Monday, April 25, 2011
Mother Earth News
Bolivia seeks to extend rights to 'Mother Earth'
"Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving 'Mother Earth' the same rights as humans - having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country."
This is such a bad idea, but at least it gives me a chance to articulate my own views about nature and to declare that I am profoundly in favor of rights for all humanity, but not for any other living creatures.
I am a humanist. I love people. You take the meanest, lowest bum hanging out in front of the grocery store in downtown Ventura, and that bum is far more important to me than the most beautiful horse in Kentucky.
People are more important than trees, rivers, oceans, clouds, stars or galaxies.
Human beings have rights, Animals don't have rights. Trees don't have rights, nor do frogs or glaciers.
They have life, but they don't have rights, only people. And that just barely. If all the people, in all the lands, had the fullest rights that they deserve, and if we ever reached that state, then I might think about the rest of God's creatures and want to include them too.
But people come first -- in my life they do.
Mother Earth? That's a wonderful concept -- the nourishment and necessity of nature. The inspiration of rainbows, the nuisance of mosquitoes. A cause for wonder, and a cause for frustration as well. We love the earth, we abuse the earth. We are "out of touch with nature."
(This last is so often an accusation against someone else. Those loggers, strip miners, those corporate greedmasters are "out of touch with nature." These accusations are often true, but just as often they are a projection of the accusers own separation from nature.)
But Mother Earth has no rights. No "standing" in court. You know, if you have rights, you also have responsibilities. You can go to court -- yes, indeed. You can also be taken to court. The people of Japan might take
Mother Earth to court at some international tribunal, accusing her of causing the earthquake and the tsunami and the deaths of many thousands of people.
Yes, if Mother Earth needs to make an adjustment in her tectonic plates, can she please do it more gradually, and perhaps give us a head's up?
But animals don't have rights. You can't sue a dog. They don't have religious freedom either, although it would be hard to stop a cow from praying to the god of her choice, mainly because it would be so difficult to realize if a cow was praying or not.
Or bears. Currently bears do not have the right to bear arms. But they seem to be doing quite well with their teeth and claws. And armadillos may not be armed.
Or horses. Some people say that horses are smarter than people. I wouldn't say that. I would say that horses know things that people don't know, and you can learn a lot by hanging out with horses.
Take Apple Jack. He's a horse, a 12-year-old gelding pony. And, despite his small size, Jack is very much the boss of the corral at our small farm. He will walk up to a horse twice his size and fight him to the death -- which doesn't happen, because the bigger horse gives up quickly. Jack is the boss.
But Jack is a rapscallion too, and sometimes he steals Misty's hay. I have talked to him about that -- that he ought to show a little class and not be hogging the hay.
A good horse, over all, is Jack. But he has no rights.
Don't make me seem Old Testament. God doesn't have rights either. Nor the angels. Nor the leprechauns and fairies.
Now, Jesus, if he were to return to Earth, as many folks say he will, then Jesus would have rights because he is and was fully human.
If Jesus came back and visited America, he would have rights, but he would need to go through immigration first.
Can I see your passport, sir?
I don't have one.
Well, you'll have to step in to this room for some questions.
Fine. I have plenty of time.
Tell us your full name.
Jesus H. Christ.
What does the H stand for?
Haleluljah, but you can just call me Hal.
Okay, Mr. Christ, we're having a bit of a problem here, you coming without proper ID. Now, where did you say you were from?
...... But you get my point. Jesus, being human, would benefit and would be subject to due process of law.
Just like he was two thousand years ago under Roman rule.
And our law, our common law, our constitutional tradition, is descended from Roman law -- and vastly improved as well. For instance we no longer allow torture as a method of interrogation. Oops, I was forgetting that President George Bush re-introduced the use of torture. But mainly we have at least eliminated crucifixion as a method of capital punishment, and we provide lawyers to accused persons.
But not then and not now, did we ever give rights to any kind of non-human, and I don't want to change that. Our legal tradition will not be improved by extending the rights of law to other living creatures. And our love for nature will not be improved
There is a good way to treat nature. I am part pagan and part Christian, which is to say, Catholic.I believe in grottoes and maternal spirits.
But that's not an argument, and it does not make good law. And we need the law to be as clear as it can be, and we need to keep it in the service of humanity.
I can understand the people of Bolivia wanting to try another approach. They have suffered centuries of tin mine dictators and cocaine criminals, and the rule of law has been a cruel joke in their country.
