For years I have braved the cold to put out birdseed and suet cakes for the wild birds, congratulating myself on my generous nature. Now I don’t know if you remember Dr. Evil’s insistence on obtaining a new brood of hens late last winter, but well, that happened. Throughout this process, I have employed my world-famous worrying skills about every aspect of this endeavor. After we lost one hen when she didn’t return after free-ranging, we decided to keep them contained in the coop and the (very generous) run, lest they be gobbled up by neighborhood foxes, hawks and coyotes. My consolation to them was awesome treats:squash, scratch, mealworms, lettuce, and since Thanksgiving: bacon grease, almonds and cranberries.

Since the end of Daylight Saving Time, their egg production has faltered. Apparently, hens want ~14 hours of light to lay eggs. We run about 9.5 hours of daylight right now, so egg production is down from about 4 eggs per day to, uh, 1-ish per day. Which, as Terry “The Toad” Fields would say is, “typical.” I mean who doesn’t want more eggs in August than in January?? Today was our first substantial cold/snow day, and the ladies declined to even emerge from their coop. I have a very lavish, secure new coop design in my head right now, but it probably won’t be started until the spring, so every day in between, I worry about our five girls. kind of like I used to worry about the cardinals and finches back in the day.

In summation, now I worry about the wild AND the domestic birds.

1) I forgot how charming a film Baby Boom is.
2) Sam fucking Shepard.
3) Sam Shepard is gone, never to be replaced.
4) Dang.

A sobering fact for Ohio Democrats: Richard Cordray won more votes (2,020,128) than John Kasich did to win a 2-1 landslide in 2014 (1,922,436). Trump-era Ohio Republicans simply smashed through the model with rural voters.

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) November 7, 2018

That describes our situation here in ruby red Vinton County. Our farm is on the far edge of the county, and the adjoining county (Athens) is home to Ohio University, making the City of Athens a dark blue dot in solidly red southeastern Ohio. It’s not as screwed up as West Virginia, but then again, what is? (Perhaps you missed the West Virginia Supreme Court debacle?) Our votes were spit in the wind in all the very local races, and not much more meaningful in the statewide races, but Sherrod Brown was able to hold onto his seat, so that’s something. The day before the election, Dr. Evil asked me if I was nervous and I told her I wasn’t, because there was no way it could be as bad as November 2016. Ah, the pleasures of diminished expectations!

I don’t think I have anything new to add to the dumpster fire that is the Trump administration, but rest assured, I’m watching. It’s killing me, but I’m watching.

What I would like to talk about is the growing propensity of politicians to ignore their constituents. I’ll have to use West Virginia as my example, because I’m still learning about Ohio. In West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District (basically the southern coalfields) was left without representation when its congresscritter resigned mid-session to take a seat on the West Virginia Supreme Court (see above). This left the race between a car dealership dutchess (Carol Miller) and a rough-hewn retired Army officer (Richard Ojeda). Ojeda mounted an aggressive shoe leather campaign, and managed to shift WV3 some 37 points from Trump’s resounding success in 2016. Miller refused to conduct open town halls, refused to debate Ojeda, and agreed to only one televised interview, and then only with an incredibly friendly outlet. The same was the case in WV2; the incumbent refused to debate his challenger, and he still needs to ask for directions for any place south of Harper’s Ferry. And In WV1? You guessed it. It’s not unique to the Republicans, of course, nominally Democratic Senator Joe Manchin had several women arrested when they refused to leave his Charleston office in the lead-up to the Kavanaugh vote (which will require its own Surly Farmer piece, if not a series).”Civility!” cry the politicians and their lackeys. Ya know what? You might get harassed less while out dining if you would actually listen to your constituents. All of them.