The RAnts of RA

Wednesday, June 29, 2011, as I sat under the gazebo watching my son practice his routine on the trampoline, a young buck, probably not more than a year old,  came wandering down the driveway nibbling at the tall grass as he came closer. He stopped for a few minutes to observe the activity as if amazed by the sight before him.

This young buck is standing just 10 feet from where he will die, 2 days later.

He was an enchanting creature with velvety antlers  that seemed to  enjoy the sound of my voice, as I spoke to him in soothing tones.   This was not his first visit, his mother brought him by when he was just a wee fawn. I can still remember their last visit together. It was a touching moment and I didn’t understand what was happening at the time.

One  afternoon,  around 4 p.m.,  I sat alone on the deck, as if entranced, while four older fawns haltingly approached our yard. They were nosing around in the grass and eating bird seed, of all things. They played around a little and moved along. As the fawns were leaving, 4 mothers followed not far behind, they were chatting each other up and sparring a little, all while keeping a watchful eye on the fawns.

That was the last time they visited as a large group. It was as if the mothers were showing them the rounds, so they could care for themselves once they were out on their own. Sure enough, a few days later, a couple of fawns wandered through the yard and my lovely young buck would make the rounds every 2 or 3 days.

Yesterday, the graceful buck was struck broadside by a passing motorist on the road, fracturing his left front shoulder and rear leg. My son and I were out for a walk, when he noticed the deer down a steep incline, on the side of the mountain overlooking our house. Under a great deal of brush –  he wasn’t moving.

He went to get his father (Shawn)  and I walked to the fireman’s house next door. I figured if anyone knew what to do, he would. He came down later to see what was wrong, but wasn’t able to help and left.

Shawn found the deer, amazingly enough, behind our house. It was obvious his leg and shoulder were broken, he was bleeding from his mouth and in undeniable distress. Shawn described him as  though he were a trout flopping around the boat, gasping for air.  Another neighbor, a former police officer from San Leandro, advised us to call animal control; so we did.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, as the case may be, I had the number handy. My cat disappeared only Wednesday evening and I had called to report her absence the day before. It was after hours at animal control. The recorded message told us to call the Sheriff’s dispatch, which  I did.

Dispatch informed us their officers were busy (4th of July weekend traffic stops), but  she would send someone out as soon as possible. Two hours and 30 minutes  later I called back and was apprised that an officer was in route and should arrive momentarily. Over 3 hours had passed from the time we discovered the deer until the Sheriff actually put  him down.

While I waited, I tried to comfort the suffering buck. I spoke to him as I always have, trying to help calm him. I sang to him, prayed for him and cried for him while we waited.

I mentioned yesterday,  in  Ohio Modern Day Heroes that I used to have a farm, we would kill and butcher most of the animals ourselves. Our animals led a happy life, with good healthy food, music, freedom to wander, kids to play with (if they wanted to) and when it was time to put them down, we did everything in our power to do the deed as quickly and painlessly as possible. We loved our animals. They brought us great joy and happiness: they were giving their lives for us and we respected them for that. That is the natural way of life. But it broke my heart to stand and watch this magnificent creature die a slow and agonizing death, while I could do little more than stand helplessly by and watch.

The Sheriff informed us of what he was going to do – he had to put the deer out of its misery, which all agreed was for the best, and he informed us that it was a holiday weekend; he could shoot the deer but he was going to leave it IN OUR YARD. (If you have never smelled a rotting carcass, consider yourself blessed beyond measure.) We were fine with that. I’ve always believed in using every part of an animal and not to waste anything. My son even  taught himself how to tan hides, a long and complicated process.

We were also informed by the Sheriff that he couldn’t give us permission to keep it. I’m not exactly sure  what  he thought we were going to do with it. I knew one thing for sure, he did not  give his life for nothing. We covered him in a sheet, moved him to another location and  started watching video’s on how to dress out a deer. Neither of us had ever cleaned a deer but we  didn’t have much choice did we?  After all, it was 9:00 p.m., the deer had been shot, IN OUR YARD and left to decay.

