Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Living off the Beaten Path

I'm in my early seventies and can definitely feel the slowdown. Still, I try and maintain a healthy life style and exercise.

In front of my farmstead is a straight road that extends for a mile. The intersections mark the grid laid out by the early surveyors. In the middle of each intersection is a hole where the seat of the survey rod was placed. If one walks from one intersection to the next the distance is one mile. For me that is about 2300 paces. (Sometimes more or less depending on my wobbly knees.)

My hearing is not so good and modern cars are quieter than they once were. If a motor vehicle comes towards me, I see it and call my dogs. It usually takes three calls which is enough time for them to run up and be held out of harms way. However, if I don't restrain them, they want to get a closer look at who is inside. When a car comes from behind I don't always respond and usually the dogs run up behind me and start jumping up on my back. They seem to be saying...."Hey dumbass, you make the rules..., aren't you going to turn around and hold our collars in this stupid restraint ritual you've invented?"

Several weeks ago my neighbor showed me some trail cam from his back forty, of seven wolves chowing down on a deer carcass. The pack definitely had some big brutes. Since then I take more precautions. I'm really not all that worried because there are plenty of deer and cattle around. The Department of Natural Resources, who imported the wolves, compensate local farmers for calf kills. The farmers have taken to grazing donkeys with the beef cattle for protection. Apparently donkeys imported from out West provide a deterence to predators.

We are experiencing the drug and opiode epidemic in Adams County. This is the poorest county in the State of Wisconsin. I give out food at the local pantry and the recipients show the effects. The sight is heartrending.

Obama really screwed things up. Poor people and minorities are being used as political pawns. Chains are chains.... instead of iron chains they have morphed into welfare, food stamps and the next link is going to be a paid salary for doing nothing. If you think entitlement programs are off the charts now just wait for what the Liberals are about to roll out next.