If this is winter, I am liking it. I know, I know, it’s just global warming and the pleasure I am having this warm, pleasant winter is because other people are suffering. For example, drought in Africa and flooding in the Philippines. If you believe the global warming story. Like there was never before drought in Africa. Give me a break. These guys fly all over the Earth with their “the sky is falling” story. How do they get there? In a plane that burns more carbon-based fuel in one trip than I will use in my lifetime. And they have the gall to point fingers at someone else and say, “it’s your fault.” I am really getting tired of these “climate change” guys.
On the farm, things have slowed right down. Hunting and hockey have occupied people’s time. There are still bales leaving the hills, but at a much slower pace. There are lots of bales stacked up beside the road waiting to be loaded. I assume this will happen all winter. I am disappointed that about 100 acres did not get baled as it was dry enough to keep. Cowboy mentality? Bale it in the spring, I heard. If it was baled and beside the road, someone would need feed before spring. You can sell it. The way it is you have nothing. Free fall grazing for deer and moose. Pfttt
In other farm news, several farmers are finding canola they thought was dry enough to keep is heating in the bins. That is a massive loss as it was $10 a bushel. It is now worth next to nothing if you can even find someone to buy it. Sell it fellas. Take your money and run. Beats the bejeepers out of whatever plan is in second place. Pay down your bills and life continues. There will always come along years like this where the canola just never cured. It will test dry, but it will heat. There is no joy in farming, if there is no money.
You hear all kinds of things that make you shake your head about what some people are thinking. After the Grey Cup that the Edmonton Eskimos won, a guy tweets that they should change their name as the word Eskimo is demeaning to the Inuit people. Lord love a billy goat. Next thing they will want is to change the name of the Saskatchewan Roughriders as it is demeaning to cowboys. Oooooh boy, what’s next?
The Alberta government wants to bring in regulations to force all farmers to have Worker’s Compensation and hours of work regulation. A Hutterite man was trying to explain to a new, fresh-faced MLA that if the cows were calving, regulated labour times would not work. The new MLA told the Hutterite if he let the bull out only in the daytime, the cows would only calve in the daytime and there would be no need for a night shift. Lordy, Lordy. Which way did that turnip truck go?
People getting hurt on the farm is always a hazard. When I was running a farm, I always stressed, “use your head and be safe.”
Joke of the week: Bobby’s hunting dog got old. Bobby needed a new dog, so he searched all over and finally found the perfect dog. The dog listened to Bobby but the most amazing thing the dog could do is walk on water. He could walk out and retrieve the duck and only get the bottoms of his feet wet. Bobby knew his hunting buddies would not believe him if he told them about his new dog. He decided to invite Billy, the most pessimistic of his friends, out to hunt ducks. They sat in some cattails in a boat with a blind up. When a flock came by they blasted away. A duck came down and Bobby told the dog to fetch. The dog walked across the water and picked up the duck and brought it back to the boat. Billy watched, but never said a word. Several more ducks were shot that day and the dog walked out and brought them back. Billy watched, but never said a word. On the way home, Bobby could not contain himself any longer. He said to Billy “Did you not see something unusual about the new dog?” “Yup,” said Billy, “he can’t swim, eh?”
