Interesting day. Herman Cain is the subject of sexual harassment charges. So what. That is what I say. So what. The Hermanator and Clarance Thomas together don’t make an afternoon of Bill Clinton. Case closed. Jesus, give me a break. I feel sorry for Politico who I suspect wants to be taken seriously in the future. They can just about forget it. Pathetic.
Meanwhile, O’Bama is trying to buy off the student vote with relaxed repayment plans for federal loans. Hey, anybody notice that the unemployment rate is over 9%? Who gives a whack about student loans when so many people don’t have jobs? Mark your calendar, it is the 31st of October and I am predicting that O’Bama gets his ass kicked in the November 2012 election. He is this generation’s Jimmy Carter.
Of course, leave it to the Republicans to spoil a great prediction. No party in American history has demonstrated the ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory like the Republicans. In 2008, how could you not defeat a mediocre state senator from Illinois who didn’t (and doesn’t) know his ass from a hole in the ground? Well, the Republicans figured out a way to lose that election. What a bunch of dumb asses. They are responsible for O’Bama. And, left to their own devices, they could very well do it again in 2012.
I have studied politics all of my adult life. There has not been a point in my life when I have been as cynical of the American political system. It is so thoroughly bankrupt. I am not sure it is capable of cleansing itself. O’Bama is the end of the line. If we actually get worse than this, there is absolutely no hope.
Don’t for a moment think that I am advocating for a Republican president. The Republicans are just as worthless as the Democrats. An election in the US today is a genuine choice between two evils. Both are awful. Maybe it is time we suspend government for a while. Surely it could not be worse than what we currently endure? Think of it, a break from presidents and congresses. No crises to endure. Of course, the cable news channels will go out of business. Without the foolishness of the government, there would be little to report. The state governments can continue because they actually provide a few services. Not many, though. It used to be that the states funded agricultural extension services. Now it is a figment of your imagination. The county agent in my county is a beef agent. She doesn’t have a clue about vegetables and could not care less. If she went away for a while, I would not be adversely affected. I never see the sheriff and have chronicled here how ineffectual law enforcement has been regarding transgressions on my land. So, if the sheriff went away for a while, I doubt if I would notice. Especially since I have loaded 30-06 standing by. It may be the appropriate time for government to just go away for awhile. Enough of your non-sense, enough of your ego-centric posturing, enough of your election-year charades. The gig is simply up. You sons of bitches are out.
Time for a new boss. (Same as the old boss…we won’t get fooled again, yeah, right.). While I am in favor of democracy, I share James Madison’s fear of it. Democracy destroys itself. “Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and, have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” [Federalist 10] We Americans have been a great experiment. It just hasn’t worked out. Our greed and our laziness got in the way. We grew tired of keeping a sharp eye on our politicians. We let the bastards get away with murder. And they have. That is how I explain O’Bama. No rational nation would elect such an amateur to its highest office. An indifferent nation would.
Bottom line: we are screwed. Regardless of how 2012 turns out.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
On the Environment
I am not in the bag for human-induced global warming. That claim is man-made hubris. Worse are the public policy implications for subscribing to the remedies proposed to save us from global disaster. Scratch a devout environmentalist and you will find a stink-eye socialist. That does not mean, however, that I reject climate change. Nor does it mean that I reject respect for Nature or relieve individuals from genuine stewardship responsibilities. The planet will survive us but there is no reason to trash it while we are renting the premises. I am sure that the Earth’s climate is changing, just as it has changed for eons.
