Got nuttin' today. It is 8 degrees and sunny. The world is coated in an icy shield about three inches thick. Went back to wearing old sneakers to work as it is impossible to walk in hard plastic. It is good to see the sun shine just the same.
However, other folks have done better than I and have had interesting things to say this past week...
Liz has a good solid list that will help you know whether or not you are a dairy farmer.
Willow Witch has a story that will bring tears to your eyes and shivers up your spine.
If you are reader who links to me...and I don't link to you...and you would like me to link to you, please leave me a note in the comments and I will happily rectify that situation. Thanks
The soft garump of a sleepy green frog out in the garden pond. Since the pond is covered with platter sized lily pads (and lots of blossoms this summer) we rarely see the little fish However, the frogs are always there to add a bit of action to the watery still life canvas. I love it when their calls, either emphatic when the sun has warmed them up or just a gentle gurgle on this early, foggy day, remind me that they think my homemade pond is close enough to the real thing to suit their herpielittle selves.
I like:
Spending a couple of hours yesterday using a Barnes and Noble gift certificate given for my upcoming birthday by my delightful middle brother and wife. What joy, what joy....with a fledgling birder joining the happy pastime of counting and checking and observing the flying wild things, new field guides were in order. We have what we are mostly positive is a willow flycatcher living next to the driveway. When we looked it up in my old Birds of North America, which I have used all my life, Willow wasn't an option for a flycatcher. Time to catch up with the changes in taxonomy (dang those lumpers and splitters). So a new Birds of, a Sibley's, which I haven't used before, and a new Peterson's. Cool huh? Peck's Lake here we come, armed and dangerous with Latin names and new field marks and youthful enthusiasms galore. I like that. Now if my darling baby son will find my Kaufman's, which vanished a couple weeks ago when he was in charge...
I like:
Knowing that camp is coming. I feel guilty leaving LIz and Ralph with so much to do. There is enough work for all five of us never to catch up because it has rained until it is ridiculous. Flood watches every day. Flood warnings every night. Fat, leaking thunderstorms, lumbering up the valley, dropping inches every time they breath. I look forward to a too short lumpy bed, cheap novels, listening to loons languidly laughing. Board games. Catching six inch rock bass. Watching the sun rise over the water. I feel guilty, but that time of recharging and reordering is overdue and needed. I like knowing that it is so so close.
I like:
Talking with all of you. You add such color and texture to the fabric of all our lives. Even though you don't hear the boss talking too much here, even he loves us reading to him what is going on in your worlds. He comes out sometimes to see your pictures (especially all you farmers.....especially when it is machinery-thanks for the combines, Jeffro). We talk about your babies, both bovine and human. Your cats, dogs, snakes and fish. Birds and weather in states far away and jokes from England that brighten the day. Thanks!
Jeffro was kind enough to nominate me for a blog award and to say the nicest things I have heard in many a moon. If you haven't yet visited his blog, check it out. You will find well-written posts on any number of subjects from driving a truck to the right kind of politics. (We met via People of the Gun and I am darned glad of it.) I especially enjoy reading about life on the road from a trucker's point of view and hunting stories and tales of Jeffro's younger days.
I don't do so well at this nominating and all, not wanting to be limited in my choices or hurt anybody's feelings. I read pretty much all the people in the blog roll for various reasons ranging from great writing, exciting pictures to wondering what will happen next. Give 'em a try if you get the chance.
Has been given a rather special honor. We are pleased and proud. Read about it here.
I have also hired her to move Northview to the new Blogger template. I simply don't have time to move all my links and gadgets, but I am sick of Blogrolling being so unreliable. I like to read most of the blogs I link to and it is frustrating to never see them in the sidebar. Anyhow, I am sure for a couple days until she gets it all straightened out it will look a little strange here, but please be patient with us. Thanks!
Arrgggh!!! I have most of my friends in my bookmarks menu too, but I normally use my own blog roll to read everyone's blog whenever I have time. The update feature is real handy.
According to word in the Blogosphere the site was hacked. Frustrating indeed. It may take a while for me to get around to say hi to all my friends and mentors,,,,and most frustrating of all, I made a new friend, to whom I would like to link, but my linky thingy is all gone!
Anyhow, you can still visit Life on a Colorado Farm.....and when Blogrolling is working again I will put up a proper link.
I can't tell you how much I value the online community. Folks that I have met through blogging and other online activities have offered friendship, a sympathetic ear when things are hard, perspective when things seem hard but really aren't, and a never ending wealth of humor and great photography every day of the year. The whole family has had the opportunity to get to know what every day life is like all over the USA and Canada and to enjoy wildlife, ranch life and ordinary life of all kinds. Folks I have "met" here at my desk in the dining room have been kind enough to help me with every kind of thing from starting fires with wet wood to doing a better job of taking pictures myself (I found the button, Steve).
However, I have never, until Sunday, actually met a real live blogger. A while ago though I mentioned that I was having a hard time finding chickens. Since Empire Livestock closed the small livestock section of the Tuesday auction it is hard to just pick up a couple extra hens. When I said something about this phenomenon on a blog I regularly read the owner offered to give me some chicks.
I didn't have the slightest trepidation about saying yes. You can tell from her writing that this is a very special lady and I couldn't wait to meet her in person. Sunday I dressed in my best farmer chic (blue cotton work shirt and jeans worn so thin and soft they feel fuzzy) and Alan, Beck, the boss and I headed out. We met at the Tractor Supply near the kids college. There we found out that Teri is every bit as nice in person as she seems on her blog. And the chickens are the cutest things you can imagine. Becky has taken right a hold of caring for them and keeps them in this cage in the hen house days and in a box in the kitchen nights. They are probably fledged enough to be out all the time, but with chickens being such a scarce commodity we are taking no chances with them. It is interesting to sit in the kitchen at night and listen to them twitter to themselves as they fall asleep. With papa wren on the front porch singing his babies to sleep and them in the kitchen it is sort of like surround sound with birds.
So thanks, Teri, for the poultry, it was super to meet you. And double thanks for the introduction to the local farm version of Craig's List....(now there is an addictive pastime! The boss and I went through all the ads yesterday morning and just had a ball...) It was real neat to actually meet another blogger. Maybe someday I will get to see others in person....you never know.
Why not? It's raining and cold and grey and gloomy. You can sit at your desk all warm and comfy and range across our great nation (and Canada) adventuring, dreaming, laughing and crying. If these don't keep you busy long enough, there are more great folks and exciting places in the blog roll. Enjoy!
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