I spent much of my life on bandstands all over this country. As a drummer, I sat in the back, up nest to the wall. Or in a corner, often on a riser. When you’re not singing, or singing harmony, there’s not a heck of a lot to do, but watch people. These are some of my observations.

People come into bars to have a good tine, and search for mates. It’s a very natural thing for humans to do.

It’s very interesting to watch the young women dance. Almost always, they dance with their arms up over their head. The object is to release pheromones to attract males. Sometimes people just come to drink, dance, socialize and relax. But that's not the main reason for the honky tonk. They are assignation stations.

Those bar rooms are absolutely filled with the aroma of sexual attraction. The musicians are usually higher than the crowd, and receive the full effect. That attraction is overpowering.

As a virile male, it is nearly impossible to resist, and once triggered, normal lust is virtually impossible to resist. It is sex. Just sex. Nothing more, nothing less. The love aspect, the faithfulness aspect, the fear, shame, or illegality have nothing to do with it. It is the overpowering human instinct to mate.

It is as natural for the male to become aroused, as it is for the female to me alluring.

When we are children, one of the favorite games is “Boys chase the girls”. We have all played that game, whether wittingly or unwittingly. If you watch any schoolyard, you will see that game.

The boys in the band get caught up in it. There you are, a young man, and when you look at it you will see that working musicians are usually younger than 35 or 40, caught up in the swirling scent of 60 to 100 young women in heat.

Very often they surrender to that natural urge. After the brief encounter, they go home. The wife, or girlfriend can smell the sent of another woman. Then there are accusations, fights, separations and unfortunately, divorce. I suppose this is a natural part of being a human as well.

I don't think that in cultures where men and women live separately, ths is as much a problem as it is in our “civilized” society.

Do I believe in monogamy? I'm not sure. I am, and intend to stay that way. Our Christian teaching pretty much requires it of us. It is a way to keep the bloodline pure. Women understand that, even if they don't realize it. Therein. as Shakespeare said, lies the rub.

Is there answer? Probably not. It has been going on for millennia. Will it ever stop? Not as long as there are animals, and humans are, after all, animals, and in the stated situations revert to that state.

Just something that crossed my mind.

I spent much of my life on bandstands all over this country. As a drummer, I sat in the back, up nest to the wall. Or in a corner, often on a riser. When you’re not singing, or singing harmony, there’s not a heck of a lot to do, but watch people. These are some of my observations.

People come into bars to have a good tine, and search for mates. It’s a very natural thing for humans to do.

It’s very interesting to watch the young women dance. Almost always, they dance with their arms up over their head. The object is to release pheromones to attract males. Sometimes people just come to drink, dance, socialize and relax. But that's not the main reason for the honky tonk. They are assignation stations.

Those bar rooms are absolutely filled with the aroma of sexual attraction. The musicians are usually higher than the crowd, and receive the full effect. That attraction is overpowering.

As a virile male, it is nearly impossible to resist, and once triggered, normal lust is virtually impossible to resist. It is sex. Just sex. Nothing more, nothing less. The love aspect, the faithfulness aspect, the fear, shame, or illegality have nothing to do with it. It is the overpowering human instinct to mate.

It is as natural for the male to become aroused, as it is for the female to me alluring.

When we are children, one of the favorite games is “Boys chase the girls”. We have all played that game, whether wittingly or unwittingly. If you watch any schoolyard, you will see that game.

The boys in the band get caught up in it. There you are, a young man, and when you look at it you will see that working musicians are usually younger than 35 or 40, caught up in the swirling scent of 60 to 100 young women in heat.

Very often they surrender to that natural urge. After the brief encounter, they go home. The wife, or girlfriend can smell the sent of another woman. Then there are accusations, fights, separations and unfortunately, divorce. I suppose this is a natural part of being a human as well.

I don't think that in cultures where men and women live separately, ths is as much a problem as it is in our “civilized” society.

Do I believe in monogamy? I'm not sure. I am, and intend to stay that way. Our Christian teaching pretty much requires it of us. It is a way to keep the bloodline pure. Women understand that, even if they don't realize it. Therein. as Shakespeare said, lies the rub.

Is there answer? Probably not. It has been going on for millennia. Will it ever stop? Not as long as there are animals, and humans are, after all, animals, and in the stated situations revert to that state.

Just something that crossed my mind.

Got back Thursday from a trip to California. Had to see Mama.  While there, I saw my brother Buck, and one of my cherished grandsons, Seth.  What a joy.  He is going to be a fine man.

