Recession? What Recession?

First off I am no economist and don't really understand markets, commodities - how all the things are supposed to work. But I am hearing/reading that we are in or very near a recession once again. My limited vocabulary says that in a recession there is no growth. I believe that one - if it explains why I haven't had a raise of any decent amount in years. But I also thought that in a recession, prices remained stable or perhaps even dropped somewhat as interest went lower etc. I may have this all backwards.

But two major things jump out at me. 1) Gas prices. They are once again creeping down ever so slightly but this after a really big jump to almost $3/gal. late in 07. We are still only down to the low 2.70s now. 2) Feed.

I bought a ton (literally 2000 lbs.) of feed today for our sheep and 2 cows. In December I paid $4.75/50 lb. bag. Today for the same mix I paid $5.20. That's 45 cents or almost 10%! Holy cow! I tried to talk to the feed store people about commodity pricing and ethanol but I got in way over my head in a hurry so made a hasty and tactful retreat.

I guess I don't understand why if the powers-that-be want our economy to grow, why are prices going up? If they want to stimulate spending of the supposed tax rebate we may end up getting, shouldn't part of the goal be to keep prices at least flat?

And I am more confused than ever about ethanol. If indeed this is why my grain went up 10%, where did this extra go? If it went to a farmer who has been trying to make a living growing corn for his whole life, then you know what? I can handle that. But if it went to big corporate farms who are getting subsidized by the Govt. to grow corn, so they can in turn use up scarce groundwater to make a fuel that is only marginally cheaper but in the long run uses more resources and provide LESS mpg. than regular reduced octane unleaded already does - then I think that is patently unfair. I want my money back!

A politically savvy friend told me today that he thinks Romney is going to win because he is the one who can with some degree of confidence and believability, say to Americans, "I can get us out of this mess."

I don't know. I'm not a Romney fan but if he is the choice of the GOP against almost anybody from the other side, then ...

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

I guess with an Irish-wife - OK almost Irish - red-head, great-grandfather (I think) from County Cork - that should count for something - somehow I heard about this movie; The Wind That Shakes the Barley.

OK caution - if you are offended by the "f-word" whether in English or heavily accented English spoken by Irishmen or in subtitles - then maybe you don't want to watch this. I didn't even try to keep count but next to "lads" and "grand" as in "I am grand," this has to be the most widely used word in the Irish vocabulary in the early 20th century. The Brits liked it too.

The story is way too complicated to recount. Suffice it to say it helps understand a little about the history of Ireland and her struggle with Britain. Trust me - if you don't already hate all things British, you will after watching this movie.

The history is way-too-complex to understand but it made me want to re-read Trinity by Leon Uris and to find another set of books by a woman named Morgan Llywelyn. Their titles are the numbers of years - 1916, 1921, 1949 and 1972 - which I guess are particularly significant in Irish history. I'll find out.

I know people will try to draw parallels and used the terrorism used by the IRA and others to in some weird way justify (or elicit sympathy for) the actions of radical Islamic terrorists but I would quickly point out that while I don't really care for the war in Iraq, our goal is not to run that country, occupy it for any longer than we have to and with few egregious exceptions, we don't rape and pillage the countryside in the name of democracy.

As I understand it, Ireland wanted to be free from British rule (does this story sound familiar?) and some - and you could call them radicals - used tactics that we could call terrorism. I'm not condoning what they did when lives were lost and property was destroyed but I can at least understand the desperate situation they were in. And while I'm sure some of the British soldiers were stereotyped, if they were half as bad as they were made out to be, then I can also understand the reaction of the Irish to these "occupiers" who made life miserable for the locals.

I plan to read up again on this situation and while I know I can never completely understand the two sides here, I'd like to have a better handle on this one. Maybe after this I'll tackle the whole mess in then-Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Croatia and what are now the - countries I can't name or pronounce.

What friends (and neighbors) are for

We've been trying to sell a big ole grain bin - a tall red thing in which you can store almost 6,000 pounds of grain. Nothing wrong with it - just that my wife found some cheaper grain in bags that works better for us.

After several weeks of no calls from little notes I put up in all the local feed stores, I got a nibble. The nibble turned into a bite and the guy wanted to come see it and most likely take it.

Only problem is, the thing is about 10 ft. tall and heavy - even when empty. So it takes a tractor to set it up or take it down.

I asked a neighbor if one of her two sons (who will usually do anything to make an extra dollar here and there) could get a tractor with a bucket to help me set it over onto a trailer. I guess one of them had been a bad boy with grandpa's tractor so it couldn't be borrowed.

