Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

Boy was I glad to get horseback again. I had spent way to many hours on a tractor seat and needed to get out riding again. Now if it was just a little cooler. Taken 6/28/2006.

The bison skull design won. I am glad for that, that is the one I liked. The bison skull has a long tradition as a symbol in Montana, starting with C.M. Russell, and I think it displays well on the coin. The supporters of buffalo roaming free in Montana infecting cattle with Brucellosis might not like the image, they will say it just represents Montana's blood lust to kill all the bison, but they just need to get over themselves. Tradition is tradition and the symbol has tradition behind it.

The finished product. The tank full of water and the fence put back in to separate the pastures. I think it will work real good. there are a few leaks thanks to the hired hand not tightening the bolts enough but I will be able to fix that in another year. Taken 6/28/2006.

On a rare occasion I have hope that the hired hand is coming around and will be a really good man to have around. The other day he independently remembered that there was a stretch of fence needed fixing before we turned cattle into a pasture and went and fixed it. That really made me feel good. Boy, doesn't it say something when something so minor gives me hope?

The Ray of hope I was seeing was dashed yesterday though when the same old stuff seemed to happen again. We were moving a few cattle out of a pasture, boy it felt good to be riding a horse again, I had spent too many hours on a tractor, and from a distance I had spotted a few cows on a hillside near our destination so knew we had to get them. When we got down by the gate I asked the hired Hand if he had ridden up on the hill and got the cows up there. He said he had. I quizzed him further informing him there was a hole or two there and wondering if he had rode it out good or just glanced around. He said he rode it out real good and there were no cattle left up there. I decided to take his word for it and we kicked the cows out and went about our business.

About an hour later we came back by the spot in the pickup and coming off the hill were two pairs. I kicked them out the gate with the pickup and decided I had better go look to see if there were any more cows up there. I got to the top of the hill and there were more cattle standing around, in the same spots I had seen them, under some trees. The hired hand said they weren't there when he rode the area but they were in the same spot I had seen therm earlier so I know better. I kicked them out with the pick up and went on our way.

We then went to the new monster tank which we had filled with water the day before to make sure everything was all right. It looked pretty good from a distance but on closer inspection I found some water seeping out from quite a few spots and was dismayed. I thought the damn think with concrete in the bottom was supposed to seal better than that. I got to studying the situation and finally came to the conclusion that quite a few of the seams were leaking around the bolts for some reason. I was sure we had tightened all the bolts good so I couldn't figure out why we were leaking water around some of the bolts.

I decided to try to tighten some of the bolts to see what would happen. I was a little concerned I would tighten them too much and break the bolts so i wanted to be careful. I reached into the tank on the first one I wanted to tighten and very carefully went to tighten it a little. Shit!! It was plumb loose. I tightened it up good and tight and checked some others and found them equally as loose.

To make a long story short, all the bolts on the tank that the hired hand had tightened were loose and quite a few were leaking. I thought any idiot could tighten a bolt tight enough but I guess I learned different. I got most of the seeps stopped but one. The bolts on that one are partially in the cement so i couldn't tighten them. It's not enough water seeping to be a problem this year and nest year when the tank is empty I will have to tar up those bolts to stop the leak for good.

So I really despair that this gut will ever make a hand. Maybe I should start looking again and fire this guy if I find somebody more suitable. I'm tired of the whole thing.

We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings. Albert Einstein

Another piece of old equipment that sits over at the Williams Place. I am not sure what it is. maybe somebody could tell me. Taken 6/12/2006.

Gazette Opinion: Reasonable road rules for teen drivers

As of this weekend, Montana joins the other 49 states in making special provisions for helping young drivers gain skills they need to be safe drivers.

At long last, Montana's graduated driver's license law will take effect. For the most part, the law reinforces what concerned parents should already be requiring of their teen drivers:

Before getting a driver's license, the teen has to complete a certain number of hours of driving in the day and at night under the supervision of a parent or guardian who is a licensed driver.
Everyone in the teen's vehicle has to wear seat belts at all times.
Teen driving is restricted during late-night and early-morning hours.
During their first year of driving, teens are limited in the number of other young passengers they can have.
Any violation of traffic law will result in consequences (community service or loss of license) for the teen driver.
After successfully completing a year of driving with a restricted license or when teens turn 18 (whichever comes first), they are granted an unrestricted license -- just like older drivers have.