Let them experiment with rights for Mother Nature. We might learn something from their effort, but that's their country. Personally I think it's a wing-nut idea and I don't care to try it here.
--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214
My blog: Frog Hospital
send mail to:
Fred Owens
7922 Santa Ana Rd
Ventura CA 93001
Monday, April 18, 2011
Taxes
Two opinions this week, guaranteed to annoy persons of most political persuasions, but first the farm news.
Sweet Pea Bonanza. Delayed three weeks by cool, wet weather here in Ventura County, the peas are blooming overtime now. We picked enough for the Saturday market and sold out. Then Saturday evening we picked again and sold out at the Sunday market.
The sweet pea flowers emit a heavenly fragrance. People walk by our flower booth and immerse their noses in the bouquets. It is so old-fashioned and delicate.
The mass-produced commercial growers do not make this flower because it does not ship or store well. People who buy our sweet peas already know that the experience is short-lived, but your house will smell wonderful for a few days.
And then come back to the market next week and buy some more! The season should last a month or so. (Contact me for local information)
Farm Income. Sweet peas have been an effort and an expense since I arrived at this farm in November, but now, finally, they are a source of income. We are a happy place, but we are even happier now because the harvest is good.
Now for two opinions, and I am not trying to be balanced, it just comes out that way.
Taxes. President Obama wants to raise income taxes on people making more than $250,000 per year. Technically, he wants to repeal the Bush-era tax cuts for this group, but it means the same thing.
This concerns me. Why are we picking on this group of extra-income earners? They work harder and they're a lot smarter than the rest of us -- they might be a little lucky too and so they are making more dollars.
I am moved to sympathy. I am even willing to do something about this. I hereby offer to trade places, straight across, with a $250,000 earner.
That's right. I will exchange all my income, liabilities and assets in a clean swap, and assume the tremendous burden of a high-income American citizen.
I realize I've been living on easy street, making south of $50k.
But I am offering that wealthy man a chance to lie in my hammock for a season or two, tax-free.
Any takers?
In general and regarding the federal deficit, I am a Krugmanite. That is, Paul Krugman, the NYTimes columnist, makes more sense to me than some other financial writers.
Krugman is not over-wrought by the current deficit and neither am I.
In contrast, the tenor of the right-wing demands and their righteous posturing looks like political showmanship.
"Oh, woe," they cry. "The country is in ruins."
I've heard that before, but there is nothing wrong with this country that we can't fix. And one of the tools we use to fix it is progressive taxation, as established by an amendment to the Constitution.
Enough of that. I would be a better progressive, or at least a more popular one, except my own people are often lunatical.
We're pregnant. This might not bother anyone else too much, but I'm a writer, and I live and die by my words -- which is why, when I overheard that phrase the other day at the cafe, I wanted to get up and choke the fellow.
He said, "We're pregnant." I wanted to say the hell you are.
You are not and never will be.
I know that the intention behind this new usage is to include the male parent in the process -- like he was actually doing some of the work, which he is not.
Like he would know what it is like, which will never happen.
Famously, at least up to the present, you were either pregnant or you were not. It was a word with one of those rare precise meanings in the English language.
Now it's "we're pregnant." I suppose we are all pregnant. Is it something like indigestion?
As a shared experience, we are all included now, and the world has become a better place.
This is the kind of spurious "improvement" that gives the left a bad name. Changing the meaning of words is a waste of energy and can even be destructive. We are not pregnant.
African Song. Nkosi sikeleli Afrika is an African hymn, It means God Bless Africa. It is the national anthem of several African countries.
Here it is sung in the Xhosa language of South Africa. Just one verse and humming the tune. You can sing along with it.
When I was in Africa, I would try a word or two of Xhosa, which has numerous click sounds. People would fall down laughing at my attempts, but they appreciated the effort.
Frog Hospital and Farm News Annual Spring Subscription Drive. This newsletter, going for 12 years now, relies on subscription revenue from a few faithful followers. Some readers send a check every year and I am very grateful for their continued support.
Other readers send a check as the spirit moves them, and those checks are most welcome.
As I have said before, these checks keep the writer from getting cranky. When you starve the writer, he is liable to get self-righteous and don the martyr's robe and begin preaching and hectoring the readers.
But with a small bit of income, the writer can take a more detached and benign look at the many joyful events in our lives, paying equal attention to the suffering and pains we endure.
