Althouse: "If you don't like it, don't live in the [expletive] country next to a farm."

February 4, 2014

"If you don't like it, don't live in the [expletive] country next to a farm."

"Those are my cows. We legally butchered them.... We save the heads, we dry them out, we sell them.... It's not illegal to have a cow head on your property...."

50 comments:

Seeing Red said...: There will be a law.; 2/4/14, 12:20 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Who buys these heads? I'm thinking: fans of Georgia O'Keeffe.; 2/4/14, 12:23 PM
cubanbob said...: I'll pass. Country living is not for me.; 2/4/14, 12:26 PM
Hagar said...: "Lilyhammer

"Enn er ikke alle Jomsvikinger døde!"
Even if we have to import them from New York.

If the Norwegians are turning on the gentry P.C.'s, maybe Oregonians (at least the squarehead contingent) will too?; 2/4/14, 12:31 PM
Sorun said...: How are we supposed to judge how objectionable it is without a photo?; 2/4/14, 12:33 PM
Hagar said...: Coyote skulls all in a row look pretty good too.; 2/4/14, 12:37 PM
SteveR said...: I heard them country folk eat them brown eggs and drink milk that comes from cows. Some even vote republican and go to church. And they talk to their neighbor when they have a problem, not writing a sissy email to the paper.; 2/4/14, 12:41 PM
n.n said...: It's a contemporary interpretation of the pro-abortion/choice movement. Is it funded by the NEA?; 2/4/14, 12:42 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: "The cow heads belong to Port of St. Helens Commissioner Colleen DeShazer, who told the Spotlight they were being dried out so they could be sold."

Commissioner Colleen does not sound like an ordinary farmer. Still, in my grandfather's day in cases of cattle deaths by illness he would drag the carcasses out to the road where they would bloat and stink until the dead wagon came to pick them up to cart off.

The rendering plant did this for free. In his later years, he had to leave money for the dead wagon, usually in a jar.

On a drive in the Iowa countryside you might at any time come up on a dead cow along the side of the road and next to it a little jar with money in it.

We often had a cow skull or two around, and one got expropriated by my senior class to put on the class float for the homecoming parade. There were no complaints from the city people (it was a small city of 4,000 people).

I think, though, if you had a whole bunch of cow skulls, the neighbors would have wondered and gossiped what you were up to. I accept Colleen's explanation, even if she may be a bit of a weekend rancher. I wonder who she sells to.; 2/4/14, 12:49 PM
Grimstarr said...: "It's not illegal to have a cow head on your property," he said. "There's no state law or county ordinance to prohibit that." --- Yet; 2/4/14, 12:50 PM
rhhardin said...: Avoid the Kalbskopf when in Vienna.; 2/4/14, 12:59 PM
rhhardin said...: It might be a variety of post turtle.; 2/4/14, 1:00 PM
Anonymous said...: get over it.; 2/4/14, 1:02 PM
CWJ said...: An odd story to be sure. Wish I knew more of the details. Well maybe not all the details.

But Althouse's title reminds me of a yuppy/country conflict near Fort Wayne. As upscale housing additions proliferated outside the city limits, someone finally built one adjacent to a pig farm. For the life of me, I couldn't understand why someone would try to develop there, much less who would would willing to buy and build there. Even so, the residents insisted that it was the pig farm that needed to shut down rather than perhaps that they were idiots to move next door.; 2/4/14, 1:09 PM
Bob Boyd said...: A guy moves from the big city to the country. His nearest neighbor is at least two miles down the road.
One day the city guy is on his porch when the neighbor drives up in his old truck, climbs out and approaches the porch. He's a big, hairy guy with a grizzly beard and ragged work clothes.
He gets right to the point saying, "I'm havin' a party Saturday night. Wanna come?"
The city guy says, "Sure. I 'd like that."
The neighbor says,"Good", turns around and starts back to his truck. But he stops, comes back and says, "Liable to be some drinkin'".
The city guy says, "I'll bring some beers."
The neighbor says "Good" and starts for his truck then comes back again and says, "Liable to be some fightin'"
The city guy says, "I can take care of myself."
The neighbor says, "Good." and moves toward his truck. But he stops again and says, "Liable to be some fuckin'".
The city guy says, "Sounds like a good time. What should I wear?"
The neighbor says, " It don't matter. Just gonna be you and me".; 2/4/14, 1:14 PM
Larry Davis said...: I couldn't get past "Cici Lires"! :); 2/4/14, 1:25 PM
Vince said...: Sorun-try this link

http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/209545-66791-severed-cattle-heads-concern-warren-residents-

There's a link at the end of the story wi
hich is a photo of the heads-not too grisly at all.; 2/4/14, 1:36 PM
traditionalguy said...: Eat mor chikin!