If you ask me this is just a new law that allows parents to abdicate their responsibility for their children. If parents would be serious enough about the privilege of driving, laws like this wouldn't be necessary. But they happily foist off their responsibility to the State and call it a good thing.

The new Graduated License requires 50 hours of supervised driving and a minimum time of 6 months before a young driver can get a license. My oldest had her learners permit for over 9 months before I felt she was ready for the test and drove well over 50 hours, probable 150 hours or so, supervised by My Darling Wife or I before we felt she was safe enough to drive. Most of that driving time was spent correcting the wrong things the drivers education teacher taught her to do.

Now that she has her drivers license she does not get free and unfettered access to a vehicle. We still tightly supervise what she does, where she goes, and who can be with her. She accepts this, not happily, but knows that any arguments will lead to us suspending her driving privileges all together. She tried once saying that she has a license and it's her right to drive. I told her driving was a privilege and that I could suspend hers anytime I wanted and promptly did.

Parents don't need to be their kids friends, they need to be their parents and enforce the rules and make them see right from wrong. In a way it's funny at times. My oldest will complain we are too strict, but then she watches the way other kids are running around, out of control, and she will thank us for being her parents, not her friends like these other kids parents. That is the highest compliment I think I have ever received.

Being a parent brings immense responsibility. It's a Herculean task. It would be almost too much for me. Julie Christie

The last time I seen any rain in the area and it slid way south of us. Damn the bad luck. Taken 6/20/2006.

Some crops showing signs of too-dry soil

Soil moisture took a dive last week and crops in parts of the state were showing signs of stress, as warm, dry conditions were felt across the state, a federal agriculture report shows.

I won't argue with any of this one bit, it's damn dry out there and looking at the weather forecast it's only going to get hotter and drier. Damn the bad luck.

The hay crop this year was lower than I expected. Less than one ton to the acre. I consider normal about one and a quarter ton to the acre so I am not looking at as much hay as normal. Lucky I have over 500 ton of year old hay from last year to make up the difference.

I should finish putting the hay up today. I have never finished haying in June before and have never taken less time to get my haying done. That big new baler made a big difference. It can bale so much faster than the little baler it isn't even funny. The biggest problem I had this year was keeping the swather moving to keep enough hay down to keep the baler busy.

There is a little alfalfa growing back but I don't know if it will be enough for a second cutting. Only time will tell but with the lack of moisture I doubt it. There is a little barley hay left to do but it isn't ripe enough yet to cut. Give it a couple of weeks and I will be able to do that to.

Lets all think good thoughts and pray for some rain, not thunderstorms, rain. Maybe it will do some good.

I was drained dry. Freddie Bartholomew

Did you know if I move my mustache out of the way so the boy can see my lips he has a lot better luck copying the sounds I am making? I'll have to remember that.

It was an opportunity and we did the best we could and you just move on after that, there is no great epiphany. Paul M. Glaser

On the left of this picture you see my boy out for his morning walk climbing the hills and rocks for fun. I know it's hard to see but there is a fox on the right hand side of the picture watching him. There is a den of fox on the hill and they are so used to him, they aren't very scared anymore. Best viewed large to see the fox. Taken 6/23/2006.

Over at mtpolitics there is an interesting link to a story on ethanol (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/business/25ethanol.html) in the NY Times yesterday. If you are at all interested in the politics of ethanol it is a good read. It also raises some of the concerns I have as a livestock producer in the US.

"Unless we have huge increases in productivity, we will have a huge problem with food production," Mr. Staley said. "And the world will have to make choices."

Last year corn production topped 11 billion bushels — second only to 2004's record harvest. But many analysts doubt whether the scientists and farmers can keep up with the ethanol merchants.

"By the middle of 2007, there will be a food fight between the livestock industry and this biofuels or ethanol industry," Mr. Basse, the economic forecaster, said. "As the corn price reaches up above $3 a bushel, the livestock industry will be forced to raise prices or reduce their herds. At that point the U.S. consumer will start to see rising food prices or food inflation."

