Manifolds, Manolos, and Manure
I didn’t make resolutions this New Year. I didn’t follow through with them in 2022.
I haven’t reduced my Dr Pepper consumption. Probably actually increased it now that I think about it. Oops.
I am not more tolerant of the creepy crawlers. Despite our abundance of animal feed. Hay. Straw. Cattle. And horses. I still don’t understand or tolerate that creepy crawlers decide that our farm is the place for them. We are not welcoming people. We don’t enjoy entertaining. And we’re not accommodating hosts under the best of the circumstances. This summer a mouse family moved in under the horses’ water tank. They made themselves a home to raise their little ones. We discovered their home when cleaning tanks one weekend. They were welcomed to our farm by our wildly talented barn cat.
Unfortunately, for my blue-eyed girl and big-little boy I haven’t given up news radio. Podcasts. Or my affinity for quiet. ‘Traffic on the eights’ remains on repeat. WBBM 780 is the first preset on my truck radio. The Daily Punch podcast remains my personal favorite. This fall Campaign HQ with David Plouffe was also a hit.
And unfortunately for more than just my blue-eyed girl and big-little boy. no one listened to my resolution asking for society to place partisan politics to the side and to place people before party.
I’m not in the mood to make trivial resolutions about food. Drink. Exercise. Or dieting. Instead, there are certain things that I’m shocked that in 2023 we’re still debating. Paid sick leave for one. I fully understand that farmers are small business owners. I fully understand that small businesses don’t have the staff nor oftentimes the finances to offer paid sick leave, but multi-national corporations do and should. If COVID-19 taught us nothing it has taught us that people should not come to work sick.
Start controversial, stay controversial. It’s 2023 so why are we still debating the outcome of the 2020 election? I was raised to respect the office even if I don’t like the individual who won. Even if I didn’t vote for the individual who won. I’ve voted for a lot of second place finishers since my eighteenth birthday and that’s just part of the great experiment we call democracy.
It’s 2023 so why is there even a conversation about whether or not people should go and vote. Of course you should vote. I remind my farmer each election that no vote means no complaining. I vote to have a voice. In my government. And in my house. I may like to complain.
To end on a light yet probably just as controversial of a topic: I’m a John Deere girl. The first tractor I drove by myself was a John Deere 8300. Although we don’t have that particular tractor, we still have an 8300. Why is there even a question about the best tractor brand? Sorry, Case IH it’s John Deere for me.