My Dad, The Bull, and the Tractor

Quite a long time ago, my grandfather Pop passed away, and my Dad inherited about 70 acres of land and half of Pop’s cows. I should state at the beginning of this story that, while my Dad had some experience with cattle, it predated WWII, so he was maybe a bit rusty. Of course, I thought he knew everything; it never occurred to me that maybe it was new to him, too.

So, anyhow, we had all these cows.

A year or so later, when I was around 14 or 15 years old, a bull got out of our pasture. Dad chased him on the tractor, an ancient Model C Farm-All tricycle type. When he got close enough, he lassoed the bull around the neck. Fortunately, Dad had the foresight to tie his end of the rope to the tractor, so he got to stay on the tractor for a while.

This is about the time I showed up. Dad invited (!) me to help him get the bull back into the pasture, so I climbed up on the tractor and away we went. I took care of opening and closing gates and so forth, and we drove down into the bottoms with the bull in tow. I should maybe mention that the bull was not all that happy with all this.

Dad stopped the tractor next to the fence between our place and our neighbor’s, got off the tractor, and the bull immediately ran around the tractor, pinning Dad to the tractor with the rope. It took a bit to extricate him, but we got him loose; so then Dad spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to go about this whole deal without getting squashed.

So, Dad had a plan…

He told me to climb over the fence; then he untied the lariat from the tractor, and passed that end to me. We wrapped it around the bottom of the nearest fence post two or three times, and he told me to hang on and don’t let go. Fortunately, we always had gloves handy, working around the place as we did.

So I’m on This side of the fence, and Dad and the bull are on That side of the fence. A nice arrangement, all around, from my perspective. It was really pretty funny, too. Dad was chasing the bull back and forth through a 180° arc, fence to fence, trying to get it to stop so he could get the rope off. This went on for a while, with the bull getting more and more agitated – until the bull ran right through the barbed wire fence.

New situation: Me, weighing around 130 pounds, separated from a seriously pissed off bull by about 25 feet of limp rope.

So, I let go of the rope, climbed over the fence, and tried to grab the rope again. However, the bull had had enough – he vacated the premises before I could grab it. The bull disappears into the neighbor’s woods, trailing the rope.

Dad said “Why’d you let go of the rope?”

I said, “Are you out of your mind? That sucker was on MY side of the fence!”.

This is called, “Fun with Cows”.

Eventually, we managed to herd the bull back on our land, but he had removed the rope, somehow. But an interesting thing happened: Our neighbor had a Beagle named Bandit which may be one of the smartest dogs I’ve ever met. He was sort of a neighborhood dog – he had friends everywhere. So he knew me and my Dad pretty well.

Anyhow, a couple of months after the incident with the bull, Bandit showed up at the barn, dragging that lariat rope. I think he smelled my Dad on it, and figured he’d bring it back to Dad. So Dad eventually got his lariat rope back.

Cool dog.

-Popgun

Celtic Woman

I watched a Celtic Woman concert on PBS last night (thank God for DVR). Excellent, truly excellent.

If you want to watch an amazingly well done performance, catch Celtic Woman if you can. The music is beautiful, and watching the lady with the violin dance while playing is awesome.

Of course, it helps that I like that kind of music… among many others.

-Popgun

We Have a Smart Dog!

We were watching reruns of Frasier last night, and there was a skit in which Martin had heard that you can tell how smart a dog is by throwing a towel on his head. The faster he removes the towel, the smarter he is. Eddie (the dog) of course just sat there with the towel on his head.

I’m here to tell you that (according to the skit) our dog is smarter than a Border Collie (7 seconds) or a Poodle (12 seconds). Our dog Rascal removed the towel in 2 seconds!

So he must be very smart!

-Popgun

I’ve Missed Something Here

I was just reading a really interesting article by J. Neil Schulman, and he made this statement:

We’ve failed because we didn’t get that it’s not about what we’re against but what it is that we’re for.

And this rang a bell with me. I’ve spent a whole lot of energy telling you folks what I’m against, but I haven’t spent near as much time telling you what I’m for. So, I’m going to start on that right now. Following is a list of some of my beliefs, and I intend to write short blog entries to expand on each one, in a series.

First and foremost, I am a Christian.

I am a right-of-center conservative. I do not classify myself with any political party, but I do tend to vote Republican, as in many cases they individually are the closest match to my philosophy.

