One Day More...: June 2014

Monday, June 30, 2014

What A Sham

Supreme Court Rules In Hobby Lobby Case, Dealing Blow To Birth Control Coverage

A divided Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Monday that closely held corporations cannot be required to provide contraception coverage for their employees.

The Affordable Care Act contains a provision requiring most employers to cover the full range of contraception in their health care plans at no cost to their female employees. The Obama administration had granted an exemption for churches and accommodations for religious hospitals, schools and nonprofits, but for-profit companies were required to comply with the coverage rule or pay fines.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg filed a dissenting opinion joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor and mostly joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer. Ginsburg warned in her dissent that the decision was not as narrow as it claimed to be. "In a decision of startling breadth, the Court holds that commercial enterprises, including corporations, along with partnerships and sole proprietorships, can opt out of any law (saving only tax laws) they judge incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs," Ginsburg wrote.

Ginsburg argued that the government has a "compelling interest" in providing no-cost birth control to women. "Those interests are concrete, specific, and demonstrated by a wealth of empirical evidence," she wrote. "To recapitulate, the mandated contraception coverage enables women to avoid the health problems unintended pregnancies may visit on them and their children." (Huffington Post)

Once again the religious ideologues on the Supreme Court have thrust their narrow beliefs on the country. In the opinion they claimed that it was only narrowly applicable to this case, however that is absurd. Any business that refuses the requirements of the Affordable Care Act can now come up with some specious claim of religious freedom. And what about the quagmire of situations of businesses that are bought and sold? Will that claim transfer with the business, exempting the new owners from the ACA? And what is a "sincerely held religious belief?" Who can make this claim?

What a sham.

Friday, June 27, 2014

Couldn't Fathom?

An Oklahoma man’s house was rocked on Saturday by a stray artillery shell fired from an antique 105 Howitzer cannon at a trade show three miles away.

Homeowner Gene Kelley heard a huge crash and was shocked to find a 14-and-a-half-inch-long 105 howitzer artillery shell lying on his bedroom floor.

Kelley and his wife were inside their home when the shell burst through an outside wall, hit the bedroom ceiling and damaged another wall. Neither was in the room where the shell entered.

“Fortunately, nobody was hurt,” Kelley said.

Police said the shell came from an historic cannon fired at the Oklahoma Full Auto Shoot and Trade Show, according to the report.

The gun range owner couldn’t fathom how the accident occurred.

Mike Friend, owner of Fast Machine Gun Shoot, told KOAM News the cannon was pointed downhill at the bottom of a valley when it was fired.

“For that thing to rise and go far northwest of the range, it’s just unheard of,” he said.

(NY Daily News)

Couldn't fathom how it happened Mike?!

Here's a clue... you fire off a cannon the shell is going to hit something.

Whaddya say you fire off a few more rounds and see what you can hit?

Just one day more...

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Some Mundane

Okay, I'll admit it. Some of the subjects I've been blogging about the past 10 days or so have been a bit serious - tornadoes, Iraq, pipelines, civil rights, immigration, police and so on. But, day to day here at the farm is routine and some things just get my attention.

I was going to comment today about the Supreme Court ruling yesterday that said police need a warrant before searching cellphone or personal electronic devices of persons in all cases. After all, most of us have these electronic devices and store personal information on them and they should be treated like any other property for searches. Instead, onto the mundane.

The nice neighbor farmer's corn is growing like gangbusters. I'm always amazed how fast it grows, but with temps in the upper 80's with the same on humidity it makes sense. We have also had periodic rains that certainly help.

The nice neighbor farmer's cows are also savoring the the lush grass. The only thing that seems to be bothering them are the flies. They are constantly on the move in an effort to get away from the flies, but to no avail.

And, now for you gearheads...

Our beetle had me perplexed. It is a 1975, but has an engine from 1973. The original engine was one of the early fuel injected and was mostly problematic, so I'm glad this has the standard carburetor. I drove beetles back in my younger days, but won't go into that.

Anyway, the engine was slinging oil onto the hood and I couldn't figure out the source of the problem. Back when I restored Model T's they were notorious for oil leaks and one common leak was around the crankshaft seal. That was suspect #1 in the bug, so I took it took the car to a shop that specializes in the old air cooled Vee Dubs. Sure enough, my suspicion was correct. Oil was seeping out the crankshaft pulley. The pulley was aluminum, which expands and contracts different than a steel pulley.

