Break up and the Farm Show

Beautiful downtown Syracuse, home of more red lights
than certain districts in the old days. That is a green one you see there,
but we didn't see many others.

We visited the NYS Farm Show yesterday. The show itself was very nice. I will try not to complain too long about the parking guys filling the farthest out lots first...2 miles away. About the insane shuttle bus driver. Standing up with camera, jackets, etc. in hand on a school bus with a death wish.
Pot holes.
Corners on two wheels. Praying not to land in the lap of the poor little Mennonite kid in the seat I was clinging to.
Walking all the way back after doing the show, because the buses were all parked. (I think it was a plot.)


No, I won't whine about that stuff any more than I have to. We talked to lots of very nice salesmen, who who were very generous with samples of a number of probiotic products that I can't wait to try. When a cow digests her feed via rumination it is really a lot of little bugs, microbes if you will, doing the job. When conditions get out of balance in her rumen, due to feed issues, or calving or who knows what, those bugs sometimes die, making it tough for the cow to process her lunch. Probiotic products put a new set of bugs on board so she can break down her groceries. We already use a couple of such products, but it will be interesting to try these new ones. We have a lot of calving coming up and so will have a lot of fresh cows needing extra attention.





I took a couple of through-the-windshield, slashing rain, howling wind and dark and gloomy conditions type photos on the trip. Below is the ice on the river beginning to break up. Experts are predicting a serious flooding situation when it finally warms up enough to move that ice and I suspect they are right.

We are driving on about three feet of compressed ice on our barn road. It has been such a cold winter that almost none of it has melted and our big concrete walkway that is about a foot above the driveway hasn't been seen in months. When all that is on the river and all the snow and all the many places where the ground is covered in that much ice all melt, I expect it to be pretty noticeable.



Despite being footsore from the hiking, the show was fun. Glad we went. Even more glad to be home.

Customer Appreciation

This week's Farm Side Friday

I Was Followed

Off to the stove.

Not a bad job in this weather, what with the sun shining and water tinkling off the roofs and cardinals and blue jays and gold finches livening things up all over the place.

Then I heard soft, sneaky footsteps behind me.

The stalker.

I don't know why she thinks she needs to keep an eye on me.

Trent Tomlinson

Is about as nice a guy as you could meet....the girls and I met him last summer and he acted more like the guy next door than a major country singer.

He played this song at the Vermont State Fair concert and we loved it the first time we heard it. Now he has released it on MySpace video so you can hear it too.
Go ahead, take a listen...the top one is a slide show with studio audio and the lower is live.



Trent Tomlinson - That's How It Still Oughta Be - Live Video


Trent Tomlinson - That's How It Still Oughta Be (Slideshow)

New Slow Moving Vehicle Laws

According to a press release from the Commissioner of Agriculture, NY's SMV laws have changed thusly...
(Wonder if they are going to enforce Amish compliance with these.)

"The following is a summary of three new laws, as well as lighting requirements that pertain to slow moving vehicles. For the exact language of the new laws, please refer to the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law at http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menuf.cgi.

New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 100, paragraph (d): The law now pertains to every agricultural tractor, self-propelled implement of husbandry, and towed, mounted or semi-mounted implement of husbandry. “Implement of husbandry” means a vehicle designed or adapted exclusively for agricultural, horticultural or livestock raising operations or for lifting or carrying an implement of husbandry.

New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 375, subdivision 36, paragraph (b): Farm machinery and implements of husbandry designed to operate at 25 mph or less, traveling on a public highway during day or night, whether self-propelled or used in combination, shall each separately display a slow-moving-vehicle emblem as specified by law. The previous law required an SMV emblem on either the tractor or the vehicle being towed, but not both.

New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 376, subdivision 1, paragraph (a): It is unlawful to operate, drive, or park self-propelled agricultural equipment on any public highway or street during the period from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise and during other times as visibility for a distance of 1,000 feet ahead of or behind such agricultural equipment is not clear, unless such agricultural equipment is equipped with approved lamps that are lighted and in good working condition.

