Metastasis

Thunderstorm over Wyoming rangeland near the Wind River Mountains, from a trip this summer.

For most of my life, I've had unanswered questions about my maternal grandparents. Both Oma and Opa came of age in Hitler's Germany.  I knew them both as good people, yet I also knew they had played significant roles in Germany's collective insanity leading to WWII.  

They were both members of the Hitler Youth, of which my grandmother related some fond memories -- hiking through the woods in big groups, singing, and camping. They came to this country as part of Operation Paperclip, my grandfather as one of Werner Von Braun's V-2 rocket scientists, and my grandmother having worked as one of Von Braun's secretaries. How could such good people have been part of what happened in Germany?  

Did they know Jewish people who had been taken away?  

They did.  But my grandmother says they were told that they had gone to "resorts".

Did they truly believe that?  Did they know more than they were willing to share?

How does an entire country lose their moral and ethical compass and either support or acquiesce to some of the greatest atrocities of the last century? Nazis, after all, are the *gold standard of evil* in most discussions. (unless they're Ukrainian Nazis, in which case they're the new paragon of virtue). 

Certainly there were some psychopathic individuals in Germany's leadership roles, but there were also some resistors (such as the "white rose" group). The vast majority of Germans, however, followed the psychopaths over the proverbial cliff of insanity.  My grandparents were no exception.

Dutch psychologist Mattias Desmet has produced by far the most convincing explanation for what happened in Germany, as the same phenomena has happened many times throughout history.  "Mass Formation" is his specialty, and is of special interest to me at the moment, because I believe I'm living through just such an event right now.

What is mass formation?  Orwell called it "groupthink".  Others have called it mass hypnosis, or mass psychosis.  It's probably best to get the answer from Mattias himself.  RFK Jr's interview of him is excellent.  To summarize, mass formation only arises when very specific conditions are present.   A collective fear, anxiety, and isolation are essential.  People in such a state are looking for a way out of their misery. Someone offers a solution, and it's immediately embraced by the masses, who are unconcerned with critical thought at that stage. 

The Solution gives them all a collective sense of meaning, of belonging, and a way out of their previously miserable state, and they will do everything to defend their new sense of salvation.  Desmet provides a perfect example of what those under the influence of mass formation are capable of, where an Iranian mother reported her son to state authorities and proudly placed the noose around his neck on the gallows.

Anyone who questions or points out serious problems with The Solution is ridiculed, ostracized, and typically destroyed, as anyone who questions The Solution is viewed as a threat -- as someone who would return everyone to The Problem.  This is exactly what happened to the White Rose Society in Germany.

Mass Formation is a sensitive subject for me, because I believe my entire family and most of my friends have, to varying degrees, taken up the current mass formation.  I'm writing this not as a way to point fingers.  I'm hoping I can help the people I love, in the same way that I might try to help a family member who had descended into alcoholism.  As Desmet explains, the only way to break the spell of mass formation is to keep talking to its victims.  Shunning only deepens the spell.

Just as Germany emerged from the mass formation of the WWII era, I've no doubt that the people I know will emerge from the current formation.  I'm hoping that I can expedite this process, before the damage done to themselves and others continues further. Hopefully some of them have not developed an immunity to discussing the topic.

As with my past attempts, I expect that most will simply refuse the information I'm about to give here, or will search for "fact checking" articles that debunk them. There's certainly no shortage of those (most provided by pharma-funded media -- they're currently the source of 60% of all advertising money), including a great many that are now demonstrably false and misleading.  

When confronted in court by the British Medical Journal, Facebook "fact checkers" claimed that their fact checks were "protected opinion" rather than facts.  Google search algorithms have been modified to make such "fact check" articles bubble up to the top while suppressing any truth. Paypal and Patreon regularly refuse payments to anyone not touting the pharma narrative.  Speaking the truth while avoiding Youtube's censors has become a new sport.  The increasing grip of censorship here in the "Freest country on earth" is not a comforting trend.  

There's a reason we had to imprison Assange before this all started, as he would've revealed the truth just as he'd done before, pissing off Pharma just as he'd done with military industrial complex. Over the last 3 years, the US has grown uncomfortable parallels with the East Germany that my great grandmother lived in -- a state driven by surveillance and censorship.

Perhaps one of the best examples of the illogic of the covid mass formation is the oft repeated mantra, "Safe and Effective".  The "effective" part of that is clearly not true, not when Rochelle Walensky (head of the CDC) gets covid a month after publicly getting her new "bivalent" booster.  That's the same booster tested on exactly eight mice -- all of whom contracted covid during the trial.  It's not effective when a family member's coworker dies of covid a few weeks after the vax, and not when the only family members I know to have been hospitalized by covid were also vaccinated.  Then there's Canada's Justin Trudeau as well as our own president --- both fully vaxxed and boostered, both of whom have been infected twice.  I can go on and on here with both personal as well as famous examples, but you get the point.   

Safe?   Well, that doesn't look to be the case either.  The vast majority of people who are tested after receiving the purported vaccine are showing elevated troponin levels. 13 out of 17 teenage boys tested showed exactly this.  That's hardly a "rare' side effect. Troponin in the blood is an indicator of heart damage.

A rural BC doctor had patients who were experiencing problems after the Moderna jab.  He ran d-dimer tests on a number of them, and found 62% were positive -- indicating the formation of blood clots. He wrote of his concern to the provincial government, seeking guidance.  They told him to shut up and pulled his license when he refused. 

Funeral directors in the UK, US, and Australia have all reported finding massive "rubbery" blood clots in bodies of the vaccinated deceased, which they find during the embalming process where they have to replace the blood.   They all say this started when the vaccines rolled out.

Not surprisingly, these issues are manifesting in a very public manner.   This news anchor suffered a stroke on live TV.

This one in Germany did the same.  What's especially rich is the fact that she was promoting vaccine mandates for all Germans while her stroke occurred.

Then there's US comedian Heather MacDonald.   She was bragging about being fully vaxxed and boosted when she suffered a stroke on stage, fracturing her skull when she fell.  That's what it took for her to think twice about the vaccines.   She now says she's not likely to take another booster for some strange reason.

I could go on and on here too.  There are video compilations of athletes all over the world collapsing on the field, at rates well beyond anything ever seen in history.  There's Justin Bieber and his wife, who've both suffered significant damage from the vaccine.  A young Canadian couple had it even worse after their boosters.  The wife was hospitalized with myocarditis. The day she returned from the hospital, her husband had a major heart attack, slipped into a coma, and had to be resuscitated when his heart stopped later in the hospital.

Perhaps even more disconcerting than obvious health issues is the fact that multiple US health insurers are reporting a 40% spike in mortality -- beginning only in 2021 as the vaccine was rolled out. 

