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.