The Riley Factor #103

The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
July 24, 2011, Issue No. 103
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Riley -- It is no fun wearing a fur coat during the 90-degree heat wave days.  Riley is a good sport and continues on his daily runs on the trails, but really all in anticipation of dropping into the pond for long soaks at runs ends.  The pond fish are not bothered at all by him any more, swimming within a foot or two of Riley as they feed during his swims.

Planting and Plowing -- The wheat is starting to turn golden brown, and will be ready for combining by early August.

Horses -- Brady Barrett and Stevie became rider numbers 2 and 3, each putting Rio through his paces.  Lady looked-on longingly as if she was not invited to the party, which she wasn't.

Herd of Three -- Steer are steer and that's that.  Content to roam the pasture day and night.

Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- Went into the woods for the first time this year on July 16 and continued clearing a few of the logging roads.  Much work still required - will need some chain-sawing.

Fowl Weather -- Nine turkey chicks have joined the flock.  These Broad-Breasted American Whites were hatched in town on July 13 and should be in the 20-30 pound range by mid-November.  Riled is fascinated with them and likes to lie next to their cage and stare at them as they run around under the heat lamp.  They get along well with the 23 recently hatched chicken chicks.

Visitors -- Barbara the Elder and Nancy dropped-in over July 4th weekend, and joined us at Fort Plain's 4th on the 3rd party and fireworks.  Stevie was here July 4-6.  Greg and 12-year old daughter Kelly are scheduled to visit from south Florida for the last week of July.  When I told Greg it would be warm and to expect temps around 85 degrees, plus or minus 5 degrees, he said they would be bringing sweatshirts -- ahhh the Florida life.

Blog -- The Riley Factor has its own official blog site, located at http://the-riley-factor.blogspot.com/, and you can see all issues to date.  (If you actually spend the time and do this, you may need more help with your life than we are able offer....  But we digress.)

Best Political Bumper Stickers --

     1.20.13 ... The End of an Error

     Pro Life, Pro God, Pro Gun, Anti Obama

     Obama ... Why Stupid People Shouldn't Vote

     Bankrupt America ... Yes We Can

     Honk If I'm Paying Your Mortgage

     ObamaCare ... Call Us When You're Shovel Ready

     And We Thought Carter Sucked

     OBummer

Quote of the Month --

     The problem with this administration is that they are academics, they've never had real jobs.  They want to punish companies that succeed and subsidize companies that fail.  --  Chris Tekola   

Fact of the Month (with some editorial commentary) --

     A person working for the federal government is more likely to die at work than to be fired or laid-off.  A couple of departmental examples - during the last fiscal year, neither the Federal Communications Commission nor the Federal Trade Commission laid-off or fired even a single employee.
     Government employees have not suffered the unemployment woes of the private sector over the last few years - their unions and administrators make them think they are forever entitled to taxpayer money and government employment, without any performance  or quality standards.  Unlike in the private sector, taxpayers have no alternatives - what are you going to do when you encounter unhelpful or incompetent government officials, go to another government?  The only hope for a reasonable and rational future is for citizens to take at the voting booths.  Elect official who realize the government is overstuffed with useless federal and state departments and programs, and see the need for government payrolls to be reduced by half.


Commentary of the Month --
          A Bit of Poetry and Time Machine
Long ago and far away, in a land that time forgot,
Before the days of Dylan , or the dawn of Camelot.
There lived a race of innocents, and they were you and me,

 
For Ike was in the White House in that land where we were born,
Where navels were for oranges, and Peyton Place was porn.




We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince, Eddie Fisher married Liz, and no one's seen him since.



We danced to 'Little Darlin,' and sang to 'Stagger Lee'
And cried for Buddy Holly in the Land That Made Me, Me.


Only girls wore earrings then, and 3 was one too many,
And only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for Jean McKinney.

 
And only in our wildest dreams did we expect to see
A boy named George with Lipstick, in the Land That Made Me, Me.
 
We fell for Frankie Avalon, Annette was oh, so nice,
And when they made a movie, they never made it twice..

 
We didn't have a Star Trek Five, or Psycho Two and Three,
Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the Land That Made Me, Me.


Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp,
And Reagan was a Democrat whose co-star was a chimp.


