Shaking Hands

After spending a day in a meeting with state communicators, I joined up with my board and loaded up in a cab bound for Georgetown. Our group from Texas joined several corn folks from Minnesota, all with lovely northerner accents. We were also joined by Tom Sell and Jeff Harrison of the Southwest Council of Agribusiness - an organization representing many agricultural organizations, businesses and individuals in West Texas. The SWCA is headed by a lobbying group called Combest, Sell & Associates, which is stationed out of Lubbock and DC. Larry Combest was a major player in the last farm bill and was the chairman of the House Ag Committee during that time. Obviously, a good friend of West Texas agriculture. So, anyway, we had reservations for our group of about 40 people at a French restaurant in Georgetown. This was my first ever French eating experience, and I must say it was wonderful. (I wish I could've said something to comment about the place in French, but I don't know any French.)

We dined with French wine, escargot, chilean sea bass and apple tarts for dessert. I had a lovely conversation with a gentlemen who is a trade lawyer. His wife, coincidentally, is from Harrison, Ark. He was a major Auburn Tiger fan so we educated those at the table, including many Minnesota dudes, about the intensity and passion for SEC football in the South. For some reason, announcing I'm from Arkansas usually presents an opportunity to tell cool family Civil War stories that are always a crowd pleaser.

Another attendee of the French dinner, was a prominent writer for a daily Hill newspaper that describes what will be discussed that day on the Senate and House floors. He stood up, and because of the SWCA's association with Lubbock, made comments on the town and his desire to visit the Buddy Holly museum. It was at that time, he pulled out his very own Buddy Holly style sunglasses. Suddenly, even in Washington, connections to Lubbock, Texas seemed to had their benefits.

He also extended great interest in knowing the voting plans of each person in the room. Let me remind you that the people in this room consisted of Texas and Minnesota corn farmers. So, with a little discomfort, each person in the room voiced their choice for the 2008 presidential election. I bet over half said either "undecided" or "I will not vote this year because I don't like either candidate." Luckily, for some reason, no one asked me.

Now, since this is my very own blog, I feel like I can voice my opinions without feeling a journalistic responsibility to be fair and unbiased. However, there's still a slight sense of that journalistic responsibility that has been instilled in me that will prohibit me from being completely revealing in my political beliefs...mainly because I'm not even sure if I've figured them out just yet.

Senator McCain has openly voiced (probably more so than just about anyone in recent history) that he is against farm programs and openly declared he would veto a farm bill in the future. His distaste for agriculture should scare the pants off of all of you. If you want to continue living in a country that promotes a safe, abundant food supply, then you would be crazy to vote for this man. His views on agriculture should be a slap in the face to anyone who wakes up every morning and feeds cattle, plants corn, harvests wheat, or anything that has to do with the American family farm. I really don't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat. That is not the issue.

Then on the other hand, although Obama has openly pronounced support for alternative energy programs, such as the ethanol mandates that I go to battle for every day, his religious background scares the pants off of me.

So, what do we as rural, hard-working American's do? I can't vote for McCain because of his views on agriculture. They're poisonous to all of us. I don't really care what his views on gun control or yada yada are. Without agricultural support, we as a nation will lose all of our ag markets to foreign countries...humm, sound familiar? How is that $4 gas treating you right now?

OK, sorry. I got off on a political rant. Blame it on the city I am in. It comes with the territory. I just really can't stand it when people rave about a certain political party without knowing a flippin' reason why they have those views. Perhaps it's because grandpa told that to them once, and they've always been too lazy to figure it out on their own? Dang it! There I go again...

So, anyway, this morning (Wednesday) Corn Congress officially began and so did visits to the the congressional delegation of each corn state.

During Corn Congress, delegates from each state voted on amendments to NCGA policy, elected new board members, and some other stuff that I missed because I was calling the gas company in Arkansas about a leak. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio spoke while I was solving my gas woes back home, however, I did coincidentally run into him on the stairs. I was headed back into Corn Congress, and he noted my nametag, saying, "Oh, Lubbock, Texas! I ate breakfast with some gentlemen from Lubbock, Texas this morning."

And you want to know what my response was? I actually had gum in my mouth like some high school teeny bopper. I never chew gum, but my lack of breakfast was killing me, so I had to occupy myself with something. I noticed the sudden, unexpected attention from the senator who was making his way up the stairs, and tried to hide the gum in the corner of my mouth like it wasn't there. Remember, I NEVER chew gum. Oh, the irony.

