The Riley Factor #93

The Riley Factor Fort Plain, NY
March 1, 2011
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

The Snows -- Snow falls, snow piles up, snow melts, as snow has done for countless millennia.  Still, each storm is reported by local and national media as the disaster of the decade, a 100-year storm.  We have survived five 100-year storms in the past three years.  We have been advised ad nauseum to stay off the roads, driving is treacherous, plows are working 24/7 to clear the mess.  Who is working 24/7 to clear this media madness?  (Which is what we really need).  The first melting of any sort this winter began on Valentine's Day, and lasted for five days, with sun and a 60 degree temp reached on Feb 18.  A week later, on Feb 25, 13 inches of snow fell in Middle-of-Nowhere.  Five more inches fell on Feb. 26, and now it's a party.  Total snow fall here so far this winter -- six feet.

Visitors -- Stephanie stopped-in for a few days during school vacation week with new puppy Bruin in tow.  The Riley and Bruin were up non-stop for almost 72 hours before collapsing.

Solar Project -- In February, we had enough sunny, dry and warm weather to progress further on the grand solarization of Rock Creek Farm.  Solar panels were wired on Feb. 17.  Installation of inverters, charge controllers, and control panel was completed on Feb. 24.  Still to come - final in-barn and in-house wiring, and disconnection of the electric meter to achieve off-the-grid status.  Today, much of this is being worked-on by three of the Empire Solar engineers and electricians.  And then finally will come The Throwing of the Switch.

Planting and Plowing -- Plowing continues its dormancy.  Manure continues its spreading.

Riley -- Inexplicably, the Golden One has been napping more and more during the day, as the earth tilts its northern axis toward the sun and daylight expands and temperatures warm.  He has been consistently getting-in his twice daily two-mile runs.  Many days, we find scattered remains of a fresh overnight kill out on the trails, probably the result of a fast coyote meeting-up with a slow rabbit.  The Riley feels obligated to fully investigate each of these findings.

Horses -- Lady and Rio are becoming more comfortable in their new surroundings.  Especially Lady, who kisses Riley regularly and likes to place her considerable head on Susan's shoulder.  She also brings one or the other of her giant eyes to within an inch or two of my eyes and stares intently, as if she is trying to see my brain (good luck with that; better try a magnifier).  Rio continues on, never stirring-up the animal or human masses, and he has started giving Susan daily kisses.

The Herd of Three -- As the snow gets low, bovine heaven of green pastures gets closer and closer.  The three 1,000-pounders are still a bit too scared of Lady, who prances and gallops her 1,500-pound frame liberally close to the Herd of Three and thereby gets more than her fair share of the daily hay allotments.

Fowl Weather -- Currently confined to their coops and outdoor pen, the birds are antsy to get back to their wide-spread wandering around the fields and lawn.  We need to see wide-spread bona fide green before that occurs.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- A few snowmobiles have scatted around the upper two pastures, not welcomed and trespassing in spite of well posted borders and some discussions with some of the locals.  No damage done, primarily owing to the foot-plus of snow covering everything.

Quotes of the Month --

     Where we go one, we go all.  --  on the bell of The Albatross, lost at sea, 1960

     Every great movement begins with a single voice.  --  Ben Franklin

     The buffalo who runs against the herd reaches only his own demise.  --  Chief Crazy Horse

     The government cannot make you change your behavior.  Government subsidies do not work.  They do not make you get out of your car and ride the trains.  They do not make you buy environmentally friendly cars.  --  John Stossel

     Those who risk nothing, do nothing, achieve nothing, become nothing.  --  Anonymous

     Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.  --  Napoleon Bonaparte

     We're all on running clocks; you can't slow them down, or pause them.  --  Ryan Bingham (George Clooney character in Up in the Air)

     I have seen enough to know now that I have seen it all.  --  David Lander (baseball stadium announcer in A League of Their Own; better known for his Happy Days character Squiggy)

     President Obama is a miserable failure.  America deserves better than this. -- Sean Hannity

     Today, President Obama said that his budget as submitted provides for annual revenue and expenditure break-even by the middle of this decade.  His own budget numbers show one billion-plus dollar deficits each year for this year, next year and the year after, and no less than a $600 billion deficit in any single year from 2014 through 2020.  Which is it Mr. President, are you hopelessly incompetent or are you lying?  --  Glenn Beck

     You can't walk around saying that what you want to do is cut the deficit, and then have everything you do increase the deficit.  The President is being disingenuous.  --  Florida Congressman Connie Mack

     Hold on everyone.  We have a blind date with destiny, and it looks like she's ordered the lobster.  --  William H. Macy, in Mystery Men    
     The rule of law is a mess in America.  --  Judge Andrew Napolitano

     Drink won't fix it. -- Matt Dillon, Gunsmoke


Facts of the Month --

     o  Muslims & Jews -- There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world (which represents 20% of the world's population), and there are 14 million Jewish people in the world.  Since the awarding of Nobel Prizes commenced in the early 1900s, Muslims have been awarded 7 Nobel Prizes.  Jews have been awarded 129.   Nobel Prize categories include literature, physics, medicine, economics and peace.

     o  Other People -- There are more Irish in New York City, than in Dublin; more Italians in NYC than in Rome; & more Jews in NYC than in Tel Aviv.

     o  Unions -- in 1981, 21% of American workers were in a union, broken-down to 19% of private sector workers and 34% of public sector (government) workers.  In 2010, 12% of American workers are unionized, with the break-down being 7% of private sector workers and 36% of government workers.  Editorial & Analysis -- Allowing government employees to unionize makes no sense for two fundamental reasons: (1) If a private company's employee unions force wages and benefits to an artificially high level, the consumer has the choice of refusing to pay the resultant higher prices and go elsewhere for products and services.  This option does not exist with respect to government employees, since if they perform poorly or are over-hired and over-paid driving up costs, the taxpayer is not allowed not to pay the taxes which fund the government, so people are forced to pay for too-high government employee salaries and benefits.  And (2) Unions collect dues from members, aggregate funds and use those funds to support primarily Democrat political candidates through campaign contributions and by urging members to get out and vote, and vote primarily Democrat.  Then, after the elections, the unions sit across the tables from the elected Democrats that the unions helped put into office and negotiate new union contracts -- can you say 'conflict-of-interests'?

And then, there's this ...

* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust
* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends
* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness
* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment
* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective
* If you plant hard work, you will reap success
* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later.
Think about this for a minute.... 

If I happened to show up on your door step crying, would you care?
If I called you and asked you to pick me up because something happened, would you come?
If I had one day left to live my life, would you be part of that last day?

If I needed a shoulder to cry on, would you give me yours?
This is a test to see who your real
friends are or if you are just someone to talk to you  when they are bored.
Do you know what the relationship is between your two eyes?
They blink together, they move together, they cry together, they see things together, and they sleep together,
but they never see each other;

...That's what friendship is ...

Your aspiration is your motivation, your motivation is your belief, your belief is your peace,

Your peace is your target, your target is heaven, and life is like hard core torture without it.