The second problem was that the shaft of the pulleys are spiral grooved to sling errant oil back into the engine and the grooves on the aluminum pulley weren't deep enough. Here is a pic how the grooves should look.

As anyone who has worked on bugs knows pulling a pulley is no small task, so it is good that I left that job to the experts. The end result is that they put on a standard steel pulley and the problem is solved.

A few years back I worked on old cars we had, including older 123 series diesel Mercedes.

But, time has taken a toll and as I get older there are too many creaks and aches to do the heavy work anymore.

That's it for the mundane.

Just one day more...

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

A War On Us

When we were in the Southwest this past winter there seemed to be an unusual amount of police shootings. Most noticeable was Albuquerque, where the police department allegedly has a history of aggressive and unwarranted shootings .

Records show that 26 people have been killed by city police in Albuquerque since 2010, a per capita rate of officer-involved deaths higher than New York City and Chicago. Forty people have been wounded by police over the same period of time. So far, the city has paid out $30 million in settlements and officials acknowledge that amount will grow. (CNN)

The ACLU has recently released a report on the militarization of police departments in this country. It is not confined to large cities and includes many smaller communities. Excess military equipment and weaponry is being provided to police departments, primarily in the name of the “war on drugs.”

AFP Photo / Timothy A. Clary

U.S. law enforcement at all levels has undergone a dangerous militarization in recent years, with heavily armed SWAT teams being deployed to serve warrants and for drug searches, but rarely for the hostage situations they were designed for, the American Civil Liberties Union says in a new report.

In "War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing," the ACLU says its investigation corroborates the unnecessary use of a proliferation of Special Weapons and Tactics teams made possible by federal programs that incentivize aggressive weapons and battlefield tactics at the local level.

The study looked at 800 SWAT deployments among 20 local, state and federal police agencies in 2011-2012.

"Using these federal funds, state and local law enforcement agencies have amassed military arsenals purportedly to wage the failed War on Drugs, the battlegrounds of which have disproportionately been in communities of color. But these arsenals are by no means free of cost for communities," says Kara Dansky, senior counsel with the ACLU's Center for Justice.

The ACLU's report highlights a number of cases where it says the use of SWAT teams led to unnecessary deaths and injuries, and echoes in some ways a much earlier report (in 2006) put out by the libertarian Cato Institute that showed much the same trend.

A few of the incidents highlighted in the report:

— "In 2010, 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones was killed when, just after midnight, a SWAT team threw a flashbang grenade through the window into the living room where she was asleep. The flashbang burned her blanket and a member of the SWAT team burst into the house, firing a single shot, which killed her."

— Jose Guerena, a 26-year-old Iraq War veteran, whose wife heard a noise that turned out to be a SWAT team. Guerena "picked up his rifle, with the safety on, and went to investigate. A SWAT team fired 71 shots at Guerena, 22 of which entered his body and killed him."

Among the ACLU's findings:

— 62 percent of SWAT raids were for the purpose of conducting drug searches.

— Just 7 percent of SWAT raids were "for hostages, barricade, or active shooter scenarios."

— SWAT raids are directed disproportionately against people of color — 30 percent of the time the "race of individual people impacted" was black, 11 percent of the time Latino, 20 percent white and 30 percent unknown.

— Armored personnel vehicles that local law enforcement agencies have received through grants from the Department of Homeland Security are most commonly used for drug raids and not school shootings and terrorist situations.

— In cases in which police cited the possible presence of a weapon in the home as a reason for utilizing a SWAT team, weapons were found only 35 percent of the time. (NPR)

Some 40 years ago I was in law enforcement for 12 years. I don’t think the circumstances of law enforcement have changed significantly since then, just the militarization of police. Somewhere along the line, likely beginning with a SWAT mentality, police departments have evolved into military style law enforcement.

As a result, an “us versus them” mentality is pervasive. It can be as subtle as military style buzz haircuts and jack boots to complete military equipment. In our local county our sheriff’s department has gone from a three man department to a new costly building/ jail and numbers of employees, vehicles and equipment, all the while crime hasn’t changed.

