end of one path and a start to a new road.

Maybe I Just Need to Talk

     Sometimes it isn’t so easy being alone.  Sure I have no one else in my life and maybe by the time I analyze all that has happened and could possibly happen , I may say to myself alone is the only place to be. In reality it is my decision I have to make with my life and direction I want my life to go in the future.

    Recently I made the decision to sell the cattle here on the farm. Earlier in a blog I alluded to the fact I was using more hay than usual and didn’t really know what I was going to do. Buy more hay and invest more money into cows I barely get the food bill out of on a yearly basis in increased wealth. Mom liked seeing them and honestly I will miss them terribly also.

    It is hypocritical of me as a person to keep the cattle on and think there was an alternative ending to them other than what has to be. Unfortunately beef cows have one eventual end in sight. Been a farmer enough years for that. Before I felt it was essential for my survival. Recently I quit eating red meat within the last year , part of it was a health decision to reduce cholesterol and weight, to which I have been moderately successful in reducing the bad cholesterol and also in losing close to 50 lbs. at the best I was doing. Anyhow the change of diet led me to believe that red meat isn’t nearly as essential part of a diet as it was before. While I was eating beef as I did for years I justified their raising as an acceptable practice. I no longer think it is necessary. And feel that long term consumption of beef has risks associated with it I chose to avoid as well. I want no part of raising beef for human consumption.

    Recent studies have suggested that beef and dairy production are one of the leading causes of methane production contributing to the global warming. In fact I intend to stay away from producing livestock of any means . Seems I have a problem liking my animals too well. At one point our family was looking into raising chickens , 30000 to a barn and 3 barns full of brooder chickens , 90000 chickens on 4 ac. ‘s of land. I walked into these chicken houses and tried to imagine taking care of that many chickens and walking the floors shooing chickens out of your road as they lay by the feeders and eat. If you ever get a chance visit a farm and see where your food comes from. I admire farmers who can provide for all American’s on a daily basis, animals, to feed the masses.

     I have to buy more hay to keep the cows. On top of that the feed I am buying and some quick economics tells me get big or get out. Daily I fed and took care of these cows and have seen them almost every day in last 7 years. I carried my bull to the barn to get him out of the mud and snow. Now there is no way I could even think about it.

     Anyhow I don’t plan on getting out of farming, but instead changing the way I farm in the future. I plan on doing more with the trees and raising perennials, and will start planting and trimming of Christmas trees for sale. I would like to sell the trees potted and include free planting in spring . This would include delivery and set up to your house and free planting on your property in spring. I really am not into killing Christmas trees either, and figure that we could all use more trees in our backyards and less neighbors. If nothing else when trees are too big, I will give them a permanent home here on farm till I fill all the fields up.

   Anyway I go, the farm and our environment will be better for my part in all this. At least I am hoping. The cattle thing I would have had to deal with anyhow.

     Seems kind of funny as I lay my thoughts out before you I suddenly realize that if I had been with someone else I might have to take their opinion into consideration. Well missed that bullet for now. It isn’t that what I do will make a huge difference in anything on a large scale basis, but it is the little things that make a huge difference in our own backyard. Mine will be without the cattle. Still have to work on that alone thing. 

buddy had a moment

Buddy

     Well today’s events kinda center around Buddy. I had an amusing experience with him as I was elected to take buddy to Rita’s , for his shave and shower. Upon arriving at Moms house Buddy greeted me as usual , not like he had not saw me earlier as I was feeding cows and he joined in for his favorite thing to do with the cows and that is to  find frozen green morsels of goodness , he can’t necessarily find in the house thankfully.  Just what we needed a shit eating dog , and hence the reason for buddy to go have a bath.

    Well when Buddy found out that I really wanted to pick him up , he did his best to avoid me. I am ok to go outside with but he has hesitations when I want more from him I am sure for good reason as I don’t allow Buddy to kiss me and I guess for that reason we haven’t bonded yet.

      All for good reason I am waiting for the season when Mr. Buddy gets eating crap out of his system. I had one dog who disappeared but was crazy about horse crap and  he would run for miles carrying turds in his mouth. All I would have to say’ is that my horseturd?’ he would suddenly  grab it up  and take off, whether it was mine or not, as it made no difference as I would never get it. So when buddy took an affection for cow turds, I have to ignore best I could as he maneuvers his way fearlessly into the pasture to procure his frozen treats. Maybe when the flies come they won’t be so tasty and he will move on.

   Well buddy did his best to avoid me when he found out I actually wanted him for something and immediately sensed something was up. I had to have Mom snag him and then I grabbed him up and headed out the door. I had to shove him over in the seat when I got in . It wasn’t until I turned the truck around and we were headed out the lane. I let Buddy in on what was going on.