Australia is reporting a 17% rise in all cause mortality, as are most countries in Europe.   Those with the highest vaccination rates are experiencing the greatest rises.

Perhaps even more damning is the fact that Pfizer told the FDA -- in December of 2020 -- that their vaccine did not stop transmission.  Considering how much vaccine mandates (many still in effect) have been pushed since then -- using arguments which were entirely at odds with this knowledge, I'd say that some officials have a little explaining to do.

I'm not the only one to think this.   Holocaust survivor Vera Sharav gave a passionate speech recently at the 75th anniversary of the passing of the Nuremberg Code, talking about the parallels between what she experienced and what is happening today.  The rollout of the covid "vaccines" is a clear violation of this code in multiple ways.  I couldn't agree with her more, and firmly believe that a 2nd round of Nuremberg trials is in order.  Vera is currently working on a film, titled 'Never Again is Now" where she documents how Nazi ideology was imported to the US and is alive and well.

One of Britian's most prominent cardiologists, Dr Aseem Malhotra, publicly promoted the vaccine on British TV earlier on in the pandemic, and recommended it to his father (also a doctor) along with everyone else. Shortly after receiving the vaccine, Dr Malhotra's father died, and Malhotra is convinced that the "vaccine" was the cause. This event caused him to question his support, and he began a period of intensive research into the jabs.  Listen to what he has to say here:

Malhotra repeats something that I've long been pointing out -- that public corporations meet the clinical definition of a psychopath, and act accordingly.  What's worse, is the fact that these psychopaths now control most governments.

As I see it, we've created a veritable Frankenstein with our corporate legal structure.  Placing shareholder return above all other considerations, and allowing corporations to become more powerful than governments the world over, we've created our own worst enemies. Pfizer is a repeat criminal offender, racking up fines in the billions of dollars -- just a cost of doing business, it would seem.  

The military-industrial-complex has captured the US government to the point that we are constantly at war around the world, with our citizens continually fleeced to support this industry.  Not only is that immoral and economically destructive, but it now clearly threatens our very existence.  Working largely at the behest of the military industrial comples, our government overthrew Ukraine's democratically elected government in 2014, and encouraged them to antagonize their Russian speaking citizens, ultimately killing 14,000 of them. Whose idea was this?   A psychopathic corporation's idea, of course!   In this case, the Rand Corporation.  Read it for yourself.

Not to be outdone by their MIC peers, the pharmaceutical industry has created their own racket, whereupon they've created both a disease as well as a "cure" that's actually worse. They've leveraged their power through the World Economic Forum such that they now own most major governments in the world, having installed their "Young Global Leaders" as presidents, prime ministers and high officials in dozens of countries including Canada (they actually bragged about how they had "penetrated" the Canadian government), the US, France, New Zealand, Australia, and even Russia.  

Who is the World Economic Forum?   Find out for yourself, on their own website.

The psychopathy of corporate power has overtaken the planet, and seeks to start war, spread disease, enslave, and fool the citizenry through a wholly owned media.  They distort the truth, subvert democracy, cause extensive and irreparable harm -- all in the name of "shareholder return".  As envisioned in the 1971 Powell Memo, corporations have overtaken not only nations but the entire planet.  Corporate power has metastasized, and we will not survive unless we recognize this and dismantle it while we still can.

Alpine aster in the Wind River Mountains

Two short videos well worth your time

 First up is from Gonzalo Lira -- a Chilean film maker currently living in Kharkiv, Ukraine.   He's been cranking out videos since the war started and has been spot on.  Those who get their news from American TV will not believe him.  Watch it.

Second video was put together by Robert F Kennedy Jr's organization, regarding the WHO and their recent actions in Africa -- which will seem strangely familiar now that those operations have come to the rest of the world.

An industry and their purchased agencies, worthy of our trust?

 

And her scientist husband's testimony.

A Pfizer victim -- Maddie De Garay.  Pfizer listed her trial results as "functional stomach discomfort" and forgot to mention that she was paralyzed.  Like Brianne Dressen, neither has received the promised medical assistance.

BWCA, Duluth, and northern Michigan

Jordan Lake, on our way to Ima Lake in the BWCA

A week ago, Rachel and I got back from a trip to the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota.  With over 13 years since our last real vacation, it was a welcome trip, and the BWCA did not disappoint.  It's an amazingly beautiful place, a veritable network of island studded lakes, rocky outcrops, and stunted boreal forests.  The fishing wasn't what I'd call fantastic, but it wasn't bad, either.  

Though we've done some canoeing before, this was our first involving portages.   In a typical day, we tried to be on the water by 7, often traversing 4-5 lakes and as many portages, anywhere from 5 to 220 rods in length (there are 320 rods to the mile).  That way we could be looking for a camp by noon, which is something of a requirement due to the large number of visitors (BWCA is the single most visited wilderness area in the country).  We'd usually meet 3-4 groups on a given day, typically at the portages.  We found moose tracks and wolf scat, but saw none of their makers.

Loons, beavers, and eagles were in abundance, as were the campsite chipmunks and red squirrels.   One camp had an enterprising groundhog who announced his presence with a loud "thump!" as he hopped off a rock ledge and casually ambled over to our equipment, which he tried nibbling on before being scolded and running away.  We had a family of river otters check us out, and also saw the biggest snapping turtle I've ever seen (by far) -- I'd guess a shell length of 30".  

Unfortunately, there was a campfire ban in place while we visited, and it was definitely not unjustified.  Dead brown trees and bushes were everywhere.  This year's blueberries were a complete no-show, causing some bears to become problematic at the many campsites.  I chose not to share this fact with Rachel, who has sensitivity to bears resulting from a college backpacking trip and a friend who left peanut-butter-honey bagels in their tent while they slept. 

Wildfires just north of the border kept the skies filled with smoke, with the sun casting an orange light for the first few days of the trip.  This weekend the USFS closed the entire BWCA to all uses for the first time since it was established.  We're lucky we didn't schedule our trip for late August, as that was the timeframe I'd originally hoped for.

Beginning of the portage from Ima
 to Hatchet lake

For the trip home, we took a few days and came down through Michigan's upper peninsula, staying a night in Grand Marais (MN), Marquette, and Mackinaw City.  The UP was surprisingly desolate, with long stretches of stunted northern forests occasionally punctuated by old mining downs in various states of decay or attempts at renewal.  Marquette (a university town) seemed surprisingly vibrant;  perhaps a little *too* vibrant with all of the newer big box stores on the edge of town.  

In Mackinaw city, we visited Fort Michilimackinac, first established by the French in the 1700s.  Really enjoyed the "living history" staff and presentations as well as the archaeological displays. On the morning of our last day, we stopped at the restored 1700s reciprocating sawmill, which I really liked.  Many of the boards on our 1870 barn were milled on a similar mill (some also on the "new" circular blade mills), as evidenced by the straight saw marks.  

