The Riley Factor #111

The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
November 1, 2011, Issue No. 111
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Riley -- Riley has been limping around of late - has a pain in the center of his right front paw.  Nothing serious, but slows him down a bit.

Nancy -- Susan's older sister, Nancy, has rejoined us at Rock Creek Farm, arriving on October 19.  Nancy previously spent a little over a year with us, leaving in the spring of 2010.  This time, she moved into the larger bedroom in the brick house, so the former 'Nancy Room' will need a new name.  (Back in Hopkinton, we still call the bedroom where our foreign exchange student, Moritz Gottschalk, spent the 1999-2000 school year with us 'The Moritz Room'.  Probably destined never to change, as long as we own the house.)  Nancy brings with her Gabrielle, her six-year-old Belgian Tervuren, a large, beautiful and extremely well-behaved dog, bred for herding sheep and other animals.  Last time Gabby saw Riley, he was a young puppy who she grabbed by the collar and tossed around like a rag doll.  She still herds him around a bit, and skillfully gives him the collar tackle, but with a little more effort required than before.  Gabby appears much larger than Riley, owing to her thick fur coat, but actually weighs a few pounds less.  Like in wrestling, and most other endeavors, it is all about the technique.

Planting and Plowing -- Farming is done for the year.  Just a few winter vegetables to pick - carrots, parsnips, Butternut squash, Long Island cheese squash, Australian butter squash, etc.   And we still have tomatoes and peppers growing in the greenhouse, and the last of the apples are still hanging-on on the larger trees in the orchard and back yard.  Then to rototill-under the vegetable gardens for the winter rest.

And They're Off -- Rio and Lady are still content to roam the pasture day and night, and will take apples whenever offered.  Most of the apples have been picked, so they are down to their last few weeks of 2011 apple fest.  I hope they understand seasons.

The Herd of Four -- Oh Boy.  Rural Theatre in Fort Plain.  Rated R.  October 18 marked the day that our new 24-month old Jersey Heifer, Lily, went into heat.  No science behind telling when that occurred.  We awoke to loud mooing and more mooing, much more noise from the barn than usual, from all four members of the Herd.  When we saw Lily with Eli, Michael and Raphael, the Band of Three Steers, she was the object of their collective desires.  About once a minute, one then the next then the next bull charmer would jump-up on her.  No flowers.  No dinner.  No nothing.  If they delayed a bit, Lilly would jump-up on one of them.  Alack and alas, as they are all-three steers, no actual mating was destined to occur with Lily-the-Fertile.  The jumping-up went on for a couple of hours, and we caller neighbor Ken Smith, who works for Select Sires.  Soon, Ken arrived with his collection of bull semen.  (Oh the hobbies some people have).  We made our selection, and once we captured Lily from among her love ponies, Ken artificially inseminated her.  It was all over in 10 minutes.  (Let's just say the AI Process involves a glove that covered Ken's arm from his finger tips to his shoulder, and leave it at that.)  We let Lily out, and she was again in the pasture running with the bulls.  Count 278 days (average gestation period for a Jersey) and we should expect delivery of a new calf on or about July 22, 2012, plus or minus a week or so.  Then the dairy farming begins.

Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- Still cutting firewood around the edges of the woods and from trees fallen across various roads and trails.  About six large trees remain lying to be removed.  great exercise, and a great way to spend sunny fall afternoons.  We have also been collecting some kindling to fill the upstairs and downstairs boxes.

Fowl Weather -- Flocks of geese are overhead, flying southward.  Our two egrets and lone blue heron make daily rounds back and forth between our two small ponds, occasionally stopping at the watering hole in the pasture.  With all the goldfish in the ponds, they are most likely making a feast of it, but we have not yet heard anything except tales of the big one that got away.  We also have a pair of ring-neck pheasants dividing time between our second and third fields, nesting in the hedge row, we think.  Beautiful birds, especially the male.  Every once and a while, Susan has been feeding them deer corn and oats.

Visitors -- As fall settles in, all quiet in Middle-of-Nowhere.  Susan's mother Barbara dropped-in on October 29 for a few days R&R.  We were lucky in that the bulk of the big October snow storm mostly missed us here in Middle-of-Nowhere.  Some places in nearby Western Massachusetts got over 20 inches of white, and power outages are widespread and serious.

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.)


Rest in Peace -- Long-time Family Friend

                                             Brent Davidson  --    June 14, 1960 - October 31, 2011


Quotes of the Month --

     I have always found that anger is the enemy of instruction. -- Phil Jackson

     I could end the deficit in 5 minutes.  You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election. -- Warren Buffett

     Difficulties are simply things to overcome. -- Mike Yacino, Massachusetts GOAL

     The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. -- Ralph Nader

     The guy that shot Qaddaffi was wearing a Yankees cap.  If he were wearing a Red Sox cap, he probably would have missed. -- David Letterman

     Until a man reaches out, you never know how long his arms are. -- Marshall Matt Dillon

     The true level of taxation is the level of government spending. -- Unknown

      Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go now. -- Vince Gill

      Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing. -- Adidas
     Here is the fact of the age.  People believe nothing.  They believe everything is spin and lies.  When people believe nothing, they believe anything. -- Peggy Noonan, in The Wall Street Journal

Facts of the Month --
     Recently, Joe Biden said in a speech that private sector jobs have been unaffected by the economy, and it is the government workers who have borne the brunt of unemployment woes.  Well, had Mr. Biden consulted the facts, he would have found that 2.5 million workers in the private sector have become and remain unemployed since Obama became president.


