Monthly Archives: January 2011

Letter to Dave

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Dear Dave,

This letter has been delayed by at least 45 minutes while I manage our indoor herd of three cats. Twitch causes constant trouble and teases little Laine when he’s bored. Magoo needs more attention than any two year-old and even now has tipped a container of cereal and is testing its sovereignty. We scold Twitch when he is mean which causes him to go sit on his “pouting chair.” He sees my admonishments as play and leaps from his perch then beats me back to the computer where he sprawls on the seat of my chair and waits to be petted. We have no human children, however we have definitely have kids.

Today is a big day Dave; I am returning the heifers to our brother, Steve. I purchased these cattle in early 2010. During their time here, they have grown into a sort of bovine adolescence and are now ready to go back to their original home. When I deliver steers for butcher, it is a one way trip and a bit sad. However, today’s heifers will see familiar surroundings and their mother cow at the end of a road which leads to Viking, Minnesota. These animals start their life with Steve, spend some time at our place, then back to Steve’s farm. The only down side to this arrangement is that the cattle never get to hyphenate their last names because they are always Nelsons.

I tasted spring on Monday. If we first covet with our eyes, then it is logical that we first taste with our nose. Oppressive cold makes it impossible to smell anything and Monday was just warm enough to enjoy the freshness of winter which tastes a lot like spring. The first little warm spell of the fourth season is almost like seeing weakness in a seemingly unbeatable opponent. I know now that winter will one day die and it seems a little more approachable, perhaps the snow and cold is not so bad. I understand winter’s need to be, at times, stern and unapproachable. Mother nature enjoys irony and I understand the old hag will send winter back in cold and hard next week to mock the feelings winter and I briefly shared.

I hope Carrington, North Dakota and you are doing well. The last time we spoke was before Christmas; at that time Carrington had already received two more inches of snow than it received in the whole season of 2009-2010. We have received so much snow that I am now using a box blade to drag any new snow out into the pasture. I pile all of our snow next to ditches or other drainage so hopefully our spring will not be so wet-oh, that it was that simple in the Red River Valley. I plan to visit you for breakfast before the summer so you will have to find a piece of farm equipment for me to purchase-gotta deduct that mileage for taxes.

Tell, the wife, the kinder and their spouses hello

your little bro’

Temple Grandin

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Showing animals some kindness and understanding life from their
perspective has been a concern for good farmers for a long time, it
became fashionable January 16th, 2011-more on that later.

Temple Grandin is a professor at Colorado State University who holds
a doctorate in animal science. She has written several bestsellers on
both animal and human behavior and is responsible for the humane
design of livestock handling facilities in better than half of all
meat processing plants in the United States. Oh yeah, she also has
autism.

I have read Temple Grandin’s articles in the past and use some of her
techniques for handling cattle. Her studies on cattle handling are
basically how to use a cows tendencies to the handler’s best benefit.
Cows like good footing, enjoy walking up a slope better than down,
hate loud noises, enjoy being in a herd and find shiny dangling items
to be suspect. They also like to walk in circles and enjoy almost 360
degree vision. After I’ve read an article by Grandin, I always feel
fired up about cattle and inspired to do a better job in their
handling.

Temple Grandin is not a vegetarian. She feels cattle are there to
provide meat but also wishes that they be treated in a humane matter.
Cattle that are calm cause less trouble, normally do not injure
humans and they taste better. If we are to be good stewards of what
we are in charge of then giving cattle a good life prior to their end
on a plate is the right thing to do. Grandin sums it up best, “I
think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we’ve got
to do it right. We’ve got to give those animals a decent life and
we’ve got to give them a painless death. We owe the animal respect.”

Claire Danes stars in the movie “Temple Grandin.” It tells the story
of a woman who sees conversation in pictures and finds spoken
language to be of only secondary importance. She does not speak until
the age of four and would have been destined to an institutionalized
life had it not been for a determined and innovative mother. Although
Grandin cannot even see the signs of human happiness or sadness, she
can read the face of a cow without trouble. She is able to step into
their lives and therefore design handling facilities that make their
contact with humans much less stressful. Lisa and I loved the movie;
it’s about as far from removed from status as a romantic-comedy as
possible but the movie touched our emotions. You’d have to love
animals to understand. The only location I could find the movie to
buy or rent was “Mr. Movies,” however the large internet outlets all
have the show for sale. It would be excellent in the classroom.

If you think the movie “Temple Grandin” was something no one ever
heard of or saw, you would be incorrect. January 16th, at the Golden
Globe awards, Clair Danes received the best actress award for her
portrayal of Temple Grandin in a movie of the same name. The show
also garnered seven awards at last fall’s Primetime Emmy awards. It
seems a little compassion for animals is not only ethical; it is
popular-maybe even fashionable. That’s just fine; what’s really more
important is it is right thing to do, as it’s been always.

Something to say

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I often write about rural life, farm projects and the joy of life.
Today I want to use the perspective I’ve built from the life I’ve
lived to comment on topics that are far distant from the farm. Yeah,
I got something to say.

