Being Positive Ain't Easy - BOGFF 22

 

It's easy to be angry.  It's not hard to get upset when you see people being mean, cruel and thoughtless.  It is way too simple to find fault with someone else or someone else's idea, especially when you were not inclined to think that way in the first place.  Heck, it's also pretty common to get a bit jealous when someone else either beats you to the punch with an idea you like or they actually get that project you tried years ago (and failed) to work.  

It is remarkably difficult to focus on good things when it feels like there is so much to be unhappy about.   Simply put - being positive ain't easy.

This blog opened up with a photo that I really think is pretty neat.  The skies are gorgeous.  And, the backlit sunflower plant just adds a neat contrast to the whole thing.  I've been walking past this particular sunflower (and a few others) every morning and every evening as I do the farm chores.  For good measure, I might go by it at other times of the day too.

Here is what I've caught myself thinking or feeling as I walked by this plant during the days prior to our "brief escape" from the farm and our jobs. 

• I've been sad because I see some of the flowers wilting, and I concentrate on how short the period is for these plants to look fabulous each season.
• I've been disappointed because we did not plant as many sunflowers this year as we did last year.
• I've dwelt on my own failure to identify a workable plan for the 2022 growing season and execute it sufficiently.
• I wondered when I would actually let myself stop and really admire this plant in particular, because I was just too busy.

I thought that last one during the evening chores, on a day just prior to that brief escape I mentioned.  I actually recognized at that moment what I was doing and I stopped.

I turned around.

I walked back to the house and grabbed the camera.

And I recorded a moment where I recognized beauty.   I recorded a moment where I saw things differently.  I recorded a moment - where I realized I was... kind of pleased with myself.

And with the sunflowers on the farm.

And with how well Tammy and I have been able to navigate this year's difficulties - including recognizing and acting on the need to just get away, if only briefly.

Then I took this picture of some artwork and a nice card that we have received over the last year or so from some of our young friends.  And, I realized I needed to relearn something that these neat kids seem to know better than those of us who call ourselves adults do.

So, I wrote a kind note to a person I only know in passing because I heard their father had passed away.

I wrote a note to Tammy and mailed it to her because... I wanted to.

I answered someone's question in an online group that everyone else seemed to be ignoring - and did so with kindness and respect (at least as well as I knew how).

I stopped myself from writing a blog post that focused on things that weren't going well in the world and I wrote something that promoted curiosity for nature and learning new things.

I thanked someone for holding the door open for me and then I held another door open for someone else not long after that.... and they thanked me.

Now I nod and murmur a thank you to this particular sunflower plant for its perspective against the dramatic skies that got me to adjust my thinking - every time I go by.

• We learned that someone dealing with long Covid was able to finally find a procedure that brought relief and we celebrate this healing.
• The Barn Swallows at the farm have reached numbers we have not experienced since 2007 - and we were able to watch last evening as they wheeled about the skies of the farm.  And the dragonflies darted around, hoping the Barn Swallows wouldn't try them out for tastiness.
• The small batch of watermelons we planted this year are ripening and we've already tasted one and found it quite good.  This is the first time in a few years we've had watermelon on the farm.
• We have frozen corn, beans, peas, asparagus, broccoli and blueberries so we will have them through the rest of the year and we've canned peaches too!
  
• Our pear tree finally... yes finally... produced a nice batch of fruit.  And we actually got around to harvesting before they fell and were eaten by various critters that do such things.
  

Yes.  Being positive ain't easy.  It requires work.  It's difficult.  Especially when you want the good things to have real depth and meaning, rather than a surface coating of sugar that masks the bitterness.  For that to happen, we have to accept that plans don't go as expected, people can become ill or injured, we're often too busy to see good things around us, and sunflowers fade with time.  Even while we recognize that bad things happen and even good things can make us have mixed feelings, these imperfections make these things real for us.

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What's with the BOGFF 22 in the title?  I (Rob) am giving himself a bit of a blogging break at the end of the year in hopes that it will give me space for more creativity in the future.  Rather than creating a post or two linking the "best of" blogs for the year, while continuing to put out new material, I am resubmitting what I feel were some of the best posts for 2022.  Enjoy!

Frugality is not Cheap - BOGFF 22

Over the last few months I've heard some of the following comments and I've worked hard not to respond directly to them.  If you wonder why I stay silent, you have to remember that sometimes common courtesy dictates that the time is not right.  Maybe I need time to process the facts and consider why people say what they say.  Perhaps I am making a judgement that whomever it is, they are not ready for this sort of conversation.  Or, maybe, I was standing in line somewhere and was clearly not meant to be in the conversation in the first place.

However, the time is right for a blog post in an effort to get us all to think about the topic a little bit.

We bought this this disk cultivator in an auction back in October of 2011. There was not much demand for this sort of equipment at the auction we attended, even though prior auctions that year had shown high demand.  We counted ourselves lucky to have purchased this tool - but was it really as good a deal as we thought?

Going back to the original thought process - I've been hearing comments that sound something like these examples:

• "I don't know why I would buy X product from Y business.  Their prices are ridiculous and I can get it for so much less from ..."
• "I shouldn't have to pay that much for Z, I can't believe they think I should pay that much."
• "I know the product from A is inferior, but it was so cheap!  I had to buy several of them."

We all know people who say things that might be very similar to each of these examples.  In fact, each of us may utter similar words and phrases ourselves.  And, perhaps, it is warranted in some situations - assuming we've actually put some real thought into what we are saying.

But, usually, people make such comments for some or all of the following reasons:

1. We like to portray ourselves as being persons who are too smart to be 'victimized' by those who will take away our money by overpricing things AND we like to portray ourselves as being targeted by unscrupulous sellers. 
2. Most of us have been raised in a culture that praises those who can get more for less.  I clearly remember the lessons in product comparison.  Divide the total cost by the units to determine cost per unit and find a 'better' price.
3. We are unable to see a quality difference and (perhaps mistakenly) give each product option equal value in quality and usefulness.
4.  And, even if we do understand the concept of quality, we can't seem to stay away from a "deal," even if we have an inkling that the quality, usefulness and need to acquire that item might be in question.
   