     I said to him “ Buddy it’s like this , we can’t afford license and although you are a small dog I am taking you to the pound” of course joking all the time and even though I was talking to a dog he looked at me like he really screwed up this time. And to assure he was right I mentioned the trouble I had getting him into the truck was minor compared to some of the offenses he has been guilty of. Running away from us, crying like a baby, and just looking so damn pitiful much like he was then. At this I felt a cold shiver run along his spine as I pulled up in front of Rita’s. I turned the truck off and told buddy it was nice knowing him and I tried to grab him. Didn’t know a dog could slink so well as he practically backed out of my hands and slid on to the floor just as I took my foot off the clutch , and it was then i realized the truck was rolling backwards in the snow and I had one leg out.

    Visions of buddy making it out the door and onto the ground only to be run over by out of control pickup flooded into my mind , as I struggled to not kick buddy out of floorboard area, and  to stomp on brake and stop the truck . I reached down and grabbed Buddy by back of neck and held on firmly as I had to start the pickup and return it to its former position. I held onto Buddy tight through it all , and then when we parked  I got out and went up to her business place and she wasn’t there. I managed to get Buddy back into the truck and finally to Rita’s who chastised me about scaring poor little Buddy about the pound thing. It was so funny to see the ‘Oh shit’, look in Buddy’s eyes though when I broke the news to him.

      In fact Rita said he did good for his first time and Buddy I am sure would easily give up some toenails and loss of dignity or dignity, as they like to call it to avoid the other possible consequence I was scaring him with. He was glad to be back home and to see Moms smiling face, after the few minutes of hell he spent with me

whittling away the time.

Something New to Me

     Basswood has been around for a long time but to me I never made the attempt to buy any to carve, because I have all kinds of wood available to me and it seems kinds stupid to buy something, when all I have to do most times is bend over and pick up a piece, if I so desired to carve on anything. But there is a huge difference in this type of wood, and how it lends itself to carving. It is expensive and available through most major art suppliers, and for small intricate carvings isn’t bad at all.

     In fact in researching basswood I come across several references where it is the preferred carving material when it comes to intricate carvings, allowing the carver to provide detail only limited by his/ her ability to create. I had wanted to try a piece since I was to the Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus about 8 years ago. While there  I watched a carver who was working on carousel horses carve away on a block. It cut like butter for him and then he allowed me to carve on a piece he had. I was impressed enough and finally took the plunge and purchased me a 4x12 inch block 2 inches thick. This I ripped lengthwise and made approximately 4 blocks of equal size. This I easily did on my band saw. The cuts were clean and easily produced 4 2x2x 6 blocks of equal size.

     So far all I have worked with is just one block having carved on it for a couple of hours. More or less whittling it down to what I intended to do in the first place. Basically a head as I do often with my chainsaw, only when I do it with the chainsaw it is much larger. The most finishing I usually do is  limited sanding with a 4 ½ in. grinder.

    With this small basswood block I sit in front of my puter and just carve. Imagine if I wanted to, I could do a live feed if you would like and arrange ahead of time. It really isn’t nearly as impressive as using a chainsaw, but still I like it because what else was I going to do with my time. I have no desire to carve in this frigid air. The chainsaw chases the blood out of your hands due to vibration, your feet freeze, and it is counterproductive whacking big chunks of wood off a hunk of tree, just to throw in the wood burner. The cold kind of messes with your creative side, when your nuts are freezing and falling on the ground. 

      This will allow me to enjoy carving in peace and solitude, like maybe at a craft fair, as I make little noise and just a mess of wood shavings, except well maybe an occasional grunt or groan and then you might also hear a sonny itch once in a while when the knife slips. I currently have a nice little Band-Aid on middle finger of left hand and it is my typing finger, I have 2 typing fingers (peck method of typing) , and I am usually fairly fast at typing , but with the hurt factor after I sliced the outermost tip off with utility knife and bled like the dickens, it is a sore painful task now. I learned right away those knives are sharp and one needs to always point away from myself like my grandpa taught me. 

     The head I am working on will look nice atop a walking stick. My old stick, Mr. Stick, as the dogs came to know it , will be retired and I will need a new stick as I have been trying to get some walking in and could possibly use a new stick. As for the rest of the block I plan on doing a dragon and some other figures and will show you the work as I make it available. These will all be for sale. Also I also would be interested in helping you get started whittling if you like. Set you up and help you work through your first carving. Of course I also would like to get paid, as I am sure you would like to if you were in my position. I love carving, and could possibly do it for free; it’s the putting up with people that gets a little hard. Just being sarcastic folks. Have to add that disclaimer otherwise people might begin to think I am antisocial……..Well?

