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January 4, 2021: The State of the World Address

Tyra here to give you an update on the State of the World. Raudi passed the reins on to me, which is most appropriate given the fact that she’s the paddock maven. I suppose someone has to do it; that is, impose order. In her mind, Alys hasn’t done a very good job. Me, I think Alys has done a fair job. We are all feeling less stressed now that we have target stations and there, get reinforcers. Reinforcers is a fancy word for treat. A treat is a primary reinforcer and a pet or word of praise is a second reinforcer. Alys told us this. I say, bring it on!

This upcoming year, on the political front. Ohh my – we here all hope that Pete keeps his job and that the hay and treats


Tyra talking to the chickens

keep coming. Lately, he’s seemed in very good spirits. And we hope we continue to see more of him, as we have in the past few months.

So, there is the chance that the Arctic Wildlife Refuge may be opened up for oil drilling. We may know by tomorrow what’s going on. The birds are worried about this because this may have a deleterious effect on the migratory habits of many species. Plants, animals, insects, everything will be affected. Humans have a poor sense of smell, a poor sense of hearing, and limited eyesight. They supposedly can think ahead, but this is often to the detriment of the environment around them.

Climate change. This is the most important issue now facing every single living creature on the face of this earth. I agree with Alys that humans need to stop breeding like flies. And flies should stop breeding like flies too. Fortunately, the pen is kept clean so that flies are not a problem here.

I like what Alys and Pete are doing, it’s very . . . sustainable. They continue to eat what they grow, then give the scraps to the chickens. They also give the goats banana peels. In the winter, the horse (that’s us), chicken, and goat manure will continue to go up behind the hoop house. The spring manure will continue to go into the compost stations. And their friend Bill Schmidtkunz will, hopefully, this summer, come and get the bucketed manure and spread it on the wildflower plot across the highway from where he lives.

I suppose all this has something to do with the larger world view. Yes, it does.

The next few weeks are going to be most telling world-wise politically. I heard the scuttlebutt from Pete, who yesterday afternoon, as he was saddling me up, was talking to Alys. He told me that the current president doesn’t want to not be president. He actually called someone in Georgia and asked that person to get him 11,000 more votes, in hope that this would throw the presidential election in his favor. Hmm, this fellow should be forced to spend a few days with Raudi. She would put him in his place, the way she does the rest of us.

I think that it’s going to be a good year worldwide, on the political front, that is if humans resume forward thinking. That’s a big if. We’ll see what happens.

Next: 5. 1/5/21: Look on the Bright Side of Life

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