Blue Star Museums

I had a “duh” moment recently when my husband and I went to the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown. I love living history museums, and they were running a special Blacksmithing weekend that my husband was interested in checking out, so we made time to drive over. (Great museum, by the way; definitely recommend checking it out if you're ever in the area!)

When we got to the gate, my husband pulled out his military ID card since most museums have a military discount. The very nice lady behind the counter informed us that they're part of the Blue Star Museum program and we both got in for free! The irony, of course, is that the museum I volunteer at also is part of the BSM program and I should have known we'd qualify for free entry. Since I completely spaced it, I wanted to offer a reminder to anyone else out there who might qualify and not be aware!

The Blue Star Museum program is a collection of museums nationwide that offer free admission to active military and up to 5 family members from Memorial Day to Labor Day annually. Anyone in active duty, the Reserves, or National Guard qualifies. (You need a military ID or dependent card to show at the gate.) A list of participating museums and additional details can be found here.

Personally, I think this is a fantastic program that doesn't get nearly the press it should. Many military families aren't aware of it at all. I know it's the middle of August already, but the program runs every year. Will you consider passing the word along?

If you know anyone in the military, please forward them the website so they know. if you go to a museum and see that they participate, will you thank them? All museums appreciate feedback, especially when it's positive!

If you are military and haven't heard about this, shoot an email to your base PR person or whoever is in charge of sending out base-wide emails with a request that they circulate the info. Then stick a note on your calendar for next summer so you'll remember – unlike me!

Mud. Sweat. Beer.

It was pouring rain with rolling thunder when we got to Windham Mountain last weekend, and it couldn't have been more perfect for an event whose tag-line is Mud. Sweat. Beer.!

The Warrior Dash is a 5k obstacle run that specializes in mud. Over 1 million people participate annually, many of them in costume. Anything warrior is fair game – I saw everything from Xena to Han Solo to Civil War soldiers! A new cadre of runners lines up every half hour to take to the course under a burst of flame. Up hill, through troughs of mud, over walls, across ropes and through tunnels they run, laugh, slide... and get filthy. 

They cross the finish line to steins of beer (or Gatorade), music, Ren Faire style turkey legs and assorted high-adrenaline rides. By the time my husband and his friend crossed the finish line the sun had come out and it was gorgeous. We've already got the event on the calendar for next year... and next time I'll be running instead of watching.

Interested? Here are couple things to know before you go that don't show up on the website:

1. Dogs are allowed. The website says they're not, but there were a ton of dogs there. Be forewarned, however that they too will be crazy mudballs before you leave.
   
   
2. Don't bring your kids. There were plenty of kids there, but I pretty much thought the parents were nuts. There were people wearing some pretty skimpy things to run in, and the food choices were geared towards adults. There were rides for kids, but they were $20 a pop. There also wasn't a lot of shade, and kids don't handle hot or wet nearly as well as adults. Get a sitter – it will be worth every penny.
   
   
3. Wear sufficient clothing. Costumes are fun and welcome, but you'll be slogging through mud and sliding over rocks – wear something that can offer protection!
   
   
4. Get there early. You have to use tickets to buy food, and tickets have to be purchased in cash at the exchange counter. So bring plenty of cash and then stop at the counter when you arrive to stock up on tickets – otherwise you wind up spending a lot of time waiting in line later, just to wait in line again at the food tent!
   
   
5. Get there early (seriously)! You need time to park, turn in your waiver, get your shirt (and free hat!) and then either drop your gear at the gear check or run it back out to your car. Line-up for each wave starts as soon as the last wave is out of the gate (a new wave goes every half hour). Give yourself lots of time!
   
   
6. Bring a change of clothes. You do not want to be driving home in the same clothes you raced in. (Trust me.) Also, bring plastic bags to transport the muddy clothes you'll be taking off.
   
   
7. Sign up for an early time slot. With new waves of runners every half hour, you can have three or even four different waves of people on the course at a time, depending on participants' speed and capabilities. That can mean backlogs at some obstacles. The later in the day you run, the more people there are hanging around from earlier runs at the food tents and rides as well. If you love a crowd, come late. If you're not a fan of waiting around, come early.

Are you a Warrior?

You Be Sweet by Patsy Caldwell

Food is irrevocably intertwined with life and love; taste memories and traditions pass from generation to generation and circle through communities. Cooking school founder Patsy Caldwell and writer Amy Wilson have gathered together a collection of recipes that mean the most the them and short, sweet stories of the community and love those recipes represent, and share them with lucky readers in You Be Sweet. Drinks, desserts and yummy snacks spill out of these pages in a delightful sugar rush that makes your fingers itch to start baking.

The instant you pick up this book, you know it was put together by someone who knows what they're doing. Thick glossy pages, recipes in easy-to-read formats and fonts, and photos that are professional without being pretentious.