I asked another neighbor who also goes to our church if they had a tractor and could possibly help. I mentioned that I had planned on paying some young men so she could pass along that I wasn't looking for a complete and total favor - there was some money to be made.

The weekend comes, I get the call so I ask officially about their help. We agree on a time - everything is set.

I really thought the job would take about 10-15 minutes but as things usually work out - it took almost an hour. I was feeling bad about the amount of time, time spent in the very cold and of course fuel as their rather large tractor was running the entire time.

We finished up, no one got hurt and the bin survived the man-handling one more time.

I dashed inside to get my checkbook to write out a couple of checks before my neighbors could leave. We spent a few minutes wrestling as I tried to shove the checks in a coat pocket. I finally succeeded only to be chased outside being told, "No, no." I ended up taking the money back, said "thank you" over and over but was told; "That's what neighbors are for."

This still takes some getting used to for me. I don't like asking for favors, I hate being a bother.

But here's a sort of public thanks to David and Scotty.

Thanks.

Fair and Balanced

Today while having a chat with a staff member he said and I loosely quote: “I may not always agree with you but I think your are fair and honest.”

I may not be a lot of things people wish I was but if I can be and do those two things on a regular basis, then I will be doing OK.

New Hampshire – what else?

Everybody is falling all over themselves about how they missed the boat with Barrack and Hilary. I wasn’t surprised at all.

Whether they like her or not, being a Senator from the nearby state of NY and wife of the guy who made his own comeback in NH way back in 1992, makes her a neighbor and someone they are more likely to vote for. Iowa is simply not New Hampshire. And to take this risky blog one step further – in that area given the choice to vote for a minority or a woman; I’d say many clearly felt they could accept a woman (especially one they know about – whether they particularly like her or not) over a less well-known minority.

Another related question – now that Richardson is out – where will his votes go? More than likely to Obama.

And another related thought based on a NY Times (yes even conservatives read the NY Times.) One blogger noted that Obama really didn’t lose NH, Hillary just won. His clarification was that Obama got about as many votes as the polling people said he would. Where they missed the boat was that Hillary got a lot more. What that means to me is that in the final days she somehow got people to go out and vote who may not have planned to do so, i.e. to a pollster, this person wouldn’t have shown up in their polls or at the polls. This is still significant (if true) because you have to wonder/ask how she managed to influence people to get out and vote that hadn’t planned to. From what I’ve heard NH voters are anything but apathetic so she stirred up something in people. Honestly I’d expect the opposite results if she stirred something up; i.e. that folks would be prodded to vote AGAINST her and decide at the last minute to do so. Just musing.

I heard a short piece on NPR Tuesday as they were recapping and one spot stands out: a gentleman said he voted for someone but he didn’t make up his mind until he actually went into the booth or whatever they do in NH. That scares me!

Being undecided is one thing but right up until the moment of casting your vote? That’s why they don’t allow electioneering within so many feet of the polling places.

I propose a new rule – no ads, phone banks, door-to-door etc. within 24 hours of an election. Give people time to sit down, sort out the whos and whats and how they want to vote without being influenced by what are mostly empty promises or lip service anyway.

Another development in NH that plays into what I think is going to happen. McCain’s own comeback. Romney’s slip.

I like Mike but I don’t think he is presidential yet. Could be. Might be. McCain is presidential. With the way things are starting to shape up here’s my idea or maybe it is a proposal.

McCain picks up steam. Raises more money. Challengers begin to fall by the wayside. Before he hits the big Super Tuesday primaries etc. he announces that: 1) he promises to only serve for one term (he’s 71 years old remember?) and 2) he has selected Mike Huckabee as his potential running mate. I think one or both of these would slingshot him way past Romney and put him in the cat-bird seat.

Just remember this post in a few months.

We’ll see how this whole thing shapes up after South Carolina soon.

Almost a Good Samaritan

New Years eve is ripe for interesting experiences and this past one was no exception.

I was returning from Pizza Hut with some pizzas, a few Cokes, a ½ gallon of ice cream and two of my younger daughters when we came upon some cars stopping in the road.

It was early but already dark so I saw taillights as I approached a curve atop a long hill. I pulled behind the few other stopped cars and turned on my flashers. It was obvious some sort of accident had occurred, just not how bad or what or who was involved. I told the girls to stay buckled while I went to check things out.

I noticed a woman standing to the side and she had blood running down her face. Somehow I got the mistaken impression that she was OK and that the guy running around with a cell-phone pressed to his ear, was her husband. I ran ahead to where I could see several people standing around a badly damaged pick-up to see if anyone was hurt. No one was so I turned around. As I walked back to my van I could see taillights far away down the hill in a pasture.

