Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

We all know the drought is bad around here so the news story about it today was no big surprise. I did find one part of the article really interesting.

Ray Nelson of the Northern Rockies Fire Coordination Center in Missoula said it's too early to guarantee a bad fire season. While conditions in Montana are bad, it's not necessarily snow or the lack of it that points to imminently bad fire seasons, he said.

"June moisture, that's the best predictor of a fire season,'' he said.

As somebody who lives with the land I totally agree with this but it leads to a question. Where did Gov. Brian Schweitzer">The Second Coming get his information? A little while ago he was all over the news with his statement that he wanted National Guard troops home to fight the fires because the state is "a powder keg" and his statement,"I know it's going to be a bad fire year" was his prediction.

So who is right, Ray Nelson who works in the area of fighting fires or Gov. Brian Schweitzer">The Second Coming who's wild predictions made so much noise? I realize that as Governor he should be prepared but did he consult anybody who knows more about the fire situation or was he just shooting from the hip. Listening to information is just as important as acting on the information.

Public administrators would get along better if they would restrain the impulse to butt in or be dragged into trouble. They should remain silent until an issue is reduced to its lowest terms. Calvin Coolidge

Who is Tony Hawk? My oldest daughter is standing here castigating me because I don't know who Tony Hawk is.

"Crawl out from under your rock" she says, "even mom knows who Tony Hawk is."

She still hasn't explained who he is. Oh well, I'm officially old now.

Old age, calm, expanded, broad with the haughty breadth of the universe,
Old age flowing free with the delicious near-by freedom of death. Walt Whitman

I wonder if anybody has pointed out to Ed over at City Lights this news story.

Blogging can cost you your job

Wouldn't want him getting in trouble with his boss. He had better keep a low profile.

This is a wise maxim, "to take warning from others of what may be to your own advantage." Terence

I guess spring is really here. I have been seeing some geese and ducks around but the day before yesterday I heard the cranes flying around. I didn't see them, but I heard their distinctive whoop. Well guess what? Yesterday My Darling Wife got some pictures. The weather wasn't the best in the world but they still are pretty good pictures. She stepped out the door and got them checking things out. After a bit she spooked them and they flew off.

The annoying Killdeer are back too. Their screech drives me up a wall. Pretty soon the Meadowlark should be showing up. Spring definitely is here.

Spring, the sweet spring, is the year's pleasant king;
Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring,
Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing,
"Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!"
Thomas Nashe

The hired man was compliaining about the mud yesterday. My Darling Wife is also complaining about it. I think it's FUN!!! It has been so long since we have had enough moisture to make mud that seeing it is fun. With all the unsettled weather that is being forecasted we will probably get more too. How great!

I hate to tell these people but what we have right now is not mud. It is a little slick and a light layer of mud but if they want to see mud they should wait and see it when it is really wet around here and the mud is measured in feet, not inches. My Darling Wife has seen it but I think she conviently forgets about it.

More mositure, more mud, I won't complain (for now).

Fun I love, but too much fun is of all things the most loathsome. Mirth is better than fun, and happiness is better than mirth. Thomas Carlyle

The Billings Gazette today run quite a few articles about the ethanol industry that were quite interesting and deserve further comment. As any one who regularly reads this knows I oppose the law that would make ethanol in our fuel mandatory. Gov. Brian Schweitzer">The Second Coming and his disciples think that it is going to be the economic revival of the state if they can force us all to buy gas with ethanol in it.

First off the oil refiners chime in with their opinion. It is not real surprising that they oppose it but some of the comments are very illuminating.

I have always asked the question, "If ethanol is such a great thing why does it take a government mandate and subsidies to build a plant here? Why isn't the money available through the banks or private financiers?" Then from the article:

Bruce Brodie, manger of the ExxonMobil refinery in Lockwood, said the company does not oppose the use of ethanol blended fuels and in various cities where it is required to reduce pollution, it is provided.

"The company is absolutely opposed to mandates because they upset the free market mechanism and increase costs for consumers," he said.

Brodie said petroleum industry data for a three year period for Missoula, which requires the fuel during the winter months, show that, on average, consumers paid 3 cents a gallon more for the ethanol blend.

He also questioned whether ethanol plants are economically viable without heavy subsidization.

"If they were, banks would be loaning them money now," he said.

My same questions and also points out that this mandate will cost us as consumers more in the long run which I've always said too. Isn't gas prices high enough with out tacking on more expense? When taking about this issue recently I have also pointed out that since corn is so much cheaper than wheat to make ethanol, instead of building plants here companies will just bring ethanol in from the corn producing states to supply our need. Case in point: Continue reading "Ethanol Issues" »

So, instead of living within the law you look for ways around the law. That's the Montana legislature for you.

