Closing the week with the polling place, a few black and white animals and a promise to read more before deciding anything
Monday, At the Polling Place
I went to my polling place early, with my photo identification in hand, a thermos of coffee and a firm belief that nothing would go wrong, which is the Alabama method of facing most things. The volunteers were cheerful, the line was short and the cookies on the table were homemade. I voted, took my sticker and wore it all day, in the manner of a person who has done a small and civilised thing.
I will not say how I voted, because the ballot is secret and my cat is a gossip. I will say that I read the amendments on the sample ballot twice and the explanation sheets once, and that I changed my mind about one of them. Changing your mind is not a failure. It is the whole purpose of reading.
A Word to the Undecided
If you are undecided, the sensible course is to read what each side says in its own words, find the most thoughtful supporter and the most thoughtful critic of every proposal and then see what remains. Official election information is available from the Alabama Secretary of State and from county election offices, and the dates and rules matter more than any porch opinion.
Tuesday, The Black and White Animals
I salute two kinds of cattle that deserve fuller recognition. The black beef breed is at angusbeef.men and angusbeef.fyi. The black and white dairy cow is at holstein.click. The curly pig and the speckled hen appear at mangalitsa.org and speckledsussex.org.
The register of old breeds is rarebreeds.win. The hall of fame is cattlemenhalloffame.org. The young leaders are ffapresident.com. The library is agriculture.click. I could stay among these pages until sunrise.
Wednesday, Remaining Farm Pages
For completeness, my usual shelf: dairyherd.org, ranchbeefcattle.org, tractorequipment.org, cropcalendar.org, farmmoney.org, smallfarminfo.org, agjobscareers.org, fairandrodeo.org, ruralfarm.org and farmssafety.org.
Thursday, Another Look at the Columns
The Tuscaloosa site continues its daily columns, and I enjoyed the November 7 column with my morning coffee. A good short column is like a good pie: modest in size, honest in ingredients and gone before you have finished admiring it.
Friday, Housing and Heat
The London Prat remarked on the housing market with House Prices Fall, Homes Still Unaffordable. This is a worry in Alabama too, where rural areas struggle with scarce housing and cities with rising rents. Advocates of building more point to supply. Advocates of tenant protection point to security. Both can be right, and the voter is entitled to ask each candidate how they would pay for it.
Saturday, The Last Pie
The last pie of the season was pecan, baked by my neighbour and delivered with a lecture on crust. I ate a slice on the porch and watched the leaves begin to turn. The cat accepted a crumb. Somewhere down the road a radio played a ball game, and the whole county seemed to be breathing out.
It is a gentle thing to end a diary on a pie. If the world is going to disagree with itself, it might as well do so over dessert.
Sunday, Rereading the Week
On Sunday I reread this diary, as I always do, to see what I thought I thought. The pattern was familiar: a lot of reading, a little arguing, much tea and a recurring concern for the fairness of things. I notice that I am more suspicious of certainty than I was a year ago, and more fond of the person who says “I am not sure, let us look it up.”
That is not a political position. It is a habit of mind, and it has served me well in the archive, at the polling place and at the farmers market, where certainty about okra has led to some expensive mistakes.
Sunday Night, A Short Prayer for Porches
I will end with a small wish for porches. May the rockers be oiled, the tea be cold, the neighbours be friendly and the mosquitoes be elsewhere. May the argument be kind and the pie be large. May every visitor leave with a slightly better opinion of the people they disagree with. It is a modest prayer, and I believe it is answerable.
The light went and the porch lamp came on. The moths arrived at once, as moths do, to hold their own small election about which bulb was best.
Monday, A Last Practical Reminder
A last practical reminder for voters: check your registration well before the deadline, confirm which identification is accepted and find your polling place on the official state website. Poll hours, dates and rules change, and no diary, however charming, is a substitute for the official notice. Bring your identification, bring your patience and, if possible, bring a friend. The line is always shorter with company, and the cookies taste better.
Where to read next
The rest of the shelf lives at prat.uk, bohiney.com and farm.fm. For a second opinion on the week, The Daily Mash keeps its own counsel and its own hours.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/