Wellness Wednesday

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I just returned from a small family farm conference.  One health-related takeaway from it is that the key to maintaining health is to eat a diet full of whole foods.  Why?  90% of the food eaten by Americans is processed and 80% of studies on food and cancer show that whole foods decrease your risk of cancer.  Need I say more?

Fantasy v. Reality - Trash

Trash

Trash is made up of a variety of items:  papers we no longer need; spoiled (and even good) food; packaging from things we've purchased; items that have broken or we no longer want.  And we simply place it all in our kitchen or bathroom wastebaskets, then empty those in our outdoor garbage cans or large trash bags that we put out on the curb for the sanitation truck to come around to pick up on "trash day."  Although many of us do our best to "recycle," we tend to generate a large quality of trash that we really never think about.

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But that trash has to go somewhere.  Some of the trash is incinerated and used to generate power.  However, the vast majority goes to landfills throughout the country and the world.  In the United States, we have such an abundance of land that it is easy to hide our trash problem.  But with some countries, they don't have the luxury of wide open spaces.

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This photo shows an example of a country with no place to put its refuse.  A BBC article about Thilafush, an artificial island in the Maldives, says that boats sometimes had to wait as long as 7 hours to unload trash onto the island.  Much of the trash was from the tourist hotels on other islands.  The government suspended use of the island as a dump site in 2011; however, all of that trash is still going somewhere.  All around the world there are giant dumps of trash.  And for trash that doesn't make it to landfill and escapes into streets and fields and ultimately waterways, there are five huge trash gyres in the oceans of the world where it can continue to accumulate.  The one in the Pacific Ocean spreads out into an area the size of the state of Texas - a plastic Texas.  Instead of a landfill, we have created "water-fills."

Here's a trailer for a movie that I'm looking forward to watching:

As I wrap up this series, I think about how history will treat this generation.  I consider how, when reading about the history of slavery in the U.S. and the individuals who said they were opposed to slavery but continued to own slaves, most people think that those individuals were lying.  Yet more and more, as I study social justice issues, I realize we are no different.  After watching Blood in the Mobile, I cannot look at my cell phone without thinking of that 16-year-old boy who went into mining believing it was an opportunity to make money only to find himself living a week at a time in a dark, dirty, and dangerous hole in the ground.  He did that to extract a mineral necessary for the convenience of my cell phone - and other electronic devices.  I wonder how hungry, thirsty, and scared he must have been, all so I can text a friend to remind her we're meeting for lunch.  We are no different than the slaveholders.  Just like them, we would have to give up luxuries and even make sacrifices to help people like that 16-year-old boy and other de facto slaves around the world or to stop environmental devastation.  When I talk of such things, I see eyes glaze over - I'm killing the party, the festive mood.  But maybe that party needs to be killed.  We need a new way of doing life.

Fantasy v. Reality - Food

Food

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How could the growing and harvesting of fruits and vegetables be anything but good and healthy?  The problem is the modern technology and industrial farms that we've become dependent upon in the last two generations.  Agricultural runoff, which includes artificial fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides has wreaked havoc on our environment.  

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This graphic from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration highlights the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico, just off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.  Hypoxic zones are areas in water with low oxygen content where marine life cannot be supported.  A New York Times article points out that the Gulf of Mexico has world's second largest man-made coastal hypoxic zone as a result of fertilizer runoff from agricultural states along Mississippi River.  These chemicals move down the river and dump out into the Gulf, damaging the ecosystem that supports marine life.

This post doesn't begin to touch on the injustice that is pervasive in farming - I've only covered eggs, chocolate, and coffee.  Much of the food that we eat is grown and harvested using slave labor overseas or migrant workers in this country.  In the U.S., migrant workers are exempt from the basic protections of law, such as workers' compensation, minimum wage, collective bargaining, even OSHA regulations.

Poem: Sunrise

Sunrise

by Mary Oliver

You can

die for it --

an idea,

or the world. People

 

have done so,

brilliantly,

letting

their small bodies be bound

 

to the stake,

creating

an unforgettable

fury of light. But

 

this morning,

climbing the familiar hills

in the familiar

fabric of dawn, I thought

 

of China,

and India

and Europe, and I thought

how the sun

 

blazes

for everyone just

so joyfully

as it rises

 

under the lashes

of my own eyes, and I thought

I am so many!

