Newsletter #276 2024 Sep 20 Friday

Some normal, some decidedly abnormal this week; the best part is in the abnormal! A great milling job, and less progress than I'd like on some of the major projects.

Sep 20, 2024

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Primal Woods

Who can resist a cute puppy photo?! Last week I had shared with Geri that a neighbor told me an Amish family nearby had Australian Shepherd puppies for sale; quite by surprise Geri brought it up this week, and asked that we go have a look, which we promptly did. Of course we couldn’t come home with just one, Geri fell in love with Tilly (female) after about 2 minutes, I picked up Toby (male), and shortly thereafter we took them both home. These 6-week-old pups will be our herding dogs.

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Sawmill Services

From last week, the 2-1/4 inches thick, 12 inches wide, and ~12 feet long planks I took down to 6 feet and delivered them to Steve at Hickory & Oak Sawmill for further processing. I should have them back from Steve this coming Monday, and then there is one more step in the process before I deliver them to LeAnne’s salon. I’ll update you as we go until they are on the walls in the salon.

I milled for Jim and Rita this week, in Schoolcraft, Michigan. Jim was as well prepared as any I’ve worked with, and he had a lot of friends and family in attendance to enjoy the day. And, his wife Rita served lunch. I’m telling you, it just doesn’t get any better.

We milled fourteen logs as I recall, 11 of those Black Cherry and 3 Hickory; the result was just over a thousand board feet of 1 inch (4/4) lumber for a project Jim has planned at a cabin in the U.P.

When thinking about what makes a milling job memorable it strikes me that it’s not about the lumber. My most memorable jobs are so memorable because of the people I have the privilege of spending time with. This job with Jim and company has joined the ranks of those most memorable jobs.

Homestead Rebel Farm

A brief update on the Pigs, and a reminder; if you want a November or January pig please let me know!

Basic training of the pups will begin soon, but the literature advises not to train them in herding, at least not with large animals, before they are a year old. We will train sooner than that, by herding chickens, I kid you not.

Caring for the pups consumed a lot of my time this week; they cannot be left alone for hours on end, which means I didn’t get as much of anything else done. Geri has said she’ll look after them this weekend, so my plans include both firewood and getting the barn well pump running. Oh, and we are going to an Amish auction this weekend, where I’m hoping to pick up a forecart for the Oxen.

Farmhouse

A beautiful fall is coming on; tomorrow is the fall equinox. We’ve had high temps, and very dry; the low humidity means that even in the face of the higher temperatures we have not had to run the AC. Have a look at the link below, but I’m pretty sure there might still be an opportunity to take a break for yourself and the family in September, and certainly in October.

Book My Farm Stay Now!

News

Unfortunately it’s not only the Feds that are out of control. But this story is particularly disturbing.

I certainly don’t agree with everything Tulsi has to say, but I do have the time to listen attentively.

Uncontrolled immigration is a problem. This post from Ayaan Hirsi Ali is definitely food for thought on the subject.

Books

I’m still reading JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters. And while I’m reading about the deep state’s assassination of JFK, there comes a second attempt on Trump’s life. We read history like I’m doing, and I think in our minds we equate history with stories that stay in the past, or should stay in the past, or we wish would stay in the past; after all some argue, “we’ve ‘evolved’ haven’t we?” My answer to the rhetorical question is “absolutely not,” in fact I would argue the opposite; especially in “the west,” we are devolving. I’ve often said that many of our forebears were “prescient,” I got that wrong; they were merely great students of history, and they understood that history repeats itself, or at least rhymes, “to infinity and beyond,” as Buzz Lightyear would say. We have not, and never will, break that cycle. Human nature is what it is; there is indeed nothing new under the sun with regard to our behavior, individually and especially collectively.

In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other.”
Benjamin Franklin, 1787

With further emphasis; “when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government…” Frankly, we the people need to get our shit together if we hope to further delay the inevitable.

And now I’ve got about four other books going. Two of them have to do with indentured servitude, an institution that was outlawed by the 13th Amendment together with slavery, the “peculiar institution.” If you put “indentured servitude” into Amazon’s search bar under “Books,” you will see 7 pages of results; if you similarly search for “slavery” you will see that the results exceed 400 pages. Let’s just say that there is a lot less scholarship on offer for the subject of indentured servitude; I have to wonder why that is.

Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror. Five episodes, about an hour each; make room for it if you can. I wasn’t surprised much less shocked by anything I saw. What was surprising is that it (at least part of the truth if not the whole truth) can be found on Netflix. The last two episodes I found most gut-wrenching; they included if I recall regime change in Iraq, based on fabricated intelligence and resulting in the deaths of over 200,000 Iraqi civilians, and Afghanistan, a complete and utter failure on our part. The military wonders why it fails to meet its recruitment goals; Afghanistan is the one-word answer.

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All the best, and may God bless you and yours,

John & Geri