MY LIFELONG RELATIONSHIP WITH MANURE!

While running along side Forrest Gump (one of my cinematic heroes), a truth seeker had to jump a huge pile of manure. Forrest said, "It happens". Thus one of the 60's slogans was born-____Happens! This is a forerunner of my post today concerning the manure/fertilizer that I have endured in my life.

One of my earliest experiences with manure was during the years that we were involved with 4H animals. Daddy thought it would be a good "Growing Experience" for Robbie and I to be involved in growing sheep and then later steers. The one good lesson that I came away from that with is that I HOPE to never have to shovel another shovel full of manure again. For some strange reason, I was assigned the morning feeding schedule. This meant REALLY early hours and feeding and watering the livestock before school. After school Robbie fed the animals, but the stalls had to be cleaned out. This meant a shovel, a wheelbarrow & a compost pile. I was not sad when the day finally came that we gave up the back yard farm.

After Daddy died, we had a couple of pugs. These pugs were not easy to house train. Momma was a fastidious house keeper -via her personal housekeeper, ME. When the dogs had accidents, guess WHO got to clean that mess up. My next experience with manure.

Probably the next step along this sewerage strewn road was baby diapers. Anyone who has EVER raised a baby will tell you the delight of FINALLY getting that sweet little bundle of joy potty trained. Those diapers get harder to change as that little cherub gets older and the day that chore is finally over is not a bad day.

The last "Manure" episode I vividly remember was with Camille's rabbit. The "Rabbit" is a whole other post, but suffice it to say that they are PROLIFIC poopers. The rabbit's wire cage was in the tree house. This means the fertilizer fell on the ground below the cage. Since "My Baby" was playing out there, I had to get a shovel (I have a love/hate relationship with the shovel) scoop it up and throw it into the flower beds. On a positive note, my flowers NEVER looked better. For such a small animal, WELL you get the point!

Manure in our lives takes many forms-physical as well as figurative. The figurative manure is MUCH more difficult to deal with than the physical. While spending part of my life dealing with the physical-the figurative has by far the greatest challenge.

Most interesting is my latest adventure in the fertilizer/manure field. I have been doing a little day trading during these volatile market conditions. I have come across a company call IPI-Intrepid Potash Inc.. I discovered them while researching Potash Inc. Potash is an expensive stock, but IPI seems to follow the same graft lines, but is a much less expensive stock. I have bought and sold IPI 5 times this week and made a profit each time.

All this to say that perhaps -after all these years-the fertilizer/manure in my life is actually paying off. It does indeed happen and if you can make a little profit on it while it is happening-all the better.