My patient husband spent the next five hours cleaning the buck and preparing it for  processing. We called Dee’s Meats in Galt,  after hearing our story, the woman  from Dee’s told us to bring it in, they were open until noon. Perfect! We cleaned up and finally made it to bed around  2:00 a.m.; we were all back up at  8:30 a.m.,  with just enough time to load up the SUV and  make the long drive to Galt.  We arrived just in time — we thought —  as we  pulled into the parking lot at  11:50 a.m., only to be told they  could be closed down for processing our  deer  because we needed a tag from the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG).

I was really getting worried now, the temperature in Galt was a sticky 102 °F, or more. Working as quickly as possible Shawn and I both began dialing our cell phones, trying to talk to someone — anyone — at the Department of Fish and Game, to no avail. It was Saturday afternoon on a busy holiday weekend. There were police everywhere, but we couldn’t reach one single human being at the DFG. How could that be? Aren’t they supposed to be on duty, especially when people  head to the mountains, streams, lakes and rivers  in droves?

Finally, we were given directions to  the house of a DFG  employee, who lived nearby. As luck (or not) would have it, he was home. The first thing he did was inform Shawn that he could charge him with taking a deer illegally, and that transporting it was yet another broken law. What? You’ve got to be kidding me! What kind of place is this? Who could be so cruel as to threaten to charge a man who had gone to such efforts; missing out on hours of work and sleep, to ensure that this deer was honored in his death.

I don’t blame this young DFG  employee. He was just doing his job, right? He was nice enough but just as quickly informed my husband that he couldn’t let us keep the deer. He continued that if a motorist hits a deer, he’s not allowed to keep it. They take that deer and donate it to the zoo or an animal refuge, like PAWS. Now, don’t misunderstand me, I love animals but this was our deer. He came here to our house to die or for comfort. He was shot here (by the Sheriff) and left IN OUR YARD. We didn’t keep the antlers because I couldn’t stand to look at them, knowing where they came from and their owner was dead but the meat would have provided for our family many nourishing meals. Aren’t people supposed to eat, too?

Why was no one available to help when this animal was suffering? We would have put the deer down ourselves, to keep him from suffering but we knew we would go to jail or at the very least be fined. We tried to do the right thing, but someone wasn’t on the job. This should not have happened and I don’t ever want to experience anything of this nature again. It’s  far too painful and completely unnecessary. I don’t want to live where people pay lip service about caring for animals and yet, a  living breathing animal is allowed to suffer for hours and die a painful death.

These asinine  laws must change. I can’t even claim that California cares more about its animals than it does people. It’s apparent that only caged animals deserve dignity, respect and care. I hate seeing animals in cages, it’s just plain cruel and any law that allows any animal to lie in pain is wrong. Please write your legislators and share my story if you care about the deer,  mountain lions, bears, cougars, etc…

Gee, I’m happy that the zoo animals will eat tonight but what about my family? Who will feed us? My husband works all night every Friday night, he took five hours out of his schedule and instead of sleeping, he cleaned a deer that was LEFT IN OUR YARD. We spent $60 in gas to drive to Galt to have the deer processed. That, California, is food that came out of my son’s mouth. Do we have to leave California to be treated fairly?

Update: It’s come to our attention that there’s a local organization, Rose Wolf Wildlife, that may have been able to assist us immediately with helping out this poor young buck. The next time this happens (and we’re sure it will), we’ll definitely give them a call.

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If you ask me, going “Green” is all about saving money — the good old green-back dollar, while living as frugally as possible. Yes, I love the earth God created but, I worship the Almighty God, our Savior and Creator.  We are charged with  being good stewards in all we do.

When we moved in January we found a larger house, which would seem to most people to be anti-green but just like in the real world there are trade-offs. Prior to our move we had discovered Dr. Heaters, which have help us to save money on our electric bill. They are very efficient and they do not create static in the air, nor do they absorb moisture from the air — a problem with most types of heat, such as that from a wood-burning fireplace.

