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.

July in October

It’s hot here in Michigan- too hot. I like my seasons the way they are supposed to be, not summer in October. 90 plus degrees and humid is just awful. My poor sheep were getting their winter coats and are miserable. It is supposed to storm tonight and get cooler- I hope so. I don’t want winter yet but gee, fall would be nice. And we really need rain. All of my houseplants are still outside, I put them on the porch for 2 days in mid September but they have been outside since. That is a new record. I am picking ripe tomatoes and peppers, that’s got to be a record too.

I had to go into town this morning and I took the back road. There is a little color in the trees and all the fields are being harvested- dry weather is good for that. In town I came behind an Amish buggy going to the stock yards, it’s market day. I felt sorry for the poor sweaty horse and I wondered if the Amish family inside the buggy were regretting not having a faster ride, one that would at least give you a little wind as it went down the road. Their life seems hard, but sometimes I wish my life was more like theirs. An Amish boy from nearby was injured by a piece of horse drawn harvesting equipment last week. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital and then air lifted to Children’s Hospital in Detroit. How quickly his life changed, not only the severe injury but an onslaught of technology. I wonder how his poor parents get to visit him. Maybe one flew down with him.

I had to drive about 150 miles through mid Michigan Friday for a meeting. It was a pretty day and the county car I was using was air conditioned so the ride wasn’t bad. They are harvesting sugar beets all through this area and I saw numerous semi-loads of the big, ugly, lumpy beets on the road. I passed by several towns where they were cooking sugar- it’s amazing how something so sweet and tasty can smell so bad in the making. I passed through the Isabella Indian reservation, where the Soaring Eagle casino is located. The casino is very modern and nice looking as are several big hotels nearby- but the area surrounding them- where I was passing through- looked very poor. I have no interest in casino gambling and can’t imagine sitting inside on a nice day feeding my money to a machine.

Granny’s advice today is make something sweet out of something ugly. This hot humid weather means I don’t have to run the furnace or feed hay.