Yesterday

This cold weather seemed so far away.

Now it looks as though it's back to say.

So relieved by yesterday........

Yeah, it was sixty yesterday and I didn't care a crumb whether it was anthropocentric global warming, a delayed January thaw, or just a fluke. It was wonderful. Went outdoors in the mud luscious and puddle wonderful as often as I could.

We have all been moaning and groaning about how hard it is to get anything done...no energy...just want to crash and burn all the time.

I can tell you now it is weather-related. A few hours of warm and sunny and the work almost (but not quite) did itself. Had a lovely phone call from the boss's dear aunt, who is just a huge favorite of mine, which added a certain special something. She is such a sweet person.

Back to cold with wind, but the nice weather was a reminder that better days are coming......and I don't think I smell like a pea cock any more, but maybe I have just gotten used to it.

Global Warming

We hazit.

Or we did for a grand total of around twenty hours. Temps in the fifties and howling winds. It felt like March. Now we are back in the deep freeze (or deepish anyhow) at 12 and feeling like just like January.

The warm wind did dump a goodly part of the snow off the barn roofs...which is good.

I looked out the window just after breakfast and saw heifers running toward the house...which is not good. Snow fell on the roof of their pen, spooked them, and they climbed up on a pile of frozen feed and jumped out. Came right over to visit us. Of course, as is nearly always the case when somebody gets out, the boss was gone, so with the help of whomever hadn't left for work or school, I chased cows in my house shoes.

Again.

For today it is cold and windy and the windows are all iced up. Global warming is just a distant memory. As Alan always says, I do my share. I drive an SUV (nothing less will do the driveway). So where is my share of global warming, anthropocentric or otherwise?

A second calf was born yesterday to one of Alan's cows, Verona. Both of yesterdays new ones are bulls.

Slim Pickins' and Fat Pickers

"Hold my beer, watch this!"

Please to clickie

I was wrapped up in a blanket, freezing and snuggling in my chair when the boss began to give me a play by play of the wild turkeys in the rose bushes on the edge of the lawn. Finally it became irresistible to get up, get the camera and get some documentation of the crazy things these birds do in winter. They are plumb hungry. Here is a video of two of the dozen or so that came in, tight rope walking on the twigs as they pick rose hips.

Visitors

There were many yesterday. (Most of these photos were taken at the full extent of every bit of digital and optical zoom I could come up with so they aren't the greatest.)

One visitor left while I was running for the camera. He or she was right up at the edge of the lawn. I saw large, fuzzy ears between the branches of a clump of box elders. I was doing the dishes....and looking out the window over the sink. The ears twitched back and forth in a display of great alertness. At first I thought I was seeing a very short deer.

However then the critter moved out into the open, its thick, puffy tail so heavy with fur that it looked like an effort to hold it up out of the snow.

A red fox with the plushest fur I have ever seen, hunting in broad daylight. He kept looking up the little box elders and sniffing the bark. Wonder what he was finding there.

We are Awake Now

Magnum

You have probably read of all the barn collapses all over the Northeast. There have been hundreds of them, many cattle, calves and chickens have been killed, horses trapped and at least a couple of people have lost most of their machinery....all kinds of horrible stuff going on.

There has just been a tremendous amount of snow and then late last week it rained and sleeted on top of it, causing many buildings to fail. It is so sad for all the families that have suffered these losses.

So far we have been fortunate. Most of our roofs are very high, but they are steel and steep, both good. The guys have shoveled off the lower ones already to keep them safe.

However, last night we were milking when a tremendous, thunderous, long, rolling boom shook the barn. The cows panicked and scrambled for footing. We ran around like chickens chasing corn kernels.

Up to the mow, out to the barnyard. Round and round we hurried, looking for what was happening. There was nothing to see though. All was well. It was just tons and tons of snow sliding off the newer part of the barn. No harm done.

All through milking it kept doing that, as one roof after another let off bits of their encumberment. It was not boring.

