I caught some of his first steps as Ali Doll schooled her on how to go around and around. [Click here to see video]

Dena woke up to do her 4:00 a.m. baby check on Ali Doll, like she has done routinely for the last few weeks. Today she was met with Ali Dolls water breaking. She ran back to the house to get me, a flashlight and her vet book. by the time she got back to the barn, the legs were out. She was able to watch the rest of the birth. I showed up in total darkness with hot water. Look at the first pictures here. of course you know that there are more to follow.

Working Title : Ali Kazam

Date of Birth : 04/20/2004

Weight : Huge!

Sex : Colt (Boy)

Honey bees are the most often encountered 'bee', and the most beneficial. Fuzzy, golden-brown to dark, with stripes. Collects nectar (for honey) and pollen (for food) from many kinds of flowers pollinating them in the process. Can be defensive around next (hive), so use caution.

The Honeybee (Apis melifera) is one of the most beneficial insects in the world. There are some 150 U.S. crops and more than 50 California crops pollinated by honeybees, for example, apples, fruits, berries, almonds, melons, cucumbers, clovers and alfalfa. We have the honeybee to thank for one third of all the food we eat. Without the bees, we would be eating mostly rice, wheat, and corn instead of the wonderful variety of fruits, vegetables, and nuts we enjoy today. This insect pollinates BILLIONS OF DOLLARS of agricultural crops each year. In addition, it is impossible to determine the tremendous value these pollinators have in our urban gardens. Now, since the demise of all of our feral (wild) honeybee populations, their value in our neighborhoods is greater than ever. Protect honey bees!

For more information on bee culture and beekeeping, click here.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 million children have taken prescription medication for three months or longer in 2002, and preschoolers are now the fastest-growing market for antidepressants.

Newsday recently reported that "the use of anti-depressants in children increased about 10 percent a year between 1998 and 2002 [...] And while medication of preschool children remains limited to less than one-half of 1 percent, the percentage of girls age 5 and under on antidepressants doubled from 1998 to 2002, while use among preschool boys increased 64 percent."

Dr. Lawrence Diller, behavioral development pediatrician and author of Should I Medicate My Child?, states: "The use of Ritalin made it acceptable for parents to give children drugs." Often, when Ritalin fails to have the desired results, he says, doctors add an antidepressant to the mix, and then a third drug if that doesn't work.

Ritalin--often praised as a wonder drug for Attention Deficit Disorder--has a long list of possible side effects, ranging from mild symptoms like nausea, dry mouth, and constipation to severe afflictions such as zombie-like, robotic behavior, obsessive-compulsive behavior, Tourette's Syndrome, heart palpitations, and cardiac arrest.

Peter R. Breggin, M.D., Director of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology and author of Talking back to Ritalin (1998), sharply criticizes the customary use of stimulants such as methylphenidate--better known as Ritalin--and amphetamines like Dexedrine and Adderall on children. "Doctors who prescribe stimulant drugs," so Breggin, "often seem oblivious to the fact that they can cause psychoses, including manic-like and schizophrenic disorders." A 1999 Canadian study on 192 children with ADHD showed that of the 98 children placed on stimulants, more than 9% developed psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations and paranoia. No psychotic symptoms were found among the children not on drugs.

These symptoms, according to Breggin, can trigger a vicious cycle of doping. When children develop signs of depression, delusion, hallucinations, etc. as an effect of taking stimulants, doctors often misinterpret those as pre-existent clinical depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder... and prescribe additional drugs, such as antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and neuroleptics.

"The drugging of children has gotten so out of hand," Breggin says, "that America is waking up to this. This is a national catastrophe. I'm seeing children who are normal who are on five psychiatric drugs."

The drug treatment usually begins when children start having trouble with their parents or at school. It seems that schools play a major role in the medication of children, coercing parents to "get medical help" (read: drugs) for their maladjusted offspring. In some cases, school officials threatened to alert Child Protective Services with allegations of parental negligence if the child weren't subdued.

What is so wrong with our children nowadays that they need all these drugs? Let's look at some of the symptoms that substantiate the diagnosis ADHD, from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders:

• Often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other activities
• Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly
• Often avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort
• Is often easily distracted by extraneous stimuli
• Often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat
• Often runs about or climbs excessively in situations in which it is inappropriate
• Often has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly
• Often talks excessively
• Often blurts out answers before questions have been completed
• Often has difficulty awaiting turn

We don't know about you, but in our time that kind of behavior was not called a mental disorder. It was called being a child... maybe an unruly or spirited one, maybe one with emotional problems, but it wouldn't have justified drugging us into compliance.

"If these all too common symptoms are markers for ADD, maybe we ought to be putting Ritalin right into the water supply," criticizes Salon in an 1997 article, calling the routine prescription of drugs "a pharmaceutical assault on inefficient personality types-Ritalin for the hyperactive, Prozac for the introverts." And Vassar psychology professor Ken Livingston stated sarcastically, "when it is difficult or inconvenient to change the environment, we don't think twice about changing the brain of the person who has to live in it."

There is hope of a societal backlash against drugging children: Paxil recently has been taken off the recommended list by the FDA, since it turned out that its intake poses a danger of increased suicide among children. In Britain, all antidepressants except Prozac have been banned for use in children as of last year.

