Sunday Stills...Color

This week's Sunday Stills assignment is color. There isn't as much of it around in the winter as we might like here in the Great Northeast, but you can find some....if you look in the right places.

Mom's Blog

My mom, who is a wonderful storyteller, has had a blog for quite some time.
Today's post is an amazing story from the family folklore that will most likely give you a good laugh.
Have a look....Tryon Books and More

Frieland Follies

"You say it's a pond heater? I thought it was a Roscoe Rescue Rump Roaster."

"Okay, Boss, now what do I do?"

"Gimme flakes"

"Why did that girl bring me in here?
Oh, look out, Mom is coming....run away...."

"Why are you taking pictures of them and not of me???"

****Each and every one of these photos was taken yesterday in the course of a what-passes-for-normal day's activities here at the home of Frieland Holsteins and Maqua-kil Jerseys and Holsteins....and of assorted somewhat less dignified animals.

*****No animals were injured during the making of this blog post, although they tried....they really did.

Seven Below Zero

On Farm Side Friday, which coincidentally is titled Below Undertaking.

****Thanks to Rurality for the article that inspired this one.


The photos have nothing to do with the Farm Side, Friday, or being below zero. Rather, they may serve as a small reminder that better days are coming (it says in fine print.)

iPod

Or how MySpace changed my life. I know Northview Diary deals mostly with farming, photos, family and a little politicking, but music was my life when I was younger.

(Much younger)

My next younger brother, an assortment of other folks and myself formed a series of bands that played in our folks' cellars, garages and occasionally other rooms, much to the detriment of our relationship with family members who were attached to their ear drums. (Think Hendrix. Think Led Zeppelin.).

In time we graduated to high school gyms and bars and even Sherman's Amusement Park, pictured above. (Click on the photo in the link and you can see a big building in the foreground. For about one summer the management hired bands to play dances upstairs, above the games and the popcorn machine. We were one of them.)

Then we grew up. The band disbanded. Once I married my farmer and had a batch of kids time for music condensed to a few CD's while I was doing housework and barn music chosen by the kids. And the radio. And tired old country stations which play the same dozen artists and the same handful of tired old songs 24-7. I won't say I lost interest but stagnation set in.

Then the kids introduced me to MySpace and I won an iPod from World Dairy Diary.

MySpace is the hunting ground of unsigned artists, musicians who for some reason or another don't have a major record deal, or ones who do have a deal, but don't get the air time that brings fortune and fame. Talent has nothing to do with scanty clothes or sales gimmicks, but that seems to be what sells popular music. There are nice musicians on MySpace who will even sometimes give you tracks just for wanting to listen to them. The iPod made it possible for me to put all the wonderful stuff I find in one place and to listen to it without hearing everybody whine about not liking my choices or drowning out the TV.

I won't say I like housework now, but it does pass more swiftly. And I get to listen to folks like the Roosters, Joe Hash and Justin McBride instead of certain vegetarian girls and ball player's kids who shall remain nameless.

This week's song pick has been Justin McBride's Tumbleweed Town. Liz bought the CD from him I guess and let me put a copy on my music list. Hard to believe, when you listen to his gritty heartful voice that Justin just retired from his main career riding bulls on the PBR.

Wordless Wednesday

Asleep at the......reins?

Liz and I made the grocery run today trying to beat the extreme cold that is expected to make the next week or so miserable. We wound up climbing a steep, blind, hill behind this gent. I am not sure that he was asleep, but he certainly wasn't worried too much about his driving. This is a main state highway and traffic bangs along at 55 through this area. He was doing maybe 2 at a very slow walk. His horse was tired and just plodded along, ears flopping, head nodding, almost asleep himself. We weren't in any big hurry and just pulled in behind and followed at his speed. It was certainly not safe to pass him as you couldn't see either around the curves or over the crest of the hill. I was actually kind of tickled to nab a couple of pictures of the rig.



However, there was a regular horse's pattootie behind us who was champing at the bit like he was on the way to the hospital (which if he had his way we might all have been). He ripped up behind Liz and kept jigging out into the other lane like he wanted to pass. (For you locals this is the big hill by Sowles. Not a place to pass unless you want to get up close and personal with a Wal*Mart truck traveling fifty MPH in the other direction.) He was quite irate at having to follow us and the Amish man up the hill. After a few more yards the horse driver noticed the trucks behind him, jiggled the reins and hurried the tired horse on up the hill. As soon as it was safe to do so we passed and went on our way with the impatient fellow right behind. We lost maybe half a minute of time from our trip.....had we tried to pass I suspect it might have been more. I enjoyed the quirky juxtaposition of modern and not quite so modern in meeting a horse drawn wagon on a state highway, which I suspect the guy behind us missed completely.

