A few words on a lot of things. I have a lot I have been thinking about but no time to write about. First- Gardening Granny’s idea of what should be done with Detroit. I have a wonderful idea for making the oozing sore on Michigan into a tourist attraction. There are literally miles, many square miles of property in Detroit that are essentially abandoned. The square mileage of Detroit is like three times that of most major cities. So we offer the few remaining homeowners in some of those abandoned stretches homes of greater or equal value in areas where the neighborhoods are a little more populated. The state or city owns many such homes.

Then we bulldoze miles of abandoned houses and stores, pour a few loads of manure on the land and plant native prairie plants and plants like switch grass. We also put up several wind turbines to produce energy which won’t affect the rest of my plan. After the prairie is established we add some buffalo. Of course we will need a huge fence around Detroit, sort of like the one they are building on the border with Mexico.

Now with buffalo grazing on the restored prairie we hire some Detroiters to act like they are buffalo soldiers- remember them? Or Native Americans and then they can lead horseback tours through the prairie. People can stay in Detroit’s big hotels, visit casinos or sports stadiums and have an outdoor adventure too. Maybe we can set up some French trading posts along the river and take people on canoe trips down the Detroit River too. Turn Detroit into one big amusement park. Something to laugh in, not at.

Ok, that’s done. Now on to my dislike of ruling by committee. Nothing gets done. Look at our senate and Congress and just about any city council or school board. Everyone is out to make sure their interests are covered and nothing gets done. Or bad things get done- here’s another Detroit reference- look at their city council or school board. People should vote for people they believe can lead them- choose a leader- and let that person make decisions. If the decisions are wrong then vote out the leader. Of course every leader needs advice and suggestions. But this crap about everyone having their say and let’s not offend anyone ( at least those we like) . All the time and energy spent arguing and posturing, pretending to study issues and look important is wasted time and money.

Leaders have to be strong enough to stand up and lead and to take the blame for bad decisions if they make them. We could save a whole lot of time and money for our country if we got rid of most of the senate and house. Maybe allow one person from each state as a representative and maybe one from each region for the house. Even that is probably enough to slow things down but this country demands such a scheme. At least now, maybe in the future people will see what a mess we have created. Get rid of political parties and just vote for the best person for the job. Small committees if we have to have them, where all the people know who represents them.

And school boards and city councils? I’d eliminate them and choose a leader. Someone who can work swiftly and decisively. He or she can have advisory committees if he or she doesn’t let them drag down decision making. Most businesses don’t work by committee, they have a boss. The most successful businesses generally have a strong leader.

Now on to the furor over the AIG bonuses. If the furor was back when they received the bonuses it would be one thing, but it was months ago when they got those bonuses. We are asking people to give back money they expected to get and probably spent already. Was it right? NO! but it was the governments mistake, they handed our money out without any rules. Learn from the mistake and move on. Make sure no company receiving money from taxpayers gives out bonuses until the money is paid back. Stop hounding the rich idiots who received the money and get mad at the government who gave it to them. Another one of those stupid committee decisions.

Now my plan to cure the mortgage crisis. Demand that all banks lower interest rates to 5% on all mortgages under $500,000. ( Primary residence only). This would lower the mortgage payment for most home owners, leaving more disposable income and allowing people to pay for health care etc. Now go over all of the mortgage holders in trouble and determine if they have the means to pay the lower payment. If not, banks should offer to trade the current home for one that the bank already owns where they can afford the payment. Some people will still lose a home but most would be helped. It’s simple and effective. Yes banks would lose some profit. Maybe they should drop bonuses. Better some mortgage payment coming in than none. Maybe the 5% rate could be allowed to rise for new mortgages after a few years.

Another fix would be to set the limit on current mortgage payments to 30 % of a family’s income, re-evaluated each year. Yes, some people would get really good deals on big houses they couldn’t afford in the first place but remember the banks greed allowed them to get those bad mortgages. And new mortgages would be exempt.

Nothing about the farm here. I’ll save that for the next time when I am feeling mellow.

The animals are springing themselves!
We had one glorious spring like day on Friday, sunny and almost 70, then it was back to winter. On that one glorious day I was emptying all the frozen water dishes and cleaning up a bit around the yard. I went out the gate to the pond from the horse pasture to dump out the ducks dish. The dogs in their yard could see me and Tiny Tina decided I needed help so she climbed the back fence and came after me, then chased all the wild cats up trees, which incited Peanut, her grandmother to climb the fence too, and Peanut went after the poor old duck. Since only the edges of the pond were unfrozen he couldn’t swim away from her as he does in the summer and she chased him across the pond ice to the bank near where I stood then caught him by the leg. He didn’t fight her at all, didn’t do anything even make noise. I had caught Tina to keep her from joining in and I was trying to get down the steep slippery bank holding her under one arm.