      Anyhow I would suggest basswood and I read some on the wood and apparently it is around our area and can be propagated, in fact settlers when establishing orchards planted the trees as a windbreak to protect the more tender fruit trees. And this area of the Great Lakes region is prime land for growing the bass wood. I will add a bulletin describing the wood when posting here:

Ohio Trees - American Basswood

        So if you happen to have some dead trees in your backyard, then give me a yell and in the meantime I plan on starting a bunch of young seedlings to plant in our area for the future generations of sculptors coming along. Well back to whittling with my sore finger, the things I go through for my readers. 

a new arrival in the midst of misery

Blizzard of 2014

pics of a more warmer time.new calf pics tomorrow? 

     It has been a while since I have seen whiteouts, but today had its moments. I am still not ready to believe in giving up on the global warming theory. And actually I believe the bad weather can be attributed to it as global weather patterns are changing, glaciers are melting at an unprecedented rate and higher surface temperatures and extreme drought are major problem’s we as humans, in turn harm other animals in the process of heating up our atmosphere with the reckless burning of hydrocarbons, as we use them for fueling our cars, providing us with electricity, cooking our food and tanning our bodies in winter. Some uses are necessities humans need to exist,  others are frivolous waste.   

New momma and baby taken 1-26 -2014

   

        But we all must pay the price. Animals and humans alike. Habitats are eradicated as sea ice breaks up threatening polar bears, or drought threatens another watering hole frequented by an endangered animal without another place to roam to because humans are constantly encroaching on their habitat. This is life as we know it now. Does it always have to be that way? Time will tell.

      We can only hope that if we have enough time, and before we send the human race into a death spiral, we come to our senses and realize we all need to share this planet. The takers,  the givers, the biodiversity of life so precious and slightly out of balance that makes our planet and the world around us such a unique place to be.

    As nasty as it was today, I noticed a young heifer of mine due to calf, was not with the herd and as I glanced toward the barn noticed she was hanging around the barn. Yesterday I noticed she was swollen in the rears and had bagged up, but I felt she was probably a good couple of weeks before calving. At that time I promised myself to be more vigilant of watching her. Well today when she failed to show up for grain I instantly took notice and sought her out to find she had given birth on this beautiful nasty ass day, to a fine looking young calf, her first, and apparently with little problems. The calf was up and moving around and in fact was quite a handful till I managed to get the calf and mom locked up in the barn. Forcing the rest of the cows into the snow, on top of a hay bale they ravaged today, using it as bedding for the night.

     It isn’t the best idea to have a calf born in the dead of winter anytime, and I have lost them before when this has happened but that is the amazing thing about nature, and that it is hard to predict just when life begins and ends, it just does most of the time and us humans with our best intentions can be of little use sometimes and at the mercy of nature. The baby is low in birth weight, but was up on its feet and had appeared to have sucked on his or her mom. I was to busy to check the sex and was soon threatened with dark so needed to protect mom and baby as fast as I could. Will see how the calf does. Whether it is a male or female won’t make much difference until I see how it gets along. But they are warm and safe for now.

    In fact as I write this I just made a trip to the barn to check on the calf and cow and it is 10 pm. And both appear to be healthy and getting along fine. Reflecting on everything today I see adaptation in the face of adversity. Feed and shelter is what kept the cows close to the barn during this blizzard, and this in turn helped the new mother, as otherwise she may have given birth away from the barn in the snow and worse could have happened. Thankfully she gave birth right in the barn.

    You never know how a new momma cow is going to do, or for that matter the calf. But there is something almost reassuring when you see them on their feet nuzzling their momma’s bag shortly after birth, as if anxious to finally get a drink of milk and nourishment from the outside of the cow from whence they just came .

     Our environment requires a balance to be able to maintain life. And at the extremes we push life and its ability to adapt. What is truly wondrous is to see how we can overcome hardship, animals and humans alike, to overcome almost any obstacle. Humans have an advantage but we must be wise in how we use our minds and must realize if we create change , there will always be an acceptable risk to that change , when it affects our environment our plants , animals or life as we know it , we need to weigh that change and decide if it is worth it. If not we as humans and stewards of the land, have the responsibility of making it all work, especially if we are the ones screwing it up.  

sledding with the old ford

All I can think about this morning is

The Cold

     I even had to get up early to enjoy it. At this point I will enter a disclaimer meaning that I am being sarcastic, as I don’t really enjoy the cold so much as when I was a youth and sometimes would do anything to get out of the house. There were no toys in my room like the early Atari’s or a Game Boy, the only game boy I knew was the one I imagined for myself. Gaming and digital toys were in their infancy then, and to me nonexistent and I think they had actually never been thought of back then.  And probably the first handheld digital calculator was a Texas instrument TI 20, and they were still a year or two from going on the market.  One of which I owned and later cherished the clunky thing when in college at A.T.I..