Typical of most Southern-inspired cookbooks, it is heavy on peaches, lemons, pecans and other ingredients that may be less readily available (or significantly more expensive) outside the South. It makes no apologies for it's ingredient lists – sugar, butter, heavy cream, and sour cream are staples. Whipped topping, jello packets, cake mixes, marshmallow fluff and corn syrup make appearances as well. That said, the recipes were user friendly and many could be adapted by/for those of us whose kitchens don't allow for sugar, processed foods, etc. I look forward to working my way through it!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for free in return for my honest opinion. If you check out my other reviews, you'll see that I have no problem honestly saying when I hated something; I just happened to genuinely enjoy this one!

Career Advice

I've noticed a common theme appearing in the most diverse and curious places: a resistance to traditional college degrees. While the institutions of education push harder than ever to get every child to go to college, thinking people across America are pushing back:

• A blogger I have great respect for shared her home-schooled daughter's desire to become a nanny after graduation, and how they researched what top placement agencies want in candidates. They found college degrees weren't nearly as sought after as literacy skills and fluency in multiple languages. Based on their discussions with intake staff, they've mapped out a plan for the next several years that will provide everything she needs to walk into a job without ever stepping foot in college.
  
  
• A young college graduate at a workshop I attended was already finding the need to supplement her degree with outside education to get the skills employers are really seeking.
  
  
• Before taking my current job, I seriously considered going back to school for a nutrition degree. I found that largely- online certifications such as Nutritional Therapy Practitioner are infinitely cheaper and more practical for most people who want to actually help others rather than play the what-will-insurance-pay-for game.
  
  
• The stay-at-home daughter movement argues that many women whose primary plans include staying home to raise children or partnering with their husbands in business are vastly better served by self-education or targeted training in non-college environments. They'll get the knowledge and skills they need without wracking up crippling debt or wasting time on politically mandated classes they don't need or want.
  
  
• Sir Ken Robinson pointed out in his latest book that when only about 20% of the population got college degrees they were the primary sifting tool for employers. Now that they have become so common, their power has seriously eroded.

Certainly college degrees are not worthless; even more obscure degrees can prove to be a gateway to a great career and in some cases they serve as the minimum standard for entry. For some students the simple fact of being in a new place, with new people and fully responsible for themselves for the first time can be a vital (and steep) learning curve they need to tackle to be prepared for later success.

But did you notice the one thing that stood out in all the examples I listed? Research. 

The key to being successful now is doing your homework. Asking the questions - not of guidance counselors or college reps, but of the people doing the hiring and the ones working in the field right now. No matter what you (or your child) wants to do, give yourself time to do the research. You might be surprised by what you find - and you might save yourself a couple years and thousands of dollars in the process!

The Extreme Backwardness of Housing Policy

A recent run-in with our insurance company, coupled with my work on housing grants, has made me seriously question the craziness of America's current policies on housing.

For example, the current methods for establishing the value of a house:

• Don't reflect what the house can actually be sold for or what it would cost to restore the property in the event of a disaster
• Don't reflect the investments that went into a property to make it what it is
• Take no account of the intangibles that are an inextricable part of the value of a home
• Place undue weight on variables that often don't apply to homeowners at all

When you consider the deplorable state of America's infrastructure, and remember the truism that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, it seems that the government could get a lot more bang for it's buck with a few simple revisions to policy.

Currently we dump millions of dollars into government programs that rebuild (or replace) derelict housing for low income families. Though well intentioned, they cause problems to be left until they are at their most unsafe and most expensive before fixing. They give houses to people who will be no more capable of maintaining the new structure than they were the last one, and see hundreds of thousands of dollars get eaten up by administrative costs - fees, filings, etc. 

Meanwhile, in addition to no assistance in making unglamourous but absolutely vital repairs and upgrades, hard-working homeowners living within their means are often penalized with higher property taxes for their efforts!

It's mind-boggling to think what a few simple revisions to policy could accomplish.

• Reducing the administrative and filing fees involved in purchasing, maintaining or upgrading property would free up hundreds of thousands of dollars annually that could be applied directly to projects that increase the value and safety of existing housing stock. (And could be easily accomplished. Eliminate unnecessary restrictions, and track crucial information through a simple online processing tool.)
  
• Instead of trading iPods for guns, trade unsafe, outdated housing systems for new ones. An old water heater for an energy-efficient tank-less one. An electricity guzzling washer/dryer for a new energy star model. Bought in bulk or surplus, safer and more efficient appliances could be cheaply obtained. Increased efficiency will free up homeowner funds for other improvements, and the government will benefit from reductions in pressure on energy grids, pollution and public safety risks.
  
• Encourage homeowners' insurance providers to run their own incentive and reduced-cost upgrade programs. They will immediately benefit (safer homes are less likely to have catastrophic incidents forcing giant pay-outs), and see returns over the long term as improvements to general housing stock will raise real property values. 