I responded, "Yeah, we're everywhere."

Good one. At least his staffers laughed.

We then had our luncheon, and today's speaker was Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who has been a very outspoken advocate of ethanol. Sen. Grassley has also been instrumental in helping our campaign in denouncing all myths about ethanol being responsible for rising food prices. The facts tell us otherwise folks. It's just wrong and it's just what the oil dudes want you to believe.


After lunch, I went along with three of our board members to the Hill to do some visits with our Texas congressional delegation. The neat thing about these guys is they are just like you and me - they're farmers. Yet, these guys are so well-versed in farm policy and how it affects not only their operations, but the operations of corn, and other commodity growers in Texas. It just reiterates my thoughts on, "Don't gripe about something until you know both sides, understand the issue, and can form a well-educated opinion about it, and then take action."

We visited with Congressmen John Carter, a staffer of the House Ag Committee, and the new ag legislative assistant (LA) for Congressman Randy Neugebauer of the 19th district of Texas (aka, the congressmen representing the Lubbock area and a large part of West Texas). A House vote was taking place at this time, but we happened to meet the Congressmen in the tunnel beneath Capitol Hill on his way to the House floor. He greeted his active corn constituents and hurried along to his civic duty.

We also met with the ag LA for Congressmen Henry Cuellar, a staffer for Congressmen Chet Edwards, and Congressmen Mike Conaway himself.

The cool thing about seeing Conaway was that we actually toured beneath the bowels of the United States Capitol (thanks to his chief scheduler, Faith, who led us through security to the door outside of the House floor) to meet with the representative. Suddenly, we were right where things happen - in the Capitol, on the House side, amongst U.S. congressmen who, like Conaway, were meeting with constituents who had traveled to DC to voice their concerns about public policy.

Of all the congressmen that we spoke with today (and likely any that I have ever met) he is perhaps the most personable of all of them. He greeted all of us as if he was seeing faces from home, and spoke with my board members with a genuine concern for their issues. I'd like to post the whole picture of the congressmen and our board members, but I like my job, and I'd rather not.

While I can't obviously point out every senator or congressman by sight, you can pick them out in a crowd by their member lapel pin. Just being in the presence of so many members of congress is a really cool experience. I know I sound like a tourist with a fanny pack, but seriously folks, this is neat stuff.

After meeting with the congressman, we retreated to the Capitol Hill Club outside of the House side of the Hill. Conaway's staffer graciously led us through the winding tunnels beneath Capitol Hill to a point that put us right where we needed to come up to surface. We went inside, thanks to the membership of one of our corn board members who makes frequent visits to DC and who was a former NCGA president. This club is just outside of the House buildings and is a hot spot for congressmen and staff. In fact, we ran into one of our congressmen from our district who we were not able to meet with. He knelt next to my chair, visited with us, thanked us for our visit, then returned to his staffers, as I finished my Makers Mark and Diet Coke.

Our next stop for the day was a reception on the top floor of the Hart Senate building. Since I was hot and sweaty from a day of touring the Hill's men in my suit, I decided to go back to the hotel and meet up with my party after refreshing. I had worn blisters on my little toes from all the walking in my dress shoes. They were even flats...I know, all the cool girls on Capitol Hill wear heels, but I'm not tough enough. So, I had to stop and get some BandAids.

I took a cab back to Hart, met up with my crew, who was leaving this reception for another reception held for the House Ag Committee at the Longworth House building.

So, we went to that one. The House Ag Committee Chair, Colin Peterson, was there...and was playing lead vocals for his band the "Second Amendments".

Not only were we in the presence of some of our nation's most powerful agricultural decision makers, but were also in the House Ag Committee meeting room in the only balcony-equipped room on the House side.



The view was amazing, and the room was packed with corn folks, soybean folks, Farm Bureau folks and twenty-somethings. From the balcony was a view of the Capitol, while above you was an expansive ceiling with architecture you would compare to Rome. In fact, I ran into a guy I went to college with at the U of A. Small world.

And, yes, that is the same dress I wore to the wedding in San Angelo. Hello, people...I had to pack for almost two weeks! So, back off!

The place was rather crowded, and they ran out of "refreshments" so we left for the Dubliner, which was near our hotel.

