Break Down

WARNING: No pictures in this post. Sorry Karen.

Sometimes bad luck just happens. Sometimes it happens all at once.

While there could be many, many worse things that could happen to me, the going trend right now is anything electronic is pretty much going to give one last gasping breath and then die.

Breakdown #1: Refrigerator

A couple of weeks ago, Mom called to tell me there was a pool of blood beneath my refrigerator in my Arkansas home. No, there wasn't a murder in my home...well, I guess something did have to die to create all of the blood...ANYWAY, my refrigerator went bye-bye. All of the hamburger meat in the freezer thawed and leaked out on to the floor. Thanks Mom for wiping that up. Pretty sure I owe you for that one.

Fortunately, thanks to Mom's desire to have a new refrigerator, I inherited their old one, which is still a good 30 years newer than the one in my house. My house isn't really that old, I mean it's probably 13-14 years old. However, the appliances in the house must have come over on the Ark.

Breakdown #2: Fuel Pump

Last week was my birthday. Yeah, yeah big deal. The day before my birthday I was presented with a lovely gift: a failing fuel pump on my Tahoe, which I affectionately call the "Green Hoe"). I was driving to work, whistling a tune with the song birds as I drove by, when my car began to lurch when I accelerated. I immediately knew this little lurching wasn't going to be cheap.

Fortunately, I wasn't out in BFE Texas or in the middle of a corn field somewhere when it decided to go out. I was able to drive to the nearest Chevy dealer and $1000 later I got a brand spankin' new fuel pump and fuel filter and some overpriced labor from Shamrock Chevy.

Breakdown #3: iPod

I love my iPod. I take it everywhere. It goes on trips. It plays in my car. It sings to me in my house. Sometimes I even wake up to it. I've had it since my last semester in grad school, so I guess it's about a year and a half old. It holds a brazillion songs, movies, pictures...it's entertainment in a tiny, hand held rectangle.

About a month ago, my beloved iPod decided that it didn't want to emit sound out of its headphones or anything else you could hook it up to. This made me worried. So, I read discussion boards on Apple.com and learned that if you press really hard on one area of the iPod it will play. So, after a painful press and purple thumb, it started up again...but only for a brief moment. I also read that you could put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and that would make it start again...oh, the irony.

Breakdown #4: Laptop

I bought a Mac laptop four years ago the summer prior to my senior year in college. I've loved Macs ever since. It's been loyal. It's helped me through long nights of homework. I've taken it on the road and loaded pictures on to it hastily as I drove down the road to another story interview. It's been my link to the outside world.

Monday and Tuesday were corn board meeting days for us. We met in the Embassy Suites meeting room here in Lubbock, and for two days I didn't really leave that room. The second day, I brought my laptop to tap in to the wireless Internet provided by the hotel.

I would soon discover that my other beloved Mac product was sick and ailing. The hard drive went out. In the computer world, this is like your pace-maker failing, or a brain aneurysm. I searched frantically for a Mac doctor and found some dude that works out of his house. I took it there yesterday, and I'm sure a few hundred dollars later I will have my Mac back.

Breakdown #5: Cell phone

I was jumping in the Tahoe yesterday morning to go to the corn board meeting, and I had an arm full of objects (including my soon-to-be doomed laptop). As I was shutting the door, I heard a crunch. It was my cell phone being slammed in the car door. It still miraculously worked, but you could only see half of the screen and I had to bend it back straight to put the battery cover back on it.

Luckily, we had some phone insurance on our plan in the office and I got a replacement mailed to me immediately and I got it today, less than 24 hours after I reported the damage. It almost made me a believer in cell phone insurance.

So, there you have it. I seem to be having a problem with electronics. I just hope this doesn't carry over to planes, because I'm getting on one Friday to head home...

I'm just glad I don't have any electronics hooked up to any organs in my body right now.

The Older the Violin, the Sweeter the Music

My favorite movie ever in the history of the world is where the title of today's blog post came from. If you don't know it, then maybe you should do a little research.

