(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({ google_ad_client: "ca-pub-1163816206856645", enable_page_level_ads: true }); Northview Diary

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Just Before the Storm

This is snow, although it was pretty dark by the time it started

Yesterday, uncounted thousands of blackbirds surrounded the house. I think it was the largest single flock of them I have ever seen. The din was amazing. If you play the video, try turning the sound up. This is just a tiny fraction of them. They completely surrounded the house and buildings and were lined up in the sky and in trees all along the Thruway and in the neighbor's corn field. The banging sound is rain hitting the tin roof of the porch...just before the snow began.


Blackbirds



Multitudinous blackbirds and another strange bird.

Good one from Aunt Peggy

TO: GOD
FROM: THE DOG
Dear God: Is it on purpose our names are the same, only reversed?

Dear God: Why do humans smell the flowers, but seldom, if ever, smell one another?

Dear God: When we get to heaven, can we sit on your couch? Or is it
still the same old story?

Dear God: Why are there cars named after the jaguar, the cougar, the
mustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not ONE named for
a Dog? How often do you see a cougar riding around? We do love a nice ride! Would it be so hard to rename the 'Chrysler Eagle' the 'Chrysler
Beagle'?

Dear God: If a Dog barks his head off in the forest and no human hears
him, is he still a bad Dog?

Dear God: We Dogs can understand human verbal instructions, hand
signals, whistles, horns, clickers, beepers, scent ID's,
electromagnetic energy fields, and Frisbee flight paths. What do humans
understand?

Dear God: More meatballs, less spaghetti, please.

Dear God: Are there mailmen in Heaven? If there are, will I have to
apologize?

Dear God: Let me give you a list of just some of the things I must
remember to be a good Dog.
1. I will not eat the cats' food before they eat it or after they throw
it up.
2. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc., just because I
like the way they smell.
3. The Litter Box is not a cookie jar.
4. The sofa is not a 'face towel'.
5. The garbage collector is not stealing our stuff.
6. I will not play tug-of-war with Dad's underwear when he's on the
toilet.
7. Sticking my nose into someone's crotch is an unacceptable way of
saying 'hello'.
8. I don't need to suddenly stand straight up when I'm under the coffee
table.
9. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur before entering the house -
not after.
10. I will not come in from outside and immediately drag my butt.
11. I will not sit in the middle of the living room and lick my crotch.
12. The cat is not a 'squeaky toy' so when I play with him and he makes
that noise, it's usually not a good thing.

P.S. Dear God: When I get to Heaven may I have my testicles back?

***Not the sort of thing I usually post, but it made me laugh so hard it hurt. And since last night we lost power just as we were milking the last few cows and didn't get it back until around two AM I needed a good laugh...figured you might too.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Guest post: My First Deer


If I were to describe the best day of my life I would have to pick the day that I harvested my first deer.The whole month before opening day I had been biting my nails waiting for season to start. Two weeks before season started I had posted our whole farm in hopes of keeping poachers off our land.

After slogging through the mud for three days posting the land, I started to get a little cough. I have asthma so I figured that it was just overexertion. However, my symptoms only seemed to get worse. Soon I realized that it was not asthma and that I had the flu. As deer season neared I realized that I was going to miss my first chance at a deer.

Opening morning came and went; I was bedridden after the doctor said that under no circumstances was I allowed to hunt, at least for the first week. The whole week I was tormented by the accounts of my father's expeditions. I had to wait it out. Thanksgiving came and I felt good enough to gorge myself on turkey and all the fixings.

I started working on the farm again doing light work when my father fell ill. He had the same ailment I had. So I was left with all his work to finish on top of my own. After cleaning the barn of animal wastes and feed refusals, I was setting off to spread the noxious matter, when Doctor Mom gave me the okay to hunt for a few minutes.