I believe in maximum personal freedom, commensurate with personal responsibility. I believe a person is responsible for his actions. By the same token, I believe a person should have the widest freedom to act – responsibly.

I believe strongly in the right to bear arms. Anytime, any place, any type of gun. It is illegal to kill people other than in self defense, and I believe that is the only law necessary on this subject.

I believe that abortion (other than in a case of true medical necessity to save another life, or in the case of rape) is cold blooded murder for the convenience of the mother.

I believe in minimal government. The government should be just big enough to do what really needs to be done. That list of things that needs to be done should involve only things that need to be handled as a group, such as national defense; foreign diplomacy; trade agreements, and such. It should NOT be intrusive into the lives of individuals.

I believe that involuntary “redistribution of wealth” is stealing. (SEE the Ten Commandments).

I resent all efforts at psychological manipulation by any person or organization. This includes advertising, government, and churches. This is why I will not go to church revivals. One of the quickest ways to lose my respect is to try this crap on me.

I believe that lying is wrong and truthfulness is good. I quit going to my church because I caught the pastor lying, among other things. The very fastest way to lose my respect, trust, and friendship is to lie to me. I don’t have many friends.

I believe involuntary taxation, enforced with guns, is a necessary evil, only because some people would never pay their share if it was voluntary; but taxes should be levied only for the most necessary services, such as supporting the national military. These taxes would not be onerous if the government wasn’t bloated beyond belief.

I believe that illegal aliens are, well, illegal. If they come into the country legally, I have no problem with that. If they are here illegally, they are by definition starting off their relationship with this country by breaking its laws.

I believe that if you caught somebody in the act, he / she is not a ’suspect’. Hasan, for instance, is not a ’suspect’.

Added: I believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. Besides what the Bible has to say about it, the purpose of marriage and family is ultimately to produce and raise offspring. Homosexuals by definition cannot fulfill this purpose.

That’s a start. Look for upcoming blog entries on these subjects. I will try to emphasize the positive aspects of what I believe without getting into the negative aspects of other beliefs, if I can restrain myself…

-Popgun

Overheard At Work

Had a problem with a rotary airlock on a piece of equipment.

Looked up their phone number, called the rep up – “I’ve got a problem with this piece of junk. What you shipped us is not what we bought! I’m sick of this crap coming from your company!”

On the other end – “Well, which piece of equipment are you talking about?”

“The rotary airlock!”

On the other end – “We don’t sell rotary airlocks!”

Checked my number – realized I’d called the wrong guy. – “Do you know who I am??“

He said “No-”

I said “Good!” and I hung up.

<Snort!>

Real conversation, sometime in the 80’s.

-Popgun

The Obscene Cap and Trade Bill

You know, I’ve opposed the Cap and Trade Bill ever since I heard about it. It stands to increase indirect taxes by an incredible amount. It will literally double your electric bill, and gasoline will go up around $2 a gallon.

This morning, I found out this bit that is in that bill. From Powerline:

“The cap-and-trade bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, for example,” Mark writes, “is a bold assault on property rights: in order to sell your home–whether built in 2006 or 1772–you would have to bring it into compliance with whimsical, eternally evolving national ‘energy efficiency’ standards, starting with a 50 per cent reduction in energy use by 2018. Fail to do so and it would be illegal for you to enter into a private contract with a willing buyer.“

Now, that, I didn’t know about. Wow.

I live in a pier-and-beam frame house built by Jim Walters about 30 years ago, which has had additions several times over the years. It’s clean, but all the windows are single pane, and the insulation is not the best. It’s true that we’re not planning on going anywhere – I expect I will die in this house. But here’s the thing.

When I do pass on, my sons will have to spend a lot of money to make this house compliant with these regulations, if they elect to sell it. I have not actually read this bill, but now I wonder if this provision extends to inheriting a home. If so, they would have to deal with it at the time they inherit.

It will probably be more cost-effective to destroy our home than to bring it up to their standards.

That is what the Democrats do for you when they are in power. These damned liberals take value created by hard work and a lot of payments, and destroy it with the stroke of a pen, all to support their social agenda. They can’t get voluntary support for this kind of thing, so they ram it down our throats, just like they are trying to do with health care.

This bill has passed the House already. If it passes the Senate, it will become law. We need to stop it.

-Popgun

Today is my Sister’s Birthday

Today I celebrate the lives of my sister and my mother, in this small way.