So, if you can afford it -- after you pay the rent, the mortgage, the groceries, and what ever you need to save for the education of your children and grandchildren -- then ...
Send a Check for $25, made out to Fred Owens and mail it to Fred Owens, 7922 Santa Ana RD, Ventura CA, 93001.
Or Use PayPal. Go to the Frog Hospital blog and use the PayPal button.
--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214
My blog: Frog Hospital
send mail to:
Fred Owens
7922 Santa Ana Rd
Ventura CA 93001
Sweet Pea Bonanza. Delayed three weeks by cool, wet weather here in Ventura County, the peas are blooming overtime now. We picked enough for the Saturday market and sold out. Then Saturday evening we picked again and sold out at the Sunday market.
The sweet pea flowers emit a heavenly fragrance. People walk by our flower booth and immerse their noses in the bouquets. It is so old-fashioned and delicate.
The mass-produced commercial growers do not make this flower because it does not ship or store well. People who buy our sweet peas already know that the experience is short-lived, but your house will smell wonderful for a few days.
And then come back to the market next week and buy some more! The season should last a month or so. (Contact me for local information)
Farm Income. Sweet peas have been an effort and an expense since I arrived at this farm in November, but now, finally, they are a source of income. We are a happy place, but we are even happier now because the harvest is good.
Now for two opinions, and I am not trying to be balanced, it just comes out that way.
Taxes. President Obama wants to raise income taxes on people making more than $250,000 per year. Technically, he wants to repeal the Bush-era tax cuts for this group, but it means the same thing.
This concerns me. Why are we picking on this group of extra-income earners? They work harder and they're a lot smarter than the rest of us -- they might be a little lucky too and so they are making more dollars.
I am moved to sympathy. I am even willing to do something about this. I hereby offer to trade places, straight across, with a $250,000 earner.
That's right. I will exchange all my income, liabilities and assets in a clean swap, and assume the tremendous burden of a high-income American citizen.
I realize I've been living on easy street, making south of $50k.
But I am offering that wealthy man a chance to lie in my hammock for a season or two, tax-free.
Any takers?
In general and regarding the federal deficit, I am a Krugmanite. That is, Paul Krugman, the NYTimes columnist, makes more sense to me than some other financial writers.
Krugman is not over-wrought by the current deficit and neither am I.
In contrast, the tenor of the right-wing demands and their righteous posturing looks like political showmanship.
"Oh, woe," they cry. "The country is in ruins."
I've heard that before, but there is nothing wrong with this country that we can't fix. And one of the tools we use to fix it is progressive taxation, as established by an amendment to the Constitution.
Enough of that. I would be a better progressive, or at least a more popular one, except my own people are often lunatical.
We're pregnant. This might not bother anyone else too much, but I'm a writer, and I live and die by my words -- which is why, when I overheard that phrase the other day at the cafe, I wanted to get up and choke the fellow.
He said, "We're pregnant." I wanted to say the hell you are.
You are not and never will be.
I know that the intention behind this new usage is to include the male parent in the process -- like he was actually doing some of the work, which he is not.
Like he would know what it is like, which will never happen.
Famously, at least up to the present, you were either pregnant or you were not. It was a word with one of those rare precise meanings in the English language.
Now it's "we're pregnant." I suppose we are all pregnant. Is it something like indigestion?
As a shared experience, we are all included now, and the world has become a better place.
This is the kind of spurious "improvement" that gives the left a bad name. Changing the meaning of words is a waste of energy and can even be destructive. We are not pregnant.
African Song. Nkosi sikeleli Afrika is an African hymn, It means God Bless Africa. It is the national anthem of several African countries.
Here it is sung in the Xhosa language of South Africa. Just one verse and humming the tune. You can sing along with it.
When I was in Africa, I would try a word or two of Xhosa, which has numerous click sounds. People would fall down laughing at my attempts, but they appreciated the effort.
Frog Hospital and Farm News Annual Spring Subscription Drive. This newsletter, going for 12 years now, relies on subscription revenue from a few faithful followers. Some readers send a check every year and I am very grateful for their continued support.
Other readers send a check as the spirit moves them, and those checks are most welcome.
As I have said before, these checks keep the writer from getting cranky. When you starve the writer, he is liable to get self-righteous and don the martyr's robe and begin preaching and hectoring the readers.