What is my name?

 

What is the name

of the deep breath I would take

over and over

for all of us? Call it

 

whatever you want, it is

happiness, it is another one

of the ways to enter

fire. 

Farm Friday

We've been busy around the farm this week, with two CSA deliveries and several visitors to the farm.  The week we've been living dangerously.  Two nights ago, our trusty farm dog Ginny alerted us to the fact that things weren't as they were supposed to be.  There was a pack of these close to our barn pasture:

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I'm sure if I knew a coyote in person (especially a pup), I'd love it like I'd love a dog/puppy or cat/kitten.  However, coyotes are a danger to our goats, especially to the kids or sick and weak goats.  They have killed some of our kids in the past.  Although Ginny was inside the house, she sensed a problem.  We became aware that she was barking a different kind of bark, one we had never heard before.  As soon as we opened the door, we could hear the pack.  They were close by, but not for long because Ginny's barking told them she meant business.  The next morning we also heard the pack, but they were much farther away.

Today I had another encounter of the dangerous kind when I was emptying my recycling bins at our local recycling center.  I had emptied one bin when something told me to inspect the bottom.  This is what I found:

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A black widow spider had hitched a ride on the bottom of my recycling bin and rode with me for 30 minutes in my SUV!  Although I do spider rescues, I only do harmless spider rescues. 

In goat news, Miracle continues to be a healthy and happy goat.  We had two sick goats that we were tending.  One, Sheeza, is doing fine but the other, Eleanor, still has not recovered so we gave her a new medication today in hopes of boosting her health.  I'll keep you posted.

Fantasy v. Reality - Personal Care Products

Personal Care Products

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Our desire to be beautiful often has disturbing consequences.  Among them, is the treatment of laboratory animals.  Although many consumers believe that animals must be sacrificed for the lives of human beings, much of the animal testing that takes place is not only unnecessary, it isn't even required by law.  (I tried to choose a photo that makes one think without being too disturbing.  The reality of animal testing is much more disturbing than this photo.)

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Wellness Wednesday

As we enter the traditional cold and flu season, there are a number of things to avoid in order to stay healthy.  Each of the follow items weakens your immune system, making you more vulnerable to colds and flu:

1. Sugar and artificial sweeteners - these weaken the immune system
2. Being a couch potato - a healthy immune system needs exercise
3. Stress - stress is linked to 99% of illnesses
4. Drinking alcohol - heavy alcohol use suppresses the immune system and dehydrates the body
5. Smoking - smokers have more severe and more frequent illnesses than nonsmokers
6. Processed food - makes your body work harder and suppresses the immune system
7. Staying up late - for your health's sake, aim for 8-10 hours of sleep
8. Being negative - positive thoughts help your immune system
9. Artificial heat - dries out your nasal passages making you more susceptible to colds and flu; use a humidifier to counter the negative effects

Source:  MindBodyGreen

False Choice

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I don't have a television so have not watched the presidential debates.  However, I've heard much about them, including the fact that two candidates were involved - not the two candidates, just two candidates.  I emphasize the number of candidates because there are actually more than two candidates - representing more than two parties - running for president.  My research has revealed at least three additional candidates that are on the majority of ballots.  For example, Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico, is running for president on the Libertarian ticket and is on the ballot in 47 states.  The Green Party's candidate, Dr. Jill Stein, is on 38 ballots.  Virgil Goode, the candidate for the Constitution Party, is on 26 states.  Yet, most people have never hear of these candidates.  I was talking to a cousin yesterday and when I mentioned the other candidates, she was shocked and asked, "Why haven't I heard of these people?"