Today (October 29) is my sister’s birthday. Four years my senior, she would have been 60 today, if she had survived. I miss her still, although when she was here, in her later years I didn’t spend a lot of time with her. Sometimes you don’t know what you have, until it is suddenly gone. She died at age 44, of liver failure – she was an alcoholic. Her death was one of the most stressful things that has ever happened to me. I was the second person on the scene at her death – her body was still warm. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.

Then, there is my mother, who passed away on October 30, 2000. I was there at her passing. A heavy smoker, she died of a combination of COPD and dementia; when she died, and for some months before that, she did not know who I was. Her passing, really, was a blessing. COPD causes shortness of breath – a victim usually has a low-level panicked feeling all the time, perhaps a ‘drowning’ feeling. My mother was suffering from this for several years before I found out there was a medical reason for it. During that period, I thought she was going nuts. In reality she was having panic attacks and paranoid attacks that frequently caused her to behave irrationally.   

At this point, I am the last survivor of my birth family. My Dad passed away before my sister did.

Death represents the end of pain. Sometimes, for everybody involved.

If you’re a Christian, that is. Neither my sister nor my mother were what I would call ‘practicing’ Christians – but they were both acquainted with the Bible, and the precepts of Christianity. I do hope they were saved. If so, I expect that I will get to see them again.

A person generally is exposed to more death as he ages. It seems that probably, on average, half of everybody you know will die before you do. As my neighbor says, “Don’t worry about life. You’re not getting out of it alive!”.

A young person doesn’t really perceive that death will happen to him – it is off in some distant future. On the other hand, an older person knows that his time will come. This causes different reactions in different people.

Some people, if you were to throw them out of an airplane at 30,000 feet without a parachute, would scream all the way down. Others would enjoy the view for as long as possible.

I plan to enjoy the view.

Cheers!

-Popgun

Different Viewpoints

Everyone has their own way of looking at things. Currently, there seem to be two opposing viewpoints of how to manage our country.

Liberals want more government, more government control of individuals, less individual rights, and has the view that the government will take care of all your needs. This is called the ‘nanny state’.

They also tend to believe that you are a victim of your upbringing and are not responsible for bad choices you may make. This is why liberal judges tend to let child molesters off the hook.

Liberals tend to be pro-abortion. They call this ‘pro-choice’, although the baby involved doesn’t get a choice.

Liberals believe in involuntary redistribution of wealth, possibly for humanitarian reasons.

Liberals believe the Constitution of the United States should be ‘interpreted’ according to their viewpoint.

Liberals tend to be anti-second amendment because they do not believe any individual can be trusted with a gun, and the idea that people are walking around in Walmart carrying a concealed hand gun scares the crap out of them. Even if those people are not felons.

Conservatives (real ones, that is) believe in maximum personal freedom, the smallest government that can do the proper roll of government. This is very cost-effective.

Conservatives believe in personal responsibility for individual choices. This is why conservative judges think child molesters should be shot.

Conservatives tend to be anti-abortion. Most of them see this as the murder of babies, purely for the convenience of immature and selfish parents who don’t take responsibility for their actions.

Conservatives are generally against involuntary redistribution of wealth, which they correctly view as robbery at gunpoint. (Think that’s an exaggeration? Try not paying your taxes. Eventually, somebody with a gun will show up to collect or to put you in jail. They will have guns.)

Conservatives believe the Constitution of the United States should be strictly interpreted according to the intent of the authors.

Conservatives generally are pro-second amendment because they believe honest citizens can be trusted with guns – both to use them when needed, and not to use them inappropriately. Law abiding citizens walking around in Walmart with guns don’t bother me. I know that they are not a risk to me or mine; only a felon (or wannabe felon) is a risk with a gun. And the best defense against the felon with a gun is to myself be armed, since the felon will not obey the law that says he can’t have a gun.

How do you know which philosophy is the right one?

That’s a deep question. There are many frameworks of belief that may help you decide, such as the Holy Bible. There is also how you were brought up, what you learned from your parents (or whoever raised you, these days).

As for me, I know that, as a child, I was taught a sense of honor. I was also taught a work ethic that to this day makes me get up every day and go to my job to earn my own way and provide for my family. I believe that I am worth my wages, and I believe that they are mine, not yours. I believe in personal responsibility. I believe that I can be trusted with a gun, because I know my own mind, and furthermore I believe I have the responsibility to protect my family if necessary. I have seen more than one couple grieve as they buried a miscarried child, and I know that abortion is murder. I believe in my personal freedom – and yours, too.