Lighting Requirements for Self-Propelled Agricultural Equipment: When lighting is required, all self-propelled agricultural equipment shall also be equipped in accordance with New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law’s lighting requirements, which are as follows:

§ Head lamps: must be two white lights on the front of the equipment, at the same level and as far apart as practicable

§ Tail lamps: must be one red light at the rear of the equipment and as far to the left as practicable
§ Combined hazard warning and turn signal lamps: must be two amber lights at least 1.1 meters (or 42 inches) high at the same level, as far apart as practicable, and visible from both the front and rear

§ Rear reflectors: must be two red lights at the rear of the equipment, at the same level, and as far to the left as practicable."

By all means check the website about these laws. The above is taken straight from the press release and I don't know how much more there may be on this.

Here is another quote,

"In 2007, there were 59 accidents involving SMVs that resulted in 17 personal injuries in New York State. Farm equipment usually moves 25 miles per hour (mph) or less in areas where the speed limit may be posted at 55 mph, leaving little time for approaching traffic to react. According to the National Safety Council, roadway collisions that involve farm vehicles on U.S. roads total more than 15,000 per year. More than two-thirds of those collisions involve the farm vehicle being hit from behind and over 90 percent occur in the daylight and on dry roads. Usually, when a fatality occurs, the victim is the tractor operator.

Slow Moving Vehicle emblems must always be kept clean and must be replaced when faded. It is illegal to use SMV emblems as driveway or mailbox markers, which can confuse the meaning of the SMV emblem and lead to its loss of effectiveness as a warning device.

For questions about the New York State Vehicle and Traffic law or the changes to the law that went into effect this year, contact your local New York State Police Troop Traffic Section.":

Love is in the Air

Ah, spring! Step onto the porch take a deep breath (heck take a tiny little gasp) and you are met with a solid wall of it. It is kind of like getting hit in the head with an olfactory brick. Or maybe stepping on a rake handle and feeling all the ouch in your nose. Kinda sorta stomach-clenching, brain-numbing, beyond imagining fragrant spring air.
It creeps into the kitchen causing Liz and me to look up in puzzlement. What the heck is that?

Then the penny drops. We now watch the dogs very extra carefully and subject every kitty that crosses our path to a heightened level of scrutiny before proceeding, progressing or bending to pet.

Despite the fact that the only green things are spruce trees and house plants. Despite the ice gripping the ground and making every step a pending peril. Despite temperatures dropping into the very low teens every night. Despite the fact that the calendar and every other sense says that it is still winter, our noses tell us otherwise.
He's back......

Mephitis mephitis, skunk on the loose. To him this is the season of love. To us, well, we just wish he would move along.



****Update, other topic.... Jan at Poodle and Dog had these links to just how Humane the Humane Society of the US really is....you need to read them. Thanks for keeping us up to date on this stuff, Jan!

Hopeful

Faint Promises

Two days ago I stood on the back porch waiting for the dogs. The old dogs can go out pretty much unsupervised now, although Mike will get in the compost bin and eat apple peelings if you don't keep half an eye on him.
However, Nick will go after the old sheep if you don't watch him, so I do.
(This morning a cottontail rabbit got up right under his feet when he went out the door. Of course he gave chase. I called his name and said, "That'll do," and he stopped instantly, practically tipping over in his tracks, and turned right around and went back to tending to business. That is good boy type stuff, to come right off the chase without a backward glance. I was proud of him.)

Anyhow on that coupla days ago noon time I closed my eyes as I stood there rejoicing in the sun. (It is sometimes hard to see with the snow howling by and all, but it really is getting just a little bit higher over the horizon now.) I let it beat on my face turning the light behind my eyelids bright red, almost as if it were a summer day, and it felt GOOD. Did you ever do that when you were a little kid? Point your face at the sun with your eyes closed and look at all the reds and purples that you see and feel that blissful warmth? There was just enough of a breeze (as opposed to a frozen gale) blowing to tug at my hair that day that made feel me like walking right out and starting on the garden.




It was the most peaceful, yet invigorating moment that has come my way in many moons. A faint promise that finer seasons are on the agenda and may, in fact, show up soon.




