Hay Season

Hay season is upon us…. I can’t wait until my fields a lush with Bermuda so that the cattle can graze with out my dropping hay bails every other day. Oh, but it will not be time to rest on my laurels. There will be plenty of work to do in order to sow feed for these beasts.


My wife cousin farms turkeys, harvest their feces in order to fertilize the fields. This in its self is a major chore as I’m sure you can imagine the smell isn’t something one would call rosy. Once we have dumped truckload after truckload into the fields, its time to wait for mother rain to do her part.


We usually move the cattle to a couple of the other fields so that we can have a good harvest without interruption. Once the Bermuda is ready, its time for the bailing.


The barn will be filled to its rafters with hay, also the bailing row. Surprisingly enough, there is just enough for the winter months and rarely enough left over for sale.


But that sleeping in a little longer during the summer months sure is great!

New Blog

Some of you may have seen this coming, A Black Man's Prospective has now been created.

This will not be a daily post and I will only post but a post where I will only post two or three times a week.

The blog is to give a better understand of the African-American culture. Why have I started this blog? After reading and debating about cultures in other blogs, I felt that it was time to help others understand that black men are not all ballers, drug dealers, and rap artist.

http://ablackmansprospective.blogspot.com/

Miracle Fruit

My wife brought this to my attention this evening, so I thought I would write about it just in case you’ve not heard about it.

Apparently there is a fruit from West Africa, that turns anything sour sweet. My curiosity peaked when I heard that it turn sour foods sweet because I have an awful sweet tooth, and this may be why I am over weight. Anywho, moving on.

They say that this is good for those going through chemo, as with chemotherapy food taste like metal. I can not attest to this has I have never had cancer, or the need for chemo. However, I am trying to cut sugar out of my diet, so I am thinking of purchasing a few of these, 20 for $60.00, and try them on food I absolutely detest such as rice. Below is what I have read so far on this so-called wonderful fruit.

The miracle fruit plant (Synsepalum dulcificum) produces berries that, when eaten, cause sour foods (such as lemons and limes) consumed later to taste sweet. The berry, also known as miracle, magic, miraculous or flavor berry,[2][3] was first documented by explorer Chevalier des Marchais[4] who searched for many different fruits during a 1725 excursion to its native West Africa. Marchais noticed that local tribes picked the berry from shrubs and chewed it before meals. The plant grows in bushes up to 20 feet (6.1 m) high in its native habitat, but does not usually grow higher than ten feet in cultivation, and it produces two crops per year, after the end of the rainy season. It is an evergreen plant that produces small red berries, with flowers that are white and which are produced for many months of the year. The seeds are about the size of coffee beans.

The berry contains an active glycoprotein molecule, with some trailing carbohydrate chains, called miraculin.[5][6] When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule binds to the tongue's taste buds, causing sour foods to taste sweet. While the exact cause for this change is unknown, one hypothesis is that the effect may be caused if miraculin works by distorting the shape of sweetness receptors "so that they become responsive to acids, instead of sugar and other sweet things".[3] This effect lasts 15-30 minutes.[7]

The fruit has been so popular that some are having tasting parties and trying its sweetness on several different items such as hot sauce with its taste turning to honey. That’s different! I wonder if I will be able to get this in a juice some day? Now that would be awesome. I could sit down with a bowl of rice, and my miracle fruit juice and be as happy as a clam. What would be even better is, if I could get a few of those seeds and plant me a nice grove of these evergreens. And it looks like I found the place. Now if I can just keep out those rodents! Ya’ll have a good night!

http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/miracle_fruit_pictures.htm

These are the people who are spending our money.

Your government at leisure..... A DC airport ticket agent offers some examples:

1. I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat so that her hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window. (On an airplane!)

2. I got a call from a candidate's staffer, who wanted to go to Capetown. While I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information, she interrupted me with, ''I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts "Without trying to make her look stupid, I calmly explained, ''Cape Cod is in Massachusetts , Capetown is in Africa '' Her response - click.

3. A senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando . He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, 'Don't lie to me, I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state!'' (OMG)

4. I got a call from a lawmaker's wife who asked , ''Is it possible to see England from Canada ? '' I said, ''No.'' She said, ''But they look so close on the map.'' (OMG, again!)

5. An aide for a cabinet member once called and asked if he could rent a car in Dallas . When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had only a 1-hour layover in Dallas When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said, ''I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will need a car to drive between gates to save time.'' (Aghhhh)

6. An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 a.m., and got to Chicago at 8:33 a.m. I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois , but she couldn't understand the concept of time zones. Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that.

7. A New York lawmaker called and asked, ''Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?'' I said, 'No, why do you ask?' She replied, ''Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said (FAT), and I'm overweight. I think that's very rude!'' > After putting her on hold for a minute, while I looked into it. (I was dying laughing). I came back and explained the city code for Fresno , CA is (FAT - Fresno Air Terminal), and the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.

