Is there a storm coming?

A Wee Puzzle

First go look at these deer Becky and the boss saw yesterday when they went to Amsterdam to get cornflakes and a new circulatory pump for the outdoor wood stove. They (*deer, not my relatives) can often be seen grazing along the north side of Route 5 west of the city, or even in the road in front of your car if you are not so fortunate.

It seems to me that these look to be in pretty good rig for February during a winter with as much snow and cold as we have had this year. There is a thick crust on most snow too, which you would think would hamper them. Folks we've talked to say they are staying fat on corn that got left out last fall because we had such atrocious weather and couldn't harvest. Certainly, our turkeys are so well-fed that they aren't even coming down by the barn yet. (Yeah, we lost a LOT of corn due to rain and mud.)

Also notice the red one. Seems unusual compared to the usual dim grey of winter....pretty anyhow.
I think Beck did a nice job with these photos!

Every Week

As long as I can think of something to write about....
we bring you Farm Side Friday.

This week....Humans and Animals

Good Morning Cold Village

It is cold here. Yeah, I know it is winter and we live in the Northeast, but as I think of Al Bore and what his raving is doing to the world economy and the lifestyles of everyone living on this planet, I get ranty and whiny. Where we live no matter what the darned groundhog (known in these environs as a woodchuck) sees when he comes out of his hole (which the real ones won't do for at least another month) we are going to get six more weeks of winter.
At least.

It often snows in April here. It certainly snows in March. It is too cold for most of May to plant anything but lettuce and peas and maybe oats and seeding out in the fields.
Some Februarys it never gets above freezing for the whole month. I guess we are actually supposed to get some warmth this weekend...probably warm up and snow.
We have seen forty below for a week some years. Not this winter yet, but just before I married the boss..... Not that long ago in the grand scheme of things. The ice got so thick on the roads that you could barely drive...and lots of ice pot holes that would swallow a car...

Anyhow...bah humbug....sorry, now we will return to your regular programing here at Northview Diary.

Wordless Wednesday

Dozens of Duckies

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These pics admittedly aren't the best. It was getting dark and I was in a hurry (chore time). However, this may give you an idea of how many mallard ducks are coming down in the field behind the barn and the barnyard most evenings. (At least five hundred.)

I think they are recycling corn (very green of them). The boss says they seem to be staying out of the Ag bags, which is more than can be said for the crows and starlings. He was up on the corn bag patching holes the crows pecked the other day. We failed to paint faces and eyes on them this fall and are paying the price for that. Any place they peck a hole lets in oxygen and creates major spoilage. As I was taking these photos a flock of starlings that probably took twenty or thirty seconds to pass flew over my head so low I could hear their wings. That is a BIG flock! I think the hard winter has more birds coming close to the buildings then is normal...just wish they would stay out of our feed....

Hmmmmm

One is dreaming of the other perhaps.....top photo by mom, bottom photo by Alan

A Good John

Memorium

And still more Global Warming!

Sunday Stills Go High Go Low

This one was the hardest yet. I didn't know exactly what to photograph.



Finally I pointed the camera high at the honey locust tree and low at some rose quartz and Herkimer Diamonds, (both of which are once again buried in deep snow.) They are normally viewable around the base of the tree where I grow my kitchen herbs among some mineral specimens and a mess of field rock.



Plus another snow flake just for fun (they do start out high and end up low after all...) The blue background in these photos is the hood of Lizzie's pick up truck btw.


More Sunday Stills......

Happy Sled Dogs

Mon@rch's photo show of a sled dog race he attended. Check out those glorious doggy grins! I must have watched it, beginning to end, about five times.

Twenty One is a Big One

Mr. PattyPaws himself is dancing the Schaufelcat Pirouette to wish Miss Rebecca a very Happy 21st Birthday!
Check out Breezey's Books blog this morning and leave her a comment if you can....I am always impressed with her insight and the depth of her bookshelves (I mean the kid reads Sabatini and Verne for fun....and Dumas..in French).

Becky was born exactly the day she was due. At noon. No fanfare. No problems. She made things so easy that our obstetrician, who was hosting and cooking a huge roast beef dinner for friends and family, never missed a tick. She just ran over to the hospital every little while, said, "Things are going fine," then delivered our Beck between courses and went on her way. Beck figured it all out for herself and was about the easiest baby you could ask for. (Except for the biting part.....)

She has grown up to be a fine young lady, and best of all a truly interesting person. I LIKE to talk to her (and all of them...don't get started now guys) because she is smart and insightful and funny. And I love books too. I even gave her my Rising of the Lark because I knew it would have a forever home with her.
Love you kid....my favorite middle kid.....have a great one!!

Lake Effect Snow

Lake Effect Snow

It falls like this between periods of sunshine....only lasts a little while, but it is enthusiastic as heck.

Green

I grew this wheat as a favor to the cat.
He was not interested.
I tried it on the dogs.
No dice.

