338 New Kids on the block "Dale and Willie"

My granddaughters Brook and Haylee have new baby goats. As you can see they are very cute and quite at home with their new surroundings. They spend a lot of time out in the goat barn playing with them. They are fun, to watch them eat about anything you put in front of them. As you see in this picture, Haylee allowed them to play in the lawn for awhile and they took to eating the new growth off of the pine trees...It must be real good as they ate several. Then we picked a few leaves off the tree nearby and sure enough they loved them also. Back in the barn later they very much enjoyed some good alfalfa hay....Goats will just about eat anything. Reminding me of a story my brother in law used to sing while picking his guitar. I think it was called Ole Billy Goat and it went like this. Ole billy goat was feeling fine, ate three red shirts right off the (clothes) line. His master swore he'd break Bills back, tied poor ole Bill to the rail road track. A mighty train was coming fast and poor ole Bill thought he's seen his last. Then I forget how the next line goes but the last line was that ole Bill Coughed up those shirts and "flagged" that train....I guess you had to be there...But Glenn Cornell could sing it pretty well and we enjoyed hearing it...it was our favorite....
The next picture here is Brook's goat, his name is Dale...they both are pretty cute and they will have a lot of fun showing them at the fair this year. They also have two other goats from last year. They are in a different pen from the baby goats. The girls dad, my son John does a great job building the pens and allowing the girls to enjoy these goats. Check out the eyes here on Brook's goat Dale...Haylee also has a duck operation going on in another barn...the mother duck has like 15 or so eggs...if she hatches them it will be interesting and I may end up with some of them here at the pond.
In this pic you see a proud Haylee with her and Brooks goats....it is fun to watch them jump around and beg for attention while you are with them...Haylee's goat's name is Willie....

337 Friday the 13th a good day to farm.

Well, today I decided to go ahead and plant half of my corn crop even though the conditions to do so are less than optimal. It is dry but there is some moisture down there, so maybe it will be enough to germinate the seeds even if it does not rain. However the weathermen are saying we could over the next 3 days get an inch or more of rain. I sure hope we do as I did go ahead with some planting today even though it was indeed Friday the 13th. Proving that I am not into that sort of witchcraft at all. It could turn out that today was not a good day to plant but it certainly will not be because of the date and the day. I think this may well be my last year of farming. My dad quit farming when he was 65 on his own and moved to Lafayette after selling his farm. I have farmed 8 years longer than that. But let me tell you he worked twice as hard at farming as I have, maybe three times as much effort. He was as tough as nails so to speak. He did continue to help his son's farm for maybe another 10 years after retiring and moving to the city. But in my case, I think I am just finally getting enough of it. I thought maybe I would keep it up for a few more years but I am starting to ask myself, "What for"? And I am not coming up with very good reasons to keep this up. I think that with the rent I can collect on my few acres that I may make at least half of what I do now maybe more. It will be good I think to just have to take care of my home and my lawn and the pond and maybe do a little more travel and camping than I have till now.

Susan is also starting to talk about retiring so if that happens she could then also travel with me if she desires. We could see lots of stuff together. Why with her sharing some of my expenses we could maybe afford to buy the diesel fuel for some longer trips maybe out west...Or maybe to the east coast or Canada who knows or maybe just stay right here at home...Practicing our marksmanship in case Eric Holder the worst attorney general in our history comes calling to collect my guns. I see today he stated that we should not have guns...the guy needs to be impeached, he goes after innocents and lets assholes run free...what a country...well I have rambled quite enough for a Friday the 13th....

336 Condo Sweet Condo

My second blog story about the new condo in Naples Florida. When both my tractors broke down at the same time and both were hospitalized at the Case dealership for at least a week, I decided I should drive back to Florida and spend a week and see what Condo living was all about. I did that and while I was there I changed the lock on the door of the condo. I feel good about having done that as who knows how many old keys there are floating around. This top view of me standing in back of the condo behind the pool. Our condo is directly over my left sholder in the center of the building upper floor.
A better view here of the backside of the building and the pool area. My first couple days there were spent shopping for bed sheets and pillows. Laudering them and making up the beds. Cleaning the kitchen up washing the dishes in the dish washer and just generally getting to know the place. Each day I did take the time to spend 2 hours at the pool getting to know some of the residents there a little better. In the third photo you see the pool area from inside the condo. I love the view from there. It is pleasurable to set there maybe sipping a cool drink and reading a good book. The area is extremely quiet and that is worth a lot to me. It is also extremely well lit up at night time adding good security for all of us.
I was there about a week in all before heading back to Indiana to start the farming process. I tried a little of that today but I feel the soil is just to dry for good germination, so I will wait for rain to add some before planting anymore. It is early yet and so waiting just may be a good choice at this time.
The last picture here is of the dinning area inside. It all is in good shape and needs nothing at this time but TLC and that I hope my family and Susan and I will give it lots of. I hope my kids will all have opportunities to use it and have relaxing vacations in Naples. Maybe even some grown grand children will also be trusted with a stay there, but it could be a little boring for the younger crowd. Although it is just a short 6 mile drive to the down town Naples beaches. So we will see....

335 Farming here we come.....

Well this weather is nice, almost to the point of being boringly nice. Here it is mid March. Should still be getting cold spells and a few hints of spring. Instead they are predicting 70 and 80 for the rest of the month. That will take us to April when farmers start to plant crops. So I am thinking planters will roll come next week. Why not? If it going to be warm till April it probably will go right into spring...Yes I think we will see corn and beans planted this month and starting as early as Monday. We will see but if I have to I may just plant a few beans myself just to prove my point. I remember a farmer planting beans on March 14th about 20 years back and they did real well...and I am sure corn will be in the ground next week also in many area's of our state.

This surely is my favorite time of the year. I love it when winter dies away and things start to grow and green up. Buds come out on the trees, flowers bloom, grass grows and mowers roll. The smell of new mown grass that first time over, there is just nothing like it..Well for New York City people maybe not, but for Hoosiers that is where it's at for sure....

I remember as a kid getting out for the first time and walking along the little stream that wound its way through our farm. Just looking at things in the water. Maybe launching a few short sticks that were pretend boats and watching them work their way down stream. It don't take much to entertain and Indiana farm boy you know.
But it was great especially those early days of spring. Frogs would start to make their froggy sounds that are so familiar but don't ask me to reproduce it. We had a swampy area about a half mile west of our house. I remember lying in bed those first nights you could open the windows and listening to those crazy frogs. There must have been thousands of them all competing, finally putting me to sleep.

Today I saw a pair of ducks on my pond. I hope they are about raising a family here, as I have not had any baby ducks here to watch for maybe 6 or 8 years. I keep hoping, I saw them come out of some tall weeds before they went into the water, maybe they were making whoppee, we will see in a few weeks. And the pond does provide a few of the froggy guys to help me reminise of those early years. I got a few giant bull frogs and they are fun to listen to.

