Almost Gypsy Soul

When I tell people I work for the Farm Service Agency, I either get a knowing nod like "oh you are one of those government employees" or I get a "what do you actually do?". I've started leading off with working for the US Department of Agriculture because most people have actually heard of that that. We are a small agency within USDA that administers the farm subsidy, disaster and some insurance programs of the Farm Bill. The farm bill is made up of 15 different titles addressing different areas. The 15 titles or parts of the Farm Bill are , the ones that are bolded are the only ones that I directly work with through FSA. Commodity - provides income support to growers of select commodities Conservation - provides funding for farm environmental stewardship thought programs that improve management practices, retire less productive land and protect natural resources Agricultural Trade & Food Aid - funds US agriculture export a...

CARRY! On Monday my phone rang with an unknown number, I don't usually answer these, so I guess since I was really over the place of employment project I was working on I decided "what the hey" "Hello" "Is this Jennifer blah blah blah?" [ah, crap] (see here how I'm protecting my PII) "Yes, it is" "This is the Sheriff's Office, calling to tell you your concealed carry permit is in" "Great!, I'll be out to pick it up today!" And now, I am officially licensed to conceal carry......and put a rush on that Dirty 30 list item to find a pretty gun and a super cool shoulder sling! And yes, PII....that's what working for the federal government will do to your blog.

It was a little late, but that is about par for the US government these days, they can't get anything done, much less on time. For my birthday, Congress and President Obama gave me and the rest of American sequestration , mandating billions in cuts, 85 billion to be split between defense and some domestic programs. So my birthday present from the President? Extra days off!!!!!!! Granted they are without pay and in fact, I get to pay them for furlough days by picking up the whole tab on heath insurance......but lets not think about that part, it depresses me. Let's focus on how important my birthday was that I got a present from the President of the United States . I didn't even know he knew where Wyoming is, much less who I am! Over the last 5 years, FSA has played the game, voluntarily and involuntarily cutting its budget nearly 30%. These cuts have come as no travel (for County Committee meetings or employees), little to no training on the programs that we admini...

While the initial thought behind sequestration was to make it so horrible and detrimental to our economy that it would force Democrats and Republicans to work together to come up with a compromise to avoid a fiscal cliff, by decreasing the budget and decreasing our debt. Unfortunately, sequestration isn't bad enough for Congress to be able to work together, not to say that sequestration might not be bad enough for the rest of Americans who aren't in Washington. Click here for a rundown on sequestration. How is sequestration going to affect you and your state? Click here for fact sheets published by the White House on sequestration effects for each state. Click on your state for even more details. CNN has an article that explains sequestration , but to be sure there will be many, many more effects if sequestration is allowed to occur. There will be effects that no one talks about and there will be effects that no one has thought of. Sequestration isn't the only fi...

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." Martin Luther King Jr. Day is today. On Friday at work we received an email from our Administrator, Juan Garcia, encouraging us to read King's I Have a Dream speech. Now usually when we get these rah-rah emails at work I just delete them, but for some reason I decided to read over his speech. Its really amazing how far we have come since King stood up in front of all those people and told us about his dream. I believe that this his speech still has elements that apply to us today.  We are facing some of the biggest difficulties that this Nation has ever seen and even t...

In the spirit of the giving season I thought about sending a care package to WDC, it would have to be quite large as I would need approximately 250 gift packages as there is about 252 "congressional pairs" (with a few leftovers of course). A congressional pair....what is this crazy talking about. A "congressional pair" is 1 democrat and 1 republican. BUT in the spirit of doing my part I have decided I'd better save some money and have decided that I'll send a gift to the leading "Congressional Pair", President Obama and Speaker Boehner. What could a thirty something from the southwest corner of Wyoming possibly have to give to 2 of the most powerful men in the country that they actually need????  Now, speaking from experience I'm convinced that this shirt holds the secret to our great Nation rising once again. My mother (bless her heart) was tired of Sister and I fighting, on the verge of losing it she screamed " Ge...