Dad had told me about a little spot in one of our fields called the old pasture lot. We had used the field as a pasture in the past when the grass was insufficient in the other two pastures. The grass is tall most years, providing an excellent food source. A creek that runs on the westerly end of the field has cut a deep bank into the grassy sides of the pasture, providing great protection from the cold winds of November, as well as a constant water source. Encroachment from hunters is also hindered by the natural structure. Tucked up against the bank is a small wooded area. Stuck among the tangled masses of grape vines and box elder trees there is a little apple tree where the deer and other game animals love to go when season opens. There is a little gap between the trees where a watchful person can peer past all the thickets and see the contents of the little hollow.

It was there that I harvested my first deer. After following my dad's advice I walked around the far side of the field in hopes of advancing on the little grove. I have seen large deer go there before in hopes of eluding the constant hunting pressures. After thinking that I had not been quiet enough I took the shell out of my gun. As I walked to the hole in the trees I noticed some brown where there shouldn't be any. I quickly reloaded my gun as the magnificent creature raised its head. I felt the report of the gun against my shoulder and my ears ached from the load noise.

I slammed another round into my gun as I walked quickly through the entangled trees and shrubs to get to my quarry. At the end of my short trek laid the most beautiful animal I had ever seen. I did not need to use the second round because I shot it cleanly through the head. I then puzzled how to get this new found source of meat and nourishment home. I tried and failed numerous times to strap it to the hood of the tractor.

I had a huge dilemma on my hands. Should I leave the deer to go get help or should I keep trying to get it on the hood of the tractor? After a few agonizing moments and a few more attempts I decided to leave my deer and go get the loader tractor to get it home

When I finally got it to my house, I went inside and told my mom that I had shot a spike buck. She came out with her camera and saw the beast, There, before her, was the 140 class eight point buck with brow tines that were almost eight inches long. It weighed at least two hundred pounds. It was so large that when we hung it from half-inch rope the sheer mass of the animal snapped the line that was holding it up.

Since that day I have taken many deer. However, the day that I harvested my first deer will always be the most remembered in my mind. My father has taught me the importance of land management and self control. I never harvest more wild game than we need. And after I take any animal I think it for what it gives my family. Each animal that I take makes the ultimate sacrifice for my family's well-being.

This is a paper that Alan wrote recently for his college English class. He received an A+ on it and I liked it so much I though I would share it with you, with his permission. He is such an outdoorsman that it never fails to amaze me that he also writes very well. However, he does and I hope you enjoy this essay. Here is a photo of that deer and the happy hunter.

No Joy in Mudville

It's been like Casey at the bat here the past few days. Liz and I had a great Friday, managed to get some more grapes and make more jelly, got a lot cleaned up and caught up. We were having a cup of coffee and feeling pretty good about ourselves. Then the boss came in looking grim. He had good reason. The big tractor, the 4490, blew some portion of its anatomy out through the engine block. Parts flew 70 feet. It will not be running again without a whole new motor. It is sitting in the farthest back field too. I don't have any idea how they are even going to get it down here.

Some friends loaned/rented him a tractor so he can keep grinding away at the corn. (Thank God for people like them.) Then we got three inches of rain. He had to give up on the field he was in and move to another on higher ground. Then a sweet cow (well Liz doesn't think she is so sweet because she banged her up pretty bad when she was a show cow) aborted her calf last night. She isn't an easy one to get bred in the first place so this could be it for her. We will have to see.

Now this:

HERKIMER
WINTER STORM WARNING
MONTGOMERY
FLOOD WATCH
WINTER STORM WARNING
OTSEGO
WINTER STORM WARNING

Something is wrong with this picture. Whoever heard of dreaming of a white Halloween? I think I'll hibernate!

***And I want to know where my share of global warming went!



Found this on World Dairy Diary...Saratoga Cheese Company to open new plant in NY. The region has lost a lot of dairy processing facilities in the past few years. Good to hear of a new one coming in.


Monday, October 27, 2008

Kindness

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.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Farm Side Friday

Here is this week's version of the Farm Side, which I have written or contributed to for over ten years now. I am having more fun writing it than ever now that I can share it with Northview folks, of whom I have grown very fond and whose opinions I value very much.