Anyway glad that spring seems to have sprung here in the midwest, I think farmers will be about the farming business real soon..the pictures above are what I will be doing next week with the farming and also a pic of a nice white crane from 3 years back in my pond...and that is about it from Lake Wobegon for tonight, where the women are strong, the men real good looking and all the children are above average.....

334 The Florida Condo, yes I did....

Gosh it has been awhile since I have been on here. A couple folk have pointed that out to me so tonight by golly by hook or by crook I am going to say something on here.
The main reason I have been absent has been during my stay in Florida this year and a year or two before this year I have spent a fair amount of time looking at Florida property. And this year before I left I did in deed make the plunge and purchased a small condo in south east Naples. I love the location, it is not gated but it seems very secure and safe. Is well lit at night with really nice decorative street lights. Driving in at night almost reminds me of a movie setting or maybe Christmas time maybe a combo of both. If you click on the title above it will take you to the site of the condo and then click on photo's and you can look it over...both the exterior which is dead center in the building and the upstairs unit..And then there is several inside shots of the furniture. Susan and I hope to use the condo next winter as much as possible. And we hope to share it with the kids from time to time also. And maybe some relatives and special friends also.

It has a nice golf course running through the neighborhood of which I don't have to support with any type fees, which suits me fine as I am really not a golfer at all. I play maybe once a year if somehow that happens...sometimes it does not. But the course playing through the condo's is attractive and I am glad it is there. Probably won't hurt the resale value at all. The roof was replaced on the building just last year and that is a plus to me also I think. Probably won't need it again in my life time and if it does I probably won't be cognisant of it happening. The unit is located about 10 miles from the Marco Island beaches and about 11 miles from the Naples beaches. So not a far drive to both of which we will probably just flip a coin when we feel it is beach time as they are both very nice beaches. Also a really sweet swimming pool just out the back of the condo in which am sure we will use a lot.

I had looked at a couple other units in this complex and my realtor Kathleen was very much on the ball finding this unit just 5 minutes after it was listed. We looked at it the next day and purchased it on the spot. It was priced in the low end of the range for this area so we did not dilly dally around...I am happy with it all and have no buyers remorse at least at this juncture.

Sorry I have been lax on blogging of late, but homework on real estate is very time consuming and I am glad I did all of it because it is because of that that I am confident in this endeavor...But from here on maybe I won't have and excuse so you may be seeing me here more often ...I hope so...

333 We could loss the nation in November

OR SOON AFTER.....Actually we will probably last a year or two after Obama is sworn in for his second term. But with his social adgenda, it won't be long and it will all catch up with us.
You just can not continue to give people "things" and not tax for them...And on the other hand you can not tax for them, the money they cost and continue to give the money away. We are headed for bankruptcy my friends not for each of us but for us as a group that group being the tax payer of the United States.

I am totally amazed at how people are willing to give this guy a pass on his socialist ideas. Just plain look the other way and smile and ooh and ahh as he holds his many news releases. Just utterly amazes me that after 4 years people still don't get it at all...the thought of providing for each and every American in their major needs is such a great idea, IF we were not already over spending...Already we spend 40% more that we take in with taxes. Can anyone please just say "MATH"?

Do this America just for a few months...spend 40% more than you make...and when your credit card bills come just make the minimum payment....add up the interest you pay out for you overspending that you did not have the money for...now with that number think of the nice things you could have had for that money instead of nothing....

Think it over...do this stuff...go ahead pull an Obama and just do the fun stuff you know you will enjoy. Do it before November if you can...it could help save our nation......

332 The Process is working...Go Santorum

Wow Rick Santorum won all three states in last nights causcus elections. Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri all had Caucus'es last night. I don't even understand and can not explain what that even means...But I am glad to see the election process is working. It will be really interesting now to see if Santorum picks up more financial suppport as we go forward here. I truly do like Rick Santorum. He seems like a real square shooter to me. I think he would make a great President and a great Comannder In Chief for our military....I hope he can pick up a lot of financial support now with these wins in these three states...Who knows Romney may end up with the Nomination or maybe Newt or maybe Santorum...Any of the three would be fine with me....

Looked at a condo today on Marco Island...would love to own something like it...click on the title above and it should come up....

331 Proud of our Election Process

I am becoming one of those "swing voters" I believe. After last night's debate I am swinging both ways. One way more to the moderate side with Mitt Romney, I think he may now be the eventual winner to go up against the socialist liberal Obama. He may be our best shot. But I also am swinging yet and I also liked last night Rick Santorium, he was very strong with his more conservative ideas. The things that ring true to me and I wish Rick had the resources that Mitt has, and the name recognition

So here I swing back and forth between these two and you are asking what the hell happened to your man Newt? Well I think my man Newt may have slipped here in Florida on a banana peel or maybe a squished starfruit and smacked his head hard and somehow lost the vision of a smaller more responsive government. I learned last night that after he promised Naples the winter white house which was fine, he went on to Titusville and promised them a moon colony in 10 years and then in Jacksonville a new naval base? Sorry Newt we don't have the resources for those kind of promises. Your looking to much like a politicion for this voter. I love the way he took on the media and he won my support in doing so but now I find myself leaning more to the candidate to his left and to his right...

But what the heck, I am only one voter and I will bow to the wisdom of the voters here all across our great land. We do have a great process of electing our leaders. I am proud of how we can watch these leaders tough it out in these debates. I have watched all but one of them and I did watch the highlights of it after the fact. This will all come out alright, we will make good educated researched choices in the comeing weeks. As these state elections take place, "we" will decide and the choice will be good..I hope all four of the candidates hang in to the end...they are all good men, all have good ideas to add and in the end we will have a candidate worthy of setting in the oval office and guiding our nation to a smaller more frugal government. I just know it...I love and believe in this great land...

330 Newt's Winter White House....

Newt's bus came to Naples last night. I went 4 hours early which should draw some interesting remarks here on the forum, but I wanted to see and hear him in person. So I took my lawn chair a book called Killing Lincoln and some tea and cheese and headed to the city park...

A rag tag band showed up an hour later so on page 30 I gave up and just enjoyed the music and the fan fare going on. I had a great spot 20 feet from the podium...They gave Newt the key to the city and he said he would hang on to that because they like Naples and it seemed to him that this would make a great "winter white house".

You nay sayers can have your say but this farmer was watching the other night when Newt fielded the loaded question from the CNN reporter about his past. The farmers gut feeling is that this may just have been a "defining moment" in this election process...People are totally fed up with biased reporting of the last few years.

Win or lose I am glad I have donated Newt's campaigne a small amount of bucks, I feel good about it...you all root and toot for your guy who ever it may be...but I hope to be able to cast my vote in the Indiana primary for Mr. Gingrich and again in the fall....

By the way the unscheduled event drew the biggest crowd ever recorded in Cambria Park in down town Naples..Estimated at 6000..Jump in front of Newt's bus if you dare but maybe at your peril.....Oh Newt looks 20 pounds lighter in person, yeal could loose another 20 (like me) but he is healthy and ready for this run....