Bumper Sticker of the Month --
                                                             Milk Cows - Not Taxpayers


Commentaries of the Month --

     Warren Buffett's Proposed Congressional Reform Act of 2011:

1. No Tenure / No Pension.  A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.  All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

   
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

The Riley Factor #110

The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
October 16, 2011, Issue No. 110
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Riley -- Riley has been wandering leash-free in the woods while Susan and I cut some trees down and up.  He generally stays within 20 yards of us, and usually within 10 feet.  He loves gnawing on sticks and finding mud puddles to splash in.  After three or four hours, he generally collapses upon our return to the yard, sometimes falling asleep right on the lawn or patio.

Wedding Wishes -- We wish our German-Italian friend Moritz Gottschalk wonderful wedding wishes on his October 15 wedding in Cyprus.  And all the best to his parents Uschi and Joachim on gaining a new daughter, Sanya, Moritz's bride.  Moritz spent a school year with us, 1999-2000, while on a foreign exchange attending Hopkinton High School.  And we have visited with Moritz and his parents here in the U.S. and in Italy a few times since then.  How fast time flies.
Planting and Plowing -- Farming has been rather dormant, but one morning on our routine run with Riley, Susan saw eight deer in the third field.  They were standing and grazing on uncut hay and the left-behinds from recently cut & combined oats.  Riley was oblivious to them all, and was sniffing and snorting as usual, pretending to be the great hunter.  The deer watched the human/dog team suspiciously, but did not run off.

And They're Off -- Rio and Lady clamor for apples every time we ride or walk by the pasture.  They snort and stomp hoping to be fed or tossed a few of the round snacks - green, red or yellow, they have little preference for any specific varieties.

The Herd of Four -- Also part of the apple clamor, Eli, Lily, Michael and Raphael run for apples whenever the feeding looks imminent.  Unlike the horses, who chomp and chop them with their big horse teeth, the cattle like medium and small-sized apples popped whole into their mouths for grinding and crunching.  Especially with Eli and Lily, the feeding process resembles popping quarters into slot machines at your favorite casino.  We await any payoff.

Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- On good weather days, Susan and I have been chain-sawing trees in the woods that fell across logging roads during Hurricane Irene and other storms this year.  We are down to the last half dozen trees or so.  Some are manageable in size, while others are gigantic.  In the first week of October, we cut about two cords of firewood, some of which still needs splitting, some was stacked as is.  Great exercise and a great time being in the woods in sunny warm weather.  We thought we had basically zero damage from Hurricane Irene. Which is what we did have in the yard and barn area.  But in the middle of the woods, several large trees, 8" to 15" in diameter, snapped-off just above ground level or tipped-over roots and all.  We have found several tees like this, mostly lying across trails and logging roads, within 100 feet of the fields.  Who knows what lurks deeper in the woods where we travel only once or twice per year?

Fowl Weather -- After a week gone missing, one of our French Guinea Hens returned from wandering around Fort Plain.  Slight limp, but otherwise no worse for the wear.  Susan's prayers were answered, as she felt bad for what was our lone remaining Keet, who was roaming aimlessly until her friend returned to make a flock (of two).

Visitors -- As fall settles in, all quiet in Middle-of-Nowhere.  Ames, Debbie and Cameron joined us for a couple of days, mid-month in October, while Barbara and Nancy dropped in for the afternoon on the 15th.

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 --

     Just Win Baby. -- Al Davis, 1929-2011   

     Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The nerds. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. -- Steve Jobs, 1955-2011, Apple Inc.'s Corporate Manifesto

      You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. -- Dr. Adrian Rogers

     "The laws that forbid the carrying of arms .... disarm only
those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.
Such laws make things worse for the assaulted
and better for the assailants. They serve rather to encourage
than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be
attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. -- Thomas Jefferson

     Said of those Occupy Wall Street protesters currently hunkered-down in New York and other cities ... Win-less, parasitic bloodsuckers ... Meet the Flea Party -- Anne Coulter

Facts of the Month --

     The real unemployment rate is 16.5%, not the 9.1% that was reported today. -- Peter Schiff, economist, author, October 7, 2011

Commentaries of the Month --

     It is the moral obligation of society to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves.  But we must also insist that those who can take care of themselves do so. -- Joe Granoff

     President Obama has encouraged the idea that the government owes you a living.  Medical benefits.  Unemployment benefits.  Welfare payments.  Food stamps.  Disability payments.  Retirement without work.  Entitlements for everyone.  Well, what the government owes everyone is the same thing ... opportunity. -- Stuart Varney

     This financial crisis was not created by Wall Street.  It was created by the government attempting to have everyone own a home.  The Democrats pushed FNMA and FHLMC to give everyone a loan.  The Fed reduced interest rates to 1%.  Government failed everyone.  And these Wall Street protesters are against capitalism and now want even bigger government. -- Brian Wesbury

Investing 101 - Advice From Some of the Best

     "Be patient with winning trades; be enormously impatient with losing trades. Remember it is quite possible to make large sums trading/investing if we are 'right' only 30% of the time, as long as our losses are small and our profits are large." – Dennis Gartman
     "It's Far Better to Buy a Wonderful Company at a Fair Price than a Fair Company at a Wonderful Price." – Warren Buffett
     "Do you really like a particular stock? Put 10% or so of your portfolio on it. Make the idea count. Good investment ideas should not be diversified away into meaningless oblivion." – Bill Gross

     "We're getting hurt, but I'm a long-term investor." -- Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal
     "You learn in this business … If you want a friend, get a dog." – Carl Icahn

From the Infamous Malcolm ...

