Kelly Burney:  

April 19, 2011. First time I have a moment to add to this in many moons. But have finally added some things that are a little more current about half way down. Enjoy. Some of you may wonder why I said chickens. Well, they don't have to be fed when the sun comes up, they're pretty happy if you just feed them, they do have personalities of their own, they are insanely happy if you just remember what they like to eat. Not that hard, they're chickens, they have brains the size of a kumquat (which by the way I can buy at a store the size of 6 super Walmarts up in Cinnci). They have the same needs as cats or dogs, I have had 3 or 4 of those too, but unfortunately chickens can't be housebroken. My current fellow is a Shepei, a german shepherd sharpei cross who's 7 and named Bubba. I would really like to find a female and breed for pick of the litter. If anyone runs across someone who owns a female, feel free to put them in touch with me here. The only Shepeis I have been able to find on the web are neutered rescue animals. Chickens are pretty much the same thing as other pets. They get to know you. I took mine, all 28, out of a factory farm. They were supposed to be eaten. Instead, I gave them cracked corn, and a rooster, and a half acre to run around on with alfalfa to eat. They gave me about a gross of eggs a week. Talk about showing you they're happy. Twenty five years ago I was not a scientist, I was someone who could dig a better ditch than any 200 lb. man they put with me. Then became a scientist. I am about to make a mint off that. But I still like chickens. I had a Nubian goat named Abraham, who loved popcorn and liked going to the drive-in. I have no idea what happened to the rest of this story...never thought to look at it. I must admit that starting off with the statement, 'Some of you may wonder why I said chickens', sounds like an odd way to start a story. It was preceded by the statement that I planned on building a home in the Wind River Canyon in a year or so, and planned to keep some chickens, for reasons mentioned above. I am currently residing across the river from Louisville, Kentucky, because this is the area where my team for licensing and selling are, and my patent attorney is a few hours away in North Carolina (great guy, used to be in house for Eli Lilly). I am a face to face kind of person, and this made more sense than coming out a couple of times a year from Montana, where I lived for over 30 years. I hate the area, the climate and the crowds. There are way more people in this metropolitan area than in my whole state, which is the 4th largest in the US. I've been used to a Friday rush hour where I might see 5-6 vehicles on a two lane highway in an hour. In the morning or evening you might not see any. All the room in the world is a great feeling. Before I forget, on the off chance that someone from Pacific Beach High School, which no longer exists, swings by this site, I would really like to contact Shelley Black. From other schools I would really like to find Vickie Dupree, Mary Crawford, Mike Wilson (who still owes me a TV), Barry Knight, Eric Olsen, Decker Hazen, Scott Hiesler, Renny Martin, Liz Hammond , and some others. I really loved being a heavy construction laborer, and worked on a number of huge projects over the years in both Wyoming and Montana. It was like getting paid to go to a health spa, as long as I did my job no one could touch because of my contract, I could work where I wanted for as long as I wanted, and then quit for a few months and go do something cool. The best job on the planet. When I joined the union in the 70's, I was the first female heavy construction laborer in the state of Wyoming (and weighed 125 soaking wet), and the first female foreman Morrison and Knutson ever employed. I've worked on railroads, power plants, mines, pipelines, refineries, you name it. In the fall of 1985, while working on a road repair crew on I90 I got smucked by a man in a truck who blew through the signs doing about 40. Kind of put paid to that career. It might not have been so bad, but when he saw me stuck to his windshield he locked up his brakes and shot me 60 ft down the highway. Human hockey puck. Luckily, I had a fitter's band in my hardhat so it didn't come off, because I landed on my head. I just wish I could remember what it was like, since I don't plan on doing it again. It must have been one hell of an experience. I was on my hands and knees when I came to and I could hear my section boss' voice, and I swear on my mother's ashes my first thought was 'Oh no, I forgot what I'm supposed to being doing down here". Ah, the vagaries of the human psyche. I have degrees in biology, plant physiology, and cyanobacteriology. Did my undergraduate work at MSU in Montana, and my graduate work at UNH in Durham, NH. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I have one child, Alexa who is married to Brian, they have been together for 10 years and are going strong. I have traveled widely in the US, Canada and some in Mexico. I have done a lot of great and wonderful things. I lived like Jeremiah Johnson, though not alone, for 5 years. I can make cheese, brain tan a hide and turn it into clothes, can or dry or store anything, and make mustard. That last is a big one. It takes an unbelievable amount of those little seeds from those little itty bitty wild flowers to make a jar. I learned to spin wool on a drop spindle and weave, find a fish, make adobe bricks and lay them, batik, dye with plants, and a lot of other cool and nifty stuff. I never get lost in the wilderness and I can start a fire without a match if I have something approximating a string and a stick. These are all skills that may come in handy soon the way things are going. All three of my parents, my mother, father and stepfather have died. My sister is a subject best left alone, she's still nuts. Alexa's father died when she was 15. I am intensely interested in politics still, never outgrew my deep involvement of the 60's and 70's, or that of the last three decades for that matter. I've been a Scout leader, cookie chairman, delegate, treasurer on a state senate campaign, sat on the AFLCIO's candidate recommendation board, an...Expand for more