You've Heard of Wite Out?

Looks as if the USDA wants to Green Out farmers. The so-called science they use to support their theories comes from the UN and has been thoroughly debunked by real experts using real numbers.


Maybe it is time for the Department of AGRICULTURE to support agriculture, especially when actual science sides with the farmer.

Crying Wolf Video and Goat Murder

There is a pervasive culture of romanticism surrounding the reintroduction of large predators around the nation, even here in NY. Because of the way issues such as moving Canadian wolves into Yellowstone (where they went from being common to endangered just by changing their address), people who have no dog in the fight get to decide what will happens.... sometimes thousands of miles from their own personal habitats. 


Here is a blog post about a young man who lost a large percentage of his goats to a mountain lion's wanton killing spree.


And the Crying Wolf video offers a chilling glimpse into what may well be an anti-human agenda, which may be behind the Endangered Species Act and wolf re-introduction in the Greater Yellowstone area. Beck and I watched it last night and were both enthralled and appalled by much of what we saw. Whatever you believe about man's place in the ecosystem and the positives or negatives of wolf introduction, you should really take the time to view this video.


There are always two sides to everything. Here is another side. 

Farm Child Labor Laws Issue

This was shared on Facebook today. I believe that it is the best explanation of why the proposed new farm youth labor laws are a terrible idea that I have seen yet. Please take the time to watch three generations of ranch and farm folks talk about their lifestyle.


***HT American Agri-Women and Celeste Settrini

Saved from Stupidity

By the Senate. And three cheers for them. Just what this country needs is a regulation limiting the vegetables kids eat. Not.

Spilled Milk

The EPA wants everyone to cry over it.

Updates on Milk Spill Control

This guy has much more sense than some folks I could mention

Here are a couple more articles on the amazing efforts of the EPA to equate dairy products with lubricants and fuels. (Butter as an environmental hazard)

Milk as fertilizer (thanks Nita)

Some news from last summer on the regs.

Pumpkin Growers Smarter than EPA

Equal in the eyes of the EPA

(Which, I am sure comes as no surprise to you.)

Many of the folks who grow giant pumpkins fertilize them with milk. I often bring milk that can't be sold, such as milk from a cow that just had a calf, over to the garden to feed to my assorted squashes. There are those who poo-poo the idea, but it works for me and some pumpkin producers swear by it.

And there have been numerous milk spills in this dairy-rich region, when milk tankers were involved in traffic mishaps.

You wanna know something amazing? No harm was done. Milk is pretty innocuous stuff.

And staggeringly enough, you can actually drink milk (gasp).

However, the EPA in its infinite wisdom figures that milk fits right in with motor oil and diesel fuel in the pollution department.

Yeah, really.

I can gulp down a fresh, foaming, ice-cold glass of milk with some homemade applesauce cookies, and, after much enjoying the experience, live and thrive.

Yet it appears that the EPA thinks milk is the equivalent of some nice, tasty, 10W-30.

Read about in this excellent column by Thomas Sowell.

I have to thank Cathy for the heads up about this issue. Not long ago we were led to believe that the whole milk-as-toxic-waste issue had died a natural death. Alas it appears that legislation by regulation by activist appointee is alive and well and totally devoid of commonsense as usual.

Taking on the US Census

If they had let this guy run the census....well...
it wouldn't have been any worse.
And his regular job, guarding the barn....he does that very well.

First came a blizzard of snippy little cards warning us that we had better get our census form sent back right-away-quick-like or else.

But wait! How could we? We got the little cards, but we didn't get a census form.

I was concerned so I called in for one.
And was informed that it was too early for us to get one; they were still being sent out.

More cards
No form

After a while I called again. It was getting late and we wanted to be counted.

They sent us one
I sent it back

A lady came anyhow to get us to fill one out. Drover her little car up the mountain goat path driveway like a regular trouper. I sent her on her way, explaining that I had already filled one out.

Another person stopped by for some similar reason...same reaction

Then a man came yesterday to verify that the house next door is derelict. I would have thought that the missing roof, broken windows and general air of.....er....falling down...would have been the first clue, but I guess they needed my name and address to prove that the poor man taking the census was telling the truth rather than skipping out on his job.