Did you notice who Obama threatened when he wasn't getting his way on raising the debt ceiling?

He threatened to not pay: 

 

  Social Security Retirees, Military Retirees, Social
  Security disability and Federal Retirees.

Now ... Let this sink in really good -

   He did not threaten to stop payments to illegal aliens

   He did not threatened to take frivolous benefits such as Internet access away
from violent inmates

   He did not offer to fire some of the thousands of unnecessary federal employees
that he hired

   He did not offer to cut down on his or his wife's frivolous gallivanting around

   He did not threaten to not pay the senators and representatives or any of their
staff

   He did not threaten to take benefits away from welfare recipients

   He did not threaten the food stamp programs

   He did not threaten to not pay foreign aid

   He did not threaten to cut back on anything that involves his base voters

The list could go on and on. Obama is in full political re-election mode!

• Why are we allowing this person to destroy this wonderful country with his

selfishness and his lies?

• His type of change is killing our country. He needs to be stopped and only our

votes can stop him.

• Do not forget about his tactics when it's election time. Vote Obama out of the

Presidency in 2012.

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 7 / Patriots 20, Cowboys 16
                                        (And then there was one)

And Then There's This --

    You know your lawn is too long when ... a stranger knocks on your door and asks if he can harvest the mushrooms growing in your front lawn by your driveway, because they are edible and some of the largest he has seen growing wild in the many years he has been mushrooming. -- at the back door and in the driveway @ Rock Creek Farm, October 2, 2011

The Riley Factor #109

The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
October 2, 2011, Issue No. 109
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Riley -- One Saturday morning, The Riley and I were driving around Downtown Fort Plain doing the typical errands (feed store, hardware store, bank, etc.) and as we rolled slowly around a corner, a small boy crossing the street hand-in-hand with his mother looked at Riley, who was calmly sitting in the passenger seat of the pick-up, and the boy shouted, "Look - a pony!"  His mother reassured him that it was just a puppy.  Nevertheless, the boy stared in amazement.  I think I saw Riley suck-in his stomach a bit.

Sold ... A Bargain -- Recently, we spent a couple of evenings at local auctions.  In beautiful Downtown Fort Plain, the entertainment included the owner of the auction house throwing-out one of the bidders for conduct unbecoming, or some such infraction.  Parties had to be restrained.  The next night in beautiful Downtown St. Johnsville, we saw among other things a collection of a dozen bureaus, a dozen desks and a dozen night stands, all nearly brand new in cherry finish, sell for the might sum of one dollar.  No explanation.  Over the two night stand, we acquired such treasures as ... a bugle, a cannon ball, a bell, a Tonka fire engine, an Esso tanker truck bank, a pot belly stove, a Jarts game (remember those lawn dart games of the 1960s? Well, they are now illegal in all 50 states, according to the auctioneer), a 3-foot in diameter steel Coke sign, and several other 'gems'.

Planting and Plowing -- Probably no more planting this fall, unless we decide on some winter wheat and/or winter oats.  I recently mowed-down all the fields that were used this year for wheat, oats and hay.  And Susan did rototill the recently combined-and-cut fields nearest to the house and out by the upper pond, about 10 acres in all, destined for grain planting in the spring.

And They're Off -- Lady and Rio spend most of their days, whenever they see us, trying to coax us into getting and giving them more apples.  They are addicted to the fruit.  Hand feeding is best, but it is hard to keep up with their appetites.  Luckily, we have a few apple trees within throwing distance of the pasture.  The steer manage to get the half-eaten hand-me-downs, although you can feed apples to Eli and Lily as fast as you can feed quarters into a slot machine.

The Herd of Three -- On September 28, the Herd of Three officially became the Herd of Four, with the addition of Lily, a two-year-old Jersey cow.  Lily is a favorite of our friend, Bradley Chadwick, who is downsizing his farm a bit.  He is 75, just had heart valve replacement surgery, and has six remaining head of cattle, three horses, three goats, and other assorted animals running around his 265 acre spread in nearby Ames, NY, where he lives alone.  Lily is soon to be bred via artificial insemination (AI), assuming that Susan and I can identify when she is in heat and call the AI GUY in time to visit us and perform The Act.  This should make for some great rural theater.  Stay tuned.

Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- Low and behold, after seeing only a few deer this year, one late summer morning, we did see in the third field one average-sized doe and one giant doe - actually Riley saw them first and the chase was on.  Riley lost.  The large doe was almost as large as a horse (no rack, so it wasn't a buck).  We saw the pair of deer again that afternoon, but not since.  And one morning, Susan saw 8 deer standing in one of the mowed oats fields, happily munching on left-behind grain and grass.  Most of the maple and selected other trees already are showing yellow foliage.  Oaks, chestnuts and beech are still full green.