     Bored with reading or doing homework in the winter here on the farm, I  would grab the old 56 ford car hood that  brother and I had for sledding would haul it up over the hill and would ride sled as many times as I cared to pull that heavy thing up the hill  in the snow. I would always have to sled ride about 5- 6 times down the hill to polish the rust off the bottom of the car hood and to pack down the track as we called it, when sledding with my brothers.

     The old car hood was undoubtedly the best sled once you had it going. Its flat smooth steel bottom was 16 GA. steel, much harder to dent than the 20 GA, or less they make fenders out of today and that’s if they aren’t plastic.  But the really nice thing was you could easily fit 2 people on and even if by yourself you could turn the sled just by leaning as the flattened v shape of the style of the car hood  would crowd snow to one side or the other and that resistance turned you in the opposite direction. This worked great except for one time.

   This one particular time i went sledding over the hill when I was fifteen, that day I had went over the hill alone. Where we had a track it had rained some freezing rain and froze on top of the packed snow, making it a crunchy glaze and I knew it was going to be ripe for some good sledding and it was. I was soon bouncing over humps with speed I had never experienced before, as trees blurred past and the bottom of the hill was soon coming up, and at the bottom I would bail off the sled into the loose snow and laugh at the excitement and thrill of having stared death in the face and escaping again as I would jump up and grab the tow rope for one more denial to the death gods. A few slides of the sled down the hill had really polished the cold undersides of the sled and each pass was getting faster. I would grab the tow rope at the bottom of the hill and hurry to the top wanting that reckless speed again until at last I had come to my last unforeseen ride down the hill.

   I breathlessly climbed on as we have a good hill with over a 1000 ft. of open space and few trees mostly off to the side, no problem if you go straight down the hill. It was soon evident after I took off that this ride was different as I leaned into a turn to straighten out the old car hood, it sent me into a spin, an uncontrolled spin. Here I was hurtling down the hill and in less than 10 seconds I would have to jump off because I wasn’t going straight and was headed for a tree that had undoubtedly ran over to the middle of my track as I was veering off badly. It was spinning pretty fast, the undersides and slopes of the fenders doing nothing to slow me down, and if anything the painted undersides of the hood now turned upside down with its tough old lead paint, and icy sheen filling any scratches made it go faster. I tried to jump off just before it hit the tree and instead wrapped myself around the tree with the brunt of the force striking me in the chest as my arms wrapped around the tree and met my feet and jerked me to a sudden stop at what I guess must have been close to 35 miles per hour now.  It expelled all the air out of my lungs and bent the sled with its heavy GA. steel at least a foot into the side of the sled.

    I laid there in the cold snow and gasped and hurt, unable to move till I had figured out how bad I was hurting. The numbness of the snow was working into every crease and crevice from my butt to my eyebrows which was covered in icy goodness as I lay there wrapped around the tree lying on my side. This cold motivated me to move more than anything, as I rolled on to my back away from the tree and tried to sit upright after a few minutes. My chest hurt and I looked at the sled. It was a good one but I had definitely did it in, with my at the time, 180 lb. body on top of it as it was hurtling into the tree . The tree was scarred from the impact, and the sled had veered at least 60 ft. from straight downhill just to hit this tree and end this poor sleds life. I felt sorrowed and I looked around to see if anyone saw me.

     That was perhaps stupidest thing I believe I have ever did and thankfully or not, no one was there to witness it. And why did I expect them too was the dumbest part. I knew I was alone in the middle of forty acres on a farm even more removed from anyone else, I was by myself. There wasn’t even a dog to send to the house had I needed rescued, no Lassie to scratch on the door, and bark Timmy’s fucked up again. Over the hill -over the hill, he would bark in dog language. Our dogs back then were different. Not seeming to follow so much as my German shepherds. A collie liked to hunt and was probably out somewhere else looking for a rabbit or something. Maybe later stopping by to gnaw on me and see if I was dead yet and then I would feed them for days.

       I hurt bad but knew it would probably be supper time before anyone would miss me after polishing off the pork chops and potatoes, and asking mom if they should save me any. Maybe then they might realize I was gone unseen from the table and the house. Knowing this and realizing in the winter in Ohio it was going to take a search party quite a while to find me I figured it would be dark and I would freeze to death before then,  it was in my best interest to get back to the house on my own while I still could.