Me demonstrating the use of Ojibwe 
birchbark "sunglasses" I made
for Rachel to replace a pair she'd lost. 
  She wasn't ready to adopt such high fashion,
 as it turns out

We also stopped in Duluth on our way north, apparently a hot new destination for climate refugees from California.  It strikes me as a neat town, and I like the proximity to the BWCA and Lake Superior, but I fear their summers are only slightly cooler than those I'm ready to flee.  On the plus side, jobs are available, and housing is quite affordable.   

At the moment, I'm interested in Juneau.  No heat or smoke there yet.  Their job market looks more promising than Sitka, but they're still relatively scarce and the cost of housing and living is atrocious.  

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This looks to be a fantastic apple year in our orchard -- a great improvement from last year when we had just enough to make a single pie.  The dry spring has given way to a relatively wet summer, with our pastures still growing well.  On the downside, the lack of spring rain dried up most of the local ponds, eliminating the predatory mosquito eating insects.  The summer rains have re-established the ponds where mosquito larvae now have free reign, resulting in the absolute worst mosquitos we've seen since living here.  In a typical year, I would see a few dozen (mosquito eating) dragonflies patrolling our garden and orchard at any given time, but this year there are hardly any to be seen.

 

The rains started up a few weeks ago, just as the grass was getting brown and crispy, and now we're getting pretty regular storms rolling through.  I found 3/4 of an inch in the rain gauge when I got back from work this evening.  

This is the first year since 2008 (when our hay was just being planted) that we haven't cut any hay.  It's nice not to have to worry;  there's always concern that the lack of rain is stunting growth, or that too much is keeping us out of overgrown fields, or that it's going to come down on fields already cut and drying.  

Our hay fields have reverted largely to grass and are in need of replanting now.  I'm not sure if it's worth it to replant them or not. There's a few thousand dollars in seed, lime, and potash required, not to mention the time spent prepping the soil, or the fact that it's always best to spread some manure on the fields before plowing to keep fertility up.  

If we make the investments that need to be made, I'll feel the need to make use of them, which means working ourselves and the horses in the heat, when the flies are at their worst and the risk of a runaway goes up.  Is it worth the effort?

For now we've decided that it isn't.  Taking the time for our first real vacation in over a decade means that I don't have the time to put up hay anyway.  Spending the money on hay (about $6k to see the three horses and 2.5 cows through the winter) is certainly easier on the back, but doesn't seem so easy on the pocketbook.  Then again, I'm not so sure that growing our own hay is a whole lot easier on the pocketbook once all the planting, equipment, risk of injury, and time costs are factored in.

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While our son Henry was out visiting family in Washington a couple weeks ago, their temperatures exceeded anything we've yet experienced in Michigan.  Places where a typical June high might be in the 70s broke 100 degrees, even hitting 110.  BC's town of Lytton (which we've been through) hit 121F, promptly caught fire and burned to the ground the next day.  

I read that walking along the beaches now, you can smell all the dead creatures rotting after being baked in the heat  Perhaps it's for the best that I remember walking the beaches while things were still very much alive. Despite this, people are happy to resume flying again, and questioned Henry's decision to take the train instead of flying like a normal person. As if I needed any more confirmation that we're never going to rise to the challenge of keeping a livable planet.  

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Many, if not most people, will reject any theory as ridiculous if the implications are too far from their lived experience, even when they know full well that history is full of such events. As such, I expect most people will discount what I'm about to suggest, and in all honesty, I hope they're right.  I know this will make people uncomfortable, but I'd much rather endure derision a few years from now than ask myself why I stayed silent.  I already have significant regrets for not speaking up sooner.

In Elie Wiesel's book about his experiences in being sent to a concentration camp where his family perished, he wrote about a man from his village who had been taken to such a camp and escaped, returning to his village to warn everyone of what the Germans were up to.  Nobody listened, and discounted him as a crazed fool.  Today we would refer to him as a conspiracy theorist, and point to fact checkers to debunk his claims as we step confidently into the "perfectly safe" cattle cars.

There is one terrifying glimmer of hope on the horizon when it comes to climate change.  It seems to me that someone may in fact be trying to save our species.  Considering that we've all demonstrated a collective ineptitude for the required behavioral change, I'm not sure I can blame them for resorting to the only possibility which remains -- that being a dramatic reduction in population.  Granted, with the feedback loops we've already set in motion, I don't expect that they'll be successful in saving our species this late in the game, but I suppose they can't be blamed for trying.  The super wealthy of our planet are nothing if not eternal optimists.

As the owners of controlling interests in industry, governments, media, and damn near everything else, there's nobody I can think of with better means or organization skills. Many of them are obsessively fascinated with extending their own lives through the use of technology, so have certainly realized that this won't be possible if they don't have a place to live when their birthday candles hit the triple digits.  Saving their own bacon certainly sounds to me like a good motivator.

Considering that their money almost invariably turns them into sociopaths (though most, like Gates, probably started that way) they're the perfect people to take the reins at this stage, to do the essential dirty work.  Perhaps this is what really broke the Gate's marriage?

My first inkling came as Dr. Pierre Kory's senate testimony in early December was censored, demonstrating beyond a doubt that those in power were not interested in public health, but in pushing the vaccines.  In fact, every single treatment before or since which has shown significant promise (HCQ, Ivermectin, Fluvoxamine, Prednisone, etc) has been poo-pooed or just plain censored.  Why is that?  I've heard numerous personal accounts of the efficacy of the first two, and have no reason to doubt any of them.   All of them, strangely, are well past their patent expirations, and are decidedly unprofitable.  

The simple explanation is that the emergency use authorization of any medication legally requires that there be no other effective treatments.  So it's not unreasonable to think that the pharmaceutical corporations are simply acting to protect their investments in the vaccines (much of it taxpayer funded), by denying the existence of effective treatments.  That would certainly be consistent with the state of regulatory capture of the FDA and CDC we've seen in recent decades, or the way these same companies have been willing to jack the price of essential medications like insulin to the point that people regularly die for going without.  

Though covid-19 itself doesn't appear to be particularly lethal (granted, I still don't want it!), the vaccines created to fight it may very well be.  Deaths recorded on the VAERS system just passed 9,000.  Considering that Harvard's study of the VAERS system found about a 1% reporting rate, it would not be unreasonable to think that the 9,000 reported deaths are potentially representative of 900,000 actual deaths -- thus surpassing the 607,000 attributed to covid, though the covid numbers are also quite suspect.   A number of California counties recently reviewed their covid death numbers and found them to be greatly inflated.  I see nothing to suggest that these are isolated cases.