The reason most people haven't heard of the alternatives is that the Commission on Presidential Debates controls all access to the debates.  This organization was formed by the Democratic and Republican parties, so it's in their best interests to prevent other parties from participating.  Prior to this organization taking the reins, the League of Women Voters handled the debates.  However, in 1988, the League discovered that the two major party candidates at the time, Bush I and Dukakis, had colluded to prevent others from participating in the debates and even devised a way to control the questions.  The League withdrew sponsorship of the debates and its president issued the follow statement:

The League of Women Voters is withdrawing its sponsorship  of the presidential debate...because the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter.   It has become clear to us that the candidates' organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity and honest answers to tough questions.  The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public.   [Emphasis added.] (Source)

Thus, the Commission on Presidential Debates stepped in to fill the void.  This organization enters into secret agreements with the candidates and keeps their donor (but not their sponsor) list private.  (Kudos to the YWCA USA, Philips Electronics, and BBH New York, two of which were past sponsors of the debate, for pulling their support this year because third party candidates were not included in the debates.)

Last month, eighteen pro-democracy groups, including Common Cause, Public Citizen, Rock the Vote, called on the Commission to release to the public and the press the debate contracts entered into with both Obama and Romney.  According to Market Watch, "Previous debate contracts negotiated by the major party campaigns have contained anti-democratic provisions that sanitize debate formats, exclude viable third-party candidates and prohibit additional debates from being held."  [Emphasis added.]

According to the Commission's website, two criteria for inclusion in the debates are:  1)  that the candidate qualify to have his/her name appear on enough state ballots to have at least a mathematical chance of securing an Electoral College majority in the 2012 general election; 2) that the candidate have a level of support of at least 15% of the national electorate as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations.  I haven't done the math on the Electoral College issue, but regardless of how the math works out, doesn't the American public have a right to know what options are available - and that they can always write in a candidate on a ballot?  Concerning the polls, living in a so-called battleground state has exposed me to an avalanche of polls.  Because they are all automated, most don't even give the option to choose a third-party candidate.  How then can a third-party candidate poll at 15% or above if the polls exclude the possibility of selecting him or her? 

Americans pride themselves in being a part of a free and democratic country.  Excluding valid third party candidates from presidential debates is not democracy.  I've searched the Commission's website and could only come up with this email address to contact them:  comments@debates.org (they don't list an address or full contact name).  If you're outraged about this, I recommend that you contact the Commission and let them know how you feel.  I've often heard that voting for a third party candidate is essentially throwing away your vote.  I believe that voting for a candidate whose platform you don't fully support is throwing away your vote.

Fantasy v. Reality - Gasoline

Gasoline

While Americans have a love affair with coffee, we are also extremely attached to our automobiles, which means an insatiable need for gasoline.   Due to suburban sprawl, it is nearly impossible to get anywhere or do anything in most cities  (or even in the countryside) without some type of personal transportation.

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However, our thirst has a price.  Petroleum is a finite resource.  As we reach peak oil (if we haven't already), it becomes more and more difficult to tap into the remaining petroleum.  Thus, it is necessary to seek it in environmentally sensitive areas.  Drilling for oil in those places increases the likelihood of environmental devastation should an oil spill occur.  We witnessed such devastation with the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska and the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, also known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. International Bird Rescue reported that over 8,000 birds (dead and alive) were collected as a result of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  They were able to clean and release 1,200 birds.  Untold other wildlife were killed or injured as a result of both of those oil spills.  Oil drilling isn't safe for nature.

Quote for the Day

"Love recognizes no barriers.  It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope."

~Maya Angelou

Poem

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On Thy Wondrous Works I Will Meditate (Psalm 145)  (excerpt)
by Mary Oliver

5.

So it is not hard to understand
Where God’s body is, it is
everywhere and everything; shore and the vast
fields of water, the accidental and the intended
over here, over there. And I bow down
participate and attentive

it is so dense and apparent. And all the same I am still
unsatisfied. Standing
here, now, I am thinking
not of His thick writs and His blue
hsoulders but, still, of Him. Where, do you suppose is His
pale and wonderful mind?

6.

I would be good-oh, I would be upright and good.
To what purpose? To be shining not
sinful, not wringing out of the hours
petulance, heaviness, ashes. To what purpose?
Hope of heaven? Not that. But to enter
the other kingdom: grace, and imagination,

and the multiple sympathies: to be as a leaf, a rose,
a dolphin, a wave rising
slowly then briskly out of the darkness to touch
the limpid air, to be God’s mind’s
servant, loving with the body’s sweet mouth-its kisses, its
words-
everything.