8. A Senator's aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii . After going over all the cost info, she asked, ''Would it be cheaper to fly to California , and then take the train to Hawaii ?''

9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who asked, "How do I know which plane to get on?'' I asked him what exactly he meant, to which he replied, ''I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these planes have numbers on them.''

10. A lady Senator called and said, ''I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola , Florida . Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?'' I asked if she meant fly to Pensacola , FL on a commuter plane. She said, ''Yeah, whatever, smarty!''

11. A senior Senator called and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China . After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him that he needed a visa. 'Oh, no I don't. I've been to China many times and never had to have one of those.'' I double checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him this he said, ''Look, I've been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express!''

12. A New Mexico Congress woman called to make reservations, ''I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York .'' I was at a loss for words. Finally, I said, ''Are you sure that's the name of the town?'' ''Yes, what flights do you have?'' replied the lady. After some searching, I came back ith, ''I'm sorry, ma'am, I've looked up every airport code in the country and can't find a Rhino anywhere.' ''The lady retorted, ''Oh, don't be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!'' So I scoured a map of the state of New York and finally > offered, ''You don't mean Buffalo , do you?'' The reply? ''Whatever! I knew it was a big animal.''

Now you know why the Government is in the shape that it's in! Could anyone be this DUMB? YES, THEY WALK AMONG US, ARE IN POLITICS, AND THEY CONTINUE TO BREED!

My Trainer Is Shit

I have not been posting because I have been working out as some of you may know. Well, I have a trainer who is also a friend of mine; the guy from the tough man post, well that's him.

We discussed what we would be doing on our day of training, and decided to run, as he had a dinner planed that evening. Unbeknown to me, we would be running 3 miles. OK, here's the problem, I am not a very athletic man; meaning I did not play football in high school, nor did I run track. So, running is not one of my strong suits. However, in my mind, what's a mile, I can do a mile, or can I.

I meet up with him at his home at about 5 p.m. we drove to the lake area near his house, and began my nightmare. Walking to the track I see a small plate that reads "1 mile", I think to myself again, " a mile, no problem." We walk a few feet, and he calls out "ready" and takes off.
I run behind him thinking this isn't so bad so far. Boy was I wrong, we hit the mile marker, yes I made it, but he keeps going. By this time I am out of breath, and my run has turned into a power walk, with him no longer in sight. I try again to run, but by now my lower legs and the side of my stomach is in so much pain I can't see straight.

I catch up to him as he is now waiting at the mile and a half marker. I am out of breath, and he has hardly broken a sweat. We walk some more; about another 50 yards, and start into a slow jog, and this I can do. Its just up from a power walk, and again after a few yards, my legs fail.

We power walk the rest of the track with the agreement that I would run the three miles back to the truck. We get to the end of the track, stretch again, and start again on our run back. You will be happy to know that ran one and a half miles back to the truck. I think it was because I wanted it all to just be over with. Today I am regretting that I ran so much my first time out, as my legs today are killing me. I have been popping Ibuprofen all day, and the pain isn't letting up.

I spoke with him today, and he was wanting to know if we would be going out again this afternoon, fat chance. However, I did make an appointment for Thursday to start our next set of training. However, I will refrain from the running for now.

Let this be a lesson to you all who do not walk your farm. On day its going to haunt you if you keep riding those ATV's.

Sydney And the Tractor

The Misses has been handling most of the chores on the farm for the past few days. Sydney wanted to spend some time with Mardi, so she brought her along to hay the cattle.

Some of you may think that this is some sort of child abuse, but it is just a fact of life living on the farm that you learn to drive when you are 5, in some cases, even earlier. I have been letting Sydney drive my truck; just up the dirt road to the fields, and to the house, not actually on the street, and so Mardi thought she would let Sydney drive the tractor today.

My Latest Ebay Find Joseph Abboud $125.00

I have been a fan of Joseph Abboud since high school when I would shop at my favorite men's store; Gentry LTD, in Wichita. Which brings me to mind, that I need to check and see when they will be offering online shopping, I can't wait. While scoping out a few suits I came across this nice herringbone suit by Abboud. I will need to shorten the hem a little, other then that per their measurements its a perfect fit.

I plan to wear this next fall with a nice pair of suede oxfords I picked up last week. I have been to my latest favorite men's store here locally, and have three new French cuffed shirts on order, and one of them I have in mind for this suit. I'm still working through the many pocket squares I have to match with this item, but will not know for sure which until the suit arrives. So far I am very pleased, and can't wait until it arrives. I have the perfect braces for this item as well.

My reason for being such a fan of this designer, is due to my skin tone. The designer is of Med-Eastern decent, and usually caters to those of the more hickory bronze skin tones.