We were concerned that a larger house would mean it would consume significantly more energy and that would result in paying more to heat it and with the rising  cost of propane and electric… We kept this in the back of our mind as we made changes in our lifestyle.    The additional space allowed us to clean out our storage unit at Mr. Stor All, in Sonora.   (At a savings  of $107.00 per month.)  They really treated us well and we appreciate the great service and smiling faces.

It’s wonderful having all of our belongings under one roof again. I’ve been trying to organize everything and toss out the excess. It’s a slow process but groups like Freecycle help make it easy to dispose of unwanted items as painlessly as possible. It can be very time-consuming dealing with the accumulation of stuff. The move really gave me renewed determination to deal with it. Now I’m simply waiting for better weather.

The first thing we did before we moved into the new place, was to investigate and purchase a new energy efficient refrigerator, stove, and dishwasher. We had not planned to buy a new washer and dryer for a few months but when we found a high-efficiency set marked half-off, we charged them to our card, hoping the savings would help us pay for them. The gamble paid off. Not only is our new house larger, our utility bills are actually a little lower than they were at our old house.

This new place also provides excellent access to nature and all the wildlife that call Twain Harte, CA home. The new place has a wrap-around deck and a couple of nice spots, which will enable us to grow vegetables, spices, flowers and we provide comforts to the local wildlife, especially in bad weather. I plan to grow some flowers to help attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and the deer of course. I’ll enjoy them as I can and allow the animals to make full use of them. I’d love to plant some blackberry bushes and a strawberry patch.

I don’t really agree with feeding wild animals and having close contact with them. It just makes me cringe when I see photos and video’s online of people hand-feeding hummingbirds and petting the deer. I justify feeding the deer because they need to survive and they are competing with people for food and we humans have the upper-hand. I try to provide fresh foods that they would eat in the wild and in the winter I buy molasses oats to help them put on some weight and survive a rough winter.

These are wild animals and need to remain that way. Making friends with the deer will inevitably cause them to get shot by some hunter providing food for his family. While I don’t begrudge the hunter his right to take a deer, providing for his families needs, I think the deer deserve a sporting chance.

I am sure if we each look around, we could implement changes to our lifestyles that would not only be energy efficient but save  the family time and money. Our new dishwasher uses just 3.9 gallons of water and costs just $25.00 to use for an entire year. The new washer and dryer are amazing. My clothes have never been so clean and the drying time has been cut  to 1/3 or less. My clothes dry faster than the washer can wash them.

If you can scrape together the money for a  high efficiency washer and dryer, do so, as soon as you can. The savings are incredible and as far as I can tell they are “earth friendly” as well. We can’t always tell because the process used to recycle many of the  things we are recycling is actually worse for the environment than just dumping them. The problem is the landfills can’t hold all of the garbage we create. So, it ends up to be to our advantage to recycle, instead of tossing stuff, even if it’s not an environmentally sound practice.

I recommend trading for services and bartering for the things you need as often as possible. With the rising inflation, it can preserve the value of tangible items.

We can sit on our thumbs and do nothing, or we can be pro-active. Consumers have learned all too well that rising gas prices (for whatever the reason) means higher prices for everything. Our food supply is being deliberately sabotaged, we need to bring things closer to home. Grow as much of your own food at home, eat out less, have guests over more. Know where your food is coming from and stock up on whatever you can afford to. We love to barter whenever we can. The more you can prepare now, the less of a hardship you will suffer when a natural or man-made disaster cripples our governments ability to provide services.

I’ve even been toying with the idea of buying foreign currency. Since the dollar is so weak, I’m just not certain how easy it will be to convert foreign currency back into dollars but at our current rate of inflation, it’s the only way I can see to protect your equity, unless you invest in gold or silver, as both continue to increase in value. If you have close neighbors, now is the time to get to know them. Talk with the neighbors you feel you can trust and plan for possible power outages, earthquakes, or other disasters. Many hands make light work and your investment will go further if you can combine your efforts.

