With Christmas behind us, a lot of folks either have, or will be sending out "Thank You" notes for gifts they received this year. I'm not so good about writing, but I certainly try and thank everyone for their gifts. Now my mother on the other hand, might just be the champion of thank you note writing. Mom said, "if you want to receive another gift in the future, you better take the time to write about the thoughtful gifts received". What Mom doesn't say is that she enjoys writing and has beautiful penmanship, unlike her son who hates to sit down and write a letter with his chicken scratchings and who thinks his mother may just be showing off with that great handwriting of hers, but I digress...

Two years ago on Christmas, Margie and I spent much of the day dancing with a Rug Doctor carpet cleaning machine. Oh what fun... NOT! However, it was the prelude to us moving into the farms house exactly two years ago today. Since then, I've had occasion to say "thank you" several times for the kindness of our neighbors, and this year is no exception.

I mentioned that I was given the opportunity to help my farming neighbors with corn harvest this year, and I can only hope I was more help than pain. These neighbors also stopped by every day for a month feeding our barn cats when we had a family emergency. I can only say thanks for feeding the cats, and thanks for letting me help with harvest.

The list of folks I owe a thank you to is long especially after Christmas. It's easy to forget about always saying thank you for gifts received, and from the cookies and other goodies dropped by as holiday gifts by neighbors, to the Denver Bronco candy canes received from distant family, all I can say is thanks!

2nd Anniversary

Today marks exactly two years since we bought the farm(stead). It hardly seems possible to me that we've been here that long! Long time readers of The City Slickers recall that we lived in our motor home for 5 years traveling the western USA in search of the perfect place to settle down. We had planned on it being a 10 year journey, but our plans changed as you can tell.



So now that we have two years behind us, you might wonder if we have any regrets or words of wisdom to pass on about our transition from being city folk to our adopted rural lifestyle, and to be sure I could offer our experiences to someone looking for an old farmstead about what just might lay ahead for them.



As far as regrets, I don't have many. This last week we purchased a used pickup, and to be honest I have no idea how we got along without one, so not getting the truck sooner would have to go into my regret list. Perhaps getting a metal detector could be added to that list as few people would believe some of the stuff that has worked it's way out of the ground around here, and unfortunately I seem to always find these metal mashers with the blades of my mechanized assault vehicle (lawn mower).



I've discovered things grow here... MUCH faster than I expected. Staying ahead of the weeds has been a frequent topic of this blog in the past. From mechanized and chemical assault to hand to hand combat, Margie and I have fought a nearly continuous battle against weeds, with no end to the war in sight. Our road is busier than I expected with perhaps as many as 20 cars on an average day, and the biggest surprise has been the number and variety of insects to the point that "bug of the week" has earned it's way into my vocabulary.



We've accomplished much of what we set out to do when we first bought the place, but we have a long way to go. While I consider myself to be pretty handy, I've found that even the simplest job around here seems to turn into a major renovation project. During a recent demolition project while putting up a new chimney, a board was discovered in the attic space that was dated September 1907. They sure don't build 'em like they used to... Plaster walls, and years of adding on and changing the house from it's original design without a basement to a fully finished basement has created some interesting challenges for me... and they just keep coming!



Somewhere along the way, we managed to save the barn, adopt some barn cats, learned a bit about and got involved some in farming operations, and we've met some the nicest people you could meet anywhere. All the reasons we chose to live here have been proven accurate, and we look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries of our move in the years ahead.



To those that know us, thanks for welcoming us to the neighborhood and reinforcing our notion that we made the right decision when we moved to Furnas county!

Thanksgiving Thoughts

It's just about the big day I bet most folks around here have been anticipating since last year for at least one reason... THE FOOD! Thanksgiving gives us a special opportunity to get together with family and friends for that traditional Thanksgiving dinner most of us have become accustomed to, and some folks travel thousands of miles to be with their family on this special day. For many of us, football takes up part of the day, and for this Denver fan, this year will be no exception as the Broncos will likely be thrashed by the NY Giants Thursday evening if recent history is considered.

Yep, food, football, and fun... I'm sure you have your own list of things you are thankful for, but I want to share some blessings that we don't often consider from an unknown author...

If you woke up this morning and were able to hear the birds sing, use your vocal cords to utter human sounds, walk to the breakfast table on two good legs, and read the newspaper with two good eyes...you are more blessed than millions of those who could not do these simple things.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world.If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish some place...you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If you are over thirty and either of your parents is still alive you are very rare. Over a billion people are orphans by then.


If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful...you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

Thanksgiving gives us the chance to reflect on our good fortunes. Our religious and personal freedoms, supportive families, friends, wealth, health... you know what you're thankful for.


Those that do, please say a special prayer for our military folks protecting our way of life both near and far from home this Thanksgiving, and don't forget to count up those blessings. It will surely warm your heart and put a smile on your face!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hats

There is one spot between Bartley and Indianola that has seen more than it's share of dispatched raccoons lately. That roadkill on our 6&34 drive to McCook the other day reminded me of a boyhood want that was never fulfilled. Fess Parker was the actors name that played the part of Daniel Boone in the TV series. In that show old Daniel wore a coonskin cap, and though I have no idea why I wanted one back then, the thought of one today just doesn't do it for me anymore. But it did get me to thinking about hats.

There are hat museums... http://www.thehatmuseum.com/, and then there are hats on display... http://www.montanahats.com/montanahats_005.htm. There are women's hats... http://www.hatsinthebelfry.com/category/womens-hats.html and men's hats... http://www.menshats.com/

Men's hats come with names like Fedora, Tweed, Kangol, Borsalino, and of course the famous Pork Pie. Maybe I should say famous to some when referring to the Pork Pie hat but that's another story...

Women's hats come with names like Cocktail, Pillbox, Cloche, and we must not forget the famous Topper. Again I should say famous to some.

Then there are cowboy hats and ball caps worn by both men and women as well as beanies, stocking caps, straw hats of all kinds and more I'm sure I've not thought of.

How you wear your hat is important too. Depending on where you are, wearing a ball cap backwards is in style, while other places people wonder what's wrong with the wearer under the cap. Of course, there is a way around that with one of those Sherlock Holmes style hats that can be worn just about any way, but I don't see many of them around.

As for me, I've worn a hat most of my life of one kind or another. My style choices have been pretty limited, though I was forced to wear a Fedora to church when I was a kid. I've worn cowboy hats, ball caps, and had a brief phase with New York Cabbie hats. Other than in church, you seldom if ever will find me without a hat on.

A quote from the movie The Mask "We all wear masks, metaphorically speaking" could easily be extended to hats. For just about everything you do, there is someone that does it as a profession. Change your own vehicle oil? You are a lubrication technician. Take your kids for a hike? You are an environmental instructor. Look up information on the Internet? You are a research analyst. Hang pictures on the wall? You're a home decorator. The list could go on and on of the different hats we wear on a daily basis. Mike Rowe from the show Dirty Jobs knows a thing or two about wearing unfamiliar hats.

So next time you put your hat on, take a moment to reflect on those wearing hats that you won't or can't wear. I'm thankful there are those willing to wear the hats of law enforcement, military, medicine, science, theology...

Viewpoint

Viewpoint - Point of view: a mental position from which things are viewed.

A recent story of a North Carolina church that plans on burning Bibles on Halloween caught my eye the other day and it's not limiting the fuel source to the Bible either. Books by such authors as Billy Graham, Robert Schuller, Mother Teresa, and The Pope are to be included. Let's not forget all music including Christian. Since Gospel music was excluded from the burn list, I assume that's OK with these folks. This church feels that Bibles of translations other than the King James are Bibles of Satan, and the pastor and his church are having a bonfire. You can read it right from their web site at...

http://amazinggracebaptistchurchkjv.com/Download99.html
The same event announcement with editorial comment added: http://blog.seattlepi.com/bookpatrol/archives/182095.asp?from=blog_last3

This NC church has different beliefs than most churches I'm aware of, but I've heard of some very different church service goings on that I'm sure to the worshipers seems just right too. On the other hand, if you read the second link above, you get the idea that not everybody agrees with this church about burning Bibles.

It all comes down to viewpoint. How else would you explain the 38,000 factions of the Christian's, and the Jewish, Buddhist, Islam, and Hindu religions... just to name a few? I didn't mention atheists, but they have their own viewpoint too. Not only religion, but national and international politics are based on point of view.

So as you think of your viewpoint today, here is someone who has a different point of view than most of us. Turn on your sound and get a tissue...

Peak Oil

Ever heard the term "peak oil"? If so, you likely have some feelings about what it means, and if you have not heard of it, I plan on presenting some things you might find interesting about it.

First off, the term peak oil refers to the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. There is a lot of debate about what will happen after the peak is achieved (everybody seems to agree oil is a finite resource), and how close we are to that point and the challenges it may present now is hotly debated.