Fowl Weather -- A couple of new birds have joined the Great Blue Heron in the ponds -- a Great White Egret and a Dark Morph Egret.  Beautiful to watch, about two-feet in height and wing span, with sharp pointed beak, 5 inches or so long.  On the chicken front, one red chicken has become the gang leader of a pack of a dozen or so of the new Jersey Giant chicks (hatched July 1, now almost the size of a full-grown chicken).  They roam all around the yard, garden, around the pond, into the garage, into the equipment shed.  And they are noisy.  And to complement the cacophony, when the egrets are around, the two remaining French Guinea Hens squawk their little orange and gray heads off - no love lost between those two breeds.

Visitors -- Stevie spent the first weekend of October with us, as the rains continued to fall in beautiful Middle-of-Nowhere.

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.)

Quote of the Month --
 
     My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me, as we change it. -- Barack Obama (during his 2008 presidential campaign)

     Those who have little have nothing to lose. --  Paladin, Have Gun-Will Travel

     And on the morning after the completion of the Red Sox 2011 collapse, the most extreme in the history of baseball ... "If there are any Red Sox fans living in upstate NY, they are probably jumping off their barns". -- Greg Fuchs, insulated deep inside sunny south Florida

Facts of the Month --
     Here are the true facts about income taxes, according to the IRS, September 21, 2011:  
          >>  The top 1% of American taxpayers pay 38% of all income taxes paid.
          >>  The top 5% of American taxpayers pay 59% of all income taxes paid.
          >>  And, 51% of American households pay zero federal income tax.

          >>>>  The so-called 'wealthy Americans' not only 'pay their fair share', but they pay the majority of all federal income taxes collected, financing and providing for all the government and all the federal programs, agencies and departments for everyone.

Commentaries of the Month --

Income Tax Structure

If Congress fails to adopt a more permanent tax structure before the end of 2012, the income tax rates and the estate and gift tax would revert to pre-2001 law, ushering in across-the-board increases for all classes of taxpayers.  Although there is nearly unanimous support at the White House and in Congress for preventing tax increases on low- and middle-income taxpayers, there are deep disagreements over what to do about tax rates for higher-income individuals — typically defined as singles with income above $200,000 and couples with income above $250,000. -- Deloitte Tax LLP

The 10 Best Things the Government Has Done for You

1.) Protecting our freedoms. Our political and economic rights are the foundation of our democracy and capitalist economy.
2.) Giving away the land. The United States developed as one of the most egalitarian nations in history, mostly because the government gave away millions of acres of land and sold more at rock-bottom prices to regular people who worked that land and made it productive
3.) Educating everybody. Our economy and democracy would be impossible without an educated, skilled populace. From the beginning of our nation, offering free and universal public education has been one of the most important functions of government.
4.) Helping us retire with dignity. Social Security and Medicare keep millions of Americans out of poverty, allowing them to live out their lives in dignity. And these essential programs are provided by government at far less cost than would be possible from the private sector.
5) Improving public health. Many of us owe our lives — literally — to the government. The greatest advances in longevity are due to public-sanitation measures such as water treatment, sewer systems and trash disposal.
6.) Building our transportation networks. Every major mode of transportation — from canals to airports — has received critical financial support from the government.
7.) Investing in communications. Communications networks, like transportation systems, create lots of external benefits that cannot be easily recouped by the builder. That makes them perfect for public investment.
8.) Building our energy supply. Most energy investment comes from private companies, but the government has played its role. Government-built hydroelectric dams provide a lot of power in the Northwest and Southeast, and all nuclear-power plants can trace their lineage to the Manhattan Project.

9.) Inventing the future. The space program and defense research continue to spin off benefits to our economy. Because NASA and the Pentagon demanded (and paid top dollar for) highly reliable and lightweight components, advancements in medicine, electronics, communications, materials and manufacturing were accelerated by decades.
10.) Defeating totalitarianism. The United States has faced few serious external threats in its 235 years of independence. When it did, the government spent trillions of dollars to defend us from the forces of fascism and communism.

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

And Then There's This --

    Today's Dialogue of the Day, brought to you by the vacationing CJ, from somewhere around here in Upstate New York ...

       CJ:  I think I've diagnosed your affliction.
       Me:  I didn't know that I had an affliction.
       CJ:  You're unable to relax without toiling.

The Riley Factor #108

The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
September 20, 2011, Issue No. 108
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Riley -- Happy Birthday Riley ... who turned two years old on September 3.  Riley was born in South Dakota on September 3, 2009, and was acquired by CJ at a pet store in Braintree, MA, when Riley was 12 weeks old.  The rest is history.  On one recent morning, from another room where she was sweeping the floor, Susan shouted-out, "Riley, if you're out there in the other room shedding, I'm going to shave your ass."  I said back, "Well, you have two choices, he's either shedding or chewing."  Susan replied, "Riley, I'm going to have your teeth pulled too."