It was a fun afternoon, not sure how this election will all come out but looking forward to maybe taking in the other candidates if they show up here....I think any of them will be fine in the end...

One more PS here. Many have declared Newt has Billiance but has baggage....
MY thought on this is when this nation is in trouble, who cares about baggage, its the billaince we need....

329 Guest blog today...from Ryan Capecci

It is sometimes unreal that just 2 ½ short years ago Lilly and I made the ultimate commitment to each other for the rest of our lives and were moving in to a 200 square foot garage apartment starting our married life together. Now…. 2 ½ years later here were are, both finished with school, working full time, raising a great golden retriever, and exciting for another new beginning in our life. Lilly will be 23 weeks pregnant tomorrow and is due on Mother’s Day, May 13th. Lilly has been doing really well throughout the pregnancy. She has her ups and downs but has been so strong and is such a wonderful mother. We had the ultrasound performed a few weeks ago and were able to surprise our parents for Christmas with the ultrasound pictures. It was a great surprise. It is an exciting time in our lives and we are definitely ready to take on the challenge of raising a child. Our greatest concern is how Brees is going to react to having a baby brother in the house. Brees is.... i guess you could say SPOILED with the amount of attention he gets from Lilly and I, but people reassure us he will love our little boy as much as we do.

We do have a name picked out.... John Louis Capecci. We both like tradition and we both have/had a grandfather named John. John Griffin is my mom’s dad. He was my only grandpa I was able to meet here on Earth but I know both of my grandpa’s are watching down on us smiling now. Lilly’s grandpa Lahrman…. John (more commonly known as Jack) is the other reason we are picking the name John. He is a great grandfather figure for us and we can’t wait until our little John can go for rides on the tractor with him and sit around the pond castin a line. We will do another guest blog in a month or two with an update on how Lilly is doing and maybe we will even have a picture of the crib that we will be building

328 Paradise Found and now another Harvest

The last couple nights I have spent with my motor home in the Sam's Club parking lot in South Fort Myers Florida. It was great pulling in Sunday night as they were closing the club at 6 PM. I always circle the parking lots and choose a place as far away from the front door as I can possible get. That way the store does not ask you to move. I guess Sam Walton made it known before he died that RV's would always be welcome at his stores I have heard. It must be true as in all my travels and stops at Sams and Walmart I was only ask to leave one time and that was in Arizona, a large town that had a city ordanence against RV stoping in store parking lots over night. If you have a RV that is more or less self contained you can "dry camp" we call it for a day or two or three if you lucky with out running a generator or anything. I have 4 large storage batteries that provide power for quite a long period of time. Not for air conditioning but for microwave, coffee pot, TV's etc and of course the water pump. I carry 80 gallons of fresh water and have two 40 gallon holding tanks for black and grey water. It all works real well and I am glad the RV industry came up with these amenities for us who enjoy travel and really don't enjoy carrying luggage in and out of motels every day. And of course the real luxury of it all is driving down the road and having a cold drink and sandwich or other snacks served you as you motor down the pike...Life is good...so good...
Anyway today I arrived Naples/Silver Lakes RV resort snuggled in between Naples and Marco Island. I had renters still on my lot and did get to meet them...They were from Chicago and wish to come back in April after we and my next renter leave, so that is good. My first job each year is to get my hose hooked up and wash down the lot before I pull on it. I enjoy cleaning the cracks where they sawed the concrete to keep it from cracking and washing all the crud that collects there each year. Ants like to hide in there so I give them a bath they will not soon forget and then tomorrow I will add a little ant poison to those cracks also and that should then let them know that Jack is back and that means they need to move maybe to the lot next door...Jack is Back
Well the second pic as you can see I have a harvest to take care of here. My blog title of Corn, Beans and Naples one farmers rotation has truly become just that. Up north I harvest the corn and the beans and now my farming down here has begun to pay off also. Starfruit tree is absolutely loaded this year. I may have to spend a little on shipping and send some of these puppies north...I would guess there is over 200 on the tree with about 50 that had fallen to the ground already. My corn and beans were not anything to write home about this year but my south 40 is really producing this year...40 feet not acres but who's counting.
Are they beautiful or what? God had such an imagination when he made stuff for us did he not?.. I surely think so anyway and I bet when Adam named this one it did not take a lot of thought. It is surely a star...And they are very good, I have eaten three of them tonight...It was 75 maybe today..still at 730 it is 69 degrees...Paradise has been found....

327 On the road with Jack

I am on my way to Paradise, that being for me at least my RV Lot in Silver Lakes. Located between Marco Island and Naples Florida. I had time to kill this year as my renters of my lot kind of like the place...which is good as it bring in bucks for me...to help pay for the taxes and maintenance cost of owning such a garden spot in Florida. I went down I 65 all the way to Atmore Alabama to check on a friend I met on the USMC website called together we served...I met Pete on the site as I liked what he posted on the forums. So we became friends through the years. I visited him in maybe 2005 or so on my way back from Florida just to check him out....He was genuine so we stayed friends....My wife died of cancer in 2007 and his wife died of cancer shortly after that.

So we had that in common and I decided this year I would stop by since not pressed for time and see how he is doing. Thus my first pic here of Pete's home in Atmore Alabama...We went out to dinner after a visit to his home...Went to Dave Catfish house...then back to his home....I visited with Pete for a short time and then went back to the motor home for a good nights sleep.
Today I left Atmore headed for Naples Florida...The RV rentals called me today telling me my current renters would like to stay till Tuesday of next week...They have been good renters so I decided to slow my trip and accomodate them for their stay on my lot...So I slowed up a bit..I was on I-10 heading for I 75 when I got the call...so I decided to slow way up and take my time getting to Naples...I got off the Interstate and headed down US 19/27 am currently holed up in Perry Florida....At no less a Walmart seen in the second pic here...So here I am just finished a double martini and a steak and baked sweet potato....life is good....Walmart has been accomodating and has not "run me off" so I am thinking I may just sleep here in the coach and see what tomorrow brings...On the rode with Jack...

326 OH OH its "Cycled Seasonalality"

Wow, it has been nice here in the midwest. I went outside today to do a little yard work as it feels like springtime here. And sure enough this little guy who usually greets me in late March sometimes early March, has gotten a bit confused....He is gonna get his butt froze good very soon. It will be interesting though to see if he does this again in March won't it...will have to report on that to you if and when it happens...My money say's it will, but I more than not bet the wrong way, so we will see. I can report this, this is not global warming, this is just "cycled seasonalality". I can almost guarantee we will pay for this as yearly temps seem to always average out by years end...We may have a fridged late Jan through even some of March or we may not and then experience a cool summer with frost in July even but somehow this will even out. Its just weather, we get it all the time, every day. And rest assured the guys that can not predict what it will be 30 days from now have no better record or knowledge of what it will be 5, 10 or 100 years from now. So just enjoy it and don't fret about it...It is just "weather"....a great start to a good year...The year we turn our nation from upside down to right side up...Yep, it is gonna happen, I just know that more than half the people will wish it to....