Here are a couple what I consider credible sources about when peak oil occurs Both seem to have spent a lot of time coming to their conclusion, and I think both want to get it right...
http://www.peakoil.net/
http://www.cera.com/aspx/cda/client/report/reportpreview.aspx?CID=8437&KID=

One side of the debate says that there are plenty of oil reserves for a variety of reasons, and of course the opposite side says we're past or very near peak oil today, and change will quickly be thrust upon us. So here are a few things to consider...

Peak oil theory has a history at least since 1956 when a geologist named M. King Hubbert with Shell Oil predicted overall petroleum production would peak in the United States between the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Turns out he was right. This same guy says, worldwide peak oil will be achieved about now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predicting_the_timing_of_peak_oil

Since everybody says there is a peak oil date, one has to wonder when that really will occur if it hasn't already, and how will it effect us? From all the reading I've done so far, we have hit the break over, or we're as much as 30 or 40 years away. Please don't confuse the term peak oil with oil depletion There will be oil in the future, but the amount available will start to decline and prices will go up without new energy sources.

We've already hit cheap peak oil. In the not so distant past, oil drillers talked of "gushers", and little was needed beyond a hole in the ground to extract oil. Today, pressure injection techniques and other high tech methods are being used for deep sea drilling and enhanced existing field production. In other words, the easy stuff is already gone.

Nobody knows for sure how much oil is going to be extracted. Worldwide oil reserve estimates have been increased time after time, largely because of new technology that allows enhanced existing field production and extraction from very remote or difficult areas. One oil company employee comment I read was that he thought the peak must be near, just because of the extremely difficult places exploration and extraction is taking place.

So is peak oil really a big problem?

Though there are limited resources and they are more expensive to extract and deliver, oil will be extracted for years to come. Alternatives to oil fueled engines such as ethanol and bio-petro fuel blends have been developed, and advances in advanced fuels like hydrogen are occurring. Like a friend said today, no matter what comes up, there always is a way to make things work.

On the other hand, transportation including agriculture consumption is the largest user of oil by far in the US. Scarcity and higher prices can be offset some by conservation, but the squeeze will be put on consumers addicted to oil if current trends continue. International need for oil could lead to economic and shooting wars (some say they already have). The worldwide social and economic problems created could become very unpleasant indeed.

Depending on what you end up deciding, the near future could be anywhere from real ugly to just a bump on the economic highway. Peak oil and global climate change have been linked so understanding the background might be useful for understanding the debates about cap and trade and climate legislation.

Here are two differing opinions that I recommend you spend some time with if you are interested in peak oil and how it may effect us.

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
http://www.gnn.tv/articles/2295/No_Peaking_The_Hubbert_Humbug

And finally, a US Army Corps of Engineers 2005 executive report gives the military viewpoint about energy reserves, sustainability, affordability, and security. It's a big report, but on page 5 and 6 is a pretty good general summary.

http://www.cecer.army.mil/techreports/Westervelt_EnergyTrends/Westervelt_EnergyTrendsTR.pdf

If you've checked out the listed sources, you know what I do about peak oil. It's a complicated issue especially when you factor in emerging economies such as China and India with their burgeoning populations looking for oil reserves. I wonder if technology can adapt fast enough if the doomsayers are right.

Good Men Are Hard To Find

I don't know about you, but finding good help around here has been a bit difficult for us. It took us the better part of a year to find someone willing to work on our wood stove chimney, and though it has worked out, my experience was a long way from what I sought.

We asked for recommendations about someone that would do the job, called the folks recommended, left messages, but never got a call back. I suppose we didn't hear back because the person recommended didn't want to get involved in our chimney replacement after driving by perhaps, wasn't hungry enough, or knew they didn't have what it took to get the job done.

My goal was to get the job done without getting involved on the roof or having to bother my neighbors for help. As long time followers of The City Slickers know, our farming neighbors have come to our assistance numerous times and we've not been able to return the favors, and frankly I don't like to ask for help... I want to cover my own butt if you know what I mean. So when I found a guy willing to do the work from a newspaper ad, I thought we had contracted someone to do the job so I could relax and get down to doing things I know how to do. To make a long story short, we had to get our neighbors involved, had to make a trip to Grand Island for parts for the job, and I had to actually complete the job... mostly because I was tired of messing around with the guy I "hired". I will say that I think the guy I hired wanted to do a good job, he just didn't have any experience on this type project, and couldn't anticipate problems.

That's not to say that there is nobody able to do quality work around here, just that they seem hard to find, and when you do find the quality guy, you probably gotta stand in line.

My example is John's Repair in Cambridge. John gets my highest 5 star rating for both work done, and price charged. If I was going to complain at all, it's that John is so popular that you may have to wait a while. John is a vehicle mechanic, and though I could have done the work on our Jeep myself, I didn't want to pull the transmission and transfer case out by myself since we don't have a garage, so we contacted John. It took a while to get Blackie into the shop, but once there, the work was completed in a timely manner, the work performed left me 100% satisfied, and price charged was well below what I expected. Two thumbs up!!

More good men...

My neighbor and his son came to our rescue AGAIN on our chimney project when I had to ask for tractor loader help to get high enough to get the chimney assembled on the roof. We needed to get higher than we could get with ladders alone. Once the chimney was assembled, it was quickly determined that the chimney supports were completely inadequate for the windy conditions we experience around here, and my resourceful neighbors came through for us still AGAIN with parts and metal support fabrication work so our chimney will withstand the winds that will try to knock it over. Thanks neighbors... Two thumbs up AGAIN!!

I'm hopeful that I can help these fine folks out this harvest with free labor! I was asked, if needed, if I'd be willing to run a grain cart for them. YEAH! PLEASE ASK! I WORK CHEAP... FREE! Anything I can do to help even my debt to them would sure make me a happy man. I just hope I can be close to as much help to them sometime as they've been to us.

BS Spotters Guide

Have you ever looked at a spotters guide? Maybe you've never heard of one, or wonder what they really are? Spotters guides are available for lots of things. There are storm spotters guides that show pictures of cloud formations to help the observer determine level of danger for example. There are train spotters guides that show different railroad equipment, locomotives, and cars as some people are really into trains. There are Jeep spotters guides for those that want to know the subtle differences of vehicles manufactured under the greatest name in 4 wheel drive (my opinion). The same is true about aircraft, plants, and animals, though the last two mentioned are usually included in what is commonly called a "field guide".

With the intense political debates going on, I offer the following BS spotters guide. I'll preface by saying I've cherry picked terms and information in an effort to get you to investigate for yourself, and hope you will keep them in mind with any debate...

Ad hominem abusive - This tactic is frequently employed as a propaganda tool among people who are attempting to influence voters in their favor through an appeal to emotion rather than by logical means, especially when their own position is logically weaker than their opponent's.

Faulty generalization - A mode of thinking that takes knowledge from one group's or person's experiences and incorrectly extends it to another

Fundamental attribution error - Cognitive tendency to predominantly over-value dispositional, or personality-based, explanations. You can think of personality made endorsements as an example.

Genetic fallacy (not what you may be thinking) - May help illuminate the reasons why the issue has assumed its present form, but is irrelevant to its merits.

Guilt by association - Attacks a source because of the similarity between the views of someone making an argument and other proponents of the argument.

Hasty generalization - Often used by basing a broad conclusion upon the statistics of a survey of a small group that fails to sufficiently represent the whole population.

Inverse ad hominem - Praises a source in order to add support for that source's argument or claim.

Slippery slope - Argument states that a relatively small first step inevitably leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant impact, much like an object given a small push over the edge of a slope sliding all the way to the bottom.[1] The fallacious sense of "slippery slope" is often used synonymously with continuum fallacy, in that it ignores the possibility of middle ground and assumes a discrete transition from category A to category B.

tu quoque - "You too" - Claim that the source making the argument has spoken or acted in a way inconsistent with the argument. "x" did it, so it's OK for the "y" to do the same. It seems reasonable, but does that make it right?

There's a lot more out there to consider when listening to or reading information, but being aware of the tools used to influence us is a good start to getting to the real truths that are almost always buried somewhere below the surface of the rhetoric.

Dig Baby, Dig...

"Earth worshipers" is a term I've heard in these parts to define environmentalists, and to be sure, there are some real environmental extremists out there. ELF (Earth Liberation Front) and Earth First are a couple groups that come immediately to mind when I think of environmental extremism. Damage to personal and public property by extreme environmental groups has caused millions in damages worldwide... http://www.furcommission.com/resource/Resources/Terror.pdf and of course we end up paying higher prices, insurance premiums and taxes for these extremeist incidents.

Yep, we'd be a whole lot better off without all the crazy environmentalists right? Let's remove regulations that hamper business and get back to the business of business instead of the business of dealing with government regulations right? It's all about government control right?

Hmmm... not so fast.

