my channel

i posted a bunch of new videos at my youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/moonshinejunkyard

they are all from karaoke wednesday night...so might be a bit boring unless you were there. you can tell that we were having a BLAST.

He's a little old lady

Well here is a clip of a video from back in 1989 around Thanksgiving time. In it Joey is the star with Adie playing suporting actress and Mikie supportiing actor. Take note of Susan at the end drying Joeys hair and saying ju be ju be ju be out of love for the bossy little guy. What a character that Joey has always been.
Click on HQ if you don't get a start to the video

recipe for matt and amy

TOFU COUSCOUS TACOS

1 can mexican stewed tomatoes
1 cup water
1/4 cup chopped onion
packet of taco seasoning mix
2/3 cup couscous
8 oz. extra firm tofu, chopped up tiny (or frozen then thawed and crumbled)
corn tortillas
shredded lettuce
cheese
salsa
etc.

In a medium saucepan combine undrained stewed tomatoes, water, onion, and taco seasoning. bring to a boil. stir in couscous and tofu. cover; remove from heat. let stand 5 minutes.

spoon mixture into tortillas and top with the fixings!

we go all out and use sliced avocado, cilantro, chopped green onion, fresh lime juice, sometimes even organic sour cream. delicious.

if i can find rebecca's recipe which is even tastier but does not include the couscous, i will let you know.

Oh I am blessed!

Yesterday and today I started scanning in some old photos. Let's just say it's only been enhancing how very lucky I am to be me. My beautiful and fun-idiotic family, the people I have met along the way at work, school, church, etc. Here are some highlights of the gang.
Me and Mikie!

Part of my Lyon's gang, Christian Mackay and Jason Morlock.

My birthday at Lyon's, bet I was turning 19?

Dad and Heather trying on hats?

Jenny Smith, Amber Sutton, and JAMES Strayer.

Susan Spring Beatty.

Zack Pangborn, Matty, Mikie, Joey- at the fair.

Matty!

Chris Lindsey and Heather in the old Gelato's court area.

Me, Jenny Smith, Amber Sutton.

Larry and Joey, having made a fresh catch.

Nate and Kimmy.

Nate and Dan Maciel!

Sarah Nelson.

Oh Glory and Jenny! Little did we know we'd be forever connected as family!

Heather and Nate in nature....

Heather and Ely Nunez.....at my first apartment.

If you have 40 minutes

Dim the lights, turn up the sound, grab a cup of coffee, and watch this amazing video. (The humpback part, I cannot believe it)

http://www.hulu.com/watch/45548/alaska-spirit-of-the-wild

-Mikie

mikie's visit

here are some photos of mikie's weekend visit. he met us all at karaoke friday night and immediately sang a rousing rendition of "master of the house" from Les Miserables. It was perfect. the audience loved it. our friend jocelyn was the host that night so we all got to sing a lot! i sang "la isla bonita" by madonna and "ramblin man" from the allman bros. emily sang at least two songs by cyndi lauper. we had a blast and all came back to my house together late at night.

saturday momma had a little party for mikie. he introduced us to 3 episodes of "arrested development" which we loved and mom made homemade Texas hash, red velvet cake and all the fixings. all the placervillians were in attendance except artie who was playing a show that night.

FARM SANCTUARY/HEAVEN ON EARTH

On Saturday, Joey and I took a little trip to Farm Sanctuary. It is an organization that rescues farm animals from slaughter houses and cruelty cases. Some animals have been left for dead, left to suffocate under animal corpses, others have jumped off the back of trucks, risking their lives for a chance to escape. There is one location in New York and one in Orland, California (just about 3 hours from placerville). I encourage you ALLLLLL to read the book FARM SANCTUARY by GENE BAUER. It is so beautiful. Heather gave me the book for my birthday last year and since then it has been my DREAM to go there and see all of the sweet animals who have learned SOMEHOW to forgive and love again. Once a month, they have a volunteer "work party" where people can come and meet the lovely animals and help out on the farm any way they can. So, Joey and I got up early, and left for FARM SANCTUARY at 6:30am.
MY DREAM COME TRUE!


