thanksgiving yockey style

Our Early Thanksgiving

 back row : jr , faw , myself , brother jim

middle row: jasper, sherry, cousin brenda

front row: aunt fran, mom, and sister charly. 

 same place a different time ? about 32 years ago at best guess.

back row: myself, jr., jim , and brother faw

sherry, charly , and brother mike(passed)

mom , dad(passed) , and grandma(passed) 

sister jeanie not present in either pic.

      Mom wanted a Thanksgiving like we used to have at the town hall in Sandyville only we have it the weekend before thanksgiving as we did last Sunday and that way the family could all participate, at least those that didn’t have to work, and still some didn’t show up , but for the most part we had a turnout better than we expected. I will share some pictures of this thanksgiving of ours with you , and one of the past ones when we had our immediate family altogether in this same venue to celebrate an earlier thanksgiving when some of our family members who are in the picture are no longer with us. 

 this i what it looks like in a group pic when you have to be one of the crowd. 

 

damn , not a one is smiling. 

 

get my picture taken or eat some more. oh , the decisions. 

 

 the women of the family

 

those pesky neighbors of mine

 

willy and amy with mom

 

 

mom in her moment of honor

 

      Grandma and Dad, as well as my brother mike are no longer with us. All have passed on as well my grandpa which I doubt if he had ever made it to a Thanksgiving at Sandyville as we started having them at Sandyville years after grandpa passed on. My Uncle Wayne also is missing as he too has passed on , although him and Aunt Fran are not in the picture. All those who have passed on are deeply missed and their presence could be felt in the smiles and laughter of those present as you can see a little of all those missing in the faces of those young folks.

      Running and playing were the grandchildren and great grandchildren and mom’s face had to be sore from smiling and laughing, as well as her butt as she sat for picture after picture. I won’t share anything in terms of a family portrait as for the most part I was part of the family getting my picture taken, instead I will submit to you pics I took as we prepared to have a group portrait done from my perspective. As well some of our original family including my Aunt Fran and my cousin Brenda whom have always been an important part of our family as we grew up together, maybe not under the same roof but always just a phone call away.

       I would like to say something deep and thoughtful about family besides we put the dis in functional, but instead looking at how it all came down and how tasks were accomplished by all those there and a lot of it without anyone telling the other what to do, is why we are a functional family, looking at those coming up and seeing in those faces the wonder of a large family will hopefully keep them coming back to this place for a long time to come. Thanks Willy and Amy for being there and helping also.

talk is cheap lives aren't. be careful of what you wish for, you may get it.

Recent Facebook Posts of Note

 

This is by Billy Graham's son, evangelistic Christian preacher 

     This coming from a preacher whose father roamed at will despite his religion and whose family silver spooned this son of his to fame as a result of their religion. How hypocritical of him to condemn another religion in general. 