If you put dialog with the picture above, it might go something like this:

Me: "I love Cherry Coke!"
Natalie: "Hey! I want one!
Me: "Aren't our matching Levi's cool?"
Natalie: "Why on earth did Mom give us semi-mullets?"
Me: "I don't know, but it's way more obvious that we have mullets if you wear a pony tail. I'd take that down if I were you."
Natalie: "No, because my hair will get caught in the hood of my sweet puffer coat."
Me: "Where are we? On the surface of Mars?"

Actually, we were at Devil's Den State Park. One of our favorite Sunday drive destinations back in the day.

We turn 26 today. It's cool to be able to say we, but I don't really know any different. A birthday is traditionally a celebration for one person. But when you are used to sharing a birthday with someone, then it's a little strange when that other person is 600 miles away.

Here's our parents. They are responsible for creating a double person.

Can't you just hear our little high pitched, squeaky voices in the cab of this tractor with Dad? Natalie is probably saying, "I want to go swimming at Meme Francis' house!" and I'm probably saying, "What does this button do?"

And here is our Mom. Isn't she ravishing in her red polyester rodeo queen ensemble? She still wears it sometimes.

Ok, not really. But it would be really funny if she did. That's Ole' Silver in the picture. He lived to be like 467 years old. He even has a tombstone.

You could tell at an early age that we would have very different personalities. If you can't tell which one is which in the picture below, then I'm kind of wondering why you're reading this blog to begin with...who are you people anyway?

Observe the red boots, white hat and matching Levi jeans and jacket. Now observe the yellow sweatpants, gray boots and pink gloves. This is how we roll on the farm. If you still don't know who is who, please stop reading. I have no use for you.

Now, observe twin picture exhibit F: the smiley/crying kitty picture. One has a Big Bird cap, and the other is obviously very upset about something. The smiley kid must be up to something. Either that or the crying kid is just irritated she didn't get a Big Bird cap, too.

I would also like to point out the matching hoody jackets and Velcro shoes. Those are freakin' sweet. I wonder if Mom said, "Girls, take Blacky and go sit in front of those flowers. I want to take your picture."

So, Big Bird twin probably picked up the cat first and began to sit down for the photo shoot, when upset twin probably said, "I want to hold Blacky!"

At that point, Big Bird twin probably said, "Fine, but I get to eat the pork out of the Pork 'N Beans at dinner!"

Yes, this is something we used to fight over in our youth. While this seems rather disgusting now, we fought passionately over the hunk of pork out of the canned beans.

Seriously, if you can't identify who is who in these pictures, go away.

So, here's to us, and here's to the last four years in our 20s! For your birthday, Natalie, I'll let you eat the pork out of the Pork 'N Beans when I get home next.

Home Away From Home

I moved into an apartment about a month ago and I've had some requests to take a peek inside. It's just an apartment folks, so don't get too excited.

My wonderful mom came out back at the beginning of the month to help me move, which was really nice of her. Since most of what I have out here consists of clothes stored in Rubbermaid tubs, the only large things I had to move were a bed headboard and my bike. Other than that, we had to do a little furniture shopping.

This is my home in Arkansas.

It has my furniture. My stuff. My junk. And it will stay there until I move back inside of it. When I moved back out here, there wasn't a need to haul all of that crap with me. I felt like a hippie, because I loaded up the Tahoe with Rubbermaid tubs and my guitar and set out again on my own. It really confuses people as to whether or not I am selling my house or if someone is renting it. It's still mine folks. Right now it is inhabited by trolls, so don't even think about trying any funny business.

This is my Texas residence. I've never lived in an apartment before, but this makes the third address within the same zip code in Lubbock that I have inhabited. There's like 40 different zip codes out here, and I've only lived in one of them. It's a nice corner of town.

I live on the second floor, which isn't bad except when you're hauling things like new furniture or a mattress or a casserole up the stairs. That's somewhat cumbersome. But, I can leave my windows open without worrying about someone crawling inside. I wouldn't fear this anyway, but it's something nice to tell people.