The paper has a couple of new staff blogs, following the path of other area papers, both of which offer blogs. My favorite of these is the farm blog at the Times Union, Farm Life, which is written by one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. Teri's farm may be small but she has a real feel for what it means to be a farmer and puts that into words very, very well.

Anyhow, it was mentioned here, that they are looking to get a few more folks blogging at the paper.....(wonder if they know they already have a fairly active blogger contracting for them). I like the idea of blogs associated with newspapers. They offer an opportunity for a more in depth look at the news, a more personal touch, and an up to the minute connection with the media and current events. I hope they do expand the feature and I especially hope my immediate boss does something like start a blog. He is a terrific writer and I miss the column he used to post on Sundays (hint, hint).

Thursday, October 23, 2008

LIfe revolves around


Corn this time of year....Chopping it. Changing tires when they go flat. Filling the ag bags. Feeding it to the cows. Bringing ears like these down for the piggies and the hens. Mud, mud, mud (we are so sick of mud.) Forty acres to go and the weather is getting worse every day. I can't wait until they are done and it is all in the bag.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Wonders of Home Weaving

My talented sister-in-law hand wove this wonderful blanket for my especially special younger brother. It is patterned on an antique blanket my parents have had since I was a kid. The original came into the antique shop where we all grew up some long, long time ago. (Growing up in an antique and book store was an experience that had to be lived to be imagined. It was cold in the winter, hot in the summer, and dusty all year round. We read the merchandise and took for granted being able to play in three seat cutters with tiger and horse head lap robes to keep us warm. Thus I have read all of the original Tarzans, Roy Chapman Andrews, Osa Johnson and a vast array of other books that not too many people have had the opportunity to peruse. I didn't appreciate the history surrounding us then but these many years later I surely do.)


(That is a tall brother there, so you can tell it is a BIG blanket)

Matt and Lisa were kind enough to take this photo for me and allow me to post it for you. It looks wonderful to me.
It looks warm too....(which also looks wonderful to me). She made me a blanket a couple of years ago and that puppy doesn't want to wander far from my Sunday chair, else heads will roll. Even in the summer I keep it handy....just in case!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Signs of the Season

The fall migration is in full swing


These are nearly gone now


I keep finding these in the washing machine.
I gather them when I am outside....stick them in my pocket...
and forget them.
Every time.



This is not just welcome now


It is plumb necessary

Kody Lostroh

Liz took this video at Mohegan Sun. I think she did a great job with it and Kody did a great job with the bull too.

Mohegan Sun PBR

Monday, October 20, 2008

PBR at Mohegan Sun


Dip Dog with Nick Landrenau

Liz got some great shots and video at the rodeo yesterday. Here are a couple.

Bucky balls

I am sure many of you scientific types have heard of bucky balls and buckypaper and even understand how they came into existence. To me though the whole concept is new and exciting, nanotechnology not exactly being an everyday tool on a dairy farm.

However, the potential exists for virtually everyone to use material made of buckypaper in some form or other in the future. Just discovering the stuff is incredible. Imagine doing research on manufacture of carbon by stars and turning out molecules that can be made into a substance ten times lighter than steel yet 500 times stronger! Alan and I have been emailing back and forth all morning about it....cool stuff!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Hard frost last night




The TV news report says that it is the official end of the growing season
....maybe.....I haven't taken the canvas off the tomatoes yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if we still get a few more. They ripened late and very slowly but we have had all we could eat plus lots to freeze.




The fire in the outdoor woodstove is very welcome these days. This old house is cool in summer and absolutely frigid in winter. (All you folks who have made us blankets and lap robes...you know who you are...we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Our toesies thank you too.)




As soon as all the geraniums I am giving up on (I normally bring in every single geranium and struggle all winter to keep them lush and nice. This year...just a few...I grow them from seed anyhow so I end up with a ridiculous number of them) actually freeze I am going to refill the pots with a little fresh earth and plant lettuce in them. We have grown lettuce indoors for a couple of years now and you can't beat it if you have a bright window.




