The Winter that Waited

The doom hawks were out in force yesterday

Checking in safe from Winter Storm Humbug......

It took until the middle of January for winter to gain any traction, but it is going hard now and looks like a full pull.

I had to push firmly to get the back door open this morning and poor Mack had a puppy asthma attack from breathing the fluff, because the snow was up to the chest of a big Border Collie. A little higher than that on a Jack Russell Terrier but he really couldn't wait for me to shovel a path.

Then it rained and sleeted and now gigantic flakes are falling thick and fast. All styles of winter precipitation while you wait.

Meanwhile Jade is still recovering and will be a long time doing so. Thinking mid-summer. Liz is relief milking on a neighboring dairy. Peggy has a nasty bug and we all feel really sorry for her. The kids bank account got hacked...second one in the family this month. You would think the banks would figure out how to prevent that. Situation normal afu.

Yup. Fun and games in every direction. At least, utterly coincidentally, Becky has the weekend off so the boss doesn't have to drive to town for a bit. Good deal.

The Letter P

Okay, I know..... it's O for Opossum.
But here in the bOOnies we call 'em 'Possums

Perky Peregrine

From yesterdays pursuits

RePeat of 'Possum

Fire and Ice

Burning leftover board ends

Cutting Ice

Ice Saw

Amish Prius

Lonesome Kittyhawks

We went down to the river the other day...we go almost every day. It's worth it when you see at least six, and really probably ten, Bald Eagles all in one place at one time.

Anyhow, as soon as we parked the boss said, "Look at all those cats."

I did and saw two yellow ones, my favorite color of cat btw. There are often cats there, usually yellow or black ones. Someone must have such cats nearby.

But he said, "Look, there are black ones, and yellow ones, and some other kinds too."

What! All I could see were one marmalade and one light golden one. But then the rest emerged from where they were hidden from me by the doorpost of the car. Cats everywhere on the opposite shore of the Schoharie. Eight of them!! At least. One was even Siamese colored.

When I got out of the car to look for birds down at the confluence I could hear them crying and howling. Many of them were right out on the ice. I have to assume that they belong to the black and yellow cat people whomever they are, but they sure didn't think much of the river.

I felt kind of sad for them and hope they had a home to go back to and quickly found their way to it. And that the eagles don't notice them first, in all their bright and lovely colors down there on the cold, silver surface of the river.

Of Priorities and Grocery Bags

When we were struggling dairy farmers, whose world was colored by need versus want, and loving cows and land, our priorities were different.

Boots for people were important but sometimes paying feed bills and having groceries was importanter. Thus when someone's otherwise still  functional rubber barn boot sprang an unplanned leak we took action for traction rather than running to the store for new ones. After all....all that rubber in landfills and all....Sometimes boots that were darned near brand new got leaky. Frustrating indeed.

However, a plastic grocery bag placed over warm socks....or a bread wrapper....bread wrappers work too, although they are kinda weak these days....rendered the boots functional long after the leak began. Sometimes all winter. Bags used in such a manner quickly wore out but we always had new ones to replace them.

Recycling. Farmers do it every day whether it is feeding the cows good stuff, then spreading the result out on the land to grow more good stuff for them, or composting household leavings...it is taken for granted on a farm. I am not saying all farmers put bags in their boots to save them, but I know there are a lot of people hoarding them right now because they use them again and again. 

We have two sacks full in the pantry, saved against various needs. When they run out I guess we will have to buy stuff for those purposes, which I suppose may be the end goal these days...spend, spend, spend. Or maybe bread wrappers will do those jobs until they outlaw those as well.

Meanwhile, I don't think our scattershot governor, spraying new laws willy-nilly and rewriting NY in ink that he calls "Bold", ever had to worry about which bill to pay first or how to get the kitty litter to the curb. Or wet feet either. I am sure if his boots spring a leak someone sees to new ones for him. 

Oh, well, we will adapt. That is something else that farmers do quite well.

Speaking of which, whatever happened to corn based plastics? I once had a wonderful pen made of corn and at the farm shows they gave out....you guess it....bags that were made out of corn plastic rather than petroleum based plastic. Said to be biodegradable and everything.

Research Redux

Evening sky just as it was at Schoharie Crossing the other day

Does it seem as if I am repeating myself a lot lately.....?

First, best news, I was rejected as a juror before I made it five feet into the collecting corral....er....room. To say that that made my day....nay, my entire week....is not saying too much.

We celebrated with a little birding, although new species seem to be pretty thin these days. Lots of Canada Geese though. Lots and lots.

The Farm Side is finally done and sent, so here are a few research links I thought you might enjoy.

Wanna buy a duck

The Duck Guy

Prez at AFBF convention

Wanna buy a duck to support Fonda-Fultonville School FFS? Yeah, go ahead. you know you want a duckie! Personally I want to know how to buy one of the retired ducks. Rubber duckies have always been favorites of mine, and after this event even more so.

Now to play catch-up with the other stuff I need to do.

Another evening, this time the "Noses" also unedited