 

We went looking for "heavy duty" hose reels one year and you can read what we ended up going through with it.  This was actually a case where I believe we were trying to locate some quality - but failed to find it.  But, again, let's get back to whatever it was I was trying to say.

Monetary cost is not the same as value

Part of the problem, as I see it, is that we frequently use a one-dimensional measure, monetary cost, in order to assess value.  We devalue quality and we simply ignore the value of work.  We forget that when we buy a cheap product that we end up paying in so many other ways.

If the item isn't a product we have a direct association with producing, we often fail to see where the added value might be.  Therefore, we make the assumption that it should not be as expensive as it is.  On the other hand, we seem to feel like it is ok to complain about other people NOT understanding why products we are involved in creating need to be the price they are.

I bet each of us can recall at least one conversation where this happened.  For instance, I give you this conversation that is loosely based on a real conversation I had years ago:

Person 1: This person came in and took up an hour of time for TWO members of our staff, and we're short staffed already.  They worked so hard to get what this person wanted and then when they asked for payment, the person got all huffy, said it was too expensive and not worth it - and left!

Me: Oh my!  That must have been awful, sometimes people just don't seem to understand how hard your job is.

Person 1: Yeah!  And to make matters worse, we got a phone call from our supplier who said they were raising the price on widgets!  I can't believe it!  I mean we can get widgets from anywhere - there's no reason that we have to pay so much for them.

Yep, there you have it.

Here's the bottom line for me

Frugality is not buying cheap, it is foregoing a purchase when it isn't really needed and saving your purchasing power for when it is needed.  Smart purchases come with the recognition of quality and understanding the value of professional knowledge and experience.  The best value doesn't come from spending little, it comes from spending well.  And, all of this assumes you have the resources to spend at all!

Smart shoppers should be pleased when they receive value for what they pay, just as they should be happy to be paying a fair price.  That fair price helps to insure the continued quality of the product, support for the product and even continued existence of that product.

What's better, buying a quality item that lasts 10 years and costs $110 or a cheap one that costs $10 and lasts one year?   Trick question.  If you do the math, you could argue (ignoring inflation) that the actual monetary cost is better with the cheap product.  But, consider other costs to you that you are ignoring.  Dealing with a broken product at a potentially difficult time.  Making extra trips and and taking extra time to purchase that product over and over again.  Dealing with the broken remnants.  

Then, think about costs that may not be seen by you directly.  How many people were paid inadequate wages to make the inferior item?  Or worse, yet, what sort of shortcuts were used in order to keep the price down so you could get a 'bargain?'

And let's be honest here.  The prices rarely break down that way.  It's more like 10 years costs $110 and 1 year costs $30.  If you are not privileged enough to be able to spend $110, then you are STUCK buying this product at $30 for 10 years and you end up spending far more ($300) - in part because you have no choice.

Products with low monetary cost make us buy them again and again as they break.  We throw more of them into the landfill and go buy another.  AND - this creates a situation where even MORE people are unable to have access to enough resources so they too can have a choice in what they buy.

And then, finally, I submit my last exhibit.

I was recipient of a 'cold call' from a company that was targeting farmers - the actual prompt that got me writing this post.  Apparently "company X" is moving from one warehouse to another.  They have lots of stock they want to sell rather than move.  They suggested that I could get a great deal on "tool Y."  I told them I had what I needed.  The salesperson's response was.  "What if I told you that you could STEAL it?"

Please explain to me how this is a good thing?  Should I feel good if I pay so little for something that I could equate it with stealing?  And, how does paying $x for something I don't need save me money when I don't need it?  

In the end, I have to conclude that frugality is not he same as cheap.  And, enslavement to frugality to the exclusion of allowing for fair compensation for work rendered takes choices and buying power from far too many people.

What do you think?

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What's with the BOGFF 22 in the title?  I (Rob) am giving himself a bit of a blogging break at the end of the year in hopes that it will give me space for more creativity in the future.  Rather than creating a post or two linking the "best of" blogs for the year, while continuing to put out new material, I am resubmitting what I feel were some of the best posts for 2022.  Enjoy!

Ignorance is Not Bliss - BOGFF 22

 

In a former life, I taught at Mankato State University (now Minnesota State University at Mankato) as an Instructor for the Computer Science Department there.  I maintained class web pages for the courses I was charged with and I put a phrase fairly prominently in the middle of the home page.

"Ignorance is not bliss."

I certainly understood then, just as I do now, the basis for the statement "ignorance IS bliss."  The basic idea is if you don't know about the dark clouds on the horizon, you can be perfectly happy since they are not darkening your outlook.  But, I also knew then (and now) that those dark clouds still exist and they don't discriminate when they actually darken our skies.  Everyone gets to deal with them when they are directly overhead.

Of course, my motivation then was to encourage the three hundred and thirty people who were in my Intro to Computing courses to take the time and make the effort to apply themselves to learning.  I guess I figured that if they saw that every time they went to the web pages for assignment information and resources I provided, they would see this phrase - and maybe it would provide some inspiration.

But, I suspect it was there mostly for me.

Then a strange thing happened several years after I had left Mankato and moved on with my life.  A person came up to me and asked if I was the same Rob Faux who taught at Mankato State.  They were, of course, fairly certain, but it was a better approach than asking if I remembered them.  After all, I had three hundred or so students each quarter for three quarters in a row.

They surprised me when they said to me... "Do you remember that you put the saying 'ignorance is not bliss' on your web pages?  That saying has meant a lot to me ever since I graduated with my degree."

It was now a gift that goes both ways.

This makes me think of another gift - one that I was given well before I was looking at attending colleges.  This gift sits not far from the desk where I write for the farm blog and for PAN.  I still reach for it semi-frequently, though I also admit that I will check online resources when this book is covered by other papers.

I received this book through the Reading Is Fundamental program implemented by the Newton school system's PTA Council.  If I recall correctly, every kid got a dictionary and they got to select other book(s) as well.  I do not remember any of the other books I selected today - but I still use this one, and have done so for years.

It is programs like this one that tell young people that the road to a better happiness is in learning, not in ignorance.  And they accomplished this task by putting the tools into the hands of the learner - for them to decide how, and if, they would use it.    