What has happened to my lake over the course of the year has shocked me. Instead of receiving our normal 60 inches of rain this year, East Alabama received about 30. As a result, my lake is about five feet low. It has taken on a bizarre shape as it literally dries up before my eyes. I know that the fate of a micro lake in the Deep South is minor in relation to the larger questions of drought throughout the South and especially in Texas but it worries me. The stream that once fed the lake has quit running. My neighbor, Mr. Jimmy, thinks that the water table has dropped because of all the new folks punching the aquifer to obtain water to drink, water livestock, fill pools, and wash trucks. One of my plans is to put a pump off the dock and run water up to an elevated storage tank near the gardens. If we fail to get monsoon rains this winter, I can forget that idea. The moment I run that line, though, I am admitting a fundamental climate shift – my grandparents never considered running a water supply line from the lake to the garden. An organic farmer friend of mine told me that if I was serious about growing produce for market I had no choice but to irrigate. Remember, Alabama’s average annual rainfall is about 60 inches. Something is out of whack.
Then, as I was thinking about the lake drying up, I opened an email from a gardening group of which I am a member. I am linking you to the information I found. Check this out: www.arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm. It shows that the frost dates are dramatically different than they were just two decades ago. If the trend continues, I will be able to grow tomatoes outdoors year-round. Now that is some kind of climate change.
Every time I start getting serious about environmental degradation, I listen more carefully to weather report. Every event, tornado, flood, heat, cold, snow, ice is always report as the worst or most or highest or lowest SINCE sometime in the recorded past when the environment was rebelling more intensely than now. Worst weather SINCE …
I am torn on the extent to which modern living costs the environment. Since I believe all change begins with me, I removed all of the air conditioners from the house because they gobble energy. I use low wattage bulbs. I cook on the grill as often as possible. I use as little hot water as hygienically acceptable. I wear more clothes in winter and fewer clothes in the summer. The redo of the house is focused on energy conservation, from extended eves to beefed up insulation. Not surprisingly, I enthusiastically support locally produced and organically grown food. I produce them myself. So, I send in my dues to the Sierra Club every year even though I ignore every suggestion it offers on candidates and “calls to action”. I like the Club but don’t want them running the country.
I put most of my hope in the theory that Nature is indifferent to us. It is what it is. Inexorable. The Universe is ruled by the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology, perhaps some mathematics. The stars and planets are still exploding and that rate of outward movement is accelerating. Who knows where that will lead?. What we do on this little jewel of a planet is meaningless in the cosmic scheme of things. It does, however, matter to us right now. For that reason, we should behave ourselves and respect Nature. Walk gently on the Earth. Enjoy her incredible beauty. Celebrate her bounty. Marvel at her mysteries.
What has happened to my lake over the course of the year has shocked me. Instead of receiving our normal 60 inches of rain this year, East Alabama received about 30. As a result, my lake is about five feet low. It has taken on a bizarre shape as it literally dries up before my eyes. I know that the fate of a micro lake in the Deep South is minor in relation to the larger questions of drought throughout the South and especially in Texas but it worries me. The stream that once fed the lake has quit running. My neighbor, Mr. Jimmy, thinks that the water table has dropped because of all the new folks punching the aquifer to obtain water to drink, water livestock, fill pools, and wash trucks. One of my plans is to put a pump off the dock and run water up to an elevated storage tank near the gardens. If we fail to get monsoon rains this winter, I can forget that idea. The moment I run that line, though, I am admitting a fundamental climate shift – my grandparents never considered running a water supply line from the lake to the garden. An organic farmer friend of mine told me that if I was serious about growing produce for market I had no choice but to irrigate. Remember, Alabama’s average annual rainfall is about 60 inches. Something is out of whack.
Then, as I was thinking about the lake drying up, I opened an email from a gardening group of which I am a member. I am linking you to the information I found. Check this out: www.arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm. It shows that the frost dates are dramatically different than they were just two decades ago. If the trend continues, I will be able to grow tomatoes outdoors year-round. Now that is some kind of climate change.