Today I'd like to offer a few places for you to consider when you think that government regulation is such a bad idea all the time...

Colorful Colorado is what the sign reads when you enter the state with the highest average elevation, but some of that color is highly tainted with obnoxious compounds and the like that in the past have killed millions of fish in the Arkansas River, and tainted water supplies downstream with heavy metals. And guess what, you and I are paying for the cleanup to this day. In the mountains near the town of Del Norte is a modern open pit mine called the The Summitville Mine. Major operations started in 1984, and by 1994, the company that ran the mine was bankrupt and the EPA had it listed as a Superfund cleanup site. http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/co/summitville/

Ever heard of Picher, Oklahoma? This town is just under 500 miles south east of McCook along the Kansas/Oklahoma border. As recently as 1920, Picher had a population greater than that of McCook, and today that town is unincorporated. Why? Environmental damage. And to make it just a little more interesting, you and me bought the town with our taxes. You see, mining for lead and zinc ruined the environment there, and the surrounding areas so completely that the government bought the town. Lack of environmental rules allowed it, and though the mining companies left in 1970 with their profits, we get stuck for the environmental repercussions. Read about Treece Kansas, a town next to Picher and their problems here... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/us/14kansas.html?_r=1&no_interstitial

Want something a bit closer? Here is a map of Superfund sites in Nebraska, and you can read about what is or was being done to clean up these toxic locations in our own back yards... http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/ne.htm

My point is this, while environmental rules can break a business, many a business has proven that they will take advantage of their situation to the expense of the common taxpayer by irresponsible management when unregulated, and out and out illegal activities when rules are in place. Illegal dumping right here in Nebraska has been targeted with taxpayer funded advertising to combat the problem. I doubt there is any accurate figure that incorporates the costs to taxpayers for business indiscretions related to the environment, but you can be sure it's a huge amount.

Is it fair to let business operate without environmental rules? No matter what your opinion is, you can be sure the folks of Treece Kansas have some pretty strong feelings based on real life experience, and I hope you will consider their plight when you think of business and regulations.

The Funny Pages

Somewhere along the line, I've kinda lost interest in the newspaper funny pages. Oh sure, there are some I cartoons that I've enjoyed, Dilbert being my favorite as his engineering issues and boss reminded me of... well me to some extent. Though I posted a link to a short Dilbert video before, I like it so much that I'm gonna do it again at the end of todays blog.

Now what brings the funny pages to mind was an article I found the other day about scientists "levitating" a mouse in a magnetic field. You can read the article here if you wish, but I'll tell you the title to save time if you're not interested... " Scientists levitate mice using magnets to simulate space travel" Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1212553/NASA-levitates-mice-using-magnets-simulate-space-travel.html#ixzz0RT6Q5fcX

What really made the article catch my attention was the title as it reminded me of a Dick Tracy panel I remember very well from WAY back. Though Dick Tracy has been "off the air" for quite a while, the cartoonist had quite an imagination when it came to crime fighting now and then, and his series about Moon Maid and space travel was pretty fanciful in it's day. Here is the original Dick Tracy cartoon panel from a Sunday long ago that explains space travel by magnetism.... http://drexfiles.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/tracy_552.jpg When you get to the cartoon panel, click on it to see it full size.

So what's my point? Well, I'm not even sure as I can't seem to decide if I want to blog about technology advancements foretold years ago, or just talk about funny stuff, so I guess I leave off with some funny stuff for this Friday...

Getting To Heaven

I was testing the children in my Sunday school class to see if they understood the concept of getting to heaven.

I asked them, 'If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven?'

'NO!' the children answered.

'If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?'

Again, the answer was, 'NO!'

By now I was starting to smile. Hey, this was fun! I continued...

'Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my husband, would that get me into Heaven?'

Again, they all answered, 'NO!'

I was just bursting with pride for them. 'Well,' I continued, 'then how can I get into Heaven?'

A five-year-old boy shouted out,

'YOU GOTTA BE DEAD.'

And now... the rerun of the aforementioned Dilbert video... Have a great weekend!

Takin' Sides

It's Labor Day weekend. In reality, it's little more to most folks than a three day weekend and the traditional end of summer, but the reason for the holiday should be remembered. Labor Day has been a Federal holiday since 1884 when President Grover Cleveland made it so.

It turns out that Cleveland was in hot water over his involvement in the deadly Pullman Stike of 1893. The Pullman strike was huge! 225,000 American Railway Union (ARU) workers in 27 states became involved in what started out as a wildcat (unauthorized) strike by workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company.

Many readers here are likely familiar with the Pullman name. Pullman made railroad cars, and is especially remembered for it's luxury sleeping cars that bore it's name into the 1980's. Just as a note of interest, the son of Abe Lincoln became head of Pullman in it's history, but I digress.

Pullman was quite the business man. His factory was within walking distance of his town of the same name. Pullman owned everything in town, including the churches and actually charged pastors rent to preach in them. If you worked for Pullman, you had to live in his town. Pullman also controlled the rents there.

So what do you suppose happend when Pullman lowered wages, increased hours, and didn't reduce his workers rent? Ka-Chow... walkout! Now a single local union shop walkout ordinally wouldn't trigger an all out strike, but a lady named Jennie Curtis made a speech to the ARU begging for total union support... she got it.

To make a rather ugly story shorter, by the time the whole mess was over, the body count was 13 dead and 53 wounded. President Cleveland declaired Labor Day the following year and it is speculated that he did so because his sending US troops to settle a labor dispute caused such a national outcry. Cleveland lost the following election, and his labor stance of 1883 is credited as a major reason for his defeat.

Organized labor has taken a lot of grief over the years. Union busters of all types have been employed to control workers. Innocent women and children have died in these conflicts such as the Ludlow Massacre. This one involved the Rockefellers with the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company. Among the dead were 2 women and 11 children. Turns out the tent city the company had for the miners was set on fire, and the women and children died as a result. This dispute was especially ugly, and haunted Rockefeller for years. The above picture shows what union folks had to deal with.

So this weekend, I hope you will take the time to read a little about some of the biggest labor disputes in US history. Labor relations have gotten pretty ugly over the years...

Pullman Stike
Ludlow Massacre
Battle Of The Overpass

Health Food

Around here, food seems to be hot topic. If you pick up the paper and read an event announcement, nine out of ten times, food is also included in the description of events. Take almost any auction for example... "Lunch provided by...", or anything going on at the senior center, and food choices from snacks to a full blown meal will be available. Even town sporting events get loaded up with goodies with "tailgate" nights and such at sporting events when food for everybody that shows up is prepared with great care by a host of volunteers.

Lately we're being bombarded with TV ads and conflicting information about health care. Part of the argument as I understand it is that the government wants folks to get preventive health care as part of the plan, and I think most of us feel that if we take care of ourselves, get some exercise, and eat right, we will be healthier.

Since any insurance, health insurance included, has traditionally been priced based on risk factors, it makes sense that insuring folks that are a good risk is good business. So with that in mind, I offer the following...

The extent of government involvement in health care is yet to be determined, but they could start in Texas. I've always been told you are what you eat, and if Texans eat much from the menu below, there should be no question as to why health care is so expensive.

Here are just a few of the tasty treats on Texas State Fair menu...

• 
  
• Chicken Fried Bacon - Battered and fried bacon


• Deep Fried PB&J - A new twist on the old family favorite


• Deep Fried Coke - Doughnuts filled with Coke syrup and browned carefully


• Deep Fried Twinkies - I wonder if they will stay edible as long?


• Deep Fried Banana Split - At least they wait until it's done frying before adding the whipped cream


• And my personal favorite... Deep Fried Butter

Don't believe my above list? Here's my proof... bon Appetit!

Motivational Speakers

In my past life, I had the opportunity to listen to company sponsored motivational speakers more than once. These corporate paid cheer leaders would show up at company informational meetings usually at the start of some big "kick-off" program to get the employees fired up to help the new program become a success. Some of these guys are really good at their jobs. They command big dollar speaking fees, and the best could be considered entertainers as much as a motivator.

The Democrats lost one of their top motivational speakers this week, and though few of Ted Kennedy's political ideas did I agree with, there is no denying he was a motivational speaker that was passionate about what he believed.

Now what brings the above to mind is the video that follows. I wanted to share the video, and noticed that the performer was also a motivational speaker and that gave me today's blog title. But upon reflection writing the blog, some other thoughts came to mind as you can see.

Here is a story by an unknown author inspired by the greatest motivational speaker of all time in my opinion...

Burned Biscuits

When I was a little boy, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: "Baby, I love burned biscuits."

Later that night, I went to hug Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides - a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!"

You know, life is full of imperfect things.....and imperfect people.. and I'm sure not the best at much. What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other's faults - and choosing to celebrate each other's differences. - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

And that's my prayer for you today. That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God. Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn't a deal-breaker! We could extend this to any relationship in fact - as understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship, in business or otherwise!