Beyond the immediate effects of the covid vaccines, there are a number of other concerns.  One FOIA request to the Japanese government obtained tissue deposition study results, showing that the vaccines had a particularly high affinity for ovarian tissue (which may have the greatest ultimate effect if it results in infertility).  Former Pfizer VP Michael Yeadon warned of similar concerns, as has microbiologist Sucharit Bhakdi.  There have also been numerous reports of miscarriages shortly after receiving the vaccines.  Irish biochemist Dolores Cahill has stated plainly that most younger vaccine recipients will not survive the decade, or even a couple years for older recipients.

Other studies have shown that the spike protein itself (which your body manufactures after receiving the vaccine) is responsible for damage to endothelial cells (which line your circulatory system), as well as triggering blood clots (and no, it's not just the Astra Zeneca vaccine -- they all do this).    

The spike proteins have also been demonstrated to open the critical blood-brain barrier, both for themselves and any other pathogen which might happen to be in the neighborhood.  There are numerous accounts of strokes shortly after receiving the vaccine, and "brain fog", which is likely a result of numerous small clots -- much as what happens with covid itself.

Luc Montagnier, the nobel prize winning virologist who isolated HIV has expressed concern that the proteins in the vaccines are very similar to prions, and could ultimately develop into a prion like disease (think mad-cow or chronic wasting disease) over the course of a couple years.  We really don't know just yet.  I see that even his own Wiki page has been updated to label him as a crank despite his undeniable expertise and accomplishments.  The censorship these days is really becoming complete.

Going down the rabbithole even further, I see now that the president of three nations -- Magufuli of Tanzania, Moise of Haiti, and Nkurunziza of Burundi -- all of whom rejected the covid narrative and associated vaccines, have now died or been killed -- after which, their replacements in each nation begged for vaccines asap.  Interesting coincidence, I suppose.  

Yet another interesting coincidence...  A year ago, anyone reporting on the Wuhan Institute of Virology's bat-virus gain of function research was being censored and labeled a crazy conspiracy theorist.  

Then, about a month ago, that all changed.   Someone ran an analysis using artificial intelligence on the mysterious "vaping disease" that killed a number of people in the summer of 2019 near Fort Detrick, MD.  Fort Detrick also worked with gain of function on bat coronaviruses, among other bio-weapons.  

The AI diagnostic software apparently didn't have a functional political sensitivity algorithm, because it said "That's COVID!" when presented with the vaping disease symptoms.   I think it was no more than a few days after this event that it became legal to discuss the Wuhan lab leak theory.  Fascinating... both because Ft. Detrick was shut down because of (by their own documents) bio leaks averaging once every three days, and also because this mysterious disease completely disappeared despite the continued popularity of vaping.  

In 2013, mRNA vaccines were tested for the original SARS virus.  Like today's vaccines, they produced a decent immune response.  As the study progressed, however, the participants developed antibody-dependent-enhancement, whereupon their immune responses to further viral challenges became overly responsive, killing some of them with cytokine storms if my memory serves.  This problem has plagued all attempts at coronavirus vaccines thus far.   Was it suddenly resolved?   I've heard of no explanations as to how that might've been done.  Perhaps someone with a different idea of what a vaccine should accomplish viewed this as a feature, rather than a bug.

Raul Illargi has done a fantastic job of compiling covid related news each day on his website, "The Automatic earth", for any who have an interest in diving down the rabbit hole with me. Those who can handle the hard core may want to check out the podcasts at The Last American Vagabond, whose interview of Robert Malone (the inventor of MRNA vaccine technology) is excellent.   For the most level headed and mainstream analysis, I highly recommend Bret Weinstein's Dark Horse Podcast, particularly his extensive interview of Robert Malone and Steve Kirsch.

I'm going to put my special tin hat on now, and step outside to see if there are any black helicopters hovering over our house.  Or maybe UFOs...

Motivation

I haven't had a whole lot to say lately, in large part because there are few things about which I've got any great deal of confidence nowadays.  On the one issue where I do still have an (unfortunately) high level of confidence, the window of opportunity for positive change has passed such that it seems unproductive to try and educate anyone. Talking about climate change anymore feels like striking up a conversation on electric chairs and nooses with a death-row inmate.  It seems better to let everyone maintain a state of blissful ignorance for as long as they can, as the ultimate outcome will be no different.

I spent a lot of money on hay to feed our small Jersey herd yesterday, as our own hay production last year was horrible due to the drought and the fact that our hayfields are overdue for replanting.  Paid about 30% more than ever before.  This was a reminder that our modest herd is not self-sustainable from our own acreage, at least not without a steady stream of purchased inputs (lime, potash, alfalfa seed, etc).  We don't currently need the milk, and in fact I only milk about once a week now as I let the calf take all she wants.  Rachel and Henry have stopped drinking milk, and I'm probably allergic to it (chances are it's one of the triggers for my eosinophillic esophagitis, which makes it difficult to swallow food at times).  

So keeping cows at the moment doesn't seem particularly smart, especially when the costs amortized over the milk we consume probably put it close to $30 a gallon.  A Simpson's reference comes to mind here.

On the other hand, we would likely be able to feed one or two cows for a while (we currently have 3 cows and a young bull) if things really go south -- and that milk would instantly become a whole lot more valuable to ourselves as well as our neighbors.  Ditto for the manure to keep gardens producing well.  

Such Chicken-Little thoughts get tiring after a while though, as does forking out a never ending supply of hay and the resulting manure.  Then there's the never ending hoof-trimming and occasional veterinary issues, and the fact that on-farm butchers have all disappeared, or that it's no longer possible to schedule with any of the few remaining butchers (whom I'd have to deliver a live animal to, which is not always easy) with less than a year's notice now.

Another lesson from yesterday's hay purchase came from one of the farmers I bought it from.  He was missing an arm. I presumed either a wartime injury or perhaps a farm related accident had cost him his limb, but it turns out that neither was the cause.  He simply wore out his shoulder putting up so much hay over so many years that his arm ceased to remain attached, and his doctors suggested complete removal.  

It's not that all farm work is drudgery -- far from it, in fact.  I still love working with cows as well as the horses, and I also miss our old flock of sheep.  It's just that all of this work, when added on to the requirement of a full-time job makes it nearly impossible to do other things that I would  enjoy even more. Farms simply don't mesh well with a recreation filled life of canoeing, sailing, skiing, hunting, climbing, or a myriad of other things that I once enjoyed at every opportunity.

Granted, contemplating a life without the need for hard physical labor is a luxury afforded to only the last few generations in most families.  My great grandparents, farming in southern Illinois exclusively with mules up through the early 50s, had no such option. In some ways it seems dishonorable for me to even consider it. At other times, I feel like the little piggy who built the brick house, looking longingly at the carefree lifestyle of his brother in the straw house and wondering if talk of the big-bad-wolf was just a bunch of nonsense.  

