Build in a Flood Plain, Expect a flood!

Why would anyone build a house in an obvious location that is known to flood? Just so you can pay flood insurance?

Individual survival depends on common sense and experience if you are lucky enough to get a second chance. I see young mother birds building nests on limbs low to the ground. It's an obvious no brainer.

Baby birds hatch if they are lucky enough to escape predators during the egg stage. They start peeping the moment they are born and whammo, some passing stray cat or coyote gets a free, easy meal.

Maybe that's what life is all about. The free and easy meal.

Someone cooks it and a passing predator eats it if you aren't vigilant. That's when you become a vigilante.

When does a predator become a hero? When you grab and eliminate a wild baby piglet.

I remember the days when we didn't even have health insurance. Life was simple. If we went to the doctor, we paid him with whatever we had. In the rural area, you might pay the doctor with chickens, veggies or wood. We checked our bills carefully and watched the charges.

Then, some lame brain came up with the concept of insurance. People didn't even bother to check their bills. They felt their insurance companies were paid handsomely with premiums, so they could check the bills. We began to see the doctors more because we felt we needed to get our full premium values. It became a vicious cycle. Doctors and hospital bills weren't checked or shopped for by the patients because insurance took care of it, so bills exponentially went through the roof along with escalating insurance premiums.

I try to avoid hospitals and doctor's offices at all costs. However, I landed in the emergency room with a rapid and irregular heart beat. They managed to slow the heart beat down to normal but wanted to keep me overnight. After 1 and 1/2 night, my hospital bill was $14,000. The doctors wanted to keep me one more night but I wasn't going to stay one more minute.

I didn't get anything extra in the hospital except "observance" , a Doppler test of the plumbing, periodic blood pressure checks and only saw the doctor (other than the emergency room visit) one time. The doctors were nice enough, but they were dealing with a cautious patient.

I've heard that more people die in the hospital than anywhere else. That's why I wanted out in a hurry.

Like the flood insurance, I sure didn't want to sit there where people crack the code too often. See the light. Pass through the pearly gates.

Then, they wanted to put me on all those medicines. I think they really believe in coumadin, blood thinners, etc. But, I remember when we didn't take anything like that and my grandparents and parents lived just as long as they do now. That's an advantage and maybe a curse.

But, remembering how things used to be puts a perspective on deciding my fate right now. My parents didn't take cholesterol or bone building medicines. Everything turned out well. They lived a long life and just died from normal old age problems.

Build your nest in a low branch and expect genetic extension.

Buy health, flood or hurricane insurance and expect to collect if you are born and live in those areas known to produce floods or hurricanes.

All this comes when I am required to pay over $2,500 in supplemental health insurance for the year. Is that the price of having survived abortion and being born in a home for unwed mothers and not smoking or drinking (to excess)?

You may win the war but have to pay for the damages later.

Working Cows

It's a full moon as I walked over to the barn. I have to switch animals around so that we can work cows and calves in the pens. In about an hour, my cowboys will come with their cow dogs and horses. Don is in his 70's. He's a retired electrician and horses are his passion. He has been around cattle most of his life and has established a client list of ranchers. He usually has about 3 other cowboys with him to go out into the thick brush to herd the cows up to the barn. Without dogs that can run through the trees and bushes and make the cattle come out, it would be difficult to get all of them.

At this time of the year, the cows are covered with small black biting flies. Sometime we have white scrawny egrets that light next to the cows and pick flies off them. There are never enough egrets for a natural fly protection. So, we have to apply a pour on insecticide to the cows backs to control them. Sometimes, molasses tubs with insecticide included will control the fly populations.

Cows have to be wormed to ensure optimal health. Calves have to be castrated and vaccinated. I am blessed to have pipe chutes for working my animals. In the past, we have had wooden chutes that broke under the stress of large cows or cows tried to jump out of the chute and had to be manually pushed back to prevent injury.

Professional cowboys are a way of life in Texas. They have their favorite working dogs and horses. Horses and dogs are a part of their families. They wear leather chaps to prevent thorns and briars from tearing at their legs. They always have well worn boots and spurs. The spurs are for signaling the horse what to do, where to turn, etc. Since the Western saddle is made of thick leather, communication between horse and rider is limited and spurs make it easier to "talk" to the horses. It can also be for correction if the horse is young and in training.

A cowboy wouldn't be complete without a Western hat, rope and a gun of some sort. In wild country, they could run up on coyotes, snakes or wild hogs. The gun is used for protection as well as a deterrent.

The cowboys I know don't smoke. It's not your Marlboro man. They may have an assortment of mustaches and beards. Don chomps down on a short cigar but he never smokes it.

It's always a nostalgic occasion for me. I have to sell the larger calves. You have to pull them off the cows because they will pull her down in weight and take the milk away from any calves born later. Unless you plan to replace the heifers or bulls of your herd with some top young animals, they must go to the sale barn.

I reserve the right to keep my favorite cows that I've bottle fed over the years. Cows, like people, wear out with age. Their teeth get slick and they can't chew grass anymore. They either have to be kept up and fed commercial feed or you have to make unpleasant decisions about their long term care. Over the years, I've seen that it's cruel to keep them in poor condition and kinder to send them to sale.

