Editorial / Opinions

Feast or famine sums up things – like the abundance of rain we have had this month. For three summers, we would have given a pretty penny for any part of these rains, but none fell. The year after a cool July followed by a mild August, we are green. Where is this heating they have been preaching to us about? Weather patterns took a new twist just like it has for centuries.

'I’m a logger,’ is a line from an old comedy song that allowed the main character to get out of several predicaments by revealing how tough of an occupation he had. The Department of Labor evidently agrees because the logging category of forestry is always at, or near, the top of their annual survey of the most dangerous professions.

I am the type of person who enjoys each season. Typically, I don’t favor one season over another and by the time one season ends and the other begins I am ready to embrace the change.

'I’m a logger,’ is a line from an old comedy song that allowed the main character to get out of several predicaments by revealing how tough of an occupation he had. The Department of Labor evidently agrees because the logging category of forestry is always at, or near, the top of their annual survey of the most dangerous professions.

I am the type of person who enjoys each season. Typically, I don’t favor one season over another and by the time one season ends and the other begins I am ready to embrace the change.

Government regulations are getting worse and even worse than that.

A few years ago, I wrote a column about the sweetest smells on earth and it just happened that they all came from the farm; freshly plowed soil, newly mowed hay and cow manure on sale day. Well, a lady approached me after a recent speaking engagement and accused me of being biased toward farming and asked if I had any favorite odors that were not farm oriented. As it just so happens, I do have two more.

Since my last column there has been more development on the passage of the farm bill. My last column addressed the failure by the House to pass a farm bill but that has all changed now. On July 11, 2013, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a version of the 2013 farm bill that excludes the Nutritional Title (Title Four). The bill passed on a 216-208 vote. Zero Democrats voted for the new bill.

I don’t like change.

Since my last column there has been more development on the passage of the farm bill. My last column addressed the failure by the House to pass a farm bill but that has all changed now. On July 11, 2013, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a version of the 2013 farm bill that excludes the Nutritional Title (Title Four). The bill passed on a 216-208 vote. Zero Democrats voted for the new bill.