You would think I had done my part for the nationwide body count. I called for my form. I filled out my form. I sent in my form. I explained how nobody lived in the obviously abandoned house...and fairly patiently too, all things considered.

However, today the telephone rang and a very apologetic, poor, innocent, woman, who had obviously had a tough time recently, explained that I needed to fill out a census yet again. The data from a (large) number of forms in the area were not entered into whatever the heck they enter them into so they had to get them again. She told me that all I had to do was tell her how many people lived here and she would leave me alone. Or she could get our info and fill out the form properly.

I chose the latter and dictated everything I had written on the form I called for and sent in to her over the phone. I felt so sorry for her but I couldn't help but complain about the waste and inefficiency I had observed in the 2010 census. She admitted that she had heard the same complaints, over and over and over.

And rightly so. That is our money they are wasting with such incompetence and it is our country that will base aid and election districts upon what is obviously going to be pretty questionable data. And do you suppose maybe areas like this are being deliberately messed up? I mean this ain't exactly urban inner city or anything. If they make it hard for us plain old folks to get counted maybe it will be hard(er) for us to get representation too.

Whatever is up, we are certainly being cheated, in terms of bang for our census buck, right along with the harassment of repeated visits and calls.
If what I have heard from the census takers themselves is true, this stuff is widespread if not universal. Where is the outrage?

*** btw lack of capitalization of the word "census" is intentional and deserved.

A "Blizzard of 1099's"

Deep in the bowels of the health care deform bill, (and yes, I did mean to type "D") is a nasty little provision that will have every farmer (and other small business folks too) in the country sending out 1099s to every single entity with whom they do $600 worth of business in a year. This will make a sickening mess of bookkeeping for thousands of farm women like me, (and yeah, men too) who would much rather go hill potatoes than hunt around for tax numbers and do paperwork for the feds. It will cost businesses ridiculous amounts of money.

You can read a bit about it here.
And here
And here

Hold on to your stomach because this is really going to be ugly.
Don't we wish more people had read the stupid bill before they voted it into law? Um, yeah....

How (Not) to Generate State Revenue

Close popular camp sites that have traditionally been so heavily used that reservations are required for camp sites. Refund money already in hand. Turn away tourists who want to come to your area to visit and spend money and pay sales tax on everything they buy....



Close popular and important historical sites fondly remembered by generations of school kids who visited on school trips and touched a bit of real history of the region. One of the most important and oldest sites in our region is on the chopping block list, something which appalls many of us in the area.
I have been awed every time I visited Johnson Hall, the home of Sir William Johnson, and ran my hand down the banister where the Iroquois left tomahawk marks during a battle there. Now the down state geniuses who are looking for ways to punish upstate taxpayers save money are closing it, along with a large laundry list of other parks and historical sites beloved by upstate folks.

As a family we do very few recreational things...we don't go anywhere much, we don't play very much. The Johnson Hall Market Fair has been one of the few activities we rarely miss and always love. From the salt potatoes to the cannon fire, from genuinely costumed Revolutionary War reenactors both Indian and English to the opportunity to purchase real, homemade soap and rare herbs for my herb garden, it has been a delight. Not so long ago my folks often attended wearing their full Scottish garb and participated in the fun. Here is a petition to save it.

Now, thanks to fiscal stupidity misfortune neither we nor anyone else will enjoy our parks and monuments any more. (I am sure denying kids yet another place to play outside and exercise will do wonders for obesity.) Area Chambers of commerce are appalled. They know that tourists equal economic activity. Private parks and campgrounds will not be able to take up the slack...

Petitions to save our parks will not be enough either. We need to do more to fix this situation. Lets do it! November is getting closer by the minute. When you go into the voting booth this year think about the kids that missed out on sunny beaches, seeing wildlife, enjoying birds and opportunities to learn the history of our once great state.