It's a nicely landscaped apartment complex, and there's a pool and a workout facility right out my door. Sorry, I didn't take my camera in the workout facility. People might think I'm odd, and then I'd be that weird new girl that just moved in who likes to take pictures of everything.

The good thing about this new fandangled furniture of mine is it will go nicely inside my Arkansas home when the time comes.



I'm still waiting on my loveseat from Bob Mills...so, get on it Bob Mills. I need me a loveseat. For now, there's a red folding chair from Walmart. I like red.


I've inherited temporary use of a dresser from my beloved friends, the Irlbecks, which I placed in one of my two walk-in closets. Thanks guys. Now I only store crap I don't want laying out in my Rubbermaid tubs - which I have since stored away.

I also have a balcony and a storage room outside on the balcony. The funny thing about his balcony is there's a large Bradford Pear tree right in front of it. I plan on putting a bird house or something right there. Maybe some lights. Or maybe nothing at all.

It's a cozy residence and I am rather fond of it. It's a nice place to cook things like this Mexican lasagna.

I also just realized there are no pictures of my kitchen. Sorry. Don't get mad.

When It Rains

This is what happens when it rains in Lubbock, Texas.


The streets flood. The Walmart Parking lot floods. Basically, there's water everywhere, even if it only rains about a half inch.

Side note: Avoid Walmart in Lubbock if: it rains over a half inch, on Saturdays and Sundays, and any day after 5 pm. My reasons vary, but aren't appropriate for all audiences.

This weekend we got a little over three inches of much-needed rain in the Hub City and surrounding areas. I think the average yearly rainfall for Lubbock is only about 18.6 inches, and about 2.3 inches for the month of August.
The lowest recorded temperature here was -17 degrees in 1933. The coolest month is January. The highest recorded temperature was 114 degrees in 1994. We get most of our rain in June, (which is a bunch of hooie, I don't think it rained a drop in June). Weather.com is oh so informative. All I'm saying is it better not get to 114 degrees while I'm living here. I can do without the -17 degree temperature, too.

Airtime, In Print and Standing Water

Last week, I did a couple of radio interviews on West Texas ag radio shows about www.TexasPriceCheck.com. To listen to the one on KFLP, click here and click on 'Ag News' and you'll see my name.

We also had some success this morning, getting a letter to the editor from my boss published in the Austin American Statesman, which hasn't exactly been friendly toward our cause lately. So, that was a nice thing to see this morning.

Now, as for the standing water, we got about three inches of rain from a storm that rolled through the Hub City at around 3:30 am this morning. The lightening was rather intense and woke me from my slumber. We don't exactly get a whole lot of rain in these parts, but the past couple of evenings have brought thunderstorms, which have cooled off our temperatures to the low 70s today, and the low 80s the previous few days. It makes me really, super-duper ready for fall.

The city of Lubbock can not handle large amounts of rainfall at one time, because there's no drainage system. Instead we have these silly playa lakes. The streets flood, the parking lots flood and it makes drivers lose all of their common sense. I was in the Wal-Mart Parking Lot Ocean this morning (only the first five rows were above water, which left shoppers fighting and scrambling to find front row spots) and as I was leaving, a car was waiting on my spot. After I pulled out, another car whipped in there before the one waiting on me could pull in. So, how did the loser of the spot handle this? She laid on her horn for approximately five minutes to show her anger, scaring the life out of me. People can be real jerks. I probably would have done the same thing if someone had stolen my spot like that. Wal-Mart tends to do that to me.

This weekend is a neat weekend for Texans, despite their lack of necessary drainage systems. The Texas Legislature decided a few years ago that consumers deserved a tax-free holiday one weekend in August to give relief to people getting suited up for the new school year. Even though I'm not suiting up for the new school year, I decided to take advantage and purchase myself a new pair of jeans.

I'll have pictures posted Monday of the Parking Lot Ocean. As for now, I'm going to cook a Mexican Lasagna.

