"Take the land"

[H2O Man]

Kelly's tail begins wagging as fast as a humming bird's wings when I begin to get a bag of fish food ready. He walks across the lawn and then the field at a faster pace than me. This gives him time to pop in and out of the woods before we get to the pond. I take him out for a swim when I feed the fish and birds, and he enjoys watching the fish feed around him when he is in the water. Then he is off to play in the swamp while I sit and watch the hundreds of ripples upon the pond's surface as the fish eat.

I'm glad to see that my favorite apple tree is producing well this year. I see evidence that the deer have been consuming the fallen apples, and sleeping near the tree. Kelly investigates the scents, though whenever we encounter deer, he never barks. The deer have no fear of him if we are at a distance. It's the other scents from where various wildlife comes to the pond mornings and nights.

The colors at the end of August are different from what they were earlier in the summer. Besides the green in the field and woods, there is a lot of yellowish-orange a couple feet above the ground. There is also a variety of small purple flowers along the path. A growing patch of black-eyed Susans cover one of the pond's banks.

After following a series of low paths that go low through the underbrush, Kelly returns to my side, and we begin the round-about walk back to the house. He bounds into the woods, and I see a cat climb a tree. We had a stray cat have kittens in my garage this summer, a few weeks before she was hit by a automobile. Kelly's brother Sam has become close friends with the kittens, but Kelly chases them.

A series of large rocks set along the path. These are the size that required stone sleds and oxen to move for the bases of stone walls. My younger son has constructed dolmen with them. He also used some of them on my lawn, where my swimming pool sat until a storm brought a tree down, crushing it. My boy made a labyrinth/garden this summer, along with a 7' by 7' fire pit.

He used my grandfather's saw to cut the tree into firewood for me to use. I helped him stack it, causing him to give me about as much of a compliment as his sense of humor allows: “Keep it up, Old Man. You'll never be formidable again, but you might become less pathetic.” I'm content to weed the garden, and to sit on the benches he has placed around the labyrinth and fire pit, and enjoy the solitude.

Behind my favorite bench is the foundation of an 1800's blacksmith's shop. I like to think about all the people who have lived in the house since it was built in the late 1790s, first serving as a stage coach station, complete with a post office and doctor's office. I've lived here longer than anyone else has since then, though I'm certain that those before me had the same affection for the property.

The sun has gone down, and the fire is about out, and so I head back to the house. I have to watch my step, because the kittens morph into tumbling clowns once it's dark. While most of them are busy chasing insects, one has a habit of running in front of me and stopping on a dime. I've learned that she wants me to pick her up and carry her, until the next flying bug captures her interest.

Once inside, I begin watching some of the news. Farmers are experiencing serious financial troubles due to Trump's foolish trade war. At very best, it is estimated that at best, it will take them eight years to recover. I'm reminded of when Kennedy was running for president in 1960, and a farmer told him, “I'm hoping to break even this year. I could really use the money.”

A number of those farmers recognize that they were had when they voted for Trump in 2016. They say that they will not vote for him in 2020. And they believe others will sit that election out. Still, they are in the minority, at least for now. But the time may come when more see that Trump does not care about family farms that go back generations. These will be forced to sell out to corporate farms which can get enormous tax breaks by losing money.

Ranchers in Texas and beyond must have had their ears perk up when they heard reports that Trump told people to “take the land” for his imaginary wall ….and that he would pardon them if they faced legal troubles for purposely violating the law. That's not a popular theme among the conservative ranchers who have also worked their lands for generations. Clearly, they did not fully grasp who they were voting for in 2016.

Few if anything is more obscene than Trump insisting that he “knows more about the environment” than anyone else. His only outside activity is golf. He advocates “raking the forest floors” for fire prevention. He has fallen from grace as far as is humanly possible. And he is beginning to fall from the graces of a growing number of those who once believed him.

Happy holiday weekend.
H2O Man

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Thanks for your lovely, thoughtful post, my dear H20 Man.

I love how you end it: And he is beginning to fall from the graces of a growing number of those who once believed him.


Indeed.

Well said!

Happy holiday weekend to you and yours.

[H2O Man]

2. Thanks, Peggy!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

21. And here's a K&R for this statement H2O Man:

Farmers are experiencing serious financial troubles due to Trump's foolish trade war. At very best, it is estimated that at best, it will take them eight years to recover. I'm reminded of when Kennedy was running for president in 1960, and a farmer told him, “I'm hoping to break even this year. I could really use the money.”

Teflon Don made LOTS of promises to these farmers to obtain their contributions and votes! They probably didn't attend Trump University, where the criminal ripped off his white-collar supporters. LOL!

[H2O Man]

23. Thank you!

[dchill]

3. All of a piece. Beautiful.

We had some good times
But they're gone
The winter's coming on
Summer's almost gone

-The Doors

[H2O Man]

10. Thank you!

It's a great song.

[coeur_de_lion]

4. I love it when you take us

on your walks with you. Your property is very serene, the way you describe it.

Hope I get to see it in person some day.

I do see the scales falling from their eyes, some of them.

As Michelle Obama said, the Presidency doesn't change who you are. It reveals who you are.

We've seen trump go pretty low, but I think he can go still lower.

Maybe the GOP can go there with him, but not all of them can. More will speak up.

[H2O Man]

11. I'd say that you'd

be best off stopping by Monday. I've been invited to a picnic at a relatibe's on Sunday, so I might not be there if you came then.

He can go lower. In fact, he will continue to go lower. That makes him more dangerous, of course, in the context of acting out to try to maintain power.

