My lovely 42 acres

Mandy and I went out in the back pasture to enjoy this day; here's a shot of the view from my nice sunny spot on the ground.  Whatever those little red berries are on that brush, goats love them!  I used to take my last goat out to the edge of the woods and she'd eat those things till you'd think she would burst.

Some of my friends have inquired about how our calves are doing, so I took this shot.  The amazing thing is, they are two months apart in age; look how nearly the same size they are now.  As you can tell by the milk on the muzzle of the one on the right, I interupted her meal.  To see how small they once were, click HERE.

My horse's opinion of cameras?

What do you suppose Blue is trying to say here?  Natalie had spent a half-hour out there alone, hugging and petting him, so Cliff took some pictures.  There's another one almost identical to this without the tongue sticking out, but I rather like this.

getting more corn

We picked up more corn yesterday, and it was a so-much prettier day than last week.  We'd had more rain since then though, so it was still about as wet as before.  We had one more boy with us, the twins' cousin, Ryan.  The boys had begged to take the four-wheeler and a little garden-tractor trailor down; I think they just wanted opportunity to ride the four-wheeler, but anyhow, Cliff catered to them.  They took turns bringing the loads of full buckets to the trailer and dumping them in.  Once we got on the back road, all three got a turn at driving our pickup, too.  When we first unloaded the four-wheeler off the trailer, I turned Mandy loose, and she went wild!  I have to keep such close tabs on her here at home to keep her from running away that freedom is a rare treat for her. 

That speck you see behind and to the left of the four-wheeler is Mandy, running for all she's worth to keep up.  We really don't have a lot of storage space for this corn of questionable quality, and we only have two pigs to feed.  So we probably won't get any more.

Shortly after we got home, Rachel's family arrived.  We ate taco salad and just enjoyed the rest of the day.  Brett and Monica kept the two computers hopping in Amber's absence (she was to start work today, I'm anxious to hear how she made it).  Shortly before I went to bed, Natalie, Monica and I IMd and web-cammed Rachel (my daughter, their mom).  All in all, a lovely day.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been a nice horseback ride.  I spent some time grooming Blue, anyhow. 

Interesting stuff here

 This seemed to be worth passing on.  I'm no genius, and it could be using false information... you can read anything on the 'Net.  But I can tell there's at least a grain of truth in it.

While you're watching the political commercials and listening to the politicians spin their web around unsuspecting and misinformed people...here's a "Reality" lesson in economics from:

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D, Distinguished Professor of Economics,

536 Brooks Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.

******

Top 1% earn 21% of all income; pay 37-1/2% of all taxes

Top 5% earn 35% of all income; pay 56-1/2% of all taxes

Top 10% earn 46% of all income; pay 67% of all taxes

Top 25% pay 84% of all taxes

Top 50% pay 96-1/2% of all taxes

Bottom 50% pay 3-1/2% of all taxes

Tax Cuts - A Simple Lesson In Economics

This is how the cookie crumbles. Please read it carefully.

Suppose that every day, ten people go out for dinner.

The bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four people (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh $7. The eighth $12. The ninth $18. The tenth person (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten people ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20."

So, now dinner for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.

So, the first four people were unaffected. They would still eat for free.

But what about the other six, the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share'?

The six people realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth person and the sixth person would each end up being 'PAID' to eat their meal.

So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each person's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth person, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).

The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the people began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth person. He pointed to the tenth person "but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth person. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh person. "Why should he get $10 back

when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four people in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!" The nine people surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth person didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore. There are lots of good restaurants in Europe and the Caribbean

 

mail for my dog

I'm constantly amazed at the folks who read this drivel!  I'm glad to have you all... it's just that the readership here seems so unlikely to me.

I was outside with Mandy on her leash yesterday, and decided to check my mailbox.  Amidst the bills and junk mail I always get, there was a package... addressed to "Miss Mandy Wood".  The return address said it was from "Mr. Jake Miller".  My friend Joanna, with whom I spent a week touring Washington, DC, last June, has struck again!  This is the same lady who sent me Nathan's hot dogs for my birthday (I thought at one time they were gone, but to my delight, I found a few more.  I think there are four left now.) 