       I struggled to my feet and limped around trying to find the end of the tow rope to pull the sled up the hill. A couple of feet of pulling it made me realize it was screwed. I just left it there as it hurt too much to try and pull it. The wrinkles in its skin offered plenty of resistance to the snow to make moving it almost impossible and besides my side hurt like hell. I was lucky to make it to the top of the hill alone, and over the other side of the hill down to the house.

      I walked in the door and told Mom I had wrecked the sled.

     She said, “That is nice, did you feed the cows yet?” Changing the subject, as if to avoid a hurried trip to the hospital for nothing.

       I said “I just hurt my side,” without answering about the cattle,

       To this I got, “Oh is it bad?”

      I said “I wrinkled up the old car hood, and wrapped myself around a tree and knocked the wind out of myself”, thinking at least it might get an ‘Oh that is too bad, let me have a look,’ instead I get a:

     “Well you seem to be standing ok, you had better get out and feed those cows and work it off and see how you feel.” Dismissing my pain, and avoiding a hospital bill, just in case I didn’t really need it, all in one fell swoop.

    At this point I knew what tough love was and Mom could really lay it on you at times. Kinda pissed me off and I couldn’t care less if my chest was bruised on my left side for days and when I finally went to get a physical for football almost 6 mos. later the Dr. noticed the bulge I still carry on my left side where one rib overlapped another and was busted and grew back together, at that time knitting itself together to fix a minor flaw in my somewhat perfect body at that time. The Dr. rubbed his hand over the hump and examined it over, and looked at me and asked if I had hit it sometime. I mentioned sled riding and getting the wind knocked out of me as I relayed my story to the old Doc, and he said I had probably broke a rib and there was nothing they could do about it now, and that it was going to be that way the rest of my life.

     When I joined Mom in the waiting room and we were soon headed home. I told her about my rib being broken and she said, “ Well there isn’t nothing they can do about a rib.” I thought to myself.

      ‘Geesh!’ Even now when I present her with proof positive she neglected me when I was hurt, she still would never admit it. I should have told the Doc she kicked me after knocking me to the floor and see what had happened. Oh well even back then you just didn’t do that. You took them for what they were, your parents good or bad. And for the most part they were pretty good.

    Well when I am cold I tend to look outside and wish for warmer weather now. I could play games on the puter, and while away the hours till spring. In reality though I would just like to get back outside where there are no toys. Not really ready for sledding as it still too cold and I think I have learned my lesson from sledding alone, especially at my age. I will include some pics of me sledding a couple of years ago when James was up here helping me. We had the old flat bottomed boat and it was great also. Was able to take the dogs and we had a great time. It worked great for that as that it also,  just took a lean to steer. And looking at kayaks yesterday down at New Town Mall I think I  would like to try one of those sometime for sledding before I bite the big one. Think they would be the ultimate even with the oars going downhill, and leaning into the corners. I bet they would fly. After all where does a boat do best? On water, only it is frozen water or snow.

     

a new goal reached-365-days blogging, last for awhile. bear with me.

Time to Pat Myself on the Back Again

    Again another goal achieved as I reach 365 days of blogging and now I head into my second year of blogging. Sorry this wasn’t consistent blogging as it required me over 2 years physically to achieve this goal starting on 1-7-2012. A little while ago I achieved a goal of 20000 hits, and late last year the goal of writing a full length novel. To say the least I am on a roll that is beyond my expectations. Again this wouldn’t be possible without support from my readers. My new goals, of 30000, hits and 2 years of blogging, are in front of me. In fact I spent the last couple of days searching for the right words to say and avoid the off the cuff remarks that have brought me this far, and try to improve the quality of my writing.

     Well off the cuff has brought me this far. And after careful consideration maybe some of the raw writing is what appeals to the writer. Home spun tales seem to do good, as I watch the old stats to see what works best. So you will see more of these as I go along. Also I know people would like me to avoid issues of the day that affect us all, but sometimes this is where my passion in writing is. Environmental issues, and how they affect us here at home are important to me and hope they are for you also .

      I can still remember Mr. Piccard’s enthusiasm of the first Earth Day back in I believe it was 1972 as he tried to make our biology class more aware of our world around us . It worked for me and I am sure it worked for a lot of other people. Numerous college biology courses and related science courses and readings have instilled in me a desire to try and make a difference if through nothing else but to inform you the reader what I have found.

