The sick day that wasn't...

I feel like crap this morning. I had a cough and the sweats yesterday. My 92.9 year old father has been coughing for a week so I figured it was but a matter of time before I worried myself into a fever. Which I have done.
My daughter is looking out the window at the frost. She thinks it is beautiful. It is covering the ground almost like snow. There is a layer of fog above the trees and so everything is white. The air and the ground.
I have to make chicken feed today. So, I have to start the truck with the 6-71 Detroit in the cold wet fog. I did not hear fire sirens last night so I am assuming that the block heater did not burn down the shop. I suppose that is a good thing... Then I have load my old boxes and pallets on the truck and take them to the neighbor where I will get more 800lb boxes of vetch, oats screenings and wheat screenings. I need to also get some camolina or canola mean but I can't afford it. Perhaps I can find more clover screenings.
The Paul Bunyon-esque fellow is also coming to work on the carport. He refuses to take money for his work but needs some hay. I asked him yesterday if he was angling for free-hay-for-life and he said he was. I suppose this will end badly.
On the other hand a fellow who didn't pay me for a year and a half gave me advance payment for 25 ton of hay and so I can actually pay my rent and the stacker payment both. (I think)
My neighbor was laughing at me yesterday. I had to go and move our combine and borrowed truck out of his shed. They are not so new.
I told him that one day I would be a well off and successful farmer and, and, and, and, well I had nothing to say at that point.
Finally I just sputtered out that I would be a lot less pathetic and went back to work.
Last week the daughter and I went to the zoo.
I commented that I thought it was odd that the Giraffe was outside in 40 degree weather. I'm not so much of an expert but I planted for a fellow who takes in old zoo animals and he told me of the difficulties in keeping a Giraffe in the cold wet Oregon weather.
I guess he was right.
They killed him. Click here to read an interesting blog by MaxRedline. Scroll down a bit to read the short section about the giraffe. I tried calling my zoo animal rescue friend but he didn't answer. I would try again but I have short attention span.
A photo from last week...

Look at this! A rent-a-cop blog!

Of course which story do I click on?
Of course it happened in Amarillo...
Some years ago I when I hired high schoolers I had a very polite kid working for me. He was just a little too polite, and a little too"yes sir" for my taste. I just didn't trust him.
Then there was the "misunderstanding," about free gas from his previous employer. Then there was a "hot for teacher" scandal at the high school.
His mother was tearfully testifying about the loss of her son's innocence.
Innocence my arse. He stole gas...
So the when kids were telling me about "doing" the secretary at the HS. I gave them two tidbits of advice. 1. Don't tell me any more about it! (tell it has been over for a few years) 2. Don't tell anyone else about it! 3. Don't admit anything when this all goes public because it is kind of like killing the golden goose. Well, that was three tidbits of advice but they didn't understand the thing about the golden goose because they were illiterate maroons who did not realize they had hit the proverbial sexual jackpot and were so incredibly stupid that they later ruined the whole thing by demanding more sex. Then they pretended to be victims. The little shits were not victims and someone should of beat the living snot out of them. They got away with doing wrong on several levels and were rewarded by those in authority. Which is more of a problem with this society than anything else.
The problem is the double standard we accept in our culture. You know Nike shoes are no better than Sears but yet you pay more money for them. You know a 15-year-old boy knows more about sex in 2011 then you know. In fact you have a sex ed class to insure that.
You accept S..... G..... and Justin B.  having a relationship which has gotten high school kids on the sex offender list.
Mayor Sam Adams can nail an underage intern-or whatever he was.
But there are select exceptions...
I do think it is funny when the teachers get caught with underage boys. (When it is a girl and a teacher I am highly offended as I have a daughter. But, I do not claim to be a fair and balanced blogger. And I am also sexist and think it is a different matter when it is an underage girl)
What I find interesting about it is the lack of character shown by the boys. The ones who get caught also are the ones who quickly rat out the teacher which brings up these question in my mind.
1. Do the kids fall for the teacher like a moth to the flame because of the same lack of character that causes them to immediately turn on the teacher and claim victim status when confronted?
2. Are the teachers who get caught sex addicts who make poor choices in who they choose for sex because they are really screwed up people? That didn't make sense... Let me say it this way. Is it proof that they need mental help by how easily they get caught? Poor choice of victim indicates guilt?
3. If you were a boy who had no "Christian" values why would you not nail your hot teacher. But, does that same lack of a solid belief system not give you the strength to resist interrogation? The Christian values would be the only reason to confess. If you were true to yourself and had universal humanist values would you not protect the source of your pleasure.
4. Should you teach your kid to resist interrogation? If so how do you distinguish between lying to state authority vs lying to parents?
5. Is there a double standard in this concept? You choose to break the law but you do not rat out your friends. But, I grew up on books from the turn of the previous century, ideas like "God, Honor, Country," and "death before dishonor," and the "Just So Stories," and "Will James, Lone Cowboy."
When my daughter went back to public school I told her to stay out of controversy and to never admit there is a shotgun in the house. She said she didn't want to lie. I said, "but do you remember exactly what happened?" She said, "not always," and I said, "well then stay out of it.. until you talk to your parents."
I have been debating on teaching her how to lie effectively but I suspect that would come back to haunt me. For example, reporting the truth slightly out of context to make a "white" lie. Or imagining a different story in your head until you are confused about the real story, or just doing it "Hilary Style" and not remembering. Or just keeping a safe and happy spot in your head.
When I was in trouble in middle school and in high school I would just imagine the teacher or administrator who was interrogating me naked and taking a poop. Or I would imagine building something step by step in my head which would cause me to give all sorts of confused and conflicting answers and make me unreliable.
I really must not tell her those things...
I will tell her to just start crying and sobbing, "I miss my Grandma..." Oh, I already did that... Wonder if it is working for her.