Liz is off here for this today. Her favorite cowboy, Cord McCoy, is there to sign autographs and ride and her other favorite, Kody Lostroh is too. As of yesterday they were first and second in the standings, which was pretty cool.




It is a long drive to a different state. As the official motherperson I will worry all day and night until she is home. (It is my job and I take my work seriously.) She wanted me to accompany her and I would have loved to go, but it was felt in certain corners that I should stay home and work. So I did. No morning off this week, but it was a pretty morning and I didn't really mind all that much being out. I hope she has a great time and brings home lots of good photos. I hope she meets that nice cowboy that she talks to on the Internet. I hope she calls home soon........


Friday, October 17, 2008

And here is this week's



The Farm Side is a Friday column, so here is a link to this week's right on the heels of yesterday's.


Northview Diary is sort of an offshoot of the newspaper column, which I started writing ten years ago last March. At the time I was working on a novel (and no it never got published) and a friend was writing the Farm Side. He and his wife thought of the name when he was asked to do a farm column for the paper thanks to his excellent letters to the editor. He asked me to spell him once a month as he has a large and very busy farm and a batch of grandkids that need time with grandpa. After a while he asked me to write twice a month and then after a year he decided to call it quits and left the column in my hands (or at my mercy if you prefer).

I enjoyed the chance to write about farming and about life in the valley so much that three years ago in August I started this blog. The first photo here was taken with a disposable camera....how things have changed since then....I have enjoyed this just as much as writing for the paper, mostly because of the dialog with folks who comment. I feel that I have made friends from Canada to Mexico and Florida to California, as well as meeting new people just across the river from the farm. I am thankful for everyone who reads either the Farm Side or Northview Diary....it has been good to get to know you. Thanks for stopping by!


Becky

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!

new template

Hey threecollie's daughter here. Northveiw is moving to the newer blogger. If you notice any links missing/ not working drop us a line in the comments or at breezey375@yahoo.com and we'll make sure it gets added.

I'm having a tad of difficulty getting all the link working and or to show up at all. And frankly mommy scares me and she's very attached to this blog...

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Farm Side online

As of Monday the paper I write a weekly column for, the Recorder in Amsterdam, has a free website. Thus if you wish to read the Farm Side each week you can do so. Here is a link to last's week's column.

Rain and piggies



After a stretch of exceptional fall weather it is raining again. It never really dried out but now the mud has the consistency of grease.
Hard to walk.
Hard to work.
No corn will get chopped today. These photos are from yesterday, when it was fine enough to pick tomatoes and try to dig out the roots of those giant sunflowers.....unsuccessfully I might add.




Also, yesterday, Alan and Becky made the long trip south to get new piggies, a pair of gilts this year. They are remarkably fuzzy and quite different from last year's pigs. However, we have never gotten one that didn't grow really well from our pig farming folks and I am sure they will be fine. Last year we ended up with the best sausage ever, so we are going to make a lot more this time....believe it or not everybody liked it better than pork chops.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Jay (not Leno)


A collage of blue jays gobbling seeds as fast as they can stuff them in their bills and a video so you can see exactly how fast that is. They clean two or three of these big sunflower heads every day....and this is the last one I have. They are such beautiful birds though that I always am glad when they come out of hiding in the fall when baby rearing season is over.

Monday, October 13, 2008

The color of autumn

Better if larger...do click

Objects in the mirror

Objects in the mirror are sometimes closer than they appear. And sometimes things around the house have greater value than their surface might seem to warrant...value that only appears when you use them and remember how you found them.

This stainless steel milk pitcher is important to me in that way. Like rubbing a lamp for a genie, every time I pick it up to water the plants in the living room, (for that is the job that falls to it now) I remember the day it came into my possession. .