      I encourage you the reader to respond to me and let me know what you think of what I have done right. The stats tell me some but it is the readers that tell me the most. Feel free to contact me at the reader response on this blog, or for that matter at my personal email address at kdavis3051aGmail.com.. I would like to hear from my friends  and I will laugh at my enemies out there, tell me what I am doing wrong , or right, but don’t expect me to quit now. Hope you continue to enjoy-kev

miss dolly remembered.

Miss Dolly Has Passed

        Miss Dolly has passed away or at least I am pretty sure she has and will always be remembered by myself as having an influence on me even though I never had the privilege of being in her class. I did get the opportunity to meet her once and it was Miss Dolly that introduced me to the class system of society  at a very young age of six years old .

     My older brothers I believe both had her as a teacher at Mineral City school as a second grade teacher and had nothing but praise for her, so one day while standing in front of my first grade teacher Mrs. Armstrong at Mineral City grade school where I went to first grade at, it was Mrs. Armstrong who introduced me to the famous Miss Dolly.

    This article is by no means meant to discredit Miss Dolly as I have heard nothing but praise for the woman and it was only fitting that news of her death was broadcast on the same bulletin board that used to display notes about her reading of stories to little ones at the local public library. Even my supposedly sage older brothers had nothing but praise for her when they would describe her and nothing but horror stories of the teachers on up the grades from there , as if I would be  lucky enough to have Miss Dolly for a teacher , then I better appreciate it , because they don’t make them like her any more.

    But my experience with meeting Miss Dolly had given me an unsettling experience and part of that was brought on  by my brother and his tales of how we were and also of our family situation of which I knew wasn’t the best even back then.

      By the time I started to school my first dad was a drunk and had beat my mom in front of us kids several times and it was these experiences of seeing your mom being beat and the unrest associated  with this behavior at my young age, and the fact he had deserted us and left us to fend for ourselves at a time when you couldn’t get food stamps and there was no support for mom and four kids, except grandma and grandpa. All of this has an effect on a young child like me. We never wanted for food so much as mom always raised a garden and there was plenty of milk because mom milked six cows twice daily by hand,  on the farm and separated the cream and put the milk in cans to be sold to the local dairy. This money along with the money that grandma and grandpa would help out with was used to raise us kids.

     Our bellies were full and we wanted not so much for things, and had been somewhat accustomed to doing without, but it was tough on us, even at six I was aware of how things were. Then my brother refused to wear a shirt and passed it down to me. I considered anything used as a badge of honor then , that my brothers would give me to me. Heck if it wasn’t for hand me downs I believe I would have been running around naked half the time. Oh wait I was. At least in the summertime I was.

        But this one particular shirt my brother gave me was a print of patches and the reason my brother refused to wear it was because some kid had rudely made fun of him wearing a patchwork print shirt and that he must be poor as that was all he could afford to wear. Well that was the reason I ended up with it.  My brother made me aware of the reason of why he had given it to me , but I still didn’t understand this poor thing everyone was talking about and how it had affected me .

    We were neither poor nor rich I felt as we were just family and doing things a family does , I knew little of money except you needed it to buy your lunch at school which I always cherished as it was always different from the food mom made , it wasn’t creamed tomatoes and green beans. My brother’s refusal to wear the shirt because we would look poor and this reflected on me also, as if being poor was a bad thing to be. Heck, if wearing used clothes made you poor then maybe we were.

     It wasn’t until I met Miss Dolly though that I determined we must be poor because as Mrs. Armstrong introduced me to Miss dolly as being one of the Davis boys of whom she had taught, and of course  I had heard so much from my brothers about her, and it was her firsthand knowledge of us, and all that went on in our family that made her utter these  first words to me and that was.

     “Why you poor child. “

    There it was proof positive we must be poor. I thought at the time. Surely if Miss Dolly thought it then it must be true. I kinda just stood there in shock till Mrs. Armstrong sent me on my way.

    I misunderstood her feelings of sympathy for words that cut right through me and affirmed all I had been feeling all along. We were different. We were poor.

    This lesson in the double standards’ of meaning of how people react to words uttered, should be a reminder to us all how fragile a mind can be and how much of an impact words can have on a person’s soul. It wasn’t all that long before I recovered and understood the meaning of what she was really trying to say. But to say the least as I stood in front of Miss Dolly that day it seemed like poor was wrote across my face and that was the fate I needed to accept . It was all spelled out for me as surely as Miss Dolly could see it.

    She probably never understood what it meant to me and her deeds and actions as a teacher were beyond most of her profession and I agree with the billboard announcing her passing, as I too will always remember Miss Madge Dolly.

any fan box fans? didn't think so.

