Absence

 

Went to the big city for a couple of days.  Helter skelter life of the city reminds me why I like living in the boonies.  The noise, dirt, trash and other assorted junk floating about.  I look at my self and say, “This is where you used to live.”  My answer is…. ***************, deleted.  Guess I need to do better with self conversations so I won’t expletive deleted blank spots.

It was nice though.  A model train show, meet some new people, see some old ones and become reacquainted.  Check out some of the new gadgets on the market and pass lots of hot air.  Then that’s why I like going, the conversations and camaraderie.

Then when I get back home it takes some time going through the e-mail and blog readers.  Catching up on another facet of life, the people of cyber space.  There is a connection in cyber space that I never imagined.  So many share their lives, the ups…. the downs, struggles and joys.  The everyday life they lead.

One part that caught me off guard was the passing of some of the people I have met on here.  There was a tug of the heart, a sadness and a want of some way to reach out to the families that posted the notes of their loss.

There was one such notice posted when I got back on the net.  It had been an ongoing struggle.  I could sense the pain they were going through.  Then the post of life passing on.

There were a couple of ladies who had written about the travail they had been going through with their husbands.  Both became widows this past month. 

As I read these short posts a tear would trickle down the corner of the eye, a sense of loss was there.  Friends had changed, a void had opened up.

It is part of life though and time goes on.  I make some adjustments but the skin doesn’t get any tougher.

 

 

Hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving and now time for Christmas.  Watched the plate and did not overload it.  Want to keep the slim trim boyish figure of years past.  Watched some of the shopping craziness on the TV news.  Kind of scary that material possessions are so important that their fellow man gets trampled on.  One more reason why I avoid those kind of deals.

Take down the fall decorations later today and then next week start getting ready for Christmas.

Have a good week and a great day.

Happy Thanksgiving

 

This being the week of Thanks I will not post any more until after Thanksgiving.  No I do not go shopping that day.

I hope everybody has a great week and that their celebration be festive.

The little town I live in used to have turkey farms galore, it was a major business until the mass growers undercut them.

 

The low building in the background was the processing house for the turkeys, next door to the grain elevator.  It was torn down a year ago, after sitting empty for many years.

 

Guess the turkeys now feel safe as they roam the village.  This hen collection was cackling up a storm in a neighbors yard beneath the trees.

This time of year through spring they wander the yards seeking out food and I would guess a few end up on a table.

 

May God Bless you and yours this holiday.

Thanksgiving Musings

 

I am one of those people that does not get into the feel of Christmas until after turkey day.  Then I want at least a week break before I begin Christmas.  For me it the beginning of giving thanks for all my blessings from God and culminates with the Ultimate blessing, celebration of Christ’s birth.

For me it is truly a season of thanks, for I have been blessed with a nice home, good food, nice clothes, good friends and nice surroundings.  God truly supplies all my needs and I have a few left overs for some self indulgence/entertainment.

 

I found the neatest little shop in a neighboring town and I got permission to take some pictures in the store.  I would like to share some thanksgiving decorations that were in the store.

Some are very simple but create a very festive air.

 

 

 

The store was loaded with all kinds of little items to decorate with.

 

As the seasons change I change my decorations but I will not put up Christmas before Thanksgiving is over.

Now to go find me a turkey, heard one gobbling down main street last week…. gotta go check it out.  The turkeys have been sparse around here this year.

IS IT????

Social Security an Entitlement?

I have seen posted in more than one story referring to Social Security as being an entitlement program. Not sure how it got that label for Social Security is not a tax. It is a deduction from one’s pay, plus the employer has funds added to the deduction. These funds are then sent to the government to be held in trust for when one retires.

When the program was started there was only one’s savings for old age pension. There were no retirement programs. When the depression hit lots of people were left without funds and had to rely on hand outs from the government. So the government started a program called Social Security. A contract was made between the people and the government. The government said if you send me some of your money, it will hold the money in trust until you reach a certain age and at that time I will return your money to you in monthly payments.

It was a good sounding program and the people accepted it and the Social Security Act was passed by congress. Most everybody pays into this fund, there are a few exceptions and contrary to popular belief, members of congress pay into Social Security.

Over the years congress has violated this contract. Laws have been passed to spend this money on other social welfare programs; IE, medicare, disability, among others. Congress has also borrowed from the fund. What started out as a noble idea has been corrupted congress over the years.

Now it is being referred to as an entitlement program, not hardly. That is my money, I sent it to the government and expected to get it back. Right now I feel I am looking down the barrel of a gun and behind it is a mugger.

If Social Security had stayed in its original context, a person could get a nice retirement check, about twice what it is now.

My question is: If you are paying into Social Security and or drawing, are you going to let congress get away with calling it an entitlement program and cutting your money out? Are you going to let the politicians put the shaft to ya?

I plan on sending this to the local representatives and Senators and probably others around the country. I am getting mad and madder at what congress is doing to me. I will not bend over and spread em.

I would love to find a blood sucking attorney that would be willing to fight the government on the malpractice of office or dereliction of office. It is my money and I feel they should live up to the contract they drew up.

Some thoughts for a journal

I enjoy going through the museums of small towns and poking around and talking with some the people volunteering there.  There are lots of things from pioneer days of homesteading on the plains.  It helps me to appreciate how easy my life is.  Yet when I pause I wonder what kind of life people will have in 50 years, hundred years or more.  Will the life of the Jetson’s become a reality.