The boss and I were returning from dropping off milk for the church chicken and biscuit supper some years ago, when we passed an intriguing looking garage sale. We were soon glad we stopped as the folks who were running it were a retired farm couple. We had a terrific time comparing stories about the farming lifestyle and playing do you know......? Although we had never met and had never heard their names before we had dozens of acquaintances in common and they had read the Farm Side so they felt as if they knew us. We soon felt the same way about them, in the way you sometimes do when you meet an unexpected kindred soul.

Unfortunately, although they had a great time showing us around the place, there really wasn't much in the sale that we had any use for. The one thing that caught my eye was the little steel pitcher. They had used it to bring milk to the house for years, but now it was just another bit of left over clutter to them. I liked it though...it is nicely proportioned and simply caught my eye. However, I couldn't get the lady of the house to put a price on it....even though it was in the sale....so that I could buy it. After at least an hour and probably a good deal more of enjoyable farm talk we climbed into the car to leave empty handed but full of the pleasure of good company.

As we were backing down the driveway, however, the lady came over to the car and tapped on the window. When I rolled it down she put the pitcher in my lap. I would have happily paid her for it, but she would take no money.

We have never seen them again or heard word of them, so that short time at their garage sale was the only contact we ever had or probably will ever have. Still I think of that kind lady every time I water my plants (and as I have a lot of them, that is quite often) and remember her fondly.
And I treasure it all out of proportion to its intrinsic value and I am sure I always will. You might say it is closer than it appears.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

The Fruit Salad Tree



Years ago my late and much missed mother-in-law planted an apple tree. Her late husband, Grandpa Delbert to my kids, planted a grape vine. They were close together.

Too close in fact.





Now the grapes grow up the apple tree and hang down in festoons of luscious fruit, tempting, tasty, and just out of reach.





Enter a determined younger daughter, a nice long shepherd's crook, and the decision to make grape jelly today.





The Fruit Salad Tree


It took a while, but it is sunny and Indian summery and it was nice to work outdoors. If you watch the video closely you can see apples caroming around as Becky pulls on one of the grape vines after hooking it down with the crook (now you know where by hook and by crook came from). I think maybe the apples high on the tree are finally ripe, so maybe I can make more apple jelly with them.
Anyhow for the first time ever I made grape jelly that actually set! Yay!




Friday, October 10, 2008

Livestock Contribution to Global Warming





Probably isn't as bad as even the least of the doom sayers think. Seems the folks who blame cows are including deforestation in the Amazon in their figures. Personally....there were a lot of ruminants on this continent (think so many bison that they shook the earth and took hours to pass) when we got here. They all ruminated then and there was no excess of warmth.


***If you are wondering what I am doing making so many posts in one day...well, I just finished making apple jelly and you know how it is...you deserve a break today and all. Plus I dumped a jar on the counter, burning all the fingers on my left hand so...(but you notice I can still type...it hurts but anything for the cause.)

Anyhow the apple pie jelly was a success. I had people coming out of the rafters to taste it as soon as I had the foam skimmed off. I couldn't find the allspice so I just added a little cinnamon and nutmeg, but the result sure is a lot better than plain apple. I will do this again. As soon as I get more sugar, more apples and my fingers feel better.

******PS, Florida Cracker mentioned Picasa 3 in his post today. I have been using 2 for quite a while, but I downloaded 3 to try it. All I can say is WOW! Lots better. Lots

Blogrolling down

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.

Making apple jelly now...back to work!

Assemblyman George Amedore


Spoke at a farm meeting we attended last night. He was brief and informative and showed a good comprehension of farm issues. He is, in fact, on the Assembly Agriculture Committee. As a small businessman I suspect that he understands the challenges such folks face better than a good many career politicians....and believe me, farming is a business, no matter how much we would like to perceive it as something else. (Here at Northview our farm is our sole source of income...unless you count the small stipend I get for writing the Farm Side.)