"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket - keep it in your own."

And now as previously mentioned...

Mixed Fruit

First up, thanks to the green thumbs of Road 409! This summer we've been blessed with gifts of sweet corn, cucumbers, grapes, apples, onions, asparagus, and rhubarb. Our tomato plants took off, but we never got enough to give away, and I doubt the green thumbs would take any anyway as they all seem to be growing tomatoes too.

I've come to a conclusion about my war with the weeds. Weeds seem to be like terrorists. They sneak in when you are not looking, attack without warning, and are virtually impossible to get rid of completely. Just when you get a handle on one, another seems to jump right up and take it's place.

Today's blog title was inspired by our breakfast out at Fullers Family Restaurant in McCook yesterday. I was pawing through the jelly basket and there it was... Mixed Fruit jelly... my favorite. Anyway, it just kinda goes with today's ramblings as I'm all over the map, but I want to mention the cookie jar collection at Fullers. Every type and kind of cookie jar is represented I bet. From the jar that looks like the Lone Ranger and his horse Silver to John Deere tractor jars, everyone will find at least one cookie jar they like. And I understand there are hundreds more in a back room somewhere that get rotated into the collection now and then.

As a relative newcomer to the area, finding a place of business that we've not been to before can be a challenge now and then. Yesterday was no exception. Our appointment at 8am was on Old Highway 6. Now I ask you local McCook folks... is there a street sign for Old Highway 6? I've been there twice now and I can't find a sign. Look up the address on Google maps and it displays the name of the business with three different locations showing the Old Highway 6 address we were looking for at three different locations not close to where the actual Old Highway 6 road actually is. I also used a topo map program I've depended on to find remote back country areas to be very accurate, but where it showed Old Highway 6 in McCook was more like where Norris Park is. Good thing we asked our neighbors before we headed out. We almost drove right to the place. Mr business owner where ever you are... I don't know if there is a way to get Google Maps to get your address correctly mapped, but I recommend that you check to see that your business is properly mapped... it would sure help some of us technology nuts find our way to spend our money at your place of business.

More neighborly activity to mention too as our Jeep was saved from mower duty by a John Deere with a PTO mower. This year to try and save our mechanized assault vehicle (riding mower) from an early death, I decided to not mow the weeds on about an acre or so of ground we refer to as the "north 40", and I admit it was really starting to look like wilderness. My plan was to wait until after the weeds died and then drag a harrow type device through the area with the Jeep to knock the weeds back down. However, to my rescue came Don. Thanks Don! Sure looks a lot better up there now that you mowed for us.

And finally... the picture above just cracks me up for some reason. I think the seller is doing everything possible to take advantage of the buzz about Cash For Clunkers, and though I'm not too sure that clunker in the picture is worth much cash, I give 'em credit for great advertising timing.

Jekyll & Hyde

Most folks have heard of the story of Doctor Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. According to Wikipedia, "... known for its vivid portrayal of a split personality, split in the sense that within the same person there is both an apparently good and an evil personality each being quite distinct from the other."

I know the above named person, and her name is Margie... my wife. Now I won't say my best bud really is evil, but she does exhibit Jekyll & Hyde characteristics now and then, especially in the morning. You see, Margie is not exactly a morning person. What really changes that however is the promise of... breakfast out.

I really do have this figured out. If I want to get out of the house early for some reason, all I need do is make the offer of breakfast out, and I'll have trouble keeping up with Margie getting ready to head out the door without an alarm or other wake up call. Any other day? Forget it. She is not a morning person and we have a magic time around our place that is understood that disturbing the evil side of Margie before is to be avoided.

What brings this to mind is that friends of ours son got married over the weekend.

You may wonder why a wedding would make me think of Jekyll & Hyde. Well, I guess only because I didn't see the Hyde side of Margie until after we were married, though her brand of Hyde isn't really all that tough to take.

As for the newlyweds we know, they had a great reception with one of the coolest videos ever. It started with babies, and it took me a just a moment to figure out I was seeing alternating pictures of the newlyweds as little ones. Funny how hard it is tell babies apart to a casual observer.

Anyway, the music and video was the kids growing up and walking off together in the end... it's giving me shivers as I type it now actually. Very Cool!! If you are one of those folks that cry at weddings, the video would likely do you in. Food, fun, family, and friends... what a great celebration of beginning their lives together.

Still, you just know there is some Jekyll & Hyde ahead for them... there is a little bit for everybody isn't there? Congratulations Pat & Lori!

Birthday Boy

I'm a couple days late with birthday wishes for someone all of us knows... Smokey. According to the USDA Forest Service... "Since his birthday on August 9, 1944, Smokey Bear has been a recognized symbol of conservation and protection of America's forests."

Sounds pretty simple, but the story gets better when, as the late Paul Harvey could have said, "Now you know the rest of the story".

Forest fire prevention really got started during WWII. There was concern the Japanese would start forest fires so fire prevention quickly became a national concern. The movie Bambi came out in 1944 with the forest fire scene, and the first fire prevention poster with our buddy Smokey showed up August 9, 1944.

The actual bear named Smokey has his own history that is interesting and heartwarming and I recommend you read by clicking here---> Smokey The Bear's True Story

Remember... Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires

Time Warp

Those of you that have lived for an extended time in the city know that things move at a pretty quick pace for all practical purposes. If you make a deal to buy something and then don't show up on time, your deal probably just flew out the window as there seems to be a never ending supply of folks wanting to buy just about whatever you might be selling.

What brings this to mind is my dealing with a fellow about a Craigslist ad. If you have not heard of Craigslist.com, it is a web site that has classified ads for just about everything. From tools to quilting supplies, you can find just about anything on Craigslist. In our area, you can see ads that are centered in Grand Island, Omaha, and Lincoln, and there are nationwide listings you can navigate to easily.

Anyway... I was surfing through Craigslist several MONTHS ago and came across a "wanted" ad. The guy was looking for an old wood stove for a shop he was building, and I replied that I had one if he was still interested... I didn't see the ad until it was a couple weeks old already.

He emailed me back and said he was interested, but was in Holdredge and would be coming this way in a few days. Well, I didn't hear from the guy for a couple months and then got an email that he was still interested if I still had it. I responded I had it, but heard nothing again for several months until last week when the phone rang. It was the guy looking for the wood stove, he was in town for an auction, and did I still have the stove to sell? "Yep" I replied, and soon after my old wood stove was on his trailer heading down the road, and I had a few extra bucks in my pocket. This little story started about 8 months ago.

Some folks in rural Nebraska seem to operate on a really different time clock than the city folks I've known. I think I've commented on this sometime in the distant past, but it takes a bit of getting used to for a newbie to the area. Most business seem to close for lunch hour in our town which I never experienced in the city, and it can take months to get a deal done that in the city would have been done on the day of initial contact.

If I sound like it bothered me that it took so long to get the stove deal done, that couldn't be further from the truth. It's nice that people don't feel like they have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get things done. I think people in these parts have known for a long time that being in a hurry doesn't necessarily get things done any faster, and I'm glad I finally figured it out too.

On another topic, the green thumbs of NW Furnas county seem to be having a banner year. Margie's tomato plants are loaded, and we've been eating off them for almost two full weeks now. We only get one or two every couple days so far, but that first one was GREAT! The second, third, and forth were just as good, but we don't have enough to share with the neighbors yet. In the last couple days however, we've gotten sweet corn and cucumbers from neighbors. Have not sampled the cucs yet, but we gobbled up the corn and Margie said it was the best she's ever had. As far as I'm concerned, it was only in the top 5, but then I can't discern which of the top 5 is the best, so these ears might just be them. Thanks Neighbors!

Prosopagnosia and Laminin

I've got a problem and I know it. For some reason, I sometimes have real trouble putting names and faces together for certain people. Not that I don't recognize folks I've met because I do. As a matter of fact, I might even go so far as to say I never forget a face (well almost anyway), but put a name with that face and I am doomed now and then. And to make matters worse, it's not just people I've met recently, but folks I see and speak to on a nearly weekly basis, and it always seems to be the same folks I put my foot in my mouth with.

The names are changed to protect the innocent...

The Smith brothers. These two guys have the same last name, a family resemblance, and I see them both just about every week. For whatever reason, I can't get their names straight in my head consistently. I know who is who, but I'd bet they think once in a while I don't have a clue.

Then there's the fellow with the name that is very similar to a good friend of ours that passed away a few years ago. For whatever reason, I say "hi" and even though I consciously think exactly how I'm going to say his name, out comes my departed friends name. Close... but no cigar... I can only hope he isn't offended over the long run.

OK, so I've been thinking about writing a blog to make a public apology to the folks that I don't get their names with their faces right, and some on a consistent basis. I'm am sorry, and I really don't know why I have trouble getting your name right, but I know who you are.