In Nebraska the state patrol has also evolved into a paramilitary style organization. Gone are the days of a local trooper living in the community as a friendly part of the community. The mission has become aggressive and aloof enforcement above integration and public relations. No longer do troopers stop to help stranded motorists. Community policing is a thing of the past.

When the militarization of police crept into our police departments, it was no longer a “war on crime.” It became a war on us.

Just one day more...

Monday, June 23, 2014

Eating Dogs

A dog meat festival in southern China went ahead over the weekend even as the local government tried to lower the profile of the controversial event. Animal rights advocates protested dog meat vendors, including one who demanded that protesters meet his price for a live dog or he would strangle it, according to Chinese news reports.

Sales of dog meat in Yulin, a city near Vietnam in the southern Chinese region of Guangxi, did climb during the festival period, but they were about a third of what was seen a year ago, the state news agency Xinhua reported. The Yulin government, which had previously promoted the event, announced this year that it was not involved and said there was no official holiday to celebrate the eating of dogs.

Some local restaurants removed the word “dog” from their signs, and some local residents held dog meat banquets a week early to avoid the attention of animal rights activists. Seventeen restaurants stopped selling dog meat dishes on their own, and four were barred from doing so by the authorities, while 48 other restaurants continued serving dog, Xinhua reported.

China has no animal cruelty laws, and the consumption of dogs and cats is legal but poorly regulated. Dog meat is a traditional dish in parts of far northern and southern China, and in Yulin, residents eat dog meat and lychees to mark the summer solstice. They say the practice is both traditional and legal and resent outsiders trying to shut down the festival. (New York Times)

Well, Doug the Pug is just a bit more than upset with this whole dog eating thing.

He is calling for sending Navy destroyers to the South China Sea and drones into Yulin, China. He figures if we can invade Iraq for oil, we can certainly send military advisors to China to support the protesters. The Pug descended from China, so Doug figures he has a stake in this whole dog eating fiasco. I told him to take a valium and chill.

Just one day more...

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Sordid Side Of Immigration

FALFURRIAS, TEXAS- Unidentified migrants who died entering the United States were buried in mass graves in a South Texas cemetery, with remains found in trash bags, shopping bags, body bags, or no containers at all, researchers discovered.

In one burial, bones of three bodies were inside one body bag. In another instance, at least five people in body bags and smaller plastic bags were piled on top of each other, Baylor University anthropologist Lori Baker said. Skulls were found in biohazard bags — like the red plastic bags in receptacles at doctors’ offices — placed between coffins.

The bodies are believed to have been buried by a local funeral home since 2005 in the Sacred Heart Burial Park in Brooks County.

The discovery came in the last two weeks as the pair of anthropologists and their students continued an all-volunteer, multiyear effort to identify migrants who have died of exposure while evading Border Patrol checkpoints in remote South Texas, where temperatures reach more than 100 degrees in the summer and there is little water and shade. Hundreds of people have died in just the last few years in Brooks County alone, where the discovery of the mass graves was made in the county-owned portion of the cemetery in Falfurrias.

The researchers and their students exhumed remains of 110 unidentified people from the cemetery in 2013. This summer they performed 52 exhumations, but more than 52 people were buried in those spaces. Because remains were commingled, and not all of the body bags were opened on-site, further study will be needed to determine the number of people recovered, Baker said.

County officials said they paid the local funeral home, Funeraria del Angel Howard-Williams to handle the bodies after sheriff’s officials recovered them from the brush country. County Judge Raul Ramirez said that was the practice for at least 16 years.

A smaller number of migrants die in neighboring Jim Hogg County. It has paid Howard-Williams to handle bodies for as long as Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Lorenzo Benavides can remember — at least 22 years, he said. The funeral home buried the Jim Hogg County remains in the Brooks County cemetery, he said.

The funeral home currently charges $450 to handle each body, Brooks County Chief Deputy Benny Martinez said.

Baker said the funeral home indicated it had no records when the researchers approached Howard-Williams before exhuming bodies. (Corpus Christi Caller- Times)

It is appalling to see someone like the funeral home trying to make a buck off of the death of migrants and being so callous. Mass graves are the hallmark of third world country regimes, not the United States. This is the sordid side of immigration and it is contemptible.