Fan Box Update

  

      Call it an OCD issue or whatever but some people just piss me off, kinda like what would happen if I let Rupert Murdock papers molest my voice mail. I feel Fan Box continues to rape my e-Mail inbox with their loads of crap. Handling manure is nothing new for this farmer, and I can take it and spread it around much like what happens when it hits the fan. So this is nothing new.

   This is an update to the fan box blog I did a couple of days ago as I now revisit that blog with an update. It would seem if I have 1049.77 dollars in my Fan Box account I wouldn’t need to pay anything. But if I pay 7.85 and give them Pay Pal authorization they will protect my account and money. Isn’t this a lot like paying for protection? And from what? As they offer nothing and do nothing but hype each other up and you can collect people much like a pyramid scheme, only problem is I always end up on wrong side of pyramid, it’s no fun when you are financing someone else’s dreams. If I paid the money I still would not be able to collect. So all they have to offer is play money. This isn’t Monopoly but feel someone should go to jail, not collect 200 dollars.  

      I am glad my friend turned me on to this site. But much like FAN BOX  I give them everything they give me and more. I try to understand what it is they truly have to offer and that is nothing. Do understand what they want and that is my money and authorization to use PayPal anytime they so desire. What are they giving me? A hard time. And in return I promise to give them nothing but a hard time and expose them for fraud they are. Hope no one buys into their crap and try to warn all I can. Oh yes, so it takes a team to send out this crappy letter, hell I could do better myself. Probably some pimple faced teenager running a scam from his mom’s bathroom. Trying to collect enough money to head to the Bahamas or maybe by another gun, oh well maybe I will save his life and keep my money. I was born but it wasn’t yesterday. These folks better catch a new money train. I am leaving the station.

FanBox Account Protection Team

To Me

Jan 16 at 10:50 AM

Hi kdavi1l2,

So far, you have earned $1,049.77 since you started utilizing IPL. Watch the video to learn about IPL.

Your December IPL processing fee of $7.85 became due on Jan. 15, 2014. You'll want to pay your processing fee immediately to protect your account and money.

Please note that if your processing fee has not been paid by Jan. 25, 2014, a late fee will be added to your processing fee.

Amount due if paid before Jan. 25, 2014: $7.85
Amount due if paid on or after Jan. 25, 2014: $17.85


Did you know?

You can avoid manual payments and late fees, and protect your earnings, by setting up Automatic Account Protection . It’s a free service!

Quick links:

·        Pay your processing fee now

·        Review your FanBox Bank balance and earnings

·        View your “I’ll Pay Later” details including your limit, available and utilized amounts and how your processing fee is calculated

·        Take a minute to get Automatic Account Protection and never make another manual payment

·        Got questions?

·        Watch quick videos in the Learning Center

·        Ask your Success Coach anything – including how your earnings mature

·        Got billing questions? Ask the FanBox Billing Department (billing questions only)

Regards,
The FanBox Account Protection Team

This email was sent to kdavis3051@yahoo.com and may contain special notices or offers. You can prevent future emails here.
FanBox - 113 West G Street, STE 510, San Diego, CA 92101, USA

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watching what you eat?

Gmo’s In The News Again

       Gmo’s or genetic modified organisms now considered to be a staple of our food supply has been in the news again. An article in Yahoo on the news wire AP told that the state of Hawaii has now become Gmo free and has passed legislation to that effect forbidding Gmo giants Monsanto and Syngenta from developing their strains of Gmo seed there for distribution throughout the USA and world markets. This is seen as a blow to the Gmo producers who own thousands of acres in Hawaii specifically for that purpose. Monsanto and Syngenta claim to have protection under U.S.  Patent laws as evidenced by recent decisions from the Supreme Court, and have vowed to take it their again to assure their ability to continue research and development of their seed in the state of Hawaii.

    Hawaii is seen as a test case in which states who desire to remain organic or who wish to avoid certain agricultural practices in favor of public health and safety, will have to prove that it is the state’s rights to govern themselves before the Supreme Court and that Gmo’s are not a national issue that requires decisions on the availability of Gmo or similar products to be allowed in that state.

      Hawaii contends that Gmo’s have the ability to cross breed with other non- super strains of corn and require high herbicide usage to eliminate super weeds that have developed due to long term usage of chemicals. It seems as if the weeds have built up a resistance to glyphosate based weed killers and since Hawaii is the research center for these seed varieties, Hawaii has little or no interest in the large seed companies playing Russian roulette with a variety of weed killers including the return of 2-4 d to the agrichemical line of herbicides. 2-4 d was used as one the ag herbicides in Agent Orange during the Vietnam war to defoliate trees to expose snipers and ruin the food supply of the Viet Cong.