But we will have to chose between a hundred cow heads and a million chicken heads. Hmmm.; 2/4/14, 1:36 PM
Mark said...: For lab specimens, I have let nature clean skeletons before. When you get something large, the smell is incredibly putrid and lasts for weeks.

I am not sure why one would do this in this fashion this person is, except as a giant F you to neighbors.

Probably legal, but if you have smelled this mid don't composition (not as pictured) you would be lucky to keep down your meal.

Much faster and less heinous if you toss them in a tub of water or else use the bugs(after handjob cleaning) like they do in theZoology lab at UW.

This person chose the most obnoxious method possible. I hope no one adds a roadkill skunk to that pile, like I have heard a few country people have repaid neighborhood grudges.; 2/4/14, 1:45 PM
madAsHell said...: I think most of them are sold as hood ornaments for pick-up trucks.; 2/4/14, 1:50 PM
Michael K said...: I liked the Kim Kardashian link just below the piece. sort of fitting to include both extremes.; 2/4/14, 2:01 PM
bleh said...: Let me guess. Some young hipster trustafarian types leave their urban shoebox apartments to move to the country so they can experience a quiet, pastoral life. Everything is peachy until they realize the quiet, pastoral life sometimes involves living near animals that can smell bad.

Oh, and is there no place where they can they get a decent cup of coffee?; 2/4/14, 2:11 PM
traditionalguy said...: Maybe these farmers are Muslims and they believed the cows were Jewish cows.; 2/4/14, 2:11 PM
SGT Ted said...: He probably did it to remind the yuppies where they really live.

There is a variety of city liberal that likes to relocate up here in Humboldt CA because of the country and then complains about country smells and seeks to propose smell ordinances.

The locals and transplants that 'get it' then tell them that if they don't want country smells they should move back to wherever it was they lived before.; 2/4/14, 2:14 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: Or people who buy homes near a military air base and then complain about the noise ...; 2/4/14, 2:22 PM
Anonymous said...: classic NIMBY

same clowns move under the approach path to the Airport, then want the airlines to do stupid things like chop back from take-off power too early to avoid noise, not understanding that sooner or later that increases the chance of them ending up under a 747 with icy wings...; 2/4/14, 2:23 PM
David said...: We have lots of dead cows here in SC. They are cut up in small pieces and wrapped in cellophane. People actually pay money to eat this stuff around here.; 2/4/14, 2:25 PM
David said...: "Who buys these heads?"

Mia Farrow? Woody Allen?; 2/4/14, 2:53 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: But Althouse's title reminds me of a yuppy/country conflict near Fort Wayne. As upscale housing additions proliferated outside the city limits, someone finally built one adjacent to a pig farm.

Called coming to the nuisance. Normally, that would mean that the new neighbors would have so put up with the nuisance.

Likely the reason that they moved in next to the pig farm was that the land was cheap, due to its location. And, maybe the wind was blowing the other way the day that they showed up to look the property over. Nothing new here - for years no one would build downwind from the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, due to the possibility of plutonium in the air. Nasty stuff. Then they did, and finally got the plant shut down, and the location properly remediated. Those people that everyone thought were risking cancer and two headed children ended up making money as a result.; 2/4/14, 3:47 PM
Beldar said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/4/14, 4:00 PM
Beldar said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/4/14, 4:04 PM
Beldar said...: FWIW, such is also the law in Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, according to King Joffrey. Just ask Sansa Stark.

(The linked video clip may be inappropriate for younger viewers; the extremely sensitive; Warren, Oregon, resident Cici Lires; or those just starting to read or watch Game of Thrones and who want to avoid spoilers.); 2/4/14, 4:06 PM
Lucien said...: Well, I bet the next time a bunch of cows is about to break into that place they'll think twice.; 2/4/14, 4:28 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: This is life in the country. Get used to it. People move in from the cities and immediately start complaining that it isn't just LIKE where they came from. Pick pick pick. They want to change everything. They don't like the local yokels. They don't like the sports or leisure activities. If you didn't like where you were before, why do you want to change where you moved to to be something other than what it is?