However, when I snipped a handful off with scissors, you could smell the scent of new mown lawn.....and it was all worth it. You can't imagine what a shock it is to the senses to smell grass in this season...wrong but in a good way.



And I wish these tiny little sunrise cacti would get growing. They seem to just sit there .....and sit there....and sit there....I planted some assorted aloe seeds I bought from Pinetree Garden Seeds yesterday, so we will see what they do.

Still Another

Farm Side Friday

Some Storm

This is a terrible picture I know. Mike came in covered with snow (and quite happy about it, he is a BC, after all). I wanted a picture of his completely white face, but he hates the camera. By the time I got this blurry shot most of it was melted....he got a ginger snap out of the deal anyhow.

We had a sort of mid level storm yesterday. Don't know how much snow and sleet actually fell, but I'll bet it was close to a foot. It started out as mealy snow, which generally means you will get a good crop of it. Then it turned to hard sleet, freezing rain, big puffy clumps of flakes, still more pelting meal.....truly a little bit of everything. The kids had a rough time driving into school and back (naturally we are back on the weekly storm kick, now that they are back in college.)

Anyhow, the stuff that fell was heavy and dense....Liz said it was like walking in sugar or glass beads. You wouldn't think it would blow, being so heavy and all, but when the wind kicked up about nine last night, it flung it against the windows so it sounded like BB shot. The whole house shook and rattled most of the night, with machine gun sleet to keep it interesting.
Now it is calm and clear and pretty much sunny!

There is something about being inside a big snow storm though, that is calming (except the part about your kids being out in it). Everything seems to slow down to just weather and getting through the weather. Focus. Cooking something warming and filling for supper grows in proportionate importance. People get hungry when it is cold and they are fighting for every step they take all day. I made some of the special baked hamburgers that evolved here through the necessity of cooking while the barn and using stuff that is never quite thawed.

We get our hamburger back from the meat plant in two pound plastic tubes. I thaw them as much as I have time to, then slice them into thick rounds and lay them out in a Pyrex baking dish. Top with homemade Italian seasoning. A little grated Romano. Some Parmesan, sprinkle of garlic. Slice of extra sharp Cheddar apiece. Dab of ketchup. Cover with foil and bake at 325 until you are done with milking and chores.....Sometimes there is homemade bread, although not last night.

The way you hear things changes during a big storm. It isn't exactly that the falling snow muffles sound so much as that it separates each sound into a separate entity. The rumble of trains is distinct from the thunder of the Thruway. A blue jay is not drowned out by the crows.

If we didn't have to drive in bad weather and work in it I think I might even like storms for the silence and the mental acuity that comes with them.
At least until the wind comes up.

I hate the wind.

Wordless Wednesday...Wishful Thinking

Something I Have Always Wanted to Do

Take a picture of a single snowflake that is.
(We have lots of them...it wasn't hard to find one.....)

Looky Here!

1/2 Jersey
1/4 Holstein
1/4 Milking shorthorn


Hi, My name is Scotty. You can see my mama, Broadway, below. Broadway is out of Alan's show cow Bayberry, whose mama is his other show cow, Balsam, who is a daughter of Mansion Valley Delaware. I think it is pretty cool that I am a three way crossbred....what do you think?
And, yeah, I am in the kitchen......right where I think I oughta be!



We walked into the barn this morning to find that Broadway had calved. She was a bit early, but we had bedded her up with extra straw and filled the floor behind her with lots of straw last night...just in case. Good thing too.

However, despite the obvious placenta, there was no calf. Liz and I both wear glasses and they were fogged up pretty bad, but still...there was just no baby there. We walked all over the south side of the barn where Broadway stands...no calf.

We checked the mangers.
No calf.
Finally we turned on the lights on the north side of the barn and there she was in all her golden splendor. She was strolling around as if she owned the place, calm as a clam.

We have never had a three way cross before and only made this one because we didn't have any shorthorn semen when it came time to breed Broadway. We pulled little Scotty (because she is just the color of butterscotch) over to mom and put a coat on her, but she was still shivering at the end of milking so she is in the kitchen now....

****For more critters in kitchens visit Moon Meadow Farm

Back to School

2/3 of our help and companionship is heading back to college this morning. What with serious (very serious) problems with the stable cleaner and tax time bookwork, I am not sure that I will have time to find anything to post about.

However, if you go see Monarch you can see a fantastic video of a pileated woodpecker tearing up a box elder tree, plus learn all about assorted other northern woodpeckers....

Liz did a lot better than I did on Sunday Stills even though she took a pic of the same creek I did.

And for anyone who is interested, Matt and Lisa gave me permission to publish the information on their weaving business:

Southview Weavers
1041 ST HWY 163
Fort Plain, NY 13339
Home and Fax:(518) 993-4371 Hand woven by Matt and Lisa Montgomery

Sunday Stills..Pot Luck

Bright and sunny, cold and frozen, that is how it is up here.
I spent very few minutes shooting these as the weather was battery-sucking cold.....

