Farm News 12-02-07

Sunday morning, after chores, 40°

Farm News, including previous editions, is available at the Farm News blog.

Barn News

Suzette spent Wednesday with Bucky, so she should have bunnies on New Year's Eve or thereabouts. I need to build a new, covered nest box before then, the old one finally fell apart. Does like a covered box so they can sit on top of it and escape from the demands of the bunnies. The high sides and cover also help hold the fur in the nest box.

Thursday evening I killed a possum I caught stealing cat food. It has been living in the barn for some time and was the biggest, fattest possum I have ever seen. Although possums do well eating cat food, they generally prefer young birds, which they kill by biting off their heads. They then eat the heads and leave the rest of the bird behind. I was very glad to get that possum out of the barn before baby chicks and ducklings start hatching.

Darkness

We are sometimes told that the Arabs preserved knowledge during the Dark Ages. It is interesting to note that the Dark Ages began not in Europe, but in Egypt, when the monks of Nitrea, led by Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, took Hypatia to the nearest church, laid her on the altar, and removed her skin with clam shells. Hypatia, the last librarian of the great library of Alexandria, did not survive the experience, nor did the library. I instinctively dislike people who abuse librarians or libraries.

News from Cambodia

Ray was asked to report on local reaction to the start of the trial of former Khmer Rouge officials on charges of crimes against humanity. Ray said that the only thing he has heard about it was from the news on CNN. The trial that has drawn the most attention is that of a rich Russian with a strong appetite for very young virgins. The interest is over whether justice or money will prevail.

Ray hasn't unpacked his camera, yet. He is staying busy walking on the beach, drinking coffee, and watching the passers-by. He reports that he still hasn't seen any violent acts, nor any aggressive police activity; instead, everyone is busy tearing down old buildings and replacing them with new shops. The people are industrious and feel that prosperity is finally arriving in Cambodia.

Writing

As I write this it is Monday evening, 8:16pm to be precise, and I don't want to write anything. Why not, I wonder? I'm 70 years old, I should have something interesting to pass on, but I can't think of anything. The day's events? Hardly.

I started the morning with chores, as usual. It didn't freeze last night and all the various water containers were unfrozen this morning, making the job much easier. I fed the goats, held a coffee can of grain for Beth, the human imprinted goose, to have a few bites before I tossed it out to be picked up by her and the other two geese, and gave a coffee can of non-medicated layer mash to the ducks. As I fed each I said their names, trying to teach them that when I call their name it means food. Lucy goat knows that when I call her name it means food, and Beth might make that association. The ducks seem to associate “Ducks, ducks” with food but generally prefer what they can find on their own.

Breakfast was my normal winter morning meal: a big bowl of oatmeal with honey and skim milk. I once spent a week in Scotland, staying at the rural home of three young men, all true “men's men.” They approved of me because I enjoyed oatmeal for breakfast, Scotch whiskey after dinner, and I liked their sheep dogs so much that I would yield my chair to the sweet old bitch who liked to spend the evenings in the house. Ever since I have preferred oatmeal for breakfast on cool mornings. During the summer I generally have a small bowl of Cheerios. My preference for oats in the morning I consider a major factor in my being the oldest male member of my family on both the maternal and fraternal sides, all the others died of heart attacks.

There were two computer repair jobs scheduled for today: a new client near Meriden and a repeat client near Oskaloosa. The gentleman near Meriden needed a new monitor. I charged him $20 for making the trip and told him to call me if he needed more help. The lady near Oskaloosa was unable to renew her Norton AV online, not surprising, as no one else can either. I spent over an hour trying to make it work and then installed AVG anti-virus. She had already paid Symantec $70 for renewing her Norton anti-virus and didn't want to waste her money. I kept trying to explain that she had already wasted her money, which took several hours. I charged her $35 and came home.

I could continue with this for pages, but to what end? It's dreadfully boring, even though I enjoyed the day. It wasn't solving the computer repair problems, it was driving through the countryside I enjoyed. I saw a badger and two big flocks of wild turkeys, but mostly I just enjoyed the trees, shrubs, and grasses along the roads. It's nice to be simple.

Friday morning a Blue Jay visited the bird feeder, the first in more than a week. Something, probably West Nile, almost wiped out the Blue Jay population. They're noisy and obnoxious, but I like them for their boldness. Jays are fairly easy to tame if you start with the young ones. I keep trying to remember to find a nest in the spring and start hand feeding the babies, a sure way to win their hearts and minds.

Two populations of crows live here: a year-round family who raise their babies here, and a migratory flock of mostly young, unmated birds that spend only the winter. The permanent residents do not approve of the rowdy ways of the migrators and don't mix with them. When the babies leave the nest in late summer the crows raise such a fuss that it becomes obvious what is happening. This year there didn't seem to be any young leaving the nest; again, I suspect, victims of West Nile. Young birds without feathers are helpless against the mosquitoes that carry the virus.

Health Care

Each year medical schools in the US reject about half of their applicants. We end up with a shortage of physicians which we then fill by robbing developing countries of physicians they disparately need. Why? Because the AMA, the organization responsible for accrediting US medical schools, has put a limit on the number of physicians the US can produce, has set a limit so that their members will make more money. If physicians were steel producers instead of health care producers they would all be paying a fine for anti-trust violations.