What I do not recall is whether all students in my class were allowed to select books or if it was based on family income.  I would like to think, of course, that the Newton PTA simply made sure these books were available to each and every student, regardless of affluence.  Why?  First, every child could use more, not less, encouragement to learn and read.  And second, the process of identifying and pulling out children - in front of their peers - to go select books because they are "poor" does nothing for the children and only makes those who are feeling philanthropic feel better because they are helping the helpless.

On the flip side, it doesn't hurt to provide more, rather than the same, resources to those who need it to help level the playing field (so to speak).  The simple fact that I do not recall if those who had a lower socioeconomic status received more in this program tells me the implementation might have been pretty well done this time around.  I mean, I can certainly tell you how poorly the distribution of "free lunch" tickets were handled... every week.

But, that is not the point of this blog post.

Gifts of knowledge.  Gifts of resources that provide chances to learn.  Gifts of encouragement to take learning seriously - and to do so continuously.

These are gifts that can lead us to new and interesting places and things in this world.  These are the things that help us to discover ways to relate to others and gain value from our interactions with them.  This is how we can learn to look at things and know what it is to be awed, that we can gaze at our surroundings with wonder.  These are the things that help us prepare because we do see the storm clouds on the horizon.

This is how we find the balance between bliss and utter despair.  This is how we find happiness that can last through those moments when dark clouds cover us all.

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What's with the BOGFF 22 in the title?  I (Rob) am giving himself a bit of a blogging break at the end of the year in hopes that it will give me space for more creativity in the future.  Rather than creating a post or two linking the "best of" blogs for the year, while continuing to put out new material, I am resubmitting what I feel were some of the best posts for 2022.  Enjoy!

Trains of Thought - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to Postal History Sunday, featured weekly on the Genuine Faux Farm blog and the GFF Postal History blog.  If you take this link, you can view every edition of Postal History Sunday, starting with this one (the most recent always shows up at the top).

 

This week, we're actually going to start with an item that was probably more of a souvenir piece than a postal history piece.  But, the advertising envelope is interesting to me and it provides a colorful opening to the topic of trains and the mail.

The Rock Island Railroad ran through my hometown of Newton, Iowa, when I was growing up.  And, like many kids at the time, I had some fascination with railroads and trains.  My grandfather had a Lionel, O-gauge set of model trains in the basement that we would get to see him run during some visits.  I was even fortunate enough to have some of my own HO-gauge trains and I favored pieces that featured rail companies I saw in real life, like the Rock Island line.

This particular cover was clearly intended to advertise the Rock Island passenger trains that were serving the central part of the United States.  But, it specially highlights the route to southern California via the "Golden State" route or train.  The envelope itself was probably sent by or to a stamp collector because the postage stamp commemorating railroad train engineers (issued in 1950) was used to pay the 3 cents internal letter mail rate.  It is even possible that the recipient, Joe Keefe, mailed this envelope in another envelope so that he could have this mailed to him.  It was not uncommon for collectors who sought specific postmarks to send items care of the post office to have just such an item postmarked and sent back.

Chi. W.Lib. & Om. E.D.  Train 9 - Railway Post Office

It gets a bit more interesting when we look at the postal marking dated May 5, 1954 (an enhanced image helps us see it a bit better).  The abbreviations on the marking stand for Chicago, West Liberty and Omaha, Eastern Division, which would be the name of the Railway Postal Office where the letter was mailed.  These passenger trains typically had a car dedicated to carry the mail and these were staffed by mail clerks that sorted mail and could process mail on board.  It is possible a passenger on "Train 9" saw the envelope and decided to send the letter.  It is also possible that this particular stamp was made available on the train to encourage just this sort of mailing.  In the end, I'll likely never know the original motivation for sending this item to Keefe.

And, just to do this thing right... the RMS in the football shaped cancellation stands for Railway Mail Service.  And now you know.

from a May 1957 schedule brochure

Trains 9 and 10 were known as the "Corn Belt Rocket," with Train 9 outgoing from Chicago and Train 10 outgoing from Omaha.  So, this particular envelope was mailed by someone heading west on the Corn Belt Rocket - one of the twenty Rockets advertised on the cover.

You can see Train 9's schedule in 1957, 4th column

While I was not able to find a schedule for 1954, I did find this one on the Streamliner Memories site from the same brochure the prior image was from.  Train 9 on the Corn Belt Rocket was an overnight express for passengers, hence the emphasis on reclining seats and the availability of pillows.  A Chicago departure at 10 PM would get you to Omaha at 8:15 the next morning.  And, as a side note, the train would likely pass through my home town at about 4:30 AM, but it was not scheduled to stop there.  It did, however, make a stop at Newton at 2:42 PM on the return trip from Omaha.

Corn Belt Rocket, 1967, near Grinnell.  Photo Ron Goodenow

The return trip on Train 10 would leave just before mid-day from Omaha, so most photos of the Corn Belt Rocket would be east-bound, like the 1967 photo shown above.  By the time we reach the 1960s, passenger services offered by the Rock Island Railroad and other railroads were in decline.  And, the US Post Office was also moving away from Railway Post Offices.  While they did have Highway Post Offices for routes that did not have corresponding train service, the real reason to reduce the use of traveling post offices was the proliferation of automated sorting equipment in the non-mobile offices, something that helps explains the addition of the Zip code to addresses in the US.

Speaking of Zip codes, some folks might remember Mr. Zip - but for those who do not, here is a quick summary of who Mr. Zip was.  You can even listen to Ethel Merman sing the Zip code song (scroll to the bottom of that page).  Or maybe you prefer this version with the Swingin' Six?

Train 10 arrives in Des Moines.  Apr 15, 1960.  Photo Ed Wojtas

An excellent two-part article titled the Rise and Decline of the Rock Island Passenger Train in 20th Century by Paul C Nelson was published in the Annals of Iowa (1971).  This article provides an in-depth look at the process that took an inefficient passenger service and turned it into a successful enterprise - at least for a little while.  Part II of this article can be viewed here, you will need to search and find the download link for Part I.

photo by David Sebben, 10/24/18

According to Nelson, the last of the steam engines providing passenger-service for the Rock Island Railroad had been retired by 1954, with the last steam engines documented to be serving in this capacity being in 1952.  Replacing them were the shiny new diesel-powered engines with their streamlined profile.  Rock Island actively promoted their new engines and enhanced services, using the "Rocket" motif effectively.  But, by 1961, demand for passenger train services was waning as increased access to cars and planes made train travel less attractive.  Yet, Rock Island, with its fleet of Rockets, maintained its passenger service longer than its competitors in the state, attempting to cut costs by removing more expensive services, such as dining cars.