The mere idea of shaking hands and being in the presence of these people today almost gave me the DC bug. I see how easy it can be to get caught up in the excitement and thrill of this city. I'm not talking about the touristy, 0h-let's-go-visit-the-monuments kind of experience, I'm talking about the "getting involved in your nation's policy" experience. Being someone. Knowing the right people. Obviously, the only reason I was in this position was because I was with people who knew how to play the game, and who had connections with the people on the Hill. Even though I was just the person keeping the guys on track as far as where the next place to go and who were were meeting with, and taking their picture once we got there...I was still there. And it was enough to almost infect me.

But, even in all of the DC mania, the rolling hills, flowing waters and sweet smell of Bermuda grass hay will still always be my Mecca. I guess that's what is cool about this whole process. The very gentlemen I was with today represent that very desire - while today they wore suits, ties and cuff lings, and voiced concerns about American agriculture to their congressional delegation - once they return to Texas, they will be wearing jeans, a John Deere cap and dusty boots as they board their tractors and harvesters. These men are may be what many would classify as simple-minded farmers, but I promise you they know more about agricultural policy and how this country's government is ran than you or I will ever know...that is unless we take the initiative as they have to learn the system and take and active interest in it, rather than complaining about how it doesn't work.

God bless America.

Capitol Steps

I'm usually an afternoon runner, but for some reason I've experienced an unusual inspiration to run in the morning here in DC. There's like 50 million runners who run around the Capitol and Mall. They're everywhere. And, this morning I joined the madness.

It was a beautiful morning to run. Not too hot. The sun was starting to rise. Oh, and there's a huge national icon in plain sight everywhere you go.


I ran down to the Washington National Monument and back to the hotel. I had to adjust to stopping at all the stoplights, but that wasn't too bad because I could catch my breath that was evading my lungs. I still have a hard time adjusting to humidity in places after living in West Texas.


As I mentioned, there were runners everywhere. In fact, I saw a whole running group of about 30 runners who were stretching. That's so over rated. As I was waiting on the crosswalk light to change, some dude (a runner) asked a girl (another runner) if she was doing any races any time soon. I don't even think he knew her. I really think he just wanted a chance to show off, because he said, "I just finished my 23rd marathon the other day."

I was really tempted to say, "Oh yeah, well I just finished my 24th last week," even though I've never actually ran a full marathon. But he didn't know me from Adam's house cat. He probably would've challenged me to a sprint to the top of the Capitol steps or something, and then my sarcasm would've been revealed.

My hotel is right next to this lovely classic looking firehouse. I heard a truck go out at least five times last night. Oh, actually I hear one going out right now! I hope it's not the hotel.

Capitolized

I didn't officially start my communicators' summit until 5 pm today, so I tagged along with David and another one of our board members as they made a couple visits on the Hill. We stopped by Senator Cornyn's office, as well as the Senate Minority Ag Committee office.


While strolling through the halls of the Russell Senate Building, we passed by Senate Ag Committee Chairman, Tom Harkin of Iowa. He wasn't dressed like a senator. He had an "on-a-mission" look on his face and was wearing some khakis and non-senator looking brown shoes. I wouldn't have noticed him if our board member hadn't said, "Hello, Mr. Chairman," and then told me who he was. During the creation of the new farm bill, this man was a large player.

Our communicators' summit was set up to allow all of us to come together to strategize on how to deal with the pressing issues of the corn industry. We gathered for about two and a half hours, ate, then adjourned early. Since the sun was still up outside, I decided to take a little walking tour of the vacinity.

A step out the revolving door of our hotel and you can see the U.S. Capitol building towering gallantly up New Jersey Ave. This is my third trip to DC and I'm still captivated by its majesty every time I see it.

The cool thing about the city is there is always something going on. Tonight a band comprised of Naval officers was tooting out some tunes on the Capitol steps, while at the Capitol side of the Mall, thousands of twenty-somethings were gathering to watch a movie on a gianormous screen.

After reading my previous posts, you all know the impact the setting sun has on me. Seeing the red and orange colors behind the Washington National Monument is no exception.

DC has a presence unlike any other city. I mean, obviously, it's out nation's capitol city. But, this is where things happen - where decisions are made that affect everyone. I've witnessed firsthand the BS factor of politics, but it's easy to forget all of that when you see the grandeur of the monuments, buildings and power that defines Washington.

I had loads of sweet pictures of this gloriously patriotic sight, however, I took the pictures in RAW mode with my fancy schmancy camera, and I haven't loaded that software on my laptop, so use your imagination. I'll post them when I get back.