I stopped back by the bleeding woman and tried to get her to sit down. She said she was afraid she might not get back up. I checked on my girls and called my wife.

The scene quickly became a traffic mess with dozens or cars trying to get by, the arrival of several emergency vehicles etc.

In all this no one seemed to be attending to the woman off to the side. I went back to see if she would get into my car to keep warm. She let me take her arm and I led her to the front seat. I explained to my girls and sort of introduced them although it wasn’t until later that I learned the woman’s name; Ashley. I sat with her for a couple of minutes, prayed for her, then I went looking for an EMT.

I told the first official looking woman I saw that I had an injured person in my car. Pretty quickly Ashley was attended to by this EMT and eventually three or four others. One climbed in the back-seat and asked my girls to move to the rear. They all began working on Ashley’s head and neck and put on a neck-brace.

I decided it might be better to stay outside while all this was going on. While I was in front of my car an EMT started across the road carrying a big stretcher-type board. He was looking to his right while to his left a car was coming up pretty fast. I jumped out in the road and yelled at the driver and put my hands up. He stopped and the EMT crossed. Then I got yelled at by a man in a Sheriff’s coat who told me to stay out of the road. That they had traffic under control and I was only confusing the drivers. I tried to explain that the EMT was about to be hit and I was getting the drivers attention. He told me again to stay out of the road.

The EMTs worked on Ashley for several minutes before they moved her from my car to the board thing which they used to carry her to a wheeled gurney. They got her loaded in the ambulance and that was that. But now I was still stuck with a Fire Truck in front of me, the road blocked and nowhere to go.

I walked to the Sheriff that had yelled at me and asked if I could go and he said I could and wished me Happy New Year. As I was pulling away the first EMT came over to tell me thanks for my help.

So with two very hungry girls, some cool pizza and melted ice cream we headed home, having spent perhaps an hour at the accident scene.

No one ever figured out exactly what happened except that Ashley apparently crested the hill, saw someone either in her lane or crossing the road and over-corrected causing her to lose control and careen several hundred feet down the hill. I’m amazed she made it out of her totaled car, up the hill, over some barb-wire fence and back to the accident scene.

It’s Round Up Time

I always thought going on a round up would be fun and I almost got my chance.

Saturday morning December 29 found me doing my usual chores, which include walking our two Border Collies. As we came around one corner of our 40 acres, I began calling our male “Jake” so he wouldn’t harass the two steers we let wander our pasture. He responded but I noticed only one steer was standing in the corner. I had not noticed the other one anywhere on our walk. They are like twins – frick-and-frack, dumb-and-dumber – one doesn’t go anywhere without the other. I figured one had gotten out somehow so I took the dogs back to their pens, alerted everybody inside and headed back out to find the missing steer.

I spotted a place in the fence where he could have gotten through if he’d stuck his head far enough through and instead of backing up, kept moving forward. My wife had also heard a bunch of coyotes around 3 a.m. so I was worried they had chased him and in the dark, he simply went through or over the fence somewhere.

Our property backs up to and is also adjacent on the west side, to a large farm with perhaps 100 crossbred cows. Our steers are Holstein so they are distinctive in their markings. He was easy to spot with the other cattle. He can’t do any harm – he is a steer, which for the uninitiated means he can’t do the bull-thing anymore.

But I wanted to get him back where he belonged so back to the house to get our team together. My wife, my 24 year-old-daughter and her fiancé, Caleb headed out to see what we could do.

For about 30 minutes we chased him around a rather large pasture with my driving our 4 wheel-drive pick-up and the others trying to head him toward a make-shift gate. We never made it.

A neighbor rides and trains cutting horses so my wife wondered about asking him to help. I hate asking people for help – not so much a pride thing as I don’t want to be a bother. But I drove down. He was home and seemed almost eager to get in some practice.

A few minutes later he, his wife and Caleb are saddled-up and ready to go. My job, as the non-rider in this group was to make sure we could get the gate open when they got close.

It took them about 15 minutes to separate our steer from the herd and move him toward the road and the gate. Once on the road he has pretty well confined with fences on either side. A few minutes later and he is back at our place. A few more minutes later and my wife has him and his buddy in a stall in the barn.

Later that day Caleb and I spent a few hours clearing brush and trees off an old fence which also may have afforded the dumb steer a way of escape.

The moral of this story - if there is or should be one is: using the right tools is important and in this case that meant the old-fashioned way; horses. Also the old adage “Good fences make good neighbors” works more than one way. And I guess one more; don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Thanks Carl, Lesia and Caleb for being our “cowboys” and “cowgirls” today.