Enjoying the many Republican debates. They are gaining stature and knowledge of what it will take to be a good President and Commmander In Chief of our Nation. What it will take to Lead us back through the mine field we have entered...I really believe this will be a good year for us all...

325 Ready to turn the page on 2011

Looking back is has been a good year, it is always a good year every year, some are excellent, some are just good. This was one of the good ones. It would be good, but probably less interesting if life was not such a corn maize most of the time. Actually, a corn maize has paths for you to follow and you make decisions and test your skills in getting through it. Life is more interesting than that, as no paths are there. You make your own as you go, giving you a sense of accomplishment or failure by the turns you make. So sometimes it seems best to just take it slow and allow other forces, other circumstance to happen to help you make good twist and turns and hopefully arrive at the satisfaction of accomplishment and not failures.
It would be nice if we could always see over the hill. To know what lies out there ahead of us. But we can not, so facing that we learn as we go. We try and be good people, try not to embarrass ourselves too much and others. We eat our vegetables, we get our proper fiber and if were smart we even put on a coat when its cold outside. We work hard so we can have food and shelter and things. We try and stay healthy, if we get sick we look to others for some help. Help usually is there, and before you know it we are back up running into the corn maize again. Life is funny that way, it just goes on...So tomorrow we say goodbye to 2011 and we welcome in the NEW YEAR.

I look forward to 2012 with Hope and Faith, but at the same time I look with some anticipation of what could happen in the corn maize ahead. It is a rocky world out there today and things are just about as rocky right here in the USA. Not going into what ails us, you know as well as I what I am talking about. Watch the news, multiple sources as they all spin the truth a bit, some more than others. You will figure out which ones with experience. But things are not rosy, we could miss this bullet or we could take it, we just have to see. My advice is take precautions, stock up some non perishable foods, stock up some cash and some coins in a safety box at the bank, just in case. I do have hope with the political wave of alertness and awakeness that is starting to sweep the land. I hope it continues and improves where we are headed. If that happens we won't need the provisions. If it don't they may be good to have.

Happy New Year to all...Proceed with caution but by all means proceed....

And if you click on the title above you will be amazed by the number of corn maizes to you can look at...almost as many as there are lives out there getting through it.

324 The Christmas Season and a Full Pond

It is a wonderful time of the year. It is December a month that usually offers the lowest grain prices of the year and the highest hopes for our lives. We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in just 10 more days. We give each other gifts, in rememberance of the gift we received by His lifes work of showing us how to live and then 33 years later offering himself to die for our sins. Thus the ultimate gift of salvation in eternal life. It don't get any better than that folks. I love this season for all that it brings. When it starts even before Thanksgiving now, I kind of fight it I guess. Feeling kind of Scroggie for a few days. Thinking, Oh no, do we have to do this again, we just did it last year and the every year before. But then the music kicks in and whips me into shape and of course the thinking about that gift we receive "if we want it", puts me full bore into the season...That is where I am today, my shopping done, a few gifts yet to wrap and some great Christmas CD's playing on my home audio system.
And I will have to admit the small 8 pound ham I purchased last night for 5 bucks slowly cooking in my oven, with carrots and potatoes, giving off the sweet odor of whole cloves and brown sugar, does nothing to dampen my spirit either.
On top of all of this wonderment, we have been receiving lots of rain of late. Temperature this morning was 60 degrees, heard lots of thunder last night, more like April than December. But remember we are Hoosiers, and things can change, tonight it is to be down to 28 degrees. And not any too soon, as I could have lost my Christmas spirit had my Strawberry's started blooming again. I checked them this morning on my way to take these pictures. They have retired for the year, finally.
As you can see by the top pic, my pond is expelling water big time. It is full the water shown in the other pic is up to the bottom of the dock. I love the water conservation that my pond provides. It holds back a lot of water that runs out of my little 50 acres and meters it slowing into the drainage system. Eventually it all goes down the Ilgenfritz ditch to the Wea creek, then to the Wabash river but at a lot slower pace than if my little pond had not been built.
In case I don't get back bloggin before Christmas, let me wish you all a Merry One. Enjoy to the fullest but keep in mind why its all done...Not to surge the economy but to share a few gifts with each other and some love, thus remembering the gift of love that is ever present. One last thought as I look at the water coming threw the pipe, it reminds me of this season too. The never ending grace that our Savior provides...

323 Tailgating, Raining, Snowing, and Land Rush

Well got invited to Hort Park at Purdue tailgateing. It is fun the Capecci's and Plaspohl's have a fun time at a few of the Purdue Home Football games...we eat, drink and be Merry and then go home and watch it on TV in comfort...it is a lot of fun..campfires are always fun, well unless it's the 4th of July or something.

We had a really good rain a couple days ago and as you can see in the second picture it recharged the ground and even ran off quite a bit. Was glad to see that as the pond had been kind of low for the last couple months. I call my second picture "A river runs to it". That's what I get when I get run off I get nice clean water going directly as you see into the pond. It all flows north out of my 50 acres and is filtered through the 5 acres of native grasses then arriving very clean. I like the set up and so do the fish. I know they were happy to get the additional water to swim around in. Probably added at least 18 inches to the acre pond, which with Dayton math equates to about 540,000 gallons of the precious stuff all in a matter of a
maybe 3 hours. It is amazing and not a gallon of it hit the rivers. But I am now about 6 inches yet from the drain tube which will allow then the overflow to be metered slowing into the streams and river system.

But my little pond does it's job holding water back, conserving water and providing water for the fish and the grand kids and even me and sweet pea to swim and float around in kayaks in the summer time. Maybe coming up soon will just be ice skating and maybe icefishing.

Then after the big rain it turned to snow and it actually accumulated 4 to 5 inches on the ground. So our first major snow of the season as seen in the last picture below after it had melted a bit.

Which brings me now to the "land rush" of sorts that is going on with farm land across America these days. There is a couple things driving land values to new all time maybe even artificial highs. First is grain prices maybe being
double what they were 4 years back. Second and probably the real driver behind the willingness to pay huge prices for land is the state of the nation and the world. It is the same thing that has driven gold and silver prices and that is the fear of the economic system collaping and our money system as we know it kind of going away. Vanishing like steam does. And so people with huge amounts of it turn to land and metals as a way to have at least something in case that should happen. Land being even better than gold as there is some income while it is appreciating or depreciating. And who knows which that will be, but I have seen this before in the 80's when land seemed to have no top but then 5 years later it fell drastically in value. So the risk is there but who knows? If the economic system stabilizes it will probably level out and maybe even drop. But it may not we may see that these prices for Land and Gold and Silver stay with us a while. But at some point things will change it always does.

Click on the title above and Purdue will tell you more about farm land than you may want to know...Last nights land auction I attended was 232 acres of good but not great farm land near me. It brought $1,960,000.00 or about $8,350 per acre. I guessed before the sale that it would fetch 1.7 million. I was a little low and came away as I do from most auctions, "with all my money"....Land has doubled in the last 10 years maybe less than 10.