If that occurs, the battleground is likely to shift to some 35 million acres of land set aside under a 1985 program for conservation and to help prevent overproduction. Farmers are paid an annual subsidy averaging $48 an acre not to raise crops on the land. But the profit lure of ethanol could be great enough to push the acreage, much of it considered marginal, back into production.

Mr. Staley fears that could distract farmers from the traditional primary goal of agriculture, raising food for people and animals. "We have to look at the hierarchy of value for agricultural land use," he said in a May speech in Washington. "Food first, then feed" for livestock, "and last fuel."

It has greatly worried me that all this rush to ethanol will hurt not only the livestock industry, but the food industry in general. It looks like others are beginning to see the problem too.

This rush to ethanol and it's resulting problems with food security not only for the livestock industry, but for Americans in general is one of the Agricultural related questions I asked Jon Tester, Democratic candidate for US Senate, and have received no reply on. I know Tester is a big supporter of ethanol and was really wondering what his long term plan for food security is for the nation with this ethanol rush going to eat up so much of the nations corn production. By his lack of response I guess he doesn't care.

In the long run this is a concern for the livestock industry but there is not much we can do about it. When prices for the food stuffs get so high people can't afford it then Congress might look at the situation. Not very good long term planning if you ask me.

Plans are nothing; planning is everything. Dwight D. Eisenhower

I have ranted here more than once about Gov. Brian Schweitzer's idea of a coal to fuel plant in the Otter Creek area being premature and that people need to slow down and think. It's never done any good, Schweitzer's sycophantic legions just keep touting his plan like it is going to solve the woes of the world all in one shot.

Well, finally I see some reporting that blasts holes in Schweitzer's ideas and brings a little dose of reality to the equation.

Wyoming leads Montana in coal-to-liquid projects

Dan Fessler spent five years looking for a site to launch his vision of a new industry that could produce clean fuel from coal -- and, last year, he chose Wyoming.

"The mines are there; they're massive and they're well-financed," he says. "The rail infrastructure is there. For me to do (this project) in Montana would require me to develop a coal reserve and a transportation infrastructure, which is very expensive.

"I'm having enough trouble finding financial backing (just) for the coal-to-liquids plant. That's why you find people like me being at the mouth of the Powder River Basin (in Wyoming) rather than going up and talking to your governor."

You have to learn to walk before you can run the old saying goes and that is the case here. There needs to be a mine and infrastructure in place in the Otter Creek area before there is going to be any interest in a coal-to-fuel plant in the area. Any businessman knows this and I can't understand why Schweitzer and his legions don't understand this.

Schweitzer claims he shouldn't be blamed for the situation since the Republicans were in control for so long and didn't do anything about increasing coal production and that is why there is no infrastructure. I will point out up until now most of his energy has been on the Otter Creek coal which only come into the equation late in the Martz, the last Republican Governor, administration so there is now way the Republicans can be blamed for it since they didn't have time to screw it up. Schweitzer gets to screw it up all on his own and it looks like he is doing a pretty good job at it.

To get anything going in Otter Creek there needs to be basic infrastructure and a mine. The market conditions are now ripe for such a project and the Governor needs to get off his ass and let the lease out for the coal so some development can get started. Then down the road, many, many moons away, can we start dreaming about his other plans. Build the frame of the house before you build the whole house, it makes a lot of sense.

He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying. Friedrich Nietzsche

FROM THE PHOTO ARCHIVES
New not previously published

I've been putting up hay like mad the last couple of weeks so I thought I would look back and see the purpose of what I am doing.



Feeding the cows thier hay during a nasty snow storm. Taken 12/29/2005.

Man accused of raping 16-year-old

Man, I don't think so. No man I know goes out and rapes anyone, let alone a 16 year old girl. Let's try scum-sucking loser or cowardly asshole to describe this less than human beast. Calling him a man insults all real men out there.

Insult is powerful. Insult begets both rage and humor and often at the same time. Suzanne Fields

I spooked up two antelope kids (calves, fawns?) yesterday on my way home. I finally saw mom up on the hill a little ways away. They ran up to her. Taken 6/22/2006.