Every time I start getting serious about environmental degradation, I listen more carefully to weather report. Every event, tornado, flood, heat, cold, snow, ice is always report as the worst or most or highest or lowest SINCE sometime in the recorded past when the environment was rebelling more intensely than now. Worst weather SINCE …
I am torn on the extent to which modern living costs the environment. Since I believe all change begins with me, I removed all of the air conditioners from the house because they gobble energy. I use low wattage bulbs. I cook on the grill as often as possible. I use as little hot water as hygienically acceptable. I wear more clothes in winter and fewer clothes in the summer. The redo of the house is focused on energy conservation, from extended eves to beefed up insulation. Not surprisingly, I enthusiastically support locally produced and organically grown food. I produce them myself. So, I send in my dues to the Sierra Club every year even though I ignore every suggestion it offers on candidates and “calls to action”. I like the Club but don’t want them running the country.
I put most of my hope in the theory that Nature is indifferent to us. It is what it is. Inexorable. The Universe is ruled by the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology, perhaps some mathematics. The stars and planets are still exploding and that rate of outward movement is accelerating. Who knows where that will lead?. What we do on this little jewel of a planet is meaningless in the cosmic scheme of things. It does, however, matter to us right now. For that reason, we should behave ourselves and respect Nature. Walk gently on the Earth. Enjoy her incredible beauty. Celebrate her bounty. Marvel at her mysteries.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Friday Stew
Several things are on my mind this evening. Hope you don’t mind me bouncing around a bit.
First, El Presidente
Leave it to O’Bama to smoke Muammar Gaddafi. Go figure. First it was Osama bin Laden, now Gaddafi. If I were Bashra al Assad, I would keep my movements secret, at least from the American president. Mr. O’Bama has shown a keen taste for knocking off rogue heads of state, and their lieutenants. Remember just a few days ago, O’Bama pulled the trigger on Anwar al-Awlaki who was an American citizen. That raised all sorts of questions about a citizen’s civil liberties and rights. Nevertheless, the President steeled his resolve and ordered the hit. You can’t but wonder if O’Bama is doing it because of electoral politics or some sense of historic mission or because he is psychologically trapped – forced to use the power possessed by the Commander-in-Chief while all the time despising the mission of the military. Regardless, I applaud the President. Doesn’t change my mind about his unworthiness for the job but I do admire him for acting with firmness regarding terrorists.
[Some of you may be offended by my use of O’Bama for the President. Accept my half-hearted apology in advance. My use of the fraudulent name honors his lack of qualifications for the office.]
Second, The Winter Garden
A good variety of vegetables are booming in the garden, despite the cooler temperatures. I’ve never grown rutabaga but it seems to like where it is. I had to thin it by pulling up hands full of it. The collards look great. The cabbage is beginning to spin. The broccoli, English peas, spinach, beets, and turnips all are doing well. But, the best thing I am currently doing is growing Romaine and leaf lettuce in the greenhouse. What a treat to have a place to sprout and grow stuff. Just for the fun of it, I sprouted three dozen tomato plants, all heirlooms. I am learning how to use a greenhouse so these are my test cases.
I spent the last couple of days plowing the new garden spots. My plan is to break up the soil only enough to kill the grass then plant winter wheat as a cover crop. I’ll come back next spring and plow the wheat under then plant. There are actually three new garden spots. The biggest is the Melon Field, 36 x 130, designed for watermelons, cantaloupes, honeydews, squashes (writ large, meaning all sorts of squashes, including pumpkins), cabbages and okra. The existing kitchen garden will feature mostly beans, peas, onion, eggplants and peppers. In addition to the Melon Field, there is the Flower Garden, 36 x 36, because I really, really like cut flowers in the house. I also am making a specific bed for spuds. From February to May, Irish potatoes will be featured with sweet potatoes going in the ground in May and coming out in October. All in all, the additional growing space is exciting. It even raising the possibility that I might evolve into a regular capitalist if I can ever reconcile myself to sell food.