But with a small bit of income, the writer can take a more detached and benign look at the many joyful events in our lives, paying equal attention to the suffering and pains we endure.
So, if you can afford it -- after you pay the rent, the mortgage, the groceries, and what ever you need to save for the education of your children and grandchildren -- then ...
Send a Check for $25, made out to Fred Owens and mail it to Fred Owens, 7922 Santa Ana RD, Ventura CA, 93001.
Or Use PayPal. Go to the Frog Hospital blog and use the PayPal button.
--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214
My blog: Frog Hospital
send mail to:
Fred Owens
7922 Santa Ana Rd
Ventura CA 93001
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Farm News from California and stories from Africa
Still Cold in Sunny California, but the Drought is Officially Over.
We had a lot of rain this winter. Governor Jerry Brown saw that the reservoirs were full and the snow cap was substantial. He said the drought was over.
But here it is April and it's still cold like winter. We had a frost twice this week -- pretty late for our territory. I had to rush out in the dark of night and throw a plastic tarp over the tomatoes.
Meanwhile some nasty little bug is eating the turnip leaves. Geez, they got a lot of critters in California. Half the precious baby turnips were gnawed by these nasty bugs.
I take this personally. Or I did, but I got over it. I don't know how to fix it. I just planted more turnips.
Then the ground squirrels come out at night, or during the day when no one is around, and nibble the edge of the Romaine lettuce. For those guys, I douse the lettuce patch with cayenne pepper -- buy it in bulk and spread it around. This slows them down.
That's how you get to sustainable agriculture, because a few nibbles on the lettuce is something you can live with. There's enough for everybody, if you don't get too piggy.
Malibu Garden Club. We drove to Malibu to hear a lecture on sustainable landscaping. I'm what you call a sustainable gardener. I try not to work too hard, and then I don't get all worn out -- in other words, I work on a sustainable basis.
Now all I have to do is write about a book about this and give lectures. I could make a bundle of money. But I would need to make it much more complicated, so people would believe that I am an expert.
Anyway, the guy at Malibu was a pretty good speaker, and Malibu is wonderful. It's a magical, beautiful seaside village. All the movies stars and wealthy Hollywood people live there, and I can see why. If I had four or five million dollars to buy a house, I would buy one in Malibu and watch the sun go down from my deck...... although I don't know if four or five million is enough for a good view in Malibu.
Some people are put off by the pretentiousness and total social-climbing atmosphere of Malibu -- but I just ignore it. I'd go there anytime -- it's a little piece of heaven on earth.
Politics. The rich Democrats live in Malibu and the rich Republicans live in Santa Barbara. Let's raise their taxes.
The Song of Bathabile, the Song of Africa. I'm seeking a title for my new work about Africa. Bathabile is a girl's name in the Ndebele language of Zimbabwe. It means happiness. The new work, this "Song of Bathabile," will be a book, but it starts now as fragments on Facebook.
That's right, I'm going full over to the new social media. I write fragments and pieces of this story and post them on Facebook along with a photo. People write comments. I am not going to write this all by myself, but will include the words of other people.
Fact or fiction. Don't even ask. This is so way beyond the derelict category of fact/fiction. But it will be good and it will be meaningful.
I urge you to go to Facebook and friend me (awful new verb, to friend, as the English language is both corrupted and beautified by new usages) --
But, on Facebook, you will find me at "LaConner Views." -- I know, I know, everyone on Facebook uses their real name. But I don't. It's the way I got started, posting photos of nice places in my old hometown of LaConner, so I called it "LaConner Views" -- because I didn't know that you're supposed to use your real name.
Anyway, go to LaConner Views and be my friend. Then you can read and join in the "Song of Bathabile."
Frog Hospital and Farm News Annual Spring Subscription Drive. This newsletter, going for 12 years now, relies on subscription revenue from a few faithful followers. Some readers send a check every year and I am very grateful for their continued support.
Other readers send a check as the spirit moves them, and those checks are most welcome.
As I have said before, these checks keep the writer from getting cranky. When you starve the writer, he is liable to get self-righteous and don the martyr's robe and begin preaching and hectoring the readers.
But with a small bit of income, the writer can take a more detached and benign look at the many joyful events in our lives, paying equal attention to the suffering and pains we endure.
So, if you can afford it -- after you pay the rent, the mortgage, the groceries, and what ever you need to save for the education of your children and grandchildren -- then ...
