Reflections on the journey
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If you’re wondering about my recent silence, we’ve been getting ready for the Iron County Fair. It’s a four day event that will draw 30,000 people to the carnival, petting zoo, displays, vendors, bull riding, and other rodeo events. We’ve got a booth to sell our cheese– probably the biggest event we’ll do all year. So we’re madly producing and packaging cheese to sell at the fair.
Meanwhile, there are several posts I’d like to write, but I have neither the time nor the energy. Maybe next week…
(C. Boyce photo: a 2008 pot bust just up the canton from my home.)
Iron County, Utah reports that tens of thousands of pot plants have been destroyed so far this year at a half dozen sites within the County’s borders. Iron County Sheriff Gower said,
“Evidence collected would lead us to believe that they are all drug trafficking organizations – organized crime.”
In other words, cartels.
Coincidentally, cops busted a huge marijuana farm in Iron County, Michigan this week, too. Officials there believe “suspects from out of the country” were involved, along with locals, and reference another pot bust in Wisconsin earlier in the year, which they believe was run by the same group.
Polizeros has chronicled the rise of violence in Mexico and its spillover into the border states of Arizona and Texas. It should be clear now that the cartels have already moved into mainstream America. How long before they start to try to protect their investments with more than camouflage?
Tags: Mexico
Tags: Utah
You know you’re in Utah when the most expensive vehicle on the road has a top speed of 10 mph, and it isn’t made by Mercedes Benz.
Tags: Utah
Tags: Utah
It never fails: when something bad happens, it’s on a holiday weekend. We’ve seen this often enough to be prepared for it. Whether it’s a dog getting caught on barbed wire (Pioneer Day, 2007) or gashing herself on a piece of ice (Christmas 2007), or a goat with a torn ear (Colombus Day, 2009), it always seems to be something.
Because the 4th falls on Sunday, Parowan celebrated our independence on Saturday the 3rd. Last night, we planned to put the goats away and then watch the fireworks, which we can see from our home. But Suellen found blood in the stall– a lot of blood. Kelsi, we discovered, had somehow gashed her legs in several places, one of which had nicked an artery. While applying pressure, we carried her in to the bathtub, where we managed to slow the bleeding and clean her up. We found the portion of the gash that went through the skin to be about 2″ long, with clean (not torn) edges. But every time she moved, blood spurted, and she moved every time we touched her leg.
The vet on call was one 25 miles away in Cedar City, so we made a quick decision: we would stitch it ourselves. More pressure on the wound. More antiseptic. Then the suture. We’ve seen animals stitched up countless times since we’ve lived here, but have never actually done it ourselves. Suellen, who sews and crochets, did the needlework while I, the stronger, did my best to hold Kelsi still.
About 90 minutes, six stitches, and a half a roll of blood-soaked paper towels later, we had finished. We wrapped the wound in gauze, then pressure wrap, and watched her to ensure that the bleeding didn’t start again. It didn’t. Then a shot of penicillin and a tetanus booster, both of which we keep on hand.
Today, Kelsi appears to be doing much better. We loosened the bandage, and she doesn’t seem to notice her injury.
No one likes medical emergencies, but it’s good to know that we can deal with some of them when they arise. We may have missed the fireworks, but we celebrated our independence nonetheless.
Tags: self determination
You know you’re in Utah when the local drug store has a soda fountain– and families go there.
Tags: Utah
You know you’re in Utah when there are more books for sale by Louis L’Amour than there are bestsellers.
Tags: Utah
You know you’re in Utah when the magazine rack at the local grocery store has twenty gun magazines, outnumbered only by puzzle magazines.
Tags: Utah
Mule deer are nearly constant companions in the Parowan Valley. They summer in the mountains, but in winter they come down to the valley where it’s warmer, and in spring they spend their evenings nibbling on the new sprouts along roadsides (and in gardens and lawns).
I snapped this photo with my cell phone: two deer grazing along the driveway of my friend’s condominium. I was about 20 feet away from them, and they didn’t appear concerned.
Tags: Nature
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