Road Funnies and Plane Blunders

One thing I’ve always enjoyed about road trips is the unexpectancies that often occur on the journey. Before we’d even left Lubbock Saturday, we saw a dude getting “cuffed and stuffed” as we waited on our Sonic beverages (which, by the way, we were 10 minutes early for the happy hour prices – bummer). I’m not really sure what the chap did to get his rights read to him, but it gave us some satisfying entertainment.

As we rolled on south toward San Angelo, we passed a truck with something strange stuffed in the back. As we got closer, we realized the truck was loaded down with fillers for taxidermy work on deer.



Needless to say, we also got immense entertainment out of that. In fact, we slowed down so the guy could pass us, thus allowing me to snap these pictures. Rachel noted there had been a taxidermy convention in Lubbock, so we concluded the “NTA” marking on the boxes in the truck stood for “National Taxidermy Association.” We also brought along North and South to watch on Rachel’s DVD player.


Meanwhile, Erica knitted something for charity. Once we got to San Angelo, we were welcomed with a nice, narrow hotel room complete with a couch. We then went on to Kevin’s wedding in the 100 degree San Angelo heat. It was a lovely ceremony and reception.


I also took the opportunity since I was wearing a dress to strike the pose of our favorite Facebook celebrity.


After having our fill of weddingness, we went to a local favorite called “Blaine’s” where we enjoyed the tunes of a live band. This girl was not a day older than 19, but she had the voice of someone who was a day older than 19.


Sunday morning, my travel crew left early for Lubbock, while I snoozed another couple hours. I took a $40 cab to the San Angelo airport and got there way too early. This airport consisted of two gates, and the security line didn’t even open until it was almost time for the flight. The plane even had propellers. The window vibrated so much I couldn’t sleep with my head against it.


Once at DFW, I stopped by Chili’s Too (which I’m pretty sure I’m burnt out on) and found David, my boss. We dined, then boarded the much larger 747 bound for DC. We were all on board and heard this lovely message from our captain, “Well, folks, I want to thank you for choosing American Airlines (insert gag here), but, uh, it looks like there’s some weather to the west of Washington, so we’re going to have to delay our push back an hour and 15 minutes…blah, blah and more blah.” So, we sat on the plane (at the gate) and waited in the warm Texas sunshine for the east coast storm to make its way through our nation’s capitol.

We waited three hours.

I was on the plane for six hours. David and I arrived in DC at 9:30 EST, took a cab to the Washington Court Hotel, ate a late dinner, and then I went to bed a worn and haggard traveler. American Airlines has a way of doing that to me.

Stay tuned.

On the Road Again

Well, my month-long hiatus from traveling will come to an end today. One cool thing about this job is that I get to roam like a nomad across Texas and sometimes the country, so whenever I start feeling restless here in Lubbock it's usually not a long wait until I take to the skies. Perhaps I should have titled this post "On the Plane Again".


Today, I'm driving down to San Angelo for a friend's wedding. I'm catching a ride with Rachel, Scott and Erica to the town three hours south of here to see our buddy Kevin take the plunge tonight.


Tomorrow morning I'll fly out of the San Angelo airport (not some where I've ever flown out of) and head to Washington, D.C. for the week. I'm going to DC for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Corn Congress. Our board will send delegates to help make important decisions that affect the country's corn production support. The first two days I will be taking part in a State Communicator's Summit, where we will compare each state's efforts in the Food and Food debate that has taken us all by storm the past several months. By the way, ethanol keeps your gas prices down $0.42 a gallon. Just sayin'.

The remainder of the week I will sit in on the Corn Congress sessions, make a few legislative visits with our executive director and board members, and likely eat a lot.

Next Friday, I will get up at the butt crack of dawn, take a cab to Maryland, and catch a Southwest flight to Tulsa. American Airlines was going to charge me $1,600 to change my flight from a previous destination to Tulsa or Fayetteville, so I just won't show up on that flight. Unfortunately, my beloved Southwest doesn't fly in to the DC airports, with the closest being Baltimore.

So, I will be at home, sweet home, until Monday morning. I hope to get a doctor's appointment to diagnose this strange mark on my hip. I'd post a picture of it, but that may be crossing the line.

Stay tuned in the week ahead. I will post pictures from our nation's capitol and the various activities I partake in while there.

There's Somethin' Strange in the Neighborhood

I grew up in this cute little church. It's over 100 years old and I'm pretty sure our family has occupied the back row for a good portion of that time.

It's a simple church, and one that evokes good memories from my childhood. For a long time, my sister and I were the only kids in the church, the minority to many many white headed people.