There are a few who lament for the simpler times of the past.  Homes are decorated to give it an early day look.  Discussions on homemade breads and foods, how to preserve and can foods, preparing foods and in general trying to live like great granma n granpa lived over a century ago.  Granny n gramps had to work hard and put in long hours those days if they wanted food, clothing and shelter.  There was no plumbing back then or electricity, central heat was the wood stove and no air conditioning. 

So when I hear people talking about the good ole days I wonder what they are talking about.  A myth arises from dreaming and the mind creates an ideal dream to strive for but is it possible.  There are bloggers on here and other spots that post blogs about doing things the old way.  There was one that found the Foxfire books from the hippie days.  Some city slicker college kids went to Appalachia and interviewed some the hill people on how they lived off the land.  Many people gobbled up this idea.  Upon closer reading and some aging of self, the leg pulling starts becoming evident.  There are some helpful things but lots of it is fiction.

Yet people dream of this life.  To live off the land requires lots of work and it is very time consuming.  Day break to sunset was a typical day.  No union insisting on breaks or a wage scale.  If one wanted a garden they had to work it, have animals for food, chickens, cow, goats or sheep for wool.  Raise cotton to spin and weave clothes.  Make needles and thread for sewing clothes.  There were no big stores back then to go buy things in.  Like the nursery rhyme said; the butcher, baker and candlestick ,maker..

The big business of farming and ranching has created a convenience beyond measure that gives most a generous life of leisure.  One can into a store, buy clothes, ready made or material, food ready made or easy to prepare and look at all of the gadgets to do all the home style fixins. 

 

                

 

This is a bread box, here the loaves of bread were stored, along with the flour and other ingredients.  The counter is just a few inches deep and maybe two feet long.  Yet on here the bread, pies and pastries were prepared.  There were no large counters and cabinets to work from instead small side boards and the table.  No refrigerator, the sink was a small tub, water came from a cistern that was also a cool room for storing a few items.  The stove was wood fired, no gauges, a wet finger on the lid.

           Would I want to live like that, I don’t think so.  So when I hear people talking about living off the land I kind of chuckle.  I wander how many could make do without the modern conveniences of today.  Look at the machine I am using to put this together.  What a gadget.

      I have a garden but not to supply all my food.  It is nice to have fresh garden produce in the summer and I freeze some.  I also like squash and they keep in a cool spot.  Without the conveniences of today I would struggle to keep my self up fed.  I marvel at what my grandparents did and how they progressed but I do not want to live like that.  I wouldn’t have the foggiest notion on how to make material let alone sew a pair of britches.  If the world stopped producing electricity, I would be lost.

     Longing for the good ole days….. hah…. forget it….. simpler times…. that would be nice.

Anybody out there know how to butcher a steer?

Ya’ll Have a Good Weekend.

God bless you.

 

 

 

 

 

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Looking Back

A few months ago I was hoofing over the fields looking for nature’s first signs of spring.  On a barren wind swept knob I found this clump of flowers in bloom this past April.

Tenaciously the flowers hang on, the wind blows cold, snow is gone, earth is dry and cracking yet is harshness the spring flower blooms.  With a bit of warmth from Ole Sol, petals spring forth.  Not an abundance but just enough to sustain life.  There may be a lesson in that.

Today the blossoms of summer have faded.  Vibrant colors are gone, the leaves of fall covering the warmth of summer.  Dormant is this time of year.  The life moves to warmer climes or curls up for the howling winds of winter.  Seeds are scattered on the corners of the breeze.  Under the white mantel they will settle into the ground and nature’s scene of spring returns.

In all our technology  we struggle to imitate nature, tame it, direct it and or abuse it.  With all our might straining at the forces, nature’s cycles continue on.  So finite mankind becomes, mighty trucks, big guns, explosions on hillside, battles in trees, rocks tumbling and dust rolls over.  Man becomes a tiny blip in nature’s burp.

Tumbling Tumbleweeds

 

The rolling pain of the bottom side, weeds and in particular, tumble weeds.  Was visiting a blog that was talking about using available materials for decorating the home.  There  was a wide assortment of plants and various weeds.  No tumble weeds, so I made the comment; that it was nice decor but lacking, there was no tumble weed embellished in any of the nooks.  Not sure how the comment was received but I have seen some people get the nasty little weed fixed up and looking pretty good, even a few with christmas lights.

They collect on the fence rows and at times are so plentiful the fence is buried.  This is a larger one, about 3 feet across and couple feet high.  Big and bulky but light weight, the wind can gather them up and hurl them for miles if there is no obstructions.  Slightest spark sets it a blazing and soon the grasslands is charcoal.  A spot of barren ground and it grows to break free in the fall and follow the course of the wind, spreading its seed over the prairie.

 

They are stickery yet animals will eat them, not much nutrition.  Horses will tilt down over the fence and munch on them.  Other critters will store them up for winter or use for a nest.  A multipurpose worthless plant that invaded the US from Russia.

When the immigrants to the US came over they brought with them their means of livelihood.  Coming from the Volga area of Russia was the red hard winter wheat they brought with them.  Mixed in with the grains of wheat were the seeds of the Tumble weed, also known as the Russian thistle.  It has flourished in the heartland of the plains.  songs have been written about it, it has been cursed among other things.  There are probably seeds still mixed in with the grain today and ends up in the cereals and breads we heat.

I like the romance of the songs and the creativity of some to use them for decorations and if I can find a few I will have to capture a few megapixels of them.

The white specs in the picture are tumbleweeds and when the wind blows it will break them off and across the fields they will tumble, scattering to and fro, getting captured by snags or fences.  They pile into corners waiting for the wind to change direction and then blow off the neighbors over there.

Something to amuse self with….. maybe someday put it to verse.