Some time ago a farm group I belong to reached out to Mr. Amedore to begin a dialog on farm issues, as he was new to the Assembly and to state politics. He willingly met with us to discuss the problems facing us as stewards of the land and business men and women. This sort of dialog is essential to continuing to even be able to farm at in NY or anywhere else in the country. For example consider Proposition 2 in California. Worded as it is it will virtually eliminate a large amount of animal agriculture in that state.

It is a positive thing to sit down with your legislators and tell them why certain taxes or regulations are damaging your business. Sometimes, and in fact oftentimes, laws are passed to address one issue and impact something completely different, entirely inadvertently. Take for example new state regulations aimed at keeping monster semi's full of reeking garbage out of small towns in the western part of the state. The governor wants to keep those trucks on the interstate as much as possible (can't blame the truckers too much..the state raised tolls ridiculously) to protect the quality of life in those towns. However, powers that be neglected to exempt farm trucks, such as those hauling corn silage from the field to the farm, from the rules. Can you imagine if every farmer had to jump on the Thruway with his big dump truck full of corn on the way to the pile? As farms by necessity grow larger, many of them have no choice but to travel on the roads hauling their crops. Many of them have abandoned wagons in favor of trucks, as they are safer on the road and faster for the farmer. This is the kind of legislation farmers need to discuss with their legislators.

NY Farm Bureau has named Amedore to its legislative Circle of Friends too. The Circle of Friends is a pretty good yardstick for measuring the agriculture savvy and policies in the Senate and Assembly. Our area is fortunate in its "Friends", as our state senator, Hugh Farley also regularly makes the list.
Agriculture is NY State's number one industry, despite the perception that the Big Apple is the only apple in town. Upstate has a few apples too...but most of them are grown on trees. We need people in Albany who understand that our industry and lifestyle provides NY folks with everything from apples to wine, to fine cheese to enjoy it with.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

LIke a mullet






You know...business in the front, party in the back. Liz and I, thanks to some heifers which got out about five times the past three days, have been cutting brush out of the electric fence.



It is in and of itself a miserable job. Even though it is crispy cool, after half an hour hacking wild rose bushes higher than your head out of the wires and cutting raspberries higher than they are you are hot.
Sweaty.
Itchy.




We forgot to take water so after the first hour we were thirsty to the point of misery.

We work with the electric fence turned on so we can find the shorts. You don't want to make a mistake in what you touch.

However, as in most farm jobs no matter how painful, there are compensations if you know where to find them.




I put the big camera in its case in a thick plastic tote and took it along for the ride. Here are some of the things we found while discovering that there was a bad clip holding two wires together so there was no charge at all on most of the fence.




Wednesday, October 08, 2008

First frost 08

A collage of fall colors from the ride yesterday.
All taken from a moving car, but you get the idea of how pretty things are these cool autumn days.


Sorry about no post yesterday. Seems we are so busy it is like we are hurtling downhill in a race to get who knows where or why and no time to stop for anything. I am having a hard time even getting all my comments answered and I apologize.

The first frost came night before last. Just a light one in some places but hard enough for ice in others. Any tomatoes that weren't covered are toast. I am going to have to pick all the rest...maybe today if I get the Farm Side done in time. It is 33 now so we will probably get another before dawn. I picked some sunflower seeds to save yesterday as the blue jays are mowing through them with amazing alacrity.

The boss and I ran over to Altamont to pick up a beef we had processed yesterday. It was a Holstein steer that didn't finish all that well so we had it all put into minute steaks, hamburger and stew beef. Tested the first last night...very tasty. Beck made gravy with minute steaks...very tender.




Picked up half a bushel of apples on the way. I have been craving apples and ours are still so green as to be barely edible for some reason. Most of the winesaps split from late heavy rains I guess so the best they will be is jelly...which I would like to make if they ever ripen. These are galas, golden delicious and Jonagold...all terrific varieties. The Delicious won't keep long, but you can't beat em at this time of year...especially chilled. I had the first one on the way over yesterday and it was icy cold from sitting outdoors overnight. Indescribable!

Off to the barn now. Have a good one.


