Arontius of Bygelswade

.....I have been subscribing to 'Mother Earth News' for at least twenty-five years now, and have collected every issue ever published. I'm not exactly a farm geek, I leave that for intelligent people like Aelianora. But maybe someday, with a little more time on my hands, I would like to have a garden, raise some chickens, keep some bees, and do some of those things that would promote the self-sustainability front. Managing time has never been my strong talent though. :-)

.....In the latest issue there is a big pull-out section advertising a 'Sustainability Fair' to be held at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. The problem? It is the same freakin' weekend as JUNE FAIRE! Wah! The list of classes though is rather spectacular. There are classes on building gardens, setting up solar power and wind power on a small scale. Lectures on raising sheep and chickens. I think the SCA crowd would especially geek out on the classes for beekeeping, cheese-making, flax raising and processing.

.....If Brandy see this entry, I really think she should go. Several lectures on sustainability are planned and I really think she'd enjoy them. If anyone is interested, the web-site is here:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/fair/workshop-puyallup.aspx

.....Is it sad that I already think about the things I want to do when I'm no longer the Baron? :-) That first year I plan to get a hotel room and spend every single waking moment at the Northwest Folklife Festival the weekend prior to June Faire and not even think about the SCA. :-) I know, sacreligious! :-)

.....Yesterday was a trip to Lacey to worship at the altar that is DAEDIN THE MAGNIFICENT!!!! :-) Actually, it was a bowl painting party sponsored by Mistress Morgaine, but it was held at Daedin's house. It's a worthy cause, the bowls were produced by Mistress Morgaine and Dame Gwenllyn, are painted by volunteers, and then auctioned off for charity. I saw some fantastic designs being created. I came close to actually painting a few times, but I was having too much fun gossiping and laughing with the folks in the dining room. Brighid's apprentice, and her husband, were there. Along with Francisca. Good conversation and good snackies. A nice way to spend a day. I felt a little guilty, but explained it away internally by telling myself that I did my part by bringing the talent down. :-) TBT painted two bowls that I thought were beautiful. :-)

.....Friday was an animated discussion about Serjeantry at the Pancake House. Madrun had had a chance to read through the detailed hand-out for Serjeantry and had a goodly number of talking points. 90% of which I could easily see her point and make mental notes to make changes accordingly. There was that 10% though that I was having a difficult time grokking. I was of the mind-set of making all the styles of Serjeantry the same level of difficulty by making them all do what I considered the same types of activities. Madrun argued the unfairness of making someone on an A&S track do more than what they needed in a martiallate track. It was a stimulating discussion, and I was won over for the most part. And there will be several sections broken out that concentrate on individual styles. Still wrapping my brain around how to conceptualize 'separate but equal'.

.....This Tuesday we have our Serjeantry discussion scheduled to be held at Fight Practice. Not the best venue. Even more so if the weather is bad and we're all squeezed inside. But time is running short and if we're going to take letters of intent at June Faire, then we need to get moving on the process. There have been a number of people interested. This will be our third try at kicking this thing off. I hope that we haven't lost the momemtum.

.....Work has been interesting, even more so than usual. Hard, but amusing at the same time. The government is struggling hard at learning how to do more with less and become more efficient. It has led to some interesting ideas. The part that worries me, but amuses me at the same time is that the 'new and improved' processes are being developed by Senior Management, people all in their 50's and 60's. But their generation is leaving in droves, and these processes are going to have to be run by the Gen Y's and the Millenials coming into the workforce now. What motivates the older generations is not going to work on those in their 20's and 30's. They have a completely different outlook on how life should run. I'm not saying that it is bad or good. It just is, and not taking that into account is going to hurt at some point.