And, finally, Good-bye Iraq
I spent two years in Iraq. I am proud of that service. I made many friends there and think I advanced America’s best foot forward to the Iraqis. The President announced today that all American troops will exit Iraq by year’s end. The only American presence in the country will be the Embassy in Baghdad. That is most unfortunate. The Embassy is as dysfunctional as any too-big-to-get-it bureaucracy. Did you know that the Embassy in Baghdad is the largest US embassy in the world? It is bigger than the embassies in China, Germany, France, even England. The Embassy saw Iraq only in terms of Baghdad. It is out in the country that the vitality of Iraq is real and palpable. I pray for Iraq daily, the people I know specifically and the society in general. I have deep fears of Iranian interference. The governance is fragile but I trust a genuine desire for democracy and freedom. It is too soon to write the history of the Iraqi adventure. I am confident that decades from now, Iraqis will describe the Americans in terms far kinder than the language in use today.
First, El Presidente
Leave it to O’Bama to smoke Muammar Gaddafi. Go figure. First it was Osama bin Laden, now Gaddafi. If I were Bashra al Assad, I would keep my movements secret, at least from the American president. Mr. O’Bama has shown a keen taste for knocking off rogue heads of state, and their lieutenants. Remember just a few days ago, O’Bama pulled the trigger on Anwar al-Awlaki who was an American citizen. That raised all sorts of questions about a citizen’s civil liberties and rights. Nevertheless, the President steeled his resolve and ordered the hit. You can’t but wonder if O’Bama is doing it because of electoral politics or some sense of historic mission or because he is psychologically trapped – forced to use the power possessed by the Commander-in-Chief while all the time despising the mission of the military. Regardless, I applaud the President. Doesn’t change my mind about his unworthiness for the job but I do admire him for acting with firmness regarding terrorists.
[Some of you may be offended by my use of O’Bama for the President. Accept my half-hearted apology in advance. My use of the fraudulent name honors his lack of qualifications for the office.]
Second, The Winter Garden
A good variety of vegetables are booming in the garden, despite the cooler temperatures. I’ve never grown rutabaga but it seems to like where it is. I had to thin it by pulling up hands full of it. The collards look great. The cabbage is beginning to spin. The broccoli, English peas, spinach, beets, and turnips all are doing well. But, the best thing I am currently doing is growing Romaine and leaf lettuce in the greenhouse. What a treat to have a place to sprout and grow stuff. Just for the fun of it, I sprouted three dozen tomato plants, all heirlooms. I am learning how to use a greenhouse so these are my test cases.
I spent the last couple of days plowing the new garden spots. My plan is to break up the soil only enough to kill the grass then plant winter wheat as a cover crop. I’ll come back next spring and plow the wheat under then plant. There are actually three new garden spots. The biggest is the Melon Field, 36 x 130, designed for watermelons, cantaloupes, honeydews, squashes (writ large, meaning all sorts of squashes, including pumpkins), cabbages and okra. The existing kitchen garden will feature mostly beans, peas, onion, eggplants and peppers. In addition to the Melon Field, there is the Flower Garden, 36 x 36, because I really, really like cut flowers in the house. I also am making a specific bed for spuds. From February to May, Irish potatoes will be featured with sweet potatoes going in the ground in May and coming out in October. All in all, the additional growing space is exciting. It even raising the possibility that I might evolve into a regular capitalist if I can ever reconcile myself to sell food.
And, finally, Good-bye Iraq
I spent two years in Iraq. I am proud of that service. I made many friends there and think I advanced America’s best foot forward to the Iraqis. The President announced today that all American troops will exit Iraq by year’s end. The only American presence in the country will be the Embassy in Baghdad. That is most unfortunate. The Embassy is as dysfunctional as any too-big-to-get-it bureaucracy. Did you know that the Embassy in Baghdad is the largest US embassy in the world? It is bigger than the embassies in China, Germany, France, even England. The Embassy saw Iraq only in terms of Baghdad. It is out in the country that the vitality of Iraq is real and palpable. I pray for Iraq daily, the people I know specifically and the society in general. I have deep fears of Iranian interference. The governance is fragile but I trust a genuine desire for democracy and freedom. It is too soon to write the history of the Iraqi adventure. I am confident that decades from now, Iraqis will describe the Americans in terms far kinder than the language in use today.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Farm Photos
I took some photos around the place today about stuff I have discussed recently here.
