The pictures are from a trip to Russia that Mary made in 1997, fourteen years ago. I have always remembered this one and how interesting it was to me to see this man using his little car to haul hay. It does not show well but the back seat is packed full, too. The door closed on some of it and stems hang below.
Here a man forks hay off his rack into a ditch where he spreads it spread to dry and later stack in his back yard for winter feed. It would not surprise me if the "horse apples" there on the roadway were gathered, dried, and used for fuel to heat.
Mary came back with other pictures and lots of stories of how primitive certain parts of the culture remained. It could probably be said everything from a hog was used except the squeal.
For some reason all the sniping on the political scene with wild ups and downs in the economy reminded me of these pictures. The latest edition of Newsweek magazine carried several thought-provoking articles; it's the one with the controversial cover picture of Michele Bachmann which some of her supporters say makes her look daffy or spaced out. Hell, I don't see how she looks any different than she ever does.
Alan K. Simpson, retired senator from Wyoming, a man whom I happen to have liked when he was in the Senate, was asked in this issue if he recalled a fiscal battle anything like this one during his time in the Senate? He said, "No, it breaks your heart. It's almost akin to disgust, but it's more than that. It's heartbreaking." (I've never forgotten the time when Senator Simpson invited me and a couple others into his office for a friendly chat.)
Somehow the China thing got away on us before we realized what was happening. Another Newsweek article said that 60 % of China's income comes from exports, while America's export share is just 25 %. Later, it stated that "if - as predicted - India, China, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Turkey, South Korea, Indonesia, and Russia, which today buy just 15% of U. S. exports, account for 70% of future global growth, then no American company can afford to stay home."
But there's a huge quandary here stated in another article. About 42,000 factories have closed in the U. S. which furnished 1/3 of all our manufacturing jobs. This article written by a past governor of Michigan said "Here is the tragedy: by insisting on a small-government, tax-cut-only solution to produce jobs, we are living by an outdated map of the economic world. Indeed, we may be accelerating the job losses as our competitors take advantage of our passivity."
On the lighter side I enjoyed an article and paintings of an artist named Lucian Freud who painted some nudes. There in a two-page spread sprawled a nude fat lady on a couch which I told the wife reminded me of her, after which she threw a book at me. With that, I must go.
