Are the perfect gift around this house....Thus my birthday was perfect due to quantities of books. I should have been too old to squeal with joy when opening a package, but I did at mom and dad's house. An owl book. A big pictorial bird book. A kitchen pharmacy book. Mrs. Rasmussen's Second Book of One Armed Cookery ( a veritable treasure and Mom's own copy, which will be doubly delightful), and last, but not least a book on cannons. How cool is that? Now if I can just get a real one for the front lawn......and that tank for repelling trespassers......
Along with the field guides and a novel for camp provided by Alan, not to mention chocolate and an Amp from Liz.....ah......I feel pampered. To make it all perfect we were treated to two sets of simultaneous fireworks, one at the race track and the other at some town up west and across the river. They were stupendous and we had the added benefit of the old dogs being so deaf they could barely hear them, so there was no panic and hiding in the bath tub this year.
Seems a lot of people outside the beltway who pay for their own cars and groceries don't think this bill, for the most part unread by the people who are voting for it, is much of a birthday present to our great nation.
Here is a letter to the editor written by a local lady who has always "gotten it". Despite serious illness she recently took the time to instigate some back and forth dialog with the editor of the paper to get this piece printed. I admire her for it. We all should be talking to our newspapers and legislators right now. Even if we agree with this kind of expensive and unproven legislation, seems to me we should ask that it be read before the voting.....Of course I admire this particular lady for most everything, from her fantastic paintings to her spaghetti sauce...and you probably would too if you knew her, but she is so right about this issue.
Anyway this fine lady is comparing the new Climate Bill to the old Cardiff Giant. I'll bet there isn't a one of you local folks of a certain age that didn't get hauled to the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown to have a look at that famous hoax. You can just figure that Cap and Tax is going to be a money maker of a similar style, but on a staggeringly grander scale. And it will be coming out of your pocket for every single item you buy.
I don't agree with the New York Times that even a seriously flawed climate bill is better than no bill at all....and neither does my wonderful mom. Hope you have a minute to read her letter....thanks....
And, by the way, I write this on a typical April day here at Northview....or maybe even late March. It is 63 degrees, the wind is howling and it has been raining overnight and is going to rain again. We have had such a non summer that the boss does not have a suntan. Can you imagine a farmer in July with no suntan? We still have calf coats on some of the babies. I have washed and put away the winter polar fleece jackets, sweaters, pull overs and hunting coats....in fact, I have washed them and put them at least five times.... by the time it gets summery enough to keep them in the drawer for a while it will be time to get them out again for winter. I am persistent in the wearing of shorts department, because wearing shorts is what I do in the summer...but some days it takes a lot more courage than it ought to...
Anyhow, have a great Fourth of July, each and every one of you. Fireworks tonight...don't forget to crate the doggies.
The newspaper for which I write the Farm Side, is without phone service and has been since Tuesday. I can't imagine how hard coping with that must be for an entity that depends on communication to function.
It rained more yesterday. A lot more. Alan was sick all day, so we just let him sleep, although he did get up for chores. There wasn't really much you could do anyhow as hard as it was raining. Liz did fix stanchions and banged her finger pretty bad.....anyhow he seemed a lot better last night, so I guess the rest did him good. He has this stay up until two AM thing going on and it just isn't working out for him. We all learn at our own speed it seems.
Not sure what else to tell you. It is wet. A good day of warm air and stiff breezes would go a long way toward making it possible at least to get in the garden. It is going to take a while for the fields to dry out if they ever do this year. We are waiting on a roof guy for the barn and hoping it dries out enough so he can work so we can bail hay. If it ever dries out enough to do that.
The mockingbird has taken to singing all night. I like it. (Others are not so thrilled.) It is disconcerting though to hear a ring billed gull calling from the box elders by the lawn...he is real good at gull calls. The baby wrens have stayed around and they are still an endless source of cheap thrills. We have two front porches. They were hatched on one. Now they live in the cedar trees next to the other and take great delight in hopping up and down the steps, sometimes in sets of two or three. I have to tell you, it is hard to stifle laughter when you watch them bouncing up and down like kids on a play ground. Pop, pop, pop, up they hop. Reverse. Down, down, down. Then do it all again. They also go in and out of the old nest the parents used last year and the year before. Don't know what is up with that but it is also entertaining as half a dozen of them try to squeeze into the old pillar. I will miss them when they finally leave us for good.
Above is another picture of the lake. (I am figuring you don't want to see pictures of rain any more than I want to take them.) Fifteen more days. (Yeah, I'm counting.)
The soft garump of a sleepy green frog out in the garden pond. Since the pond is covered with platter sized lily pads (and lots of blossoms this summer) we rarely see the little fish However, the frogs are always there to add a bit of action to the watery still life canvas. I love it when their calls, either emphatic when the sun has warmed them up or just a gentle gurgle on this early, foggy day, remind me that they think my homemade pond is close enough to the real thing to suit their herpielittle selves.
I like:
Spending a couple of hours yesterday using a Barnes and Noble gift certificate given for my upcoming birthday by my delightful middle brother and wife. What joy, what joy....with a fledgling birder joining the happy pastime of counting and checking and observing the flying wild things, new field guides were in order. We have what we are mostly positive is a willow flycatcher living next to the driveway. When we looked it up in my old Birds of North America, which I have used all my life, Willow wasn't an option for a flycatcher. Time to catch up with the changes in taxonomy (dang those lumpers and splitters). So a new Birds of, a Sibley's, which I haven't used before, and a new Peterson's. Cool huh? Peck's Lake here we come, armed and dangerous with Latin names and new field marks and youthful enthusiasms galore. I like that. Now if my darling baby son will find my Kaufman's, which vanished a couple weeks ago when he was in charge...
I like:
Knowing that camp is coming. I feel guilty leaving LIz and Ralph with so much to do. There is enough work for all five of us never to catch up because it has rained until it is ridiculous. Flood watches every day. Flood warnings every night. Fat, leaking thunderstorms, lumbering up the valley, dropping inches every time they breath. I look forward to a too short lumpy bed, cheap novels, listening to loons languidly laughing. Board games. Catching six inch rock bass. Watching the sun rise over the water. I feel guilty, but that time of recharging and reordering is overdue and needed. I like knowing that it is so so close.
I like:
Talking with all of you. You add such color and texture to the fabric of all our lives. Even though you don't hear the boss talking too much here, even he loves us reading to him what is going on in your worlds. He comes out sometimes to see your pictures (especially all you farmers.....especially when it is machinery-thanks for the combines, Jeffro). We talk about your babies, both bovine and human. Your cats, dogs, snakes and fish. Birds and weather in states far away and jokes from England that brighten the day. Thanks!
Back on topic here....A good story from the Cattle Site about questions being posed to Obama's appointee for the Science and Technology Directorate, physician Tara O’Toole as the Homeland Security Department’s Under Secretary. "“We are thankful Senator Tester has taken this important step to reverse this indefensible political decision and we are hopeful his actions will cause the new Obama administration to act appropriately without the need for congressional action,” Thornsberry concluded. “The risk to our industry is too great to let this issue pass, and if the new administration won’t address it, we will seek congressional legislation to protect the health of our cattle herd from this FMD threat.”"
It is about time somebody at least noticed that the powers that be are planning on plopping an infectious cattle disease research lab down right in the middle of one of the nation's biggest cattle regions. Duh.