There is a picture of the new cat. She is a cute little thing and is quickly assuming dominance over the house.
There is a picture of the new chicks. They look like a bunch of adolescents now but, trust me, they were balls of fur a week ago. The red tint of the photo is from the heat lamp under which they live. It will remain a part of their world for another month or so. I can see them developing some character. I know they eat like crazy and make a mess of their water.
The last photo is the newly created greenhouse. There are two types of lettuce growing in pots – romaine and leaf, sometimes called red, lettuce, three fig tree sprouts that I have been nursing along, and some marigolds, daisies, and some wild flowers I have grown from seeds, plus a tray of tomato plants that I sprouted from seeds. My next project is to install a heating source to protect the plants from the occasional cold weather that intrudes on our paradise here.
There is a picture of the new cat. She is a cute little thing and is quickly assuming dominance over the house.
There is a picture of the new chicks. They look like a bunch of adolescents now but, trust me, they were balls of fur a week ago. The red tint of the photo is from the heat lamp under which they live. It will remain a part of their world for another month or so. I can see them developing some character. I know they eat like crazy and make a mess of their water.
The last photo is the newly created greenhouse. There are two types of lettuce growing in pots – romaine and leaf, sometimes called red, lettuce, three fig tree sprouts that I have been nursing along, and some marigolds, daisies, and some wild flowers I have grown from seeds, plus a tray of tomato plants that I sprouted from seeds. My next project is to install a heating source to protect the plants from the occasional cold weather that intrudes on our paradise here.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Occupy Wall Street
I am in sympathy with the kids occupying Wall Street. I know that most of them are dunder-headed anarchists and that to live in a world of their design would be sheer hell. But, when I think of the crimes against society committed by the bastards on Wall Street, I get angry. Billions of dollars of taxpayer money funneled to bail-out schemers and slicks whose speculations and market manipulations caught up with them. They did not deserve a rescue. The Congress and President initially provided $750 billion to cover the exposed asses of the criminals on Wall Street. It was not enough to save the economy. I recognize that our fine Federal government deserves much blame for the market disaster through which we are now living. It was the President and Congress who compelled banks to loan to folk who had no hope of repaying home loans. It was the President and Congress who rolled up trillions of dollars in debt. It was the President and Congress who sat back and let the jackels eat our babies. I curse them. And, here and now, urge you to vote for candidates NOT in power. Turn the incumbent sons-of-bitches out. Fire them as they deserve. But, let us not forget the sorry dogs on Wall Street who wrecked the economy in order to pad their portfolios. They deserve prosecution. And since that is not likely to happen because of the fine Federal government we elected, then we are left with occupation. Go for it kids. If I could suffer through a night sleeping on the ground, I would join your protest.
Every day I hear NPR report on the happenings on Wall Street. Is there anything more inane than a news reader saying that the reason the Dow Jones went up or down was because of European debt or unemployment figures or Japanese earthquakes or any of the countless reasons used to explain why the market did what it did? Well, all of that is bullshit. Here is the reason the market goes up or down: THE BASTARDS FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE A BUCK. So, if the Dow falls a few points, it means the bastards figured out a way to make a few pennies from sliding stock prices. Likewise, if the market goes up, the bastards figured out how to make a profit off upward movement. The bastards on Wall Street care about the Greeks only as they relate to their ability to realize a profit, even if it comes from Greek misery. The bastards care for the unemployed only in context of how the number plays into stock valuation. After all, unemployment if just a number; the bastards could not care less if there are every day people standing behind those numbers. So Japan gets smacked by an earthquake. To the bastards, how will the "event" impact profitibility and supply trains? If the market reacted on a daily basis in the way the news readers at NPR say they do, then the bastards on Wall Street act like my chickens. The hens live in a constant state of terror, afraid of every fresh breeze, any movement, the slightest noise. They really do act like Chicken Little, with the sky falling at any moment.