Joanna has three cats, but the star of her feline show is a big orange cat named Jakie.  I took this picture while staying at his house.  He is quite a self-centered, conceited fellow, but he ought to be:  he's the boss in Joanna's little castle!  So you can imagine my relief when Jakie accepted me as a guest during my visit.

Joanna mentioned to me Saturday, online, that she was going shopping, so I told her, "Buy a toy for Jakie."  "OK," she replied, "I might get him a squeaky toy."  "Oh, Mandy LOVES squeaky toys," I said.

So, when I saw a package from Jakie to Mandy, I had a hunch it would squeak, and squeezed it.  Sure enough!  Mandy, of course, was instantly at attention.  I handed it to her, and she carried it to the house proudly.  When we got inside, I let her try to unwrap it herself.

That's my knee obstructing a large portion of the picture.  Anyway, I finally helped Mandy open it and gave her the gift... it was a squeaky Jakie, a toy orange cat.  She has had loads of fun with it, and I've laughed a lot, watching her carry it all over the kitchen and hallway, then bringing it to me to throw, so she can fetch it.

Jakie wrote a wonderful note to Mandy, too.  I'm sure my dog appreciated reading it as much as Jakie enjoyed writing it.

Thanks, Joanna, for making my day (and Mandy's too)!

remember "some folks"

Here's a poem I just wrote.  For you English majors, I realize there's some inproper grammer here.  Sometimes I pass up the King's English in favor of a good rhyme.

REMEMBERING "SOME FOLKS"
© copyright November 7, 2004
Donna Wood

The sky was dark and steely-gray.
The wind was bitter cold.
It was the sort of autumn day
That settles in your soul.

The furnace in my house clicked on
And caused me to remember
That some folks face each coming dawn
With no heat for November.

It's often hard to make ends meet,
And yet, we muddle through,
While some folks live out on the street...
No place to go home to.

My husband kisses me goodbye
And then, to work he'll go,
While somewhere, some folks sit and cry...
No one to love them so.

My knees hurt, when I climb the stairs
There's whining in my talk:
But some folks are in wheel chairs
And just wish they could walk.

Half the world is lacking food
And can't get decent rest.
Dear Lord, forgive my grumpy mood:
Remind me I am blessed.

 

Getting free corn

I hope my friends all know how to use the above pictures:  Click where it says "view larger" and then click the forward arrow where it says "1 of 11" to see all the shots.  I know J-land folks know this, but I've had a couple of people miss some good pictures because they thought there was only one up there.

We were given permission to pick up the corn left after a fire.  Click here to see the fire.  But we've had so much rain, the field has been a lob-lolly.  Meanwhile, our two pigs are eating everything in sight, and we hate to buy feed for them when there's all this free corn going to waste.  So Cliff, Travis and Tyler decided to wade through the mud and brave the cold wind, and pick up a trailer-load of corn.  I'm sure it's losing food value all the time it lays on the wet ground; some of it is starting to sprout, as you can see in one of the pictures.  We won't be feeding any to the cows or, more especially, my horse:  Pigs have a strong digestive system, and also the good sense not to eat something that will hurt them; but the slightest bit of mold could kill a horse, and possibly make the cows sick. A cousin of mine used to raise hogs for a living, and we once asked him about feeding something to hogs we thought might hurt them.  "You can't hurt a hog,"  he said, laughing. 

The guys gave out before the trailor was full, but I'm sure there's enough corn to do the pigs for quite a while.  If the weather forecast is right, we're supposed to have at least five sunny days now.  It'll be so much easier to pick up when the ground is dry.

This corn is just one more thing for which I owe Blue, my horse.  We've had so many grand rides around the countryside, but who would have thought we'd end up with free corn for our pigs!  The day of the fire was one of my favorite adventures with him, but I also fondly remember the ghost farm ride.  That horse has helped make what was already an exciting year even better.