The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
December 21, 2011, Issue No. 114
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)
Fort Plain, NY
December 21, 2011, Issue No. 114
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)
Riley and the Littles -- AJ got into some sort of brawl while out in the outback and suffered a couple of wounds to his right side - all cleared-up with a visit to the vet and a couple of shots and medicines. He did have to wear the dreaded cat helmet for several days - looked hilarious as he tried every trick to extricate himself from the cone of silence. Riley, Gabby and the others refused to give AJ a moment of peace. Izzy, our newest cat, is making slow and short strides outside of the upstairs bedroom which has become her lair.
Plowing and Planting -- No plowing. No planting. No growing. Fall expires and winter approaches.
And They're Off -- Lately, both Lady and Rio have been craving our attention. Whenever we get near the pasture fence, one and then the others walks up to us and seeks a nose rub or hug. Probably, they are really trying to find out if we are transporting an apple or carrot. In any event, they are extremely gentle and friendly of late.
The Herd of Four >>> Two -- Alack and alas, December 20 was the day that we had some of our steer butchered to provide beef for the upcoming year. The Butcher Block, a traveling butcher shop of sorts, arrived and butchered our two Dexter steer. Dexters are the world's smallest major breed of cattle. Our two, Michael and Raphael, had been with us since August 2009, and were each about 30 months old and fully grown at about 1,000 pounds. This is about half the size of adults of most cattle breeds (Holstein, Hereford, Angus, etc.). Michael and Raphael had a good life when they were with us. They were loved and well cared for, spending nights in the barn and days in our pasture. They were fed our own organic pasture grass and hay, supplemented with a bit of our own wheat, oats and some other grain. It is always a bit melancholy on butchering day. We get to know our animals well, and even violate one of those true and tested farming rules - don't name the cows. But they are after all farm animals, not pets. Farming can be enjoyable and rewarding, but has its messy aspects and down sides as well. Everyone knows that all meat eaten for food results from animal slaughter, but most of us ignore the day to day aspects of this.
A scene from the film Leap Year ...
The set - Amy Adams' friend, a chef, walks up to a chicken in a farm yard, captures it, and breaks its neck.
Amy: (shocked) What are you doing? Why did you do that?
Friend: I'm making a chicken stew for dinner. (pause) Where did you think chicken came from?
Amy: I always thought that chicken came from the freezer section.
And from the world of agriculture, here is a bit of farm science from a 2000 Grant & Albright study.
| Activity | Time devoted to activity per day |
| Eating | 3 to 5 h (9 to 14 meals/d) |
| Lying/resting | 12 to 14 h |
| Social interactions | 2 to 3 h |
| Ruminating | 7 to 10 h |
| Drinking | 30 min |
| Outside pen (milking, travel time) | 2.5 to 3.5 h |
Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- With mild November and early December weather, we were able to spend many days felling trees, cutting-up trees taken down last year, and splitting firewood. We are probably ahead of the game for this year and have already began stacking wood for use next winter. Cutting, splitting and stacking firewood is a great way to spend a sunny fall day. Excellent exercise. We have yet to put exact science on it, but we think that we burn about a dozen cords of wood heating the place each winter, using our basement wood boiler and the kitchen stove.
Fowl Weather -- For some reason, our roosters have decided that the Christmas season is breeding system. They spend all day chasing hens and mating. The larger, younger Jersey Giant hens seem better equipped to evade the roosters than their smaller, older Rhode Island Red/Cornish Rock Hen counterparts. But all in all, it is creating havoc in the barn and barnyard. Well, after a couple weeks of this, we decided to butcher the roosters, and on December 14, we sent all nine of them to Annie Kanagy who was happy to oblige. I see a few chicken dinners in our future. And in the Kanagy family's future.
Visitors -- All quiet on the western front.
Blog -- The Riley Factor's official blog site is located at http://the-riley-factor.
Quotes of the Month --
Obama is our first green president. He is obsessed with green jobs, putting greens and the green in our wallets. -- Greg Gutfeld
It is impossible to play the quarterback position any better than Aaron Rodgers is playing it right now. -- Tom Brady, 12/3/11
Quite possibly, Aaron Rodgers is playing the quarterback position better than anyone we have seen in history. -- Kurt Warner, 12/7/11
Fact of the Month --
The sun converts 4.8 trillion tons of matter into radiant energy ... every second.
Around the world, more people drink goat milk than cow milk.
For the first time in history, over one billion people in the world are hungry.
Bumper Sticker of the Month --
Commentaries of the Month --
President Obama has set forth his game plan - grow the government and tax the rich. We will hear this over and over for the next year. Whenever he uses his code works, he is promoting his Socialist agenda. These are his phrases such as: rich should pay their fair share, give so-and-so a fair opportunity, everyone should have the same chance, fairness to everyone, fair play, fair shot, fair competition, middle class is in jeopardy. All of these nice sounding phrases mean the same thing - Socialism. Promoting not equal opportunity for everyone, but equal outcomes for everyone. If successful, Socialism will lead to America's bankruptcy. And the Democrats know that tax cuts stimulate the economy - how long have we been hearing them promote extension of the payroll tax cuts? Yet on the other hand they want to tax the rich. They know taxing something reduces consumption (think cigarettes, alcohol), yet they claim they need more taxes to fund the economic recovery. We are in a box and the only escape is voting out of office Obama, Reid, Pelosi and company. Obama's de facto motto >>> If you take from four and give to five, do you know what that gets you? Re-elected.
The Green Thing
Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."
She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
Remember: Don't make old people mad. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off.
NFL --
September 8 ... Green Bay Packers 42, New Orleans Saints 34 / Patriots 38, Dolphins 24
18 ... Green Bay Packers 30, Carolina Panthers 23 / Patriots 35, Chargers 21
25 ... Green Bay Packers 27, Da Bears 17 / Bills 34, Patriots 31
October 2 ... Green Bay Packers 49, Denver Broncos 23 / Patriots 31, Raiders 19
9 ... Green Bay Packers 25, Atlanta Falcons 14 / Patriots 30, Jets 21
16 ... Green Bay Packers 24, St. Louis Rams 3 / Patriots 20, Cowboys 16
(And then there was one)
23 ... Green Bay Packers 33, Minnesota Vikings 27 / Patriots (bye week)
30 ... Green Bay Packers (bye week) / Steelers 25, Patriots 17
November 6 ... Green Bay Packers 45, San Diego Chargers 38 / Giants 24, Patriots 20
13 ... Green Bay Packers 45, Vikings 7 / Patriots 37, Jets 16
20 ... Green Bay Packers 35, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26 / Patriots 34, Chiefs 3
24 ... Green Bay Packers 27, Detroit Lions 15 / Patriots 38, Eagles 20
December 4 ... Green Bay Packers 38, New York Giants 35 / Patriots 31, Colts 24
11 ... Green Bay Packers 46, Oakland Raiders 16 / Patriots 34, Redskins 27
18 ... Kansas City Chiefs 19, Green Bay Packers 14 / Patriots 41, Broncos 23
(oops)
And then there's this --
Packers Around Town
I have been wearing one or the other of my Green Bay Packers shirts around town while running errands. Recently, one morning while at the Fort Plain Curtis Lumber, the following conversation evolved.
The stage: Me, in my best green & yellow Packers sweatshirt, holding door open for another arriving customer.
Him: Oh.
Me: (silently looking up at him)
Him: I'm a Bears fan.
Me: Oh. Sorry to hear that. It's not too late to switch.
Him: That Bears game Sunday was awful.
Me: I know. Caleb Haney is not the answer.
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