I hope that is the way the bastards on Wall Street live. I hope they live in constant fear. I hope they drink Maalox by the gallons. I hope they sleep fitfully, waking often and always in a cold sweat. I hope their lives are haunted by fear and worry. The one thing the bastards on Wall Street don’t fear is exactly what they deserve: prosecution.
I don’t think Occupy Wall Street is a Howard Beale moment in US history. It will, however, be an amusing footnote in a dissertation in the future by an insightful doctoral student studying the collapse of the American Empire. I can see it now. When faced with naked greed and self-aggrandizement by the bastards of Wall Street, the fine Federal government rushed to indemnify the thieves from their crimes. With a laugh, the fine Federal government passed the bill on to the American people.
After thinking about all of this for a while, I am left with only one thought: we deserve exactly the government for which we voted.
Every day I hear NPR report on the happenings on Wall Street. Is there anything more inane than a news reader saying that the reason the Dow Jones went up or down was because of European debt or unemployment figures or Japanese earthquakes or any of the countless reasons used to explain why the market did what it did? Well, all of that is bullshit. Here is the reason the market goes up or down: THE BASTARDS FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE A BUCK. So, if the Dow falls a few points, it means the bastards figured out a way to make a few pennies from sliding stock prices. Likewise, if the market goes up, the bastards figured out how to make a profit off upward movement. The bastards on Wall Street care about the Greeks only as they relate to their ability to realize a profit, even if it comes from Greek misery. The bastards care for the unemployed only in context of how the number plays into stock valuation. After all, unemployment if just a number; the bastards could not care less if there are every day people standing behind those numbers. So Japan gets smacked by an earthquake. To the bastards, how will the "event" impact profitibility and supply trains? If the market reacted on a daily basis in the way the news readers at NPR say they do, then the bastards on Wall Street act like my chickens. The hens live in a constant state of terror, afraid of every fresh breeze, any movement, the slightest noise. They really do act like Chicken Little, with the sky falling at any moment.
I hope that is the way the bastards on Wall Street live. I hope they live in constant fear. I hope they drink Maalox by the gallons. I hope they sleep fitfully, waking often and always in a cold sweat. I hope their lives are haunted by fear and worry. The one thing the bastards on Wall Street don’t fear is exactly what they deserve: prosecution.
I don’t think Occupy Wall Street is a Howard Beale moment in US history. It will, however, be an amusing footnote in a dissertation in the future by an insightful doctoral student studying the collapse of the American Empire. I can see it now. When faced with naked greed and self-aggrandizement by the bastards of Wall Street, the fine Federal government rushed to indemnify the thieves from their crimes. With a laugh, the fine Federal government passed the bill on to the American people.
After thinking about all of this for a while, I am left with only one thought: we deserve exactly the government for which we voted.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
New Life Forms
For reasons unknown to me, I have been particularly busy these last few days. Before I realized it, I had bush-hogged the whole place, brought down the wrath of the civilized world on dastardly privet lurking in the shadows, plotted and channeled run-off ditches in the garden and, to top off the day, plowed up a melon patch, flower garden, and spud bed. All of that in one day. What makes it even more remarkable is that when I started out this morning, I had only a vague idea of how the day would unfold.
I have new life forms on the farm. I resolved I would get cat after Lily went missing several months ago. It is not that I am a big cat fan but, truth is, if you live in the country, you need a mouser, even if your roommate is Mr. Clean or the Pine-Sol maid. My best intentions were hanging around unfulfilled when one day I caught sight of a stray cat streaking from behind the chicken house to the woods just west of the garden. WitchWoman recommended that I put out some cat food in hopes of enticing the feline to make this her home. As usual, I followed the recommendation. Long story short, there is a cute little cat now on patrol in the house and on the grounds.