Send a Check for $25, made out to Fred Owens and mail it to Fred Owens, 7922 Santa Ana RD, Ventura CA, 93001.
Or Use PayPal. Go to the Frog Hospital blog and use the PayPal button.
Either way I will very thankful.
We had a lot of rain this winter. Governor Jerry Brown saw that the reservoirs were full and the snow cap was substantial. He said the drought was over.
But here it is April and it's still cold like winter. We had a frost twice this week -- pretty late for our territory. I had to rush out in the dark of night and throw a plastic tarp over the tomatoes.
Meanwhile some nasty little bug is eating the turnip leaves. Geez, they got a lot of critters in California. Half the precious baby turnips were gnawed by these nasty bugs.
I take this personally. Or I did, but I got over it. I don't know how to fix it. I just planted more turnips.
Then the ground squirrels come out at night, or during the day when no one is around, and nibble the edge of the Romaine lettuce. For those guys, I douse the lettuce patch with cayenne pepper -- buy it in bulk and spread it around. This slows them down.
That's how you get to sustainable agriculture, because a few nibbles on the lettuce is something you can live with. There's enough for everybody, if you don't get too piggy.
Malibu Garden Club. We drove to Malibu to hear a lecture on sustainable landscaping. I'm what you call a sustainable gardener. I try not to work too hard, and then I don't get all worn out -- in other words, I work on a sustainable basis.
Now all I have to do is write about a book about this and give lectures. I could make a bundle of money. But I would need to make it much more complicated, so people would believe that I am an expert.
Anyway, the guy at Malibu was a pretty good speaker, and Malibu is wonderful. It's a magical, beautiful seaside village. All the movies stars and wealthy Hollywood people live there, and I can see why. If I had four or five million dollars to buy a house, I would buy one in Malibu and watch the sun go down from my deck...... although I don't know if four or five million is enough for a good view in Malibu.
Some people are put off by the pretentiousness and total social-climbing atmosphere of Malibu -- but I just ignore it. I'd go there anytime -- it's a little piece of heaven on earth.
Politics. The rich Democrats live in Malibu and the rich Republicans live in Santa Barbara. Let's raise their taxes.
The Song of Bathabile, the Song of Africa. I'm seeking a title for my new work about Africa. Bathabile is a girl's name in the Ndebele language of Zimbabwe. It means happiness. The new work, this "Song of Bathabile," will be a book, but it starts now as fragments on Facebook.
That's right, I'm going full over to the new social media. I write fragments and pieces of this story and post them on Facebook along with a photo. People write comments. I am not going to write this all by myself, but will include the words of other people.
Fact or fiction. Don't even ask. This is so way beyond the derelict category of fact/fiction. But it will be good and it will be meaningful.
I urge you to go to Facebook and friend me (awful new verb, to friend, as the English language is both corrupted and beautified by new usages) --
But, on Facebook, you will find me at "LaConner Views." -- I know, I know, everyone on Facebook uses their real name. But I don't. It's the way I got started, posting photos of nice places in my old hometown of LaConner, so I called it "LaConner Views" -- because I didn't know that you're supposed to use your real name.
Anyway, go to LaConner Views and be my friend. Then you can read and join in the "Song of Bathabile."
Frog Hospital and Farm News Annual Spring Subscription Drive. This newsletter, going for 12 years now, relies on subscription revenue from a few faithful followers. Some readers send a check every year and I am very grateful for their continued support.
Other readers send a check as the spirit moves them, and those checks are most welcome.
As I have said before, these checks keep the writer from getting cranky. When you starve the writer, he is liable to get self-righteous and don the martyr's robe and begin preaching and hectoring the readers.
But with a small bit of income, the writer can take a more detached and benign look at the many joyful events in our lives, paying equal attention to the suffering and pains we endure.
So, if you can afford it -- after you pay the rent, the mortgage, the groceries, and what ever you need to save for the education of your children and grandchildren -- then ...
Send a Check for $25, made out to Fred Owens and mail it to Fred Owens, 7922 Santa Ana RD, Ventura CA, 93001.
Or Use PayPal. Go to the Frog Hospital blog and use the PayPal button.
Either way I will very thankful.
Sunday, April 03, 2011
Everybody Loves Somebody
It's been cool and wet in Southern California, but after all those winters in Puget Sound, it feels like a day at the beach to me.