Tales from the Amish Auction -- We went to the annual fall consignment auction at the Mohawk Valley Produce Auction site, run to benefit Amish medical expenses.  The second item offered for sale was a white cardboard box about a foot square.  The auctioneer yelled to his helpers, "Open the box!", and out flew a large white chicken.  The next 10 minutes were spent watching 10 Amish boys run around trying to catch the world's fastest chicken.  Unfortunately, the Amish are not big fans of America's Funniest Videos, so no one was around to capture the hilarity on tape.  For those interested in Chicken Auctioning, there was a second chicken in the box, and the pair sold for $5.50.

Tales from the Amish Social Calendar -- Susan planned to attend an Amish bridal shower on September 8, for Annie Kanagy Jr., who is engaged to marry Aaron Miller (wedding planned for November 1), but the torrential rains and local flooding caused postponement of the shower.  Susan did not fully appreciate my humor when I said, "So, you and your Amish buds will have to delay partying like it's 1899".

Planting and Plowing -- Fall farming season is arriving.  We recently baled the straw that remained from the combining of the wheat and oats, for use as animal stall bedding.  And on the last official day of summer, we baled 213 bales of second cutting hay.  Now, we are debating whether to plant winter wheat and oats for harvesting next summer, or wait until spring to do the planting.  In any event, we will soon plow or rototill the fields.

And They're Off -- Apples, apples everywhere this year - huge difference from 2010, when a late spring hard frost killed-off about 80% of the apple crop in these parts.  Horses whinny and stomp around for apples every day now.  And the steer are not far behind.  All would eat apples non-stop, if allowed.  We limit them to a few apples each per day.  And this >>> Recently, one morning at about 8AM, there was a knock on the door.  A passer-by was reporting that Lady was wandering around the pasture with the hay feeder stuck on her head.  The hay feeder is a 40-pound wooden structure about four feet long, three feet high and two feet wide (think wooden bath tub on 12-inch legs), into which a bale or two of hay is placed daily for the animals to eat.  The horses and steer frequently knock it around or over when it is empty, but it has never drifted more than a few feet from its appointed location next to the barn until Lady decided to make a head-wear fashion statement.  At least this is better than the story I heard last week, where a cow stuck her 11-inch head into a 10-inch culvert pipe, and the owner had to spend a half hour's labor and three pounds of butter to free the animal.

The Herd of Three -- Moo, eat, moo, eat, drink, clamor for apples, poop, repeat.  The bovine life is a simple one.  Developing into connoisseurs, they love the McIntosh and red delicious apples, but routinely reject the yellow pear apples.  Not possessing any biting teeth, cows must be fed apples that are small enough to fit entirely in their mouths.

Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- Deer have been very scarce this summer.  We rarely see any.  Same for the wild turkeys.  Two nights in a row, however, we did hear a pack of coyotes running around the field across the street and in our pasture.  With our horses and steer spending nights outside the barn lately, the coyotes don't linger in the pasture for long - but they do love to howl and yip.

Fowl Weather -- The turkeys are growing like weeds, having moved-up from their July 12 hatchings to their current size, each roughly the size of a small chicken.  The chicken chicks, who were all hatched on or around July 1, are also growing well, each now about 2/3rds the size of a full-grown chicken.

Visitors -- Quiet times as fall approaches.  Those inseparable identical twins, Barbara and Betty, stopped-in for a little barbecue on Labor Day.  And fully recovered from his recent bout with mononucleosis, CJ spent most of a mid-September vacation week here at The Compound.  On his first day, we baled about 120 bales of straw, left in the fields from the recent wheat and oats combining.  A few of the bales were a bit damp and therefore heavy, some as much as 60-70 pounds vs. 30-40 pounds or so for the dry bales, and after they were all stacked in the barn, CJ exclaimed in an unguarded moment, "I'm beat.  Your retirement is harder than most people's work."

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.)

Quote of the Month --

      No day shall erase you from the memory of time. -- 9/11 Memorial

Facts of the Month --

 

     WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010 was the largest group for the 52 years that data has been published, the Census Bureau reported.  The number of people in poverty rose for the fourth consecutive year as the poverty rate climbed to 15.1% -- the highest since 1993 - up from 14.3% in 2009.  Meanwhile, real median household income in 2010 was $49,445, down 2.3% from the prior year.  Those with health insurance ticked higher to 256.2 million from 255.3 million in 2009.

Commentaries of the Month --

     The Democrats are the party of welfare, higher taxes, spending and debt.  A year from now, as the presidential election approaches, the Democrat Party will be on its way out. -- Stuart Varney, FOX Business Channel, September 2, 2011

     The Environmental Protection Agency has become the Environmental Punishment Agency.  It has scrapped its environmental role in order to push its own political agenda. -- Steve Forbes

     Polls? ... Naaah ... Polls are for strippers and cross country skiers. -- Sarah Palin

     Only the free market can create prosperity ... not government-backed loans or government subsidies. -- Andrew Napolitano

     No man is wealthy enough to buy back his past. -- Oscar Wilde

     'Community Organizer' is just today's politically correct term for 'Socialist'.