Trains and the Mail

image from Colorado Railroad Museum

The development of rail service and the expansion of the use of postal mail services are strongly linked in many parts of the world.  The first official carriage of the mail via train is acknowledged to have been in the the United Kingdom (November 1830) as was the first processing of mail on board a train (1838).  In the United States, the first official mail contract for a railroad to carry the mail was in 1834.  A very good online summary can be found at this site.  If you want to dig deeper, I recommend Hugh Feldman's work on the subject of early mail contracts with railways.

The Railway Mail Service officially started in 1869 after a couple of experimental services in 1862 and 1864 (this last was run between Chicago and Clinton, Iowa).  Dedicated mail cars would be attached to trains that would run specific routes, picking up mail, sorting mail, and dropping it off along the way. 

If this topic interests you, the Smithsonian has several online pieces on the Railway Mail Service, including some oral history with recordings of some of those who worked in these mail cars for the RMS. 

Hobbyists who enjoy the history of the railroads, model railroading, stamps, and postal history tend to be among the most willing to dig into details and share their findings with others.  As a result, a person can get started in collecting postal history that features Railway Post Office (RPO) markings and find a fair amount of resources.  A good summary of that collecting area can be found here, at the TPO and Seapost Society website.

In France, rail development can actually be tracked, to a certain extent by simply taking a look at the markings on letters sent in the mail.  Railway postmarks often featured two locations (the two terminal points of the route), in this case, Nantes and Paris, along with the date and a designation for the railway crew (or train).  The obliterating postmark would be applied to deface the postage stamp so it could not be reused, but even it has the letters "NP" - for Nantes-Paris.  The ordering of the names mattered, because it told everyone which direction the train was heading (from Nantes towards Paris).  If it were going the other way, it would read Paris A Nantes and the cancellation would read "PN."

Some countries, such as Switzerland, would include the word "Ambulant" to indicate that the letter had been processed in a mobile post office (see the top right marking on the 1867 letter above).  It was possible that more than one railway post office could put a marking on any given letter.  Essentially, each time a group of letters was re-sorted on a new train, the letters would likely receive a postmark.

Think of it this way.  The train picks up mail in Zurich, Switzerland - in the middle of the country.  The clerks on the train might sort letters to France and Italy into different places.  The letters to France and Italy would likely get put onto different trains in Basel where they might get sorted based on regions in their respective country.  And this might be repeated yet again, depending on the processes adopted by each country's postal service.

The back of this envelope mailed in 1869 in Belgium for Switzerland shows multiple progress points.  The marking at the right is a Belgian railway marking that reads "Suisse MIDI II."  This refers to the MIDI station in Brussels where mail was likely sorted into bags by country (or perhaps it was sorted on the train leaving MIDI station, I do not know this answer).  The letter must have gone from Belgium to France where it traveled to Pontarlier, which sits near the border of Switzerland.  The middle marking reads "Pontarlier - n - Berne" which would be another traveling or railway post office marking.  Finally, the letter was received at the Bern post office to be delivered to the recipient.

There are people who specialize in finding postmarks for as many railway post offices as they are able to. Some will focus on a geographic region and often they will only consider a specific time period for that region.  Others are generalists who love to find everything and anything related to railway post offices.  But, I like these markings because they give me more clues to figure out how any given item got from point A to point B.  

That, and I was able to identify a colorful letter that likely passed by my hometown on a railroad line I am familiar with.

There you are!  Another Postal History Sunday in the books.  Thank you for joining me and I hope you found something to like in this week's entry.  

Have a fine remainder of your day and a great week to come!

Daylight Savings Solutions - BOGFF 22

 

When it comes to the controversy that is Daylight Savings Time and the bi-annual shift between Standard and Daylight time, we are a split household.  My opinion is that we should just pick a time (Daylight or Standard) and stick to it.  Tammy's is that she sees a benefit to to each.  She likes the sun to be up well prior to her 9 AM classes in December.  So, she's got a point there.  If we were to choose Daylight Savings time for the whole year, the latest sunrise would be about 8:40 AM (with official "dawn" being about a half-hour earlier).

And, I guess there is the "issue" of dawn arriving at 4AM in June if we stick with Standard time. 

It's only because the switch between Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time seems to mess with me and my own internal time clock so much that she might be willing to agree to stick with one or the other.  And, in case you hadn't heard, the Iowa House just passed a bill to keep Iowa in the Daylight Savings Time slot.

Now, before you get all excited (whether you support this idea or not) - Iowa can pass the law and have it signed by the governor.  But, until the Federal government approves the option for states to make this move - it isn't going to happen.  So, yeah.  There isn't likely going to be a whole bunch of states going willy-nilly in all sorts of directions.  

But think of the fun we could have here!

Option 1: Give the night shift the daylight

All of those fine people who get stuck with the "graveyard shift" deserve a break.  How about we simply switch around AM and PM?  Now the night time hours would be the sunlit hours!

All of those folks who have had to deal with working without the benefit of the sun will suddenly be able to step out during break and catch a few rays.  Isn't it time the rest of us learned what it is like to work our shifts during the hours when the sun is shining on the other side of the earth?

Option 2: Ease the shock of the time change with incremental time changes

One of the reasons I struggle with the time change so much is that we make this big, one-hour shift all at once.  Let's EASE into it a little.

Starting March 1st, we should add one minute to the time each day until, after 60 days, we've reached the one hour mark.  Ha ha!  Now we're where we want to be for the longest days of the year.  Then, we subtract one minute each day for sixty days in the Fall!

I can't see any difficulties with this proposal - can you?  

Option 3: Provide an opt-out policy

Let's let everyone PICK whether they want to participate in either Daylight Savings or Standard Time.  If the time switch really bugs a person, they can sign a personal "opt-out" form.