Just one day more...

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Fifty Years Is Not Long Enough

Three American civil rights' workers, James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael "Mickey" Schwerner, were shot at close range on the night of June 21–22, 1964 by members of the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Neshoba County's Sheriff Office and the Philadelphia Police Department located in Philadelphia, Mississippi. The three had been working on the "Freedom Summer" campaign, attempting to register African Americans to vote. (Wikipedia)

During the summer of 1964, Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman volunteered for Freedom Summer, a voter registration drive coordinated by various civil rights groups to improve the rights of African-Americans in Mississippi.

On June 21, 1964, Neshoba County Deputy Cecil Price stopped the trio on traffic charges while they were driving to Meridian, Mississippi.

They were jailed briefly and then released. But as they drove away, as many as 22 members of the Ku Klux Klan stopped the car, gunned down all three and buried their bodies beneath a 15-foot earthen dam in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Their bodies were discovered 44 days later, on August 4, after an informant tipped off the FBI.

The FBI arrested 18 men on October 13. However, state prosecutors would not take the case, citing lack of evidence, leaving federal authorities to intercede with charges of federal conspiracy and violations of the victims’ civil rights.

Alleged Klansmen James Jordan and Horace Doyle Barnette pleaded guilty to the killings and gave confessions implicating others. However, Jordan and Barnette’s confessions were never heard at trial. In the confessions, both men named Edgar Ray “Preacher” Killen as the main instigator. They also named Neshoba County Sheriff Lawrence Rainey as being involved.

Deputy Sheriff Price and Sheriff Rainey at hearing in 1964 after arraignment.

Samuel Bowers, then the Imperial Wizard of Mississippi’s Ku Klux Klan, was found guilty when testimony identified him as giving the order to kill Schwerner.

Juries convicted a total of seven men on federal conspiracy charges; seven others were acquitted and three had mistrials. The longest sentence imposed was six years. It was also determined that the civil rights workers were killed as result of a conspiracy between members of Neshoba County’s law enforcement and the KKK. (PBS)

The murders of Chaney, Schwerner, Goodman and the subsequent sham trials finally brought to the attention of the nation the atrocities in the South. The only good to come from these events was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, both of which the current Supreme Court has weakened. Fifty years is not long enough to begin dismantling these key laws of equality. However, some in this country are bound and determined to do just that.

Just one day more...

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Pipeline Woes

On Rick Doyle's blog he has a discussion about the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline that would transport oil sands oil across part of Canada (charts borrowed from Rick's blog).

Here in the lower 48 there is also a proposed oil pipeline to transport Canadian oil across the states, including across Nebraska.

I haven't done enough research to have an opinion about the proposed Keystone Pipeline. I share the environmental concerns however, but am admittedly a consumer of oil products. Maybe not as much as some, however a consumer nonetheless.

I'm just as frustrated as everyone else when someone in the middle east farts we get a price increase in gasoline. Unless and until this country can become independent of the middle east we are stuck with paying what they ask. And it is clear that the invasion of Iraq had more to do with oil than it did with national security. Efforts at renewable energy lag and auto makers have to be compelled to manufacture energy efficient vehicles.

So, when it's all said and done I am more convinced by the environmentalists. British Petroleum (BP) helped persuade me - and I'm getting tired of their incessant ads trying to convince us what a responsible company they are. Hydraulic fracking has also persuaded me and I'm also getting tired of that lady that is on ads nightly for the natural gas industry telling us how responsible fracking is.

And for anyone who thinks the cost of gasoline is mostly in crude oil, here is a chart of the taxes on gasoline in each state. Coincidently, this chart is from ExonMobil's PR website where they represent that they are not the only ones responsible for high gas prices.

I don't mind tax on gasoline, so long as it goes to roads and infrastructure, but in many cases those funds are robbed for other things.

Just one day more...

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Sick Of The Troll

Cheney, along with his daughter Liz, penned an unbelievable piece of retcon tripe for the Wall Street Journal where they claimed that Obama lost the war that was already won, while at the same time positioning Dick Cheney as a hero. It is hard to imagine that one would have the audacity to write something like this, considering his own role in selling a lie and reassuring the American people that the war would only last a few weeks, yet here we are.