7.

I know a man of such
mildness and kindness it is trying to
change my life. He does not
preach, teach, but simply is. It is
astonishing, for he is Christ’s ambassador
truly, by rule and act. But, more,
he is kind with the sort of kindness that shines
out, but is resolute, not fooled. He has
eaten the dark hours and could also, I think,
solider for God, riding out
under the storm clouds, against the world’s pride and unkindness
with both unassailable sweetness, and consoling word.

8.

Every morning I want to kneel down on the golden
cloth of the sand and say
some kind of musical thanks for
the world that is happening again—another day—
from the shawl of wind coming out of the 
west to the firm green

flesh of the melon lately sliced open and 
eaten, its chill and ample body
flavored with mercy. I want
to be worthy of—what? Glory? Yes, unimaginable glory.
O Lord of melons, of mercy, though I am 
not ready, nor worthy, I am climbing toward you.

Farm Friday

As we get closer to winter, the days are getting shorter and shorter - and I find it difficult to get up as early as I do during the spring and summer.  Here's a few snapshots from around the farm:

Earlier this week I made a delicious dinner almost entirely from food raised on our farm:  roasted vegetables made up of eggplant, green peppers, red onions, grape tomatoes, and basil topped with crispy fried eggs, with a Saudi Arabian dish of okra in pomegranate syrup on the side.

I captured Bill giving some of the goats a treat of sweet feed this morning as the sun rose over the foggy pasture.

 The girls love their sweet feed - it's like candy to them - so Bill only gives them a taste.  See how they clamor around him to get their share.

 Miracle continues to blossom - and confound me.  She still doesn't recognize that her food comes from the bottle so I have to force the bottle on her.  She prefers to nuzzle my legs, as if that's where the food comes from.  I think the hypothermia may have affected her brain.  But I still love her.

My pineapple sage is having its last hurrah as it unfurls some scarlet blossoms.

It has been a busy time on the farm.  We have had to tend to some sick goats over the last couple of weeks.  One of our past patients, Eleanor, is back in sick bay and we're hoping another round of medication will do the trick.  On a positive note, we've had 19 kids born on the farm this month so it's a sight to see them all frolicking in the pasture.  

Fantasy v. Reality - Coffee

Coffee

Although I'm not a coffee drinker, most people I know have a love affair with it, brewing up a pot as soon as possible upon awakening and even popping into a coffee shop during work breaks.  

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What most people don't realize is that, again, unless the coffee is fair trade, a host of problems exist behind that hot cup of java.  Earlier this week, Bill and I watched a documentary called Black Gold about a coffee farmer cooperative in Ethiopia.  It seems that, even though the price of coffee has risen dramatically over the last decade or so, coffee farmers in Ethiopia continue to receive less and less for their hard labor - usually not even enough to house, feed, clothe, and educate their families.  A spokesperson for the cooperative commented that these farmers aren't looking to even buy a car or other luxury item; they just want to be able to live a decent life. 

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Another problem with coffee is that child labor is often involved.  This site explains how children working on coffee plantations in Kenya are robbed of:  their health, due to the unprotected use of pesticides, the backbreaking labor involved, and infections from injuries; their education, as the work they do prevents them from attending school; and even their childhood, as they don't have the ability to run and play with their friends.  And just to let tea drinkers know, similar conditions occur on tea plantations.

Wellness Wednesday

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I couldn't let the month of October slip by without getting on my soapbox about "Breast Cancer Awareness Month."  There is risk in criticizing this month and the associsated hype.  Many people either have had breast cancer or have had family and/or friends suffer from this terrible disease so they are very emotionally tied to the idea of finding a cure - and rightly so.  In my own family, both of my mother's sisters and my father's sister have suffered from this disease.  However, I cringe when I see pink ribbons on clothing, products, banners, or posters.  Why?  Because since so many people have links to breast cancer, most people are already aware of the disease.  We don't need more awareness, we need a cure and, more importantly, prevention.  