I finally managed to snag Peanut by the collar and now I am laying on the muddy bank, a dog in each hand. I couldn’t stand up, it was too steep and slippery and if I let either of them go they’d go back for the duck, who was alive and not bleeding, a good sign. So I crawled up the bank on my belly, pushing a dog before me on each side while holding on to their collars. What an exciting life I lead!

The duck is 8 years old at least, his last bachelor friend died last spring. He’s a white Pekin, but very wild. I made him a shelter out by the gate to the pond and have been wading through the snow all winter to put food and water over the fence. Last winter the ducks came up to the lean-to on the barn for shelter but we had torn that down and put up new fence since then. So he was kept alive all winter only to be caught by the dogs. He’s still alive actually, but I think a leg is broken. He is staying in the water and on the bank near where they caught him, I tried to catch him but he gets in the water just out of my reach and I can’t trust the ice. I threw him some bread but I don’t think he ate it. He’s used to eating dry cat food. This morning we had a dusting of snow and the gate latch was frozen so I couldn’t even get down by the bank.

The dogs were excited by the spring like day and so were the horses. I let them out in the bigger pasture and they ran and ran, kicking and rearing and having a great time. No grass but a lot more room. They decided they liked that I guess, because when I went out this morning they were out there all on their own, gate still closed. They had pushed some fence away from a post and squeezed through. By the time I went through the barn they were back in their stall area, quite innocent looking, waiting for their sweet feed. I tried to fix the fence but I didn’t have tools with me. Then I thought I would just open the gate to keep them from making any more damage, but its latch was frozen too. Hopefully they will remain in the small pasture today.

As soon as it warms up and the grass begins to grow we are moving them to the west pasture with the run in shelter but that may be a month or so. We have to fix a gate and put up some fence on top of the five foot fence to keep the dogs from climbing the shared boundary when they see the horses. It seems like I am always trying to keep something in or out.

Charlie really needs to be gelded. That’s the next big hurdle, and he needs his hoofs trimmed for the first time too. They both need some work, they have become bratty over the winter. Charlie wants to bite or kick me all the time.
Ah, the sun has come out even if it is cold- Hurray!

Monday in Michigan

It’s Monday in Michigan, a cold and blustery day. I used to say I didn’t want to live in Florida, but I may be changing my mind. I just went up to town to buy some goodies for my husband’s birthday tomorrow and everyone I met complained about the weather. I drove by the stockyard, Monday is market day here and there were even a few brave souls set up outside where the flea market is and where they sell small animals. There were quite a few cars, everyone must have been inside at the calf auctions or buying hay at the hay auctions.

I had to stop at the feed store and there was a sign up about a horse that was found quite close to me. The clerk said it had been up there a while. She said people are finding horses all over- people are just turning them loose because they can’t feed them. She said someone told her there was a herd building up in the state game area north of us. I could afford another small equine mouth to feed maybe, I feel bad for the poor things. I can’t imagine that they couldn’t give them to the Amish or some 4-H kid.

I felt sorry for the few Amish horses tied up outside with their carriages at the stockyard and at the grocery store today though, and even sorrier for the Amish women walking out to them in their black shawls, with their long dresses blowing around in the wind. At least I had a warm car to ride home in.

You know what I would like to do? Ask an Amish woman what she thinks about the single mom having 8 babies on top of the six she had. I wonder if they know about that and what they think. And I would like to ask them what they think about Mr. Obama, the talking head. If you didn’t hear him yakking would you think he was doing anything? He can sure talk but the best politicians all do that. Maybe when its warmer I will try to start up a conversation with some Amish and see what they think.

I was at the VA hospital with my husband last Friday and Mr. Obama was on the TV in the lobby talking about ending the war and some dumb woman kept clapping. Everyone else ignored her and him. I gave her the evil eye and then she got up and came over right next to me and sat and started clapping. It was deliberate. 10-15 years ago I might have told her what she could clap but I wisely ignored her. I don’t think my husband would have liked to come out of his doctors office and find me rolling around on the floor with some stupid broads hair in my hands. But then maybe that would have been a good birthday present for him. Chick fight.

I guess I am just going winter nuts.