People Should Act "Nice" as My Mama Used to Say

When I was a young man, I charged into every event.  I did things without thinking.  I would go headlong into an event, problem or anything else for that matter with a reckless abandon that somestimes proved successful, sometimes proved memorable and other times was just down right disasterous.  The older I get, the more I think about my actions.  This is only natural.  Through life we see how our actions effect others and we adjust our actions to create the reactions we most like to see.  So, the older I get, the more I think before I speak or act.  I know that what I do will cause some sort of a reaction somewhere in my life.  Like the butterfly flapping its wings on the othe side of the ocean and that breeze can snowballs into a full blown hurricane, what I say in a whisper can easily end up in a hurt feeling, a bruised ego or worse a life that will never stop feeling the hurt of a moment without forethought.

...interesting that this was waiting on me when I went to get in my Jeep this morning.  It is a harmless garter snake but, a snake none the less.

While I think about this, I wonder how many people think that if you are discourteous you will get more done than if you are just nice, kind and courteous? I had an encounter with someone whom I have know for years.  I even did work with her father in a former business I was in but for some reason when she has a problem she seems to feel that by acting bitter and abruptly to others she will get more accomplished.  Well that may work some places in the world but this is not one of them.  The south still rewards those who are kind to others.  Is this Karma or is it just the natural result of action / reaction.  For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.  Karma?  Who knows.  Nature working through life? Absolutely! 

Benjamin Franklin once said "a word spoke is an arrow let fly."  Once we let a word fly from our mouth it cannot be unspoken nor taken back.  A thousand apologies can explain our sorrow for having spoken it but cannot unspeak it or make it become forgotten.

Until next time...John

I 

Early Saturday Morning

This morning is warm and muggy. The high humidity makes 70 degrees feel much warmer but the small fan blowing on me keeps the Mosquitos away and cools my skin. The beautiful waning moon is setting  on the opposite side of our house from our porch but, her silvery blue light shines  on everything in our lawn, casting soft long shadows off to the east where the sun is waiting to rise. The rooster crows and the day is about to begin.  Earlier there was nothing but quiet but silence has given way to the chirping of the morning birds. An occasional truck can be heard on the highway a half mile down our drive. A low, lonsome train whistle echos through the morning silence miles off in the distance. Morning is here and another day, a gift to us, is about to begin. 

Until next time...John

Feeding Before Daylight

I went out a little early this morning to feed the horses, the donkey the pig and the chickens.  It was a few minutes before daylight and there was a full "sturgeon" moon in the sky to the west. (For those that may not know, that is the other name for a blue moon and a blue  moon takes place when there are two full moons in one calendar month.) While daylight was beginning to make it's morning debut, it was still dark enough that the silvery blue shadows cast by the moon were on the landscape in front of our house. There is a quiet at that time of day that you just can't experience at any other hour of the day.  I feed the chickens first because they are early risers.  Then I feed Scooter and carry the horses their feed.  They are probably the least polite but always very appreciative.  It is just a short walk but I take my time, usually say a short thank you prayer for being here and healthy, having a great family and living a wonderful life.  That walk is always a very reflective time for me.

If anyone ever hides out in the hen house and listens to me talking to our animals they would think they were experiencing a role reversal from Orwell's Animal Farm or even worse that I am completely crazy.  I carry on conversations with them...ask them, "how are you doing this morning...did you rest well...did you gal's leave me any eggs?" This is a very good time of the day for me. I can always tell by there demeanor what their answers are. So, I guess they are answering me as sure as if they talk to me.

I just had time for a quick note right now.  I hope to be able to post more later in the evening.

Until Next time...John

Summer Storm Rumbling In The Distance

...just a sentence or two before I turn in for the night.