And I resent every dime I pay in taxes that is given to somebody who doesn’t deserve it, or is otherwise wasted. I do believe in charity – but it should be voluntary. And I don’t believe that people who are unwilling to work should receive a single dime of charity. Charity should be reserved for those who want to provide for themselves, but cannot because of circumstances such as health or age.

I have self respect because I have worked hard to do the best I could with my life. Others have done better, and some have done worse. But the key is to do your best. I paid my rent on my chunk of the planet today, and I feel pretty good about that.

I can’t say why you should choose one philosophy or the other – but I know which one I’ve chosen.

-Popgun

Public Service for Obama

I’ve read in several places – here’s one of them – that quite a few TV shows are going to be running plots that support Obama’s push for the public to volunteer for public service.

There’s nothing wrong with doing public service, especially voluntarily.

Having said that, I strongly resist any effort at being persuaded to do so by propaganda embedded in entertainment media. It is propaganda, pure and simple, regardless of the source.

So I’m here to say to Hollywood and their advertisers: I will not watch any TV show that is pushing this propaganda. If I am watching a show and I detect that it has this propaganda in it, I will change the channel or turn the TV off.

In the real world, media always has an agenda. Traditionally it has been to promote the products of the advertisers, in some way. For instance, the McDonald’s advertising in “The Fifth Element” comes to mind.

This is different. This is mass manipulation of the public with a coordinated goal at the urging of a politician. Even if there is no direct control or collusion, even if Hollywood is doing this spontaneously, I reject any such message. This is a (albeit very mild) form of mind control, and I reject it.

I refuse to be manipulated.

Recommended Reading: The Notebooks of Lazarus Long by Robert A. Heinlein.   Especially this part:

Do not confuse “duty” with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants “just a few minutes of your time, please — this won’t take long.” Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!

So learn to say No – and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don’t do it because it is “expected” of you.  

-Popgun

Tires – What a Pain

Saturday before last, I loaded up my trailer with some light trash and went to the local dump. On the way back, about a mile from the dump, the trailer’s right tire shredded. So there I was, in misting rain, with no tools and no spare, a few miles from home. I parked the trailer in the most convenient ditch, went home, got tools, went back, and jacked up the trailer and removed the wheel.

Those Hi-Lift jacks are wonderful things to have. Money well spent.

So then I took the tire into the nearest large town to the company I usually do my tire business with. They mounted a new tire for me in about ten minutes, and I went all the way back out to the trailer, mounted the tire in the misting rain, hooked it back up and took it home.

Because the remaining tire was in about the same shape, I dismounted it as well. During the week I took it in and got it replaced, matching the other new tire. So tires on the trailer cost about $150 total.

Then, last Saturday, I took Texas Grandma’s Dodge Grand Caravan in to the same tire dealer to have two new tires mounted. During this work, the tire mechanic destroyed the air pressure monitor inside the tire. So the shop went to the Dodge dealership and bought a replacement, and installed it.

Of course, then the sensor wouldn’t synchronize with the van’s computer. So I took it back to the tire place; after a couple of phone calls, they told me to take it to the Dodge dealer and they’ll take care of it. I did so. It turns out that when you replace one of these sensors, you have to have the dealer program the van’s computer to know about that sensor. This costs around $50, which will be paid by the tire company.

After I sat there for about an hour and a half, the dealer coordinator told me that they couldn’t get it to synch, that it must be damaged. Either the tire dealer damaged it when they installed it, or it was defective. In the first case, the tire dealer pays for it; in the second, it is warranted. But they didn’t have time Saturday to do this work, so Texas Grandma gets to take the van back to the dealer tomorrow to resolve this.

This is a perfect example of nanny state laws going wrong. Because some people can’t be bothered to check the air in their tires, our illustrious government passed a law that every vehicle starting in 2008 has to have tire pressure sensors. This is wasted on me – I ride motorcycles, and I BELIEVE in keeping up with my tires. So I have to pay for these things in the first place; and I have a new point of failure. If I was paying for all this, it would have cost me over $100 to replace this sensor, which I don’t want or need.

And it wasted half of last Saturday, and it’s going to waste another couple of hours of Texas Grandma’s time tomorrow. Between us, we’ve spent way to much money, and especially time, on tires in the last couple of weeks.

All because an incompetent mechanic made a mistake with some new technology.

-Popgun