This Week

Alan got all of the chisel plowing done and made a good start on the mold board plowing.

Liz met with the nutritionist because the grain for the last two loads has been far too crumbly and didn't stay pelletized. This load smells kind of weird too. Guess there are issues with the pelleting machine at the mill. We will be getting a price adjustment, but I feel sorry for her, because we feed each cow a separate ration, measured by weight and volume...and the weight and volume in a partially pelletized load is all over the place. Each scoop is different. It cost us a bunch of money on the last load as, due to the near impossibility of accurate measurements, we ran out of grain four days early.
Heck, I feel sorry for me too as I have to feed them this morning.

We were milk inspected very thoroughly and did a lot of sweeping down of cobwebs and liming of floors and general tidying up around the place. Also installed a new door on the milkhouse. Expensive, but it looks nice and the old one was...well...old....nice to work in a clean barn, but it would be nicer to have the fences all built.

Dealt with the police so many times we are really getting to know them. Our wires will never be found, but I am not quite as afraid to go to the barn as I was. We can't prove anything and will never know for sure, but some pretty good ideas have been formed about who and how. And our personal deterrent to similar activities in the future is finally in place.

I painted on the turtles and bunnies, got my garden seeds, the boss scratched up the garden nearest the house so it is almost ready to plant. Now it is too wet, but when it dries out the dirt is going to fly, I promise.

Enjoyed the birds, watched the tulips and daffodils begin to bloom and the grass get serious about growing. We had two cows, sisters in fact, that we were letting have the run of the place. They were getting stiff and klutzy and couldn't get up and down in their stalls. They are shut in the barnyard now, as they elected to head back to the sixty-acre lot and hide out one afternoon at milking time....almost a mile away. They were making lots of milk on that lush, green, grass, but we need them to stay home where we can find them...thus until the fences are wired up and good and hot they will be staying home.

And now...it is raining. All that sweet silvery warm weather is over for now and we are back to the monsoons. However, I have read the weather on the blogs of some of our good friends in the west and they are getting sunshine again so our turn should come soon. We have had so much rain in the past three years that we have fields we haven't worked at all in that time span. Alan finally got one of them plowed yesterday. I really hope we can get it planted this year!

And at least we haven't been facing weather challenges like this one.....any time I think my life is tough I take a look at the ranchers on the plains and prairies and know I have it plumb easy.

Stay warm and dry and enjoy the weekend!