While i was out there, I visited with a couple of old friends with whom I worked at KRSA in Salinas, Wayne and Audean Woolard. Audean was the one who introduced me to my first wife, Kathy, who was Virginia's mother.  We visited most of the afternoon.  I sure was glad to see them. 

Wayne is one of the most talented radio design engineers that I know.  He has designed and built many high power broadcast and shortwave stations all over the world. Most of them are still on the air.

The trip was pretty uneventful. The weather, while relatively cool for central cal. averages 98f. A little warmer than I'm used to here in Montana. 

While I was away, there was a big storm in our area. The hail stripped most of the corn crop, and made it pretty useless.  I saw one of my neighbors this morning.  He told me that it wouldn't even make good silage.

The wind was very strong here. Kathryn said that it was blowing in a circular pattern.  If it wasn't a small tornado, it was awfully close.  It took the top off the rain gauge,  and sent it several yards away.  If it hadn't gotten caught in some brush, I would never have found it.   It knocked over the little pen I use to raise  baby chicks until they're fledged, and then put them in the chicken house.

We lost all of the chickens.  They just died. Within a week they were all gone.  I have to clean and sterilize the pen and coop before I get another batch.  I hated it. I liked to watch them.  That of course, is the main reason I keep them. 'Course fresh eggs are a pretty good too.

On the spiritual front, I was honored to baptize a young man in the Name of Jesus before I left.  What a joy.  Several people have asked me for copies of my messages and teaching.  I have begun to send them out via email to some folks.  I record them, then make CDs for some of my parishioners. and now have been sending them out.  No charge. I don't do The Lord's work for money.

My old pickup was just falling apart. Mostly rust loosely held together by faded paint.  The engine and transmission are good though.  I was able to buy a three year newer model, for $400, including headers.  A friend who rebuilds and repairs Chevy pickups, offered to put the engine and transmission in the new one (It came without them, that's why it was so inexpensive) in trade for my old one.  Sweet deal.  He sho0uld have it done in a couple of days.  I'm stoked!

We had thunderstorms last night and today.  Custer County Fire is out putting out lightning caused fires this afternoon.  Those guys are amo0ng the best firefighters around.  Limited budget, and an all but one volunteer force, and they really take care of business with the best of them.  I am proud that I was involved with them.  Had to give it up. I don't think a half crippled 73 year old man has any business on a fire line.  Their job is to fight fires, not rescue old pharts who should know when to quit.

One of my neighbors came and cut the grass in our field and bailed it in exchange for the hay.  He didn't get it all, because I wanted to keep about a half acre in natural condition for the deer this winter.  He got four big round bales though.

That's about all that's new around the farm for now. More when I can get off my donkey and write again.

Agape
Lee

It's been warm on the farm. High 80s and as much as 90.  I have a little trouble with the transition, but I will.  I sat out on the deck this morning eating my gluten free corn squares with sliced Bananas and milk. The sky was azure with only a very few puffy clouds. The wind was a hardly noticeable breeze.  The neighbor across the canal was loading big round bales of first cutting alfalfa onto a semi, and a Meadowlark was singing.  The Meadowlarks here in Montana sing a slightly different song than than they do in California, but beautiful, none the less. 
You know? Things just don't get much better than that.  Kathryn was out tending her flower garden, and all was well with the world.

A little later, things got sad, when Kathryn found the body of her beloved white cat "Bug" dead on the road.  He was a wonderful friend that she bottle fed and raised from a tiny kitten. He loved to cuddle up in her arms like a little baby.  Of course she is terribly distraught.

I don't know why, but somebody in the neighborhood likes to run over small animals.  Cats especially.  I'll bet he'd raise hell if someone ran over one of his dogs. 

The Post Office here in Kinsey burned own a few days ago. Well, the house that housed it did.  Our excellent Custer County Fire Department saved the Post Office part of the building.  I understand that the computer didn't survive, but everything else did.  Smokey, smelly, and water stained, but for the most part, intact.

I have to hand it to those guys. The Custer County Fire Department, with which the Custer County Volunteer Fire Company merged a year or so ago, is a great outfit.  They are, with the exception of the Chief, who is also County Fire Warden, a totally volunteer department.  They are well equipped, and train regularly. They are more than up to NFPA standards. 

The thing about them is, that they put fires OUT.  Quickly, efficiently, and safely.   Plus, they are a great bunch of guys, who take public service seriously.  o them, their duty is SERVICE to the public.

