The Riley Factor #105

The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
August 17, 2011, Issue No. 105
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Riley -- The Golden One turns two years old on September 3.  He was born in South Dakota and joined us in December 2009 via CJ and a south shore pet store.  He is a great dog to have in the family - hard to believe he has been with us nearly two years already.  Normally calm, in control and not bothered by anything or anyone, we did find recently that fireworks drive him crazy - almost uncontrollable, running in circles, staring at the sky and cowering under any nearby chair or table.

Hitchhiker -- The other day while on the way to Cobleskill for supplies, Susan picked-up a lone hitchhiker (Yes, hitchhikers do still exist.  Apparently.)  This man was probably 75-80 years old and weighed all of 100 pounds.  He stood, arm and thumb extended, dressed in full military uniform, and was on his way to the food pantry in Schenectady, a trip he makes three times per week.  He lives in a mobile home on the outskirts of Sharon Springs and owns no car.  Twice a week, he also ventures to the food pantry in Albany.  All his trips are made via hitchhiking.  A collector of military artifacts, he served for two years in the NY National Guard many years back.  A very gentle old soul is he.

Planting and Plowing -- In early August, we combined four of our five acres of hard red winter wheat and soft white semolina wheat, before the combine decided enough was enough and broke the rear feeder beater.  (Don't ask - I couldn't begin to understand.  Or explain.  But I will repair it.)  Also broke a drive chain, which I will also repair.  Then, on to combining the rest of the wheat and all the oats.

Horses -- CJ's friend Brittany was successful in calming-down Lady enough to accept the fly spray designed to rid horses of those mid-summer flying pests.  Prior to Brittany's calming influence, Lady ran from Susan and me whenever she saw us with spray bottle in hand.  Rio and the steer don't mind the spray and look forward to their daily fly relief.

Herd of Three -- Eli, our 1,500 pound two-year-old Holstein, has developed the new habit of standing in the water troughs during the day.  While it may cool-off his feet, the other animals no longer drink from the vessels once Eli has completed his daily foot baths.  It may be tough to solve this riddle, although the arrival of cooler temperatures may do the trick.  Probably needless to say, there is no way to move a 1,500-pound steer unless he wants to move.  Of course, at times, we do play a game, that around here we like to call Slap the Bull.

Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- In the woods, the old logging roads still lurk, waiting for me to get up and clear them for use by those who prefer not having to lug-along a chain saw when riding the trails.  CJ plans to spend a week here in September, and we may get some chain-sawing done then.

Fowl Weather -- The 23 chicken chicks, all hatched on or about July 1, and the 9 turkey chicks, hatched on July 12, are all growing like mad.  Day-by-day, they venture further outside of their little coops, never straying too far from one another or too far from the mother hens.

Visitors --  August 12 was a big day on the ranch, with my aunt Eva Paige House visiting with her husband Dick House and daughter Su-Ann Paige.  Eva was originally married to Wayne, my mother Barbara's youngest brother, who died 20 or so years ago.  Eva and Dick traveled all the way from their place in North Carolina, and were near the end of a month-long motor-home journey around the northeast, which included visiting Dick's cottage in Maine and also Eva attending her Agawam High School 60th class reunion.  Coincidentally, Eva was a classmate of Ames Slate, Susan's father, and Eva actually grew-up in Agawam, less than a mile from where I enjoyed my misspent youth, at 16 Alfred Court.  My cousin Sue now lives in Schenectady, less than an hour from Fort Plain, and is a fellow Harley Davidson rider.  Sue promised to return to the compound some day on her bike.  We had a great time, spending most of the day riding around the fields, trails and woods, and recollecting days gone by.  We also fed the fish in the lower pond and spent quite some in and around the barn with the horses, steer, turkey chicks and chicken chicks.  Eva and Sue held the turkey chicks, who loved the attention.  As usual, around the house, The Riley was in the middle of everything and everyone, tail madly wagging and nose madly poking.

CJ arrived around midnight on the 12th, with girlfriend and other friends, Jen Nieves, James Godino, Andy Brooks and Brittany Josselin.  They were here for their second annual Warrior Weekend, which included running a nearby 5K cross-country road race over a course that included a dozen obstacles - things such as fire pits, water pools, ladder climbs, obstacle walls, cargo nets and the like.  Race day was preceded by a day of speeding around the trails on the ATVs, firing paintball and a late night bonfire.  We did another bonfire Sunday night, after the great race.

Stevie and friend Crystal Raymond also dropped-in on their way back from a long weekend in Chicago.  The NY Compound was a busy place that included Stevie and Crystal sleeping in the living room on Saturday night, as all the guest rooms at the inn were full.

Blog -- The Riley Factor's own official blog site is located at http://the-riley-factor.blogspot.com/.  It contains 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.)

Quotes of the Month --

     Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston Churchill

     The government does not create jobs.  The private sector creates jobs, and prosperity. -- Monica Crowley

     President Obama demonizes the rich, then he parties with them. -- Stuart Varney

     You could take all the money away from all the rich people and give it to the poor people, and in 10 years the rich people would have it all back again.  There is a reason the rich people have it in the first place. -- Jonas Max Ferris


Facts of the Month -- The impact of illegal aliens in the U.S.

  1.  $11 to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.

  2.  $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and who cannot speak a word of English.

  3.  $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for Education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies. 

  4.  $3 Million dollars a day is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.  30% percent of all federal prison Inmates are illegal aliens. 

  5.   $90 Billion dollars a year is spent on Illegal aliens for welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.

 

   6. Nearly one million sex crimes have been committed by illegal immigrants in the U. S.
    
Commentary of the Month --

     Obama Administration Rejects IBM offer to Reduce Health Care Costs

Samuel J. Palmisano, the Chairman of the Board and CEO for IBM, said in
a recent Wall Street Journal interview that he offered to provide the
Obama Administration with a program that would curb healthcare
claims fraud and abuse by almost one trillion dollars but the Obama
White House turned the offer down.

"We could have improved the quality and reduced the cost of the
healthcare system by $900 billion...I said we would do it for free to
prove that it works. They turned us down."

Speaking with FOX News' Stuart Varney, Mort Zuckerman, Editor-in-Chief
of US News & World Report, said,

"It's a little bit puzzling because I think there is a huge amount of
both fraud and inefficiency that American business is a lot more
comfortable with and more effective in trying to reduce. And this is
certainly true because the IBM people have studied this very carefully
And when Palmisano went to the White House and made that proposal, it
was based upon a lot of work and it was not accepted. And it's really
puzzling...These are very, very responsible people and don't have a
political ax to grind.

In Mr. Obama's shunning of a private sector program that would have
saved our country almost $1 trillion in healthcare expenditures,
presented to him    as he declared a "crisis in healthcare," he proves
two things beyond any doubt: that he is anti-Capitalist and anti-private
sector in nature and that he can no longer be trusted to tell the truth
in both his political declarations or espoused goals.