We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T,
And Oprah couldn't talk yet, in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We had our share of heroes, we never thought they'd go,
At least not Bobby Darin, or Marilyn Monroe.


For youth was still eternal, and life was yet to be,
And Elvis  ;was forever in the Land That Made Me, Me.

 
We'd never seen the rock band that was Grateful to be Dead,
And Airplanes weren't named Jefferson , and Zeppelins were not Led.


And Beatles lived in gardens then, and Monkees lived in trees,
Madonna was Mary in the Land That Made Me, Me.


We'd never heard of microwaves, or telephones in cars,
And babies might be bottle-fed, but they were not grown in jars.

 
And pumping iron got wrinkles out, and 'gay' meant fancy-free,
And dorms were never co-Ed in the Land That Made Me, Me.


We hadn't seen enough of jets to talk about the lag,
And microchips were what was left at the bottom of the bag.

 
And hardware was a box of nails, and bytes came from a flea,
And rocket ships were fiction in the Land That Made Me, Me.


Buicks came with portholes, and side shows came with freaks,
And bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks.


And Coke came just in bottles, and skirts below the knee,
And Castro came to power near the Land That Made Me, Me.


We had no Crest with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues,
We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal tea
Or prime-time ads for those dysfunctions in the Land That Made Me, Me.


There were no golden arches, no Perrier to chill,
And fish were not called Wanda, and cats were not called Bill


And middle-aged was 35 and old was forty-three,
And ancient were our parents in the Land That Made Me, Me.


But all things have a season, or so we've heard them say,
And now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A.
They send us invitations to join AARP,
We've come a long way, baby, from the Land That Made Me, Me.


So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans,
And wonder why they're using smaller print in magazines.
And we tell our children's children of the way it used to be,
Long ago and far away in the Land That Made Me, Me.

The Riley Factor #102

The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
June 17 2011, Issue No. 101
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Riley -- We are experimenting with allowing Riley outside with us, untethered by leash or other tie-down.  He is about a C+/B- student.  Some days, Riley will stay within 50 yards of Susan for hours when Susan is out in the greenhouse or gardens, without wandering away at all.  Other days, he runs immediately into the pasture to chase chickens or guinea fowl back and forth, following the menace he secretly hides deep within his golden dog brain.  Overall though, he is making progress and behaving fairly well....  To be continued.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish -- The Pond Experiment -- A little over a year ago, we put four dozen carp (think gold fish, 3-6" long) into the lower pond.  Most of the fish were orange, with a few being silver with orange and black spots, and one fish was totally black.  We did not see much of them swimming last summer and fall, but also didn't see any floaters or escapees.  The pond is about 100 feet in diameter and 12 feet deep at the center, so they can tend to get lost.  Well, we now see hundreds of one to two inch long fish swimming about, mostly black, with some orange, and also some black and orange or black and silver.  And many of the original big fish are also still swimming around.  It is peaceful to sit by the pond in early morning or early evening and toss pond fish food into the water to see the feeding frenzy.  The Riley loves to swim around when they fish are feeding, and they don't mind him much.

Planting and Plowing -- The last of the planting was done on June 6, with the final few rows of sweet corn going into the ground in the greenhouse garden.  The corn is already growing, and a few small tomatoes, cucumber and squash are showing.  The potato plants are looming large, hopefully developing subterranean crops.

Horses -- In the great heat, Lady and Rio are inclined to remain in their stalls all day.  They do consume large quantities of water, sometimes 10 gallons per day each in the barn, in addition to what they gulp from Rock Creek.  When pasturing, horses and cattle get 70% of their fluid needs satisfied from eating grass.

Herd of Three -- The cattle are content, with much mooing.  On one day of pouring rain, the herd got caught on the other side of Rock Creek.  All day, they ate grass while being rained on -- leather coats were shrunk to fit.

Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- Deer sightings are everywhere these days, mostly does with their recently born fawns.  One day, Susan came across a mother leading her newborn fawn out in the trails -- the fawn was so small that it first appeared to be a rabbit, but was really the smallest deer she has ever seen, with legs only about six inches long.  The next day, The Riley locked his radar onto a large doe and chased her back and forth around the trails.  Both were running about half speed, not really wanting to run away or catch anything.  On our way to Amsterdam one day in the pouring rain, on three separate occasions miles apart, we saw beaver waddling next to or crossing route 5S -- very peculiar-looking creatures, complete with buck teeth and wide flat tails.