Last night we had a community meeting to see what to do about the Post Office.  We are in the process of getting either a mobile office from the PO, or building one. Our thought is, we want the local Post Office, and if it is within our power, we will. 

The real good news... I baptized another man in our church last Sunday.  What a blessing.
Not much more. Well, in fact a lot, but I'll save the rest for another time

Agape
Lee

Some Thoughts On Repairing The Economy

Friends:

Our nation is in terrible financial trouble. Our dollar is de-valued, and the President is urging cuts to spending that will seriously affect our infrastructure.

I have an idea on how to keep from doing this, get America back on an even financial keel, and keep us from bankruptcy and insolvency.

#1.  Cut foreign aid.
Here is the amount we are spending in direct payments to foreign countries.

Rank Countries Amount
# 1 United States: $23,530,000,000.00
# 2 United Kingdom: $12,460,000,000.00
# 3 France: $10,600,000,000.00
# 4 Germany: $10,440,000,000.00
# 5 Japan: $7,500,000,000.00
# 6 Netherlands: $5,452,000,000.00
# 7 Sweden: $3,955,000,000.00
# 8 Canada: $3,900,000,000.00
# 9 Spain: $3,814,000,000.00
# 10 Italy: $3,641,000,000.00
# 11 Norway: $2,954,000,000.00
# 12 Denmark: $2,236,000,000.00
# 13 Australia: $2,123,000,000.00
# 14 Belgium: $1,978,000,000.00
# 15 Switzerland: $1,646,000,000.00
# 16 Austria: $1,498,000,000.00
# 17 Finland: $1,023,000,000.00
# 18 Ireland: $1,022,000,000.00
# 19 Korea, South: $455,300,000.00
# 20 Greece: $424,000,000.00
# 21 Portugal: $396,000,000.00
# 22 Luxembourg: $291,000,000.00
# 23 New Zealand: $259,000,000.00
# 24 Cyprus: $25,900,000.00
# 25 Iceland: $6,700,000.00
# 26 Lesotho: $4,400,000.00

#2.  Bring our troops home from Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places that we have invaded, and caused untold amount of death and destruction.

The war in Afghanistan has cost the United States $443 billion from 2001 through 2011, according to the Congressional Research Office.


There are a number of other things that can be done, but it is my considered opinion that if we start by eliminating those enormous drains on our economy, we will be well on our way t financial solvency.

Agape
Lee

November 7, 2012

A friend wrote to me this morning, expressing concern over the re-election of The President.  I wrote back saying:

"I am very distressed that Obama appears to have won reelection. I fear for our country.  I fear for the world.  But, I know that in God's sight, these things must come to pass.  In Matthew 24:8, Jesus says "All these things are the beginning of sorrows.  I am firmly convinced that we are living in the end times, and that the things that preclude the end of the world as we know it are upon us.  We have done what we can to stave off the day, but it is now at hand. Turn your heart to God through Jesus Christ, and though the body may perish, our soul will survive."

I thought that I would share that with my readers.  There is not much else I can say about yesterday's elections. The people have spoken. Whether they are guided by the hand of God, or the hand of the devil, I do not know. 

All I do know, is that I have done my political duty. I supported the candidates that I thought would best serve us. In the end, it will matter little. My human will continue through good, or evil , and when the time will come, it will cease to breath in. Then my soul will  be free from this world, and as a little child, I will sleep safe in the arms of Jesus.

Agape
Lee

Update From The Farm

So I get this message from my beaucoc son saying something like why haven’t you written on your blog? I miss reading it.  So, I figured I’d better get off my duff, and write. Or, I suppose, more accurately, I’d better get ON my duff, in front of the computer, and write.  So here’s the latest from Fringe Benefit Farm.

The Sugarbeet harvest is over here in the Lower Yellowstone Valley. As you know, I drive a truck in the harvest, hauling beets from the field to a receiving station, where they are piled and then transferred to Billings to be processed into sugar. 

It’s really a good job. Sort of a vacation for me, whose life now that I’m retired is pretty much a vacation anyway.  For a few weeks, I get to go to work driving a semi again. This year I got upgraded fro the International that I had been driving for several years to a Kenworth.  Say... Bigtime! 

The harvest went well. We had a little rain, and couldn’t get into the field for a couple of days, and then had to be towed through the field for several days in order to load the beets.  Ytrying, and sometimes frustrating, but, all in a day’s work.