Cattle are our most efficient "machines" to keep pastures controlled for grass and weed growth. As humans, we can't eat grass and convert it to usable muscle. Without cattle, we would have rampant grass and vegetation growth which would result in massive wild fires. Cows have stomachs that can break down grass and weeds into muscle tissue. The design of our universe is in perfect balance. I do not like to see lions or tigers in the process of a kill. But, they keep a balance of eating sick, old and weak animals. Young healthy animals can live for another day.

I appreciate someone wanting to be a vegetarian but don't try to convert the world to your thinking. Each person has their own biological needs and for some a vegetarian diet can't keep them going. The world government is pushing for the world to become vegetarian. Some groups become radical, almost militant in their beliefs. I believe you should do what you think is right for yourself and leave the other people alone. It's time for all radical groups to just mind their own business and let people alone as long as they aren't breaking the law.

Well, I could go on and on about all the government regulations on ranchers recently that will virtually destroy the little rancher and promote the big commercial companies thus making us ultimately dependent on foreign countries for our food supply. But, that's another day.

Gotta go and work cows. It will be a long day.

Poppies In The Field

We've had considerable rain here in central Texas this year. Last year, 2009, we experienced the worst floor of 100 years, then the rains stopped. We experienced a crushing drought that brought the ranchers to their knees. Precious stored hay had to be fed to the cows in the early summer. Still no rain. Surely rain would come. But, it didn't and people who kept hope and their cattle, found themselves in the middle of a record market sell off of cattle. My cows survived on 1 bale of hay a day and mesquite beans. We always have bumper crops of mesquite beans in a drought. Cows got thin, cattle prices were down. Still, some held on. Hopes were high that it had to rain sometime.

We never got a break in 2009. Cattle prices plunged down ward and farmer's cost spiraled upward. Hay bales were bringing $65 and up. It was a no win situation for ranchers.

2010 has brought rains. Late, but it's ground soaking rains. With rains come weeds and grass. The weeds overshadow the grass. One particular weed that I find interesting is a tall thistle that can reach almost 5 feet in height. It's dark green with prickly leaves. At it's maturity, the thistle pods open to expose bright pink or light purple dandy lion type flowers. As I look at the noxious plant that I know I'll have to mow eventually, it reminds me of something I've seen before. Of course, I've seen this thistle before but in hard economic times, it brings to mind other fields that look like this. Where have I seen them?

That's it! It reminds me of the photos of Poppy plants from Afghanistan. Can this be a poppy? I doubt it. Surely the drug enforcement agency would have swarmed the place if it was THE poppy. But, is it a relative? I'll make it a point to ask the Agriculture Extension Agency.

Which brings me to the next thought. What if the cash strapped Texas farmer could capture some of that incredible wealth by growing poppies?

The second gold rush!

A cattle drive of mammoth proportions!

Why should drug dealers make all the money?

Of course, if growing poppy crops was legalized, the price would drop. We couldn't make all that money without being illegal.

I grew up in a time when prohibition was the going thing. No Alcohol! Bad! Illegal!

Big bucks! Big crimes!

Then, all of a sudden it was legal. Granted, some towns and counties didn't and still don't sell alcohol, but for the most part, it's legal. People aren't put in prison for drinking alcohol (unless they are drunk). Prisons aren't full of alcoholics unless they have an accompanying criminal problem. Phew! Thank goodness, we've passed that illegal period. We can all sit and drink a glass of wine in public. There is still the thing about legal age but, no thought today at all that in a period of our history, it was illegal for all citizens to drink alcohol.

Now, project to the future. One day, the use of drugs will be legal. We can no longer fill our prisons with drug dealers. We economically can't provide huge police or army forces to pursue drug dealers, drug addicts, drug lords, crimes associated with obtaining drug money, burning fields of poppies, supporting terrorists who make their money off poppy sales, and terrorists who use drug sales to bomb and slaughter innocent people.

Our Texas, Arizona and California borders are riddled with crime drug lords from Mexico who are connected to the Mexican government and held accountable for nothing. Drug lords rule Mexico and set the tone for horrendous murders. This drug tidal wave has crossed American borders to terrorize hapless American families.

Legalize drugs. Save our money to treat drug addicts. When alcohol was legalized, there wasn't a tidal wave of alcoholics. Empty the prisons of drug dealers, drug users. Save the prison spaces for child molesters and the real threats to our society.

Legalizing drugs would immediately cut off the terrorists money supply. It would immediately solve the drug related crime waves coming from Mexico. If we, gulp, legalized alcohol, we can take the next step and legalize marijuana and cocaine.

Once legal, it would no longer have the allure and fascination of a forbidden fruit.

Oops! Phew, I just woke to a horrible dream. Is it okay to harvest my poppies now?

Just like me. I sell skinny cows when the market is flooded. Now, I'm harvesting my poppies when it's legal and the rains have stopped and the poppies aren't growing.

Next time around, I'll get it right.