Puffs

I’ve admitted in the past that I’m a slow learner, but I just read something a week or so ago that made me think a little about the well-being of so many Nebraskans.

Consider the following:

• I don’t have exact figures, but a large percentage of Nebraskans are either farmers or working in, or own, an ag related business.

• Although farming is a highly risky business, farmers, and those working with them, seem more ‘well-balanced’ than many people working in other professions.

• Small town ‘values’ and cultures often follow citizens who were raised in small towns and influence generations to come.

• ‘O,’ I almost forgot to mention, this ability to live well all comes from “weeds.”

Well, I just read the reason for this “well-being” so many Nebraskans have.

Seems like every three or four months I receive a small publication from my health insurance company giving me ideas of how to ‘live well.’ I admit I don’t always read it cover to cover, but I’ll usually look it over to see if anything catches my eye.

In the most recent copy I received, an article on gardening caught my eye. I’ve always had a garden and thought: “what can I learn here?”

The article gave a lot of basic advice, but what caught my eye was the sentence that read: “Another secret: Gardening boosts your mental and physical health. It’s weight bearing exercise that strengthens your bones and heart. Being out in the sun gives you a good dose of vitamin D. Vigorous weeding can be a super stress buster.”

I stopped right there.

“Weeding.” I’ve said before that I often enjoyed weeding early in the year, but by August or September, it was no longer “fun.”

Who doesn’t enjoy pulling those pesky weeds, making your garden plants grow better and the garden look better at the same time. Just imagine how much joy farmers get by getting the weeds to vacate 400 or 600 acres of corn, milo or soybeans (those are just “big” gardens after all). That has to be the secret behind it all. That joy and satisfaction must carry over to future generations.

What ? ? ? Farmers don’t actually pull the weeds from all those acres? Surely you jest?

Well, whatever you believe, consider one other fact in the article. “A 2007 study by the University of Colorado found that the bacteria in some soils (Mycobacterium vaccae) can actually boost your mood.”

You wouldn’t question a “study” by the University of Colorado, would you? Maybe one funded by the U. S. government?

Well, whatever you believe, I still think our good ole Nebraskans are the best in the world, for whatever reason there is.

A O

Just to show you an example of how flexible we Nebraskans are. We did receive some nice rains recently, but the trip home from Hastings Monday from a medical consultation was interesting. It was dry in Hastings when we left, but just south of Pauline the rain started. It came down so hard that I pulled over several times to wait out the rain. When we got to the golf course four miles west of Lawrence, the rain stopped and when we got to Lawrence, the ground was maybe “damp.”

Frustrating . . . but it wasn’t the first time something like that happened. Good and bad, but Nebraskans will find a way to make it work. Whatever “it” is.

A O

Throughout history there have been many “leaders” that have claimed a special relationship with God in their ability to govern the people. Not many in the United States of America as that seemly was eliminated by the Constitution.

However, I’m not sure that hasn’t been changed in the recent weeks of political turmoil we’ve seen.

Consider: our current president made a big deal a few weeks past that the only way he would not seek another term as president would be if the God Almighty would tell him to step down.

What happened Sunday?

Our president must have had a meeting with God Almighty because he announced he would not seek re-election. Even after he spent all that money and had a lock on the Democratic political party’s nominee to run for the position.

So, I wonder . . . if our current president was given the word to not seek re-election by God Almighty, is this the first time he had a word from God Almighty? Did God Almighty also talk to him over the last three years and guided him to facilitate the killing of all those human beings via abortions? Did God Almighty guide him to throw open our boarders to dilute the American way of life? Did God Almighty also tell him that He was only kidding all those years ago when he said he created only male and female humans?

A person could go on, but you get the idea.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in following the plan Almighty God has given us. My gosh, a huge book (the Bible) was written to lay out this plan. President Carter seemed to be a person that followed God Almighty. He was a bad president, but I think a good man.

Other liberals didn’t seem to invoke God Almighty to help them in their job. Carter was followed by liberals Clinton, Obama and now Biden. Clinton used the office for some “un-Godlike” action and Obama didn’t seem to need God Almighty to “fundamentally remake America.” Each one seemed intent to be a worse president than Carter and sadly achieved that position.

Our American system of government is not “perfect” but it has served us well most all our history. Conservatives don’t always have the ‘correct’ answer to every problem that comes up over the years, but they do have answers that work, even if slower than other suggestions.

I recently read a couple of lines that I hope people will remember when they go to the polls to vote this November. It goes like this:

President Trump believes in Ronald Reagan’s creed that America is a “shining city on a hill” that serves as a beacon of liberty for the world.

The Democrats believe America is a racist country founded by greedy slave owners and infested with Christian nationalist and white supremacists.

A O