The beets are planted in rows, and irrigated by enormous sprinklers.  When they are ready to harvest, a worker drives a tractor pulling a defoliator, which cuts the green leafy tops off, and flails the greens into virtually nothing.  Then a worker, in this case, my boss, Steve Lachman, who owns the farm, drives a tractor pulling a beet digger.  The digger cuts them out of the ground, cleans most of the dirt off, and deposits the beets into a semi trailer pulled by a big truck tractor.  The beets are transferred to the piler, where they are weighed, graded, and tested for sugar content.  They are then transferred to Billings to the Western Sugar Co-op refinery to be turned into the delicious stuff that makes your tea sweeter, and your crumpets tasty.

It is October 29th, as I write this. The elections are getting close, and I have been busy campaigning for the Libertarian Party candidates. 

I am terribly worried about the direction the United States is taking under the leadership of the Republican and Democratic parties.  I am among a large number of people who think that the government is not following constitutional guidelines, and as the horsey set says, is about to come a cropper. 

I have been a follower of Ron Paul for a number of years, and not that he is no longer in the running, have switched my allegiance to Gary Johnson, the candidate of the Libertarian Party.

I have been a member of the Libertarian Party for a number of years, and believe that they have the right approach to the governance of our nation.  That approach is pretty much summed up as “Leave us alone, we can do it better by ourselves without outside, and especially government interference, thank you very much.”

I could go on for hours, but I won’t. (I can see the readers all saying, “Whew! he’s finally off of that political stuff”.)

The Lord has been blessing me recently as a preacher.  I have been delivering some (I think,) particularly good messages lately.  I record all my sermons, and in listening to the playback, sometimes say, “Wow! That guy really is a preacher!”

 If you want a CD containing some messages, I have them available for free.  I would ask that you kick in a couple of bucks for postage, and supplies, though. If you can’t afford it, I’ll send them out anyway, but it does rather put a strain on my income, which is largely Social Security.  (What!?!, a Libertarian on Social Security?!?) Yep.  I paid. I draw, but I don’t abuse. 

The blank CDs cost something, The labels, and the ink to print them cost something.  I DO NOT want to maker a profit, as mine is pretty much a self supported missionary effort. Kinda ,my way of paying back some of the goodness that has been given me by God’s wonderful grace, and the atoning blood of Jesus.

I thought about transcribing one of my sermons here, but I’m not all that good a typist, and it takes hours to do a sound to writing transcription.  But if you are deaf, I will.  Hey! Gotta get the message out about Jesus any way I can.

I am still doing freelance radio commercials from mky little studio here at home. - See my website -  leethevoice.com

I am currently doing commercials for The Marks Group.  It is a combine of eight or ten radio stations, and four or five TV stations.  I mostly do spots for our local outlets here in Montana and North Dakota, but have done several for the entire chain. 

I have done a couple of ads running nationwide for Betty Kilbride who is an author and friend.  I also recorded one of her books for an  audio book, but don’t know when it will be released.  I’m pretty proud of the fact that I did it though. Not many people get to do that. 

One of my ambitions is to do voice-overs and narrations for TV and films.  I’d like to do stuff like narrating National Geographic videos and the like.  I have a friend in California who does, or did, the voice over for Disney documentaries.  That looks like a pretty good gig.  I’d like to do cartoon voices too.  May not happen, but I can dream. 

We had a little bit of snow a couple of nights ago, but not enough to measure.  It’s Deer season in Montana, and My friend Ron and I plan to go out and pursue the wiley stag. If things go as they uysually do, we’ll have a cold snap and a heavy snow driven into a blizzard on the day we plan to go out.  It won’t stop us though.  That way the hunting stories are better.

I’d like to take my Kids and grandkids out hunting with me, but they all live a thousand miles away in the east and the west.  There is not a lot better place to live than Montana, but I do miss spoiling grandkids, and being a pest to my kids. 

We are having some friend in for Thanksgiving this year.  Mom, Buck and Mary were up last year. That was one of the better things that happened in a long time.  I miss my family. We are a pretty tight knit bunch, and our numbers are starting to diminish more rapidly than I would like.  We lost Judy and Virginia this year, and the older generation is looking pretty shakey.  Hmm. Guess Im pretty close to that age myself.  Oh, well.  I’ve enjoyed the trip so far, and am looking forward to the destination.  I can see it now.  “Lee, wipe your feet. I don’t want you tracking gold dust all over the floor.”

That’s about all for now from Fringe Benefit Farm. Hope to be a little more faithful in writing in future, but no promises.

Agape
Lee