News from the farm and around the world

So in past news...

Downton Abbey.

Can you believe it? The Brits got to see the beginning of season 5 on the 21st of September, just because they're Brits! Here in the colonies we still get no respect! Maybe it's time for a Tea Party. No, not the twisted maroons that stole that moniker and use it for their own backwards agenda, but a real revolution in the cross ocean entertainment biz. I can't believe how sucked into this I have become.

 

With all the satellite technology you'd think we could just download it from space. I guess not. :(


Scotland

Scotland got to vote on whether or not they wanted to be part of the U.K. or a separate entity. While 55% wanted to stay and 45% wanted to be independent they would consider it a "landslide" I think 45 out of 100 disgruntled Scots is a lot of disgruntling. The British P.M. David Cameron needs (and actually promised, although he is a politician) to address the issues that made the Scots get all uppity. Otherwise they might get uppity again. Who could blame them?

 Hadrians Wall was built by the Romans to keep the barbarians in the northern part of what would become England. Many British citizens feel that it is still there for that reason. So now England has to get serious about the needs and demands of Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as Scotland. Otherwise those countries will get all uppity and may not want to be part of the United Kingdom anymore.   Maybe that's why this guy was making a point in Trafalgar Square.

Sand hill cranes.

I heard a strange noise in the sky, but finally found the source after squinting so hard I started to look like Clint Eastwood in a spaghetti western. I haven't seen any stop by and hang out in the pastures, but at least I saw them fly by. I zoomed in and there was a formation heading south like any intelligent animal would do this time of year.

Harry Beaver.

This particular beaver, whom I refer to as Harry, has now damned up the trout stream that flows through the farm as well as made a mess (to me, probably not to him) of the upper pond and surrounding area. So I thought I would spy on him for a while just to see what he's up to.

He's just minding his own business and doing what beavers do.

Annual geese:

As per their annual visit there are greater and lesser Canada geese eating the horses' grass whilst hanging around. I suppose they are fattening up for their annual trek to all the city parks and lakes south of here. You would think the added weight would make flying a little more strenuous, but what do I know?

 


Rummage sale:

We participated in the community rummage sale a couple of weeks ago. We were determined to come home with less crap than we brought to sell. It was a moderate success as we brought one truckload and two heaping carloads of really awesome crap to sell and came back with only one truckload and one heaping carload of said crap.


My share of the take was still not enough to offset the towing bill when the subframe of my car departed from the rest of the body a couple of months ago. I think I need to get busy on Ebay to make up the balance.

Beat Buddy:

I have never participated in a crowd funding event until this little item came along. It was about a year ago that I became informed of this little gem. I had the money in my hobby fund and decided to risk the investment. I got the Beat Buddy for about 1/3 of the retail price by being among the first group of investors.
 

It took about six months longer than anticipated with tweaks and other delays, but it was worth the wait. It doesn't replace a real drummer, but takes up way less space and much less beer. My first foray into venture capitalism was a success. The return on investment puts a smile on my face, but no cash into my wallet or beer into my fridge. Still it is a good thing.

P.S. I got the footswitch, too!

I thought summer was a busy time and forgot, like I do every year, that Fall is even busier. It took me two weeks to write this!