And I am ready for that to be over with I can tell you. Oddly, after the first couple of cascades the cows paid no attention.

Back in the day when we still had horses they loved to stand and soak up the sun along the dark wall of the old heifer barn. Every now and then in the winter though they would throw up their heads and bolt, seemingly at nothing. We knew then that in a few seconds the snow would slip loose from the roof and come crashing down where they had been standing. Must be they heard it begin to come loose and knew enough to run. Of course Magnum was aways in the bunch and he was a real smart old guy.

Blank

And cold, but hopeful. Yeah, that about says it.

We Have Met the Enemy

.....and I hafta admit....he is kinda pretty.

Color it Cold

Sun on Snow

Better Days are Coming

Yeah, it is storming...again... For the most part for the past few weeks we have just caught the edges of the big storms that have pummeled the region. However it looks like this one is going to wallop us. Got up to hard, sleety stuff that nicely fits the old adage, "Snow like meal, snow a great deal." You can barely see that it is snowing, but you sure can hear it. I am sending Alan off to school early, as the Blue Bomber is having power issues and I imagine the roads are going to be a mess.

It is still pretty dark, but I hear cardinals chipping and chinking at the feeder, another indication that we have some real weather on the way. They are usually quite a bit later coming in....like about three hours. And the feeders are almost empty even though I filled them late yesterday afternoon.

We have to get out and get done what we can before it gets any worse. We feed from Ag bags, so the snow is an issue...The boss will be clearing driveways as it is tanker day too. Probably won't be much of a fun day for anybody.

So, let us think of spring.

In a few weeks the first crocuses will stick their pointy little purple and yellow noses out through the ice under the kitchen window. In a few weeks the first red-winged blackbirds will echo water whistle songs from the trees at the edge of the old horse pasture. Grackles will plunge stiletto beaks into the pile of lingering seed hulls under the feeder, rapacious raiders that they are. It is the only time all year that I am glad to see them. With them will come all the little not too far migrants, the birds you might see in winter or then again might not. Assorted sparrows mostly.

In a few weeks the bark on the willow trees will turn to greeny-gold and they will stand out like beacons in the woods across the river. Poplars will become pewter candlesticks and gleam gently in their groups. Maples will put on pink spring buds and show themselves among the inky evergreens as well.

The chickadees will change their songs to the spring version and the breathy whistles of the titmice will commence.

In between time, sometime, the maple syrup run will start. usually along about the time that you might see snow rollers and blue ice on the ledges by the sugar bush. Here's hoping for a good run this year, with lots of fine, sweet sap for boiling.

Am I ready for all that? You betcha. Alas those few weeks are usually very, very long ones. Winter trudges along on the slowest snow shoes in creation, flinging weather in every direction. I can't say that I like it much.

I have heard many times from many folks that if I don't like winter I shouldn't live in the Great Northeast. Unfortunately this is where I was born and raised and I lack the initiative or adventuresome spirit to move. (Although it is darned tempting sometimes.)

Thus until green time arrives I will whine and complain and post pictures from the archives of the good stuff...and visit all those great bloggers from the warm places in the world to revel in their beaches and waves and sunshine.

Stay warm!

I'm in the Corner of Your Jukebox

Another pic of that sky Saturday...I took quite a few

Hibernating........

Or I wish I was. What could be worse than going in the barn on a twenty-something below morning and finding a flood? (Gracie's water bowl AGAIN. It has been rebuilt from the inside out several times...what the heck is wrong with it?)

Frozen water pipes in the milk house....broken in at least four places. Water spraying everywhere, into delicate electronic controls, all over the floor creating an ice floe....What a mess! Frozen stable cleaners too.

What could be worse than all that? Frozen water pipes on just about every farm in the region so we are still waiting for the fix-it guys, who are working crazy overtime fixin' it all. They were on the way here when somebody's vacuum pump succumbed to the cold and that, rightly, had priority. We slogged all day....just getting the most basic of chores done. Kinda, sorta done at least. Ate supper at ten last night.