So today while researching a substance called Laminin, I came across an article about obscure medical conditions and Prosopagnosia was brought up. There may be no cure, and it was originally associated with a brain injury and you can read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia, but the gist is some people have it and it is a described medical condition concerning face recognition. I probably don't have it, but it could make a good excuse for my feeble mind.

Oh yes about Laminin...

Google Laminin and what it is, and notice the shape of the molecule depicted.

Snopes.com's take on Laminim can be read here... http://www.snopes.com/glurge/laminin.asp

Snopes final comment is

"Perhaps most important, molecular diagrams like the one used here are generally intended to represent those structures in ways that make them easy for humans to conceptualize and work with, not to be exact reproductions of the molecules"

Well, based on that Snopes comment, I like to think God took that into consideration when building the stuff in the first place.

Frank And The Foreign Language

A while back I brought up the movie "Cars" and how much I enjoyed it. The one liner jokes, characters, and story line made for a very enjoyable movie in my opinion. One of my favorite parts of the movie involved tractor tipping and the combine Frank. See http://www.mccookgazette.com/blogs/hoag/entry/22993/ What brings this to mind is Margie's experience the other night.

As it turns out, we're your basically boring couple I suppose. Margie counted it up and it turns out in the last year and 1/2, we have gotten home after dark a whopping 4 times. Now Margie is up on me by one as she had an encounter with one of the Cars movie characters on her way home from a ladies social get-together in town the other night. Yep, Margie encountered Frank, or his cousin JD anyway.

Our country roads are pretty dark at night, so you can see when someone is coming quite a ways ahead even on a hilly, twisty road like the one between town and our place. Margie popped over a hill before a curve ahead and knew there was a car heading down the road, until she came around the corner and Frank, or JD, was hard at work in the wheat rows right next to the road, so it looked like she was about to be eaten by ol' Frank as she rounded the corner on the hill at first glance. When she got home, the first words out of her mouth were a direct quote from the movie... "There's Frank!", I immediately knew she had an encounter in the dark with a combine, and then I got the rest of the story.

Now the other part of my blog today is about my efforts to learn a foreign language. You likely didn't know it, but there are different languages used on the Internet to show the pages your computer displays. To see what this language looks like, place your cursor over this text, click the right mouse button, and then left click on "view source". Another window will open up with the computer language that is used to display this McCook Gazette web page. Yep... it takes all that to show this page!

The basic language of the Internet is HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), but there have been languages developed to work with HTML to enhance how pages are displayed. Javascript and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are two of the most commonly used right now. When I started my web site 7 years ago, I worked with strict HTML and the results are pretty good I think... http://www.rv-camping.org, but the new languages are a lot more flexible, as well as faster loading so I'm trying to teach myself CSS. Not an easy task when I don't have an instructor and my efforts are all trial and error... mostly error so far.

Computers have changed my life for sure, probably yours, and will continue to do so I'm certain. While searching for a picture of Frank, I stumbled on the following YouTube video and got to thinking there are folks with a lot of spare time on their hands to develop a computer program that shows this stuff, but I suppose farmers miss their fields in the middle of winter enough to work this type of computer simulation???

There's Just Something About A Parade

I've been in two parades once in my distant past. What I mean by that is that I was in two parades with the same float. I was stationed at the US Air Force Survival School near Spokane Washington, driving trucks with supplies and heavy equipment used to maintain a training area for military survival students. The base was asked to provide a float for an early summer parade in Spokane, and the town of Ritzville Washington asked us to be in their 4th of July Parade after seeing our entry at Spokane.

Since I was driving the "Official Use Only" truck pulling the flatbed trailer that had our float riding on it, I was expected to wear my uniform, while the folks on the float itself were dressed in costume. You see, our float commemorate northwest USA exploration and we had a giant raft on this 40 foot flatbed, similar what Lewis & Clark might have fashioned once they got to the big rivers heading west to the ocean. The raft really was huge if you think about all the poles necessary to make a raft 45' x 10' with a large "hut" in the center. The guys riding the float were dressed in buckskins and armed with polling staffs. It had a mast for a sail, but that proved to be impractical as the mast was so tall it had to be lowered at each intersection in Spokane and was quickly abandoned. So much for forethought.

The Spokane parade was great with a lot of people watching and many floats, but the Ritzville event was by FAR the most fun! The town of Ritzville has about 1700 or so folks living there, and the whole town turned out. I seemed to be a marked man in uniform as I believe I got to shake just about every person in the towns hand one way or the other. Those folks, like the most people around here were very patriotic and appreciative of our military and what they do for us. The whole town had a pot luck and the chow was to say the least... great! Our crew for the event ended up spending the whole day in Ritzville and it's something I'll never forget. I was too young then to really understand the significance of their feelings, but it comes to you sooner or later.

What brings the above to mind is the parade we attended yesterday in Arapahoe. It started off badly enough for me. One of the few things that I've discovered here that makes life difficult for newcomers is that a lot of information is "assumed" to be known by everyone, even if you've never been there before. My most recent example of this is finding the parade route through Arapahoe for starters, and being in the completely wrong place at the wrong time. Fire and EMS crews parked on Vine street waiting for the parade to start... I'm sorry! I didn't know I shouldn't turn on Vine! I didn't mean to be an SA (Stupid A#$), and I promise next time I'll know where to go.

Anyway... I should have paid attention to how big a parade it really was as it went on for close to an hour I believe. It started with two sets of Color Guards followed by a marching band. I always get chills when I see a Color Guard marching down the street, and this was the first time I've seen two. The above mentioned fire and EMS crews and vehicles were next followed by a wide variety of parade participants from motorcycles and tractors, to pot bellied pigs and horseback riders. And to wrap up the perfect parade in downtown Arapahoe, the Gosper/Furnas County Museum was open and we spent another hour or so wandering around the great collection of artifacts on display there.

We wrapped up our day at a barbecue and fireworks display out in the country. One of the amazing things we noticed was that after the initial thrill of the fireworks starting, the kids attending were more interested in catching firefly's than the overhead flashes in the night sky. One of the major topics of conversation? The weather. Not too surprising considering I don't think the thermometer hit 80 at our place which, according to local folks, is very unusual for this time of year. Lows in the 80's are common in early July I hear, so this holiday was exceptional... in more ways than one for us.

Thumbs

Handy darn things thumbs are. Ever try to pick up something without using them? Hit one with a hammer hard enough, and the statement "sticks out like a sore thumb" will make perfect sense to you. I bet climbing a rope is about impossible without thumbs, and getting the hook out of your fish would be pretty tough too I imagine, let alone putting a worm on the hook in the first place.

There are geographic thumbs like the chunk of land sticking out called the thumb of Michigan. There are rules of thumb, with a definition of that term being... "A rule of thumb is a principle with broad application that is not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable for every situation. It is an easily learned and easily applied procedure for approximately calculating or recalling some value, or for making some determination." I thought I knew what a rule of thumb was, but it's definition sure makes it seem complicated.

So as you can see, there are several different thumbs I could talk about, but today I want to talk about green thumbs... I don't have one, Margie apparently does.

From the Brian Hoag dictionary... Green Thumb: A person with skill at growing things, especially when referring to house plants and home gardens. I won't count farmers in as having green thumbs unless they are gardeners too. To me, a farmer has to be green through and through. It still amazes me what goes on in the fields around my place.

A year ago we didn't have a garden of any type, and we wanted one, but were still trying to figure out how we were going to take care of the farm in the first place. This year Margie worked up a little spot and planted some tomatoes, onions, carrots, radishes, lettuce, and potatoes, and the stuff is growing like crazy as far as I can tell. To make this blog a reasonable length, I'll just say that Margie brought in her first harvest from her garden. A couple radishes for starters, and I'm sure she is well behind most of you experienced green thumbs... the garden wasn't in the ground very early due to some travel plans. Still she was excited, the radishes were delicious, and I can barely wait for the tomatoes.

Most folks around us seem to have green thumbs too. Our little garden can't hold a candle to our neighbors plantings, but it is the first garden we've had on the farm since we moved to Nebraska a year and half ago, other than the two tomato plants we had last year, so we feel like we're still making a little progress around the place.

One final note about green thumbs and my lack of same. Though I can kill any plant inside a house or garden with little effort, I seem totally incapable of killing the weeds on the farm with any real success. The weed war continues, and for all the chemical and mechanical counter attacks against the invaders, few gains against the enemy have been made. While ever so slow progress seems to be occurring, I attribute it to Margie's hand to hand combat with the weeds and not my efforts with a sprayer and mechanized assault vehicle (riding mower).

Snake Story

When I was a kid, my mother would scream at the sight of a snake. I'm pretty sure she hasn't changed her tune much over the years either, so I'll blame my dislike of snakes on her. I'm not really afraid of snakes, but the darn things always surprise me even though they seem to be mostly interested in getting away from me about as much as I want to get away from them.

