The Cat Problem

ByJames Butler 
"Judge not ..." - Matthew 7:1

A traveling chicken farmer as tall as his Oklahoma plains, Gene always told ranch yarns and poultry raising tips as I served home Communion in my last church. Confined then most of his days to a recliner and cable TV, his mind rambled freely the cattle and chicken ranches under the endless skies of Oklahoma and Texas. Gene held my ear as I planned our first chicken coop on our 7.5 acre ranch in Rimrock, Arizona. Gene gave me tips on how to bulletproof our henhouse from coyotes which hunt in packs.

“One day I visited an old farmer,” drawled Gene, ” He pulled back the door, and we walked into his wood chicken barn. To my surprise the old farmer kept all his chickens in cages chained a few feet off the ground. And below the cages wandered a bunch of cats.”

Observant, “I see you’ve got your chickens all up in cages? Is that to protect them from the cats?”

“Oh no,” said the farmer matter of fact, “The cages protect the chickens from the rattlesnakes.”

“What are the cats for?”

“Oh, the cats keep the rattlesnakes down.”

Our solution to fix a problem … may create a problem that doesn’t exist.

What we considered a problem today offered us the solution disguised.

Pastor Jim

Tracks around our 15 chicken henhouse in Rimrock, AZ. Coyotes?
Game cam captured the midnight guest. See middle left image. Thanks, Gene, for the tips to bulletproof our henhouse. Did you spot the bobcat?

Similar Posts

  • The Constitution Deported

    ByJames Butler

    The U.S. Constitution was deported as Trump’s ICE Gestapo defied The Supreme Court in refusing to return a wrongly deported man. Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” was written by “Obie” Benson, founding member and bass singer of Motown’s Four Tops, who witnessed the police brutal beating of Vietnam protesters in Berkeley on “Bloody Thursday” on…

  • Deportation of the Innocence

    ByJames Butler

    And, lo, the Holy Mother swaddled him in an American flag, for he was a U.S. Citizen. “The Christ Child forgives those bringing gifts hate and deportation“ “The Holy Mother Citizen of All Lands” They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick…

  • Middle Class Now 3rd Class

    ByJames Butler

    Neither political party dares reveal the US middle class is broke, finished off by medical bankruptcies and depleted IRA’s. Politicians promise empty economic Amway-like schemes. Pastor Jim The 401(k) plan was never meant to be a mainstream pension plan and is a poor substitute for one. It’s a voluntary program that was intended to supplement…

  • Red Velvet Rope Economics

    ByJames Butler

    The Failed Plan that Separates the Ultra Wealthy from the Riffraff of the Middle Class The Great Equalizer My wife and I honeymooned at New York-New York casino, where we built some lifetime memories in that once great Las Vegas. The cold North winds of time have blasted a deep chill on the Vegas strip….