Ray’s Random Rambling Reflections II – July 2010

Another month has suddenly passed and already it is my turn to “make an entry in the blog”. Maintaining a blog is really fun – and easy. For me, it is also a humbling experience to be writing in a medium that will be preserved for at least a thousand years. Imagine! Some alien could actually be inspired to research how humans lived eons ago - and they could be using my writing as a helpful insight!

For those who are keeping track of the numbers, as of August 1, we have added a total of 6,423 miles on the truck! It’s all good - and we continue to press westward – and to enjoy one of the best times of our life!

One impression I want to share with our readers, who are now referred to as “followers” in blog terminology, is what I see as the apparent economic decline of rural America. The number of abandoned and collapsing barns and farmhouses we see is shocking. Many “for sale” signs on the main streets of small towns also leave me wondering about economic prosperity in rural America. As we trace the backyard of America, the only successful commerce seems to be vineyards, health services, and occasional tanning salons.



Could we be witnessing the economic decline of America from the extremities to the core - something like a human’s response to hypothermia? Is the economic life blood of America retreating from the rural areas to nourish the big cities? And who is feeding America, if so much of our farmland is decaying?” Of course the monolithic farms of states like Illinois and Ohio may be thriving, but the cumulative effect of so many collapsing smaller farms in states like New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, should account for less food products on our shelves.
Maybe improvements in technology partially offset the decline in number of farms – that is, something like “more yield per acre or per animal”. When we toured a giant dairy farm in Ohio, we learned that the cows are mechanically milked three times a day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week – except during the occasional period when they are calving. What we were told by Mr. and Mrs. Farmer, is that improvements in technology make for more contented cows – and it just so happens that “contented cows” produce far more milk, yielding far more income for the farmer. But how “content” is the cow? As soon as the calf is born, it is taken away from the mother – who immediately resumes her relentless milking schedule. The astounding reality is that in between the milking, each cow spends their entire life in a pen less than half the size of our RV. The pens are clean and well ventilated and under constant electronic monitoring for the ideal mixture of temperature and lighting. But I wonder, wouldn’t the cows be happy if they could take an occasional stroll in the sunshine?

The joke that Debby and I now share is that every time we drive by a cow that is outside, munching away at fresh grass, occasionally raising its head to smell the fresh air and to acknowledge the sounds of wind blowing or birds chirping, we say to each other “Look at the unhappy cow!!” Okay, so maybe the poor critter has to swish her tail occasionally to terrorize the swarm of flies that may be attacking her private parts, but really, I think she would prefer the fresh air to the pen. To believe a cow is happier in a pen 24/7, is like saying the caged bear or wolf that paces endlessly back and forth in the cage, wearing a path down to the non-existent escape route, is really happy. The bottom line here is that I believe animals value freedom just like we do. I am not suggesting we free all cows from bondage – but don’t try to convince me they are really contended when they are confined to a pen for 95 percent of their lives!

Anyway, back to the farmhouses and barns….. We also see collapsing corn silos everywhere. I guess they are becoming one of the last vestiges of a bygone era.

Maybe advances in technology also explain why I can still find fresh corn in the stores, even though so many silos have collapsed. It is a fact that corn stalks now grow something like less than six inches apart. The rows are so narrow that an adult cannot walk between them, something that was apparently common during the civil war, when soldiers actually sought refuge from the hail of gunfire by fleeing into the corn fields.

The only thing I can imagine that so dramatically increases the yield per acre is “additives” to the soil. I am certain many farmers would say they are adding “fertilizer” – just like the Indians who taught the pilgrims to place a single small fish in the same hole in which they placed a corn seed. But I am thinking it is chemicals – and I am wondering about their potency.

How is it that the corn grows so perfectly? Why is it not even disturbed by insects and birds? The corn stalks are pristine, just like the cows that stay in their tiny protected prison!

I will leave this topic with a final thought: “Hey – if the birds and insects aren’t eating the corn, maybe we shouldn’t be eating it!”

Another topic for this month’s blog entry concerns wind power. There is something new appearing on the horizon – and it is windmills, or “wind turbines” – and they are everywhere, in every state we have visited! I say tell your grandchildren “Invest in wind power!” Oil has had its day and solar power just is not going to happen.

The principle of wind power is as old as the Biblical water wheel milling the corn. Rotate a rod 360 degrees over and over again in a stationary position and you can connect it to make something useful!

Some of the wind turbines we have seen are so huge that their spinning propellers can be seen across an open horizon even when we are over seven miles away!


That’s all for now folks! Until next time, please stay happy and healthy.