The drive FLEW by. I was day-dreaming of the lovely personalities I would FINALLY meet. I get e-mails every time they rescue a new animal, so I had already read about so many cows and sheep and pigs that were awaiting us! It was to be the best day of my life!

When we finally arrived, I saw the sign from the road, and my eyes filled with tears before I had even set foot on the property.



It was a gloomy day, but a perfect day. As we pulled up to the "PEOPLE BARN" (they try to make the people and the animal residents as equal as possible), we looked around for more volunteers. We happened to be the only ones who showed up to help. (ONE person joined us later, around noon, but that was it)!!



After we met with Carolyn, the woman who gave us a tour and told us incredible stories (and later baked us vegan pumpkin cookies!), we began our tour. First, we were off to the Turkeys!



This Is Gideon and Isaiah!! They were found in a cardboard box together outside of a shopping center. They were next to a dumpster with other trash, waiting to be picked up and dumped with the rest of the "garbage". There were two more baby turkeys with them, but they were too starved and dehydrated by the time they were rescued, and didnt make it. But Gideon and Isaiah did!



Now they share a pen together and NEVER leave each other! They LOVE LOVE LOVE grapes and having their bellies scratched! We both never knew how loveable turkeys are! They love their heads rubbed and their bottoms and bellies scratched. Their colors are NEON and gorgeous. Here is Joey admiring them, before we got to go in and cuddle them.



Now get ready to have your hearts melt!!

Next we got to go see WENDY the MAMA!! She is a sheep who was abandoned on the side of a road in California. SHE WAS PREGNANT about to give birth. They told me she was terrified, weak and unable to stand on her own. Just days after they took her in, she gave birth to two baby lambs. One of the lambs was born with underdeveloped lungs and was rushed to the University of California at Davis Veterinary Hospital to receive oxygen and antibiotics to have a chance at life. Now they are both happy with their protective little mama! We got to bottle feed the babies and kiss their noses! THEY LOVE PEOPLE!! Although, I cant say the same for the mama. She kept her distance, and who could blame her!

Here is Autti and Colvin, and their mama Wendy!



Isnt it strange to think that people EAT LAMB?! Look at those babies!

Next we got to see the "retired cows". Now one thing that I was SHOCKED to learn is that most of the cows they have there are DAIRY COWS! (I guess thats no surprise, since its in California..) But these guys (as well as the others) are WAAY to big. They were bred to be HUGE and then pumped full of hormones. The largest cow there is 8 FEET TALL AND 3000 POUNDS! These guys are Norman, Hank, and Lester. They are only about 13, and almost at the end of their rope (cows can typically live to be 25-26 but since they were raised in slaughter houses, they have horrible health problems and their legs can barely support them). They are so gentle and kind, and they LOVE visitors.



Here is Joey and Hank (I think...) I just LOVE joey's smile in this video! Hank just started licking his hand out of the blue! (His tongue was very scratchy, like a cat)



Later, we moved on to the sheep and goats! GOATS ARE THE FRIENDLIEST ANIMALS ON EARTH!!! They followed us around and nibbled on our clothes! Some were outgoing, some were SHYYY, some were arrogant, some were gentle. Just goes to show that animals have individual personalities, just as we do...which makes sense, us being ANIMALS and all...

Joey and I adopt a sheep there every month named IAN who we got to see, but only from a distance. He is VERY shy! Ian was auctioned off for slaughter 8 years ago, and SF police found him in the back of a pick up truck with a tarp over him in close to 90 DEGREE WEATHER (can you imagine that, under all that wool?!). He was near death. The police arrested the driver and the passenger and he was taken to Farm Sanctuary. Now we pay for him every month and we get to go see him whenever we want!!

Here is IAN!!

And here are a couple of his goat friends!