Another from democratic front runner for president Sen. Bernie Sanders

In my view, now is the time for developing a serious and effective approach to destroy ISIS. Now is not the time for taking cheap political advantage of this tragedy. Now is the time – as President Obama is trying to do – to unite the world in an organized campaign against ISIS that will eliminate the stain of ISIS from this world.       But let me also say that now is not the time for demagoguery and fear mongering. What terrorism is about is trying to instill terror and fear into the hearts of people. And we will not let that happen. We will not be terrorized or live in fear. During these difficult times, we will not succumb to Islamophobia. We will not turn our backs on the refugees who are fleeing Syria and Afghanistan. We will do what we do best and that is be Americans – fighting racism, fighting xenophobia, fighting fear.     And a post i made earlier in Facebook I feel is worth repeating:    All this talk about immigration and rejecting refugees avoiding the conflict in Syria , mainly because they are Muslim when here in the united states it is well known we have a substantial Muslim population that contribute as much or more than most and have to remain silent for fear of retaliation from others in society who take a dim view of their religion. One of the things that makes this nation great is our freedoms. One of which you will defend to all ends, is the second amendment , and the right to bear arms while our school children die at the hands of idiots with guns both legal and illegal to the point our schools look like prisons, and their is talk of including bullet proof glass in them, Another is freedom of religion, and at this I guess we need to add another amendment which states, it is free as long as you re not Muslim. Our ability to accept refugees and their contribution to our government is well documented and i will include a few examples:      Albert Einstein was a refugee, Henry Kissinger was also a refugee fleeing German persecution. , Donald Trump's grandfather was also a German immigrant, Charles Lindbergh's father immigrated from Sweden, Werner Von Braun credited with the development of the v-2 rocket used against Britain in World War 2 , and built with slave labor , who later became a prominent physicist and one of the early developers of modern space rocketry was a naturalized citizen, and the list is long and varied as to their contribution      The point is which immigrant are we going to leave behind and how might he contribute to our great country? With the exception of Frederich Trump who by the way was an immigrant from Germany building housing for the war effort against Germany for the United States government at no doubt a profit. By what basis are you going to say who should stay , and are you becoming a racist also, i doubt you have much native Indian blood in you. Not all immigrants are bad for the country, most are so thankful to be out of that hell hole and are willing to do anything to get a start. We created this mess by sticking our nose in places we didn't belong, and now we are going to stick that same nose in the air, and deny these people we helped displace, the same rights you enjoy.       Yes we have to help our own first, and take care of our veterans and the aged . these too are being denied benefits or having them stripped away by our own elected officials. This is an internal problem and created by the elected populace that represents us. The same ones who want to start a war against radical army who will run and hide under their own citizens like scared rabbits when confronted. We need to look long and hard at our politicians and ask them is this necessary and how many more lives need to be lost , both innocent civilians and servicemen to prove what? There is profit in conflict. We already knew that. Get out and vote and change what you can. 35 percent of the population isn't a good voter turnout. If you don't vote except at a presidential election , you have a limited right to bitch, and less if you don't vote at all.       And finally summation i have to say:         It is tragic what happened in France but as one post i read says; If you sow seeds to the wind of change, then you need to also be able to weather storm it might create. A little history of the French and what happened in Algeria where 45000 Muslims were slaughtered after World War 2 . If this happened today there would surely be talk of war crimes,  back then nothing was said or very little.this is much more tragic then what happened to France lately.      Karma sucks only in this case, because it happened to humans on a personal level , not only French citizens but to all who were there the night of the terrorism. The french are pissed and rightly so, but some of it was brought on by their indifference to the people who dont believe the way they do,and who could care less if one American was in the crowd. They wanted to make a statement and in efffect created a war on Muslims in general . Many who did not participate that night , but are being lumped together due to their religion or because of their nationality.      It is a black mark on Islam, and due to the social media blowing it up as it is now the the next thing to hate behind the rebel flag. It is a lot harder to understand, than to hate and let our gut reaction at what happened reflect on all of Islam, and the peoples of war torn syria seeking an escape from the war and poverty. what would you do in the same situation, would you stay in a place that continues to escalate the war talk or would you move your family somewhere else to escape the terror of losing your family to an errant French bomb? You too would would want to go somewhere else.      But where would you go . Like Mexico faces a a fence, these people are at the mercy of other nations with radicals much worse than Donald Trump ever could be and hell of a lot less understanding. they need our help now more than ever.       I am not supporting ISIS , instead i am saying we need to think this situation out carefully before we alienate a mass of people who are already embedded in our society and not let hate dictate our will to war against them. finally i will leave with you pictures of how the past treated Muslims before and in an effort to make sure these people are treated fairly consider what France did to them before. all the pictures of France's terrorism pales in comparison to these atrocities.      Pic of war crime atrocities of 45000 slaughtered Muslims in 1945      i would like to say it is not America's problem but it is as we share the same air, we are just on opposite sides of the same pond. we ned to face our problems with Muslims with understanding and not condemnation as a group together. ISIS is only a small faction. lets not whip up the frenzy of war talk as it may be your son or daughter fighting there.

you say you want to have a revolution?

Champagne Taste- Beer Money

     I believe 80 percent of the population fits into this category, including myself. We would all love to have that big extravagant house or maybe a couple of them and maybe a private plane to taxi you between the two. Too live a day without worrying about where the money is going to come from to pay the bills and at the same time act like you could give a care about how much they are because you know you are comfortable enough to live the rest of your life without a worry or care about how much money you have. I can only imagine what it would be like to live a life like this. Most of the people I know will never ever fall into this category. And I wonder if they did have all that, would that ever be enough.