We can then have two segments of the population that reside in the same area in two different time zones.  Think of the fun we could have with this!

That office meeting that happens every week is now going to have to have two meeting times published if you want everyone to attend.  However, this could also be a way to split things up and give everyone more opportunity!  The high school varsity baseball teams could have a game at 7pm for the DST'ers and a 7pm game for the ST'ers.  Twice as many kids get to play!!  Though I suspect there may be some issues with the use of the ball diamond.

Option 4: Go half-way

Do you have some of the complaints Tammy has regarding sticking with either Daylight Savings or Standard Time?  

The solution is obvious - let's just move it all to a spot in between the two!  The easy solution is to pick the half-way mark, moving 30 minutes forward from Standard and staying there with no further changes.

Or, we can be a bit more innovative!

Let's have everyone vote for which of the two times they like better.  Then, based on the vote we move the time.  For example, if 66% vote for Daylight Savings and 33% for Standard, we just move 40 minutes forward from Standard.

See?!? Everyone got a say in the matter AND we're able to make a numerically supported compromise! 

Option 5: Spice it up and let every state just pick a time measuring method

Hey!  Why don't we do what we seem to like to do with so much of our governing in the United States?  Let's let every state pick how they want to do things.  Surely that will make everyone happy.  I mean, doesn't this approach ALWAYS make everyone happy?

No?

Huh.

Option 6: Go back to sundials

As an introvert, I actually like the idea of sundials.  

First, if it is a really cloudy day, you have to cancel all of your scheduled meetings because NOBODY will know what time it is.  And, second, you can really mess with peoples' sense of time during the night-time hours.  Only those folks who work the night shift will know what's going on.  The rest of us - well, maybe not so much.

Option 7: Use the "Farmer Time" method

To be perfectly clear - I've learned to rely more on the arrival and existence of daylight to tell me when to do things on the farm.  Sometimes the construct that is time zones just gets in my way.

Sun's up?  Time to get up and let the animals out, give them food and water, and just start "doing stuff."  Sun's going down?  Time to put the animals away, put the equipment away, and perhaps do something that is not farm-related for a while.

If you don't want to work the same hours as a farmer, the solution is simple.  Make a calendar that tells you how many hours and minutes of daylight you have each day - then slice off chucks of it for work and for play.  You can either count from the point the sun is at its highest or you can count from dawn or dusk - you pick. 

Works great - unless you live in Alaska.  If you're waiting on sunset to tell you it is time to get to work in the winter months, you may have a problem - and you'll NEVER quit working int he summer months.  

I guess you could figure out this hibernation thing other critters do.

Option 8: Time zone trials

Are you the kind of person who really hates to buy something before you actually have tried it?  If so, you might like this idea!

Let's allow communities a chance to test drive different time zones to see which one fits best!  It could also be a great way to travel without physically leaving where you are.  Want to visit London? Just shift to Greenwich Mean Time for a while!  Or maybe you just had a REALLY GOOD day - you could switch to a time zone that's a few hours earlier and extend that day a bit!

What do you mean that wouldn't work?

Option 9: How about a lottery?

It seems to me that an inordinate number of people like to gamble on all sorts of things - why not gamble on the time zone approach that your locality will be using?

To make this even more realistic, let's first take a poll to find out what the most popular choices would be.  Then, we need to set things up so those choices are LESS likely to be selected.

The basic idea is that only a couple of REALLY lucky people will be happy with the solution.  Everyone else.... loses.

Option 10: Use the sands of time.

We can learn to appreciate or come to despise the sands of time if only we all started carrying an hourglass around instead of watches or phones.  Obviously, it has to be a big enough hourglass for each person to be able to keep track of time for the entire day.  I realize this is something like the idea of having everyone set their own time zone - but I wanted to offer up this option because I just learned....

the largest hourglass is reported to be in Budapest, Hungary.  It measures one year of time and weighs 60 tons.  Happily, an hourglass for one day would be a bit smaller than that.  In fact, you can get a 4-hour hourglass and it is "only" 18 inches tall.  I realize this would not be a perfectly linear equation, but that puts a daylong hourglass somewhere in  the range of six-feet tall.

I hope these things would come with wheels - and turning them over for the new day might be a bit of a production.  That big, Hungary hourglass takes four people hauling on cables 45 minutes to get it turned for the new year.

Option 11: Move the people with the time

Well, if most people don't like the time change, I have another idea that would NOT require that we make ANY changes to our current system of cycling between Daylight Savings and Standard Time.  Keep all of that the same.

Instead, we should make people move from time zone to time zone so they do not have to adjust their clocks - they just have to adjust to a new home and new location.  

I suppose there might be an issue when we start pushing people on either coast into the ocean, but we all have to make sacrifices if we want to solve this problem.

Solving the worlds problems, one at a time

It turns out that, according to this poll, only 28% of people in the United States actually favor this swapping back and forth between Daylight Savings and Standard Time.  On the other hand, they can't agree on which way we should go.  While 40% prefer that we stick with Standard Time, 31% would prefer to stay with Daylight Savings.

Clearly, this is a difficult situation that calls for my unique style of problem solving.  See how quickly and easily I came up with eleven, count them, ELEVEN solutions for this very knotty and clearly divisive problem.

Now that I've provided the world with this service, which problem should I tackle next?  

If you have ideas - put them in the comments, I'll get right on it!

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What's with the BOGFF 22 in the title?  I (Rob) am giving himself a bit of a blogging break at the end of the year in hopes that it will give me space for more creativity in the future.  Rather than creating a post or two linking the "best of" blogs for the year, while continuing to put out new material, I am resubmitting what I feel were some of the best posts for 2022.  Enjoy!

Too Much Bread - BOGFF 22

 

"Why, I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread.  That can't be right.  I need a change, or something." Bilbo to Gandalf in Fellowship of the Ring

Have you been feeling like butter scraped over too much bread lately?  If you have, it has been my observation that you are not alone in this feeling.  And, I think it is safe to say that most everyone has had, and will have, moments like this throughout their lives.  It's natural.  It's normal.  It's difficult.  And it is hard to get out of.