Tinker and I went in on some new chickens. I bought 18 Golden Orpintons. Tinker got four Rhode Island Reds and four Pearl Leghorns. For now, all of them are in one of my chicken houses. When they arrived they were nothing more than balls of fur. After a few days, they are developing feathers and starting to look like chickens. I check on them several times each day to make sure they have water, food and heat.
In order to make room for the new chicks, I had to move the four hens and one rooster (Ferdinand) who lived in the upper house (upper only in that it is closer to the house) to the lower house. The lower house has a dozen hens and a rooster (The Other Guy). Well, the moment I put Ferdinand in with The Other Guy, they started fighting. That went on for several days. I knew that the fight was over when I found The Other Guy hiding behind the feed bucket. Ferdinand had whaled on him properly. Nature can be tough sometimes.
Here is the point to all of this. Since inviting the cat into the house, I have seen no evidence of mice. It is as though just having the cat here intimidates the rodents. Then, you see the battle between Ferdinand and The Other Guy with the outcome being supremacy in the hen house. (Let me add that all the hens from both houses are long of beak with no interest in raising broods of chicks. In other words these guys are fighting over strutting rights for an audience that is ambivalent.) Just makes me suspect that Nature imposes her own kind of Order onto the Chaos of everyday life. My friend Rog (a physicist) would argue that Chaos rules. I am not so sure. Rats and roosters seem to support my suspicion that there is something to Natural Order.
I have new life forms on the farm. I resolved I would get cat after Lily went missing several months ago. It is not that I am a big cat fan but, truth is, if you live in the country, you need a mouser, even if your roommate is Mr. Clean or the Pine-Sol maid. My best intentions were hanging around unfulfilled when one day I caught sight of a stray cat streaking from behind the chicken house to the woods just west of the garden. WitchWoman recommended that I put out some cat food in hopes of enticing the feline to make this her home. As usual, I followed the recommendation. Long story short, there is a cute little cat now on patrol in the house and on the grounds.
Tinker and I went in on some new chickens. I bought 18 Golden Orpintons. Tinker got four Rhode Island Reds and four Pearl Leghorns. For now, all of them are in one of my chicken houses. When they arrived they were nothing more than balls of fur. After a few days, they are developing feathers and starting to look like chickens. I check on them several times each day to make sure they have water, food and heat.
In order to make room for the new chicks, I had to move the four hens and one rooster (Ferdinand) who lived in the upper house (upper only in that it is closer to the house) to the lower house. The lower house has a dozen hens and a rooster (The Other Guy). Well, the moment I put Ferdinand in with The Other Guy, they started fighting. That went on for several days. I knew that the fight was over when I found The Other Guy hiding behind the feed bucket. Ferdinand had whaled on him properly. Nature can be tough sometimes.
Here is the point to all of this. Since inviting the cat into the house, I have seen no evidence of mice. It is as though just having the cat here intimidates the rodents. Then, you see the battle between Ferdinand and The Other Guy with the outcome being supremacy in the hen house. (Let me add that all the hens from both houses are long of beak with no interest in raising broods of chicks. In other words these guys are fighting over strutting rights for an audience that is ambivalent.) Just makes me suspect that Nature imposes her own kind of Order onto the Chaos of everyday life. My friend Rog (a physicist) would argue that Chaos rules. I am not so sure. Rats and roosters seem to support my suspicion that there is something to Natural Order.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Boy Kicks My Ass, Deservedly So
Every so often I write something that is so hopelessly sappy that I deserve to have my ass kicked for writing it. Well, Boy never hesitates to apply the required treatment. What follows is him opening a can of Whop-Ass on my last post. Thanks, Boy. You know I love you.
Quote The Boy:
I write masterpiece comments to your blogs but for some reason they won’t post. I wonder if others have that problem. When I try to post these wonderful tomes I write they simply disappear. So, I’ll try to recreate my post to your last blog.