Right away, the Cheneys set the tone, claiming that President Obama is never right and that he is completely ineffective as a leader:

“Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. Too many times to count, Mr. Obama has told us he is “ending” the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—as though wishing made it so. His rhetoric has now come crashing into reality. Watching the black-clad ISIS jihadists take territory once secured by American blood is final proof, if any were needed, that America’s enemies are not “decimated.” They are emboldened and on the march.” (politicususa)

The troll is back.

What a sad, egomaniacal comment. What Cheney describes is the Bush administration, not the Obama administration - "so wrong about so much at the expense of so many."

Dick Cheney, who was consistently wrong about Iraq and sold a deadly bill of goods to the country, costing nearly 5000 military lives and billions of dollars is again justifying the invasion of Iraq. Once again he he crawls out from under the scum bridge to spew his crap.

The fact is that Cheney, along with Bush and Rumsfeld knowingly lied. They should have been tried as war criminals.

War Criminals

I'm sick of the troll Cheney. He needs to shut the hell up.

Just one day more...

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Twin Tornadoes

Two people were killed, including a young child, in a massive storm that swept through northeast Nebraska Monday afternoon. Approximately two dozen people were injured, some critically.

Jodi Richey of Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk says the victims were brought into the hospital after at least one of the twisters devastated Pilger. The town of about 350 people is about 100 miles northwest of Omaha.

Emergency officials in Pilger told WOWT 6 News the tornado went right down Main Street. Not one business is left.

Pilger has been evacuated, and the Nebraska State Patrol has closed all roads into the northeast Nebraska town that was devastated by the storm.

Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger says 50 to 75 percent of Pilger was destroyed after two tornadoes roared through northeast Nebraska.

Unger said late Monday that the storm caused "total devastation" in the town of about 350. He says the local school is likely damaged beyond repair. (WOWT News)

Pilger is located 100 miles north of our farm. Yesterday was not a nice weather day in Nebraska. The intensity of the storms the past few weeks has been staggering. Fortunately, we have had only tree damage from the winds here on the farm.

Enough is enough already though.

Just one day more...

Monday, June 16, 2014

Weary Of Provocateurs

On Morning Joe Friday Mika Brzeznski asked Senator John McCain exactly the right questions, to which he continued to defend U.S. military responses around the globe.

“What about going [into Iraq] in the first place, and what about churning the hate, and what about taking the Sunnis out of leadership positions in 2003, what about the fact that there might have been some parts of this that were on the previous administration that might be litigated as well?” Brzezinski said.

Then she went on to ask the question everyone in the country should be asking, why does anyone listen to you anyway? If we’d taken your advice, she said, we’d be knee-deep in Syria right now.

“So we’re going to be in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then we’re also going into Syria, in your estimate?” she asked. “I mean, I’m just wondering how long can we do this? How long can we do this? How long can you ask this of American troops and think it’s okay?” (RS.com)

Had it won?! Seriously John? How in the world can you call an age old civil war between religious factions having it won? Would you have us stay there forever? And at what cost?

John McCain's response to any foreign conflict is more U.S. troops.

Here's a clue John: the country is war weary. The country is weary of the cost in lives and money. The country is weary of provocateurs like you. Not every conflict around the world necessitates a military response.

Just one day more...

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Feeling Stressed?

Movoto (real estate blog) did some research trying to uncover stress levels in different parts of the country. They examined factors like a population’s average commute time, unemployment rate, hours worked and population density to find their answer.

The top 10 most stressed states are as follows:

1. Florida

2. Georgia

3. New Jersey

4. California

5. Nevada

6. Illinois

7. New York

8. Maryland

9. North Carolina

10. Arizona

(Movoto)

Are you in a state marked as stressed? According to the map Nebraska is one of the least stressed. That may be so, however it got a little stressful around here last night.

We had another storm in the early morning hours that produced only 1/2 inch of rain here on the farm, but the wind blew hard again. We needed the rain, but not the wind.

And, as luck would have it the wind took down branches, including this big bugger. Since today is father's day the job of sawing down this branch will have to wait. We're not going to stress out over it today.

Just one day more...

Friday, June 13, 2014

Random Pics

Back to the routine... a few random pics around the farm.

The robin that lost the babies in the storm has decided to give it another try...