There is just something about snakes. A TV actor commented about the movie "Snakes On A Plane" by saying... Snakes on a plane, now that's scary. Imagine them in the seat back pockets, in the overhead, under your seat, ... you get the idea, and to be sure, though I somehow consider snakes on a plane an unlike prospect, if they were there, it would be scary. Even action hero Indiana Jones asked... "Why does always have to be snakes", so my dislike of snakes is pretty widely held.

What brings this all up is that last evening our neighbors stopped by with the remains of a rattlesnake draped across the front of their ATV. It was a rather large specimen I was told... about 45 inches long, with at least 10 visible rattles and more looked like had they been broken off at the tip. Even though the darn serpent was dead, I wasn't interested in touching it either. The head was missing so I KNEW that snake was going nowhere... just the sight of the creepy thing was all I needed.

Now I'm not sayin' I think my neighbor is a practical joker, but the conversation moved on to what to do with the dead snake. One comment was that it would be fun to coil it up on so and so's car seat, and another idea was to place it on the front step at another place.

So if you are reading this and found a headless snake in an unusual location, I KNOW NOTHING! I subscribe to the ideology of plausible deniability when it comes to snakes, their demise, and their final resting places.

Who Tells The Truth?

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." —Charles H. Duell, U.S. Patent Office director, 1899

What brings the above quote to mind is the new computer I got recently. Brandy new, latest and greatest. with the biggest and best whatsits and widgits. I opened the box, plugged the machine in, and the first thing it does once it gets online is start downloading updates. 43 updates to be exact. Still amazes me that computer companies are so anxious to get their new product out the door that they build and ship them knowing there are problems and then let the consumer find all the bugs and other problems for them and then they come up with a downloadable "fix". Oops, to get back on topic...

We see new inventions and devices all the time now-a-days. IPods, laptops, notebooks, digital cameras, cell phones... the list could go on seemingly forever, so it's pretty obvious that when our buddy Chuck Duell made his famous quote about inventions, he was totally WRONG! But I got to wondering if the director of the patent office really would make such a statement so I did a little research into Duell's quote. A company named TRW probably made the quote famous with full page newspaper ads that I recall seeing in the mid 80's. What I discovered is a rather interesting story really of how a statement can be restated enough different places to become "fact".

What Duell really said as near as I can tell is "The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end." If you are interested in the whole story and the documentation I most trusted from my research into the quote, it's available here... http://www.myoutbox.net/posass.htm

If you search the Internet for the quote, there are numerous "quote" web sites that attribute the exact statement to Duell. So what's my point, unless you hear the whole quote first hand, it might be fabricated, altered, or otherwise out of context. Dang, makes you wonder if there is any information source out there you can really trust.

Light Show Finale

Around our place the last few days, we've had almost constant clouds it seems. Other than a little hole in the grayness on Saturday, it's been fairly dark and gloomy around here... reminded me of Springtime around Seattle. After a hit and run visit by relatives on Saturday (10 family members on a road trip in a rented RV stayed for just an hour), we decided yesterday to hit the road for fun and excitement. Not that we found all that much excitement really, but we certainly enjoyed ourselves and found some history and sunshine to go with it.

The day started off nicely with a trip to the vet with the mother of the kittens we have around our farm(stead) to get her kitten makin' stuff removed. Semi retired Doc Stear agreed to spay BS (short for Black Spot) and told us she should be ready for pickup around 4PM.

With most of the day free of plans, we decided to head to North Platte, have some lunch, and see the Buffalo Bill Ranch there as well. To make a long story a bit shorter, the sun came out just south of Wellfleet, we had a great lunch and skipped the ranch as we noted we didn't really have enough time.

We jumped on I-80 eastbound instead and vowed to stop at the Pony Express station at Gothenburg on our circuitous route to pick up BS on time. This was a good choice as we were treated to a pleasant fellow that loved to give a history lesson about the Platte River valley and Pony Express through the area specifically, and across the West generally. His enthusiastic "lecture" brought up visions of riders on horseback heading east and west with a small fortune in mail with them. $5 per 1/2 ounce letter, and the riders carried a maximum 20 pounds of mail... do the math and it's a bunch of bucks in 1860 dollars!

We got back on the road and headed to Arapahoe and a quick stop for some ice cream at the Take-5, then on to pick up BS right on time. Poor thing was sure woozy when we got home, but she seems to be nearly her old self this morning.

To wrap up a near perfect day, we were treated to a fantastic light show from the the storm that rolled through last night.

This livin' in Nebraska isn't half bad!

Weather

To read the blogs on the Gazette lately, you might get the idea that folks talk about politics more than anything else. Conversationally, I have not found this to be the case in any way, shape, or form. The number 1 thing I've found people discuss is the weather.

It's windy or not, hot, cold, damp, dry, cloudy, sunny, raining, pouring, humid, or (insert any weather term). Any you know what? We never seem to get tired of talking about the weather current and past... "Why I remember the blizzard of..." is a common historical weather story we've all likely heard. We get an advertising paper called "The Messenger" and the first thing I do is leaf through it to see the old photographs they show. They have on several occasions shown extreme weather related pictures such as snow to the top of phone poles which I enjoy seeing.

I suppose there have been academic studies made as to why we talk about the weather. It effects most of us every day one way or another so we have a vested interest in what is currently happening with it that may determine our ability to survive on this sometimes hostile little planet.

I have my own theory... The weather puts us all on common ground. No matter who you are, the playing field is always level when it comes to weather. You can find out just what you are made of because of the weather, and the worst of weather seems to bring out the best in people. Look at all the volunteers that poured into the Gulf states after hurricane Katrina, and that doesn't begin to count the volunteers that organized clothing and food drives to assist folks that got hit by that devastating weather event.

Though I've not witnessed a bad weather event in our corner of Nebraska, I've heard stories of folks coming to their neighbors aid when bad weather has hit. Group efforts in the past have saved thousands of head of livestock during blizzards. You probably already know that, but a lot of city folk have no idea.

Just yesterday my farming neighbor stopped by and sprayed the weeds in our "North 40" for us. Naturally the weather came up in our conversation as the cool damp/drizzle we've had has made it tough to get his hay put up, but it's helping the wheat crop. Is there such a thing as perfect farming weather?

Weather around our farm(stead) has been cloudy and cool the last few days with intermittent light drizzle. We got a good 3" of rain a couple weeks ago, and another 45/100 overnight...

Getting Rid Of A Collection

Are humans gross by nature? I mean, why is it that people can miss the trash can at the rest stop, and instead of picking up after themselves, they leave it for someone else. You see plastic bags along the road that have been filled. by volunteers in many cases, with the trash people thoughtlessly toss out their car windows. I guess the person that misses the trash can at the rest area should be commended for at least getting close to the proper receptacle?

Folks around here do a pretty good job of keeping up with the trash along the roads, but that trash is only one of the things we find ourselves getting rid of one way or the other. We get rid of unwanted buildings, old cars, and in some cases even our spouse. The list of things gotten rid of is long, so today I'll just talk about getting rid of my old cement.

Which brings me to the title of today's blog... when we closed on the farm(stead) a year and a half ago, one of the ladies in the office made the comment that if you have more than three of anything, it's a collection. Well, we're getting rid of our cement collection. It seems that our farm had use for a lot of cement in various forms, but was just about all broken up over the years and buried. Now it's starting to work its way to the surface so I've been digging it up and making a rather substantial pile (collection) of unwanted cement.

Now one problem with cement is getting rid of it when you don't want it anymore. Here is where we are lucky, our farming neighbor happens to have a ravine he is trying to fill with the exact kind of material my collection is made up of. The other problem with cement is that it's heavy and difficult to move around. Fortunately my brother in law Gary was in town with his pickup and we loaded up some of the bigger pieces of my collection and deposited them in the designated location.

I've still got a lot of smaller "collectibles" to dig up that continue to show up and find their way onto the mower blades, and my collection is available to anyone that wants what's left of it before I get the entire collection removed. Just promise you won't bring it back.

Balance

God went missing from Heaven, for six days. Eventually, on the seventh day, Michael the Archangel found him, resting.

He inquired, "Where have you been?"

God smiled deeply, and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds. "Look, Michael! Look what I've made."

Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, "What is it?"

"It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put life on it. I'm going to call it 'Earth' and it's going to be a place to test 'Balance'."

"Balance?" inquired Michael, "I'm still confused."

God explained, pointing to different parts of earth. "For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor. Over here I've placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people... Balance in all things."

God continued pointing to different countries. "This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."

The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land area and said, "What's that one?"

"That's Washington State, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful mountains, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, and plains The people from Washington State are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, carriers of peace, and producers of software."

Michael gazed in wonder and admiration, but then asked, "But what about Balance, Lord? You said there would be Balance."

God smiled and said, "Oh, there's also another Washington. Wait till you see what happens there!"

Who Decides?