What's wrong with our children? We think the question should be instead: What is wrong with the adults?

http://www.investorsinsight.com/

I remember as a kid (yes I was only 10, 30 years ago), the oil embargo and long lines for gas and the panic of our parents when they came to the realization that our gas comes from somewhere else.

Here it is now April, 2004 and in Ashland, Oregon we near $2.00 a gallon. Yipes!

Our family vacation is about to cost more mentally. Something about hitting $2.00 a gallon makes me wince. Ashland's tourism depends on drive in tourists. Will this flip point slow them down?

1.  I want to use less, to be less reliant. I love fuel Cells and I love the Hybrid answer, especially the one from Lexus.

2. Mowing the lawn, wacking weeds and using our New DR Trimmer Mower costs more to operate.

3. Pepe will be used less I'm afraid, although he gets just about as much MPG as Dena's Truck.

4. When will it stop. They say supply and demand. But I dont think so. The demand for technology lowers prices. Why not the demand for fuel? I found this on google. don't know if its true. but here are the average prices for a gallon of gas over the years.

1998 -- $1.00

1999 -- $1.08

2000 -- $1.44

2001 -- $1.35

2002 -- $1.28

2003 -- $1.47

2004- $1.67

<Political Statement> It seems to me that the Government of the United States, my Government, should demand that itself set the standard around the world. Remove the reliance on Foriegn Oil, lower the cost to mow and produce goods and ship goods and drive packages around by first making all Postal, US Government autopool and non-military vehicles use alternative fuel sources. Invest Billions today. Mandate an aggressive 10 year program. Demand double the MPG's they get today, then move into fuel cells and hybrid. You wont remove all reliance and usage of Gas, but maybe you can trim it back to 1/2. My friends believe that if we pay more for gas then we use less. I dont think so. Its like the computer. We use more paper today then before it was invented. </Political Statement>

So I ran across this link list and I think its cool. Check out GasPriceWatch.com and GasPrice.com, one of the strong side benefits of the internet is how we all love to participate and share and how people post thier gas prices online. It's Awesome.

Fuel pricing links

EIA (Energy Information Administration)
www.eia.doe.gov

Flying J Fuel Pricing
www.flyingj.com/fuel

Gas.com
www.gas.com

Gasbuddy.com
www.gasbuddy.com

GasGauge.com (California only)
www.gasgauge.com

GasPriceWatch.com
www.gaspricewatch.com

GasPrice.com
www.gasprice.com

GasPrices.com 
www.gasprices.com

GasWatch.org
www.gaswatch.org

Oil.com
www.oil.com

OPEC
www.opec.com

OPIS Energy Group
www.opisnet.com

U.S. Department of Energy
www.doe.gov

look at what Google has announced publicly lately.

1. They bought blogger! what the heck is that all about?

2. they have a great image search tool. you can search over 880 million images on the web.

3. they have the best news compilation tool in the world.

4. they have froogle, a fantastic shopping search tool for cheap people like myself.

5. and now they are coming after todayinashland.com with thier little local service. dang it.

6. and if you peer into the labs at google you will see thier personalized search and alerts service.

7. and now they want to get into the email business with gmail and give 1 gig of storage away. no way. way.

all this because they are about to go public and get in bed with Microsoft who admitted to not doing search technology like they should have. I wonder...

This year’s election opens up many new opportunities for community leaders to run for office.

With openings on the City Council and Mayors office on this year’s ballot as well as other key local, regional, statewide and of course our nation’s capital it’s going to be a huge election year.

Ashland is special and unique for many reasons and one of my favorite is how functional our local government is, and how the diversity of our community leadership directly mirrors the diversity of our issues.

I’ve always felt you would be a great candidate. A person that cares about the future of our community. A person that wants to work in building up our strengths  in education, healthcare, economic sustainability and public safety. A person that wants to live in a community that they are proud to call home every day. A person that knows that we have challenges and wants to work with the rest of the community to come up with solutions.

But what do I need to do, to encourage you to run?

You know how much you would like to be a part of the system, have some decision making power and influence the outcome instead of just moan about it.

You know you have great leadership skills, can work in a stressful situations and can get the collective brilliance of all of your neighbors to work together for the benefit of the whole community.

I’ve always personally respected you for your involvement on local boards and being a strong civic leader, but now it’s time to step up to the plate. Stand tall and let me know who you are, what you stand for, what your vision is and how you would be a great human to have in office. Let me know that you understand the job description and expectations.

Don’t waste my time and money campaigning against the other candidate. Instead give me specific examples of what you would like to work toward. What’s your 15 and 30 year picture look like for our community?

You need to look within, communicate your vision, work with neighbors and get elected. You will be donating your time, expertise and passion to this community working as a team with the citizens to make changes that are needed and yet keep the same what is required.

It won’t be easy, but I’ll be there. I’ll do my part, I’ll vote, and even if I end up not voting for you and you win, I will honor your victory and celebrate your successes as well as let you know when I think you are about to make a mistake.

And honestly, I know that sometimes it will seem that I forget how hard you work, but I won’t forget your courage, compassion and candor that are the foundation of every great leader.

And even though you and I may not see eye to eye on all things, I know that you will be a great leader and you will know that I will always have respect for you and your duties.

I look forward to seeing your name on the ballot this November.

Jim