It's a wonderful life part IV

I got a call from my uncle yesterday morning. After 30 years of the parts house building falling down, yesterday was the day to repair it.  To be fair... I've actually been working on the wall a little bit at a time for two years and this year was the year to repair his section.
Next call was my father who was having computer problems. He leaves stuff on his keyboard and it auto types so he had page after page of spaces in his price list.  I fixed it but then there was another problem. It would not "print."  Not printing has become a catch phrase for most problems computer related in my father's vocabulary. (Note, he is almost 93)
He would click  on the 2011 price list to open it and then exclaim that it was not right and it would not "print right on the screen." This meant that 1. Something in the file had changed due to the scissors setting on the keyboard for a day. Or, 2. it was the wrong file.  It did not mean the printer was not working.
After observing him opening and closing the file about five times I asked him if he really thought that it would just change back on its' own. He chuckled a little and said he didn't suppose it would, "but the correct file had to be there, it was there this morning."
So, I checked the recent documents tab and decided it must be price list 2010 and so I opened that file. Dad was still focused on clicking the 2011 file and completely missed what I did to get the 2010 file.
"There it is!" He exclaimed, "Where could that have been... Oh for pity sakes," he said.
I started to explain but then thought better of it. When I left he was trying to replicate his previous success.
Do you have to have melting clocks to qualify as surrealism?
I had find some used lumber for my Uncle and also get some sample bales of hay from Gopher Valley. So I thought I would pay my rent at Muddy Valley. I was on Muddy Valley road and realized I didn't have my checkbook. I had a nice visit anyway.
Later, I had to pick up Lulu from school and meet her mother so they could go to the dentist. I got halfway to my wife's school and realized I did not have my daughter...
Lulu thought it was pretty funny.
My wife said I should probably not tell her when I did stuff like that. 
I guess she wold rather me be late because I am a butt head than late because I am mentally challenged...

All I want for Christmas

Someone at Lego has my sense of humor!
This is what I want for Christmas...