Then we got to see the piggys! They each had heartbreaking stories of their own, as you can imagine. It was nap time for them, but they were SO DELIGHTED to wake up to a couple visitors, as you can see!



LOOK AT THE SMILE ON HER!!



Goodness, there's just too much I can say about this day. We saw donkeys and bunnies and chickens (with no beaks :( ) and ducks and roosters! SO AMAZING!

So, anyways, Joey and I are now completely vegan. Im sure a lot of you saw it coming. But just feeling the energy in that place and seeing each thankful animal and getting to know so many unique personalities among them changed our hearts and lives. I know that I just cant be a part of something that thinks its okay or moral to throw a living cow or goat or pig onto a "dead pile" if they are injured or old or sick and just wait for them to suffer to death. or take a baby calf away from his mourning mama, only to slaughter him before 6 months of age for veal. It goes on and on. and its real. and it breaks my heart so deeply.

In many cases, animals can teach us so much more than humans. They can teach us about forgiveness, and loyalty, and trust, and unconditional love, and all about nature, on such a different level and from such a genuine and selfless place inside of them.

THANK YOU JOEY FOR COMING WITH ME AND FOR LOVING THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE AS MUCH AS I DID!

"If you care about animals, you are in good company"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ORION!

to our youngest beatty: the most precious, creative, loving, intelligent, bright eyed, soft haired, big smiled (since the day he was born!) curious, animal-loving, good natured, adventurous and adorable two year old in the whole wide world!

ORION LOWELL SMITH BEATTY, how we love you and cherish you! Over here in California, we are wishing you the happiest day ever! with lots of hulk and spiderman and wrapping paper and balloons and treats and laughter and dancing and everything else that you love.

I wanna live in Tent City

I found an article this morning about Sacramento's "Tent City" in the New York Times, comparing it to the Hoovervilles of the mid-depression. The article puts into perspective the reality of the foreclosure crisis we've had in our country (and also digs up old thoughts I have about people who "own" their homes) by exposing a plot of land somewhere in the Sacramento area where homeless people and displaced men and women are going to set up tents and live because they simply have nowhere else to go.

Now, I'll admit that I have come to admire parts of our society - the economy is fascinating to me, consumerism can actually be used for good, Executive is not always a bad word, an honorable government is possible, and money is even less important than it's ever been before. So when I see these people temporarily displaced from their homes and forced to live in tents throughout the US, all I really think is, 'ooh, luckies. The only thing that would make it cooler is if this happened during the summertime!'

Ok, so I'm being unrealistic. I like electricity. I like pooping in a flushable toilet, having unlimited tap water, driving a motorized vehicle, having hot water when I turn a nob, eating fresh food that I get to choose from, learning from sources like the Internet and television, being able to utilize specialization like going to a doctor if I'm in pain, going to a mechanic if I need a repair, going to a restaurant if I want food made for me...I like society. I even like working within a society. I like how it breathes, how it moves organically back and forth like pressure systems in the sky. I like how businesses break down like mountains or grow like bacteria. The science of society should be totally recognized, because when looked at in super-tandem and total objectivity, it's not unlike the natural world our family and friends praise so much. It's a mechanical world, created by man to mimic the realities of nature but with a touch of imagination that Nature does not go so far as to provide. I admire that. But beneath it all, we're still living out that permanent state of nature held at bay; life in the natural world is only staved off by our machinations of Today.

Which brings me back to Tent Cities. What are they? Human beings choosing a life (involuntarily) that relies more on the government of Nature rather than the government of Man. These people, no longer at the mercy of most social contracts, now rely on contracts with Nature to survive. All not too far from the ground.
Is this bad? Is it good? Well I like to believe there is no bad or good or right or wrong when it comes to nature. Instead, there is only truth and untruth. There is always one single truth, no matter what we convince ourselves of otherwise. And the folks living in a tent city in Sacramento are a whole lot closer to that truth than the folks living on the top floor of a shmancy high-rise in New York City with a Lexus and trading millions for stocks. We are all included in this.

