Dealing With Obstacles

As I sat at my desk yesterday morning, out of the corner of my eye I caught the movement of a dead tree falling.  The exclamation point of the reverberating crash swept across me as I looked to see just what happened.

The driveway on our small acreage is long and winds around a small pond and through the trees which surround it.  The deadfall occurred about one hundred yards from the house at the edge of the thickest part of the small, wooded area.  It completely blocked the driveway, which is our only way to exit the property.  It had to be dealt with before we could even go into town.

After completing what I had been working on, I loaded up my chainsaw and headed down to begin the process of clearing it.  The upper end of the old dead tree was all that crossed the drive, but it varied in diameter from well over a foot to about ten inches at the narrowest point.

I was reminded of how unexpected obstacles sometimes affect us, creating barriers that must be handled before we can continue our way.  It occurs in business and it occurs in life in general.  There are always reasons for their occurrence.  Sometimes those reasons are obvious and at other times we never understand why they happened.  In this case, as in most cases related to business, the reason was obvious.  It was neglect.

We almost always ask why.  Why did this happen?  In this case it was due to a higher-than-normal wind and a long-dead tree. 

I noticed the tree standing in the small patch of woods a few weeks ago.  We recently bought this place and there is a lot of work that needs to be done.  There are several dead trees that need to be removed, but their urgency is much lower than this one which created the barrier to our ingress and egress.  As I looked at the wooden barrier which lay across the road, I noticed that woodpeckers had been working on it.

The woodpecker damage is a symptom of a much deeper problem – wood-boring insects that likely killed the tree.  The woodpecker holes are obvious in the fallen trunk, but many of the exterior rings looked like the small piece of rotten wood lying in the foreground.  Again, I am reminded of how we often notice symptoms of a problem – the woodpeckers avidly drilling into the tree – but sometimes fail to address the systemic problems that are truly causing damage to our lives and our business organizations.  Woodpeckers should alert us to the termites and beetles which are constantly burrowing into the trees just like symptoms such as a tire which frequently goes flat should alert us to the need for a new tire.  Usually, we deal with the symptoms but fail to pursue the root cause of the problem.

The first step is to remove the barrier to progress.  In this case, it was to remove the fallen tree from the road.  It required a little bit of work but was accomplished expeditiously.

Once the obstacle is removed it is a matter of figuring out how to prevent the problem from occurring.  Fortunately, in our case, it is simply a matter of getting rid of all the dead trees that might fall.  It is going to require some work, but it is certainly doable.

Even after spending the morning clearing the fallen tree, there was a significant portion of it left to deal with.  The tree was well over sixty feet tall and we only cleared the top half of it which was blocking the road.  The bottom half – the largest half – which is over two feet in diameter at the base, has yet to be cut up. 

It will be a task for another day.  Again, I am reminded of the business applications.  Once we remove a barrier and can continue operation, we still need to deal with the root causes which created the problem.

Now, there is plenty of firewood for the fire pit.  It’s still going to require some work to transport it to where it is needed and to split the large pieces into usable sizes, but at least something good can come out of it.

Maybe it’s time to do a little campfire cooking!

Fall Calf

 "Look, over yonder,

Close to the treeline,

Do you see that little dark spot in the grass?

It looks to me like some cow

Just had a new calf!

I'll bet its legs are still wobbly

And its Momma ain't far

But, let's ride on over

To make sure it's fine

This baby's the first; at the head of the line!

Why, look there;

She's several days old!

Solar Powered

 As the early morning light

 greets my journey, 

I am struck by the fact

 that the sloshing liquid

stored in the passing train 

holds the same energy 

as the refracting light 

of the dawn.

From the Top

 The road is often rocky

As to the heights we climb

But, the view from on the mountaintop

Is often quite sublime.

Sometimes you have to climb to the top of the mountain to see clearly what you have traveled through.  But, if you don't make it to the top, what do you do?  Make the most of the climb.  You never know what you might see or, experience along the way.