Every time I hear thunder rumbling across the night scape outside my window I can't help but remember my first trip to Arizona. I was only 5 years old but I remember it like it was yesterday.  My family was visiting my grandmother's in Gila Bend or Benson i am not sure which,and a storm was moving its way toward us, through the mountains and across the desert. The huge bolts of lightening were streaking toward the earth emblazoning the clouds, the desert and all that was in it as God shared his mighty power with us. 

At five years old I was frightened.  I had never seen anything as awesome as this but soon I was mesmerized by its strength, power and beauty. The golden lightening streaked through the sky far off in the distance and for some reason it slowly calmed my fear and cast a peaceful serenity over me. In my simple young mind, the lightening was God writing across the sky with a golden pen. To this day I remember telling my mom those very words. 

So on a night like tonight when a storm lights the distant sky, my memory takes me back

more than fifty years to an Arizona desert and a night that changed forever the way I look at storms. 

Until next time...John 

A Few Late Summer Early Morning Photos

Every year about this time we get a few days of cooler weather.  By cool I don't mean put on a sweater cool. No, I mean it is comfortable sitting outside without a fan weather.  I mean coming out of an air conditioned home or office weather.  The past few days have been that way here in Mississippi.  I think this is so we will know that this oppressive heat of summer is not going to last forever. There is indeed an end in site with autumn on its way.

Today is supposed to be warmer but, my early morning walk provided me with an opportunity to take a few photographs to share with my readers.  

I hope these scenes provide a little serenity to carry you through today.

Follow me on twitter @acountryjournal 

Until next time...John

Readers From Serbia & 33 Other Countries Reading My Blog

Below is a list of all of the countries from which visitors to our blog have come.  New ones appear in Red.

Thank you for reading what I write.  I hope you will share them with your friends and families.

Catch what I have to say by following me on Twitter @acountryjournal 

United States
Argentina

Australia

Bangladesh

Canada

China

Costa Rica

Czech Republic

Denmark

Egypt

France
Germany

Hungary

India
Indonesia

Jordan

Lithuania
Netherlands

New Zealand

Poland
Portugal

Russia

Romania

Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Serbia

Slovakia
South Africa
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

Venezuela

Until next time...John

Please pass along the address to my blog: http://acountryjournal.blogspot.com
and follow me on twitter @acountryjournal 

Working With The Hens

It has been a good day. I spent the afternoon working on the hen house and yard. We found 14 eggs today that is a good hing...the bad thing is they are being laid outside the pen.  I decided it was time tipo improve the girls laying boxes and because Maggie is an escape artist I thought I should make their coop escape proof.  I did that. While I was at it I decided to improve the roof over their yard so I did that too.

Tonight we had pasta and Italian sausage and marinara.  It was a goose meal after a hard day's work.  I helped Logan with his homework and then decided to sit and love on our new chick a little bit.  Se is sweet but hasn't been handled much. She loves the attention but just isn't used to being handled.  Soon she will be tame and gentle. For now she is a little aggressive. Soon she will be as gentle as a dove. Once she is calmed down she is a really sweet little girl (or boy who knows). 

I need to take the time to introduce you to the newest members of our family.  They are two new chickens. First there is Little Millie she is a Mille Fluer bantam chicken.  She was a spur of the moment purchase at the Tractor Supply Store.  They had a "market" for poultry and farm animals and we found this little one there.  

Millie the Mille Fleur

Actually we were returning from picking up our planned family member, a Dominique rooster formerly known as Bert.  That is a great name but we renamed him Peter Jennings.  So our new rooster is Bert, aka, Peter Jennings.  He is a great guy.  We went to Clinton to pick him up.  His previous owner took really good care of him but he crows a lot and crows really loudly.  We don't have a problem with that so we have a wonderful new family member.  

I don't know what is going on out in the chicken yard but there has been a heck of lot of crowing going on.  I went out a few minutes ago and they were all flocked up together all cozy and happy.

Peter Jennings the Dominique Rooster.

From left to right- Francis the first, Mary Louise, E.V., Myrtie,  Jeffie, Peter Jennings, Emma, Scooter and Maggie. 