However, yesterday a snippy little storm blew in, setting all the slush like concrete again, and spitting a couple more inches of snow all over everything, so a walk to the barn is fraught with real peril. And the wind is snarling around the house likie a werewolf, nothing balmy or promising about it today. It is February still and it still feels like it, and looks like it, but I sure am grateful for that little taste o' spring the sun allotted me the other day.


And on the bad days, breakfasts like this take some of the sting away. (Thanks Liz).
Homemade waffles with maple syrup from the north facing woods down past the barn. What's not to like?

Sunday Stills, Architecture

This is the Montgomery County Old Courthouse, built in 1836. It was a nasty day when I got over to town...it had just stopped snowing, but you can still see that it is quite a place.



For more Sunday Stills.....

That's Just Dovey

Quite early this morning, before the sun was even over the horizon. Guess the birds were hungry after the very cold night.

NY Cheese Plant Suspended

CONTACT: FOR RELEASE:

Jessica Chittenden Immediately, Friday

518-457-3136 February 20, 2009

STATEMENT FROM AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER PATRICK HOOKER
Regarding the Suspension of the Ahava Cheese Plant in Ogdensburg

“Today, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets suspended the operating permit of Ahava of California, which operates a cheese manufacturing facility in Ogdensburg. The suspension was based on inspections of the plant and samples of the plant’s products, which showed that continued operation and distribution of its products could pose a serious danger to the public’s health, safety and welfare.

“It is unfortunate that one of our dairy processing facilities is suspended from operation, however recent inspections found its products to have excessive levels of bacteria and coliform, as well as containing non-food grade oil. In addition, Ahava’s facility and equipment are in extreme disrepair, posing further potential contamination.

“The action taken today is effective immediately and stops all cheese processing and distribution at the Ogdensburg plant. Department inspectors have already seized over 25,000 pounds of cheese unfit for consumption, and all other product will be held until a determination is made that it is not adulterated. While Ahava only sold its products in bulk, the Department is committed to identifying any retail outlets that may have received Ahava products to assure the safety of the product.

“Since all operations at the Ogdensburg plant are currently suspended, we have notified the New York State Department of Labor of the possible job loss. The Department of Labor will take steps to provide services to all impacted employees.”

***This is a press release from the Commissioner of Agriculture

Pardon My Skepticism

I still believe that putting the national animal disease laboratory in Kansas among millions of hoofed animals is nuts. Keep it out in the ocean at Plum Island, where disease has been successfully contained for decades. As far as I am concerned this is all about a boost for state economy with no concern for animal safety.

Here is what happened in Great Britain when a disease lab was placed among farm animals.

And here is Farm Side Friday

And here is an interesting story about Anthrax immunities in dairy products potentially offering a vehicle for vaccine delivery.

We are fishing in the wrong place

That is all there is to it. Grabbed this from Joce at Tillaboro Orchard. Do watch it all the way to the end, because it just gets better and better (or worse and worse, depending on how you feel about fish.)









Alan, this one's for you....we have to find out how to do this! (Dibs on the hockey helmet, you can use the chainsaw one.)

What Do You Do in the Winter?

You get on committees.
And go to committee meetings.


Run to WalMart in snowstorms. Drive carefully and be thankful that everyone else is also doing so for a change.

You lose a longtime family friend and miss the funeral because no one gets the paper. (This was a friend of the boss, one of his many year's bowling buddies and auction going cohorts. We only found out that he passed because the boss asked me to look up who was at the funeral home today. He feels horrible about missing the funeral!)


Take pictures of bark (after all we live near the Adirondacks and word is that the Indian word means "barkeater" in reference to the limited menu during long hard winters there).




Photograph white-throated sparrows through the grubby kitchen windows in lousy light....but you CAN see the trademark yellow nares.




And find owls in the backyard. It was almost dark, but this one, a barred owl I think, let Liz walk right up to him and only flew when she tripped...thus when Blogger gets over its recent moodiness and she can log into and post on BuckinJunction, she will have better pictures than mine....cause I stayed down on the porch.



****This bird photographin' thing must be contagious because now we practically jostle each other as we race out to take pictures of whatever has landed in the yard.