Fowl Weather -- The French Guinea Fowl apparently learn nothing from seeing their brethren run down by speed demons on route 163.  Of the original batch of 16 chicks that arrived in April 2010, only three remain.  The past couple of weeks have been especially bad, with four of the Keets being hit by traffic.  I fear that the remaining trio should be placed on our endangered species list.

Visitors -- One for the record books >>> With her last appearance in Fort Plain, Stevie has visited us here in Middle-of-Nowhere every month for a year straight.  And she says in a recent e-mail, "I'm riding one horse next time I come up! Be prepared!"

Blog -- The Riley Factor has its own official blog site, located at http://the-riley-factor.blogspot.com/, and you can see all issues to date.  (If you actually spend the time and do this, you may need more help with your life than we are able offer....  But we digress.)

Best Lines --

     Best headline this week following Boston Bruins' Stanley Cup victory, after a 39-year hiatus from the team's last hockey championship in 1972 >>> "Out of Hibernation"

     Best headline, from the New York Post, following President Obama's harsh criticism of NY Congressman Anthony Weiner's photo sexting >>> "Obama Beats Weiner"
     Best new opening pick-up line, from movie Hall Pass  >>> "Do these bar napkins smell like chloroform to you? ...  Just kidding.  Can  buy you a drink?"

Quotes of the Month --

     Any success I have ever had has come form working hard. -- Tim Thomas, goalie, Boston Bruins

     Blessed are the cheese-makers. -- Monte Python

     Job creation on main street has collapsed. -- National Federation of Independent Businesses, June 3, 2011

     Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. -- Thomas Edison

     You cannot trust Chinese companies.  You cannot build a small or large fortune in China without committing high crimes and misdemeanors.  That is their way of life.  That is why China is doomed to fail. -- Gordon Chang, Author
    
     China is a totally corrupt country, to which we have given a pass due to its economic might. -- Doug Schoen
     You did not bear the shame.  You resisted.  You bestowed an eternally vigilant symbol of change by sacrificing your impassioned lives for freedom, justice and honor. -- Memorial to the German Resistance, Berlin

     Unnecessarily restrictive gun control laws empower bungling bureaucrats, and make it harder for law abiding citizens to access guns to defend against criminals. -- Robert Farago

     Nothing is so healing as the human touch. -- in 2005, final words of Bobby Fischer, former world chess champion
Facts of the Month --

     25% of the world's food supply is lost to spoilage.

     Jobs lost during the Obama Administration: 2.5 million.  Jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007: 6.8 million.

     More people access the Internet now by smart phone than by PC. -- John Reed, CEO, Robert Half Technology

Commentary of the Month --

The High Cost of Cheap Meat

Published: June 2, 2011, New York Times

The point of factory farming is cheap meat, made possible by confining large numbers of animals in small spaces. Perhaps the greatest hidden cost is its potential effect on human health.
Small doses of antibiotics — too small to kill bacteria — are fed to factory farm animals as part of their regular diet to promote growth and offset the risks of overcrowding. What factory farms are really raising is antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which means that several classes of antibiotics no longer work the way they should in humans. We pay for cheap meat by sacrificing some of the most important drugs ever developed.
Last week, the Natural Resources Defense Council, joined by other advocacy groups, sued the Food and Drug Administration to compel it to end the nontherapeutic use of penicillin and tetracycline in farm animals. Veterinarians would still be able to treat sick animals with these drugs but could not routinely add the drugs to their diets.
For years, the F.D.A. has had the scientific studies and the authority to ban these drugs. But it has always bowed to pressure from the pharmaceutical and farm lobbies, despite the well-founded objections of groups like the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization, which support an antibiotic ban.
It is time for the F.D.A. to stop corporate factory farms from squandering valuable drugs just to promote growth among animals confined in conditions that inherently create the risk of disease. According to recent estimates, 70 percent of the antibiotics sold in this country end up in farm animals. The F.D.A. can change that by honoring its own scientific conclusions and its statutory obligation to end its approval of unsafe drug uses.