The photo above is from the top of Mount Scott in the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in Southwestern Oklahoma.  I was there when I was very small and vauguely recall watching artillery exercises at nearby Fort Sill from the top of the mountain.  On this recent trip there were no exploding artillery shells, but the day was clear and the temperature comfortable for late August in Southwest Oklahoma.

Symbol of a Bygone Time

 

I know this is not the first time I've led off with the photograph of a Longhorn.  They are picturesque critters and I enjoy seeing the colorful beasts in the pasture.  This one is in fact a Corriente Cross cow and not a pure Longhorn -- whatever such might be.

Painted and splashed with colors galore
She grazes the Great Southern Plains
Not know how symbolic she stands
Of an era dimmed with age.

Once great herds of clicking horns
Trailed up from the brush 
To markets the railways had reached
On their transcontinental quest

Of populating the western reaches
Of a country just beginning to feel
The strength of the mightly economic engine
Swelling with power of imagination

Into the vast unknown lands
Of bewildered tribes who found a new enemy
Much stronger than their ancestral nemises
With whom they had fought for ages.

She and her kind fed the westering hordes
As well as those left behind 
In the growing cities where
Food must be imported from elsewhere.

Today, she is as much a relic
As the American Bison
And the painted natives
That she helped to displace.

Inspiration

We must first still our

Thoughts,

Mind,

Body, 

Until in quiet contemplation,

Inspiration

Lights gently upon our conciousness,

Preparing to burst forth

In the brilliant colors of action.

Hoofprints

It has been awhile since I left any tracks upon this page.

The past year hasn't been one to inspire much creativity.

Maybe I should ask,

"What has inspired you this past year?"

Freedom

We decided to celebrate Independence Day with a road trip to see how folks were dealing with “these trying times” as we so frequently hear on television. The answer is that in our part of rural America most people just want to get on with life. Yes, there were masks, there were stores with signs saying, “Closed indefinitely due to COVID-19” and there were people who politely put on their masks when entering a business. The vast majority, however, seemed to be defiant of the “masking” orders. 

Our trip took us on about a 450 mile jaunt that covered parts of three states. We saw red, white and blue colors and we also saw signs of cancelled celebrations. I think there are pockets of the Spirit of 1776 that still live, but the vast majority have surrendered to the Nanny State. Even here in the heart of what the coast-dwellers would call flyover country, it would be a 50-50 proposition if it came to resistance to the powers that be. 

Where have the freedom-loving patriots gone?

The ones who rant on social media

Yet, cower within their caves?

Those who would defy are blue-collar,

Tattooed and struggling,

Yet they yearn most deeply for freedom. 

The Spirit of 1776 lived in those who had most to lose;

Ship owners and Planters and those who held power. 

Today’s analogs are first to bend the knee. 

The next uprising will swell from those who do the work,

Not those who produce nothing yet breathe the air of privilege. 

It’s no wonder dissatisfaction runs rampant among the poor. 

The conditions are ripe.

The seeds are planted, fertilized and watered.

Who will provide direction to the masses?

If patriots would step forward to solve the issues that stir

Deep within the masses, there might yet come salvation for our country;

If not, we will fall to the forces of evil which seek only destruction and enslavement. 

Rise up Patriots. 

Lift up your fellow man. 

Remove his grievances 

Or, fall. 

Pandemics, Power and People

As a few of you might have noticed, I took a break from posting.  I suppose you could say I have been socially distant in this particular medium.

Social distancing is really nothing new for me; I am perfectly happy where there are few people and far horizons.  I've even been told that I am sometimes socially distant in a crowded room.  Oh, well.

This SARS-CoV-19 global pandemic is something new, but also something old.  Viruses periodically mutate and sometimes move between species (zoonosis).  That is the most likely explanation for what has happened.  It is something we will see more frequently as this old planet fills up with people.  Densely packed populations facilitate the spread of disease.  The answer is social distancing -- spreading apart.