(How could you have pot luck without food?

Some of Lizzie's homemade dinner rolls....yummmmmmm)

For links to more Sunday Stills....

Dream Weaving

My handsome younger brother and his delightful wife have a cottage business, weaving wonderful rugs, blankets, towels etc. This Christmas we gave them blue jean quilt lap robes and they in turn shared products of their craft with us. I love having homemade things and things that are old or traditional. Maybe it is growing up in an antique and book store, I don't know....they are just better than new and bought somehow. I couldn't thank them enough for this lovely stuff.

And then they gave me heck for not putting the rugs on the floor. And for being afraid to use the towels and dish cloths for fear of ruining them. I was told "USE THEM!" in no uncertain terms.




Now I ask you...would you put this on the floor where dogs can claw and clatter or fold it in half and put it in this old Boston rocker to look pretty? Same here...the kids love to come sit in these two old rockers my dad gave me, when they want to talk to me, when I am reading in my Sunday chair...now they can sit on this beautiful rug.




However, Mattie did convince me to use the dish cloths and towels and wow, am I glad he did. They are so thick and fluffy! Incredibly absorbent and just abrasive enough to be nice and "scrubby".
I am so tickled with them!
So I am using them....and using them.....and using them.....and I can't tell you how sweet it is.
I hope the lap blankets we made work out as well for them! It certainly is cold enough this winter for anything warm to be welcome.

Gillibrand for Senator

Am I thrilled? Hell Yeah!

If she is indeed chosen today at noon, at least somebody representing NY will be from upstate, pro 2A, able to use and understand common sense, and in her own words, ""I've been working hard for our middle class families, for our veterans, for our farmers, and I think the work I have done I can do on a bigger scale as a senator and continue to help all the constituencies I've been working for and perhaps even have a bigger impact in the Senate." (From Channel 9 News)

I think this is the first time I have heard anyone mention farmers in a positive way, at least anyone in a position of government power, since about last September.

Cabin Fever Quiz

On Farm Side Friday

And here is an article about the future of milk prices with a photo of a real good friend of our family...His whole family are real nice folks from whom we received the Shaufelcats, including Elvis, the cat with hands. They are the kind of people who fed us when the boss was in the hospital with appendicitis and came and fed cows when the kids and I couldn't run the feed cart and all (this was many moons ago...now the kid not only runs the feed cart, it only takes him a few minutes to change its motor.) They are some of our favorite people!

About the Scale

This is an older photo. The crock is now full of heavy stuff.....

I have posted about the big scale in the dining room before....Here is a post about it. People look at us funny the first time they see it. But when Johnstown Knit went out of business due to GATT and NAFTA, they sold a number of them, which must have been used to weigh fabric. We only paid $125 for it...but it only goes to 125 pounds....so we just look at it rather than use it for anything.
I love having it though. Sort of a monument to the days when there was manufacturing around here....the days when you could buy work clothes at the outlet store for a reasonable price...clothes that were made right there in Johnstown. By folks who lived in Johnstown.

When the outlet sold out we bought the boss dozens of red tee shirts for about a dime a piece. (People think he is just fond of the same old red shirt, but really he still has lots of them.) Sadly though, all the heavy, thick, very warm sweatshirts that were long enough to go about to your knees are full of holes and becoming dog bedding one by one. There isn't anywhere that I can find to buy such clothes any more especially for such low prices.....alas.




Anyhow, we love our scale and it was so neat the other day the way the sun shone right into its workings and spotlighted everything that I couldn't resist a picture.



Tracks of a rather large canid that rummaged through the yard the other night. It came almost up on the front porch. If you follow tracks, not pictured, down where the kids and I had to dig Alan's truck out of the snow bank (just before the boss finally plowed our driveway for the second time this winter) you can see he was mousing...or perhaps voling. However, our poor kitty Teak vanished....probably in the same direction as the mice. She was a fat, pretty little calico Schaufelcat and we miss her. Can we say that cats and coyotes don't exactly live in harmony?

Video Bucking Bull Catalog

Cord McCoy at Albany last year...nicest guy you could ever meet!

Here is a catalog of videos of the offerings at the upcoming McCoy Ranch sale. If you have time go watch some of the films of the critters. Pretty darned cool.

Wordless Wednesday

Jelly Side Up

Trent Loos on Dairy Prices

Go here, to listen to Trent discuss the outrage of milk prices crashing on the farm while staying high in the stores. I am wondering at what point NY's anti-price gouging law will kick in. If ever.


He says there is talk of a 300,000 cow buy out...nuts to that! He is right about looking into why prices aren't reflecting what processors and stores are paying farmers.

Buzzing about the Bees

An interesting possibility has come to light on the devastating bee killer being called colony collapse disorder. The sudden appearance and terrible consequences of this disease have baffled scientists for years. However, it seems now that it showed up on the horizon the same year that Australian bees were allowed to be imported here. Read the whole story here.