Coyote skulls all in a row look pretty good too

Last March while on a Sunday drive. There was a whole row of these guys on the fence. I thought....what a horrible waste...You could make a nice coat from all of those.; 2/4/14, 4:42 PM
pst314 said...: My favorite "yuppies meet country" story:

Ultra-liberals move to country so they can have room to keep sled dogs.

They complain that there are too many beer-drinking, country-western-listening, Nascar-loving, snowmobile-driving, Sarah Palin types.

Neighbor sells farm to developer, who builds some houses.

New neighbors complain about the sled dogs barking.

Yuppie couple annoyed at the noise complaints.

Yuppie couple cannot see anything amusing in how they disliked their neighbors vs. how the new folks dislike their dogs.; 2/4/14, 6:13 PM
Wince said...: Beware, the "Haunted Cow".; 2/4/14, 7:13 PM
Michael K said...: "There is a variety of city liberal that likes to relocate up here in Humboldt CA because of the country and then complains about country smells and seeks to propose smell ordinances. "

It doesn't have to be the city. A guy just moved his chili factory from California to Texas because new neighbors complained about the smell. California hates jobs.; 2/4/14, 8:17 PM
Cliff said...: Don't Californicate Oregon!; 2/4/14, 8:19 PM
RecChief said...: "There's no state law or county ordinance to prohibit that."

No but there will be soon. Another example of this kind of thing. A midwestern state has a national guard base, close to the capital city, but when the Camp was built it was a few miles outside of the city. As the decades go by, the town follows the river, eventually growing around 3 sides of the Camp. The civilian residents who have built $500,000 homes right next to a base, and less than a mile from the firing ranges bitch incessantly about the noise from night fire exercises, tank movement training at night, daytime rifle qualification on the weekends, and so on. But they all knew the base was there when they built their houses.; 2/4/14, 8:33 PM
JoyD said...: Yeah, but she could line up these dead cowheads along her driveway. But no, she wants them out along the road. I think her message is pretty clear. I also think she's probably a sociopath.; 2/4/14, 8:50 PM
Jupiter said...: Blogger Cliff said...

Don't Californicate Oregon!

Way too late for worrying about that.; 2/4/14, 9:44 PM
Anonymous said...: They get even more upset when farmers spread over their fields the production of the other end of the cow.; 2/4/14, 10:34 PM
Revenant said...: A guy just moved his chili factory from California to Texas because new neighbors complained about the smell

If you're talking about Huy Fong Foods, they haven't moved to Texas so far as I know. Some Texas politicians encouraged them to, but that's it so far.

You're correct that the California government seems determined to destroy all successful businesses in the state, though.; 2/5/14, 1:43 AM
Paul said...: Don't these people know where their burgers come from?

Next thing you know they will be shocked to see a chicken butchered.; 2/5/14, 8:28 AM
pst314 said...: JoyD "I also think she's probably a sociopath."

Based on what?

There is nothing in the linked UPI article to support your assertion.

Belonging to a subculture that has different customs than those of white urban liberals does not make one a sociopath. ...Or are the multicultural imperatives of diversity and respect only for those who are just like you?; 2/5/14, 8:43 AM
JoyD said...: Maybe I should have been more specific about ASPD.; 2/5/14, 12:28 PM
JoyD said...: Here's a story, sorry but true, from my town, a an old village grown into a burb, or more accurately enveloped by growing exurbia:

Two neighbors didn't like each other. One man commented on the questionable taste of some yard fixture or other, which of course he should have kept to himself. The other man was so disproportionately offended that he painted his LARGE house BRIGHT LIME GREEN! It stayed that way for years. Whenever I drove by I was again amused, but it was sad for both of those guys, to have to live with their anger.

All the neighbors planted more trees.

But the green house painter, ASPD.; 2/5/14, 12:37 PM
SGT Ted said...: ...Or are the multicultural imperatives of diversity and respect only for those who are just like you?

Those imperatives demand the there be people of many different skin colors, sexualities and ethnicities that all think the same things.; 2/5/14, 1:58 PM
pst314 said...: JoyD, your comments are stunningly hateful.; 2/5/14, 2:53 PM
pst314 said...: "Those imperatives demand the there be people of many different skin colors, sexualities and ethnicities that all think the same things."

Embrace the Gleichschaltung!; 2/5/14, 2:54 PM