Dense populations -- whether they be temporary or, somewhat permanent -- are also sources of panic behavior.  It's that old "crowd" mentality that causes people to bolt for the door when someone yells "fire!"  In this case, it caused a run on the grocery stores which has temporarily created holes in our amazing system of supply chains which rarely miss a beat.  The massive nature of the shift of consumer demand from "restaurant dining" to eat at home caught the entire system somewhat by surprise.  There is plenty of food -- at least in the developed countries -- it is just in the wrong place, but that is rapidly being corrected.

I'm thankful to live in a small town rather than a city.  Even in our rural setting there are signs of disruption.  We have also had our first case of the disease confirmed.  It will eventually pass through the population of the planet.  It won't infect everyone, but it will touch most of the people in some form or fashion -- from a disease perspective, not just as a disruption to life as we know it.

The biggest fear that I have out of this entire episode of disruption is the amount of power that is being displayed by governmental entities all over the world.  That is a genie that will not be put back in the bottle.

"Group Think" for the Machine

"I'm sure there's a good reason we are all standing here looking at the gate, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it might be!"

That's what I thought when I saw this picture from a few years ago -- that's what's going through at least one of those cow's heads -- or, it would if they could reason.  It brought to mind "group think."

We all know about "group think."  It happens when a bunch get together and someone makes a suggestion.  The next thing you know, everyone is "piling on" to the idea and it gains a life of its own.  Politicians exploit that tendency.  They, or some political operative, plant suggestions and "suddenly" everyone agrees!  Some examples are "meatless Monday," "taco Tuesday," "Epstein killed himself" -- which, by-the-way, I doubt very seriously (did you catch how I inverted that last one?).

It is easier to follow a suggestion than it is to think independently.  We are lazy.  We are trained to "group think" -- it's called public education.  We are indoctrinated from our earliest years to think and behave as part of a group.  We stand at the gate and wait for the government to "give" us benefits which came out of what they extracted from us already in the form of taxes.  In spite of the rhetoric -- especially from one political party which is quickly morphing into socialism -- the wealthy will never pay "their fair share" of taxes.  It is the poor and middle class which carry the tax burden and it is the wealthy who gain the largest benefit -- especially the subset of the wealthy who claim to be the salvation of the poor and downtrodden. 

The whole impeachment debacle almost exposed what is really a "cash cow" for politicians -- foreign aid.  Much of it is funneled through NGO's (non-government organizations) that are supposedly established for charitable purposes.  More of it is sent directly to foreign governments that are filled with corrupt politicians (yes, even more corrupt than our own) who find creative ways to funnel it into their personal bank accounts -- such as state-owned businesses.  Both methods frequently have plenty of siphons stuck in that lead right back to family members, "non-profit" foundations or, corporations owned or, controlled by the very politicians that authorized the aid in the first place. 

Most folks that lead normal lives which include a job and a paycheck don't realize how much money is actually flowing around this planet.  The amounts are astounding.  There is so much money lying around Europe right now that the banks charge customers to hold their deposits.  Yes, that is correct.  It's not just an issue of low interest rates on savings over there, it's a case of the banks charging customers to keep their money.  Oh, yeah, it's in the hands of that top 1% than controls the bulk of the wealth.  The politicians around the globe are quite familiar with that crowd and work closely with them to make sure they get a piece of that wealth for "protecting" it from unfriendly laws while fleecing the citizen taxpayers of their countries in the process.

Yep, I'm making lots of accusations here and not really offering any proof.  If I had the proof and could lay it out I'd probably end up like Epstein.  I'm not too excited about that prospect.  My point is simply this, don't follow the sheep (or, cows) through the gate.  It might just be the loading ramp to the truck on its way to the harvest.  The politicians own and operate the plant in a very efficient manner.  They are the only ones who will profit from the transaction -- oh, and their very wealthy buddies. 

There is a difference between the two political parties in spite of the fact that both have similar goals in mind; the elephants give you a chance to earn your way into the club, but the donkeys just want you to wear chains and pull the plow.  I'd rather have a chance -- no matter how small.