Panhandlin'

There's an old song by Texas songwriter and singer Robert Earl Keen called "Amarillo Highway" that goes:

'Cause I'm panhandlin' manhandlin', Post holin' hugh rollin'
dust bowlin' Daddy, I ain't got no blood in my veins,
I just got them four lanes, of hard Amarillo highway.

This song really has nothing to do with my blog today other than it sings about the Texas Panhandle. "Panhandlin'" is a term used to describe people that hold signs up on the side of the road near liquor stores saying, "Homeless" or something like that. So, I guess that was really pointless to paste the lyrics of that song on here.

Ok, anyway I received a couple complaints from people wondering why I hadn't posted anything in a few days. Last Wednesday after a day in the peanut fields southwest of Lubbock, I drove to Dumas to stay the night before we had a field day in the tiny town of Etter. There's an extension experiment station there devoted almost solely to corn research.

TCPB sponsored the field day, so we were there in support of the discoveries they were making toward better, more drought resistant corn varieties, as well as varieties more tolerable to silly insects that like to ruin profit margins for corn growers.



Since I was already up there in the northern Panhandle, I decided to stick around another day and visit our six board members from that region and snap their picture (or 20) for use in our newsletters, press releases, or any other use that creeps up on me in a day. So, I made the drive further northwest to Dalhart after making two stops at our board members' farms, one in Dumas and one south of Stratford.

I stayed the night in Dalhart and was coincidentally able to meet up with some Prairie Grove folk, who had made the nine hour drive that day across the plains for a family reunion. There were, like, 17 million Hammets there. Likely the most Hammets ever to be in one location.

The first weekend in August every year marks the celebration of the once-largest ranch in the world - the XIT ranch. The XIT was home to 3 million acres when it was given to two Chicago businessmen as payment for restoring and rebuilding the Texas capitol in Austin after it was burned. And by the way, the Texas capitol was built so that it would be taller than any other capitol in the country, including the U.S. Capitol in Washington. That's so Texas. The whole weekend was quite educational.

Some lifelong friends of mine whose family reunion was being held in conjunction with the 72nd XIT Reunion and Rodeo, as is the custom in Dalhart, also happened to be staying in the same hotel as I was.

It was odd to see 18 Arkansas folks that I'm used to seeing in Arkansas (well a few of them anyway) all the way out in the western town of Dalhart - population 7,000.

Friday, I made trips all over creation to visit two more board members on their farms and was even taken to lunch in the tiny Texline, where I ate excellent Mexican food in a place that was once an old gas station. In this town, one side of the road is New Mexico and the other is Texas.

Once the work day was over, I met back up with the Arkansans and enjoyed a nice Dalhart experience.

My second night in Dalhart, we dropped in a local establishment called the Texas Tavern, where I argued with a Cargil employee about ethanol. He bought two rounds, so I guess I won the argument. It was a rather seedy joint, but still fun.

We attended the annual XIT parade, which had floats from local businesses, cheerleaders, the high school band, and even the class of 1998. The term "reunion" can be applied to any circumstance that allows a large group of people to "reunite" in Dalhart. I recommend reading the history of the XIT Ranch. It's pretty stinkin' neat.


Later that day was the traditional "Word's Largest Free BBQ Feed" where thousands turn out to chow down on tasty Texas BBQ that is appropriately cooked in the "World's Largest BBQ Pit". It was an amazing amount of meat.

Then it was onto the annual PRCA XIT Rodeo, where I got to see a few of my favorite team ropers, none of who actually caught.

At least the cowboy scenery was somewhat pleasing to the eye...the old guy in the red suspenders isn't included in that comment. I just thought that made a nice picture.

It was a fun weekend, full of corn, driving, BBQ, history and friends who randomly showed up in West Texas. After the weekend was over, I had driven over 800 miles since last Tuesday. It was nice though to actually be out in the fields and out of the office.

PS. All the photography on this blog is mine. Don't ya go taken it without my permission, written in blood, and the rights to any oil wells you might have.

My Maize

Yesterday I was a corn girl. Today I was a peanut girl. But, today you're going to see corn stuff. I'd like to call today's post, "My Maize" to make a play on words. Dang, that's clever.