Law grinds the poor, and rich men rule the law. Oliver Goldsmith

With the drought hanging around any little storm deserves a report. All the storm report is good news, right here at the house we got around 2-3 inches of snow and it tapered off as you go south to the highway. This made my Darling Wife happy since she will have less mud to deal with that way. Going north to where the cattle are located the snow was a little heavier. About 4-6 inches where the cows are at. Over the hill where the summer country is at there was a solid 6 inches. Every little bit helps grow grass.

It wasn't a bad enough storm to affect calving. Lots of new calves on the cows and everything was running around bucking and playing in the sun. It was nice to watch.

The only down side of the whole thing was on the heifers. Lost one calf and paralyzed a heifer. It wasn't the storm that caused this loss. I check the heifers early in the night and the hired man checks them later. Well the hired man for whatever reason failed to check them and we discovered the casualty in the morning. It is horrible to lose a calf due to negligence but thats what happened. Hopefully the hired man learned a lesson.

We all make mistakes in life, the important thing is we learn from them. Sarpy Sam

A reader sends the following alert:

Doctors More Dangerous Than Guns!!...


Doctors:
(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000.
(B) Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year is 120,000.
(C) Accidental deaths per physician are 0.171.
(Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept. of Health Human Services. )


Guns:
(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000. Yes, that is 80 million.
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.
(C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is 0.000188.


Statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners. Remember, "Guns don't kill people, doctors do." Fact: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE DOCTOR.


Please alert your friends to this alarming threat. We must ban doctors before this gets completely out of hand. Out of concern for the public at large, I have withheld the statistics on lawyers for fear the shock would cause people to panic and seek medical attention.

I'm not real sure I want to know the details of this story.

Football Player Caught With Stolen Sheep

Sounds a little odd to me.

Knowledge does not come to us by details, but in flashes of light from heaven. Henry David Thoreau

Isn't it just amazing. Gov. Brian Schweitzer">The Second Coming and the Montana Senate, action in House is still pending, both want to require us as consumers to buy power from renewable sources. Amazingly enough, without any such law in place by the Government to control us further NorthWestern Energy is seeking to buy such power to distribute to its Montana customers.

It doesn't take a Government mandate if it is worth doing, just time. The free market at work, ain't it an amazing thing.

All surprisingly beautiful-stupendous, amazing, unequalled. Rutherford Birchard Hayes

Sometimes you pay a price for doing the right thing. I have said all along that my decision to oppose opening the Canadian border to live cattle was based on my belief I was protecting the consumer, not protectionism. I know a lot of producers felt that by keeping Canadian cattle out we would resume exports to Japan quicker. I wasn't sure that was true so it was never part of my arguments on the issue. I felt is was best for the consumer.

It turns out that R-calf's actions are going to hurt the cattle industry in getting the Japanese export market open again.

A Japanese official told me the following:

"R-CALF's actions will actually delay the re-opening of the Japanese border. Current actions by [U.S.] Senators and House members have stimulated the Japanese media and Japanese consumer associations to start an opposition campaign. This will delay the internal Japanese review process, especially the risk-communications process for consumers.

Pay a price that's for sure. I still say the action was right. We will just have to see what happens when it comes to Japanese markets. They, the Japanese, have their own country to take care of just like we have our own country to take care of. That's what the concept of Sovereign Nations is all about.

The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions. Adlai Stevenson

I took some pictures yesterday and haven't had a chance to post any yet. I always love to see the calves at this time of year and they are really coming on strong on the cows now. Hope you enjoy the pictures.





Let me enjoy the earth no less
Because the all-enacting Might
That fashioned forth its loveliness
Had other aims than my delight.

Thomas Hardy

I am not really sure this is information I needed or wanted but maybe somebody else does.

'Wedgie' Added to Webster's Dictionary

Been a long time since I thought of a wedgie. Luckily I was never blessed with one of these events.

Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders. Ronald Reagan

I am sure you all know about Ashley Smith, the hero who calmed down the Atlanta fugitive, Brian Nichols, and then turned him in to the authorities. It is really quite a story how she stayed with him and calmed him down and got him to turn her loose. Here is something really interesting about this though.

After Brian Nichols got away the State, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the U.S. Marshals Service put together a reward of $60,000 for information leading to Nichols' arrest. How much of this money has the hero seen? The $10,000 from the state is all. The other agencies aren't sure if they are going to give the reward money to her.

By 9:30 a.m., Nichols agreed to let Smith leave to pick up her daughter. When she reached the first stop sign on her route, Smith dialed 911 and within minutes a Gwinnett County police SWAT team had surrounded the apartment with Nichols inside, according to the Journal-Constitution. Nichols waved a white piece of cloth to signal his surrender and was taken into custody.

Sure sounds to me like this information lead to Nichols arrest so she really should get the money. The agencies are just being skinflints if you ask me. I know she's not looking for the money but she deserves it.

When helping others, do not look for a reward; if you are looking for rewards, don't help others. Chinese proverb