While in another nest two baby robins survived the storm...

The nice neighbor farmer is tending to his corn and spraying for weeds...

We went to town for pizza yesterday evening for our 37th wedding anniversary. It was a calm, clear evening, so we enjoyed the full moon and a fire in the fire pit...

And so goes another week here on the farm. Life is good.

Just one day more...

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

"Uncle" Si Robertson, who is Phil Robertson's brother and one of the co-stars of the TV show "Duck Dynasty," recently claimed that God was directing the A&E reality series.

“We was doing a film one day about hunting for the beaver dam and I laughed at the director, and said, ‘You actually think you’re directing this thing? The Lord God Mighty is directing Duck Dynasty,'” Si told Fox News.

Season six of "Duck Dynasty" is set to premiere tonight and will include Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) giving the Robertson family the first-ever Governor's Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence for their Duck Commander company, noted The Los Angeles Times.

Gov. Jindal defended Phil Robertson last year when the controversial patriarch compared homosexuality to bestiality, and claimed that black people were "happy" under racist Jim Crowe laws.

"Phil Robertson and his family are great citizens of the state of Louisiana," said Gov. Jindal at the time. "The politically correct crowd is tolerant of all viewpoints, except those they disagree with."

According to Variety, the ratings for "Duck Dynasty" have dropped from 9.63 million viewers from its third season to 6 million viewers during its fifth season. (sanvicentemedia.com)

I'm not sure who is more stupid, Si or Bobby. For the record, I don't watch the show. There is enough stupid to go around.

Just one day more...

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

What Have They Learned?

With Iraq’s key cities falling like dominoes to militants under the black banner of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), experts say the group’s success in the face of minimal resistance from government security forces is encouraging the group to expand its reach.

The Iraqi military’s quick retreats have left vehicles, weapons, ammunition and even uniforms for ISIL’s taking. While that will undoubtedly make the group more powerful, it also could force the U.S. to rethink its strategy of giving military hardware to Iraqi forces, according to Hayder al-Khoei, an Iraq analyst for London-based think tank Chatham House currently in Baghdad.

“They’re seeing U.S. vehicles and U.S.-made rifles in the hands of the very people they’re trying to fight,” he explained. "There’s going to have to be a shift in their tactics - you can’t give guns and Humvees and then see them paraded around by ISIL." (NBC News)

Sunni insurgents have begun to take back Iraq and is anyone surprised? Iraq is back where it started when the misguided (and criminal) Bush administration got us mired in Iraq - civil war. And for what? After a billion U.S. dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives, including U.S. military dead, Iraq is once again a quagmire. When will the warmongers learn?

Just one day more...

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

They're Back

We have all of the downed trees and branches cleaned up from the wind storm last week and things are settling back into a routine here on the farm.

The nice neighbor farmer has brought some of his cattle back to the pasture. He has started out with a small group of heifers and one cow with a calf.

The older cow (the one with the white face) is obviously there to help the skiddish young heifers get accustomed to the surroundings. In the photo above the young heifers are overly alert, while the older cow simply scans the area. When approached, the heifers bolt away. It won't be long until the older cow teaches them that humans aren't necessarily a threat. The grass is tall and luscious for the time being and the cows are enjoying every bit of it.

In in week we will take the chickens to be processed. Having them around the farm is nice, but the reality is that they are being raised organically for food.

Animals on the farm is part of farm life, even on a "hobby farm." That's why we are always happy for the time of the year when the nice neighbor farmer brings his cows back to the pasture. He already knows we keep an eye on them, so he one less thing to worry about. We're glad they're back.

Just one day more...

Thursday, June 5, 2014

June 6, 1968

Robert F. Kennedy

Nov. 20, 1925 - June 6, 1968

I wonder what could have been.

Just one day more...

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Speaking Of Water...

We had some strong storms blow through last evening here on the farm with rain and hail.

Unfortunately, the baby robins didn't make it.

We didn't have any buildings damaged and mostly tree damage.

The wind was strong enough to bend over the smaller trees, however they all survived.

The wind also flattened the sweet corn in the garden. With a little sunshine it should come back okay.

Once it clears over we'll have a job cleaning up. The forecast is for more rain for the next few days. We can deal with that... hopefully no more wind!

Just one day more...