Thoughts on the shooting, and farm stuff

7/20/12 Friday

          We woke up this morning to the news of the shooting of 50 people at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado. I am sure that in the days to come we will learn many details concerning the man who did this. They mentioned on the news that he was in Colorado to get his PHD. The truth of this will be made clear as the investigation continues. It is sad to hear of these kinds of things and it seems we face these senseless killings more and more these days. It is hard to understand what can lead others to kill so coldly. But I believe that this is only the tip of the iceberg, that we will be seeing some horrible things in the days to come. It is nothing new. Throughout the history of man there have been countless ravages of life, often on scales that boggle the mind. With the pagan religions it was a part of their belief systems and then there were the shameful times that Christianity, the religion that has “Love your neighbor as yourself” as a foundation stone, has been perverted to justify torture and murder on a world wide scale.

          Why is this? What is it in the human psyche that pushes us to embrace such cruelty? There is, deep within all humans, an animal core that goes back to creation. It is a survival instinct, a desire to win, to overcome those who are seen as competition that traces its roots to our primal beginnings. This is often vented more safely through sports and other venues that allow us to compete and vanquish our “foes” in an organized and somewhat civil manner. Racism has this primal instinct at its root, the “I’m better than they are” concept coupled with a fear of losing, of letting any others come out on top. This is ultimately the source of all wars, as leaders harness our need to win and manipulate our fear to justify killing those perceived and presented as threats to our way of life.

          Think about Hitler, as an example of how quick this can happen. Germany was a Christian nation that had a large population of Jews, both of whom worshiped the God of Abraham. It was an industrial powerhouse but hard times were coming due to the poor decisions made by those in power coupled with world-wide financial unrest. (Sound familiar? It is the same scenario we find in our world today) Hitler inflamed those fears and fanned the flames of fear into hatred, focusing that hatred on one religious group. He also presented the Arian doctrine, which has been around for centuries anyway, and thus turned racism into an “Everyone is bad except us” form of extremism. What is amazing is how quickly good, loving, considerate, and kind people turned into hateful, even evil people, who exhibited no qualms about imprisoning, and killing the neighbors next door, whom used to be their friends.

          My point is this. We have the total recorded history of mankind that shows again and again our propensity to do evil. What makes you believe it can’t happen again? I foresee much that is coming in our future. A future that is only days away from being here. I see a religious ideology that is based on hate and on the subjugation or elimination of all who do not conform, rising quickly to power throughout the entire world. I also see extreme financial hardships coming as the economies of most of the countries of the world teeter on total collapse. I see those who choose not to believe such a thing is possible burying their heads in the sand. I also see the prophecies in the bible quickly coming to fruition. Some have mocked me, saying I am paranoid or using whatever label is convenient to make my words not worth regarding, thus dismissing my views. But I also hear and read about a growing number of people and organizations who also see the handwriting on the wall, and are sounding the warning as well. So I am not alone.

          Meantime, back to the farm. Cherie and I went and got another load of rocks for the growing hole we call our driveway. It will take many more loads before we can make this a level area that does not turn into a muddy lake each time we get a rare rain. One of these years I will be able to afford a dump truck load of caliche that will help this driveway be much more accommodating. But until then I do the best I can with what I have.

          I took the residue of ground up garlic and hot pepper we boiled in oil to make a bug spray for the corn, and mixed it with water to make a paste I painted on all the watermelons we have growing. The hope is this will discourage the coyotes from breaking open and eating the melons. When I walk outside in a few minutes I will see if that worked or not. We will keep experimenting until we find something that works. What I know is needed, a good fence, we can’t afford just yet so as always we do the best we can with what we have. I suppose that is now the official company mantra, because I say it so much.

          I spent a good part of the last two days on the tractor. Decided to give that a rest late yesterday because we are out of the lower priced red dyed agricultural diesel fuel and can’t afford to buy any more until Cherie gets her first paycheck from the new job. Last thing I need is to run that tractor out of fuel because when you do it gets air in the system and is a real problem to get started. There is so much to do I can spend a solid week on that tractor and still not be finished. So in addition to running the tractor I have spent many hours with the hoe, pounding those weeds that grow so fast and big. Some of them required an axe to chop down. Always so much to do and so little of me. The pain level has been very high due to my increased work load. No problem, I just keep going despite of it, but it does slow me down some.

          Nate bought us some better animal traps while we were in Tractor Supply. The Harbor Freight traps are cheap and more times than not the rats have forced their way out of them. These new ones are much tougher and so far I have caught 4 pack rats from the garage. This was a much needed blessing as the pack rats are causing extensive damage throughout the garage. They have chewed up cords to my power tools, chewed up wood implements, and regularly steal whatever is laying about and take it to their nest. One of these days I will pull all the wood and stuff I have stuffed in the back of the garage and uncover those nests. There is no telling what I will find.

          I managed to plant blackeyed peas shortly after the last rain. Am not sure how much will come up because the pack rats stole much of the seed I had kept from last year and some of the seeds are from two and three years ago. Hopefully there was enough moisture in the ground to cause it to germinate. We will see.

          I have several areas prepared for fall planting. Not really sure what I will plant other than the rest of the corn seeds I have from last year and the red corn seed a friend sent from Kansas. There are the Loufa gourd seeds someone sent that I need to plant too. For that I must install new drip irrigation. The tomatoes are barely clinging to life and many have not made it. We only got one tomato out of the 60 or 70 plants we put in the ground. I suspect that the well water is so bad that it is killing them. There are some areas I have drip irrigation underground where the Bermuda grass is growing like crazy. However, when I run the irrigation for a day or two, forgetting I had it on, the Bermuda grass turns yellow where it is. Not a good sign.

          That is all for now. Been working hard and there is plenty more to do. Drinking tons of water to replenish the tons I sweat out. Doesn’t take long to turn into a sweaty stinky mess out here. Especially when the humidity is high, which has been a lot lately.