     Sometimes I think that is what drives rich folks and that is they don’t have to worry about today so they are driven to make sure that tomorrow and the next day will always be the same. They are never content with just having enough and will always want more. The feeling of power one gets from knowing you have enough money and more than anyone else is the driving force of millionaires and allows their arrogance to bloom. Power is money, knowing you can step in and buyout a business and have the expertise in place to make ten times more than you have now is for sure a thrill to these folks, men and women alike.

     I can also imagine it is as lonely there at the top of the heap as it is at the bottom. This is something I know about. I know what it is like to survive on little or nothing, to watch people like myself worry as the fumble their EBT cards out of their wallet to help pay for food they eat. And there are those that have no help and a limited income that struggle daily to put something on the table. I look at both classes of people as well as those in the middle who have a good job and kids in college who are also struggling even though they make in excess of 50 k per year, and I wonder why the disparity between the upper class and those below . The middle class and the lower class are struggling to make ends meet while the upper class wonders why we are bitching. 

 

hmmmmmmmm trump?  

      Most are people who took advantage of silver spoon beginnings like Donald trump who believe we citizens who don’t own casinos and hotels or large corporations and considers us whiners and who thinks that the average guy or gal already makes too much money. That we should take a cut in wages or just stay where we are, it is like we need to be able to manage what we have better so that we too can someday aspire to be what he is. And what is he, a bigoted class racist as far as I can see. His daddy set him up in business and told him he was special. He is special; he has a mental condition that allows him to think he is different than anyone else. He is special; he is handicapped in his ability to see the big picture. I feel sorry for him. He has no idea or feeling for anyone’s plight except his and how it affects him.

     This is seen in him and his war against the minorities especially the Latino’s who are in the United States secretly living and paying taxes and avoiding our government as much as possible in an effort to avoid detection, and who only want what the rest of the poor want in our great country a chance to live without fear of being deported back to a worse poverty. These are the same people who no doubt pick the lettuce for the salads served in his fancy hotels and casino’s or who keeps his horses and walks them at the stables he owns and cleans their crap up . Who climbs down in the grease trap at a restaurant and cleans the settlings out because no one else, especially the Caucasians think they are capable or willing to do.

     In fact Mr. trump has no idea how the illegals have entrenched their selves into our society and how we could never find anyone legal to do half the jobs they do , and if, how much it is going to cost society to replace these folks if they were deported. It seems as if ivory tower offer views of grandeur but one gets dizzy when you have to look down and see why you are where you are and who you owe it to. It isn’t just the illegal immigrants he is attacking he is attacking all us folks who work and support the elite in this country who have forgotten how and why they are where they are.

     These are the same people who run our congress and change our laws daily stripping benefits from our servicemen and those less fortunate while increasing their profit margins for themselves by enacting laws that benefit those who are rich, and are the only ones that could afford to benefit from those laws. Free trade agreements that strip jobs from our economy and send them overseas, to places like Vietnam where we once made war with their communist nation and who killed our servicemen and now wants to take the bread and butter from our tables, so that we can be like those folks poor and needy also. Why, so that the profit margins of the rich can be greatly enhanced by Want Too Lee’s ability to work for 25 cents an hour making products to sell in a dollar store.

     It I hard to blame the Vietnamese or any third world nation who wants a piece of our economy, but it is easy to blame those that let it happen. This is an upper class problem and needs to be changed one politician at a time. The trouble is politicians are like used car salespersons that once they get in office soon swing their support to lobbying interests and let greed influence their decisions to allow themselves to stay in power. Few have the character and integrity to govern the people’s wishes, instead allow them to govern by their personal wants and desires, and what is best for them. How do we think people like Mr. Trump would be any different? His insensitivity towards the lower class is already evident, and how anyone would think that it is going to be any different is beyond me. Our only chance to change anything is to get out and vote and change the way things are going one politician at a time.