Is there a big-bad wolf?  Is he coming anytime soon? The lesson to be gleaned from the fable of the Three Little Pigs hinges upon this vital bit of information.  The brick house, as it turns out, is NOT always better.

Well now, this ought to really fix our election process.

 https://news.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2020/03/27/what-is-electionguard/

More food for thought from GHW Bush's HUD secretary

 https://www.bitchute.com/video/CEJS0YX8wm4P/

If you haven't yet lost faith in our government, here's a good reason

If you truly believe that our fully purchased government and media are anything more than the enforcement and propaganda department for large corporate interests who view us as sheep to be fleeced (or in this case slaughtered, because it's more profitable), here's a bit of evidence to shake your belief.

In early December, the US Senate held a hearing, at which Dr Pierre Kory, a frontline Wisconsin doctor who has treated thousands of covid patients gave testimony with regards to ivermectin as both a prophylaxis and treatment for covid.  

Within it he notes the multitude of studies (most all performed in somewhat less corporate-beholden countries) that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that ivermectin is a "miracle drug" (his words) against covid.  For instance, he cites an Argentine study where medical personnel were divided into two groups.  800 received ivermectin as a prophylaxis, and 400 received a placebo.  The placebo group was infected at a rate of 56%, whereas the ivermectin group developed no infections whatsoever.  

This doctor is not the only one touting this treatment.  Someone I trust and have followed for years (with a degree in pathology specializing in viral toxicology) has been saying the same thing for months now -- and had his youtube video censored for his efforts.  

What are we told in this country?  To wait for our chance to be guinea pigs for a vaccine which has gone through minimal trials with questionable results, and which harbors the potential for serious side effects such as the triggering of serious auto-immune disorders (the FDA, to their credit, finally announced that people with severe allergies should not take it).  

One former Pfizer exec -- who specialized in development of lung treatments -- has laid out his serious concerns for the vaccine, but you won't hear about him on TV in the US.  

If you venture to the New York Times website, and do a search for ivermectin within the last month, you'll find two smear pieces suggesting that Dr. Pierre Kory's testimony to the senate, the first with a title, "A Senate hearing promoted unproven drugs and dubious claims about the coronavirus".  If you actually review the testimony and the associated documentation, however, you'll quickly lose faith in the NYT if you hadn't already done so long ago.

Once you've seen the depths to which corporate entities will go to further their raison d'etre (which is most certainly not  to do good in the world), it's much easier to believe what many will still label as tin-foil-hat territory.  For me the tipping point was the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" combined with conversations with a retired US Special forces coworker (retired after being shot 5 times).   He described to me how he was regularly involved in activities -- mostly in Central and South America -- which Americans were never told about.   His account meshed perfectly with Smedley Butler's famous letter, in which he states I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism"

The documentary "The Corporation", (watch it for free on Youtube) lays out the clinical definitions for diagnosis of a psychopath -- and then steps through each one and provides numerous examples of why publicly owned corporations fit the diagnosis to a T.  

My own experiences while employed at Zoetis -- a former division of Pfizer -- has also greatly altered my view of pharmaceutical corporations in particular.   One co-worker who had been with the company since it was Upjohn Pharmaceuticals described how one of the blood pressure medications they had developed -- minoxodil -- had a noted side effect of growing small amounts of light fuzzy hair where it was topically applied.  Upjohn thought nothing of it (the hair growth was not significant) and just noted it as a curiosity.  When Pfizer purchased the company, however, they viewed it as a potential goldmine, and began to market it as Rogaine, despite the fact that their claims for the drug's effectiveness were fraudulent..

While employed at Zoetis, the company email announced a series of employee informational seminars on "How to talk to friends and family about antibiotics in food".  Zoetis is the world's largest manufacturer of "medicinal feed additives" (i.e. sub-therapeutic antibiotics fed to livestock).  I signed up and attended the seminar, where a hired PR consultant from Ketchum and Associates played a few carefully prepared propaganda pieces.  They contained numerous falsehoods (which I knew because I raised cattle) about farming and the use of antibiotics, and completely avoided the central subject of antibiotic resistance -- which has been widely attributed to antibiotics in livestock feed.  

I raised my hand afterwards to point out these errors and omissions, though they didn't really have a response beyond, "that's a really tough situation" when I mentioned a friend's daughter nearly dying from a mrsa (antibiotic resistant staph) infection.  In retrospect, I think these "seminars" were likely intended to screen out people like myself who have a problem with corporate malfeasance.

So it's through this lens that I see what corporations are capable of.  Many will still cling to the comforting idea that no person in a corporation would stoop to such levels as deliberately killing for profits, but it's hard to see their suppression of the information on ivermectin as anything but.  According to NBC news, 77 thousand people died from covid in the US in December.  I would suggest that the vast majority of these deaths were entirely preventable, considering that the efficacy of ivermectin has been known for months now.

Once you find yourself able to accept that reality that people -- and especially corporations are not inherently good, you may also be able to understand more of what is going on with the push to get us all to take Pfizer's new mRNA vaccine for covid.  Here are some additional reasons for concern...

Dr Kary Mullis -- who invented the PCR test being used for covid testing, was adamant that it was unreliable when used at higher cycle counts, where he states you "could find anything" you wanted at the higher number of amplification cycles used in this test.  Had he not died mysteriously last August, he would have undoubtedly had a lot to say about the WHO recommending up to 45 cycles for covid testing.   He also had a lot to say about Dr. Fauci, with whom he was well acquainted and whom he considered a politician (and not a very bright one).  The interview in this video goes into some of the details (the comments on Fauci start around 3:30).  

We should also keep in mind that the PCR test -- which is what was used to demonstrate the efficacy of the new Pfizer vaccine is regularly used at 35-40 amplification cycles.  Court testimony, in the case of German tourists detained in Portugal for positive PCR test results, showed that at this number of cycles, the PCR test will give a 97% false positive rate.

Another interesting recent death (on December 8th) was that of Brandi Vaughan -- a former Merck sales rep.  She worked for Merck in the early 2000s, selling Vioxx which Merck had just developed.  Upon learning that Merck was well aware that it was killing people (with heart attacks) for at least a year before the FDA forced them to stop selling the drug, she quit the company.  Her own research lead her to start the organization, "Know the Risk" about the dangers of vaccines.  This video is of one of her speeches -- where she makes some very good points that I was not previously aware of.  One that I thought was particularly interesting, is the fact that European kids receive far fewer vaccines -- and the serious anaphylactic-reaction allergies to foods such as peanut butter -- which are rampant in the US to the point that many schools now *prohibit* peanut butter -- are virtually unknown in Europe.  

