The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
March 30, 2012, Issue No. 117
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)
Fort Plain, NY
March 30, 2012, Issue No. 117
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)
Riley and the Littles -- At the end of February, Riley showed-up with an open wound on a rear leg, so he limped around for a few days with an orange horse bandage wrapped around it. He is not the easiest of patients, beginning each new day with the bandage chewed-off and requiring a new application. All is now well. This week, I took the old Jeep to pick-up a couple of Amish teenagers hired to clean-out our stables. Riley accompanied me. When I got to the Amish house, there were actually three kids to retrieve, so Riley had to ride home sitting in the center seat in the back, with an Amish lad on each side. Riley would have fit-in unnoticed if we put a straw hat on him, although the boys all wore their usual black outfits, while Riley sat proudly wearing his golden fur coat.
Plowing and Planting -- Warm weather in most of March led to the early spring planting of our wheat (semolina), oats, barley and rye - 2 acres of each. We had two and a half weeks of temps in the 65-80 range with no rain. And the greenhouse seed germination and transplantation project is underway, with newly sprouted plants ... tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and peppers, along with some sweet potato slips. Sunny days result in mid-day temps in the greenhouse of about 120 degrees, unless the doors are opened for ventilation. Water and power was turned on and the greenhouse opened for planting on March 11. The average date of last hard frost here in Middle-of-Nowhere is May 20, so it will be a while before vegetable plants actually get outside in the ground. This year's plan is to put the potatoes and corn in the half-acre field nearest to the house, growing quite a bit more of each than last year - that field has been plowed, but awaits further action for more energy and initiative on the parts of the farmers.
And They're Off -- On March 26, Rio and Lady had their hooves clipped by farrier Chris King. He is the horse trainer that trained Lady a year ago. (Chris is 22-23 and a huge hockey fan. He still plays pond hockey, which is a favorite past time of Amish boys and men. We invited Chris over to watch an upcoming Bruins Stanley Cup playoff game - we'll have to see how that works out.) His younger brothers, Amos, Stephen and David, ages 17, 15 and 12, stopped-in the next day and gave our 8 stalls their annual cleaning. They did a great job - nothing competes with the Amish work ethic.
The Herd of Two -- Eli and Lily have gotten very friendly, and can almost always be seen side-by-side in the pasture. Bradley Chadwick, the man from whom we acquired Lily, stopped-in one day to see her, and I told him that Eli and Lily were fast friends. As if on cue, we walked around the barn and the two bovines were lying next to each other. While we watched, a red chicken hopped-up on Lily's back and groomed her. Where is Norman Rockwell when you need him? (I know, I know, he's been dead for over 30 years).
Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- The war, dry March has left the woods drier than usual for this time of year. Mud is at a minimum, which suits us perfectly. We still have a half dozen large chestnut trees that we felled last fall, lying in the woods, all cut to 18-inch lengths, just waiting to be brought down to civilization and split into firewood.
Fowl Weather -- The pond ice melted away on March 13, and the goldfish surfaced en masse. A pair of ducks stopped-in for a visit a day or two later. (Although Riley and Gabby chased them back into the skies). We have been feeding the fish daily since their return to surface waters.
Visitors -- All fairly quiet here in Middle Earth. In early March, Barbara, Teddy, Simone and Ahna visited for several days.
Blog -- The Riley Factor's official blog site is located at http://the-riley-factor.
Quotes of the Month --
The days are long, but the years are short. -- Gretchen Rubin
Free people ought ... to be armed. -- George Washington
The Democrat Party's message is simple ... 'Eat the rich.' -- Andrea Tantaros
It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong. -- John Maynard Keynes
If you want to go somewhere, if you want to be somebody, then wake up and pay attention. -- Sister Mary Clarence
There ain't a horse that can't be rode, and there ain't a man that can't be throwed. -- Matt Dillon
You are what your record is. -- Bill Parcells
The first half of life consists of the capacity to enjoy without the chance; the last half consists of the chance without the capacity. -- Mark Twain
"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage-earner up by pulling the wage-payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."
-- Abraham Lincoln
-- Abraham Lincoln
Facts of the Month --
Zero funds from the U.S. government or U.S. taxpayers are given to oil companies. Zero. There are no oil company subsidies, no loans to oil companies, no funding for oil companies. Period. Anything heard or seen to the contrary is simply politics, spin or lies, or a combination thereof.