322 Thanksgiving and Odds and Ends

Hope all of you out there in Corn and Bean land had a great Thanksgiving...I had about three of them and it was good...Seems like lots of folks attend more than one even now each Thanksgiving. Only thing I don't like about the Holiday is the excuse or right to passage of over eating a bit...I know that is part of it but it launches us all into a Holiday month long event between now and Christmas of doing just that. I know the answer is, "just don't do it", but it is our way of thanking ourselves I guess for another good year. Well tomorrow I cut back a bit, I hope....

My Man Newt Gingrich seems to be catching a bit of flack these days over his stance on how to handle the Amigo's that have walked across the river into America. Personally I think his thinking sounds pretty sound. For the most part they are hard working Christian people and who can really blame them for wanting a lot better life? I just wished we had erected a fence that would keep the ones coming in legally and not the illeagals just walking in unannounced. That is not good, but as Newt said if they have been here for a long time have kids and grandkids who are born here how could we toss them out? I think he will do the right thing if he is elected and I sure hope he is. I made my first political donation to Newt of 25 bucks a week ago maybe after the last debate hosted by CNN. I thought Wolf Blitzer did an excellent job of narriating the debates. No loaded stupid questions as came up when MSNBC hosted one a couple months ago. Anyway Gingrich is my hopeful candidate. I hope he can pull it off it will be tough battle though with a couple other candidates still looking good also. Any one of them would be a tremendous amount better than the goofus that currently "occupies", the oval office.

Currently working on installing motion detector lights around and im my home. Also some high tech security cameras that record any movement in my home. So if I am ever broken into again maybe just maybe someone will be going to jail for the act, we will see. Hopefully we won't see but in case it happens again I want lots of evidence of what happened. My high tech grandson is installing this stuff and I think anytime I leave now for a few hours I will be protected that way.

Well amigo's its getting close to bed time here on the prairie so will sign off...

321 Soon at a Crossroads for sure.

I predict future happiness for
Americans if they can prevent the government
from wasting the labors of the people under the
pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson

Why do I not see this on a sign carried by a wall street protestor? I think I know why, because now it is called "social justice", liberalism's way of extracting money from the working class and sharing it with those who want to be taken care of instead.

I tell you this country had better get a grip and soon. This President and some of the slugs in congress have us on a path of destruction. It is like it is their goal for us to crash and burn. I can not believe this is happening and even more I can not believe the American people are not completely up in arms about big government killing this economy. I only hope that 13 months from now I have something to celebrate in this madness coming to an end. But I know there is equal chance that instead because so many are asleep as to what is happening that we will go ahead and complete the job of the destruction of this nation and all that it has stood for.

I surely hope the balance budget ammendment to the constitution will pass soon and the people will have the opportunity to vote on it. That would be a huge measure to our enormous problem of spending far more than we take in. It should have never started, but surely it has to stop.

I wish you all a good Thanksgiving season. I hope it is not among our last and that we will gain our backbone and men like Jefferson will rise to guide us.

320 Lets just Occupy Summer....

What are your thoughts on the OWS movement? To occupy wall street, actually just city parks? Personally I am kind of turned off by it all. I think it is Woodstock with longevity of a generation being spoiled to the point of what we have today. To me they should be out occupying a job. Any job they could get and there are jobs out there. Maybe not the greatest job but a job and then you do that till you find a better one. But no these clowns go out and spend 500 bucks on tents and camping out equipment and joist with the police day after day and cry about how they are not rich...To me it is just a cancer we have allowed to birth and grow.
So I have started my own movement and am calling it "occupy summer"...Let is not allow it to leave, let us occupy it. My strawberries have signed on with me. They daily keep me in enough for my cereal bowl each morning. But it could end if I do not get a huge injection of cash from folks like you. I am thinking for just a few thousand dollars we could do a shovel ready infrastructure here like a hot house over my raised garden in the my back yard...Your money, my back yard, its not a lot to ask is it? Come on America it's only money.

319...The Harvest of 2012, let it be a good one....

Harvest of the crops in the midwest is pretty well complete. I was done maybe 3 weeks ago and during harvest looking down at these snouts on the combine corn head that gather in the corn, I got to thinking....Now most of you probably realize that when I "get to thinking" it is sometimes dangerous, but in this case I think it was maybe a good thing.
You see I am quite concerned for our country. This present administration is in my opinion taking us down a garden path that we have no business going down. We need to turn this ship around and fast and we have one chance at doing that and it lies ahead with our selection of a candidate for President and Vice President that will take this country back to a smaller form of government. But in anticipation of this upcoming year I decided to add our national colors to my corn head...right out there in front where the action is I thought needed to be our colors...out there where it all gets sorted out.
Thus I did the paint job on it and notice that looking at it from a left or right view point its still "red white and blue"....But I think there is more going on here than just some paint. I really think this represents the needed work ahead...the harvesting of what we have and then a new start at what we almost lost. A combine takes it all in keeps what is good and discards out the back what is not needed. In 2012 there needs to be a lot coming out the back..There just will not be a lot to keep...I hope for our nations sake this is the case...Let us continue our search for a good candidate, it will all get sorted out and after that then "LETS ROLL"....

318 Fishing the Mighty Little Calumet River and Mighty Macs

Well here I was last week at this excellent camp site in the wooded area of the National Dunes Park. When Susan and I were there a month ago we happened on a couple fishing for Trout and Salmon. It sure sounded exciting so as soon as my harvest was over I called up there to see how it was going. The person I talked to at the park told me the fisherman were really doing well so last Saturday I was on my way. Sunday I went to that same hole and gave it a try. Nothing happened some locals came along also fishing and told me some real sad news that they thought the season had ended. They said they saw some dead Salmon floating but no live ones. I said well I am going to stay 4 days and keep trying. They said you may get lucky and snag some steel head trout...So I tried but finally gave up on Tuesday. I think I know what was wrong maybe in that the are is on Central time, like we should be, but were on Eastern time. So when I would cast my line at say 9 a.m. it was only 8 a.m. in the river...no way was I going to catch fish and its all Mitch Daniels fault I am figuring.

All in all I still had a good relaxing time. Fishing is that way for me, just being there and exploring possible future fishing holes and at the same time wetting a line here and there, well it just does it for me.

To the right here is the pier that people can fish off of where the Little Calumet River dumps into Lake Michigan. It looks like it would hold maybe 200 people at one time. I figure it may be worth it when the season gets going next spring or fall to just drive up for the day during the week days to avoid the high traffic fishing on week ends...that is my plan for the future. And I did discover a lot of good holes to fish at up stream in the park itself...so all was not lost, and maybe it is not really Mitch's fault with the stupid Eastern time thing...Besides I have never seen a fish with a watch on anyway so how would they know?

Yesterday afternoon I went to a movie called The Mighty Macs....It was great a true story about girls college basketball in the early 70's...Don't miss it as it was really good and good for the whole family to see. Setting was a small Catholic girls college and their efforts in basketball they did not even have a gym...but they sure had the coach and the effort to succeed. Kind of almost an equal to Hoosiers was for the boys....So my trip all in all was a good one. But I must be an honest fisherman...I did not get one single bite in 4 days fishing...but I did boost the economy a little bit....