I have had the privilege to wear many kinds of shoes (I usually wear the same kind of hat) in my lifetime.  I've been a teacher.  I've been a farmer.  I've been a software engineer and I've been a writer.  I have also been given the gift of glimpses into other lives.  I've seen the trials of members of various health professions and the heavy burden carried by those in Social Work.  I've seen how quickly activists and organizers can burn out under the weight of the world.  I've witnessed the unhealthy doses of abuse people in the service industry get on a regular basis at the hands of those who feel the small fee they have paid gives them the right to abuse.  I cringe when I hear people who know nothing about a particular job declare anyone who does that thing to be evil, incompetent, or...

Well, you get the idea.

If you have never taught - and it does not matter what age the students are - you may not fully recognize exactly how much teachers care about the well-being of students and their success in learning.  To teach is to spend from your own essence - in hopes that it will lead to growth for those who are in your classes.  A teacher is often balancing the concern for one student who is in an abusive relationship with the difficulty of trying to find a way to help another learn a concept that is apparently very difficult for them.  Meanwhile, they must continue to forge ahead so that the class, as a whole, is given every opportunity to learn.  Oh, and while you are at, there are meetings, and paperwork, and grading, and lesson planning.  And... well you get the idea.

I have lived some of those moments as a teacher where there is almost no butter to scrape over the bread.  And I know there are cycles in every school term where that happens.  Eventually, it gets harder to refill that tub of butter, and it can feel like the only solution is to get out.

As a farmer, there are times when it feels like the entire world is set against everything that you hope to do.  It never fails.  In the same week, the tractor will break down, raccoons will get into the chickens, a windstorm will tear the plastic off of a high tunnel, and you'll still have to act like everything is going to be fine when you make deliveries to your customers.  Then, you drop a single tray of seedlings so that most of the plants are broken and useless - and someone else sprays a nearby field with an herbicide on a windy day.  The last straw - this event that just caps off a series of difficulties.  And, you feel like your toast must be awfully dry, for there is no butter for you either.

It feels like many people are eating dry bread without butter lately.  Many folks are struggling - and for many different reasons.

It's time to start sharing the butter if you've got extra.  People need it.

Hey!  All of you teachers that are in some of the difficult mid-stages of the current school term - I can't tell you how proud I am of your dedication and your efforts.  There are people in this world who DO appreciate you for what you do.  In fact, there are far more of us, I believe, than there are people who don't.  It's just that the majority who appreciate you aren't being LOUD ENOUGH!  We're not being persistent in our support.  Well, there's more butter for you.  Keep at it - as a person who has taught, I am aware of the rewards - they often come when you least expect it.  They are worth it.  And so are you.

Hey - you people who work in health professions!  All of you people who are in social work professions!  Anyone in a helping profession of any kind!  I know it's hard work that you do, caring for others.  It's so difficult to come home after seeing so many troubling things during your working hours.  How hard must it be for Emergency Medical Service personnel to deal with witnessing severe injuries and deaths?  How many times can one person hear about children who don't get enough to eat from day to day?  I cannot take the burden away, none of us can.  But, we can help the people in these professions to bear it.  And, we can do things to take other cares away from their burdens when we can.  How about we make sure they get paid enough so they aren't also worried about paying their bills?  It's just one way we can add butter to their bread.

I suppose I could keep on with specifics, but then I'll just miss someone or something - and that's not the whole point of this post.

The point is this - if you've got extra, and you see that your neighbor's toast is dry - SHARE YOUR BUTTER.

Thank you for your work, whatever you do.  I respect what you do and I appreciate that there are difficulties in your profession that I probably do not see or recognize.  I understand that life is not always easy for any of us and that there will be times when you are not your best.  I also appreciate that there will be those moments when you have too little butter and you will feel stretched thin and ready to break.  

When that happens, feel free to ask.  I may have extra butter for you.

And, I hope that if I feel dry and ready to break that you will share that extra butter with me.

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What's with the BOGFF 22 in the title?  I (Rob) am giving himself a bit of a blogging break at the end of the year in hopes that it will give me space for more creativity in the future.  Rather than creating a post or two linking the "best of" blogs for the year, while continuing to put out new material, I am resubmitting what I feel were some of the best posts for 2022.  Enjoy!

Consistency and Commitment - BOGFF 22

 

The wind was blowing pretty consistently the other day.  There was not a moment during the daylight hours that the the branches on the trees were not moving as the breeze out of the southwest ebbed and flowed.

Yes, you heard that right.  The consistently windy day had inconsistency in its windiness.  There were moments when the anemometer read gusts that were well over the 30 mile per hour mark.  Then, there were others where it subsided to the low teens.  But, I can say that the wind was committed to making itself known all day long.

The Genuine Faux Farm blog has twenty-three posts in the month of May this year.  Of the four days that were missed, three of them were this past Monday through Wednesday.  What happened to the consistency?  Where was the commitment?*

*and to update this to the end of the year, the blog will land somewhere near 300 posts for the year

More consistent than you give credit for

What prompted me to ask those questions?  I am glad you asked!

I was musing about how many of us have difficulty with telling ourselves the truth about our own consistency, or dedication, or participation level in so many of the things we do.  For example, my own personal reaction to the fact that I opted not to write and post blogs for the first three days of the week  was actually to feel a bit guilty - feeling an inordinate amount of failure for a lack of consistency and commitment.

However, when I look at the big picture, this is the truth: 

The Genuine Faux Farm blog has been active since December of 2008.  Since that time, not a single month has gone without at least a couple of posts.  And, since April, 2020 only one month has seen less than 20 entries (this April had 17).*

The wind has continued to blow, but sometimes the breeze isn't so strong that it will bowl you over.  There is at least some longevity, even if the level of commitment is not consistent from day to day or year to year.  But, given the whole body of work, I would say there is a fairly strong commitment to this project that has led to some consistent production.

A three day stretch should not be allowed to change the truth of that.

* June 2022 also had 17

What others see in you.

Then, there are the times that we give ourselves credit beyond that which we deserve.

I had someone contact me about some of our farm produce.  This is a person I had not heard from in some time, but they professed missing consistently getting produce from us at farmers' markets.  And, they were hopeful that we might have something along those lines they could acquire.

