Sniff Sniff, Cough Cough, Achoo, Wheeze...Oh and Poop too...

*Sniff Sniff, Cough Cough, Achoo, Wheeeeze...Sniff Sniff, Cough Cough, Achoo, Wheeeeeze*....that it is the rhythm of the music running through my house these days. The allergies are creeping up on all of us. I actually had to take my boys to the doctor today because they were starting to get really sick and the youngest even has a fever. The doctor says what she always says...and every year I must block it out...I hate the thought...but I know it must be done. CLOSE THE WINDOWS! Uggghhh. So today we had to turn on the A/C, it was over 80 degrees here!! Dang that's hot ya'll... for April anyway.

So as we are driving the 40 miles it takes me to get to the town where my doctor's office is (and the nearest town where I will find more than one grocery store...) I am enjoying the smells of spring with my windows down......for about 3 miles. Then all I could smell was manure, fertilizer chemicals and dust. Farmers are going balls to the wall taking advantage of the break in April Rains to get their fields fertilized and cultivated....but the resulting smell is horrible. And I thought to myself "It's no wonder we are all dying of cancer..." I bet I passed two dozen Anhydrous Ammonia tanks on the way to town. Now doesn't that thought put a little spice in your tofu stir-fry tonight!

We take for granted all the chemicals that are used in the production of our food. It's scary really. And I am even a farm wife.....For our own home garden we use cow manure, and for many of the fields we use as much manure as we can, but frankly right now crops pay more than cattle and there's just not enough poop to go around! Ha! I feel funny saying poop. No farmer I have ever met calls it poop. They'll all tell ya, Shit is Shit....It's nothing to hear a little kid around hear holler "Oh dang it I just stepped in shit..." and not many adults even blink an eye. Shit is not a bad word on the farm. Although I will say, my upbringing tends to make me steer my children from saying it, but I am sure by the time they are teens they will be 'shootin' the shit' with the rest of us. (Personally I have a very foul mouth, so I don't know why I even try to prevent my kids from saying this one little word that nobody else seems to be bothered by...)

Anyhoo, the lovely smells of spring took on a curious turn this morning as toxic chemicals and the various 'flavors' of livestock manure filled the car....cow shit, horse shit, hog shit etc...but the absolute worst smell in the entire universe, is turkey shit! If you ever pass a field that has been fertilized with turkey shit...you'll know it! Ugggh!!!! If you are a city dweller, I would say if nothing else you can be grateful you don't have to smell turkey shit!!

Anyone hungry for a slice of Butterball! :0)~