317 Indiana Dunes, Harvest Start and Cirrus Radio

A week end ago Sweet Pea and I visited the Indiana Dunes. As you can see in this first picture it is a place of great beauty. This picture I snapped would make a great painting for sure. We took the motor home and camped in the National Park. With my Golden Passport it is only 7.50 a day. No hook up but great campsites are available. Nice blacktop pad to set on and a nice fire pit to even cook on if you like. We did and I have been credited for fixing the best steak she has ever tasted in her life. Actually I think she was just "really hungry"...But it was good, nothing like cooking outside in a park setting like that. Very quite secluded area. And with the motor home we don't need to be hooked up to amenities for a short stay like a week end. The 4 "house" batteries will run the electrical needs. We carry 80 gallons of fresh water and we have room for 40 gallons each of the waste and grey water we use. And if by chance we do need to recharge the batteries the generator can be run for an hour maybe and were set for another couple days. Motor Homes are great, a second small home with all you really need. No packing, no unpacking, its just great.
This summer we flew to North Carolina to be by the ocean. It was good, but Hoosiers kind of forget that we have almost an ocean right here in Indiana. Lake Michigan shore line is pretty awesome. Probably crowded in summer like most beaches but in the fall it is a thing of beauty too. We found numerous flat rocks along the shore and busied ourselves practicing our skipping the rocks skills until our side arm throws kind of got the best of us. I want to go back for a week after my harvest is over if it has not gotten too cold. I want to try my luck at fishing in the Little Calumet River for Coho Salmon and Brown Trout that swim up the rivers in October to spawn. Leaving them vulnerable to tricksters like me that have lures that look good to eat. If my luck is there I will be the one doing the eating as well.
Last picture here captures Happy Hoosier guy after the rock skipping episode, he found some small pieces of drift wood, smooth on one side. Thought maybe he would get around some day to painting a beautiful scene on the smooth side...He never will it will probably end up in the fire place this winter as "starter fuel", but for now it lies on the end table awaiting the artist he is not.

Well, today the harvest starts. Yesterday I finished the repairs needed on the combine and am now ready to try harvesting the soybeans that look to be ready. It looks like the weather ahead is going to be great for harvest, maybe a whole week ahead of just warm clear skies, a farmers dream.

I have had Cirrus Radio since I purchased my Silverado Chevy truck in July of 2008.
You get a year free service from them. After that they wanted X amount of dollars to continue. I declined and they offered me a half price deal for six months. I took it as I do kind of like some of the stations like the bluegrass music, the older music of the the decades like the 50's, 60's and 70's. And the TV channels of Fox news and the other very liberal networks just for laughs...I know half of the people actually listen to these guys. I wonder why, and I know why because God did not make us all alike. And I guess it is good that we have variety in people and choices. For me I will stick with Conservative Christian Values as best I can. I will fly my flag and continue to support the Constitution of the United States...I will work to send good representatives to make our laws. And I will pray that God will help us all to do our duty as we see it needs done.

Oh gosh I got so patriotic there I forgot to tell you the rest of the story about Cirrus Radio...well after that six months I tired of paying anything for the service as I do greatly dislike some of the garbage stuff that the radio offers as well. So I called to cancel before my time was up and I went automatically back to full rate. The offered me 3 months free service to think about it before they pulled the switch on me. That was like a year and half ago and since then as I did this very morning I have called them to cancel and they continue as today to offer me yet another 2 months now of absolutely free, no string attached they said. Oh that was right after she offered me 5 months for 25 dollars of which I said no I want out...So I being kind of a "free sucker" said OK leave it on when do I need to call to cancel...They said January 18th. I said hey that is 3 months not two...I may be stuck with this service forever. I hope not but I am a sucker for free....

316 What this Citizen is Praying for.

This Citizen is worried, of what our country will be 5 years from now. I pray for a citizentry that will and must, accept the resposibility that our Constitution provides for us to do. A citizentry that will take the responsibilty, gain the will, to run our nation as it was designed to be. And since our government is a representative one, we the citizens have the right, the responsibility to elect people that will return our nation to a smaller, more responsive, subject to the rule of law form of government.

I pray that we citizen's take back the nation. Our President, Senators and Representatives all are elected at the will of the people and all serve at the people's pleasure. The responsiblity has been given us by our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence.

Our Government has grown like a cancer to a point of gaining beauracracy's that have outgrown the basic needs they were established for. The people became used to more and more regulations and were allowed to supposedly get them at a bargain. Congress loved being Santa Claus for lack of a better terminolgy. And they hid the true cost of all of these things, by printing and deflating the value of our money, and also borrowing money each year. But we all like Christmas 365 days a year right?

I think I liken it to a "group intoxication". Warnings from a few were ignored as we all tasted of the wine. It was so good that we patted our representatives on the back, and sent them back to Washington to do us even more good. And all of these things were good, but the true cost of which was continually hidden from us with printing more money, taking more of our dollars to purchase products and by continued borrowing the difference each year between what was spent and what was brought in through taxation. Thus keeping us intoxicated with services, kept us content.

I pray that we the people will realize it is now "Monday Morning". It is time to sober up, take our freedoms serious that we still have left and work on getting back the ones we have lost. We need to take this job serious of electing men and women who will return our government to what it was designed to be.

That is my prayer....Maybe the God of our founders that instilled this spirit of liberty in them and our founding documents will allow us to return to being the nation of which we began. Instill in Americans that freedom and resposibility of it, must be earned, learned and possessed with no regrets, and surely no guilt.

All peoples of the world have the same opportunity to do the same, let us be a pattern for others to desire, but let us allow them to achieve it, and thus value it, as we must.

315 History Repeats, Jobs without Stimulus and Bird Food

First up today is interesting, reference to the spending in the early 30 that brought on the Great Depression. And what has this liberal administration been doing such taking office? The same thing and not having learned from not creating a single job, wants to do it again.....H-E-L-L-O

In the news today is a report poverty rising in the USA..be sure you click on and watch the video to the right here about Rich man Poor man...










Then comes my little bridge to no where I built this spring. It had started to sag in the middle a bit and as you walked across done a lot of bouncing. Making it feel dangerous and even risky. But believe it or not this bridge that was built without stimulous, creating a single job for a day or two, got updated yesterday, adding a pier in the middle of the bridge, and all was done without a single Federal dollar wasted...You tax payers can breath a sigh of relief...

Notice the water level in the pond is getting pretty low, evidence of the dry hot summer. But allowing a job to be created or saved however you want to look at it by allowing me to get in there and play in the mud....


Lastly today I ask you if you were a pheasant, would you be attracted to this food supply growing next to my native grasses? It is a mix of sorgum and sunflowers.

I hope so, I do so want to walk out someday and see a pheasant fly up out of my food plot and into the cover of the native grasses near by...that will be another really really good day...