Free Speech

The recent attempted assassination of Arizona Representative
Gabrielle Giffords, the killing of six and injury to 13 others was
tragic. The focus of this story should have been support to survivors
and family of those killed. Instead most of the stories have tried to
make the case that contention between political parties somehow made
a young man want to kill people. Friends of the shooter have clearly
stated that he really had no political affiliations or interests, he
was just a very disturbed young man. Blaming heated political
discourse for this terrible action is similar to saying that Mark
Chapman decided to kill John Lennon because Lennon sang Rock and Roll
while the shooter felt strongly about Jazz or Country Music. The
media has decided to use this event to brow-beat those of us who have
something to say about our own government into silence. If you follow
the vested interests involved it is obvious that the people’s very
vocal involvement in the 2010 election did not make the losers of
that election happy. Blaming the assassination on average people
trying to involve themselves in their own government is elitist,
blatantly opportunistic and goes against the idea of representative
government. The First Amendment to the constitution guarantees
freedom of speech so people may express themselves in ways other than
violence. It is the only way to keep democracy stable and healthy.
Muting this amendment because of the actions of an insane, young man
is politically self-serving and makes no logical sense.

An alternative to homelessness

Lately, a few local clergy have gone to the Pennington County board and Thief River Falls, Mn city council asking them to provide a homeless shelter. I feel this is an answer to a problem that doesn’t exist unless we create it. Nature abhors a vacuum and the homeless will come to Thief River Falls if a
shelter is provided. They will come from places far, far away and
once they break the rules of the shelter they will be out on the
street and will then become-homeless. They will then need services
from our local welfare department, services paid for by the taxpayer.
If these same people then entrench themselves in our society of
welfare they will share the habits that made themselves homeless
(drugs, alcohol abuse, crime) with our local population. I do realize
there are other reasons for homelessness but these affect others
negatively. Thief River Falls offers a much better alternative to
welfare, it offers opportunity-to work and to be a productive member
of society. It is a fantastic gift to our fellow man to offer a life
of choice. It is too cold and too hard a life in northwest Minnesota
to not choose a life in which you work and make your own way. Local
government is strained enough already without offering a shotgun
blast of services to a problem that needs pinpoint accuracy. It is
here where a church can become proactively involved in seeking out
specific individuals who need assistance then helping them access
those services if needed. I think a good starting point would be
establishing a list of drivers who can occasionally transport
individuals to the Care and Share in Crookston or The Mission in
Grand Forks where shelter services are already provided. Matching
those who need work to odd jobs that need completion would also be a
nice service.

A Blizzard; in five acts

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Act I The First Storm

I remember a book from when I was very young. Its title was
“the Day After the Bomb” and was in reference to the possibility
of nuclear war between the USA and the USSR. The book contained only
blank pages which alluded to the fact there would be nothing left
after
such a complete war. The first storm last week-end was just that;
nothing. We received maybe a half
inch but it did not accumulate. I had expected two marathon storms
with the accompanying snow removal however the first storm was only a
3k fun run-and was accomplished at a walk.

Act II Should I drive

There exists a human for whom bad road conditions only exist if they
have to go to work. These are the same people who will travel to
Hades and back for a good sale at the mall. These people will call
every radio station, good buddy or random stranger as they shop for
someone who will tell them
to stay home and not go to work. I suspect when they reach the final
name that begins
with “z” in the phone book they simply go to work. The truth is, your
attendance at work due to road conditions is between you and
your boss; you, however, must determine whether your skills are a
match for
road conditions. The exception is when a government agency closes
roads-don’t drive around the barricades, it is illegal. The best road
information exits on your local radio station or by calling 511 from
any phone.

Act III Emergency Bird feeding

We feed our local wild birds at pretty good diet. Peanuts, thistle,
mixed seed, peanut butter, old bagels, day-old goods, corn, suet and
mixed nuts. I’ve always believed that the smaller an animal, the more
care it needs from me. I suspect most birds can fend for themselves
however
it’s hard to know how many die during harsh conditions. I push
calories
hard on our birds when it gets cold. They need the energy to keep
themselves warm plus calorie-dense food takes less time to
eat. I figure they have only a short time in which they can sit at
the feeder before returning to shelter so we serve no low-calorie
rice cakes to our guests. I guess there is no emergency bird feeding
at our place, just more of the same.

Act IV Storm II

Friday night was black; the snow either reflected any light back to
the heavens or absorbed it in some sort of refractory trick. We could
see
the yard light but it appeared as though covered by an tightly-knit
afghan.
I am not a claustrophobic person but watching the storm made me
understand this fear. I check many sources to find information about
the storm as I feel some television stations
use the weather as a programming tool. These stations turn their
weather report into a soap opera
by releasing information a little at a time therefore we keep
watching for hours. I’ve been told that three day weather prediction
is quite accurate yet it seems during a bad storm some media sources
only release the information about 6-12 hours at a time. They also
suggest that more information is available at their Facebook page.
Why not just give all the information on the television? Someone
sitting at the end of a two mile driveway in the middle of North
Dakota doesn’t want to check “facebook,” they just want some answers
about the weather.

Act V Clean-up

I could bore even the most bland listener with talk about pushing
snow. In short, I like it gone immediately after the storm and it
must look neat. I desire bare concrete with no little piles left
between areas where the bucket has scraped. It is a grand opportunity
to express my obsessive self in a positive way. The yard and driveway
are all clean now until next time and the weather looks fine. It
should be no problem to go to work (darn) and the television
weatherman says no snow in the future-at least for the next 6-12
hours.