     As to the gap between the rich and poor, and class systems will always be a problem. But the one thing we have in our favor is a democratic society where by the elected have to have the majority of the vote. Wise up people that is why we need to vote. Now the only people voting are the upper middle class and the rich, yet the majority of the voting populace is the middle class and poor, only we never show up at the polls. There are a lot more poor people then there is rich. We need to get out and vote more and pay attention to the issues and be a force in politics our self. If you want to change the system,  make those that make the most pay their share including corporations who are getting a free ride on taxes or are being subsidized while making a profit like G.E.. We need to stop lobbying. These are changes the majority of our country needs. We need to recognize those people living amongst us who have no right to be here but are still paying the price for their silence in lower wages and fear of being booted out in a moment’s notice like our illegal Latino community who for the most part are worry free.

     We ned to take the upper class’s champagne taste and turn it into beer money and make them work for their privilege, instead of just handing it to them as we have done . We have a wonderful country and it is full of problems, many of them could be remedied by making everyone’s life more richer , one millionaire at a time.

crossing the line!

Why Have Property Lines? 

       I guess after some news of my neighbor’s plight and a recent confrontation with another neighbor I find it is necessary to revisit the old complaint of respect for other people’s property and wishes. This is a common complaint not only expressed by myself but also by neighbors, and sometimes by those neighbors most guilty. Even myself I am becoming more aware of my past disregards for others property and have made changes to avert any problem associated with that.

      In regards to myself I wandered on to several neighbors properties searching for a lost heifer I documented in one of my earlier blogs. She was a pain in the ass and the last of my cattle I had and have now rid myself of for just this reason. There are no fences to speak of except electric fences I put up. And when a heifer gets it in her mind to go dancing in the middle of the state highway , it really doesn’t matter to her what stands in the road , a girl has gotta do what she has to do. The trouble was she crossed 2 properties who are absentee landowners and one is the city of Canton, and trying to find anyone there during off hours is almost impossible. Haste to control her ramblings was necessary to return her as soon as possible to our land. So I purposely crossed their land and still was unable to secure her. Had she been involved or was the cause of an accident, she would have been a liability to me and the farm. They could have sued us for damages. To build a fence to keep her in by herself would have been impossible she would find some way to get with other cattle; she was not going to be by herself. I am sorry but I needed to do what I did. 

 

       A neighbor over the hill lost a beautiful Tennessee walker due to a broken leg brought on by someone , another neighbor sighting in a 410 shotgun in the horse pasture causing the horses to run wild. Scurrying from one end of the field to the other causing the Tennessee walker to stumble and trip in a rut and he went down and broke a leg and the owner had to put the horse down as a result of this stupidity or vengeance for whatever, as I don’t think I have heard the end to this story. Well the owner of the land with the dead horse is suing the other owner for the loss of his horse.

      I had the opportunity to be able to acquire the horse manure from his property. For us both it is a win-win situation. I no longer have cattle and need the manure to make compost for whatever I need it for. Currently it is the raspberries I am trying to plant as well as for trees I am going to plant. Anyhow after the horse manure is mixed with rotting hay and then allowed to heat up, should make a really good additive to my raspberries as a fertilizer promoting good organics in the soil. It will leach the high nitrogen into the soil whenever rainfall arrives and naturally fertilize my plants. At the same time it does him a favor knowing he doesn’t have to worry about where to get rid of the horse manure. He also mixes lime into the manure to keep the flies down in the horse stalls and also it keeps the manure from getting to alkaline from all the wood chips and burning up the soil whenever it is applied to soil, like a garden. I am not only getting shit but good shit.

    I have also had some other dealings with this neighbor who lost a horse and everything is on the up and up. He is new but keeps good fences tries to be a good neighbor, and doubt he has started a feud with other neighbor as most of the people around him speak highly of him. He too is an absentee land owner only having horse barns there and twice daily comes and takes care of his horses. He is and his wife are very conscientious horse owners , taking all precautions with the horses, taking in rescues and trying to be responsible in all they do with respect to their neighbors. This guy is threatening action against the other owner who fired the shots as tempers flared last night and I can attest to something happening as I personally saw his horses running full tilt from one end of the pasture to the other and witnessing a large boom from what I thought was fireworks but could have easily been the neighbor with the gun shooting as both were in the same area. I was loading my truck with the manure while this was going on. But I thought the fireworks or noise was coming from another house as I watched this woman appear on porch and shortly after I would hear the boom and I assumed it was fireworks she was letting off instead it might have been the gun.