One little foot note...my rain lillies have been blooming like crazy the last two days. Weather man said it was not going to rain it would all be south of Indy...guess what? Its raining really nice right now...

314 This was a good day........

Today was a good day alright. Last night I got a call from a Marine friend from Boot Camp 1956...If you have forgotten that is when I was at war...You see I was only in one war and it was right here in the USA in San Diego California...Yep it happened in the summer of 1956 and it was Me against the Marine Corps..it wore on all summer long, June then July and then August and finally the war ended...The Marine Corps won and I became one of them...

But back to this good day, got this call last night from Chuck and Lois Paulson of Mitchell South Dakota..they were passing through today on their way to South Carolina and some beach time. Said maybe we will just stop and see your place...Well as you know I organized a couple reunions for the guys in our platoon in 06 and then again last year...Anyway Chuck and Lois have always come but Chuck always ask each year about Bob Bandy of Mulberry whom I graduated with and enlisted in the Marines with...Bob, I just could not get motivated to attend these reunions but this am I got to thinking, hey there is a nice restaurant in Mulberry just 2 blocks from Bob's house, "The South Fork" owned by Scott Roberts...If only, so I called him and by golly he agreed to come up there at noon and surprise Chuck and Lois...it was great we arrived just ahead of Bob and in he pops and it was fun watching them get reacquainted after 55 years..Actually both of them have changed very little in the face...We did lunch said our good byes and encouraged Bob and Barb to maybe attend next years 56th anniversary reunion in Branson Mo....I hope they will but sure the Paulson's and us will be there and hopefully lots of our guys that have been unable or unwilling to come to the other reunions in the past...this will be our 4th time, we do it every other year...First San Diego where it all began...then Omaha, then Wash. DC and next year Branson....it was a good day.

Left to Right in picture...Bob Bandy, Chuck Paulson and Jack Lahrman Photo by Lois.

Update on that cancer to the right side...Yesterday they cut pretty deep into it to get the rest of the cancer and I now am sporting about 5 stitches for a couple weeks. Hopefully that is the end of that one....semper fi....

313 NOW THEY ARE GONE

It's kind of a sad time of year for me. I have come to admire and enjoy my Purple Martins each year. I knew the time was short that they would soon be leaving my place for South America. The last 3 weeks I have noticed that they spend very little time in their Martin Houses that I provide for them. They spend a lot of time coming and going from the houses the first couple months while they are building next laying eggs and hatching and raising the young ones. Then when the young ones can fly they spend little time in the nest and its every male or female for themselves catching bugs and building up bodies for the long flight south...And believe it or not they have spent a lot of time diving close to me as I am outside or swimming in the pond. Letting out a little scream as they pass by. It is as if they want to each say good by before the planned departure day. Three or Four days ago I noticed them all on the antenna from mid afternoon on. I knew the time was very near as I have seen this happen many times before. They had a good year here raising many new offspring. I guess when they came in the spring I had maybe a dozen pair which would be about 24 birds. I think on the antenna here there is maybe 50 or 60 counting a few in the air coming and going. They talk a lot on the tower, probably going over the flight plan and check points along the way...who knows, my God has quite an imagination and I figure he gave them that skill.
I don't know the exact time they left but the next day they were gone. I may have seen a pair or two a day later not sure they could have been the regular barn swallows who also hang here all summer long. Since the day they arrived I have seen maybe one or two mosquitoes. Now in about a week until it frost they will be some biting me and I will long for them to return again about next Easter. Now I will take down the houses and clean them well and put them in the barn to keep other birds from contaminating them this fall and winter. My Martins love it here and the feeling is mutual...

Note...click on the title above for a read on how long they live...

also to watch a "classic" go to the right side upper and click on Jimmie Obama

312 Taking the Nation Back in 14 months

They like to refer to us as senior citizens, old fogies, geezers, and in some cases dinosaurs. Some of us are "Baby Boomers" getting ready to retire. Others have been retired for some time. We walk a little slower these days and our eyes and hearing are not what they once were.

We have worked hard, raised our children, worshipped our God and grown old together. Yes, we are the ones some refer to as being over the hill, and that is probably true. But before writing us off completely, there are a few things that need to be taken into consideration.



In school we studied English, history, math, and science which enabled us to lead America into the technological age. Most of us remember what outhouses were, many of us with firsthand experience. We remember the days of telephone party-lines, 25 cent gasoline, and milk and ice being delivered to our homes. For those of you who don't know what an icebox is, today they are electric and referred to as refrigerators. A few even remember when cars were started with a crank. Yes, we lived those days.



We are probably considered old fashioned and out-dated by many. But there are a few things you need to remember before completely writing us off. We won World War II, fought in Korea and Viet Nam . We can quote The Pledge of Allegiance, and know where to place our hand while doing so. We wore the uniform of our country with pride and lost many friends on the battlefield. We didn't fight for the Socialist States of America , we fought for the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave." We wore different uniforms but carried the same flag. We know the words to the Star Spangled Banner , America , and America the Beautiful by heart, and you may even see some tears running down our cheeks as we sing. We have lived what many of you have only read about in history books and we feel no obligation to apologize to anyone for America .

Yes, we are old and slow these days but rest assured, we have at least one good fight left in us. We have loved this country, fought for it, and died for it, and now we are going to save it. It is our country and nobody is going to take it away from us. We took oaths to defend America against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that is an oath we plan to keep. There are those who want to destroy this land we love but, like our founders, there is no way we are going to remain silent.



It was the young people of this nation who elected Obama and the Democratic Congress.

You fell for the "Hope and Change" which in reality was nothing but "Hype and Lies." You have tasted socialism and seen evil face to face, and have found you don't like it after all. You make a lot of noise, but most are all too interested in their careers or "Climbing the Social Ladder" to be involved in such mundane things as patriotism and voting. Many of those who fell for the "Great Lie" in 2008 are now having buyer's remorse. With all the education we gave you, you didn't have sense enough to see through the lies and instead drank the 'Cool-Aid.' Now you're paying the price and complaining about it. No jobs, lost mortgages, higher taxes, and less freedom. This is what you voted for and this is what you got. We entrusted you with the Torch of Liberty and you traded it for a paycheck and a fancy house.



Well, don't worry youngsters, the Grey Haired Brigade is here, and in 2012 we are going to take back our nation. We may drive a little slower than you would like but we get where we're going, and in 2012 we're going to the polls by the millions. This land does not belong to the man in the White House nor to the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. It belongs to "We the People" and "We the People" plan to reclaim our land and our freedom. We hope this time you will do a better job of preserving it and passing it along to our grandchildren. So the next time you have the chance to say the Pledge of Allegiance, Stand up, put your hand over your heart, honor our country, and thank God for the old geezers of the "Grey-Haired Brigade."