It's interesting if you look at that lady who just "resigned" as a result of her off-the-record talk over drinks about the Trump family dynamics. Consider how many people who say rude but accurate things about Trump off the record. And how many of those who have left the administration talk about him. I'm not sure how anyone can like or approve of him.

[Me.]

5. Enjoy Your Idyll While You Can

I doubt many will have such in the years to come if the maggots are allowed to devour precious land.

I have to say I have no generosity or magnanimity to spare for those who would sit the election out rather than vote for a Dem. If they truly do see what's happening to our country/the world by the likes of the traitor in the WH, how dare they behave so irresponsibly because of their ego riddled beliefs. Damn them!

[H2O Man]

12. I find it to be

a struggle to respect those who disagree with putting little children in cages, or sending young medical patients to leave the country -- a death sentence -- but still support Trump. I can't see how they are okay with that. And all the other things. Where do they draw the line? Had Jeff Epstein been a republican politician, would they think, "Well, his sex life is offensive, but he talks about doing good things for the country,"?

As a teenager and young man I worked on a lot of farms. Most of the farmers, and other hired-hands, were what we call "red necks" around here. Most of them were proud of that. Not an insult. Living in a rural area, I know a lot of the new generation working the family farms, and most of them are both very conservative and very uniformed on political issues. They despise the corporate farms, but don't really understand the class warfare involved in a structured way.

But one thing I've noticed is that a fair amount of them see the impact of pollution locally, and recognize global climate change. So while I don't interact with them on presidential politics, I do discuss environmental issues with them.

With all of those ripples from fish big and small on my pond's surface, I think back to RFK's famous speech in South Africa, I think in 1966. Old men look for encouragement in the oddest of places, when they can't find it in th news.

[Me.]

13. Sjoot, Here You Go

and have to be the voice of reason. So have a lovely weekend...anyway,

[JDC]

6. Gonna read that twice. It's like I am there

Really good little ramble. Happy Holiday to you as well.

[H2O Man]

18. Thank you!

To paraphrase Jim, read it two times -- one for tomorrow, one just for today. Or something like that.

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. Hearing a repug say "I won't vote for tRump" doesn't mean a farking thing

They will still vote for the person with the R behind their name. Even if they leave the top spot blank. And even that is a BIG if. They are not very bright.

[H2O Man]

19. I can't argue that!

As a kid, I remember my father telling my brothers and I that while Democrats think for themselves, republicans always do what they are told. We would check the tallies from local and regional elections, and year after year, the republican numbers would be about the same. He explained that even in our area, the republicans had organized "phone trees" where they were instructed, from the top down, who they were going to vote for.

I suppose that's why I still study al the results of the local and regional elections. With only the exception of the 1964 presidential election, what my father said held true until around 2008. (Looking back, that's curious, because Goldwater was rational and stable compared to Trump.) After Obama was elected, there was a rise in the "tea party" within the republicans around here, and that allowed us to divide the republican vote in a series of elections.

Fast-forward to 2019, and we are in uncharted territory. Still, I remember what my father said about republicans -- which is what you've said here. Thank you.

[Ferrets are Cool]

20. +1

[panader0]

8. Reading this made me feel calm and at peace.

I too love walking my paths, though I have no pond. The mesquite is thick
and the Huachuca Mountains rise to 9650 feet not far away. I have a few places where
I can sit and observe the quiet. Thanks for your post.

[H2O Man]

22. Thanks!

There is also a creek and waterfalls a short walk away. But at this time of year, there are frequently people partying there. Most of them take their trash with them, but not everyone shares that common decency.

A few years back, I was walking along the dirt road leading to the falls, when a truck drove towards me. The extremely intoxicated driver had a shotgun partly resting on his lap. When he recognized me, he got out and started hugging me. Yikes! It took me a few seconds to recognize him as someone my oldest brother had knocked out in a boxing match decades before.

Events such as that make me more comfortable hanging out away from the waterfalls at certain times of year. (grin) I'm not on a large mountain, like what you have described, but I do get a nice view.

[kentuck]

9. Recommend

That is my favorite Doors album... classic!

[H2O Man]

24. It is classic!

It's been getting a lot of play here in the last week.

[lunatica]

14. Thanks for sharing such peace

It’s like a salve on my nerves. I didn’t realize I was gritting my teeth until I stopped. Thanks, and have a great weekend.

[H2O Man]

26. Watching the news

doesn't help me relax -- that's for sure. Even when they are nailing Trump, it gets my blood boiling. So I try to make sure I fit in peaceful time every day.

[mahina]

15. Thanks for the good read H2Oman

[H2O Man]

27. Thank you, mahina!

[Martin Eden]

16. This Good Earth

Keeping it as good as possible for future generations should be among our highest values.


What have we done to the Earth?
What have we done to our fair Sister?
Ravaged and plundered and
Ripped her and bit her
Stuck her with knives
In the side of the dawn
And tied her with fences
And dragged her down.

-- Jim Morrison

[cilla4progress]

29. Wonderfully put -

I agree. If we can at least save discrete ecosystems, I believe Mother can bring herself back from the destruction homo sapiens have wrought. I expect there will be a large dieoff of humans, that will result in the recovery of the planet.

[malaise]

17. What an absolutely beautiful post

Kelly knows more about the environment than Don the Con.
Thanks for allowing me to imagine your beautiful environment and the love shared by you and yours for one another and your surroundings

[oasis]

25. Thanks for the vision of loveliness. Such thoughts make it easier

to deal with the unpleasantness.

[cilla4progress]

28. Thank you for reminding me to

notice the gifts. Feeling very challenged about that, in the midst of all this grotesque horror.

[lunatica]

30. This is a must read on A Sunday.

Kick