[snip] An Introduction to Country Life. Alfred S. Campbell. Princeton University Press, Princeton. 1936. This is a very nice little crappy old book. Timely, too! Look! There’s a whole chapter on sheep! And two on children! We shall return to Country Life shortly– just as soon as my chores are done.
Originally posted November 2011; minor edits. Background on the fable here, but only the first few paragraphs– then it’s politics. Retold by Alan Benjamin Those of a certain age may remember this little story of two friends who live in very different worlds. “A city mouse was once invited to visit a friend who lived in
A few days ago, I posed a question to SueK and JoBeth, both of whom are Country Mice. So Country Mice, if you had the opportunity to advise a City Mouse who is considering changing his ways, what would you say? The premise was that “current events are prompting some City Mice to reflect on
For what it’s worth, I am finding it very difficult to be in a good mood this morning. Pardon my French, but the F-ing rabbits ate my beans and that really ticks me off. Mr. Big Food tells me there’s no way I can kill them all. Argh. Here’s a question for SueK, JoeBeth, and
I will give folks credit. I made the first phone call at 7:31am and by 8:50 a fellow had already come out, hooked up hoses, had taken meter readings, and left. He’ll be back. No idea what happened. There’s no break in the line that he’s aware of. Someone else on the road called so
On this day in 1917 the French celebrated United States Day. [FYI. From that infallible source: “Frog (pejorative), ethnic slur for French or French-Canadian people.” See also this.] Sidebar– though not in the GDR, Kant was born on this day in 1724, and I found my little orange notebook– had apparently used it as a
“when it’s leveled and paved?” Something SueK said over in the comments led me to remember this about the Hill Country of Texas. The hills of Cow Gap stood rugged and awesomeBut you have to have fill dirt when you’re building a roadThe hills of Cow Gap man they weathered the agesGot wiped off the
We are cucumber rich. I used this phrase in a conversation with Joanie at SuperLu this morning. She laughed. (SuperLu is the grocery store SuperValu. The “Va” on the sign on the side of the building were burnt out for a long time, hence, SuperLu.) I may drop in with a small bag of cukes
Came as a complete surprise this morning! Male. Four or five years old. Very gentle– can pet him and lead him around on a leash. So we’re in the donkey business!
UPDATE below In Mississippi, 18.5% of the tax revenue collected each month is returned to the municipality from which it was collected. Each month our little weekly paper publishes the monthly and year-to-date (YTD) amounts returned for the current and previous years. I do not know why I hadn’t thought about gathering up these data
May 27. Possible kidnapping attempted; Lawnmower fire May 28. Two vehicles reckless driving (a.k.a. drag racing); horse loose May 29. Child custody dispute May 30. Gas spill May 31. Fire safety check June 1. Possible sick dog in house June 2. Woods fire June 3. Animal problem Those are not all. There were a few
Workshop Garden 24 peppers 18 tomatoes 7 eggplants (Not to mention the 12 sweet potatoes I planted the other day.) I hear Mr. Cotton Farmer down there with his tractor. Perfect timing! Didn’t hear anyone shooting today. Guess we were all too busy planting.
I was about to say he was out of the picture, but nothing could be further from the truth. And my how they’ve grown! Not babies any more! I feel sorry for folks who don’t have a pond with geese to drive past on their way to town.
Mr. Big Food got himself in a bit of a jam last afternoon. Unjamming required a double dose of toxicity (I was of no use). As The J-Man is no longer around to provide that second Y chromosome, Mr. Big Food texted him buddy Pat and asked if he cold stop by after work. He
This post is dedicated to the geezers– young and old (said very affectionately)– who think the end of Western Civilization is nigh. Don’t get me wrong, I share your sentiments. When we have a national conversation about KFC in the halls of congress, all is most certainly not well. I have spent the last 20
When the weather is good, I look at Twitter about twice a week to ensure I have not missed a critical outrage. Last evening was one such time. This cracked me up. See also:
As you can see, this was more than 10 years ago. What a great year we had! Indeed, spending a year on the north fork of the Shenandoah River was no doubt a distal cause of our moving to Mississippi just three years later. Round trip: 236 steps! BTW– this was the year of bird
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