Early signs

This time of year, there is a lot going on around the farm. School is already back in session in our part of the country.  The kids have been back in school for over a week and Dre’ has been back for over two weeks.  I don’t understand why we send them back in the hottest month of the year.  Labor Day was the traditional start of the school year in days gone by and Memorial Day the end of the year.  That has all changed and in my opinion, not a change for the better. 

It is time to start making repairs to buildings and fences and almost time to get pastures ready for the upcoming cooler weather.  I have fences to build and pastures to mow and debris to pile up and make ready for burning.  I need to do maintenance on my little tractor, replace some cables and the battery on it, too.  I have built scooter our pig a new house but he won’t move into it because he likes his old one. So, I need to do something to it to make him feel at home in it.  Scooter, our potbelly pig, is getting in the chicken coop and eating an egg breakfast every morning so, this weekend, I will make the coop “Scooterproof”.   As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I need to start gathering firewood for the winter.  We are still at least 6 weeks from the first cool night and ten or eleven weeks from the first frost but it is never too early to get things ready for the next season.  I need to plant greens and broccoli and other fall crops so they will be ready to harvest by Thanksgiving.  There is always so much to do but, honestly I love it.  I am never bored and always busy. I get to spend a lot of time outdoors and that is always

In our area of the country goldenrod grows wild as it does in much of the United States.  When it finally burst open in full bloom you are six weeks from the first frost.  It is not in full bloom yet but, it has started blooming.  The cattails are brown and their foliage has begun to turn brown as well.  The roots are still edible for those who know how to harvest and prepare it but, there aren’t many of us around, I don’t think. Many of the small trees are beginning to change their foliage from green to multi colors.  This is primarily from the lack of water in late summer but it is still a sign that fall is only a few weeks away.   This weekend I will walk around the place here and capture a few photos and try to capture the season as it looks here so I can share them with you.  

Until next time…John

Pot Roast for Dinner Tonight

I got up early this morning to cut up potatoes, onions, carrots and even a small zucchini from our garden (for color) and start a pot roast that will cook on a low temperature all day.  I added a handful of garlic cloves for good measure and when we get home from work and meetings and baseball practice, there will be a hot comfort meal waiting on us.  Just for good measure, I baked a loaf of bread to eat with the comfort food.  

Wish I could invite everyone to dinner but, it is a school / work night.   I hope you have a good day.  

Until next time...John

A Quick Update

This afternoon I decided, in spite of the heat, that it was time to do a little fence repair.   We have a small pasture that I haven't used since the horses escaped from it several months ago. The temperature was a very warm 94 degrees and the humidity in the woods made it feel like it was much hotter than that.  I didn't really know what to expect as far as the fence damage goes, so I took a bare minimum of supplies with me.  I carried a fencing tool, a machete to clear my way and a 22 cal. rifle in case I saw any venomous snakes.  

I was in the woods for approximately 3 hours and by the time I finished my clothes were soaking wet with perspiration and I had been bitten by about a hundred mosquitos, gnats, ants and a few other pests,  When I first  got in the woods where the fence runs among the small hardwoods and pine trees, I thought the fence was in pretty good shape. then I made the first 90 degree turn and I ran out of luck.  I had to stretch and tighten all of the strands as I moved my way along the fence line.  That is of course, to be expected.  What wasn't expected was that I had to remove scores of small dead trees and limbs from the fence. All of this debris had fallen across the fence in the numerous storms we have had through out the year.  There were even muscadine and cross vines growing among the strands that had to be removed.  

Our three corgis went with me to keep me company but Ponce and Bonnie headed back to the house when it started raining.  Belle on the other hand stayed with me, taking every step I took as I worked my way around the perimeter of the fence. Belle, the youngest of the three, is a real trouper and loyal to the end.  

After a couple of gallons of sweat and various nicks, scratches and bites, I finished my work and as a result will be able to move the horses tomorrow if I get home before dark.  

