Taxes, Loans, Dairy Ads, Laughter

What do taxes, loans, dairy ads, and laughter have in common? Nothing, really. They are simply the four things that occupied my time yesterday afternoon. (Oddly enough, this first picture---cut from a dairy magazine---shows my husband greeting the cows at the barn door in the morning. I was unaware he had posed for a magazine ad......I will need to discuss that with him. I noticed this ad late yesterday afternoon when I was tossing magazines into the recycling bin.)

First of all, after lunch yesterday, Husband and I went to pick up our completed tax forms from the accountant in order to comply with the law and mail them before March 1. The drive to the accountant's office was only ten miles long, but the overwhelming gray of the sky and drab brown of the landscape prompted my eyes to close in a drowse---of their own free will.

The post office was our next stop. First, we fogged up the pickup cab windows as we feverishly worked to sign the tax forms in all the correct places and scribble the required checks to accompany the forms to the IRS and Iowa treasury. Thank you and you’re welcome.

Then I scooted into the post office for the weighing of the envelopes and purchase of necessary postage. On my dash back to the pickup, I was drenched by a mutant rain/sleet/hail/snow mix, dumped suddenly from the low-hanging gray clouds. Yuck.

Then it was off to the bank to sign our lives away on a farm loan note. Not really. We took that particular plunge years ago when we began buying the farm from my father and mother-in-law. Now that they are both passed away, the bank becomes our loan source. Hooray……if all goes well, we will be done paying for the farm when we are 65!! Isn’t that exciting! I can hardly wait.

Actually---in my fuzzy view of things---owning land is not even possible. We pay dearly for the right to simply have a home on these acres and attempt to make a living from the tract of land. We don’t “own” the farm. If anything…..it owns us.

And, you know what it means to “buy the farm”, don’t you? Its the same thing as “kicking the bucket”. Are any of us anxious to do that?

As stated, later in the afternoon, I sorted through a stack of magazines which was weighing down a shelf by the kitchen table. Some of the dairy magazine ads were just too much of a hoot to throw out. And, here’s some dairy-related headlines, strictly for your perusal:

“Bartering Manure in Today’s Economy”

“Do Fats Improve Conception Rates?”

“Technology and Cow Handling Go Hand in Hand”

“Low Milk Prices Call For Positive Moves”

“Milking Herd and Livelihood Lost in Fire”

“Young Dairy Producers Deal With Crashing Milk Price”

“Doc, My Cows Aren’t Settling”

“Anatomy Reveals Which Cows Last Longer”

“Do We Need To Dip Navels?”

“Family Farms Need To Operate Like a Business”

“Dairy Industry Is In Crisis Mode”

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There……you may have just learned more than you realize about dairying, simply from reading those headlines.

Here's one more blurb I found interesting……it contained info about a farm womens’ conference. One of the sessions was called, “Living a Laughing Life”. The presenter was to talk about the history of therapeutic laughter and the latest scientific research on the subject. Her talk would include mention of “the exciting worldwide laughter club movement where people come together to laugh contagiously WITHOUT THE USE OF JOKES.”

Does anyone know anything about that? Have you ever heard of a laughter club? I would love to know more about it. (I missed the conference, though…..it was held last week.) Hey, maybe the world would be a better place if the road to laughter could skirt that annoying wilderness of JOKES. No more funny TV shows, comedians, humorous movies, comic strips, etc., etc., etc. What an existence we would have......laughter arising for no reason.......the laughing bug being passed from person to person, contagiously. Somehow......we would be missing something, though, wouldn't we?!

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Have a wonderful day. Laugh lots! Seriously.....you need a belly-laugh, and that's no joke. (Use laughter aids if you must.)

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