Spectacular Sky

We did Christmas with the brothers yesterday, with pizza, conversation and fun (and this is not pizza to be shrugged off lightly. I don't know where they get it, but it is awaited eagerly every year...pretty special stuff.)




Anyhow, besides getting to hug and enjoy lots of dearly beloved family members we were treated to a truly amazing sky on the way home last night. The sun was setting slowly, and the clouds were outlined with the most amazing glowing yellow I think I have ever seen. We were speeding along in the truck and couldn't stop so I just shot through the windshield, which of course, doesn't do any picture justice. Still you can kind of get an idea of how beautiful it was.

Sunday Stills.....Macros

See more at Sunday Stills

This kind of thing

Do click on any of these and you can see the actual snow.
It was falling amazingly hard!

Slows you down a little and makes indoors look good. This was a couple of days ago. It was supposed to be nice, but instead snowed so hard you could barely see the top of the heifer pasture hill.





This is a fraction of a huge wheel of gulls that was swirling over the heifer barn last night. It was so cold I couldn't seem to get good pics, but you can get an idea of how it was.

Absurdly Busy Friday

Farm Side Friday too.

This picture, however, has nothing to do with my weekly tirade. It is my kitchen floor just after it was painted a couple of years ago.
It desperately needs a new coat of this pleasant and inspirational green.
(I read once that green kitchens inspire cooks to be creative. No idea if this is true, but some amazing things come out of this particular room.)

Some Commonsense on New York's Fat Tax

(Or, I wish I had written this column)

Actually I have been working on something along these lines, but John Gray said it better than I ever could in this opinion piece in the Troy Record. I guess I will scrap mine and defer to his.



Good job Mr. Gray! Thanks for saying what a lot of us New Yorkers are thinking!

And here is a link to a story about how PeTA saves animals...or not.

Pigeon Pillager

And welcome to them.

What do Chainsaw Chaps and Crocheted Hats

Have in common?
The answer to this pressing question: Alan is the common denominator. He got the chaps thrown in the deal with his new saw and he made the hats. Becky taught herself to crochet from a little book while home on break this winter. He was watching her, decided to try it and made himself the light green hat. Then he made me the dark green one, which will henceforth be my Sunday-go-to-meeting hat. Great answers in the comments though! I especially like Steve's offerings (freste).

Hooter's Heifer

Mike is fascinated by the newbie, wagging his tail with approval

The new baby, who is still in the house at this moment, (but probably won't be for too much longer), is probably the nicest looking Jersey calf we have had born here at Northview....She is long and tall and straight....which is just a little weird. Years ago, back when we were occasionally making enough money to do so, we bought Dreamroad Extreme Heather, an exceptionally well-bred Jersey from a nationally known breeder to pay Liz for a summer's work.

Right from the get-go Liz has chosen the bulls she bred Heather to, as well as making the matings for her offspring. (And there have been quite a number of those, as she has been very lucky in the heifer department.) The resulting animals are nice ones and she has done well in the show ring with them. She has used well-respected bulls, such as C'gar, Mecca, TNT, Top Flight, and Moments.

This year she didn't have a chance to pick up any top-notch bulls for two of her girls so she bred Hooter and Hazel to a bull we had in the tank for use on small first calf Holstein heifers. We sometimes buy very cheap ones for this purpose and we happened to have a five-dollar critter named Duce in the tank. Who would have expected that this random, cheapest thing the Select Sire Power guy happened to have in his tank, bull would make such a great looking baby?
Sometimes randomness works I guess.

Who is That and What are They Doing?

The convoy




She looks happy, doesn't she?


I like this little bed somebody made here on the heat register.
I think it was meant for me!

Whose legs are these anyhow?

Oh, there is an alien being in the kitchen

I don't know what it is, but please take it back!!!!!


Hooter's New Heifer

More Pics of Hooter's Baby

First day on the new feet.

Nick would like to get in on the act

Wheat

With a little indoor lettuce thrown in.

Sunday Stills

This week's challenge was sunrises and sunsets. Didn't have one single pretty sunrise, except after I was over at the barn and couldn't get a pic, so these are all sunsets.




For more challenge photos go to Sunday Stills

Fare Well BS

Becky found our old sheep BS dead this morning. It was no surprise, but we are still sad about it. She was at least thirteen years old....we got her from my cousin when Mike was a young dog to be a training sheep along with several other sheep. Over the years we sold most of them.

Up until today our remaining flock consisted of just old BS and her daughter Freckles, both so old we have to keep them in with the pony in the winter. Last week BS stopped wanting to get up, but she kept eating and drinking and seemed pretty cheerful, and yesterday she was working on getting on her feet. We figured she had turned the corner for the better.
Sadly it was not to be.

Here are some BS stories.
Sheepish
Wool
Weird
Shearing