A news story is being reported of a 13 year old young man that is being required to have medical treatment by the court in New Ulm, Minnesota. It seems that the boy has cancer, and doctors say the without treatment he has a very slim chance of survival, but with chemotherapy, he has a 90% chance. So why didn't his parents want him to have the recommended procedure? Their beliefs were against it.

I personally have seen the result of failure to have medical treatment when it is available. In my past youth, I worked at the Coors bottle wash facility in Golden Colorado, and an accident ended up taking a life that could have been spared with a blood transfusion I understand. The injured fellow refused due to his religious beliefs. I always thought to myself that it was a shame that loss of blood killed the guy if a transfusion would have spared him, but it was HIS choice.

If you have ever had a medical procedure, you know how many forms you must sign to get the work done. It seems that doctors and hospitals don't want to accept any blame for treatment errors or mistakes so to get treatment, you just about have to sign all your rights away to sue if they mess up. Of course gross negligence isn't included in the release forms, so most folks just go ahead and hope for the best from the "experts" they are trusting their lives to.

In the Minnesota case, what right does the government have to make medical decisions for the family? The 13 year old young man has seen with his own eyes that his parents decision was wrong in the eyes of the court about what he might just consider the most important issue in his life... HIS life. Will this young man lose respect for his parents because of a court order?

What about all those release forms for medical treatment? Will the parents have to sign them, or will the court take that responsibility too? I'm betting that the court will do no such thing! What if the parents can't afford the medical bills... will the courts pick up the tab? I'm again betting the answer is no. Perhaps the publicity of this event will force the hospital and doctors to not seek money in this case, but I think that unlikely as well. Doctors call their work a practice, and to fair, no two people are exactly alike so medicine is really just a best guess. Sure there is a lot of learning involved, but all too often things go wrong either with the treatment given or medicines prescribed. Just about everybody has heard from the medical profession itself that it's wise to get a second opinon so it seems obvious that mistakes are often made.

As a cancer survivor, I can tell you that the cure can be as bad as the disease for a lot of people. Some of us come through treatment with little damage for others to see, while some of us become horribly disfigured or otherwise permanently effected. Some people would rather be dead. Consider all the, in my opinion, needless cosmetic and enhancement surgery performed to look better and you can soon figure that the way you look is of primary importance to some. With court ordered medical treatment, an extreme example of this might be that a child that isn't attractive enough based on a court decision could be forced to have surgery to meet the "standard". Unlikely I admit.

To me, that Minnesota court is way out of line, and is an example of the courts making policy and not following the law. So I'm not a lawyer and this is just my opinion, but to force a family to do something against their beliefs should be cause for concern for every American. This family is not allowed to chose the medical treatment plan they felt best for their family, so how long before the government steps in and takes over more family decisions.

Who decides child medical decisions? It seems that at least in Minnesota, the court will decide for you. I wonder what a Nebraska judge would do?

Uninvited

My mother has a story of uninvited guests that visited her family when she was a girl. The story goes that Sunday dinner was more often than not interrupted by specific uninvited visitors showing up just in time for the customary fried chicken. Now as I recall the story, my grandmother was a good sport about this for quite a while and the people were always asked to stay for dinner instead of being rushed out the door.

Now I really don't know how long this went on, but I guess grandma got tired of the uninvited guests showing up on such a regular basis that she devised a plan. After dinner, but before the "guests" left as was their custom after eating, grandma put the dirty dishes on the porch for the dog to lick clean. Still before the guests could leave, the plates were neatly stacked and placed back in the cupboard. It is my understanding that the guests stopped showing up for dinner uninvited ever after.

What brings this story to mind is that over the weekend, one of our neighbors from church "invited" us to stop by and meet a family relative at another of their relatives house nearby. Now while it is true that we're neighbors of the people who own the place we were (un)invited to, we were not invited by those folks to come visit, so I felt pretty strange just dropping by a family get together of someones family being invited by a somebody that doesn't live in the place we were being invited to.

Margie and I hemmed and hawed about going at all, and finally decided that we would call first so we just didn't appear at the door for no apparent reason, and make sure it was OK to stop by. Well, there was a reason really for us to drop by, you see one of the guests at the house had previously stated that they wanted to meet the folks that live on the hill near where they had grown up and had even participated in a barn dance there when she was young (me and Margie).

To make the story a lot shorter, I'll just say that we were welcomed and had a great visit with Carolyn and Don from Kansas and the rest of their assembled family. We had been invited there for dinner before and told to stop by anytime, and we were told again to stop by anytime! Though I always get caught off guard with a statement like that as city folk never make that statement, I hope those folks know they have the same drop by anytime invite at our place. Life is a lot different around here!

Now to be sure, the folks owning the place we visited have been very friendly to us since we moved in, but I will always remember my mom's story of the dog and uninvited guests, and just dropping by someones house probably won't happen often, especially at dinner time.

Aerial Assault

If you watched the movie Independence Day, you know one of the hero's of the science fiction movie was Russel Case. Old Russ was a Viet Nam fighter pilot, became a crop duster with an alcohol problem, and gave his all getting his payback... you see, Russ was abducted by aliens. But I digress.

What brings Russ to mind however is the aerial assault going on around our place. We had fun watching a crop dusting plane make his passes over the foot and a half tall wheat. With the tree wind breaks and power lines in the area, the pilot sure has to keep a lot in mind.

Just delivering the chemicals over these large fields takes many passes. How the pilot keeps track of his position to get uniform delivery of his payload is a mystery to me. I suppose I should have researched crop dusting more, and I suspect GPS technology is used. All I can say for sure is a lot of skill has to be involved.

What about the hazards of low level flight? The pilot we watch around here is really low and abrupt altitude changes up and down over the trees made me cringe to think how the pilot must be slammed into his seat.

A quick check of government statistics shows that pilots are in the top 10 most dangerous jobs. I didn't find out how crop dusters rank in that scheme of things, but to be sure, they have a dangerous job!

I learned from my farming neighbor that the assault is against fungus, and the price to beat it is plenty high. It never ceases to amaze me how much expense can be involved in modern high tech farming.

The Waiting Line

A few years ago, John Travolta starred in a movie called "Michael". Michael it turned out was one of God's archangels, and the movie featured several memorable lines with one of my favorites being "I invented standing in line".

We've all seen people standing in lines on the news now and then, and have likely spent some time waiting in a line for whatever ourselves. The last presidential election showed pictures of hundreds of people waiting to cast their votes, new movies can have lines several blocks long, and even stores can have a line of folks waiting to get in for sales and the like.

On a recent road trip, we happened to have the opportunity to visit a membership warehouse store that opens earlier for certain members. It turns out that folks that opted for the business membership get the the opportunity to shop an hour earlier than the general members. The unfortunate part of this story is that the business members probably outnumber the general members.

We were with a business member when we arrived at the store about 5 minutes ahead of the scheduled opening time. There were about 10 or 15 people in line when we arrived, and since I hate standing in line, we waited until we noted the line moving after the doors were unlocked to exit the car and head for the store entrance.

YIKES! I am apparently not the only person that doesn't like Michael's standing in line invention. As we heading for the door, so did about 300 or so other folks intent on getting in early and avoiding the rush... yeah right! I've seen more organization and less pushing and shoving at a cattle pen that at the door to the membership warehouse, and as you well know by now, I'm no cow expert!

If there had been some super sale on an item perhaps the waiting line's aggressive behavior could be understood, but there was no big sale. It was just a bunch of city folk in a hurry to get their shopping done and cutting in line to get in faster was a common complaint as I heard several folks say... "I was here first".

City dwellers I come in contact with seem to have a very different set of priorities than me. Pushing and shoving to get into a store is pretty low on my list of things needing to get done expeditiously, but I have to admit that it's nice to have a set of rules to get the job done... even if the general population doesn't follow the rules now and then.

I guess standing in line is kinda like speed limits... following the rule seems to be only a suggestion unless someone is there to enforce the rule. It seems that common courtesy and general safety are not as important as we like to think when we speed down the highway or force our way in a line. Rules are made to be broken is a common phrase I've heard over the years, so go ahead and break the rules all you want... payback will not be required unless someone catches you and you painfully discover that breaking rules occasionally has consequences... at least in this lifetime.

Mailboxes

Next time you take a drive in the country, I hope you notice the wide range of mailboxes folks have put up to accept the stuff the US Postal Service gets paid to deliver on a nearly daily basis. I've seen some very creative mailbox supports with tractor and barn mailboxes as well as hand pump and cream separator posts. Some folks have built nice masonry surrounds with flowers, and some are little more than the familiar box on a post design. Since we moved here a little over a year ago, neither rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night has kept our US Mail carriers from making their appointed rounds, and sometimes I wonder how they do it.