Ok, not really.

I was in corn country yesterday in the Texas Panhandle and the corn really seems to be looking swell. We need some rain out in these parts real soon, or there's going to be some very depressed farmers in West Texas.


One of our board directors from Muleshoe said he'd received a total of 5 inches of rain for the year...I think you peeps back home got that in one afternoon earlier this summer.

It's just plain dry out here.

Until recently, I hadn't really spent much time out in the fields, which is what our board is all about - the corn that is grown and the people that grow it. It's good to get out of the office, or away from the large cities where meetings and conferences are held, and actually get out in a corn field.

It was also super cool to see an ethanol plant.

Since I really don't care to be lost or become one with the children of the corn, I just stay on the outside and take pictures.

I was at a peanut field tour all day with Congressman Neugebauer's staff again, and I'm about to head north to Amarillo for a corn field day tomorrow.

We got some good news today that was unofficially released on Reuters that the EPA has declined the governor's request for a 50 percent waiver on the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) mandated by the 2007 Energy Bill. That's huge. There's a press conference tomorrow at 1 p.m., so I will be shooting pictures out in the field while trying to keep up with the announcement from Washington.

This is a much anticipated announcement that has already been delayed a week, due to the large number of letters sent to the EPA on the subject. Exciting stuff happening in the corn world, despite the depressing cost of inputs.

Stay tuned.

Kernels and Nuts

Hello blog. Long time, no...post.

After a weekend spent moving into my new apartment and enjoying my mom's company, I hit the road again today. Only this time, I really did hit the road and not the airport.

Today, it was off to Dimmitt, which for you Arkies is about and hour and a half northwest of Lubbock. We (myself, the boss and a few corn board members) met with Congressman Neugebauer's staff who were in town from Washington making visits to the 19th District of Texas. We were also joined by the National Sorghum Producers and their Texas organization (their office is like 429 inches from our office).

We met up at K-Bob's Steakhouse, where I ate a K-Bob Kabob, mainly just because it was fun to say. The little Hispanic waitress was not near as amused by this as I was.

We ate, discussed the concerns of grain producers in the 19th District of Texas, and listened to their cookie cutter replies. I've learned that this is rather ordinary in conversations with politicians and their staff (which is really not all that surprising).

After lunch, we drove north to Hereford (the feedlot capitol of the world) to tour one of White Energy's ethanol plants. This was my first time to step foot on the premises of an ethanol plant. After spending a good majority of my time with the corn producers defending the purpose of and need for ethanol, I figured it was high time I got to explore a place where it's made.

Since Hereford is the feedlot capitol of the world, there's obviously lots of grain that comes into the area to feed the bovine population. The town relies heavily on the rail system to bring in a lot of this grain, and so do the ethanol plants.

It's rather interesting to step back and think about the infrastructure needed to make ethanol work. The plants are making it. The domestic auto makers are producing FlexFuel vehicles. But the oil companies are making it very tough for gas stations to economically provide E85 pumps (E85 = 85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline fuel). This all involves blender credits, tax credits and some other confusing stuff I won't bore you with. I really just wanted to throw out that information for you to ponder on while you're filling up your cars, trucks and SUVs with expensive foreign oil.

Write a letter or something to your congressman. I'm sure that will help.

It's hot out here right now. We don't have humidity, so it's not near as bad as you Arkansas people that are rolling your eyes right now and thinking, "Oh, yeah? Well, the heat index has been 1 million degrees here."

Hot is hot people. Heat plus humidity just plain sucks though. I realize this. But, either way you look at it, you're going to sweat. At least out here my hair doesn't look like a football helmet at the end of the day. In fact, it's still quite straight.

Tomorrow, I'll do the same thing all over again, only this time I will be wearing my peanut hat. I won't actually be wearing a peanut hat, but you get the point. We're meeting with the same staffers to show them how important the peanut industry is to Texas, and heading southwest of Lubbock to West Texas' peanut country to go through some shelling facilities and such.

