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annual year in review link recently in 2012 i had 24 posts and 12 000 views i went back to look at last year last year was 21 posts and 15 000 views clearly i m posting too often i m not really one for new year resolutions or year in review retrospectives but seeing the numbers does get me thinking also reading mary s blog gets me thinking more on that in a minute i ve never had a very specific purpose for this blog i started it when someone i was friends with at the time said something along the lines of you should start a blog about activism with pictures and so i did slowly inconsistently but generally somewhere along those lines i know she had in her head something maybe more photojournalistic and perhaps that s sometimes what i do it has evolved to be mostly about the sanctuary which makes sense because that s mostly what i do as far as activism goes that s where most of my pictures are taken and that s where i find most of my inspiration geese in the snow so my activism has essentially become that of sanctuary photography i m happy with that i actually love that and maybe there is more i could do with that perhaps i ll explore that more this year and that brings me to mary s post i read it just as i was struggling with starting this post and i immediately bought switch how to change things when change is hard to read on my kindle i had a couple hours to kill while i waited for word from the mechanic on my poor old truck final verdict it will live and so i started reading it immediately and was energized and motivated and excited i m only 65 through it but based on what i ve gotten from it so far i d highly recommend it but start with mary s post darcy tally gloria and sal heading out into the snowy day i have a lot of things pinging through my head most of them about how important support is how overwhelming it can seem when you want to start out but aren t sure where or how to start i think a lot about biking perhaps because i found transitioning to vegan easy but struggle a lot more with biking i bike commute about 6 000 miles year 26 miles workday but am still as likely to drive the 2 miles to the grocery store as bike there biking was and sometimes is hard i love it but it is sometimes intimidating for me when i bike to new areas i tend to research a lot i use google maps to get a start on the best route i will alter the route to take me along already known paths roads first i use the street view to have an idea of what to expect en route as well as at the destination i ll email locations to find out ahead of time if they have bike parking or ask friends on twitter or facebook if i know they ve been there biking is a lot easier for other people than it is for me or that s what it has seemed like to me i know a lot of people who describe their switch from driving to biking as if it was simply a fun thing to do and there is some truth to that biking is fun i enjoy it so much more than being in the car it s just that i have to think so much more about it i ve explained to many of my coworkers when they say you rode in this weather that aside from certain limits that i ve set more than 5 of snow or wind gusts greater than 60mph i bike every day i don t give myself any other option because if i allow myself excuses one day i will find excuses every day this is me i know myself well enough for this at least what i have learned in switch is that by setting very specific rules ride every day that there are less than 5 of snow on the roads and the winds are gusting at less than 60mph i made bike commuting both my habit and part of my identity and those are both extremely powerful forces but going vegan was easy for me sure there were some challenges but for whatever reason there were never challenges that stumped me or that made me backslide i was lucky enough to have support online which definitely made things easier some insight from switch is that perhaps one reason i found it easy to go vegan is that shortly after i went vegan i realized that many of my favorite vegetarian meals were already vegan or easily made vegan being partway to a goal makes us more likely to accomplish that goal this is why mary mentioned in her post that she will point out to people everything they already eat that is vegan bernard caryle charlotte and the herd in the snow so when i go into vegan advocacy mode i very often think about biking going vegan isn t easy for everyone and i know from my experiences with biking and from my experiences reading what others say about it that if you are struggling reading someone else talking about how fun it is just isn t always helpful just hop on the bike and ride don t think about it except that i have to think about it or i ll end up at work with no breakfast or lunch and no decent place to get food i have to figure out not just what to bring and how much but how to bring it i have to bring my work clothes because a hour long hilly bike ride requires in my opinion different clothes than business casual desk job clothes and i have to bring tools and tubes in case of a flat biking for me requires strategy on the other hand reading about how rewarding it is despite the challenges is helpful for me reading about how other people tackle these challenges is motivating jonathan and dexter greeting in the snow i had a very miserable ride home from work last week even as i rode i tried to convince myself that it wasn t that miserable and maybe it wasn t there was a certain element of satisfaction that comes from battling the elements but after about 40 minutes i was just tired and cold and drenched and pretty much miserable my entire focus was on how much longer i d have to be on the bike outside in that crappy weather and even as i acknowledged this i was thinking about how i d answer the inevitable question at work the next day how was your ride home and how i would spin it because being the only bike commuter means i m representing bike commuting always every day it s a lot like being vegan it s just more visible finally i decided that there was no point in being anything but honest that was a miserable ride i admitted to myself and once i admitted that the very next thought unprompted unscripted and absolutely honest was and it was still better than driving that s my truth and maybe that s the truth when we re sitting at the most vegan unfriendly team lunch nibbling on a pathetic salad with our stomach growling and miserable both because wilted lettuce with shredded carrots isn t going to cut it and also because a team lunch that ignores the need of some of the team members is a slap in the face those are miserable experiences but they are still better than not sticking to our ethics after all we can bring snacks with us to the restaurant you can bring an entire meal into the restaurant if you want we can eat before or after we can survive being hungry until we get home it isn t ideal but miserable team lunches aren t the every day reality of being vegan being vegan doesn t mean deprivation and hunger though it does sometimes mean incredibly crappy team lunches most of my bike commutes are great i ride through a short but beautiful wooded section i see turtles and snakes not during the winter granted and deer and turkeys and foxes i get a huge boost of endorphins and a huge release of stress biking is an overwhelmingly positive thing in my life but sometimes i have a miserable commute and that s okay i think that s the point it isn t always