Apple Inc. (you know, the Macintosh Computer company, the I-phone company, the I-pad company, I-tunes, I-etc.) is currently worth more than the entire country of Poland. And Apple has enough actual cash to buy every professional sports franchise in the United States - the entire NFL, all 32 teams, all the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball teams - all of the teams, and still have cash left over.
Every single day, one million people world-wide catch a sexually transmitted disease for the first time. Also, it is estimated that world-wide one-half of all pregnancies are unplanned. -- World Health Organization
Deep Vein Thrombosis, DVT, kills more Americans annually than breast cancer and AIDS combined. And it is virtually 100% preventable. Symptoms vary, but include legs that are painful, red, swollen and warm. Leg and foot pulse may also be weak. DVT is caused by blood clots forming in the legs, which can break free and travel to the lungs, creating a pulmonary embolism. Main causes are aging, inactivity, heavy smoking, obesity. Best preventative measure is regular walking. Ankle roll exercises also help. DVT is considered a medical emergency, as are all unexplained swollen limbs, and untreated lower extremity DVT has a 3% mortality rate.
Can you guess the most recognized word in human language? That word is ... 'Titanic'.
Commentary of the Month --
There are four types of employees ...
1. The employee who does as little as possible, scraping by with minimum effort, needing constant oversight and supervision, doing the bare minimum.
2. The employee who does exactly as instructed, nothing more, nothing less, completing tasks as outlined.
3. The employee who does the job, completing responsibilities, and looks to identify additional opportunities and what else might be accomplished.
4. The employee that does everything asked, completes the job, sees what else needs to be done, and does it.
It is those type-four employees that add value to the world, succeed, are rewarded, and move upward to grander and better opportunities. -- Unknown
They keep telling us how good things are, but if you look at other things which you cannot jiggle, such as the amount of electricity being used in America, it’s going down. America has got a population which is rising and the recovery, we are told, and yet electricity usage is going down. Energy usage is going down, and there’s something wrong with all these numbers. -- Jim Rogers
We frequently hear how hedge funds are running and ruining Wall Street. Well, consider this. As of December 31, 2011, all hedge funds together had assets totaling $1.9 trillion dollars, worldwide. Yet, the U.S. national debt is nearly $16 trillion and Obama's proposed 2012 budget alone has expenses exceeding revenue by $1.3 trillion ... just for the one year. -- CF
And Here's an Example of Your Hard-Earned Tax Dollars at Work ... Producing Statistics ...
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch, February 29, 2012) - The U.S. economy grew 3% in the fourth quarter, faster than originally reported, mainly because of increased commercial construction and consumer spending and lower imports, the government reported Wednesday. Projected GDP growth was revised down to 2.7% from an initial reading of 2.8%. Real final sales in the U.S., which exclude imports and inventories, rose 1.1% instead of 0.9% as originally reported. Inventories, a major source of fourth-quarter growth, totaled $54.3 billion instead of $56 billion as initially reported. Inflation as measured by the consumer PCE index rose 1.2% in the fourth quarter, or by 1.3% on a "core" basis if food and energy are excluded. Real disposable income climbed 1.4% in the fourth quarter, compared with an earlier reading of 0.8%. The personal savings rate was 4.5%, up from an initial estimate of 3.7%. I have an idea ... Fire everyone employed in and dissolve the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Energy, and Agriculture, and for good measure also toss out the EPA, NLRB and Depts. of Education and Transportation. The vast majority of what the federal government does is totally without any redeeming value.
And then there's this --
In a recent Gallup poll a random sample of 1,029 adults in the United States were asked the open-ended question: What one country anywhere in the world do you consider to be the United States’ greatest enemy today? The majority of respondents, 32%, picked Iran — followed by China at 23%, North Korea at 10%, Afghanistan at 7%, Iraq at 5%, and Russia and Pakistan each at 2%. One percent of respondents said the United States was its own worst enemy. Americans most frequently mentioned Iraq as the United States’ greatest enemy in 2001 and in 2005, when it tied North Korea. Iran has topped the list in each of the five surveys since. In the most recent survey, China was mentioned as an enemy more often than any other time, likely because of its growing global economic influence.
