Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

The yearling replacement heifers entering their new home, the mountain pasture. I finally decided the weather looked nice enough to take them up yesterday. There isn't as much grass as I would like to see but it is coming on fast now. They will do fine. Taken 4/14/2007.

Time has this really funny habit. It keeps ticking on no matter what. You go on with your daily life and routines and all of a sudden you look up and notice that the month is about over, time has marched on and you almost didn't notice.

Marching forward on,
Slick ice cleaned by winter winds
Grab that whipping end.

This happened to me this month. With the daily feeding of the cows and the routine of therapy appointments, doctor's appointments and other routines it almost slipped away. Its time to bring the heifers home to calve and it almost got past me. I realizes the end of the month was coming about Wednesday and I have been getting the few things done here to bring them home.

I was considering bringing them home Monday but I am not sure that is going to happen now, I might have to wait until Wednesday to do it. Today while feeding I broke both front springs out from under one of the pickups. Yes, I said both front springs, one on each side. How I managed that is beyond me, but it happened. I am probably going to have to spend Monday trying to get the parts to fix the problem.

It will be good to bring the heifers home. I am not looking forward to night calving and the lack of sleep that entails but to see some calves running around will be fun. Time almost got away from me though. I wouldn't have forgotten about bringing the heifers home but that dastardly beast, time sure slipped up quick on me. It tried but failed as it always will.

Being and time determine each other reciprocally, but in such a manner that neither can the former - Being - be addressed as something temporal nor can the latter - time - be addressed as a being. Martin Heidegger

U.S. home to set world price record at $155 mln

'Beware the affluenza virus'


The confluence of these two stories struck me as interesting. An Article about rampant consumerism being harmful and a home being planned that is going to cost $155 million. If there is anything that embodies rampant consumerism it has to be this house.

Why would you need a house that is worth that kind of money? Does it somehow make you happier to have such an extravagant dwelling or is it just a way to stick it at the lowly peasants who can't afford such? What kind of score do you get for owning such an extravagant home or do you get any points? Does such a pricey house drive up home prices in Montana for us peasants? Is such conspicuous consumption in keeping with a Montana lifestyle or is the Yellowstone Club, a gated community where the house is to be built, a country of its own and has no relation to Montana and it's lifestyle?

I can't for the life of me figure out what one person would need with a house that costs such a large amount of money. I can't see how it would make you happy and healthy. The article on rampant consumerism really brings it into focus if you think about it.

Bigger houses, more cars, larger televisions, younger faces - these goals are frenetically pursued by middle-class workaholics afflicted by "affluenza".

"Studies in lots of different nations show that if you place high value on those things, you are more likely to suffer depression, anxiety, addictions and personality disorders," he said.

Don't get me wrong here, a $155 million dollar home is not being marketed to the middle class, but the drives that lead to it are the same. I've thought about how I can expand my ranch or change my production for more profits on my ranch more than once. Get bigger, go to grass fed beef and market it myself, do a dude ranch concept, or other things. The drive, to bring more money and profit into the business. What stops me? Every time I think about something different like that I can't help thinking how these things would take away from the more important things in my life. My family. The drive for money is all fine and dandy, but family and personal relationships are just as important, if not more important, and need fostered to. You can try to buy love but it doesn't work out real well. To invest in personal relationships takes time, not money, so any pursuit for money costs you investment in time to your family. That's a sad fact.

Speaking of peasants, this just goes to show you how Montana is being sold off to the rich and famous and those of us natives that are left are expected to be peasants to them. It is a trend that has been going on for a while and is only getting worse. A better business economy in the state would help this trend some, not enough so that the common worker could buy a $155 million dollar home, by helping to provide higher wage jobs in the state so the residents wouldn't be seen as peasants. I'm not sure our Legislature wants this though. By continuing to call businesses the problem in the state the selling off of our state continues.

It is the logic of consumerism that undermines the values of loyalty and permanence and promotes a different set of values that is destructive of family life. Christopher Lasch

Putting Bulls out the other day I got this picture from the mountain looking west towards home. If you look real close at the center of the picture and slightly to the left you will see some little dots that are home to me. Taken 5/3/2006.

How many years can you stand to be married to your spouse? This couple has been married 72 years. That's right, 72 years. That just blows my mind for some reason.

It's hard sometimes to think I have been married to My Darling Wife for almost 14 years but to make 72, that's just something. Hell, I would have to be over 100 to accomplish the same feat with My Darling Wife. That's what happens when you wait for the right one. You get married a little older.

I've told My Wife more than once, if she wants to get rid of me, she will have to shoot me. I'm still alive so either I'm OK as a hubby or she's afraid of going to jail. I'm not sure which.

As one grows older, one becomes wiser and more foolish. Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The only bunch of cattle I bring home and watch close to calve is the first calf, two-year old heifers. Today was the day that we trailed them home. We got a light skiff of snow on the ground and it was windy and cloudy and cool but it worked out really well and we got them home.



Bringing the heifers home to calve and they seemed to get excited here and were in a real hurry. Don't know why, they've never been home so they don't know food is there.



The heifers really got spread out after their little trot so I had to get up towards the front to slow the lead down. I normally don't have this problem. I don't know what got into them.



The sun finally came out a little and we are almost home. Less than a mile to go.



Finally Home! Look at that hay there is to eat.

They seem to be a really calm cool and collected bunch of heifers this year. I can walk around through them and they don't get very excited. For my cattle that is really good because they almost never see a human walking around them and a lot of times it really spooks them. These seem to be taking in stride though. I have been making some efforts to gentle the cows down through my breeding and I think it's beginning to work. Every year is a little different and maybe this bunch will be sweethearts. I can hope.

Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man. Friedrich Nietzsche