Buying a bottle of fingernail polish or a pair of jeans will not create a cure.  First of all, the companies that advertise that they donate a portion of sales from their pink ribbon products put a cap on those donations.  So, not every purchase funds research.  In addition, some of those items are more expensive than the identical, but non-pink ones.  This means that consumers and not the corporations are actually making the "donation."  Lastly, the monies that do go to research, go to companies that are developing more treatments (i.e., chemotherapy) and will make a very tidy profit from those treatments.  And even if these companies did find a cure, wouldn't it be better if we discovered how to prevent breast cancer in the first place?  

Looking around the modern world, one need not venture beyond one's own home to discover a plethora of carcinogens.  The awareness we need is to learn that carcinogen means "cancer causing."  So much of our food and possessions are either created with carcinogenic chemicals or contain them.  For example, parabens have been found in the tissue of 99% of breast cancer victims.  Parabens are found in antiperspirants, fingernail polish, and other personal care and cosmetic products.  Growth hormones given to cows, and thus transmitted through the beef we eat and the milk we drink, have also been linked to breast cancer.  Various studies throughout the years have linked BPA, pesticides, aspartame, and other chemicals to breast cancer.  Yet these carcinogenic products still remain on the market.  In the European Union, over 1300 chemicals have been banned.  In the US, the FDA has banned 11.  (Check out the Organic Consumers Association and Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to learn more.  This article by Nicholas Kristof, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, is very telling.)

I resent it when organizations such as the American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen for the Cure continue to call early detection "prevention" - it's not prevention once someone has the disease, no matter how early you detect it.  And early detection has skewed the survival statistics.  Finding breast cancer earlier than in past decades means individuals are aware of the disease for a longer period of time.  Thus, even if they do not survive the disease, because it was detected earlier, it appears as if the survival rates have increased.

There is money to be made on breast cancer.  Moving beyond awareness - and the search for more of the same type of treatment - would mean identifying and removing from our environment the products that trigger the cancer in the first place.  The problem is, there is no profit in that.  I think we would give more honor to victims of breast and other cancers by focusing on prevention rather than by buying a pink product.  The awareness we need, is awareness of what is really happening behind the ribbons.  And maybe what we really need is "Carcinogen Awareness Month."

Fantasy v. Reality - Chocolate

Chocolate

Yum!  Who doesn't love chocolate?  I've noticed that most of the candy found at the checkout stands at supermarkets in the United States contains chocolate.  It's difficult to find a sweet treat that doesn't.

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The sad truth about chocolate is that, unless you buy fair trade chocolate - which is difficult to find in most American stores - you are most likely supporting the trafficking and enslavement of children.  UNICEF estimates that about half a million children are involved in cocoa harvesting in the Ivory Coast, where about 40% of the world's cocoa is produced.  One study found that almost 2 million children in West Africa are involved in cocoa harvesting.  These children work as slaves under dangerous and unhealthy conditions.  Children as young as seven can be found working in the fields, many wearing torn, dirty clothing, bearing scars on their legs from the sharp machetes they use.  A 2010 documentary called The Dark Side of Chocolate highlights the child trafficking that occurs in the chocolate business.

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Holiday Decorating

This is the time of year when many Americans become interested in decor - decorating for the upcoming holidays, including Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other year-end holidays.  I'm not often in stores but when I do need to shop in the mall or a big box store, I am overwhelmed by the obscene amount of stuff available for decorating this time of year.  Many of these items are one-use items as they are cheaply made, flimsy - and of course will be so-last-year that they will be discarded after the holidays, never to be used again by the original purchaser.  

I was especially disturbed by the waste when I found a facebook post shared by a friend.  This is a photograph from Le Bon Samaritan (The Good Samaritan), a nursing home in Ouanamithe, Haiti:

Clearly, the nursing home needs new mattresses as they haven't purchased new ones in years.  New mattresses can be obtained across the border in the Dominican Republic for $45 each.  The average shopper at a store like Target or WalMart doesn't leave the property without spending at least $50 on a typical day.  During the holidays, I'm sure it is much, much more than that.

I've visited Bon Samaritan.  Residents of this home include a woman named Sonia, who was born in 1902 and a man named Sintelin who became ill and was abandoned by his family.  It's difficult to grasp the difficulties these people have lived through:  invasions, dictators, hurricanes, epidemics, deforestation...the list goes on and on.