So, once you mattered. To whom did you matter & what did that mean? Matter to family? In our culture, mattering to family typically means creating income to be spent by our “loving” family members who are too busy with their own lives to pause to consider how someone else matters to them. Matter to your lover? All that should matter to a lover is the warmth created in their heart by simple contact, emotional or physical, not our place in the corporate world. Matter to friends? The fact that you have learned out to “matter” to yourself, the fact you have found joy in planting a new crop, creating the world’s best tomato, lingering over a cup of coffee, taking the dogs for a swim & sitting down exhausted from tilling your soil means you matter to us because you have proven Tom Wolfe wrong.
You have been to funerals, more than you wanted to attend (except perhaps when an enemy or two met their overdue demise). Did you ever observe an ATM machine in any of the caskets so the deceased could access their monetary wealth? I have never witnessed that phenomenon so I think it means that true wealth is in the heart, not the 1st National Bank.
You are living on your Golden Pond. You are exploring what life really means, or at least should mean to people. Perhaps instead looking behind your present state when you “mattered” in your own self esteem, you need to look forward to how you matter in the future. Perhaps, as Thoreau did through his golden pond experience, your inner significance may be best achieved by sharing what life joys can be found in the simpler things through your phenomenal writing ability. After all, the majority of us are too busy “mattering” that we miss living.
Thoreau figured all this out long before we were created:
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.”
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
“I have a great deal of company in my house; especially in the morning, when nobody calls.”
“I too had woven a kind of basket of a delicate texture, but I had not made it worth anyone's while to buy them. Yet not the less, in my case, did I think it worth my while to weave them, and instead of studying how to make it worth men's while to buy my baskets, I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them.”
“Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you,
opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.”
Convert your blogs into columns to be shared with the world. The county seat of Heaven is located in Welch, Alabama.
Quote The Boy:
I write masterpiece comments to your blogs but for some reason they won’t post. I wonder if others have that problem. When I try to post these wonderful tomes I write they simply disappear. So, I’ll try to recreate my post to your last blog.
So, once you mattered. To whom did you matter & what did that mean? Matter to family? In our culture, mattering to family typically means creating income to be spent by our “loving” family members who are too busy with their own lives to pause to consider how someone else matters to them. Matter to your lover? All that should matter to a lover is the warmth created in their heart by simple contact, emotional or physical, not our place in the corporate world. Matter to friends? The fact that you have learned out to “matter” to yourself, the fact you have found joy in planting a new crop, creating the world’s best tomato, lingering over a cup of coffee, taking the dogs for a swim & sitting down exhausted from tilling your soil means you matter to us because you have proven Tom Wolfe wrong.
You have been to funerals, more than you wanted to attend (except perhaps when an enemy or two met their overdue demise). Did you ever observe an ATM machine in any of the caskets so the deceased could access their monetary wealth? I have never witnessed that phenomenon so I think it means that true wealth is in the heart, not the 1st National Bank.
You are living on your Golden Pond. You are exploring what life really means, or at least should mean to people. Perhaps instead looking behind your present state when you “mattered” in your own self esteem, you need to look forward to how you matter in the future. Perhaps, as Thoreau did through his golden pond experience, your inner significance may be best achieved by sharing what life joys can be found in the simpler things through your phenomenal writing ability. After all, the majority of us are too busy “mattering” that we miss living.
Thoreau figured all this out long before we were created:
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.”
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
“I have a great deal of company in my house; especially in the morning, when nobody calls.”
“I too had woven a kind of basket of a delicate texture, but I had not made it worth anyone's while to buy them. Yet not the less, in my case, did I think it worth my while to weave them, and instead of studying how to make it worth men's while to buy my baskets, I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them.”
“Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you,
opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.”
Convert your blogs into columns to be shared with the world. The county seat of Heaven is located in Welch, Alabama.
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