I could never have perceived this new way to understand the whole without first giving myself permission to constantly reinvent myself to consider what is true and makes sense.

I have always believed wholeheartedly that the “outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person” and this past week this quote has certainly proved to be true.

Seems like everyone these days is on a diet of one kind or another so I thought I would throw in my two cents worth about my latest diet.

The year is 1953 and I’m about ready to graduate from Palo Alto High School. So let me tell you a little bit about my class.

Basic Cow: $699.95

Loading and unloading: $35.75

Full on 4 stomachs digester:$179.25

Two tone exterior hair coat: $142.10

Etc, etc, etc

A short poem by Jack Varian

It’s all in the eyes of the beholder. Surely this is an easy way to pick a fight with almost anybody as “proper” and “balance” are such subjective words when used to describe the way we in agriculture care for the land.

I used to brag about our Cholame Valley because of its surrounding mountains the wind seldom blew, but not so this year. As of this 25th day of March 2021 the wind is blowing a gale and has driven me back to the comfort of my house.

…Finally, with a most beautiful roof in place it was time to call for the house painter and the many good days as well as a few days of blunders all were done and I could say "I’m glad we built the Dream House".

The 1970s were a time of cattle prices that were getting better and rainfall that produced good grass on the range, big hay crops in the valley and with the blessings from my accountant Zee and I decided to build our dream house on the view site we had saved. Sound out the bugle call it was time to start drawing plans, get a building permit and collect all the used materials that would be needed to build “The Dream”.

I’m sitting here in my recliner chair with a warm glow stirring around in my being. Zee and I just finished watching a movie by the name of The Goodbye Girl that washed away all my normal worries for a couple of hours like when is it going to rain? Is my brand new venture into the world of turning Chicken Pullets into hens that lay eggs worthy?

What I want to discuss, is my ranch or yours a place where the goal is to create an environment that says this is a joyful place to live and work and if not, why not?

Lately I’ve been waking up early, like 4am and just thinking, some people call it noodling. Well this morning of 1/16/202I it got me to thinking about the meaning of “something and nothing” and how I got here.

Camelot or “Paly High” were interchangeable for me. It was a mythical place, where that peaceful easy feeling could be found. It was a cheerful time, therefore condemned by naysayers for its frivolity and to be discarded for its lack of social upheaval.

At this very moment oxygen is rushing into my lungs allowing me to do some thinking about what the future holds for “we the people”.

I’m ready to leave now and where might you be going? Well on my Sunday morning hike with a blue sky above me into my mind came a question where do you find meaningful?

I wish there was another word for work because it’s so weighted down with the idea that there is only toil and drudgery associated with it that causes many to say “is that all there is”? What a terrible attitude to have to overcome.

Nature we need complexity to quiet the storms that brew in the single minded hearts of zealots.

So where do I fit in?

Why do I find myself looking back often at my ancestors' earliest times when our somewhat frazzled planet wasn’t quite so frazzled as it is today?