While this may seem like a warm-hearted post about my hometown church, I'm afraid to announce that it's more like something you might see on the Sci-Fi Channel.

For some reason here lately, I've heard a lot of discussion about odd things appearing in photos back home in Prairie Grove. From orbs to Civil War colonels showing up in pictures, it makes you wonder if there's really something to them, or they're just coincidental glares on the window glass, or dust particles that showed up when a flash was used.

I now live not too far from Roswell, New Mexico. Back in January while coming back from a trip to Ruidoso, we stopped in Roswell so I could explore the phenomena that the town has cashed in on over the decades. There's an "official crash site" at the McDonald's, several alien museums, and many other attractions where people have taken advantage of the hysteria caused by the Area 51 incident that occurred many years ago. While the town is amusing, I still really just don't believe in aliens. Call me a realist, or a fuddy dud, but seriously folks...

Well, while I was home in Arkansas for the Fourth of July celebration, I stopped at the church I grew up in, the First Presbyterian Church of Prairie Grove, to take some pictures. It was hot and I wasn't acclimated to the humidity after living out here, so I didn't take much time in snapping the images. Once I got back to Lubbock, I uploaded the pictures I'd taken over the weekend and began "working them up" in PhotoShop to enhance their color and detail. When I opened up the church pictures, I noticed something odd coming off the roof of the church.


I'm really not sure what it is, but to me it resembles the blurry images we often see of UFOs on documentaries or in the postcards from Roswell. It made me laugh really hard, mainly because I knew I had something good to email to everyone.

Wasn't there a cult several years ago that said Jesus would come back on a spaceship? Or was it a comet? Or were those two completely different cults? I guess I need to research my cults a little more.

However, I got an email back from a friend, who I think might have too much time on his hands, I noticed I had over looked something in the picture that he pointed out. Take a closer look and see if you can see it...

O' Beautiful, For Spacious Skies...

The Fourth of July has always been a big deal at home. One year I missed the festivities and was nearly deleted from the family will. However, it's not something I would want to miss, because I can't think of anything more American that eating lots of grilled food, exploding things and then complaining when you have to wait in between fireworks.

It is our tradition to gather, eat, and then head down to the pond to explode however many hundreds of dollars we overpaid for Chinese fireworks (which is something I've recently been examining the irony of to a great extent). The manicured pond provides a lovely location to celebrate our nation's independence from those darn British folks.

We are a family of traditions. The Fourth of July, Christmas Eve, post-Thanksgiving shopping trips in Branson - these are not things you mess with. It's also a tradition to take a group picture every year.

There's always a lovely selection of food to eat at our festivities. Here you see the tasty fruit creation my mom made. Isn't it pretty? I think I forgot to try it, though.

Karen also makes a tasty sangria. I didn't forget to sample it.


Dad usually quietly grills the hamburgers. Hey, it looks like he's eating a piece before everyone else. His innocent grin may fool you, or perhaps he was just sampling it to make sure the burgers were cooked correctly.


In addition to cooking a feast, mom spends hours manicuring her lawn.


We have several who partake in the 4th festivities. This kid, Braxton, won the award for the holiday's most injured participant. He also fed several pounds of carrots to the horses. But, he was one of the cutest. Just look at his little cheeks!





Once at the pond, we shoot off the silly fireworks that just make loud noises and aren't really that pretty. For some reason this year, our supply of large, beautiful, the make-your-neighbor-jealous fireworks was somewhat insufficient. But, the good thing about being down at the pond is you can see fireworks displays all over the valley. It's safe to say the neighbors beat us this year, but we still had some pretty ones.


Plus, we had Riley, who wondered the pond bank with her Light Saber that she got at the rodeo. Her patriotic head wear was also a nice tribute to our Founding Fathers.


Basically everything on the West Farm is John Deere made. Apparently, folding chairs are no exception. "Nothing Sits Life Deere" was an expression I believe I heard in regards to my mom's chair.


In the days leading up to the 4th, we enjoyed the tranquil surroundings at Karen and Mike's pool.


We were entertained by the talented Riley who can wear like 45 inner tubes and walk on water.


All was nice, quiet and relaxing at the pool...

Until Graham, the prosecuting attorney and pool punk showed up.


We hid inside the inner tubes to shield ourselves from the forceful blasts of his water gun. Even with my stealth-like maneuverability, I still fell victim to the pool punk's blast.


Stay tuned...I took some other "unidentified" pictures while I was home. But until then, I leave you with this...