This Time article from last fall says that Americans were expected to spend $7 billion on Halloween alone - with $300 million on costumes for pets!  This is a dramatic increase from a few years ago, when consumers were expected to spend just over $3 billion on Halloween in 2005.  The article went on to say that Americans were projected to spend almost $450 billion celebrating Christmas and the other fall and winter holidays last year. 

Contrast the photo of the stained linens and mattress, which can be replaced for a mere $45, with this photo from Better Homes and Gardens that encourages readers to make their homes into a "creepy cemetery" (I can't imagine how much it costs to do it):

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Several years ago, while at a charitable event at church, a member shared her Christmas plans.  I tried not to react in horror as she told me that she had decorated her tree in gold ornaments last year, but this year she wanted to switch to silver and had to go out and buy new decorations.  Here we were, packing boxes of cheap trinkets for children in third world nations, children who often lacked basic water, sanitation, and food needs, and she was planning on replacing perfectly good but absolutely unnecessary decorations on a whim.

As we enter this holiday season, I encourage you to consider reusing the decorations you already have and to scale back on your holiday gifts.  Truth be told, most of us already have what we need to celebrate the holidays and most of our friends and family, the people for whom we purchase gifts, already have more than what they need.  Instead, look into spending money where it really means something.  If you do need to buy things, try to buy fair trade items and items that support people who are struggling.  For people in your life that have everything, look into gifts or sponsorships that can be done in their honor.  There are so many worthwhile organizations out there - and I'll name a few that are important to me:

Danita's Children

Northeast Haiti Lutheran Mission

Bon Samaritan Nursing Home

Heifer International

Church World Service

Compassion International

Blood:Water Mission

Charity: Water

There are many, many, many more wonderful charitable comapnies out there - these are just a few that I am familiar with.  The sharp contrast between the comfy - and wasteful - lives of those in the developed world and those in third world nations should shock and shame us.  I encourage you to learn about conditions beyond our borders and to research charitable organizations that are making a difference by saving lives.  Or consider making a donation to an environmental organization that is fighting the poisoning and degradation of our planet - and our bodies.  Whatever you do, please make your dollars work towards something good and productive.  For more ideas, check out the Advent Conspiracy website and turn the holidays upside-down:

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I'll leave you with how inane our lives look:

Quote for the Day

"Do not depend on the hope of results....you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect.  As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself....You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people....In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything."

~Thomas Merton

Fantasy v. Reality - Tar Sands

While trying to catch up on my blog reading, I ended up "friending" David Suzuki on facebook.  On his page, discovered that he has used the same "fantasy v. reality" tagline that I've been using.  He uses it with tar sands (or oil sands) issue.  So I'm sharing his graphic:

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As usual, the industry paints a pretty picture of how no harm will be done while extracting petroleum from the land in Canada (and also in Russia and Kazakhstan).  Clearly what the engineers and executives envision is far different than the photograph.  

The lake depicted in the drawing is called an End Pit Lake (EPL) where the toxic tailings from the mining process will be pumped and then fresh water will run over it to create a safe, beautiful lake.  However, as Suzuki points out, "I can't imagine any of the engineers or oil executives...building a cottage on an EPL as a place to spend summer months fishing and swimming with loved ones."  Looking at the photograph, I know he's right.

Farm Friday

Some scenes from around the farm:

Mist over the hills

More mist

Goats where the barn pasture and the back pasture meet

Joey and Miracle

 Miracle continues to thrive and amuse us.  Goat sociology is interesting.  Goats are very social animals and the bond between a mother and her kids is usually strong.  Because Miracle appeared dead in the pasture and she was taken away from her mother for two days, her mother and her sister don't recognize her.  So Miracle doesn't have an ally in the pasture, someone to play with or snuggle up with during times of rest, when everyone is either sleeping or chewing their cud.  Nor does she spend time playing with the other goats; she just hasn't been properly socialized to do that.  However, Miracle has worked it out.  As you can see from the photo, she has decided that Joey is her mother figure and spends all of her time around him, snuggling up to him when he takes a nap.  (I wanted to get a better photo but if I approached them, they would both get up to greet me, thus spoiling the shot.)

Have a good weekend,