Oops!

The fingers forgot what the brain knew when I wrote that Arden had worked with gorillas, as she so gently reminded me in what follows: 

I must correct you about my time in Borneo - I was there (with 11 other volunteers) to help track Orangutans (moms and babies) in the rain forest, We followed them dawn to dark as they broke nest (in trees) roamed, foraged and built another nest for the night. We took copious notes and picked up samples of droppings , At the time little was known re Orangutan behavior in the wild and Dr Guldikus was doing a study (via the Leaky foundation). Meanwhile in camp we (kind of) lived with about 60 semi-domesticated Orangs and most of them had been orphaned and grew up around humans. The treks were sometimes exhausting. The experiences with the camp Orangs were joyful, funny and precious, We also spent a lot of time with the delightful Native guides - most of them young men who flitted through the forest in their bare feet followed by the fat Americans stumbling, rumbling and mumbling from behind. Oh! and sweating.

My apologies to Arden and to the Orangutans.  Regardless, that was a brave and amazing adventure and I'm happy to share it in Arden's own words.

I got another of "those" calls.  This was from a woman whose Nigerian dwarf goat had given birth to triplets but rejected one of the babies, and the lady was looking for supplemental milk for the poor little kid.  She came to the right place!

This project of cleaning out The Black Hole is snowballing.  Not everything can be thrown away when cleaning out one room, so space must be found somewhere else.  The second shed out front has been used for storage and seemed like a logical place.  Right.  But first it also must be cleaned out.  Where will this end?!  Empty boxes.  When and why did I develop this obsession with empty boxes?  Trash Guy must think of me as job security.  I can't say how many boxes of all sizes I broke down, but there is a lot more room in the shed now.  Steve had his own quirks.  I had not realized how many Christmas lights he'd acquired.  There are over a dozen unopened boxes of brand-new lights, a huge tub of icicle lights to decorate outdoors, and more tubs of light strings and I have no idea where he used those, and that doesn't count the drawers of Christmas lights I've found downstairs.  If I were ever to use them all at once, Farview Farm could be seen from outer space! 

Costumes.  One would think we'd had a career as thespians from all the costumes stored away.  Lab coats when we were mad scientists, Chinese coolie outfits for the Gold Rush Days theme, faux suede Indian shirts and leggings, the boots he'd created when he was Young Frankenstein, a Wookie (from Star Wars) suit which could be adapted to become an Ewok, blond wigs and black wigs, witch's hats and capes, an astronaut's helmet, boots, and air pack.  Did I mention that Halloween was Steve's favorite holiday?

Yesterday's mission was just to clear out that which could be thrown away (like boxes).  The rest went back into tubs to be sorted and donated later.  At least the four(!) Christmas trees are tucked away in the corner.  One of these days I'll take the stuff from The Black Hole out to the shed.  Or not.