Then, I'll drive north to Amarillo to stay the night, and then go to a corn field day at the Texas A&M AgriLife Experiment Station at Etter. I think sitting behind a desk has made me soft, because I know the heat will get to me. Nonetheless, I'm excited to be outside.

As you notice, I don't have any pictures posted. It's because I don't have my cord again. Sorry. I apologize. I do have some for you to view.

Until then...I will continue watching this game show that puts Americans in Japan to participate in their game shows.

Professional Development

I feel really lucky that I randomly selected agricultural communications as a major when I started college in 2001. I knew I wanted to be in ag, but didn't really know how I wanted to be in ag. So, on a whim, I entered up in the program. From that point forward, I've met some of the neatest, most fun, yet professional individuals that are out there.

Ag Media Summit (AMS) has long been one of my favorite professional development events. In fact, I even did my master's thesis on the professional development needs of ag communicators who attend AMS. I know all of you are just itching to read the 200+ page document that got me through grad school. It's available upon request.

I first attended AMS when it was held in Tampa in 2004 as a junior at the U of A and member of ACT (Ag Communicators of Tomorrow). Back then ACT met every other year with AMS and every other year with ACE (an extension group that's not near as cool). So in 2005, we went to San Antonio with ACE. In 2006, I went to AMS as a Red Raider when it was held in Portland, Oregon. That year, we got to white water raft on the White Salmon River in Washington.

Last year, I attended AMS as a professional for the first time rather than going as a student. I was there as editor Ozarks Farm & Neighbor when it was held in Louisville, Ken. I actually have a scar from that AMS, but I'm not telling that story...hahaha!

So, this year I went as a communications director rather than an actual media representative. But, since I've gotten to know all of these people over the years, it made sense for me to continue those relationships, especially since my job now is to communicate with the media.

The only challenge of having gone to this since I was in college is a lot of people still think I am in college...

Did I mention how much I love this meeting? These people mostly are just good ol' ag writers, photographers and publishers, and, let me tell you, they know how to have a good time.

When we got there, word on the street was some of the guys had gone deep sea fishing the day before and were having a fish fry in Diane Johnson's room. Diane Johnson is the executive director of Livestock Publications Council, and probably one of the coolest people I know. This woman can plan everything.


So, we went over to Diane's and it was like a family reunion. I knew just about everyone in the room, and most of them I hadn't seen since last year's AMS.

As I mentioned in my last post, the meeting was held at Saddlebrook Resort north of Tampa. You basically never need to leave and there's a BEAUTIFUL golf course.

And a couple of gators.


During the day, there are sessions where you can learn to be a better writer or photographer or blogger or professional in general.

The sessions are always good, but the real "networking" begins at night when we all gather for a big party.

One night it was a beach party in a giant tent on the resort.

The next night it was a "Dive In Party" in the resort's 50,000 gallon "super pool" where we watched Caddyshack and floated around with drinks and beef kabobs. That night was likely on of the best nights ever at AMS.

I found a cover-up that I thought I'd wear that night, and I was told I looked like Chrissy from Three's Company. Nothing like a good throw-back cover-up to set off a good beach party.

(Me and Hannah Lipps with National Sorghum Producers- she works next door to me in Lubbock)

The last night of the conference is always wrapped up with an awards ceremony, cocktail hour, dancing and a dinner.


I know you guys are likely thinking, "Ok, I've seen you wear that dress to like three events in the past three weeks!" Get over it. You know I don't own many dresses.

Seriously, though, this all sounds like a bunch of partying, but you wouldn't believe the networking you can really accomplish in all of this. People are relaxed, social and eager to catch up with everyone.

From my past college advisers and friends...

(Me, Cindy Akers - my adviser at Texas Tech, and Erica Irlbeck - we shared an office at Tech)

...to professionals I worked with in my internship...

(Jennifer Bremer and Holly Martin with the High Plains Journal)

- all of these people have played a huge role in the career path and decisions I have taken.

The ag communications "community" is unique in that we all know each other - even though my former ag media colleagues say I went to the "dark side" by getting into public relations - we all have one common ground, and that's communicating agriculture.