This is great - even if we didn't have what they were looking for this year.  But, the way they presented the request made it sound like they were at our table every time we set up for market.  In an odd way, they almost made it sound like it was an offense on our part that we were no longer participating in farmers' markets.  And, yes, I realize they did not intend that, exactly.  But, they did have the tone of disappointment that we were not there for them.

I get that.  I feel disappointment when things I had once enjoyed are no longer available.  For instance, there are a couple of local restaurants and services that have closed - and that is disappointing.  But, we are very careful about expressing that disappointment in a way that supports and respects their decisions to move on.  Perhaps that is because we know what if feels like when someone puts that little edge of implied guilt into their reactions to our absence.

The irony is that we see this most often with persons who have inflated their own perception of how consistently they patronized us in the past.  This particular individual probably visited us an average of three to four times a season.  But, to hear it from them now, it sounds like they were at our table for every market and their commitment to making purchases was exceeded by very few.

Less committed than you believe?

Now, let's get this perfectly clear.

Daffodils bloom once per year - and that period seems so terribly short to me.  Yet, they do it every year.  That's consistent - and they don't bother trying to say that they bloom every week.  It also means that their appearance is no less wonderful, nor is does it go unappreciated.

A person who visited our farmers' market table once a month for four months was also consistent - and appreciated for the support they brought to the farm business.  And, I would be perfectly fine if they proudly told me and others that they purchased product a few times every year from our farm.  But, to make it sound like they acquired all of their produce from us until - inexplicably - we stopped producing the food they relied on?  There is some story-telling going on here, I think. 

I also tried to tell myself that I was doing pretty well with my cardio exercise program this year.  And, yes, when I take a look at the calendar where I record such things, I've had a few good stretches - and each lasted two weeks at a time. 

Good for me!  I showed some ability to succeed in this particular activity.  But, let's not overdo my own praise for my success.  The other lie I was telling myself is that I haven't gone more than a few weeks without making a specific effort to exercise.  Sorry, it's been longer than that, Rob.  I lack sufficient commitment for this activity to really reap the benefits - and that is the truth of the matter.  So, now I have a decision to make.  Will I make the necessary commitment and consistently follow through?  Or will I decide this on-again/off-again approach is just all I have capacity for right now?

Either way, I'll work on telling myself the truth about my own commitment and consistency.  Giving credit where it is due and finding the energy to improve where it isn't.

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What's with the BOGFF 22 in the title?  I (Rob) am giving himself a bit of a blogging break at the end of the year in hopes that it will give me space for more creativity in the future.  Rather than creating a post or two linking the "best of" blogs for the year, while continuing to put out new material, I am resubmitting what I feel were some of the best posts for 2022.  Enjoy!

Losing the Keys to Motivation - BOGFF 2022

 

I think I have stumbled upon some sort of corollary to the Keys to Motivation that I shared with everyone at the end of January.  If you recall, I provided everyone with the GFF "keys to motivation" that we have found seem to work when we really need to get something done.

To review, they are:

1. Set yourself up to do something for a bunch of people by a certain time at a certain place and TELL them you what you are doing and when you will be there.
2. Let the weather motivate (hey, it works for farmers).
3. Leave it OFF of your "to do" list.
4. Use it to get out of something that you think is even less appealing.
5. Have something or somebody prevent you from doing it.

As I find myself writing this blog, I may have recognized one way that I take the keys of motivation OUT of the ignition.  In fact, sometimes it feels like I did more than that.  I took the keys out of the ignition, walked them to the nearest crematorium, threw those keys into the kiln - and then set it to extra well done.

The removal of the keys to motivation is simply this:

Have a plan for a blog you want to write.

Or, if you do not write blogs and want to apply this to whatever you want to be UNmotivated to do:

Make sure you have a plan to do that thing.

Yep, that's it.

Those keys get too hot to handle as soon as I get it written down on a piece of paper that I want to write something on a particular topic.  The keys turn into molten slag as soon as I commit the ultimate sin of opening up a file, typing a title, and slapping in a few notes so I know what I wanted to do with it later.

For some odd reason, those blogs just sit there - languishing in the virtual pile of "draft blogs" while other, less well thought out (and clearly much less important) blogs come pouring out of my brain, onto the keyboard, and then out into the blogosphere.

Ok.  Let's be honest here.  The truth is, a completely "on the fly" blog rarely turns out to be my best writing.  In fact, a completely unplanned entry on a topic I've done little to no contemplation on usually turns out to be something like...oh... this blog.

Well, that's not true either - because this topic has been on my mind on and off lately.  Since a big part of my off-farm job now is to write, it is important that I figure out what motivates me to write and what seems to block me from writing.  And one of those blocks is to put a topic on a list of things I will write about.  And, as I said, it gets worse if I open a file and put the barest minimum in there as a placeholder.  

Suddenly, it becomes the millstone around my neck.  It sits there and reminds me that THIS BLOG needs to be written.  And, I will drag that thing around with me until...

One day, the rope breaks.  And I forget all about the fact that I was going to write on that topic.  

Then I rediscover it one day and I don't let myself fully remember that I had once planned to do this thing.  I simply...

Start to do it.

See rule #3 to the Keys of Motivation.

Huh.  There it is.  It really works.

Have a great day and a good week everyone!

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What's with the BOGFF 22 in the title?  I (Rob) am giving himself a bit of a blogging break at the end of the year in hopes that it will give me space for more creativity in the future.  Rather than creating a post or two linking the "best of" blogs for the year, while continuing to put out new material, I am resubmitting what I feel were some of the best posts for 2022.  Enjoy!

 

The Keys to Motivation - BOGFF 22

Some time ago a person mentioned to me that they were impressed with my ability to put blog posts out on our farm blog on a regular basis.  They followed the compliment up with a question:

What motivates you to get things like that done?

They asked it as if I actually might know the answer to the question and I don't actually recall how I answered it then.  But, I've had time... probably a few years now...to consider the answer more fully.  So, here they are - the keys to motivation!

1. YOU are the key.

There is simply nothing quite like an impending deadline to get a person going.  But, even a deadline is often not enough.  To make it really work, YOU have to set the deadline and YOU have to broadcast to a bunch of people that YOU will be somewhere with the results of whatever it is that YOU said YOU would do.