NFL --

     Opening day ... September 8 ... Green Bay Packers 42, New Orleans Saints 34
                             September 18 ... Packers 30, Carolina Panthers 23

     NFL's Most Valuable Franchises (Forbes Magazine):
          1.  Dallas Cowboys          $1.85 billion
          2.  Washington redskins   $1.55
          3.  New England Patriots  $1.40
          4.  New York Giants         $1.30
          5.  New York Jets            $1.22
          6,  Houston Texans          $1.20
          7.  Philadelphia Eagles     $1.16
          8.  Chicago Bears           $1.09
          9.  Green Bay Packers    $1.08
          10.Baltimore Ravens        $1.08

     All 32 NFL franchises are included on the list of the most valuable 50 sports franchises in the world.  The average value of an NFL team is $1.04 billion, and, on average, an NFL team currently has annual revenue of $265 million and makes an operating income profit of $30.6 million per year.

And Then There's This --

     Susan and I were out for dinner the other evening at the Sprout Brook Country Store, which includes a small restaurant - to get a mental picture, we call the place Hooterville (think Uncle Joe, Sam Drucker, Mr. Haney, Oliver and Lisa Douglas, Billy-Jo, Bobby-Jo and Betty-Jo; not Hooters).  On the wall was proudly hanging a sign that read,"The menu has two choices, Take It or Leave It."

The Riley Factor #107

The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
September 1, 2011, Issue No. 107
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Riley -- One recent afternoon, at the beginning of one of his two-mile runs, the Golden One was tossed into the penalty box for felony assault of a French Guinea Fowl.  No idea what got into Riley, but he chased three, caught one, and dragged it around by the neck.  No harm, no fowl-foul, but nevertheless a guilty verdict.  As judge, jury and prime witness, I sentenced Riley to a few hours of no fun and no food.

Hurricane Irene -- After days and days of nonsensical television weather forecasting and warnings by governmental officials, the most recent 100-Year-Storm blew in and blew out in 12 hours.  It was a six-two storm here - a one-pumper - six inches of rain outside and two inches of water in the basement.  One pump in addition to our ever-present sump pump drained the cellar in a few hours.  Winds were 50 mph and less, so no real damage - just a few branches down.

In Memoriam -- On August 29, Isaac Miller was killed in a haying accident.  Ike was the 18-year-old son of our friends Melvin and Fanny Miller, and brother of our friends Elam, Aaron, Ruben and Lizzy Miller.  Ike was killed when mowing one of the fields across the road from the family home on Phillips Street in Fort Plain.  Ike loved to sing, and is no doubt now singing among the angels in heaven.  The Miller family runs various local businesses -- Melvin retired from farming and now operates Mohawk Valley Harness Shop, Elam has a barn supplies business, Aaron runs E&A Fence Co., Ruben runs the Miller family farm, and Lizzy is a teacher at one of the local Amish school houses.  Fanny found Ike in the morning, being dragged by one of the horses from the team that was pulling the mower, a gas-engine-powered discbine weighing a ton or so.  No one has been able to determine exactly what happened.  A very sad event.  Susan spent some time with the family on the afternoon of the accident, and we attended the Amish wake the next afternoon, with about a couple of hundred of the Millers' friends - a nice affair that presented a beautiful open-casket viewing of Ike.  He will be buried in the local Amish Cemetery, which coincidentally is on Miller land, right next to the field on which Ike had the accident.  Isaac Miller, 1993-2011, Rest in Peace.
Planting and Plowing -- Large, juicy apples are hanging on the four big, older McIntosh trees and one large hybrid apple tree in the orchard.  The two apple trees in the back yard are also full of fruit.  With a week to go in August, it is still early in the season, but we have eaten many, and all the horses and steer love them, so a new regimen has been added to the daily animal feeding routine.  Of course, it is advisable to enter the pasture well-armed with apples, because the horses and steers swarm you wanting more and more apples to eat.  A better approach is to stand on the other side of the pasture fence and feed the animals over the rail, or toss a few onto the nearby ground.  One evening, we fed the fivesome about a dozen apples each (some were small, but many were tennis-ball-sized).  The lone plum tree in the back yard has already produced about three dozen dark red plums.  Extremely sweet, the fruits rarely make it back into the house, at least when I see them first.  I did find that plums are one of the few foods that The Riley will not eat.

The Herd of Three -- Soon to become the Herd of Four, Susan talked with Bradley Chadwick and our Jersey dairy cow, Lily, will be arriving in a couple of weeks.  Since Bradley had heart surgery a month ago, he was unable to have Lily bred, so it will be up to us to get Lily artificially inseminated (known as 'AI').  We are supposed to watch the cattle, and when we see Eli, Michael and Raphael jumping-up on Lily, the theory is that we will know Lily is in heat, and we have to contact the AI Specialist to arrange a pregnancy.  (You will recall that the members of our Herd of Three are all steers, and alack and alas, are without the requisite equipment to actually breed, although reportedly they will attempt to do so).  (Many thoughts and lines come to mind here, but I will avoid them all in the interest of good taste).  Stay tuned for the play-by-play on this rural theater production.

And They're Off -- Down in front of the barn on the morning after Irene, we were unloading a few bags of bedding, when Lady took a bite out of the Silverado.  Yes, that's right, a bite out of the pick-up.  When did they start making vehicle trim out of plastic?  There is now a horse's-mouth-size bite missing from the rear passenger side of the pick-up.  And I know the horse that bit it, since I saw Lady and Rio licking and nibbling at the truck, and as I yelled at them to move along, I saw Lady take a bite and spit-out the made-in-Detroit plastic.  It is a good thing for her that there are no more glue factories in the U.S.

Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- Our great blue heron has been spending afternoons fishing in the edges of the lower pond, made easier as the fish get larger and naturally turn color from their camouflage-black to orange.  Every time we get near, the blue-gray flying behemoth takes-off and heads for either the watering hole in the pasture or towards the upper pond.  Once, we also inadvertently chased the big bird from the water's edge at the upper pond.

Fowl Weather -- One afternoon when I was out in the back barn working on the combine, I heard some honking and looked out the door to see a flock of about 25 geese circling the wheat field that we had just combined.  The Canadian fliers did one 360-degree circle around the field and landed right in the middle.  They were still there in the field a couple hours later when I surrendered and headed for dinner.   For several days afterward, late each afternoon, the geese returned to the same spot.

Visitors -- During my first three years at Noble Partners in Boston, 2005-2008, I worked closely with Robin Norton, our chief operating officer.  He and his son, Duncan, a sophomore at St. Paul's in New Hampshire, were scheduled to visited us here in Middle-of-Nowhere the last weekend in August, but both Hurricane Irene and CJ's bout with strep throat and mononucleosis created a postponement.

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 --

     When you win, you're not as good as you think you are, and when you lose, you're not as bad as you think you are. -- Bill Belichick, Head Coach, New England Patriots

     When your stock goes up, you're not as smart as you think you are, and when your stock goes down, you're not as dumb as you think you are. -- Gene McQuade, CFO, Fleet Financial Group

Facts of the Month --

     A cubic yard of water weighs 1,700 pounds.
Commentary of the Month --

     Obama has no new ideas.  All that the Democrats want is more money, your money, so they can give it to others who will vote for them and keep them in power. -- FOX Business Channel
        
     My three-point plan to fix the economy is simple.  (1)  Eliminate the minimum wage law.  (2)  Eliminate unemployment compensation.  (3)  Eliminate all legal and illegal immigration for people who are low-wage workers. -- Anne Coulter

And Then There's This --
    

President Obama walks into Bank of America to cash a check.

 

As he approaches the cashier he says "Good morning Ma'am, could you please cash this check for me?"  Cashier: "It would be my pleasure sir. Could you please show me your ID?"

 

Obama: "Truthfully, I did not bring my ID with me as I didn't think there was any need to. I am President Barrack Obama, the president of the United States of America !!!!"

 

Cashier: "Yes sir, I know who you are, but with all the regulations, monitoring, of the banks because of impostors and forgers, etc., I must insist on seeing ID."

 

Obama: "Just ask anyone here at the bank who I am and they will tell you. Everybody knows who I am."

 

Cashier: "I am sorry Mr. President but these are the bank rules and I must follow them."

 

Obama: "I am urging you please to cash this check."

 

Cashier: "Look Mr. President this is what we can do. One day Tiger Woods came into the bank without ID. To prove he was Tiger Woods he pulled out his putting iron and made a beautiful shot across the bank into a cup. With that shot we knew him to be Tiger Woods and cashed his check."

 

Another time, Andre Agassi came in without ID. He pulled out his tennis racquet and made a fabulous shot whereas the tennis ball landed in my cup. With that spectacular shot we cashed his check.  So, Mr. President, what can you do to prove that it is you, and only you, as the President of the United States ?"

 

Obama stood there thinking, and thinking and finally says: "Honestly, there is nothing that comes to my mind. I can't think of a single qualification I'm good at."

 

Cashier: "Will that be large or small bills, Mr. President?"

The Riley Factor #106

The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
August 21, 2011, Issue No. 106
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Riley -- I have checked with most of the businesses in Canajoharie and Fort Plain, all the businesses with which we regularly interact, to see if they are pet friendly and allow dogs inside.  A bit unexpectedly, all are -- True Value Hardware, Ace Hardware, Curtis Lumber, Fisher Auto Parts, Agway, IBA, Tractor Supply.  (Yes, yes, I realize there is a theme here - topic for another day.)  So, we have started bringing Riley into the stores.  He is a big hit.  Somewhat surprisingly, his behavior is exemplary.  He is calm, quiet and barely needs a leash.  He stops and makes friends with everyone he sees.  Several people have asked to have their picture taken with him.  Riley has always behaved perfectly when traveling in the SUVs and the pick-up.  Now, he loves going into the stores.  People are very friendly when we are wandering around with a dog in tow.  The other day in Agway, Riley was calmly licking the shins of the lady standing behind us in line (the first line ever seen by me in Agway, but there was a sale on wheel barrels, which apparently brought folks out of the woodwork).  When Riley and I got to the counter to order some animal feed, Riley put his front paws on the counter and poked his considerable nose over the edge to see what was going on.  The manager and the cashier laughed.

