Apparently, a farmer in Utah decided to get the attention of his exaburbs neighbors. He dug some holes, and put some junker cars hood down in them, making a “Redneck Stonehenge”. Luckily, it’s just a little ribbing, not something malicious. Apparently his neighbors liked the idea of horses and cows grazing in the fields behind their houses, but didn’t like the other aspects of living next to a farm, such as dust, critters, and smells.

Good for him.

I’ve always maintained that if you own land, if you’re not causing actual harm to the neighbors, then you should be able to do what you want with your land. By harm, I mean that you are destroying or damaging something physical on the neighbors land or are endangering the living things that inhabit the neighbors land.

That’s why I will never live in a subdivision that requires a covenant. If I want to paint my house purple with paisley shutters, then I will. If I want to park an old car under my tree so that I can work on it, I will. I don’t need some neo-fascist homeowners association telling me what to do on property that I’ve worked hard to buy and use.

This situation reminds me of a local situation that happened a few years ago. Apparently the owner of a large farm near Louisville wanted to develop his land into a large subdivision, take the money he made, and retire. His neighbors didn’t think that was such a great idea, so they fought him on re-zoning the land and won. So, in a fit of pique, he fenced off a few acres of his land near the main road and his nearest neighbor and put goats and pigs inside the fence. As expected, the smell was kind of bad if you didn’t grow up on a farm. It was bad enough that the neighbors complained to the authorities and the local news stations, but since it was zoned for farmland, they couldn’t do anything.

Over time, the situation has died down, and luckily for the farmer, he didn’t try to start a development a couple of years before the market dropped out. He still keeps a few pigs and goats on the land, and allows construction companies to park their equipment next to the hogpen. The neighbors still don’t have a development next to their small farms/country homes, but I’m not sure that soccer moms in minivans are worse than sows with piglets in the next yard over.

So, I’ll stay living in the few neighborhoods that don’t require a contract to live in them, or will be moving out to the country myself. And if my neighbor wants to run an actual farm on his land, so much the better. I’ll be the neighbor with a large house in the center of my property and clear fields of fire out to the main road.

Now, get off’n the property!

Question – Why is it that the 30 minutes of snoozing I got this morning once the Irish Woman had left with Baby Bear were the most restful I got all night? Was it because I had the entire bed to myself, or was it because I knew it was the last sleep I’d get for 18 hours?

Baby Bear had his first official illness last week. He’d developed the sniffles over the weekend, and we’d treated it at home with vaporub, saline drops, and the dreaded brain sucker-outer. Unfortunately, it developed beyond that, and we ended up taking him to the doctor on Thursday. Double ear infection. Ick. So we begin a short course of antibiotics. Hopefully this doesn’t become a normal situation with him. Girly Bear and Junior Bear had a lot of ear infections as babies, and it wasn’t fun.

Curiously, Baby Bear was for the most part still the smiling happy baby that he always is. I do hope that stays as the normal situation with him.

He’s doing better, and is still the apple of his mom’s eye.

Well, it’s been a pretty good weekend.

The Irish Woman went through her stuff in the basement and repeated the amount I got rid of last week. I helped out with the heavy lifting. She found some of her baby pictures, and it’s amazing how much Baby Bear looks like both of us.

Our peach tree finally ripened its fruit, so I picked it all on Saturday night. After blanching, quartering, and mixing with a light syrup we made, we got 6 quarts of peaches to freeze for later and enough left over for a peach cobbler tomorrow night.

I actually got a couple of hours to myself this afternoon when the Irish Woman took Baby Bear to a baby shower. I took an uninterrupted nap, and then practiced with my bow. Only a few more weeks until bow season starts, and I want to be sure that I hit what I’m aiming at.

Oh, and the countdown has started. 7 days to the return of football! Go Raiders! Go Vikings! Go Redskins!

Well, this afternoon I broke down and cleaned out the storage area in the basement. I’ve been holding onto some old furniture and stuff from before the Irish Woman and I got together. I threw out three boxes of VHS tapes (do I even own a VCR anymore?), most of the furniture, and a lot of old junk that I’ve been dragging around for who knows how long.

I find I need to clean out my clutter every so often or it takes over. Having Baby Bear made me look around at my life and realize just how much cruft I’d allowed to build up, both physically and mentally. Over the past 3 months I’ve gotten rid of a lot of excess baggage, gotten a handle on my workload at the job, and cleaned out a lot of closets. I’ve had 3 weeks of vacation to spend with the kids and relax, and I’ve been able to breathe and prioritize a bit.

I haven’t done something like this in a long time, and it shows. But I’ve gotten rid of a lot of stuff, I’m feeling better, and I’m happier.