Bills…. Grocery and Taxes

 

Next few months going to be interesting.  Politicians will be spewing deep do do all over and spending money galore.  to  tell us how to spend out money they are spending more money…. For what?

Then there are other things going on the politicians have no control over, the weather.

The drought is going to have a major impact on our lives and the politicos' will think they have the power to change things.  Weather is driven by hot air that is not from our nations capitol.

Living in farm and ranch country the weather is very important as is the markets.  Both are closely watched and the most complaints are about the weather then the politicos' garbage.

Lots of the corn crop around here  is withering and drying up into nothing.  Moisture in the ground for winter wheat crops is minuscule.  this problem stretches across the land, right through the heart of the grain belt.

There are pockets that have moisture and there is irrigation water. These two factors are going to make some farmers very rich.  It will also take a bigger chunk out of our paychecks.

 

The price if corn is headed out of the roof and wheat is following and that will pressure other crop prices to climb.  Domestic prices may climb enough to slow down exports.  Then it becomes a world wide problem.

Grocery prices have climbed steadily these past 4-5 years and are now about double over those years.  Things will push the prices into the stratosphere.  One will have to take out a loan just to buy food.

One interesting thing I read was about the requirement of ethanol.  That is being lifted and or allowed to float.  The mandate of ethanol for fuel is being floated.  I find that interesting.  Maybe the bureaucrats have felt the grocery bill in their pocket. 

Now one of the other things we are facing is tax hikes.  A choice… pay more taxes or buy food?  Will it get to that point?  Lots of discretionary spending will change.  Those out of work will even have it rougher.

Some of these problems come from politicians meddling in social lifestyles, social engineering.  Laws that dictate a certain behavior are a type of engineering, quite often is under the guise of safety or health.  They have become known as mandates.  What do they really do….. they take one’s freedoms of choice away.

As more and more laws are passed, more and more freedoms are lost.

This farmer will soon have enough money to buy some new tractors to add to his collection.  Farming is no longer a tough life.  It has become very lucrative, plus the government sends them a nice check occasionally.  Farmers have been getting a type of welfare for decades called farm subsidy and price supports.

I run into farmers here and there that would like to discontinue lots of the government programs for farmers.  They feel they could make more money in an open market. 

Ranchers have no government support programs unless they raise a crop of some kind, like hay or feed grain.   They roll along and make a good living ranching and the meat market varies very little.  Now that will change for most beef goes to feed lots before they go to the slaughter house. 

Cattle feed prices are going up also as the grain prices go up.  The drought has also pushed the hay market up in the areas where pastures have dried up.

It is a very complex situation but also simple….. prices are going up. 

 

Have a good weekend.

Calvary outpost….. Ft Wallace

 

Took a short trip to check out an old steam engine and chase it.  Along the way there were other things to look at and take pictures.

One of the places I wanted to go to was Wallace, Kansas.  Here are the remains of an old military building.  It had been a museum at one time but Kansas changed their tax policies for places such as this.  Losing their money the locals closed it up and today it sits vacant.

 

It is given some care but for the most part it appears to sit neglected.  There are stress cracks here and there that probably will become worse over time.  Being made of rock it will wear pretty good.  I just hope Kansas will give some funding to it to keep it from falling apart.  Then it is not alone, I have run into other places that have closed up when the state pulled the funding.

I hate to see the funding pulled yet the local county is not all that poor and something more could be done with it.

Yet it is so typical, rely o n big brother, in this case the state, and all of a sudden big brother closes the pocket book.  People throw their hands up and …………

Ft Wallace came into being in the 1860’s to protect the Smoky Hill Trail and the railroad.  In 1868 the railroad stopped building and Ft Wallace became the railhead for a couple of years.  It was a wild and rowdy town.  Railroad workers hanging around, not much to do, gold seekers passing through and the outlaws plundering anything and everything.  Late 1869 the railroad started building west again and Wallace shrunk.  A few years later, most of the Indian problems were over and the Calvary had not much to do. 

On off went the Army to other jobs and the building was left behind.  The town of Wallace prospered until the depression and then dust bowl.  Today it has a few residents and lots of ghosts.  The building was fed and well cared for but today it is abandoned.

In back the horses await the return of the cavalry to go riding on the prairie looking for Indians and bad men.

Things like this I have no problem supporting with tax money but at what level.  So much tax money is spent on special interests and things like this get lost.  There also needs to be some local help and not reliance on big brother because look what happens when big brother changes his mind.  Maybe there is a lesson in there someplace but do we learn?

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Other Notes

My pelvis is pretty well healed up and the tailbone is doing pretty good.  I am still battling the hematoma, but at least I can sit for a spell now.  I am looking at blogging some more and getting around to others also.  Got a bunch more stories from this short trip.  Some neat train pictures and buildings in the small towns.

Have a good week.

Bits Here and There

 

Nature is my neighbor, sometimes not enjoyable when it is mice and spiders.  Then when Mr 10 point shows up.

He spent the afternoon there, relaxing in the shade under the semi trailer.  Later that afternoon I saw why he was lounging there.  As he grazed, he hobbled.  He had injured a leg and was not up to speed.  That evening some of hos does showed up for the evening meal.