     Also the farmer who lost the horse, well his wife was walking through their pasture to get the horses when the same neighbor shooting his gun launched a volley of shotgun blasts in her general direction in her field. This is what prompted them to call the sheriff and two arrived and told the guy to quit shooting into the field but couldn’t tell him to quit shooting as the other owner has rights. Being they are absentee owners it would be impossible to say that he wasn’t trying to scare the horses purposely away from his property. Still one owner has a dead horse and the other has a civil lawsuit he will have to answer to. Why because one owner doesn’t respect the other. It is my understanding a 410 shotgun isn’t much good for much besides hunting rabbits and doesn’t carry much of a punch as a shotgun goes. It does make noise and scares people away as well as horses. How much sighting in or shooting at a target does one need to make the shotgun lethal to a little fuzzy bunny, I don’t know, but doubt it takes much, so why all the shooting for nothing? None of this makes sense .

     I just recently had a confrontation with a new neighbor who took it on his own to hunt my property without my permission by bow. He was already told to not hunt our property after talking to him earlier. He was not only on my property and jump and ran with his buddy after being spotted but he was also on another neighbor’s property who I know had not allowed to him to hunt his property. Well away from his own property the two hightailed it down towards their property but saw that I soon caught up with them, as I was going that way anyhow and just accidentally caught them hunting illegally. They stopped and waited for me.

    I asked him why he was up on my land hunting. He said something about a big ten point buck. I said well your land doesn’t start till way down the hill there and you are definitely not on your land. I originally saw you on my land hunting when I already let you know I don’t allow hunting and did it personally. He said yeah but it was a big ten point buck I took a shot at. I told him it doesn’t matter, if it is on my land, it is mine till he goes somewhere else. And he isn’t supposed to be hunted. If you shoot him and he is hurt, you still need to come ask permission before you trail him across my land. If you don’t ask me first I will prosecute you for trespassing. At this I asked him if he understood, I said you wouldn’t like it so well if I did the same to you, and  shot a deer and killed it on your property. Would you? Especially when we have already had this discussion.

     He was the first person to let others neighbors know that the five acres he had was his and not to be entered because he was going to hunt it. Our land is adjacent to his and I am sure an inviting place to hunt as I kind of let it go on purpose. Still because I am currently not using it for whatever purpose, it is still ours and under our discretion to be used as we see fit. Our rule is to not allow hunting. Why can’t people respect that? Why do I feel threatened every hunting season because I don’t have colors on to show I am human on my own land? I don’t remember growing up that way as daily we would head over the hill to get the cows to milk before going to school during deer season or whenever, we never had to have colors on or worry about anyone else on our property. Why can’t the idiots stay on their own land, if they want a farm in the country, to hunt on, then let them go buy it and leave ours alone? Why can’t people respect our property and wishes? My biggest peeve is that I have to post our land every 450 feet along the borders or at a feature to keep people out legally. This is not only stupid as if it isn’t yours, or you don’t pay the taxes on it then why is it so hard to comprehend that If it isn’t yours leave it alone. Not a hard rule to understand. Still it is the one thing our new society thinks they are entitled to. Be it someone else’s possessions, their land, their wildlife.  Why can’t they work for what they get?

     Playing dumb is no excuse, you know enough to buy a hunting license and understand and fill out the form and sign your name to it. Then you have enough sense to realize you need to be responsible for yourself. There is no excuse for hunting illegally. It is that time again and the deer are congregating on our property, and it is as if they know we don’t allow hunting. I consider our place a safe oasis for these deer and their last harbor before being chased on to the road before some unsuspecting motorist. If the bottom goes out and Armageddon comes around and the store shelves empty and I am in need of food, it would be nice to know their would still be game on our property to take when all else around is gone. I would have to be desperate but still you do what you have to then. Not now when it is just a game to these hunters, a kill game. Its great as long as it isn’t them.