And as soon as the boss gets up and Liz gets here we will get back at it.

On the bright side it is supposed to get to thirty today...above that is....

We Are Protected

With lots of salt on the door sill. Although it isn't sea salt, but just plain old table salt. When I went to let Nick out this morning, the back door was frozen shut. Picture a border collie who really has to GO...but the door won't budge. It wasn't pretty. I thought that snow had blown up on the porch, as it was a windy, wild one last night. However, ice had built up on the wooden sill and sealed the screen door solid.

I beat and kicked it until the dog could shoot out as if fired from a cannon and got out the salt.

Guess I am as ready as I am going to be for another freezing day of things breaking and men cranking around like their butts were on fire. Tractors that won't start. Chains on the skid steer breaking. Flat tires and broken bearings on the feed cart......Ah, I just love winter.

However, I discovered an odd thing yesterday. For years, at least once a year, I have washed nasty black film off the three 4'X8' living room windows. I love those windows for watching wildlife, birds, the river, the sky...it is like living on the edge of the outdoors.

However, washing them is an absolutely miserable job involving either a ladder or cloths tied to a broom and moving lots of plants and furniture. They were looking pretty grim yesterday and we are trying to clean up a bit for prospective company, so I thought to undertake the Stygian task. For some reason I thought to try to removing the gunk with a dry towel rather than liquid cleaner etc. And voila! They sparkled. (or at least they sparkled enough to suit me). Happy dance and all. Having them clean makes the whole room look better.

*****Anybody have any good ideas for what I can use to fill in those bullet holes? They were caulked with some kind of hard stuff like window putty but it is all falling out and the breeze is somewhat less than necessary this time of year.

Frigid Friday

Brrr! As are several others among our favorite bloggers, I am looking for a January thaw. I hate to say it, but I don't think we are going to get one though. We moved animals yesterday making room for Zinnia's Whirlhill Kingpin daughter to have a stall in the milking barn.

She is now in my dear Rosie's stall and Rosie is up next to Boston in a tie stall. Frankly I hated putting her there because Boston's name really should begin with a "B" like it does, but end in "TCH". However, men have their agendas and sometimes their priorities are different than those of women.

Boston likes to claim the water bowl as her personal property and not let the animal next to her use it. This hasn't been too big a problem with big cows tied next to her, but Rose is only a yearling. Of course she is the granddaughter of Bayberry and the great granddaughter of Balsam, two of the biggest, toughest, meanest (to other cows that is) animals that we have, so maybe she will hold her own. If she has trouble the boss is going to drop her down a new water bowl that Boston can't reach. However, she is my very favorite among my animals and probably the best I own. I want her to be okay. I want her to go to the shows this summer maybe.......

Quiet in the Valley

My favorite gold finch picture ever.

White-crowned sparrow, still here with friends

Why are the seeds below the perch?

Somebody needs to fill this feeder!

It is so still this morning. The smoke from the stove doesn't know which way to go. Few cars and trucks on the Thruway, you can hear them creaking in the cold, only a crow or two and one lonesome chickadee calling. I believe the river is finally frozen over, as I haven't heard or seen a goose in days. Bet they are down by the bridge now.

There were quite a few birds around the other day though....and while I was out sneaking around photographing them, the kids were photographing me through the window. Hopefully no one knows how to get that pic off the phone though.

Ladies Who Lay

Can't Complain much about the weather...cold and blustery here, but we are warmer and have lots less snow than many of our friends to the west and north. Thus we will keep our whining confined to the kitchen when we are layering on the wool socks and vests and over shirts, because compared to Alberta and SoDak we have nothing to whine about....but it is still miserable to get dressed for the weather we do have.