Like - deliver 50 dozen eggs to a location that's a half hour drive away.  And, the time you need to leave to get there on time is only... oh... fifteen minutes away.

That'll motivate you to get a bunch of eggs washed that you were having trouble making yourself clean earlier in the day!  Works every time.

2. The key is blowing in the wind.

Sometimes you will find that you did not have the foresight to create your own emergency by telling everyone you would be somewhere with cleaned and packaged eggs.  This is where Mother Nature comes in.

I think nearly everyone who works on a diversified, small-scale farm such as ours can relate to the incredible amount of adrenaline, combined with a new-found sense of commitment, that a person can find when a glance at the radar reveals that you only have a half hour to do EVERYTHING before EVERYTHING blows into the next county.

3. The key is to leave it OFF the list this time

It's amazing how well this works.  

Are you having trouble getting that really important, but fairly unattractive, task done that's been on your to-do list for several weeks?  The simple solution is to remove it from the list and put a bunch of other important things on the list that are equally unattractive.

Suddenly, you find you have motivation to do that thing you've been avoiding for so long.

4. The key is to be able to get out of something else that's worse.

It never fails.  Now that you can't do that thing that you really need to do, you actually WANT to do that thing.

Go to the doctor's office and suddenly you LIKE the idea of finishing this year's taxes.  Sit down to do the taxes and it really feels like this would be a great time to scoop out the hen room.  Grab the pitchfork to scoop out the hen room and it makes those phone calls to ten people you don't know for a project you aren't so sure you want to be involved in look really good.

And, if you are an introvert, you realize that it is never a good time to make a batch of phone calls.  So, you go do each of the other things if it can get you out of that one.

5. The key is to have someone or something prevent you from doing it.

It never seems to fail.  You go visit someone or travel somewhere different for the weekend - and suddenly, you are quite willing to do a bunch of those things that you should have done before you left.  Now that it is physically IMPOSSIBLE for you to actually follow through, the task seems to have regained some of its appeal (assuming it had some to begin with).

Just a note to anyone who might want to try to use this technique for motivation - you need to MOVE FAST once you are in position to do that thing because the motivation is going to fade quickly.  Get out there and start scooping that hen room before your brain catches up.  It's much better to have your brain say "Hey! How'd I get roped into doing this?" instead of "Nope!  Uh uh!  You're not fooling me into doing this that easily!"

Well, there you are!  The Genuine Faux Farm's keys to motivation.

I don't know about you, but I suddenly have the desire to go mow the lawn and weed the perennial beds!

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What's with the BOGFF 22 in the title?  I (Rob) am giving himself a bit of a blogging break at the end of the year in hopes that it will give me space for more creativity in the future.  Rather than creating a post or two linking the "best of" blogs for the year, while continuing to put out new material, I am resubmitting what I feel were some of the best posts for 2022.  Enjoy!

Kind? Nice? Kinda Nice? - BOGFF 22

When a person works with words as often as I have over the past couple of years, it is only natural that I might take a few moments to consider the fine distinctions between two words.  For example, I was contemplating the difference between "nice" and "kind."  

I think most of us would initially feel like those two things are interchangeable.  But, once you think about it a bit more, you realize that they are not.  Kind is usually something more than nice.

I put a picture of some day lilies from last July in this blog.  Those flowers are quite nice, don't you think?  However, I suspect you would agree that they aren't necessarily kind.  On the other hand, it was nice of me to put flowers in this blog.  But, was it kind?

nice : pleasant; agreeable; satisfactory

        : pleasing; agreeable; delightful:

kind: having or showing a friendly, generous, and considerate nature 

       : of a good or benevolent nature or disposition,

Kind implies that there is a particular motivation behind an action, whereas nice does not.  You can be nice and say all of the right words, hold the door open for others and smile when you are supposed to.  But, you can do all of that and not be kind at all.

For example, you can say "thank you" to someone else because you are supposed to say "thank you."  It is the nice thing to do.  You can say thank you because you don't want other people to think you don't have manners.  You can say thank you because you don't want other people to grumble about your lack of gratitude.

Or you can say thank you because you really are grateful - and that would be kind.  Because the motivation is to communicate honest and heartfelt gratitude - rather than to simply look good to others.

So, is the placement of daylilies in this blog nice, kind or both?  

If you like flowers, these are definitely nice.  If you don't?  Well, maybe you might still find the composition of the picture to be pleasing or nice.  Or - I suppose, you don't find it nice at all because it reminds you that it is January and there AREN'T day lilies blooming where you are right now.

My motivation for placing them here is to give all of us who are currently experiencing Winter a little bit of color and a reminder that there are days when these flowers will grace us again with their presence.  I am hopeful it will cheer you up.  Or, failing that, it might give you strength to get through whatever you are currently dealing with because it symbolizes the possibility of better things.

I shared these photos in hopes that it was a kind thing to do.  But, maybe kind is not always nice, just as nice is not always kind.

If you have ever heard the terms "Iowa Nice" or "Minnesota Nice," you might recognize that these are not necessarily complimentary descriptions.  People who work so hard to make sure everything is always pleasant and polite to maintain the appearance of BEING nice has the motivation of worrying about what others think of you.

Me?  I would rather we be "Iowa Kind" and worry about trying to do the right thing for others.  If the kind thing to do is to point out a problem to someone else, then we should do just that.  We don't have to be nasty about it.  But, sometimes, it would be unkind to sugarcoat the problem just so it goes down easy.

So, what do you think?  Was this blog entry nice?  Or kind?  Or just kinda nice? 

Have a kind day everyone!

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I recognize that many have taken on the nice/kind distinction before me, so I took a little time to hunt a few online articles down on the subject to see what others had to say.  This article was interesting as it points out that working to be "too nice" may actually be unhealthy.  Or, more accurately, when our motivation for being nice is to gain approval, this becomes a problem.

No wonder I keep saying that thinking is a dangerous pastime!

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What's with the BOGFF 22 in the title?  I (Rob) am giving himself a bit of a blogging break at the end of the year in hopes that it will give me space for more creativity in the future.  Rather than creating a post or two linking the "best of" blogs for the year, while continuing to put out new material, I am resubmitting what I feel were some of the best posts for 2022.  Enjoy!