Wordless Wednesday

Winter Singers

I love the wheezy, breathless calls of the titmice, like chickadees with pack a day habits. Their sound is so compelling to me that I have to force myself not to go to the window to watch them whenever I hear them. (They hang around all day so I wouldn't get much done if I did.)



Yesterday I was trying for some good pictures of them. They are much wilder than the chickadees, thus harder to photograph. As I was standing under the big Colorado blue spruce, freezing my hands and hoping I blended in a bit, the most beautiful blue jay call I had ever heard rang out behind me. It was so clear and sweet and melodious, it just filled me with delight. I marveled that a bird could sound so harmonious. I didn't turn around because I didn't want to spook the titmice, but I did wonder that it came so close. Jays leave the minute I go outside as a general rule.

Then the singer flew right over my head and obligingly perched right over my head.
What a lovely blue jay!
Not.

Later, as I stood on the porch waiting for the dogs to do their thing, another set of calls rang out. Maybe fifteen red winged blackbirds flew right past the porch, chinking to beat the band. I was so excited I sang out, "Blackbirds!" and startled them so badly they turned around and headed back the way they came. We had just been remarking that morning that we hadn't seen any yet ...and there they were. We take our signs of pending spring any way we can get them.

Senator Charles Schumer Dialog with Dairy Farmers

,

Was held yesterday where my kids attend college. Liz and I drove down to listen to the good senator offer his views on solutions for today's dairy pricing melt down and to allow farmers to offer their input on what would be the best course.

It was a good meeting and I was favorably impressed with Mr. Schumer. He clearly really understood milk pricing and farming and knew many farmer spokesfolks by their first names. I liked him a lot more than I expected to and I have always felt that he made a real effort to do well for farmers.

Anyhow, the meeting will be the focus of this week's Farm Side, which I must write today because I have another meeting tomorrow (it is farmer meeting season).

One of the highlights of the meeting was enjoying the cutest little farmer baby you ever saw. We know his family from Dairy Bowl and college and all and he was just a little cutie! He sat right in front of Liz and me and we flirted shamelessly with him through a good part of the meeting.

And his mama had the world's best diaper bag.

The practical, yet chic farm kid diaper bag.

Doomsayers Unite

Or untie...whatever.

This is an interesting George Wills column on things that didn't happen and others that probably won't happen, but the powers that be want you to worry about them.

The Law of Doomsaying

HT to Carpe Diem

Where is it?

I am betting some of you will know where these photos were taken. Alas, I was not there and did not take them. Rather my youngest brother and his wife, the weavers, took these when they were near a place where he was drilling to stabilize some earth...that is what he does by the way when he is not farming or weaving...he drills holes for concrete and grout to stabilize stuff, including the subway tunnel where the World Trade Center once stood.



****Update, I KNEW I had seen this building before! When Matty sent it to me it looked so familiar. Today I went searching for where I had seen it. I haven't been to the state in question since about 1973. If you want to know the answer to the question of where it is, go here......and little bro, not so long ago you were not so very far from on of my favorite bloggers!

He uses this thing, (although the trailer is not supposed to be broken like that.)



If you know where these were taken, state, city, general locality (there are two) or anything, leave an answer in the comments if you wish.

****Except for the drill these are Florida pictures taken around St Augustine and at White Springs Florida. I recognized the store right away and had to search Pure Florida to find the other picture where I had seen it before.

Sunday Stills Challenge...the Moon

The best of these were taken by my partner in photography, Alan. He is learning all that aperture and shutter speed stuff in college and it shows. Some of them are mine....I am not telling which.




Sunday Stills

If That Ain't Country

Cow Magnets...but on the water heater

Blitz

Tanker Day

Scotty update, with one pic of her mom and one of Snickers,
the other kitchen calf. Can you spot them?

I thought that since this is a farm blog I should perhaps post some farm pictures, rather than birds and cats and all. You can see how Scotty is thriving after her start in the kitchen, and a little bit of Snickers, who was eager for her pail of milk and not interested in the camera.