Here at Love House Dahlias we have 9,000 sweet peas plants just eager to burst into blossoms, all healthy and strong, vigorous and upright -- but you don't get flowers without sunshine -- and so we're just waiting, day after cloudy day.
I keep telling the boss, "Any day now we'll have thousands of flowers," but any day hasn't come yet.
Our hope is that they don't all blossom at the same time. Seeing as half the plots are partly shaded by trees, and those shaded plots are coming along much more slowly, then we might get lucky and have the harvest stretch out over a month's time.
Meanwhile I planted several rows of red amaranth, zinnias, cosmos and other annuals, which we hope too have blooming after the sweet peas.
Plus a lot of onions and garlic. The gophers don't seem to like onions, but we do.
You heard about the gopher wars in the last newsletter. It goes on. "Never give a inch," is what old man Stamper said in Ken Kesey's novel, Sometimes a Great Notion." And that's what I say.
Henry Fonda played old man Stamper in the movie version of Kesey's novel, which also starred Paul Newman and Lee Remick.
Speaking of movies, I made a video:
Everybody Loves Somebody, with Chickens. It's only ninety seconds long, so please take a look. I can only say that if you sing for the chickens, they will lay more eggs.
I do have the performance bug I admit -- comes from living close to Hollywood
Like a spell of magic, or just a coincidence, but I was at the Ojai Library the other day, and I decided to read some plays, to begin to understand dialog.
Randomly, it seemed, I grabbed Bell, Book and Candle, then I grabbed Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward, and I grabbed Peter Pan.
Three plays -- all fantasies about magic and ghosts. Except that was not my intention. I need to look up Carl Jung on this one, he would say there's an unconscious archetype at play here.
Bell Book and Candle was a wonderful movie starring James Stewart,Kim Novak and Jack Lemmon. But it also had a supporting performance by the incomparable Ernie Kovacs.
Do you realize that the Coen Brothers, producers of Fargo and True Grit, learned everything they know about making movies from watching Ernie Kovacs? -- at least that's the legend.
Not forgetting small parts played by Elsa Lancaster and Hermione Gingold, both frequent guests on the "Jack Paar Show," if you're old enough to remember that.
But I digress. The movie was wonderful. I didn't know that it was based on a Broadway play, circa 1950, which is the version that I read from the library.
Blithe Spirit was mildly amusing, lots of very British language, as you would expect Noel Coward to write -- dry humor and dry martinis.
Peter Pan is a classic, played by Marty Martin on the TV version in the 1950s, back when everyone was watching one of the three major networks, and she called out to virtually all the children of America, the vast millions of baby boomers, when they really were just barely beyond being babies, she called out, "Do you believe in fairies?"
And we did believe in fairies from that day on -- hence the Sixties and the resulting cultural revolution.
I often see fairies dancing in the fields at the dahlia farm, but I still work for a living. I think we learned, after the sixties, to enjoy a sense of wonderment, but to stay grounded all the same.
Keep working, praying, and paying taxes -- be honest and be generous, and you will sleep good at night.
Sing to the chickens now and then, and things will be all right.
In politics it's either feminists or fundamentalists, and I'm not one, not one of either. Pax on both houses. That's pax, not pox -- an obscure joke, I guess.
Frog Hospital and Farm News Annual Spring Subscription Drive. This newsletter, going for 12 years now, relies on subscription revenue from a few faithful followers. Some readers send a check every year and I am very grateful for their continued support.
Other readers send a check as the spirit moves them, and those checks are most welcome.
As I have said before, these checks keep the writer from getting cranky. When you starve the writer, he is liable to get self-righteous and don the martyr's robe and begin preaching and hectoring the readers.
But with a small bit of income, the writer can take a more detached and benign look at the many joyful events in our lives, paying equal attention to the suffering and pains we endure.
So, if you can afford it -- after you pay the rent, the mortgage, the groceries, and what ever you need to save for the education of your children and grandchildren -- then ...
Send a Check for $25, made out to Fred Owens and mail it to Fred Owens, 7922 Santa Ana RD, Ventura CA, 93001.
Or Use PayPal. Go to the Frog Hospital blog and use the PayPal button.
Either way I will very thankful.
And now I will go back to tending those sweet peas with a blithe spirit.