~Author, Anon. Grey-Haired Brigade Member

311 Fried Garden and a slight cancer

I suppose some men left alone in the Kitchen could be bad news, maybe most men, but when one is left alone in the house because of cards that life has dealt one you adapt. I think I have for the most part, my cooking has improved as time when on. Thought process has done it for me. You learn to think ahead about what the objective is, how is this mess going to turn out, and will anyone really eat it? Now when it is you that mainly is the "anyone", you do start to "dig in" and try and get into this cooking thing. And I am starting to enjoy the process believe it or not. Looking back I wish I could have worked on these skills years ago...Necessity being the mother of invention answers that question I guess...
But today, I just felt like fried Okra and Red potatoes. Sometimes I do that kind of thing. Okra may be my favorite vegetable. I acquired a keen taste for it while living in Texas for a spell long ago. Before that did not know it even existed. But having purchased some from a roadside garden learned to appreciate the way the stuff is grown. All starts out with a very small seed, half the size of a peanut I'd guess. Planted a quarter inch deep maybe and allowed to find its way in the world. But before the summer is over this little seed turns into a plant maybe 5 to 6 feet tall and 2 inches in diameter...Blooms a lot of yellow flowers that turn within a few days into Okra pods. I enjoy them two ways on the grill with meat and other veggies kind of steaming while the meat cooks. You simply pick them up by the stem and eat the whole thing one nice bite...very good....But I think my favorite is to fry them in Olive oil in a small skillet either along or adding other vegetable.
Today I kind of went nuts I guess and am calling my dish, "Fried Garden".....And it was as good as it looks, it was delicious for sure served with about 4 wheat crackers from Pay Less/Kroger store.

Today I started with my Okra slicing it cross section about a quarter inch think..then I diced a red potatoe and slowly fried it in a very small amount of olive oil....The really really extra extra virgin kind of course...But after it got going so did my mind to other things outside my door in that raised garden...So out I went and picked a very small tiny head of red cabbage, a tomato, a green pepper and I topped it off with a fresh shucked ear of sweet corn. Sliced the uncooked corn into the skilled with the other veggies...I knew fried corn is great to why not...Well its all history now its all in the old "tum tum" and feelin good. And I think you will have to agree it was pretty healthy...But don't worry, I am not headed to being a "vegetarian"...no way, I still like my pork chops and my steak and of course fish....

Right side picture here is a bump on my arm that quickly appeared the last 4 to 5 weeks. It was kind of a callous like thing that I a couple times picked off but it quickly would grow back and became sore. So Monday I called Dr. Martin my skin guy and then scheduled me in Tuesday and he took one look and said, that my friend I am sure is a very fast growing cancer. I will remove it and send it in for sure but the good news is it will probably not shorten your life....That is good news of course, but we will know for sure if I need any further treatment in a couple weeks.
It is amazing though how fast this thing popped up and did not want to heal or go away....glad it is off and on its way to the lab...I had a regular appointment with this Doctor just 5 to 6 weeks ago...and it was not there...and yesterday when he looked at it he said I may be getting older but rest assured I did not miss this thing 6 weeks ago...glad you came in....

310 A Good Rain Today.....

I got 6 pots of "Rain Lillies" and today I noticed everyone of them were blooming. In the past few days, ocassionally, one or two of them would bloom, but not all..And those days it did rain other places, maybe 20 to 40 miles from here...so they were right, the conditions were right for rain, just not on this farm...But today all 6 had blooms, I doubted their wisdom and I was wrong......
Thank You LORD!!!!!! Today Sunday afternoon we received 1.25 inches of rain. I love doing the math on this but that equates to 37,500 gallons of water for every acre of farmland, lawns, gardens, forest or even dusty old gravel roads in Indiana....And that equates to 5 quarts of water for each corn plant in my fields...that my friends is a "liberal" drink...I don't much like that word but in the case of water for crops about to perish...I do like the word....

For the corn it is too late to bring back or retrieve the yeild losses we have suffered. But at least it stops the deterioration for the time being..maybe a week and maybe just maybe the rain patterns will change and we will start getting an inch or so a week...In that case what we have now may be what we will have at harvest time..I surely hope so....I have paid into federal crop insurance for corn for the last 25 years maybe without a claim...this year I hope I still will not need it but I think I am just about to the point of the crop insurance kicking in "if the yields get any lower"....I hope they don't our government can ill afford paying a bunch of crop insurance out to farmers at this time...I would rather get my dollars from the market place not borrowing it from the Chinese..

But for the soybeans this rain will start to recoup some of the yields we appeared to be loosing..August is the month that soybeans are produced and if the rains become more common place we should make a comeback on soy and maybe attain as much as a 75% or normal yield possible...I hope so, especially since I do not carry crop insurance on the soy beans....never have had less than half a crop so decided long ago to "take my chances" on soy...

Well that is the joyful rain report here from Lake Wobegon, Indiana where as you know the "women are strong, the men good looking and all the children are above average"....Amen...

309 Good and Bad and Better......

They always face the east, every day all day long. My sunflowers don't follow the sun east to west like I thought they would. They just stand there facing east, which is fine with me. I planted them a couple months ago for bird seed this next winter...they will stand tall above the snow drifts and Quail, Cardinals and maybe Bluejays will be well fed if I should happen to be gone for a time now and then. I complained to the my Wildlife Biologist Dean Zimmerman about not being able to attract Pheasants to my 5 acre parcel of Native Grasses I have had for 14 years now. He said, "well if you want them I can tell you this you have to feed them". In other words have food available for them to eat all winter. Then and probably only then will they look your place over and maybe decide to "hang out".....so here is my effort I have about a quarter acre of these pretty sunflowers and even if I don't get the big birds it will be fun to watch the songbirds maybe enjoy these seeds. Thus the "good" of this story today.
For the bad we need to go no further than my corn fields. We have been very dry and very hot all through the month of July with exception of one half inch of rainfall about 10 days back. My corn crop is surely hurt pretty bad. It is stressful to say the least. Farmers have a natural tendancy to kind of take on a little stress when the crops are doing likewise....Until a month ago I truly thought I was headed to my very highest yield ever so far. In one short hot dry month I think I am looking at maybe no more than half a crop. And compared to say TEXAS well half a crop may well be better than no crop at all...notice the cracks in the soil, some places it does not crack open quite this much but the ground is dry and cracked everywhere to some extent...We really need a good rain of 2 inches or more to even start to help this crop. We got 2 tenths of an inch last night but I noticed that none of it reached the soil and was stopped by the corn foliage which maybe bought me another day or two who know. Rain now is going to be too late to increase yields back...but maybe a good one will at least stop the deterioration....
Now for the better of the all of this lets go to the beach...my little paradise right here at home. It has gotten lots of use this season. I have been able to control the algae this year maybe for several reasons, I am not sure. I have a circulation pump running 24/7 and along with my AC in the house has resulted in my first over 200 electric bill since I have lived here. Also we dipped a lot of silt out of the pond last fall and I think that also had an effect on my water quality this year...For whatever reason my fish seem to be very happy living in this water..And I too am very happy to share with family, catch and eat fish, evening swims and in general enjoying the better the best....

Please if you have not clicked on the title above and watched the next Ronald Reagan do yourself a favor and do so....Jack