Better then any television show.

A few days later on the way to the clinic I spotted this guy in the bar ditch.  When I went past, it just watched me.  Making a U turn and going back slowly it did not like.  To wing it took and landed in the pasture to watch me.  Make another U turn and as I’m leaving it flies back to the ditch to finish its meal.

One of many reasons why I like to avoid driving on the main highways.

We finally got some nice showers in the area.  The brown pasture above should show some green spots shortly.  Lots of lightening rolls in with the storms.  As long as there is no damage, lightening is spectacular to watch.

I hope other dry spots in the country get moisture.  We are right on the edge of the dust bowl and dry land makes the old timers nervous.

Drought makes for some spectacular Dust Devils.  This one was close to 300 feet in the air, about 10 miles away.  Hoping this area got some showers also.  Knock the dusty devils down.

Nature has its own rhythm, it’s just that sometimes we don’t want to dance to the tune.

The Life of the Wild

 

Deer are plentiful in the evening and fun to look at  as they browse on the grasses.  They also a desired by predators and they make an evening meal for numerous critters.  They also become road kill when they get close to the highways and try to cross.

They are a curious animal, standing there staring at the two legged creature snapping pictures.  They are also mesmerized by headlights at night and blinded.   A combination that is very deadly.  There is a stretch of highway west of here that I see a dead one along side the road almost weekly.  The herd lives on though, it is but part of the process.

 

Quietly they munch away on their evening meal. glancing back at the stranger.  Life and death wages on in the wild.  Where it comes from, when will it happen….. is but s moment of fear that flies into adversity.

Being atop of the food chain it is a fear I know not.  My cognitive reasoning carries me through dangerous moments.  A separation that carries very little understanding.

 

May God be your companion this week.

Flying South…. Nope Not Me

 

This time of year the V’s have been floating over head.  A lots of them have been landing here.  No longer do they go to the warmer climes of the south.  Today there are numerous man made lakes for the birds to splash in.  Nearby are fields loaded with seeds.  It is heaven for birds.  The climate is not that harsh here through the winter.  Daytimes highs occasionally reach into the 70’s during the winter mostly it is the 50’s n 60’s.

So the migrating birds have found it is a nice place to hang out for the winter.  The golf courses make nice places to hang out and the farmers leave behind seeds that were not there a 100 years ago and there are those who feed the birds. 

The journey south is much shorter now.

Seldom do the ponds freeze solid so the birds have a refuge from the two legged critters.  There is plenty of down to insulate them.

In the morning feeding time thousands upon thousands can be seen flocking to the sun flower fields and nearby corn fields.  It is an amazing sight to see millions of birds in V’s up in the air circling fields.

Massive farming has changed the way lots of wildlife lives today.  There is probably more wildlife today then there was over 100 years ago.  There is an abundance of food and shelter that the farmer and rancher have provided.  Don’t tell the greenies that though.  They think the farmers and ranchers are pretty stupid and can’t take care of wildlife.

I put the little bird feeder out for the little birds but to see the millions of massed birds is incredible.  Man influences the environment but to what extent.  Do I really want to foul the land I live in.

Hope your week is going well and that may the bird of paradise be your companion.

Lizard Toads

 

There little lizards referred to as horny toads.  They are a few inches long and an inch or two wide.  They puff up to look bigger then they are and can be very intimidating to other small critters.  They have horns/spikes and give the appearance of a small tank scurrying over the ground.  Used to catch them when I was younger and keep them in a small box for a few days as a pet.  I would catch bugs and put in for it to eat and had a jar lid for water.

 

It went running across in front of me.  I had almost stepped on it.  If it hadn’t been for that I would of not seen it.  Soon it will be to cold for it and into hibernation it will go.

Had a mixed mongrel that would walking with me.  She found one of these things and was just having a blast playing with it.  She would pick it up in her mouth and carry it.  The toad would wiggle and she would spit it out.  Go back and pick it up again, the toad would wiggle and out it would go.  I finally caught up with and got the toad and took over to a rocky ledge and let it go and scolded the dog to let it be.  It was a sad droopy eyed look I got from the dog.  Any way we went our way and the toad had a story for its grand children…. Hah

A short distance on, I came across a smaller one.  It to went scurrying across my path.  They blend in real well with their surroundings.

They like to eat ants, next year I may try to capture one and turn it loose on the local ant hill.

Old Threshers Day…… VI

 

One of the old days is the old time entertainment.  The singing, with maybe an instrument, something small, a fiddle, harmonica or a dulcimer maybe.  Guitars and pianos were just plain ole big to lug over the prairie in a covered wagon, although a few made it.  There was always the washboard and maybe some spoons.  Otherwise music was pretty simple. 

There were some singers that sang during the lunch hour.  Some good picking and twanging to go with the barbecue.  There were a couple of large canopies with picnic tables under them and a PA system was set for the entertainment.   They had their guitars and a good nasal twang, good ole down home singin’.

Later s fiddler showed up and the hoe down was under way.

Collections, never have I seen so many collectible collections.

And there were also quilts.  What is an old time day without a quilt or two.

Jump in the Ox wagon and go for a ride around the grounds.