If you can start your own garden, do so — even if you have to grow tomato plants in a planter. If you like tomatoes, it will provide needed food in case of catastrophe.

Just who in the world does Governor Schwarzenegger think he is? What right does that man have to tell me what I can or cannot eat?

I grew up across the street from a dairy farm. Where every few days, I walked across the street with my large mouth 2-gallon jug to purchase fresh milk with the creme on top. Back then we called it “milk.” Today we can’t call it milk because everyone would mistake it for the new and improved inedible dead substitute excuse for milk they sell from every “authorized” retailer in the state.

Does Arnold really think he has the authority to mandate that we drink dead milk, not fit for animal consumption? The gut wrenching affects should be your first clue. Before the close of the legislative session our illustrious leader saw fit to Veto SB 201 a bill written in order to combat standards that were quietly passed in AB 1735 last session.

The way things are going in California; soon we’ll all be forced to live in large communes on small tracks of land allocated to the family unit, where we will grow large gardens, spend the summer canning and raise our own livestock.

CREMA  (California Real Milk Association) is leading the fight again this highly discriminator act that one could almost call arrogance. They issued the following statement:

Read the Governor’s veto statement

Read Senator Florez’ statement to the press

SB 201 Vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger

Our fight for raw milk in CA continues…

Despite our hundreds of calls and letters and overwhelming bipartisan support of the Legislature, our bill was vetoed by the Governor. Politics were at play as the Governor ignored testimony from UC Davis and other scientific experts that HACCP  plans and increased pathogen testing are a better way to regulate raw milk than coliform  limits. Instead, the Governor succumbed to pressure from the CDFA and other parties who would like to regulate raw milk out of business.

What’s next?

Senator Florez  will continue this fight when the new legislative session begins in January. California’s two raw milk dairies will press forward with their joint lawsuit against the CDFA’s  current standard while trying their best to continue operations under difficult conditions. (One dairy has already seen a significant increase in harassment by inspectors in the last week.) They ask for your continued patience and support if there are disruptions in supply.

As consumers, we can continue this fight to save our milk in CA by doing the following:

1. Consider making a donation to the Farm-To-Consumer-Legal Defense Fund. This arm of the Weston A. Price Foundation is providing legal representation to the two California dairies and is crucial to fighting the current standards in AB 1735 so we can still find the milk on store shelves. For more info and to donate click here.
2. Call your lawmakers and tell them how you feel. They listened and responded to us by passing SB 201 out of the Legislature with only four no votes. We need them to be just as responsive when we take this up again in January.
3. Call the Governor’s office and tell him how you feel. Tell him the CDFA is wrong and to read the testimony from the hearings or watch it on our video.
4. Continue telling your store managers how important raw milk is to you. We had strong vocal support from major raw milk retailers at our hearings and behind the scenes. If you are a Whole Foods customer, let them know you want them to keep fighting for us. Their political clout will continue to be critical going forward.
5. Write letters to editors, post on blogs, and tell your friends about the significant health benefits of raw milk. More enthusiastic consumers means more voices in our lawmakers ears.

We Californians have made huge strides in leading the nationwide effort to assure raw milk safety and consumer choice! Let’s be proud of our progress as we press forward in this campaign for nature’s most perfect food!

137 N. Larchmont Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90004

If you haven’t discovered the benefits of drinking raw, natural milk, your family is really missing out. A google search will provide plenty of information both fact and fiction but don’t let that prevent you from exploring your options. Our family was amazed at what we discoved and we are reaping the health benefits from making the switch.

While I admit we aren’t big milk drinkers, we do like a little on our cereal occasionally and you can’t beat milk for dunking oreo cookies. Despite recent campaigns telling consumers otherwise, milk is not necessary to a healthy body but if you are going to drink it, it should be the real deal.

~Annette
Got Milk? REAL Milk?