Monday, October 06, 2008

HSUS has chosen their candidate

The hugely wealthy, monster-sized animal rights, vegetarian, anti-farm group has found their man.
Read all about it here.

Here is more about their activities.(This time accusations of wiretapping.)

Getting their just deserts

Take one solid, not to be seen through unless you have x-ray vision, milk house door.
Add milk filters, long (wet) snaky tubes of fiber used to strain impurities out of the milk.
Add one man who is always in a hurry and who tosses them in the stable cleaner (which is just outside that same door) when he tears the machine down.

What you get is disgruntled family members, who, as they turn out cows and carry milking machines to the milkhouse, have been hit many.....many, many, many....times with wet soggy filters.
In the face.
Around the neck.
Or if you are lucky, just in the knees. You simply cannot duck fast enough when that door opens to get out of the way of that missile of doom.

Enter one mischievous teen aged boy and assorted sneaky and conspiring other family members.

Ha! Gotcha! ....and we did last night, when we were tearing down the milker and he was coming in from breeding a cow. He was a good sport about it. ...as he wiped half a river of milk off his face and neck.
I am sure this is not over but.....

Then take a naughty border collie who just has to go after the cat. Add a cat in a metal dog crate who knows the dog can't get him and reacts accordingly. We were sitting in the living room eating supper last night when there was a tremendous bang in the kitchen and Nick came hurtling into the dining room with his tail tucked between his legs. He leaped into his crate and huddled there trembling hard enough to make the whole thing rattle like a freight train. We figured he had banged into the kitchen crate trying to get the cat and scared himself. Alan shut him in his crate for the night and we forgot about it until this morning.

Enter crime and punishment. As I was getting milk for my morning coffee out of the fridge, I found a large, soggy, half-ripe tomato lying split wide open on the floor right next to the cat crate. I had set a bunch of them on there the other day because I am simply running out of room for tomatoes.

Update the scenario. Dog bangs crate in frustration over smug (safe, and he knows it) cat.
Add gravity and set an object in motion. Objects in motion tend to remain in motion and to hit whatever happens to be in their way...such as mid-sized black and white dogs. Splat! Take that you brat!

Who ever imagined that poetic justice would involve vegetables and cleaning devices? I'll bet the dog thinks the cat can throw stuff now.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Some things are just too sad for words




****The kid actually is faking dismay and likes his new hair cut. (and I like knowing that he still has eyes.)

As expected I am getting as much fun out of his college education has he is...maybe more, I don't have to write any papers.. I knew he would come home and teach me things I couldn't wait to know....I have never gotten tired of learning about the outdoors and wildlife and herptiles and such.

So far, I have learned from him that sedges have edges, rushes are round and grass is jointed. I have gotten to attend, albeit vicariously, field trips to count salamanders and frogs, which resulted in him seeing newt efts and wood frogs for the first time. My brothers and I grew up surrounded by bountiful little orange beauties and spring singers up at Grandma and Grandpa's camp, where the wood frogs breed in vernal ponds and there are newts under most of the logs, but I think the soil and ponds aren't acidic enough to suit them down here in the valley. We have mostly red backs and green frogs here. I have gotten to hear all about electroshocking fish for censuses and species identification (and therein lies a tale that I don't dare reveal....ask him about it. lol). I worried about that trip but I didn't need to...guess it was just a mother thing.

Next his lab class will be going birding. (I wish college had been this much fun when I went. Maybe I would have a degree rather than just a handful of meaningless credits.) There are rumors that the birding expedition may entail a trip to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. We have taken the family there a number of times, although it is barely within the "between milkings" range that allows us to all leave the farm at the same time and still take care of the animals. However, we have never had the benefit of an expert to guide us around the waterways and swamps that make up the amazing refuge and we have always had to be in such a hurry... Can't wait til he gets back from that one. I actually look forward to milking on Thursday nights after those exciting Fisheries and Wildlife labs....just can't wait to hear about all the plants and critters and ecosystems and all.