Amid the Wreckage

As I run...er....trudge..up and down the cellar stairs in hot pursuit of photos of the no longer at all hot furnace, I find that there are bright sides to be found.

So far it is not all that cold out. (Please send our share of Global Warming now, thanks.)

My little three-breed heifer, Scottie (half-Jersey, one-quarter Holstein, one-quarter milking shorthorn) had a heifer calf by our milking shorthorn bull yesterday. She is a little cutie. The boss and I milked Scottie for the first time this morning and she didn't kick much. That could change, but we didn't have a rodeo this morning at least.

Scottie is just a tiny little thing, takes after the Jersey half of her pedigree I guess, but she goes back to some decent Holstein show cows and has a nice enough udder and pretty correct feet and legs...which don't quite match her very large and excessively hairy head, but what the heck, you can't have everything and she will probably look much better when she sheds out in the spring.

And each fall I bring in my multitude of house plants, including a lot of holiday cacti. Usually I stick them in the parlor, a room we don't use much, and although they bloom, no one sees their flowers.

This year I was in a hurry and they never made it past the living room, which we use as just what it sounds like. Thus the flowers are right there handy to brighten our days...works pretty good too.