The Riley Factor #132

The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
April 20, 2014, Issue No. 132
 (All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Riley and the Littles -- Riley endured the extra cold winter with the rest of us (minus 19 was our own record low temperature, but we also had nearly 20 other days with below zero temperature readings).  Riley is now back to his daily mile or two runs, each ending with a swim (or gold-fishing trip) in the lower pond.  Riley's pal Izzy, the smallest in our herd of cats has finally left the house to venture outside ... it only took her seven years. Senior citizens Stryder and Arwen are approaching nine years of age, and run all about the place with AJ, the hunter, a reformed wild barn cat, capturing mice and other rodents.

Plowing and Planting -- In mid-March, we spread a ton and a half of 19-19-19 fertilizer on about 25 acres of hay fields and wheat and barley crops.  Winter wheat is flourishing, and the barley is just now coming to life. The greenhouse has been up and running since mid-March, with seedlings planted for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, egg plants, candy onions, red onions, leeks, celery, lettuce, butternut squash, long island cheese squash, yellow squash and some herbs.  Outside in the garden, we have broccoli, cauliflower, peas and some garbanzo beans (chick peas) in the ground.  Next up ... potatoes, carrots, more onions, green beans and some corn.  For no reason, no garlic this year.


And They're Off -- Rio and Blondie are reliable and love the outdoors, rain or shine, warm or cold.  Much of the day, they run the pasture fence, and then stop and graze.  Rock Creek has been flowing fairly strongly these past few months, so their watering hole provides them with all the liquid they need.  They will always take the odd apple or carrot, when we offer them.  And they love to be stroked on the neck and face.  We don't ride them nearly enough.

The Herd of Four -- Lily remains the boss of the Jersey herd, while Abraham, Isaac and Abby, all born in the summer of 2012, have each grown to nearly 1,000 pounds and can no longer be pushed around by us as we try to get them from here to there, or into or out of the barn.  Good thing they like us.


Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- We heated the house with wood all winter, going through about 11 cords of hardwood.  We kept the main trails out back open all winter, but there were several weeks where we only used them three or four days due to cold temps and winds.  In late winter, we felled 40-50 trees up in the woods, where they were limbed, bucked (cut to 15-18 inch lengths) and left to season.  We will bring the logs down to the barn and split and stack them over the next few months for use next winter and beyond.  A desired side effect is the opening-up of the woods to let-in more sunlight.  Deer were fairly plentiful in early fall, but thinned as winter progressed.  Many wild turkeys run all about the trails, fields and woods.  And we have heard large packs of coyotes running fairly close to the house on two or three nights ... always a bit of an eerie experience.


Fowl Weather -- We hatched seven of our own bred chicken chicks to add to the 19 adult chickens that run about the place, and added another 16 Delaware chicks bought from a mid-western hatchery.  We have another dozen turkey eggs in the incubator, which should hatch in the next couple of weeks and another dozen turkey eggs being sat upon by mother hens in the bird department in the barn.  Success of the turkey breeding to be determined.  Last year, we hatched six of our own turkeys, added to 15 turkey chicks purchased from a hatchery.  With the exception of those few kept over the winter for next year breeding, all our turkeys are butchered a week or so before Thanksgiving.


Visitors -- Winter was quiet.  Stevie has visited us a couple of times, with the new and improved Jackson.  Born in December at barely two pounds, 13 weeks premature, Jackson is now in great health and over eight pounds in weight, essentially where he should be for a newborn or three-week or so old baby.  Jackson spent 72 days in the NICU at UMass Memorial Medical Center, where he received exceptional care.  Over Easter, Stevie and Jackson, along with CJ, visited us for several days.  And we took a day and traveled back to Amherst to visit my aunt Phyllis, which was a great time for us all.


Blog -- The Riley Factor's 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 search through our Internet site, you may need more help with your life than we are able offer....  But we digress.)
Quotes of the Month --
       

     Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. -- Mark Twain

     Hillary Clinton has failed to achieve anything of substance or significance on her own. -- Vladimir Davidiuk, The College Conservative

     Sending John Kerry to negotiate with the Russians is like sending a cupcake to negotiate with a steak knife. -- Ambassador John Boltin     

     There's no education in the second kick of a mule. -- Old Kentucky Saying

     With all your acquiring, get understanding.  -- Bible, Proverbs 4:7 

     Know what you own, and why you own it. -- Peter Lynch

     If it's obvious, it's obviously wrong. -- old Wall Street adage

     If you are taught bitterness and anger, then you will believe that you are a victim.  You will feel aggrieved, and the twin brother of aggrievment is entitlement.   So now you will think that you are owed something, and that you don't have to work for it, and now you are on a really bad road to nowhere, because there are people who will play to that sense of victimhood, aggrievment and entitlement, and you still won't have a job. -- Condaleeza Rice

    

     Abortion at any stage is the taking of human life. -- Margaret Sanger, Founder of Planned Parenthood, in her 1931 essay distinguishing between contraceptive measures that prevent a sperm from fertilizing a woman’s egg and post-conception measures that would destroy a fertilized egg, an embryo.

Facts of the Month --

     Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., killing more Americans than all forms of cancer combined.     

     Cell phone use is now estimated to be involved in 26% of motor vehicle crashes, up from 25% last year. -- National Safety Council

     Every year in the U.S., twice as many people are murdered with fists and feet than are murdered with rifles and shotguns.  Rifles and shotguns account for 2.5% of U.S. murders. -- FBI

     Today, collectively, the richest 400 Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans.

     Annually, on average, in the U.S., cattle kill 20 people.

     Vladimir Putin is 5'5" tall.

     More than $1 billion is being spent on travel every year by Barack Obama and his family.  Obama is spending 20 times what the entire royal family spends for travel. That sort of luxury and excess would make the sovereigns of any European nation wince. The latest trip to China includes all the must-see sights, such as the historic city of Xi'an, the southern district of Chengdu and the home of China's beloved panda bears. American taxpayers should be in open revolt, as they're footing the bill for this opulence and grandeur.  Adding insult to injury is the simple fact that Michelle Obama won't answer a single question about the entire trip.  Rumors persist that Michelle Obama is out of control in the White House and that even the President is not able to control her.  There is even a possibility of divorce before Obama's presidential term ends. -- Britain's Daily Mail

Thought of the Month --
     

     The theory of 'man-made climate change' is an unsubstantiated hypothesis. The theory is that CO2 emitted by burning fossil fuel causes 'global warming.' In fact, water is a much more powerful greenhouse gas and there is 20 times more of it in our atmosphere [than carbon dioxide]. Carbon dioxide has been made out to be some kind of toxic gas but the truth is it's the gas of life. We breathe it out, plants breathe it in. The green lobby has created a do-good industry and it becomes a way of life, like a religion. I understand why people defend it when they have spent so long believing in it. -- Dr. Leslie Woodcock, Ph.D., University of London, NASA
     There's no way to rule innocent men.  The only power that government has is to crack down on criminals.  Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them.  One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. -- Ayn Rand

Bumper Sticker of the Month --

     YOU MIGHT AS WELL REPLACE THAT 'OBAMA' BUMPER STICKER WITH ONE THAT SAYS 'I AM STUPID'

And then There's This ...