Wow.
Everything I posted last December has proven even more true.
Sorry, kidz, I've been busy. There's work, and then there's the farm, and if you think that isn't work, guess again. The drought this year decimated many of my neighbors' ranches and hay fields - bare hard dirt that blew in the wind, then fires that swept thru and ate huge acreages.
But not mine. Nope, my little cows were quite happy and had enough to eat, a small herd of small cows, vigorously producing. Ranchers here have to 'preg-check' their cows to make sure that their overbred bulls and cows are reproducing - we don't. Our bull loves his job so much that he wants to service everyone else's cows, too. Yet yesterday I went to the fence, and he came up and licked me with his big black tongue, nuzzled me with his big furry head, and demanded his alfalfa cubes and 'scritches'. We traded two bred cows for hay - last year's and this year's - and at the end of the month, the next steer goes to the butcher... beef for another year. But it's OK - we have two more steers and a cow coming up, and the two older cows are pregnant again.
The potato farm south of us gathered in the harvest last month, and I got a truckbed full of free "leftover"potatoes; all I had to do was go pick 'em. I was a "cannin' fool" for a few days, and the rest are happily ensconced on a huge shelf in the cool basement, covered up with newspaper. I harvested and canned corn and green beans, too, and canned some nice pumpkin. There's a giant turkey in the freezer, cleaned and ready to go - when Tammy comes for an early Thanksgiving next week, we shall have such a party!
My nephew came to live with us last week, bringing along his 5 year old daughter and 4 year old son. Coming from uneducated SC - and Mike's miserably illiterate and drama-queen family - they were filthy and poor, and the children were whiners and criers, acting out the drama with which they were raised. I stopped that crap posthaste. Now those kids "cowboy UP!" and are learning to read and speak properly, as well as bathe and have a little respect for themselves. Damned straight. That's what I do and who I am. Two of our three kids - and our nephew, whom we raised in his teen years after his mother tossed him out - did well under it, and learned from it. One of our own children did not - where he still gets the idea that we and the world owe him a living, I have no idea. He's a selfish jerk, and I have no time for him and his endless self-pity as an adult. He'll merely grow older, never grow up, and will blame everyone but himself his whole life. I have no time for that crap. Man up or shut the fuck up.
But that's kinda the way the world is going. Like I predicted last December, nothing changed, the pawns just rearranged. Stupid people proved themselves again this week during the elections - voting for whatever sneering, smarmy, useless bastard promised them everything that they deserved - from other peoples' paychecks. Blame the rich! Blame the poor! Blame the Illuminati! Blame Soros! Blame the Democrats! Blame the Republicans! It's Bush's fault!
Nope, it's yours. There's a blizzard coming in two days, and I have stacks of wood piled high for the woodstove, a warm and tight and toasty house, food in the basement, live and reproducing food in the pasture, barns, and coop, and a busy productive life. It sucks to be you if you don't, if you'll be waiting like the people of New Jersey and New York for someone to come save you, and I have no sympathy for you. Want some cheese to go with that whine? Tough shit. Like the little red hen, I grew it, I made it, I harvested it, I butchered it, and I'll eat it my own damned self.
Everything I posted last December has proven even more true.
Sorry, kidz, I've been busy. There's work, and then there's the farm, and if you think that isn't work, guess again. The drought this year decimated many of my neighbors' ranches and hay fields - bare hard dirt that blew in the wind, then fires that swept thru and ate huge acreages.
But not mine. Nope, my little cows were quite happy and had enough to eat, a small herd of small cows, vigorously producing. Ranchers here have to 'preg-check' their cows to make sure that their overbred bulls and cows are reproducing - we don't. Our bull loves his job so much that he wants to service everyone else's cows, too. Yet yesterday I went to the fence, and he came up and licked me with his big black tongue, nuzzled me with his big furry head, and demanded his alfalfa cubes and 'scritches'. We traded two bred cows for hay - last year's and this year's - and at the end of the month, the next steer goes to the butcher... beef for another year. But it's OK - we have two more steers and a cow coming up, and the two older cows are pregnant again.
The potato farm south of us gathered in the harvest last month, and I got a truckbed full of free "leftover"potatoes; all I had to do was go pick 'em. I was a "cannin' fool" for a few days, and the rest are happily ensconced on a huge shelf in the cool basement, covered up with newspaper. I harvested and canned corn and green beans, too, and canned some nice pumpkin. There's a giant turkey in the freezer, cleaned and ready to go - when Tammy comes for an early Thanksgiving next week, we shall have such a party!
My nephew came to live with us last week, bringing along his 5 year old daughter and 4 year old son. Coming from uneducated SC - and Mike's miserably illiterate and drama-queen family - they were filthy and poor, and the children were whiners and criers, acting out the drama with which they were raised. I stopped that crap posthaste. Now those kids "cowboy UP!" and are learning to read and speak properly, as well as bathe and have a little respect for themselves. Damned straight. That's what I do and who I am. Two of our three kids - and our nephew, whom we raised in his teen years after his mother tossed him out - did well under it, and learned from it. One of our own children did not - where he still gets the idea that we and the world owe him a living, I have no idea. He's a selfish jerk, and I have no time for him and his endless self-pity as an adult. He'll merely grow older, never grow up, and will blame everyone but himself his whole life. I have no time for that crap. Man up or shut the fuck up.
But that's kinda the way the world is going. Like I predicted last December, nothing changed, the pawns just rearranged. Stupid people proved themselves again this week during the elections - voting for whatever sneering, smarmy, useless bastard promised them everything that they deserved - from other peoples' paychecks. Blame the rich! Blame the poor! Blame the Illuminati! Blame Soros! Blame the Democrats! Blame the Republicans! It's Bush's fault!
Nope, it's yours. There's a blizzard coming in two days, and I have stacks of wood piled high for the woodstove, a warm and tight and toasty house, food in the basement, live and reproducing food in the pasture, barns, and coop, and a busy productive life. It sucks to be you if you don't, if you'll be waiting like the people of New Jersey and New York for someone to come save you, and I have no sympathy for you. Want some cheese to go with that whine? Tough shit. Like the little red hen, I grew it, I made it, I harvested it, I butchered it, and I'll eat it my own damned self.
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