That's the end of my rant for now. I have no action steps for how to replace the current boondoggle on policy nonsense with practical, forward-thinking legislation, so I'll just say this: keep your eyes open. As the Wizard's Second Rule warns us, the worst of consequences can come from the best of intentions. Cheer on every smart, practical program you can find to improve America's housing stock and don't get suckered into supporting bad programs just because they good intentions.

The First Rule of Homesteading

Since I first read it, I have appreciated the wisdom of Titus 2 and wondered why it does not feature more prominently in the church. I didn't actually hear the verse until I was an adult and reading about homesteading. The reason I ran into there, I've found, is because it speaks to the very soul of the independent, self-sufficient lifestyle.

The first rule of homesteading is to share what wisdom you know generously and receive wisdom from others with thankfulness and modesty.

I believe this is why so many homesteaders, though up to their eyeballs in their own projects, are compelled to blog – to pass along what they've learned the hard way so others don't have to. It is why I am tremendously grateful to have neighbors down the road (who have kids my age) that have taken us under their wings.

We spent three hours yesterday morning tramping around in state forests, being introduced to orchards, deer trails, old quarries and berry patches. It's a bad year for apples here, unfortunately, but the black cap berries are ripening and a handful of hickory nuts are already dropping from the trees. We're learning to look for and identify these precious resources and scoop up what we can. God willing, next year we'll be able to skip buying bushels of apples and pints of berries, collecting them free from land no one else bothers with. It will save us hundreds of dollars – money that can be invested in garden infrastructure and other essentials.

We'll only know how because our self-taught neighbor took it upon himself to offer his valuable knowledge to the next generation. To others of the same mind, with the same values. And because we were willing to listen.

We are doing no favors to the current generation of children coming up through school with collaborative learning techniques and find-it-yourself teaching methodologies. We rob them of the understanding that their elders have accumulated wisdom from which they could learn if only they'd respect it, look for it and ask.

In the era of youtube and google, there's something startlingly wonderful about being able to walk beside another human being, seeing and touching the object you're learning about, asking questions and getting answers to your specific situation in real time. The longing for that personal touch echoes through the blogosphere, whether you read about homesteading, crafting, parenting or anything else.

We are all good at something, have lived through something or are passionate about something that someone else is trying to learn. We still have nearly a month before summer gives way to fall, school starts back up and the pace of life increases again (if it ever slowed down)... Will you consider looking around for opportunities to share what you know? Whether by blogging, inviting someone over for tea, or signing up to teach a course through your local extension/ continuing ed program, consider sharing what you know. Someone out there desperately wants to learn and would be so blessed.

(Note: Did you know that you don't have to have a degree in something to teach an extension/ continuing ed course? Usually a passion for your subject and a reasonable course outline is all it takes!)

Windshield Surveys or Why You Need Trees

Recently, while reading about housing grants, I ran across the term Windshield Survey. As I had with so many other unfamiliar terms that morning, I googled it. What I found left me so incredulous that I ran it past someone I know who has been writing housing grants for years. She confirmed it: a Windshield Survey is when government representatives (usually County level or below) drive around, taking pictures and notes of what they see.

Typically they're looking for evidence of substandard or out-of-code buildings, gathering evidence to support their petitions for funding or for potential participants in rehabilitation programs. While I appreciate their good intentions, this idea seriously creeps me out... because the information rarely stops with them.

Once government (at any level) has information, it begins to travel. Reports on out-of-code housing work their way to the ears of code enforcement officials, leading to citations and demands for costly clean up or repair work. They reach social works in the school system who start paying attention to your kids, looking for other evidence that things may not be well and opening up entirely new cans of worms.

"Higher income" homeowners find their properties being reevaluated to make sure they're paying enough in taxes and that recent improvements to the property were properly cleared with the local government and inspected, sometimes leading to extensive fees, fines and even forced replacement of or changes to finished work for the most inane of things - unapproved fence styles, expansion of a deck a single foot further than allowed, etc.

The good news is that government officials of any kind are not allowed on your property unless you invite them. Which means that a simple privacy fence or hedge can dramatically reduce their visual access to your domain.

Because its summer, our property is almost entirely invisible from the road. When winter comes, however, the foliage will die back and we'll be much more visible. Although where we live is unlikely to experience windshield surveys, we're discussing the possibility of putting evergreens in along the roadway to eliminate the need to worry about such things altogether.

I know that not everyone is as possessive about their privacy as I am. I understand that extroverts often highly value visually open property and the possibilities it opens up for unplanned interaction and easy-flowing parties. But I believe everyone has the right to know that this kind of thing goes on and to protect themselves if they so desire.

Oh, and while you're at it, think about putting a gate across your driveway... Now that we've experienced having one, I'll never be without one again!