In this video, Brandi detailed exactly the intimidation tactics the pharmaceutical industry was using against her (her own account begins at 7:17).  People repeatedly broke into her home (using the master key code for her security system, which nobody else knew) and stole nothing, but left several messages to intimidate her, and also clearly bugged her home.  She knew she was undertaking serious risk, to the point that she felt compelled in what became her last facebook post to state that she *is not* suicidal and *is not* in poor health.  She "died" a week after making that post, at the age of 48.

Conspiracy theory?   Perhaps.   Do people conspire?   Do corporations?  Absolutely.  

Flux

The horses insist upon staying in the barn during the day, as the July heat and humidity put the horse and deerflies into overdrive. It was 80 degrees (this is the "cool" part of the day), with 80% humidity when I made it out the house this morning .  The cows stay in a dark corner of the barn as well, against the cooler stone foundation and away from the biting flies.  Evenings offer some relief, but the mosquitoes come out then.  They're less annoying to the animals than the big 1" long horseflies, apparently.

Our second cutting of hay should be ready, but was stunted by weeks of 90 degree heat, a lack of rain, and a good infestation of leaf-hoppers such that it hardly looks to be worth cutting.  Now we're getting some decent rain, but I can't cut it until the forecast clears up for a few days so it can dry.  I'm not looking forward to working the horses in this heat -- hopefully that will subside as well.

As is now an annual summer tradition, I'm again fantasizing about someplace cooler than SW Michigan.  This year it's the NE corner of Minnesota, up between the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and the north shore of Lake Superior.  There are lots of little cabins along the "Gunflint Trail" (Hwy 12) that runs from Grand Marais up to the boundary waters.  Looks like a neat area, at least so long as I ignore the many photos of people there wearing face-coverings to keep the clouds of mosquitoes and blackflies at bay.  I've always felt that it's much easier to deal with cold weather than it is with heat, but maybe living at -30 F would change my mind about that.  I do like the idea of snow sticking around for most of the winter and accumulating more than a few inches at a time.

I also like the idea of using a canoe for transporting things.  Unlike horses, there's no need to shoe or feed them, and I've never heard of a canoe freaking out and running off for any of the reasons that horses seem to find in abundance.  Better yet, they don't kick!

Now that I'm among the many covid-unemployed, it feels like we've done the right thing in remaining debt free and living where we can produce our own food and fuel.  Aside from summer, it's even a nice place weather-wise.

I had a job interview last week which seemed to go well, but haven't heard anything back on it yet.  I think the competition is pretty fierce these days.  I'm by no means convinced that the "normal" economy is ever going to return, but I've been thinking that for many years now while it's been sputtering along to my amazement.

Despite an initial failed planting and lots of deer damage, our one acre field of open-pollinated corn (Krugs 90-day) seems to be doing alright.  My two cultivations with the horses went very well, and with a couple passes of the hoe, the rows look pretty good now.   The deer (despite soaking the seeds briefly in kerosene -- an old practice that was apparently common in the days before commercial seed) and birds like to pull up the young shoots to pluck the seed off.  Lately, the deer have been breaking the stalks in half to eat the tender meristem, so I've been making evening visits to scare them off.  There are definitely parts of the field which are more or less failed, but the majority is now head-high and thick enough to keep the weeds at bay.

I find myself stuck (particularly on the really hot days) in a state of flux; not quite sure where I should be focusing my efforts, so I continue as I've been doing, working a bit until the heat becomes too much, at which point I find myself retreating indoors to sit with a popsicle and a laptop checking out cooler places to live.  Then when I get disgusted with myself for spending too much time online, I go back outside to tackle another project.  Rinse and repeat...

About face

A campfire lunch in our woods overlooking the muskrat pond.

After a dozen years of forking manure, weeding, putting up hay and firewood, squeezing teats, enduring mid-west heat and humidity, picking off lyme carrying ticks, killing cute animals, and having spooked horses run off to destroy yet another expensive piece of equipment... I was ready to give it a rest.

I was done waiting for Godot; peak oil, impending economic collapse... you name it.  Come what may, I was ready to again assume the simple life of dependency that the vast majority have chosen. I was ready to fall into the arms of industrial civilization, sell my remaining life for an inflated west-coast mortgage, and endure insane Washington traffic.

On the plus side, we would again be near the mountains and ocean, so Henry would get to experience the wilderness that was so important to me for most of my life. We could go backpacking, skiing, sailing, kayaking, crabbing... all good things. More fun, less work -- at least on weekends anyway.

We put the farm up for sale late last year, and found an Amish family who wanted to buy it -- complete with all equipment and much of the livestock.  A great situation for us, as we knew they appreciated what we've cobbled together, and also great because we didn't need to worry ourselves with selling off everything separately.  Nobody would be bulldozing the barns and building a McMansion.

With this in mind, in January we placed an offer on an old Lopez Island farm house -- imho the nicest of the ferry-serviced islands in the San Juan archipelago at the north end of Puget Sound. As it turns out, the home inspection did not go well. When the sellers refused to make any concessions, we walked. Just about that time covid-19 started to make a few headlines.

Still looking for homes, I began to wonder if moving might not be such a good idea anymore. As the coronavirus spread continued, it soon became readily apparent that it wasn't. Though we hadn't seen much of interest come on the housing market, a "good" house came up a few weeks ago, but I simply couldn't see making an offer on it. I feel better about that now, because it just sold for $65k above the asking price. Yes, the Puget Sound region is still going insane. I'm hoping that things may calm down a bit once this virus has taken its toll.  Prices here in Michigan will fall as well, but they don't have as much room to drop.

In the meantime, I'm awfully happy to be sitting where we are, on a farm where we can produce our own food, fuel, and hay. The current "lock-down" simply provides justification for all the things we've been doing for these many years.  Rachel and Henry are both home now that schools are closed, though I'm still working for the time being.  Michigan just announced lockdown yesterday, as the state reported 1300 cases. Being forced to "self-isolate" actually sounds pretty nice here.

As I suggested in February, I think there will be significant economic repercussions from the virus, well beyond the shortage of toilet paper and hand sanitizer. I've seen modeling which suggests that the virus will be problematic for another 18-24 months. As a perennial pessimist (or realist, as I like to think), I see the economic mayhem lasting well beyond that, but I have a fantastic record of being wildly wrong on a lot of things. On the other hand, just like a stopped clock, I'm bound to be right, eventually.

So the window of opportunity for living as if it's still the 20th century may be riding off into the sunset. Buying a house on credit, or loading our possessions on a semi to haul them 2500 miles across the country may very well be a thing of the past. If so, we're about as well situated as we could ask to be. If I'm wrong (yet again!) and "Saudi America" rides in to rescue us all from a return to civilizational sanity, I wouldn't mind sailing out to Patos Island one more time.