Throw the bums who are doing this right out and hire us some new ones...preferably a few who don't come from NYC and who have perhaps actually visited a park (other than Central Park), sometime in their lives. Preferably a few who are interested in serving the taxpaying public rather than lining their pockets and practicing for higher office. It's time.

Michigan Meatout Makes Many Mad

The State Senate

A Facebook group

Farm Bureau

And even me. What on earth possessed the governor of Michigan, where agriculture is the number 2 industry (to the tune of 71.3 billion bucks a year) to declare Saturday the 20th of March (not at all incidentally National Agriculture Day) Michigan Meatout day? I can't imagine.

I hope she wakes up and rescinds the proclamation. In the meanwhile, even if she doesn't I suspect that most Michiganders will ignore her ignorance and munch on meaty meals this weekend.

This Quote is Completely Insane

"We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy," she told local executives."

This was reported to have been said by Nancy Pelosi speaking on the health care bill.

Food companies are required to put nutritional information on packages of food so people don't have to buy them without knowing what is inside. You can't buy a cracker without a calorie count. Most folks won't buy them without a price tag either. Why on earth would anybody be stupid enough to buy into a potentially life-changing bill like this one without knowing what is inside? Or having any clue what it will cost?

I am ashamed of our so-called leaders in Washington and appalled that my fellow citizens aren't standing up and screaming about this outrage.

Nationalized Health Care Stinks

Stolen Borrowed from Dickiebo

Just ask people who already have it...

Grandmother, disgusted by filthy hospital, cleans up and cares for patients. Read it and weep.

How Fair is This?

The Amish will be exempt from the new health care mandate. When the fools in Washington get done conducting a final frantic run to change my life and your life and the way we access health care in the future, (hurrying to get it done real fast before somebody, somehow rubs their noses in the fact that the majority of Americans don't want it) we will face FINES if we don't buy health insurance. The Amish won't.
(51% of American people are against this health care idiocy .....and I think the other 49% are asleep in front of the TV with a Bud and a bowl of popcorn...)

Nice. I can't pay my bills now. I give everybody some money each month, we spend as little as we can, and still we are looking at losing our cows and our business right now, this year, maybe even next month. (This by the way is unprecedented. We always kept up and were known for it.) Yet these jerks are planning to tell me I have to find money somewhere to pay for health insurance or else pay a fine.

Guess we will have to stop eating, because I can't think what else we can cut to come up with the money to buy their damn insurance. Bah to all of them.

***We used to have health insurance by the way, paid for it ourselves out of the milk check. However, we had to let it go because we couldn't afford it. Still can't

***can you tell that they have already incurred a considerable amount of wrath here? Have they no shame? They KNOW people don't want this bill, but they are going to pass it anyhow just because if they cheat and lie and steal, they can.

Stop Exhaling

Stop now!

Complaint Free Wednesday

Normally on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we here at Northview are frantically cooking ahead, cleaning the house, fitting chores in between etc. However, this year I am planning on spending any free time that I have complaining about the government. This guy made me do it.

He may wish folks would quit griping about the barrage of bad legislation and total insanity coming out of Washington today, but d I don't think he is going to get his wish.

Congressman Rogers on the Healthcare Debacle

Sent to me by a good friend who suggested I forward it..... Take a couple minutes to watch it if you can. There is a lot packed into a short four minutes.

Paterson's New Plates=GREAT BIG FAIL

Channel 9 is saying that this plan may be scrapped. Something about millions of ticked off drivers, a lot of very unhappy DMV workers, facing the prospect of taking care of those millions of ticked off drivers in addition to their regular work....Alas, you know and I know (and Cumptico-Calico) that our good gov and his cronies in Albany will just stick their hands in our other pocket so they can go on spending like fools. Still this plan had egregious written all over it. I hope they do dump it.

California Water

Artificial Trees to Fight Global Warming

Sound ridiculous to me.

Real ones are so easy.
And prettier
And cheap

And someone I read this week, sorry I don't remember who or where, pointed out that we would die without Carbon Dioxide.
Inconvenient that.

***Another Turkey of an Idea***
(Or ,really, I like to look out the window by the computer to see what I can see and yesterday what I saw was Lucy)