Sunday, April 11, 2004
Well hereit is, Easter morning and I'm still stuck in the US. Again a holiday has come and I'm still not with my family.
I have applied for an American passport for the day when I'm finally allowed into Canada.
Days like this really get me down sometimes. So far I have missed 3 childrens birthdays, both US and Canadian Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, and now Easter. I guess the wheels of beauracracy really grind slow and with very little grist and no grease.
I have applied for an American passport for the day when I'm finally allowed into Canada.
Days like this really get me down sometimes. So far I have missed 3 childrens birthdays, both US and Canadian Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, and now Easter. I guess the wheels of beauracracy really grind slow and with very little grist and no grease.
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Maybe it's just because I'm getting older (I'm 53) or maybe it's just because I'm beginning to really understand my father and what he stood for that I'm beginning to notice my environment. By that I mean not only my physical environment but my social and political environments as well.
I come from a small rural town (just an old country boy) and I can remember in 1960 when the population of my home town reached 1204 and everyone was talking about the population boom. One and five acre lots right in town were the norm. Forty acre farms on the outskirts were common and provided a decent income. One hundred and sixty acre farms were considered bigtime. Hunting, fishing and trapping were practiced by the majority of the people around here. Men, women, and children alike. It was not only a pastime that the family enjoyed but also a way of putting extra meat on the table. It also taught us the value of maintaining the environment.
Economics and the influx of city-slickers have changed all that. That and the passing of stupid laws like noxious weed laws.
Agricultural economics has probably changed things more than anything else. Where the old time farmer used to keep brush piles near the fence line you now see the farmer plowing his fields right up to the fence line. Doesn't seem like much does it. But in doing so he has taken away the habitat for the rabbits, quail, chukar, partridge and pheasant. I haven't seen a quail, chukar or partridge in years. Pheasant are only here because there are a few people that plant them for hunting purposes. The deer no longer have that cover at the wood line. With the disappearance of the birds and the small game comes the disappearance of the hawk, eagle and owl. Fox that used to be abundant are nearly wiped out now.
Then came the city slicker. Bringing his problems with him and expecting things to change and wondering why they changed for the worst. He clears his land and puts in lawns, building houses close together, passing noxious weed laws, and putting in bicycle trails.
Again it doesnt seem like much. But consider this. Now that they have started eradicating the milkweed, morning glory and other so-called weeds, the butterfly and the humming birds have all but disappeared. The other birds and animals that fed on them, now no longer have a food source and so to have disappeared. So gone are the fox, the hawk, the eagle and the owl.
They have tiled over the drainage ditches and small creeks that drained the land, and in doing so have taken away the habitat for the frogs, snakes, turtles, newts as well as nesting areas for the ducks that used to fly in. They have filled in wetlands, sometimes with as much as 20 feet of fill. They clear out woodlands and plant lawns and bring in foreign trees and plants and wonder why the old growth trees are dying, why the deer are leaving and the woodpecker and other birds are so rare.
Well thats enough for now.
Happy hunting, that is if you can find anything to hunt.
I come from a small rural town (just an old country boy) and I can remember in 1960 when the population of my home town reached 1204 and everyone was talking about the population boom. One and five acre lots right in town were the norm. Forty acre farms on the outskirts were common and provided a decent income. One hundred and sixty acre farms were considered bigtime. Hunting, fishing and trapping were practiced by the majority of the people around here. Men, women, and children alike. It was not only a pastime that the family enjoyed but also a way of putting extra meat on the table. It also taught us the value of maintaining the environment.
Economics and the influx of city-slickers have changed all that. That and the passing of stupid laws like noxious weed laws.
Agricultural economics has probably changed things more than anything else. Where the old time farmer used to keep brush piles near the fence line you now see the farmer plowing his fields right up to the fence line. Doesn't seem like much does it. But in doing so he has taken away the habitat for the rabbits, quail, chukar, partridge and pheasant. I haven't seen a quail, chukar or partridge in years. Pheasant are only here because there are a few people that plant them for hunting purposes. The deer no longer have that cover at the wood line. With the disappearance of the birds and the small game comes the disappearance of the hawk, eagle and owl. Fox that used to be abundant are nearly wiped out now.
Then came the city slicker. Bringing his problems with him and expecting things to change and wondering why they changed for the worst. He clears his land and puts in lawns, building houses close together, passing noxious weed laws, and putting in bicycle trails.
Again it doesnt seem like much. But consider this. Now that they have started eradicating the milkweed, morning glory and other so-called weeds, the butterfly and the humming birds have all but disappeared. The other birds and animals that fed on them, now no longer have a food source and so to have disappeared. So gone are the fox, the hawk, the eagle and the owl.
They have tiled over the drainage ditches and small creeks that drained the land, and in doing so have taken away the habitat for the frogs, snakes, turtles, newts as well as nesting areas for the ducks that used to fly in. They have filled in wetlands, sometimes with as much as 20 feet of fill. They clear out woodlands and plant lawns and bring in foreign trees and plants and wonder why the old growth trees are dying, why the deer are leaving and the woodpecker and other birds are so rare.
Well thats enough for now.
Happy hunting, that is if you can find anything to hunt.