So why do I personally want to live in Tent City? I like truth. I like things the way they were meant to be. A lie is bad planning - it sets us up for danger. I use truth to survive because it doesn't leave corners cut and so we know our outcomes before they happen. That way, if we're not prepared for the worst, at least we're braced for it.

Two more things here: I don't want to live in a Tent City for the same reason that I don't want to eat Chinese food every night. It sounds good for dinner, but not forever.
Also, I think it's important to understand history, science, theory, toilets, music, etc, so that as we trot along down the poly-dimensional pathways of our own imaginations we can remember truth of the base from whence we came...

Basically, I just want an excuse to go camping.

-Mikie

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/tent-city-report/?hp

just so everybody knows, im going to be as bald as pops in the next five years or so. and i dont care at all. top of the morning.

Ok....this might be weird but I need your input.

Each of us.
Ideas....for.....what would we do if we suddenly got really rich. Like suddenly we had 15 million dollars each.

Art says he would
1. Give his family a sh-- ton of money.
2. Make a record label for all of his friends to get on, and they would all get famous BECAUSE Art had so much money, but they deserved it anyway.
3. Buy Heather and Darin and Joey and Emily a house so they can do rad stuff and not have to pay rent even though they would already have tons of money which Art gave them.


Me
1. Buy about 100 acres somewhere beautiful and build the walking village and start up the construction of about 10 cottage/bungalow/forest houses
2. Cultivate the land and grow grapes and have a mini veggie farm, flower farm, and vineyard.
3. Send myself and some friends over to Uganda to pitch in for two months in whatever way we could ACTUALLY help out.
4. Start a business/ girlish and pretty saloon style shop called Hyacinth-Lily which sells flowerbased tonics (non-alcoholic) and cocktails and has pink velvet wallpaper and flower candies and flower drinks of all kinds and even perfume. We would also do weddings and such, but NOT cakes, we would just do the little flower flavored candies that go ON the cakes. And you could get infusions of yin ciao and other herbs that make you feel better in your drinks. It would be like a coffee shop but for flower drinks. There would be old forties style tables and booths and yes you could smoke electronic cigarettes but NOT real kind. We would base the products off the farm at the walking village where we grow our own flowers for the perfumes and candies and drinks. Flavors, lavender, rose, violet, lilac, etc. The shop would be located probably in Nevada City. It would have a pink pool table area for all ages and then further back would be the 21 and over area with the real bar and a stage for shows called the YELLOW ROSE ROOM.
5. Buy a 1980 mint green 4 door Honda Accord like Heather used to have. But with a perfect engine. Art says "from a mexican....."
6.

Art is ready to add some:
4. Pay as many farmers as he can to grow rice and other root based vegetables to help feed the millions of starving peoples of the world because God doesn't give a shit about music or bars or balling but he's pretty bummed that people are hungry.

Which makes Adie want to add one.
6. Adopt 3-5 kids from varying third world countries.

Art wants to add another
5:
Buy a 1962 Jazz bass.??
6.
Buy some toys for Owl and Grabby.

Adies cont....
7. Do a picto documentary about a cross country road trip. SO basically you are video-ing the process of finding the awesomest things in the US to take photos of. Especially of going to places that still don't have DSL and still use old phones and the towns look like the 1970's and there are a lot of fisherman types.

TO BE CONTINUED- everyone add your own ideas please to the comments!

(Ok this paranthesied section is me writing five minutes after originally posting this- I just read Mikie's blog about our family and not having any businesses and I just gots to say.....We're not DEAD yet Mikie! So me and Heather are past our 30's, we still act like kids and feel 24. Part of the problem. But the good thing is.....our lives haven't passed us by! I GUARANTEE you that things will change and we WILL have our own businesses and money and the whole shahbang and that someday we will probably look back and wish for these sweet and funny hardtimes!)

march madness

i made another one...a very silly one. i think this one kinda features mattie as the star.

I BEG OF YOU ALL to watch this! WHOLE THING!