A crock of poo-poo

I wonder if anyone who makes policy ever talks to anyone outside their little world? Actually I wonder of anyone who makes US policy ever pulls their head out of their arse and looks around at all. Other than to stick their nose up the behind of someone from a foreign country who hates them.
Today I sold some chicken feed to a very interesting person of Hispanic heritage today. He kept referring to the USA as "we and us," and has almost no accent so I am assuming he is native born USA. I didn't ask his citizenship status as I figure that is somewhat impolite.
He and I have been discussing money making ideas and his goal of retirement by age 45. He is looking for some ground to plant blueberries and has been advising me on my goal of planting strawberries.
He says the latest news is that "China" is renting ground in Mexico and planting berries and vegetables.
They are leasing or renting ground for pennies and paying just a little over average wage in Mexico. The locals are quite happy and are rethinking their illegal trek to the USA for jobs. Golly! what a good idea!
China is doing what the USA should have been doing since the end of WWII. They send advisers and investors and they help people around the world. They don't turn their corporations loose on the people to totally rape the country. They have a long term plan. I am sure it is for their benefit and pain may come later. But, they are thinking long term. Plus, the PLA probably knows how to deal with the drug gangs. Perhaps we should leave that one alone...
He also had some pretty depressing comments about who is making money off the drug war. The law is pretty well set up to foster corruption and it is working quite well in that respect. But, I think I'll let that subject go for now. Way too depressing to even talk about. And after the latest baloney with the ATF I suspect it is all true.
So...the US and Mexico have been neighbor's for a few years now, and we have not figured a way to make mutually beneficial economic arrangements?
Mexico has oil reserves, minerals, silver, lots of cheap labor and they generally like us.
Instead, we are fighting a war in two countries on the other side of the world which are no where near important to our economic health and national security as the countries next to us and we think it is a good idea?
Plus, we are allowing people into this country from those countries who want to convert us to a religion which won't even allow women to drive a car, but we won't even come up with a guest worker program for people from Mexico.
Then we have the idiots who are so anti-immigration they will push for a national ID card and really intrusive crap like E-verify but can't step back and see the big picture where economics and supply and demand are creating population movements that can't be controlled by fence and in a free society. (formerly free society)
Of course it is all academic at this point because when China moves to Mexico for cheap labor there will no longer be an illegal immigration problem or any US grown produce farms in any border states so we won't have to worry about a guest worker program either.
I had a little chat with another Hispanic fellow who works for the neighbor. He says the Coyotes are demanding more money now. They have expanded into kidnapping. There are stories of $20,000 payments to get the rest of the person that was attached to the finger you just found on your doorstep. He thought it was no longer "Coyotes" but gangsters  doing the smuggling.
Hell in a handbasket was the phrase that came to mind...
Of course if the illegals stopped all those taxes that get paid to the fake social security numbers would no longer go into the general fund... Social services would not be able to expand based on the number of people without insurance or jobs. There would be fewer "oppressed" people for the liberals to love. And I'd sell less chicken feed.

People are stupid and I hate Wallmart part II

Some time ago I bought basic starter train set for my daughter. It was a Thomas The Tank engine set made by Tomy or Tomica World. I found it at GoodWill for $10.
It had blue plastic tracks made out of a virtually indestructable  plastic and a very simple connection that you can just turn the track over to get right and left curves and switches. The trains were battery powered and were the same gauge as all the other wooden train sets.
So...They sold out to Trackmaster which makes a more positive snapping track which looks like a finger pincher to me.
They sell them at WallMart of course.
We have a huge garbage tub of the blue Thomas/Tomica tracks. There are tons of the Tomy accessories on ebay and they are selling cheap. I've got a few listened and they have no bids at all. I am a little high but I may just start playing with the set again. Don't really care.
So we are supposedly in a tough economy. If I were looking for a train for a five-year-old I would buy the Tomy system. We ended up with a track that ran though two rooms with switches and stops and sidings. It worked great with the old legos. Hours of fun were had by Lulu and I.
But buying decisions are made by people who made decisions based on packaging and perception. They are not capable of any sort of long term study and they don't really like the kids that much so they don't really care.
Anyway, perhaps I'm just in a bad mood.
Next on the sale list will be Marx cowboys and tin barns. Hopefully Lulu will stop me.
Anyone need a Nerf Machine gun? I have two. Enough to start a war!

I hate Wallmart

We went there last night.
I don't think you save that much money. Or, I should say, You don't save enough money to put up with going there.
It is not even the freaky people who go there.
The latest clever ruse to get you to spend $.35 more cents is to put everything in different sized bags.
We were buying dog food. At BiMart and most other stores they put a price per lb in small letters under the main price. At Wallmart they just list the number of lbs per bag.  A 13lb bad of dog food? Or perhaps a 19.3lb bag next to a 17.5lb bag next to a 31.345lb bag? Why not start mixing in the metric system? That will fool them customers fer sure!!!
The funny thing was that when I figured out price per lb there was not that much difference in price, other than the difference between high quality and the stuff we feed our dog.
The same with food. There was a huge display of soft drinks and a good price, but upon close inspection it was a special 20 pack of cans so you really could compare the price with out using some calculations.
I'm in favor of shopping local or regional stores so perhaps I'm just easily irritated.
Taking Lulu to the zoo today.
Told my chicken feed customers to comeback another day...