--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214
My blog: Frog Hospital
send mail to:
Fred Owens
7922 Santa Ana Rd
Ventura CA 93001
Here at Love House Dahlias we have 9,000 sweet peas plants just eager to burst into blossoms, all healthy and strong, vigorous and upright -- but you don't get flowers without sunshine -- and so we're just waiting, day after cloudy day.
I keep telling the boss, "Any day now we'll have thousands of flowers," but any day hasn't come yet.
Our hope is that they don't all blossom at the same time. Seeing as half the plots are partly shaded by trees, and those shaded plots are coming along much more slowly, then we might get lucky and have the harvest stretch out over a month's time.
Meanwhile I planted several rows of red amaranth, zinnias, cosmos and other annuals, which we hope too have blooming after the sweet peas.
Plus a lot of onions and garlic. The gophers don't seem to like onions, but we do.
You heard about the gopher wars in the last newsletter. It goes on. "Never give a inch," is what old man Stamper said in Ken Kesey's novel, Sometimes a Great Notion." And that's what I say.
Henry Fonda played old man Stamper in the movie version of Kesey's novel, which also starred Paul Newman and Lee Remick.
Speaking of movies, I made a video:
Everybody Loves Somebody, with Chickens. It's only ninety seconds long, so please take a look. I can only say that if you sing for the chickens, they will lay more eggs.
I do have the performance bug I admit -- comes from living close to Hollywood
Like a spell of magic, or just a coincidence, but I was at the Ojai Library the other day, and I decided to read some plays, to begin to understand dialog.
Randomly, it seemed, I grabbed Bell, Book and Candle, then I grabbed Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward, and I grabbed Peter Pan.
Three plays -- all fantasies about magic and ghosts. Except that was not my intention. I need to look up Carl Jung on this one, he would say there's an unconscious archetype at play here.
Bell Book and Candle was a wonderful movie starring James Stewart,Kim Novak and Jack Lemmon. But it also had a supporting performance by the incomparable Ernie Kovacs.
Do you realize that the Coen Brothers, producers of Fargo and True Grit, learned everything they know about making movies from watching Ernie Kovacs? -- at least that's the legend.
Not forgetting small parts played by Elsa Lancaster and Hermione Gingold, both frequent guests on the "Jack Paar Show," if you're old enough to remember that.
But I digress. The movie was wonderful. I didn't know that it was based on a Broadway play, circa 1950, which is the version that I read from the library.
Blithe Spirit was mildly amusing, lots of very British language, as you would expect Noel Coward to write -- dry humor and dry martinis.
Peter Pan is a classic, played by Marty Martin on the TV version in the 1950s, back when everyone was watching one of the three major networks, and she called out to virtually all the children of America, the vast millions of baby boomers, when they really were just barely beyond being babies, she called out, "Do you believe in fairies?"
And we did believe in fairies from that day on -- hence the Sixties and the resulting cultural revolution.
I often see fairies dancing in the fields at the dahlia farm, but I still work for a living. I think we learned, after the sixties, to enjoy a sense of wonderment, but to stay grounded all the same.
Keep working, praying, and paying taxes -- be honest and be generous, and you will sleep good at night.
Sing to the chickens now and then, and things will be all right.
In politics it's either feminists or fundamentalists, and I'm not one, not one of either. Pax on both houses. That's pax, not pox -- an obscure joke, I guess.
Frog Hospital and Farm News Annual Spring Subscription Drive. This newsletter, going for 12 years now, relies on subscription revenue from a few faithful followers. Some readers send a check every year and I am very grateful for their continued support.
Other readers send a check as the spirit moves them, and those checks are most welcome.
As I have said before, these checks keep the writer from getting cranky. When you starve the writer, he is liable to get self-righteous and don the martyr's robe and begin preaching and hectoring the readers.
But with a small bit of income, the writer can take a more detached and benign look at the many joyful events in our lives, paying equal attention to the suffering and pains we endure.
So, if you can afford it -- after you pay the rent, the mortgage, the groceries, and what ever you need to save for the education of your children and grandchildren -- then ...
Send a Check for $25, made out to Fred Owens and mail it to Fred Owens, 7922 Santa Ana RD, Ventura CA, 93001.
Or Use PayPal. Go to the Frog Hospital blog and use the PayPal button.
Either way I will very thankful.
And now I will go back to tending those sweet peas with a blithe spirit.
--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214
My blog: Frog Hospital
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Fred Owens
7922 Santa Ana Rd
Ventura CA 93001
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