Even though it is late summer, soon I will have to be gathering firewood for the winter.  Right now it is still too hot, but there are a lot of downed trees that I can cut into firewood and that will keep me busy throughout the fall.  

Last week, I bottled a few bottles of white wheat beer I brewed and then I brewed about two gallons of stout that will be ready to bottle in about a week or so.  This is just a hobby of mine.  I have told Dre' that I think beer brewing is sort of like making jelly and jam.  It really feels good to see raw materials come together as a usable product.  

I have been keeping close watch on my mead and it is really pretty good.  The first batch has been bottled and the second and third batches will be ready to bottle any day now.  I did a little experiment during blackberry season and I added a few blackberries to one of the batches.  It is really good and the aroma is wonderful.  I can't wait until it ages enough to bottle and sample properly.  

It is time to go and spend some quality time with the family so that is about it for tonight.  I hope your summer is going well. To my friends in Australia I wish we could enjoy a little of your cooler weather here in the northern hemisphere.  

Until next time....John

A Rural Problem...And An Urban and Suburban Problem, Too

Let me start this by saying that though I live inside the city limits I am pretty isolated as far as services go.  Our house is a half mile from a public road and cable simply isn't an option where our house is.  If it were, it isn't any better than what we have now. We are trly lucky to live both in the country and in a city all at the same time. So, here it is...a rant from me.

I  got up early this morning to do a little writing and decided to see what was on TV.  We are Dish customers ...have been Direct TV customers and honestly we prefer Dish but even with that said I have some serious complaints about what we are getting for our money.  Everyone knows whether you are a cable or a satellite customer you are paying dearly for your service package. I want to tell you what I discovered this morning. 

Ok, I am speaking from memory but, we have what I think is the smallest package available from Dish.  We are supposed to receive approximately 120 channels for our viewing pleasure and entertainment. This is what I found this morning.  We receive the following types of channels: 

27 Paid (selling products) channels

12 Auction Channels (selling everything from jewelry to exercise equipment to hair removal systems.) 

9 News Channels (if you can call some of what they call news news channels)

8 religious channels (of some form or fashion and some of these should be considered nothing more than paid programming because they are simply fund raising with a small does of religion on the side...my editorial comment)

7 local channels ( I didn't know  if they were included in our 120)

52 Entertainment Channels 

This totals up to 115 channels. I am certain I missed some but it doesn't really matter I am certain that the ratio of real and not-so-real channels would remain pretty constant.  

Am I the only one that thinks this is ridiculous?  

I am paying for 120 channels and getting 52 channels to watch. There probably are two dozen that actually interest me and my children but I am being gracious and saying all 52 "entertainment channels are entertaining to me.  I never, ever, ever watch auction channels...the news is pretty much slanted one way or the other so I don't watch them and I wouldn't watch a paid product channel if they paid me.

  

Why can't we select the channels we want to pay for?  

I for one would be willing to pay a little more for the channels I want to watch and not have the others cluttering up my channel selection.  Is the only way the satellite and cable providers get these channels on the schedule to force customers to take them with a package of a few channels they actually want? What happened to give the customer what they want? Does it not apply here?

It is my opinion that the TV network providers are doing themselves a huge disservice, not to mention a huge disservice to us, their customers. As more and more television programming is available via internet transmission they are actually providing us with good solid reasons to leave their service for the options that are emerging through improved technology.  Once the legitimate networks understand and  decide they and their viewers are footing the bill for the rarely watched and pinpoint marketed channels and decide to deliver their channels to the general public via the internet, we will all be better off.  They will be getting more for their money and their advertisers will be getting more for their money, too.  The advertisers will not being paid for audiences they don't want , that don't matter and even worse the don't receive. 