.....Just before I left work on Friday the Comptroller's office called. Last year a large group of managers had been 'keyed' incorrectly into the DFAS database. What that meant was that a large group of us managers were allowed to accrue time and a half if we worked overtime. Being Supervisory Managers, we're not allowed to get time and a half. We get either Comp Time or a reduced time. Luckily for me, my management has been so adamant about 'NO OVERTIME' that I only had one hour on the books for the time period in question. If I needed to come in early or stay late, I just did it as I didn't want to argue for it. The Comptroller on the phone had started with me as I was affected the least by the 'correction'. Ultimately, I'll see a reduction of approximately $23 on my next pay-check to cover the incorrectly paid overtime. I can live with that. However, there were some Managers on the larger Projects with hundreds of hours of overtime on the books. One poor soul is going to have to pay back approximately $12,000.00 in incorrectly paid overtime. The question posed to him will be, 'How do you want to pay that back?' I can't even imagine that. I feel for that person a lot. Wow!

.....Next weekend is the Madrone Baronial Banquet. Our tickets have been paid and we will be there! :-) It'll be interesting to see how a Madrone feast runs. I was surprised last year at how different an Aquaterra feast is from a Dragon's Laire feast. So I'm curious to see the cultural differences in how Madrone feasts go. I think that Mistress Gwenllyn is going with us, so it'll be fun. And we'll still have Sunday to do things at home.

.....But before the banquet we are making the run up to Mount Vernon to meet with the J.C. Planning Team and look over the Edgewater site. I'm rather excited to see the digs and take some measurements. Hopefully I'll remember to bring a camera as well. It would be good to get a few pictures. When the Marketplace is set I can post the listings, their locations, as well as a couple of views of where the Marketplace will be. I advertised the Marketplace Applications on the An Tir Merchant's E-List, but not widely distributed it. I'm still not sure how many merchants we're going to be able to squeeze in there. But I have already received four applications, with checks. And have sent out many others to individuals. Among them Pastiche, who'll hopefully make the trip.

.....Master Garraed put the Sonnet Coronet on hold in Facebook to guide us through some 'Heroic Couplet' exercises. His thoughts being that maybe going back to some of the basics would help both those of us who are a little rusty as well as encourage some few of those holding back because they think it is beyond their capability. No one has responded yet. I need to work on some today if I can block a little free time. Hmmm.

.....NORWESCON in only a few weeks! I can't wait!!!! :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....If you have never experienced the Oregon Country Fair (located outside of Eugene, usually in July), you've really missed out on a unique experience. It is one of those cultural events where earth and nature and sustainability are stressed. There is a LOT of music and hippiness (as well as partying and other wild stuff). Lots of liberal political stuff. Back in the mid-'80's when I attended, it was full of New Age stuff as well. Back then the SCA (Adiantium) even had a presence there, although I don't think that they still attend. It was always a lot of fun.

.....It has really grown up since those days, and they even want to branch out. It seems that a group of regular attendees wants to start a fair akin to the Oregon Country Fair in Port Gamble of all places. One of the organizers called me this evening to ask about how we set up and run June Faire in Port Gamble. They asked lots and lots of questions of how we set ourselves up, how we organized volunteers, how we organized cars, etc. I gave them as many details as I could. It was an indication of things to come when, while I was describing our regular headaches with Waste Management and their dumpsters, that she informed me that the Oregon Country Fair has experienced a regular 80% to 85% recycling rate over the past couple of years and that their dumpster use is minimal. If she can make that work over here, then hey, I'll take a lesson from her in a heart-beat. She said that she would be happy to work with us. :-)

.....Port Gamble expressed an interest in having this group run the fair in Port Gamble. What struck me as interesting to note is that the town is turning this group on to using the town proper and the mill site for parking, when they have been grooming us for using a newly cleared area outside of town for June Faire. The thought being that the Washington Ferry System was on the verge of taking over the mill site for the new Hood Canal Ferry. I wonder what has changed recently. Or if things are still so new and tentative that the whole picture hasn't developed yet on both sides.

.....No matter what happens, it's going to be an interesting year. Hey, go and visit the Oregon Country Fair web-site, http://www.oregoncountryfair.org/entertainment.php . In some ways it has REALLY changed from what it was back in the '80's. But in others, it is still the weirdly strange experience it has always been.

.....Fearga, ever been there? In what costume did you attend? :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.