      Apparently the Gmo giants are looking at using these herbicides there in Hawaii and in the rest of the U.S. and wherever they sell their seed as a means to fight the super weeds they have developed consequentially along with their Gmo corn. The increased use of herbicides in agricultural production could lead to water well contamination if it hasn’t already. Also no research has been done to see the effects of herbicide runoff to sea life populations. The end result of continued residual usage of herbicides and pesticides will result in a  growing medium devoid of beneficial bacteria and microscopic organisms to aid in growing, basically leaving the soil void of all life and sterile.

    Here in Ohio I have read where Syngenta is looking for contract growers of corn in our area to grow and produce, I assume Gmo corn as they are looking to expand production of ethanol here in Ohio for sale to China and Brazil, where the market for ethanol has increased substantially. China’s thirst for ethanol grows out of its manufacturing needs as their foot print on world markets increase their demand for energy in the line of fuels and additives to run generators to produce electricity to produce goods for a world market. Brazil is energy strapped and has been using ethanol for quite a while and has problems keeping enough of it. Also the side use of brewer’s grains is quite profitable allowing profits to be gained in 2 areas of revenue for the manufacturers of distillable products. Recent U.S.  decisions to lower the amount of ethanol in our fuel sources had very little effect on our corn markets as we have already developed a world market for our ethanol fuels.

       Needless to say the Gmo issues are by no means over with and Ohio will have to wrestle with this issue soon as our well water and runoff water into our lakes and streams are threatened on two fronts. One by the use of fracking and second on the use of herbicides and Gmo’s in our agricultural usage. Let alone what the commercial ag producers are putting into our food supply we eat daily. 80 percent of the corn produced in the U.S. is currently of the Gmo variety as well as 95 percent of the soybeans , with the giant seed companies continually taking organic and regular farmers to court to protect their patent rights. What kind of an impact and how safe is our food supply when we let a few agri-giants predict our future food supply as well as the prices we pay for it? Let alone the impact of environmental damage as they strive to sterilize our fields and affect our water supply by increased use of fertilizer and herbicide usage. To say the least this is all food for thought.

hidden treasures

Spam Ads Online- Don’t You Just Love Them?

   Have you looked in your spam folder before deleting? I do at times and I am amazed at the number and variety of emails that confront me there. From telling me how to improve my sex life to offering me money from such a thing called rock star loans. Yeah like Tom Petty is going to loan me money. Most all of these go directly to your spam filter and really it is only recently I have been checking out what is really going on there as I also advertise my carvings on craigslist and was afraid some the emails may inadvertently end up there. So I didn’t really want to toss away some business in the process.

      One of my favorites though is the Extense ads where they promise to take the worry out of falling short on my man hood. I am sure some men have a hard time, (emphasizing hard),measuring their success in the bedroom in this department but I doubt a pill will extend your lack of worry. And that it is genetically impossible to correct a situation as being short on one end. Putting more lead in our pencil at our age is like trying to straighten a wet noodle, once it’s cooked you might as well forget it.

    The other one that always get me is how they are going to fix my raging hormones as I reach menopause. Cure those night sweats, and help me have a healthy and safe sex life as I reach my golden years. First off, hardly think I will be doing too much of anything when I am in a walker or shuffling my way to the mailbox when I am in those golden years. Possibly forgetting to take any pills will probably be the norm so fixing my menopause problems will be out of order. Oh wait!  I must be female to have these problems; it seems as if they never direct an ad to go to a specific gender by way of name classification. So they send it to everyone regardless. Thinking maybe they hope I will let a woman know she is having problems with her hormones. Well as dad would say I would rather pour hot butter up a wild cats ass than mess with that subject, (don’t ask me about the saying it is a West Virginia thing). Last thing I would want to do is suggest to a woman she is having a hormone problem, I might get bitch slapped to show that, yes she has a problem. There is a reason spam ends up where it does.

    Viagra, and a host of drugs are all available in your spam folder, and free cash till you have to pay it back to Lucky Louie , who will come to your house and help you make those easy payments they offer. One never knows what you might find in the world of spam. I actually think a lot of spam ends up where it does because: one-it is not solicited, two- has key words of extend, and Viagra, or menopause, and three – will have the phrase of help you improve your sex life, four – will help you find a date after you improve your sex life. And finally five – will help you get out of debt.

     Pretty much that sums up the majority of the emails in my spam filter. If I was the worrying type I might grow a complex if I visited the spam box and took it seriously as I am sure they have identified a whole host of problems that may be wrong with our world , or then again are they playing with our emotions and feeding us what we want to hear?  I mean without sex drugs and rock and roll stars money , where would our generation be?