From what I can tell, the mail carriers use ESP around here. You know that Extra Sensory Perception thing when somebody just "knows". I've had occasion lately to notice that the majority of rural mailboxes don't have an address on them, and almost as often is no name either. The mail carriers that get the mail to the right place that don't have any id on their mailbox must have plenty of ESP.

It got me wondering how emergency response workers and delivery drivers would find some of these places. There are plenty of county roads out there that are not marked so you just have to know where you are. Delivery drivers from UPS and FedEx must really wonder if they are at the right place now and then. Maybe not everybody looking for these places knows these folks, and if there is nothing to identify their place as the address they are searching for, seems like it could be a problem once in a while.

From my perspective, it would make sense for everybody to put their address on their rural mailbox. It would help a lost person such as myself stay found, and maybe help somebody important like emergency responders find their target faster.

2 Million

With all the news about economic "stimulus", bailouts and such, numbers in the millions seem insignificant when billions and trillions are thrown around so commonly. But a couple of million can be a pretty significant amount too, especially when you put it together with acreage.

President Obama signed into law the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 which created or expanded 2 million acres of wilderness area. Since I have a hard time with such large numbers, here is what I came up with about the size of 2 million acres that makes sense to me...

Dundy County - 921 square miles
Hitchcock County - 719 square miles
Red Willow County - 718 square miles
Furnas County - 721 square miles
_______________________
Total 3079 square miles

Using the conversion calculator located at http://www.metric-conversions.org/area/square-miles-to-acres.htm , there are 1,970,560 acres in 3079 square miles which is close enough to 2 million to me for a reference as to how big that number is.

Now in the last few weeks, I've driven around a significant amount of Red Willow and Furnas counties, and I can tell you there sure seems to be a lot of land in our southwest Nebraska counties.

So is adding all that acreage to wilderness a good idea? Guaranteed there are a lot of folks that would say yes, but count me out of that group. I've spend hundreds of hours marking wilderness areas for the BLM in California as a volunteer. The original wilderness act stated that wilderness would be created from areas "untrammeled by man", but at least some some designated wilderness doesn't meet that criteria in my book. In Colorado, one new wilderness area had to deal with a privately owned irrigation canal... doesn't sound "untrammeled" to me.

Wilderness designation takes away use of mechanized transportation to include bicycles and wheelchairs. If you can't walk or ride a horse, you are not welcome. No resource exploration is allowed. The USDA Forest Service likes to say on their boundry signs "Land Of Many Uses", but I've seen bumper stickers that say "Wilderness, Land Of No Uses" too.

I have a problem with more wilderness... the government now seems fit to declare anything they choose to be wilderness without regard to previous use. Having "wilderness qualities" now seems to be the criteria for designation. It was my belief that the original wilderness act found the truly wild places in the USA, guess we can just make things up as we go along now.

The Wire

They seem to have popped up just about everywhere around the countryside, especially if livestock is involved...specifically cattle. I dunno if livestock other than cattle such as horses, llamas, sheep, goats, swine and whatever else farmers may have a need to keep contained stay away from that single strand wire fence that has cropped up everywhere, but somehow I doubt it.

That single strand of non barbed wire certainly looks like it would be pretty easy to install. It appears that farmers need only stick a rather short metal rod in the ground with what I've observed to be either red or yellow plastic mounting hardware for the fencing wire, run a spool of wire out along the line of the plastic equipped rods placed around the confinement area, and finish putting up the single wire fence by placing the wire in the plastic mounting brackets on the rods and pulling the wire tight so it doesn't touch the ground.

I've seen that this type of fence will keep even the largest cattle I've seen in these parts within it's confinement area with only the following exception. One of my farming neighbors has one of these fences that crosses a bit of a dip in the topography, and a very small calf was observed going under the fence at that point. Other than that, that wire does it's stuff!

Farms that I have passed with any other type of livestock don't use the single wire fence, so I could figure that all other livestock either are not as smart as cows !that understand that the single wire fence means don't go over there, or they don't see as well as cows and need more fence since they don't see the single wire fence.

OK... enough already!

I know it's electrified... I'm not a totally ignorant city slicker. Heck, my grandpa told me when I was a kid visiting the country that you could tell if an electric fence was "hot" by picking a green blade of grass and laying it on the fence. If the blade of grass folded over, the wire was hot. I never tried his idea.

However, what brings this whole thing up is every time I drive down US Highway 6&34 between Cambridge and Bartley, there is a field that has some really big cows, and nothing but that single strand of wire to keep them off the highway... Makes me keep thinking that the normal 3 strand barbed wire used to keep cattle confined that I'm more used to seeing throughout the west sure looks a lot more secure. I guess from my previous logic, maybe Nebraska cows are just smarter.

He's Back...Ug!

Longtime readers know about my bouts with Murphy's Law. You know Murphy's Law... what can go wrong will go wrong. I've felt before that old Murphy has taken up residence around the farm, but things have been pretty quiet so I thought maybe Murphy had moved on. Well, maybe Murphy left for a while, but he's back this week with some real "fun".

It all started Wednesday when the Jeep left me stranded in Frontier county about 10 miles from Stockdale. I stopped to map a location for the 2010 census and when I went to leave, the darned Jeep wouldn't start. Nothing, Nada. Well, not exactly true since the lights all seemed to work properly. Nobody was home where I was stalled, and I started some basic trouble shooting, but things were looking like a little more than I was prepared for where I was at. Fortunately, the farmer came home and rescued me by giving Blackie a quick tug and I was on my home to Cambridge.

Once at home with proper test equipment, it was a quick determination that I needed a new starter relay. Only problem the parts place is closed. No problem as I'll just use the car that Margie is using for her Census work first thing in the morning to go and get the needed parts.

Into town next morning and pick up new relay, but when leaving town, car starts sounding like a rear axle bearing is going out... perfect timing I'm thinking as I pull into the farm. I put the new relay in Jeep and Blackie fires right up. Now to deal with the car.

Since this is still a new car, we call Ford roadside assistance and they send out a tow truck and away the car goes to McCook. It took dealer a matter of minutes to determine that problem was a rock in the brakes and have a nice day.

OK... so two problems down but just as I was heading out the door for a day of fun mapping rural Nebraska for the upcoming census this morning, Margie says "where is that water coming from?". The floor in front of the kitchen sink was wet where it had not been before. A quick look under the sink found that a leak had developed in the old kitchen faucet connection and to make things easier, a new faucet was procured, installed, and verified leak free.

The wind we've had lately loosened up some of the metal roofing on our barn, with the result of it whipping back and forth. Fortunately yesterday the wind let up and I got up there and put some screws in to hold the tin in place. Just seems like a lot of little things going wrong all at the same time. Bad luck? Murphy's Law? I'm thinking Murphy myself.

The Sprayer

When I was a kid, my dad had one of those old metal can type pump sprayers. He would mix up a batch of smelly stuff in the can, put the pump lid on with a twist to lock it in place, and pump the handle a few times to build up pressure to spray the mixed up smelly stuff on whatever the target of the day was. Sometimes it was the fruit trees we had in the back yard, other times mom's flowers or vegetables in the yard or garden, but dad always had bottles of stuff he used to improve his yard, garden, and fruit trees.

When I got my first house, I wanted to spray for bugs and such outdoors so I went out and bought a pump sprayer of my own. I might as well have thrown the money out the window and saved the trip for the good I got out of it. It worked fine the first 2 minutes out of the box, but the plastic tanked sprayer sprung a leak the very next time I tried to pump up the pressure, so back to the store it went. My replacement idea was one of those hose end sprayer attachments that you put the chemicals in the plastic jug, set the sprayer on the desired amount of mixture, and hook a hose to the works and spray away. I use this type of sprayer a lot, but I quickly discovered that it takes a lot of hose to get around 5 acres... and I don't have that much hose anyway.

Now farmers have got this spraying stuff down to an art form. The sprayers they use around my place resemble a bird in some respects as the long folding boom spray arms resemble birds wings, and the extremely high clearance machines move across fields so fast that they resemble a huge slow flying bird to me. The summer follow in front of our place was attacked by one of these mechanized sprayer birds yesterday, and it didn't seem to take more than a half hour or so to cover the field. I mean this thing moves!

To add to it's appeal to me, it's got unreal ground clearance, and it's much quieter than I expected. I don't know what they use for a power plant, but I expected pumps for spray and the engine noise would be much louder than they were. One of these years, I'll get a chance to see one of these machines up close and learn about what their real capabilities are, but when I compare them to dad's old hand pump, they still do pretty the same thing only on a much larger scale.

Farming and gardening would sure be a lot different today if it were not for chemists and mechanical engineers. Between the chemicals we use to enhance our organic output/harvest and the machines and devices invented to distribute the products that control bugs or fertilize, advanced technology makes life much easier.

Now all I need to do is find the perfect sprayer to go after some of the bugs and weeds I'm trying to keep under control around the farm(stead). Maybe one of those ATV sprayer attachments modified to fit the Jeep would work...