Once you actually get out in it, it isn't all that bad. Kinda nice this morning really, after the sun came up. I caught the idiot rooster WD yesterday and put him in the coop. The head guy immediately started pounding on him, but I think he will be okay.

Found the first egg of the year when I went out to feed yesterday. Delighted that the ladies decided to start to lay. We only have four hens, but eggs are most welcome.

The lonesome and amazingly tame white-crowned sparrow is still showing up at the feeders. Today he brought three friends. One of them is quite inventive and figured out how to get its great big self balanced on the tube feeder while snatching a seed. Pretty funny to watch.

Once again I am having computer difficulties, so posts might be late or absent, and comments answered more sporadically than I like...please bear with me, I am trying to get things straightened out.

Harbingers of What?

"This is a good time of year to be snug in the barn," Rose Magnolia

Yesterday we put the heifers up the hill so they wouldn't repeat Tuesday's adventure when the milk tanker picked up. (Someone insisted...might have been me.) While I was standing in the snowy sunshine being a fence, I bird watched....one of the best perks of this job is being able to bird watch while working....chickadees in the calf yard, starlings down in the barn eaves, tree sparrows and dark-eyed juncos working through the bushes. A gold finch sitting boldly in the tip of a box elder branch, soaking up the sun much like I was. I glanced up at a flock of what I thought were starlings, winging west in a hurry.

Wait a minute! White britches, russet breasts, chocolate brown bodies hurtling by...a whole double decade of winter robins right over my head. I thought I heard one in the honey locust last week, but I dismissed it as a downy woodpecker. I know quite a number of them winter over up here in chilly northern climes, but I am always delighted to see them.

Sun

It is warm enough to shed all jackets and sunny. Been out doing small animal chores and feeding stuff with no hat, no gloves, just soaking up the sun. Thank you to all our friends to the west for sending us this wonderful weather!

Hope You are Safe and Warm and Out of the Weather

Looks like this storm is walloping a lot of folks on the East Coast and I do hope you are safely out of it.

Our Christmas bird count is today.....don't know why it had to be on a weekday, but it isn't me who gets to decide. Still pitch dark out here and will be for quite a while yet, but it doesn't look like we got any snow. Yet. Howling a gale, but no snow.

No idea what to expect in the county to the north, but I do know I wish the count had been yesterday. Birds were out in huge numbers, emptied the feeders shortly after noon. Saw a sharp shinned hawk while filling the stove....probably lured in by the throng at the feeders. I think we have the largest population of chickadees I have ever seen and the white-crowned sparrow is still hanging around. Tons of gold and house finches, titmice, juncos, field sparrows, tree sparrows, and the other usual feeder birds each day.

We will be starting latish on the count, because this is not our morning off, but got to get milking in a minute. Stay warm!

Randomly Yours

Winter

Yep, the white-crowned sparrow still hasn't read the manual on migrating in a timely fashion

Flooding

Yeah, we were wishing Noah would bring by some equipment on Saturday. We had the annual family Christmas party in the afternoon, so of course when we got to the barn that morning we found a flood of biblical proportions. Lucky, who is indeed lucky, all things considered, broke her water bowl right off.....which left water, for which we are incidentally required to pay at double the local rate, flowing freely.

Apparently all night. One stable cleaner is level so the water can be run right into the spreader.

The other goes up to go out and water, although it wonderful stuff in the right place and time, refuses to flow uphill. There was so much water that both our little sump pumps turned up their toes. Alan rebuilt one several times before it finally gave up completely.

The women milked while the men moved water and wet, ruined feed and calves that needed new, dry stalls.

Despite all we made it to the party and weren't even the last to arrive. It was nice. Got to meet the new baby and hug everybody at least twice and eat more good food than should be legal. The barn is still soggy and now the spreader has ice in the bottom and won't run, but we will get through this, don't worry. Better days are coming. Here's hoping that seven day forecast has a few hours well above freezing in store for us. Otherwise we will be piling the you-know-what for a while.