Pennsylvania -- Susan just got back from a couple of days in Big Valley, Pennsylvania.  No, she didn't see Heath, Nick or Audra.  But she did spend two nights in an Amish home.  She drove the big rig six hours to the western part of the state, with Israel Kanagy riding shotgun.  They visited friends and family of the Kanagy's and had some giant feasts for dinner and breakfast.  On the day she left for home, breakfast included sausage casserole and fish, along with the usual dishes of eggs, biscuits and other bakings.  One of Annie's sisters, Sally, remembered having iced coffee with Susan a year ago, and asked if Susan would take her out to try it again.  Of course, Susan needs no prompting to go for coffee.  Flavored no less.  I have visions of Susan's picture hanging in Amish post offices all over the land with a warning - "Beware of this woman who brings English civilization into our community".  Susan slept late one morning (5:30AM) and missed the 4:00AM morning breakfast.  She and Israel returned home with 42 bushels of peaches.  Annie and Jesse climbed aboard for the return ride to New York.
Planting and Plowing -- August 17 marked the completion of the combining for all this year's wheat.  Harvesting of the oats began the same day.  Followed by the obligatory one more break-down of the combine.  First it was one chain, then a second chain, then a belt, and now the primary clean-grain elevator.  Oh well, it gives me something to do when I'm supposed to be relaxing and enjoying retirement.  I remember the days not so long ago, when I didn't even know what a combine was, much less a primary clean-grain elevator.

The Herd of Three -- Summer nights generally see Eli, Michael and Raphael spending the nighttime hours outside wandering the pasture.  The Herd of Three has taken to finding a place somewhat close to the barn and plopping-down for a snooze, becoming the Heap of Three.  One morning, we were up early and saw the threesome all lying on their sides snoring, in the corner of the pasture nearest to the yard and the street.  They were not impressed when Riley ran down to them, not even bothering to lift a single head between the three of them upon his energized arrival.  The horses prance around in the background, sometimes deciding to roll back and forth on their backs for fun.

Horses -- A horse is a horse, of course of course, and no one can talk to a horse of course, that is of course unless the horse is the not so famous Lady.  Only three years old, Lady loves to stand a foot from your face and give you that sideways one-eye stare directly into your eyes while you speak to her as if she can understand English.  Rio the Elder long ago gave-up on trying to make sense of these humans who insist on climbing onto his back and trying to make him walk, run, turn and stop on command.  Give Rio his daily doses of grain and hay, and he will obligingly be the one-trick pony of your dreams.  Most nights, the horses also have been spending nights out in the pasture.

Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- Summer is in full form, which means the woods are almost as dark as night, except between the hours of 10AM and 3PM.  Outside of those hours, bring a flashlight.  Slowly, and not so surely, we are clearing the old logging roads.  So some year, the woods will be much more navigable.

Fowl Weather -- The great blue heron has returned to the lower pond.  It appears that he is fishing for goldfish who venture too close to the shoreline, of which there are many.

Visitors -- No visitors this week - all quiet on the western front.

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 --

     Gun ownership is at an all-time high, violent crime near a 30-year low.  The anti-gun groups, they don't deal in common sense.  They deal in emotionalism and lies. -- Sarah Palin

     There are competing visions about our Country's future.  One consists of more government and less freedom, and one consists of less government and more freedom.  Right now, the prevailing vision in Washington, D.C., is that of government, more and more government. -- Senator John Thune, SD

     The people are entitled to a government that stays within the confines of the Constitution, and you know it. -- Judge Andrew Napolitano

     When the government launches a program to help, watch out. -- Steve Forbes

     The scariest words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.' -- Ronald Reagan

Facts of the Month --

     By weight, one-quarter of the all the biomass on planet Earth, one-quarter of all living things, are ants.
Commentary of the Month -- Editorial

          Government Administrators Increasingly Control Life in America

Solving the Country's current financial woes can be accomplished by one single straightforward action.  Following is a list of the federal departments and agencies that are completely useless and wasteful, and should be dissolved, with all underlying employees fired.

  U.S. Department of Education - completely superfluous, duplicates state & local oversight
  U.S. Department of Energy - 17,000 employees who do nothing but set rules and monitor them
  U.S. Department of Agriculture - more employees than there are farmers in America
  Environmental Protection Agency - completely run amok, promoting insane regulations
  Federal Housing Authority - one of 15 federal agencies regulating housing; a huge waste
  Federal National Mortgage Association - ibid
  Department of Housing and Urban Development - ibid
  National Labor Relations Board - 2,000 employees focused on putting money in union hands
  U.S. Department of Commerce - 47,000 employees driving global marketplace competitiveness
  U.S. Department of Transportation - 60,000 employees oversee federal highway, air, railroad, maritime and other transportation administration functions (and every state also has a DOT)

Although there are more, these are the biggest offenders, and biggest wasters of our time and our tax dollars.  (If you have a very strong stomach, click on the following link to see dozens and dozens of duplicative, wasteful departments and agencies: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread730827/pg1).  These organizations are bloated, overstuffed bureaucracies filled with employees who do nothing to improve the U.S. and exist essentially to further their own existence, adding no value to life in America.  The employees are those worst of government regulators - those administrators who exist and function without any direct day-to-day oversight by elected officials, and who create new regulations and who interpret rules and regulations without any checks or balances, leaving citizens with virtually no recourse when encountering their so-called areas of regulation.  These departments and agencies result in much higher taxes for you.  They should all be unceremoniously dissolved and done away with.

    -- Editor, The Riley Factor
                   
          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

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.