fun it isn t always easy but it s still worth it and usually it is fun and once it s our habit it is usually easy too waiting for treats activism poplar spring poplar spring animal sanctuary switch how to change things when change is hard thanksgiving with the turkeys 2012 10 comments posted by deb on november 20 2012 early morning frost it was a great day for a giant vegan potluck at the sanctuary i knew it would be when the weather forecast on the local weather blog included the imperative get outside on saturday the morning started out chilly the blades of grass and the tables that had been set up by pcrm on thursday had a thin layer of frost but it was sunny and there was no wind and it was going to get into the mid 50 s it s hard to get much better than that in mid november malcolm and ben after animal chores we worked on covering the tables the lack of wind is a big help for this task once all the tables were covered some of us headed into the kitchen to get the food ready for the turkeys and chickens lettuce tofu grapes bananas apples and melons were all cut into the appropriate size for chickens and turkeys some bread was crumbled and cans of corn were opened it s fun to get the turkeys tables ready despite how slimy cut up bananas can make you there are always a few chickens who come over to get a head start this year it was a few of the nine which was especially cute because it is their first thanksgiving at the sanctuary cindy previewing the tables people start showing up at about noon which gives them about an hour to wander around before terry gives the talk about honoring the turkeys at 1 after which people can start going through the potluck line i worked the chicken yard as usual and got to talk to some friends who came by to say hello one of the roosters russell is approaching senior status and hasn t been getting along with the other two roosters in his area so we d been rotating them in and out so that they d all have outside time but without conflict he was on indoor time at that point but i thought he might be okay with being held for a little while sure enough he was content to be held and i was able to let quite a few people pet him one of my friends was there with her three kids and one of the kids is named russell they were pretty tickled to meet each other someone nearby asked me about the feet of chickens and here s where it was really handy to have dinosaur mad little boys around they were able to explain the feet of chickens much better than i would have and everyone was charmed a few minutes before terry starts her talk those of us working the chicken area do our best to encourage the turkeys to go up front and center this is generally accomlished with bribes this year we brought the tables that we prepared for the turkeys and chickens into the chicken yard before terry s talk so they d stick around of course there was the somewhat typical and comical bird drama with the guineas chasing everyone away from the food and then three or four of us doing our best to herd the guineas inside so everyone else would have a chance to eat hugo the challenging turkey even had his chance to come out and be admired and for a few minutes he and victor were even coexisting peacefully while hugo was entranced by the treats on the tables that only lasted a few minutes and then carole had to bring hugo back inside where he had his own table that he shared with the bunnies someday i am sure hugo will calm down a bit for now we rotate them to avoid conflict the feast for the turkeys and chickens hugo is eating at the table and victor is displaying at the edge of the picture after terry s talk we were mobbed again with people wanting to meet the chickens i went up to the house to get harrison bringing him down to the chicken yard was a very slow process because i had to stop every few feet for more people to meet and pet him he was his usual wonderful self during the event capturing hearts left and right there was one little girl who asked to hold him every few minutes she was very good about giving him up as soon as someone else wanted to hold him i just had to keep an eye on her because she d wander off with him she wasn t the only one who did that it was kind of funny though it freaked me out at the time the new silkie hen audrey who is still sporting yellow and green paint from being spraypainted before she was rescued did really well she s a sweetheart but she s only been at the sanctuary a couple of weeks and no one really knew how she d do she was unphased by the attention she prefers to perch on people s arms rather than being held but she was very happy to let everyone pet her one of the best things about having a rooster like harrison who falls asleep in people s arms and complains if he is on the ground because he wants to be held is that so many people just never imagined that roosters could be so sweet many have never held a chicken before or even imagined it many have never touched a bird of any kind you can see the impact on them as they get to touch and hold harrison or one of the other chickens who doesn t mind being held and then invariably there are questions about whether all chickens like to be held and we can point to all the hens and roosters running about in the yard doing their chicken things and absolutely not wanting to be picked up i think it is important for people to see that and to understand that it is really up to the chickens themselves and that they have their own distinct personalities and preferences our primary focus is on the animals their safety well being and happiness but for those who do like being held or don t mind it in limited doses we take advantage of that no one can do outreach like the animals themselves can and that outreach is critical most animals aren t lucky enough to be rescued by a sanctuary and the best way to help them is to reach people s hearts and thus minds and encourage them to avoid participating in animal exploitation there are a lot of myths out there about chickens that they are dumb is one of the dumbest chickens have cognition at the level of primates they have many different calls and they distinguish in their warning calls the size and general type land versus air of predator i had several questions from people who were surprised to see that there were multiple roosters in the yard together coexisting mostly peacefully which exposed another myth i was also able to point out to some visitors when julius was calling his girls over to show them the great food he d found the entire tableful of food i showed them that he was picking up food and dropping it to make sure his girls saw it of course they were chowing down and were pretty much ignoring him but he was doing his best to be a gentleman anyway julius gretchen and amber i shocked one person by explaining to them that chickens are tropical birds that they are native to the jungles of asia their jaw dropped i m not sure what people think about or if they ever do think about the fact that chickens are native wild birds somewhere i think that many people don t think beyond kfc or the packages they see of bird parts in the supermarket or maybe even the footage from the farms and slaughterhouses the graphic footage exposes cruelty but it doesn t do anything to confront the wrong headed idea that chickens are just automatons that they are just generic flesh and blood machines that way of thinking gets embedded in people s minds witho...
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