, including those which I am involved.  I will be, hopefully later today, getting some sort of schedule of upcoming events posted over there.  In addition, I will slowly be moving all the old post that are directly medieval in nature from here over there as well.  That will allow for an easy central location to narrow in on the one subject matter and putting all the old ones there will give a level of content and allow for search ability.  Additionally, with the current functional levels of of the plugins in WordPress, I am slowly going to pull in all the archive pictures and videos from over the years into that as well.  Granted, WordPress does not have all the flexibility of some CMS systems, but on the other hand, it does not have all the overhead and headache of keeping up with and learning a full fledge CMS system either.

Now for new information, similar to the above in regards to the medieval stuff, I have had a farm site for sometime.  Granted, as I am not on a farm now, I have let it go into a state of dis-repair.  Actually, a conversion from PHP 3.0 to 5.0 somewhere along the way in the last year completely broke the site that I had (with a good deal of custom code).  Rather then trying to rebuild it and such, I have started putting it back together as a WordPress blog at travellershavenfarms.com.   Initially I will make posts there that are about farming and simple lifestyle choices and such that directly relate there.  I will also move over those old post that directly relate to that subject to that location and also there are 1000′s of pictures that I have that belong over there as well.    To begin with the site will be more about the longing to get back to having a farm and land and such, but there is a plan for that sometime later this year hopefully.  I am reminded of a conversation with a friend of mine where in he said, “Once you got poor dirt farmer in your blood, it is hard to get rid of it no matter how hard you try…” Anyway, this one is a step or two behind in full on coming around, but it should get a post or two this week, perhaps even this evening, even if I do not get everything in order on the site.

I had thought I may try to do a major push for the month of March, but I already know that come the middle of the month I headed to Mississippi for the SCA’s Gulf Wars, and between travel to and from I will be out at least ten days.  In addition to that, the next two weeks I have about 100 things I got to get organized, finished up, or otherwise accomplished prior to my departure – which is really going to limit my ability to post things during that time as well.

I had an inkling that while I will at the war I would make a post daily or something about what was going on at the war and how things were going with what I was being involved with.   The more I thought about that though, the more I realized that at least half of why I am taking a ten days to live like a medieval warrior is to avoid the constant pull of technology support and such that I have in my daily life.  So I plan to avoid it entirely.  And all of that may be a theory anyway, as in the past cell connectivity has been patchy on and limited when on site at best.

I do have a new plan though.  I am going to make notes in a paper journal on a daily basis.    Upon my return I am going to post those to a blog.  Note that I did not say necessarily to this blog.  One thing I have decided to do in the next few weeks is set up a blog that has a much more medieval reenactment, fighting, jousting, and in general that erea of history focus.  I am going to of course keep feeds back and forth between the blogs, but having such a focus will allow me to put some good web traffic stats to good use and allow me to focus SEO for a potential bump in advertising revenue.

It will also allow me to have an outlet for the campaign season, during which I plan to be very active this year.  I will have notes from various events both SCA and IJA mounted and jousting activities, as well as ground fighting activities that I plan to engage within.

And now I am sitting here realizing my title and original thought did not get in this post much at all.  Somewhere, the original thought was I came in like a lion a bit early, but March is the month for the babies on the farm to start happening, especially the lambing – which the babies are always so cute.  Perhaps I will pick up next time.