The best description of the Democratic party I've ever read...

"Progressives assume that they have negotiating power because they assume, wrongly, that the Democratic Party exists to win elections. It doesn’t. The Democratic Party exists, first and foremost, to sabotage the left." -- Caitlin Johnstone's blog update from 3/18/20

Now that the DNC has annointed Biden and altered primary results to ensure that their candidate is a dementia-addled do-nothing who is *guaranteed* to lose to Trump, I hope everyone can see them for who they are.

Don't fret - we're in GOOD hands!

Our fine reality-TV president tRump has returned to the saddle after working hard to get the CDC defunded, and is ready to make sure that covid-19 is brought under control.  He's organized a new dream-team of clueless corruption to restore American confidence. Strangely enough, not one of them has any medical background whatsoever, unless we count Pence's proven ability to create epidemics.

Leading this valiant effort is the frat-boy turned evangelical lunatic and talk-show host -- Mike Pence.  As the unfortunate governor of Indiana, he defunded the only clinic in the state which performed HIV testing, eliminated programs meant to restrict the spread of disease among drug addicts, and presided over the resulting HIV outbreak whereupon he bravely determined that "prayer" was the appropriate response.

Supporting him is Steve Mnuchin -- a morally bankrupt uber-nerd whose primary qualifications seem to be doing "God's Work" for Goldman Sachs and using the proceeds to bribe an equally vapid and vain super-model to pose as his wife.

Rounding out the team is Larry Kudlow -- a hard partying Wall-Street financial analyst with a fondness for cocaine who has already declared corona virus to be contained within the US.

If I didn't know any better, I'd be inclined to think that someone views this virus as a golden opportunity.

Covid-19 - Prepare Yourself!

Chances are, if you get the majority of your information from mainstream news sources, you're being told that the novel coronavirus (now dubbed covid-19) is basically "a bad flu" and not a big deal.  Just wash your hands, or maybe buy some antiviral masks, right?  Maybe you'll have to keep the kids home from school for a couple weeks.  After all, we're much more knowledgeable about disease than we were in 1918 when the Spanish Flu broke out.  We've successfully contained Ebola and Zika, so it's safe to assume that we can contain this virus as well... or so we're being told.

With a 90% mortality rate, Ebola is truly terrifying.  SARS has a mortality rate of about 15% -- still scary, but certainly more survivable.  If we're to believe the official numbers from the Chinese communist government (I don't), the death rate for covid-19 is about 2.5% -- certainly scary, but not the end of the world.  If you get it, you have a 1 in 40 chance of dying from it.  Not something I'd like to gamble my family's health on, but not apocalyptic in the way that Ebola's mortality rate is.

So what's the big deal then?  The problem is that we cannot and will not be able to control the spread of this disease, but we will try, just as China is doing.  It's the attempts being made to control the disease that are doing the most damage, and which will soon affect us all in a big way.

We can't control this disease for a number of reasons.  First of all is that people have been shown to be contagious for weeks before displaying any symptoms -- and some people never develop any symptoms.  That means that perfectly healthy people will be circulating and infecting people without knowing it.  People are even contagious for a couple weeks *after* their symptoms have abated.

In addition to that, the virus appears to be transmissible over long distances through the air, as was evidenced on the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship.  Despite passengers being confined to their rooms and the staff taking great precautions, the infection rapidly spread throughout the ship.   Apartment blocks in China appear to have suffered similar fates, as the virus spread through ventilation systems.   Not only does it travel very well, but the virus can remain active on various surfaces for weeks.

Unlike the flu, getting sick with this virus doesn't necessarily make you immune to getting it again, as China is now documenting people who have been infected by it multiple times, with second infections often resulting in heart failure.  The fact that we do not produce sufficient antibodies to ward off recurring infections with this virus also suggests that developing a vaccine for it (which normally takes about a year) will be very difficult.

Another serious problem is that of testing.  Test kits are not widely distributed and available.  The entire state of Hawaii -- which is known to have been visited by people who later tested positive for the virus -- still does not have any test kits -- and won't until at least March.  A reader comment in one article on the NY times website noted that she had recently returned from China, and that her husband soon fell ill as did their son.  Despite this history, she claimed that the hospital they visited refused to test them for the virus.  Even when the test kits are available and used, it appears as if false-negatives are very common.  One doctor in China noted a patient who had been tested six times, with only the last test coming back positive.

Even when the best protective measures are followed, infection is still a regular occurrence.  I cannot find the article now (I believe I came across it a week or two ago), but there were already 2000 medical staff infected with the virus in China. The director of Wuhan's main hospital has already died from it, as did this doctor whom the Chinese government punished for warning of the virus early on.

So even if we can't control the spread, the mortality rate is still pretty low.  Yes, some people will die, and that's terrible, but unavoidable for now.  Those deaths are not what concerns me nearly as much as the effects of our attempts to limit the spread of the virus.

As we can see now, the majority of China is in lock down.  A figure I remember from a week ago (and now undoubtedly outdated) is that 710 million people are now on lockdown -- being confined to their homes by the military and police.  Factories are largely shut down, and travel has been reduced to an absolute bare minimum (though still probably not reduced enough).  Despite these apparently draconian measures, the virus is still spreading rapidly.   In communist China, they're probably expected and thus easier to enforce.   How will people react to them in the US?

So China appears to be coming to the realization that locking everyone in their homes is having a serious effect on their economy, and in some areas has authorized factories to reopen.  In one such case, 210 employees reported to work.  One of them was tested for the virus and found to be positive.  The result?   All 210 employees were moved to a quarantine camp, where they will likely be infected if they weren't already.  New quarantine recommendations are that it should last for at least 24 days. So that factory will be down for a long time, unless they can replace and train an entirely new workforce who will likely suffer the same fate.

The Chinese government has also threatened citizens with jail time if they stay home after being ordered to return to work.  Apparently, many are refusing to return to work despite this threat.  I would not be surprised in the least if governments around the world give up on trying to control the virus, realizing that the cure is worse than the disease, and attempt to restart economic activity for better or worse.

So what happens when factories and businesses shut down for an extended period of time?  All appearances are that this virus will be with us for months at the very least.   Certainly some shut downs will not have a serious effect.  In fact, we would probably benefit from fewer plastic toys and electronic gadgets. The shut-down of factories that manufacture or distribute medical supplies, however, could be a problem.  What about food production?  Will your local utility be able to keep natural gas flowing so you can heat your home?  What about electricity to power the well pumps that feed your city or home water supply?  What if an essential part breaks down and cannot be replaced because the factory that makes it is shut down?  The wonderful efficiency of our modern economy is rife with inter-dependencies, each of which pose great risks in this situation. These direct effects of the virus could be very serious, but they will -- hopefully -- not be long term.