I would have already made the switch except that the only channels I routinely watch are The Travel Channel, The  History Channel and Discover Channel and as of yet none of them are available (completely) on my computer or Internet WiFi delivery device yet.  Understand, if they were available I would buy a digital antenna for my house for the local channels  and quickly discontinue the Dish Network. They, in a word, would be HISTORY.  

I have been a subscriber to NetFlix for years and I am ready to subscribe to other services like HULU, Netfllix and others.  To see options click on this link http://lifehacker.com/5475091/how-can-i-ditch-cable-and-watch-my-tv-shows-and-movies-online 

 

I have successfully vented for a Saturday morning.  I just want to stop paying for things I don't want just because someone thinks I need it.  I am not looking to watch TV for free, though I do think that is still possible if the networks will wake up but, that is a topic for another rant.  What I want is simple.  I want to pay for the channels I watch at let someone else pay for those other channels if they want to watch them.  That really is not a difficult concept if you think about it.  

 

I hope you will pass this along to your friends so more TV customers will think about the bad deal they are getting from our cable and satellite providers. 

If you made it this far, thank you for reading my rant.  

Until next time....John

 

Time for Some Updates

Welcome back to me....I hope you have missed my blog  in my absence  I have really missed writing on it, that is for sure. I have said this before and, I was surely not the first to say it but sometimes life gets in the way of life.  That has been the way it has been around our place this summer.  We have been running from one family event to another.  First we had soccer then select soccer and then baseball and then high school baseball and all star baseball.  It has been an incredibly busy summer.   If that wasn't enough, it was an election year and I had to mount a campaign for re-election as alderman in our small city.  That campaign involved the whole family and tough we won, it took a lot of catching up on all the things we put off while it was going on.  

Mid-Summer & Summer Vacation is Over

Dre' and all of the other school teachers had to report to duty today. The students will start a week from today.  I think some normalcy will return now that school is about to start back.  Right now I am sitting at the baseball field watching Holden practice with his fall tournament team. They started at 6:30 and will practice until about 9:00.  I decided to use this time to do a little writing and see if I could get back into the swing of blogging.  

Garden Update

I want to fill you in on how my garden has been doing.  Veggies like potatoes tomatoes, onions, asparagus, peppers, etc. all did really well.  Even my zucchini did fairly well but my squash cucumbers didn't make at all.  At first I thought is was the late spring weather we had and the fact that the weather just didn't want to get warm.  Once it warmed up it was very evident of what the problem was.  We had no bees.  Not a few bees....NO bees.  I have decided to try and get one our friends that is a  beekeeper to place a hive at our place.  That will solve the problem, I am sure.  We have not had an over abundancy of rain this year but it seems like every time we have needed a rain we have gotten it.  I don't think I have watered my garden but twice this whole summer and that is saying something for a garden this far south.  I have cleared some of the small spaces and recently planted a couple of fall tomatoes a pumpkin and some more bell peppers that will hopefully all produce before the first  frost in early November.   I have mulched the whole garden and things are looking pretty good for the heat of the summer.  

Hens Not Laying Yet But They Are Fine Birds

The hens have not started laying yet but they are really happy in their fenced in area with Scooter the pig.  I know I often put human qualities on our animals but I really think the pig and the chickens enjoy each other's company.  They seem to be really happy animals.  

I have added to the hens coop and will take a photo of it in the next couple of days so you can see the work I have done.  If you are considering buying some chickens for your suburban or rural yard, I highly recommend it.  Those gals are funny and entertaining to have around.  They are great pets and when they start producing they will be even be better.  Some afternoons after work I pull up a lawn chair and just watch them for an hour or two. One of the hens, Emma, is a shoulder chicken.  Sometimes when I am outside she will fly up into my lap and then up on my shoulder she goes.  She will sit there watching over all of the other chickens until I make her get down.  When I am not there she will climb on Scooter's back and hitch a ride around their domain.  

I hope I will be writing much more regularly now I hope you will be reading my words more regularly, too. 

Until next time...John.