My primary concern with the corona virus is not the direct effect of the disease nor the direct effect of the required industry shut-downs, but the long term effect upon our highly intertwined economies.

There are serious concerns that global debt levels have grown dramatically in recent years, (especially since the 2008 financial crisis) making the global economy extremely vulnerable to shocks.  Covid-19 appears to not just be a potential "pin" that could prick this debt bubble, but rather a machine gun.

Globally, peak oil occurred just before the big financial crisis of 2008 (big surprise there!).  Our central bank has patched the problem over by making sure that credit is available to many businesses, but especially to oil companies.  That was key to the massive growth of the "Saudi America" fracking revolution that dramatically improved oil production in the US , which had previously peaked in 1971 and been in decline ever since.  The problem is that fracked oil is too expensive to produce at a profit, and fracking companies have never made a penny -- even according to our own Energy Information Administration.  Fracking now accounts for 60% of US oil production.  With oil prices already well below their cost of production and heading lower as business and travel restrictions take effect for the corona virus -- how will these companies pay their debts?   They won't.  They'll go bankrupt -- or be bailed out by you and I.  If our money printing can continue indefinitely without destroying the US Dollar, that is.  If our fracking scheme does finally fall flat (and I should note that even our conventional oil production is now in a precarious financial state), US oil production will fall by 60%.  Will they be able to rebuild it after such an economic shock?   Would you invest in it?  How do you think a sudden drop in 60% of our oil production will effect you?  Will your local grocery store still be receiving food?  Will your job survive?

So what's the take-away?  I would prepare yourself to stay at home for at least one month (longer is better, as we have no idea how long this will last).  Store up as much food and water as you can, and make contingencies for the potential loss of utility services. Better yet, start a garden or set up an alternate source of water if you can.  If you require medications, make sure to fill your prescriptions asap and build up a longer term supply if possible.  It may not happen, but I think it's safe to assume that supply chains -- even for essential goods -- will likely fail.

If the virus does strike your family, it would also be useful to have antiviral medications.   Medicines containing elderberry have clinically proven antiviral effects, showing both a significant reduction in both duration and severity of symptoms.  It might not be a bad idea to stock up on books as well. Prepare before the rush, if at all possible, because at some point soon it will become impossible.  Italy went from having a small number of cases to putting entire regions in lockdown, complete with numerous medical staff infected, in just 3 days.  With the Dow flirting with a 1,000 point drop today as the latest headlines slowly sink in, that point may come even sooner than I think.

Here is a page that explains much of what I've said here but is a bit more condensed and probably more readable.

Chris Martenson, (who has a PhD in pathology and understands the disease dynamics very well) has been producing daily videos which summarize the situation as it develops.  He's also exceptionally energy-aware and puts the big picture together much better than most.  Here's his youtube page.

Morning Walks

I think it's been a little more than a year now, maybe two, since the dogs and I started taking regular morning walks the half mile down to the end of our road and back.  Life without cows is different, and a bit more leisurely.

Sometimes we're walking in the dark, either with or without a headlamp if the moon is out. We regularly spook deer and turkeys from the adjacent field and woods, but it's been a while since I've seen them now, as they hunker down for the season.

I love looking over our homestead on the return leg. We've done a lot here, and it shows. The orchard, the garden, the new barn, tool shed, greenhouse, wood shed, the smithing shed... they all speak to what goes on here. It's a nice place to walk home to, guided by the familiar and comforting scent of wood smoke.

With the winter snow, we get to see a lot of tracks if not always their makers. There's always deer tracks. Coyote, squirrel, opossum, raccoon, fox, mouse... there's a lot happening here. Judging by the dogs' excitement, the smells tell quite a story.

Earlier in the week, in the pitch dark, I could smell a skunk.  The dogs were too far ahead to tell if they'd just been visited by the "stinky kitty".  Fortunately, they had not. The next morning (in the daylight), Bilbo "woofed!" out into the field, where I could see a black and white creature ambling out from the trees. Best not to encourage the dogs or get too close I thought. But then again, that's a boring way to live, so I walked out to investigate. Just a cat, this time.

The dogs know that the walks happen after morning chores. Clover loves the chores, since she gets to spend time watching horse or piggy TV, and that never gets old. If it's not too cold to come outside for chore-time, Bilbo likes to follow me into the horse barn (aka the "International House of Dumplings"), where he selects a frozen green treat or stinky hoof trimming to enjoy while nesting in the loose hay as I work.

If it is too cold, Bilbo waits in the house until chores are done.  I don't dare go on the walk without him though.

The woods across the street have quite a bit more diversity than our own, as they've been established much longer. One morning I noticed an unfamiliar flower. Google Lens said it was "Bellwort", which appears to be correct. Google may have had to dispense with their "Don't be evil" motto now that they work closely with the US government, but helping me identify flowers makes it all better.

The walks aren't all full of wildlife and flowers though. The locals don't seem to have a problem with using our road as their personal dumpster.  I've filled quite a few garbage cans worth -- initially enough to make it worth my while to drive down with the truck to pick it all up.

I regularly scheme about what I'd like to do if I were to catch someone throwing their trash on our road. I came up with an idea for a sign, reading Free Rocks!  (delivered through the windshield of anyone caught littering here).  Life would be so much more fun without self restraint!

One morning I was especially excited to find a debit card amongst a pile of household garbage. I googled the name on it and found a nearby address, dreaming of how I'd like to confront the bastard.  Should I return the garbage to his front doorstep?  My anger subsided a bit when I finally drove past the address -- a microscopic house sided in disintegrating OSB, now vacant and for sale.  I conceded that the person who lived there probably tossed their trash on our road simply because they couldn't afford garbage pickup. There's always more to the story, eh?

Another bag I found was filled with empty blister packs -- both for lithium batteries and Sudafed.  Yup, the local meth cooker tosses their garbage here too. Maybe the same person whose debit card I found.

On one walk, Rachel noticed a shotgun tossed to the side of the road.  Apparently a burglar decided that the additional sentencing for having a firearm wasn't worth it.

After a few months I had the road pretty well cleaned out, such that I know when something new arrives. This last summer there was a pile of clothing next to an empty suitcase sporting a greyhound bus tag from Chicago. Looked to be the clothing of a young woman (complete with lacy panties) and a young girl. I can only guess as to how their clothes ended up on the side of our road, but imagine the story is not a pleasant one.

When I'm lucky, our neighbor's cow is up at the fence, and I get to pick a little lush grass from the roadside (the cow only gets hay).  He gets a treat, and I get to pet a cow again.  Life is good.