We managed to get done and have the milk cooled in time for the tanker today. I think Dale wondered what I was up to, taking photos of his truck....but he didn't ask. Blitz is one of Lizzy's show cows, in my mind the best one she has right now. She and her mother are both much too large for our 200+ year old barn. They have the biggest, best stalls we have but...cows have gotten a lot bigger over the past couple of centuries, so Blitz and Mandy stand with their shoulders in the pipeline. (Here is a baby picture of Blitz) I am going to post some full photos of the ones I combined in the collages over at my photo/overflow blog, The View at Northview, if you would like to take a look at them.

Do NOT Sit in This Chair

See that lump?

It bites!

Not Just Another Pretty Face

Gael
(AKA Queen Bean
Whissa Queen
Strudel
Beanie
QB
Queen of Beans)

Farm Side Friday

Right here

Australian Fires Blamed on "Green" Policies

Thanks to AKAGaga for this one.

Sounds as if the people who lived in the fire ravaged areas knew a lot more about how to manage their land than the activists and government did. It is easy to blame global warming for disasters like this, but there seem to be other issues involved.

Meanwhile, my heart goes out to them for their horrific losses. The tragedy they face is unimaginable. I wonder if there is anything Americans can or are doing to help them.

***Deb was kind enough to answer this question in the comments. Go here for information on helping and for other related information and photos.

This Could Be Dangerous

I find this particular bird well suited to this post...fitting so to speak

Stories like this one trouble me. I have no problem with rewarding people for exercising. No doubt it is good for them. However, punishing those who choose not to live at the gym for the lifestyle they choose, even when it doesn't include being skinny as a pencil, treads dangerously on personal freedom, personal responsibility and their rights. Even their right to not be hungry 24/7 to fit some government guru's idea of the ideal body form.

People become overweight for many reasons. One that I often think about, is that, not so long ago in our evolution as folks, being what farmers call an "easy keeper" was advantageous. The kind of people who can eat a whole ham and fixins and still look like a pretzel would have starved to death quick back in the cave man days. Women like me, who have but to look at a cookie to feel their waist line expanding were selected FOR by that old devil, natural selection. Punishing people for traits that have been selected for in the genetic lottery seems just a tad unfair.

Not to mention that it has been proven that many people who do manage to lose weight beyond what their body naturally feels is right for it live with constant hunger pains.

However, my main concern in this huge push to demonize body condition scores of over five (cow folks will know what I mean) is the potential for a slender world causing polar bears to become extinct. I mean, think about it. If every person who weighs more than they should runs off to the gym and sheds every pound that the government considers extra, think of the effect all those burning calories and all that exhaled carbon dioxide would have on global warming. It would be nice for us as our farm would suddenly become ocean front property, but all I can say is be careful what you wish for.

Wordless Wednesday

Creepy Pictures

And bad ones too. This hawk flew down into the heifer barnyard when I was enjoying my weekly Sunday morning chat with my little brother the other day. We were each watching our bird feeders and comparing notes on what we saw. His birds were much more exotic, including pine siskins and purple finches, while mine were a busy, bustling, but prosaic bunch of chickadees, juncos, titmice and assorted sparrows and suchlike. Of course the usual absurdly large contingent of pigeons (rock doves if you are fussy) was preening and rattling and pooping on the heifer barn roof. Nasty feather rats!


Then this critter swooped in, with a flash of banded tail and outswept wings. Wham! The yard emptied in half a heartbeat. Though I tried and tried, it was a very gloomy morning and alas, no good photos. It was interesting though, that this little hawk flew right INTO the barn a few minutes later, to hunt pigeons. And, thanks to its welcome intervention, the darned things have mostly gone somewhere else to roost for a few days.

We used to only have a scattering of them, annoying, but not too serious a problem. Then the state put plastic owls up on the bridge in town and they ALL moved up here to sit on the heifer barn and the tower on the house. Their clawing is rough on the tower shingles! (I have my own set of plastic owls, but that danged tower is well over 70 feet high. I am NOT going up there with an owl.) So we have pigeons. Except when we have hawks.






And ask you, in all seriousness, what on earth is wrong with this lady bug? I found it on the kitchen table yesterday and transported it into the living room to put on my majesty palm. Scale insects love palms and lady bugs love scale insects so it works out well. However when I took a close up shot of this critter I saw that it was covered with ucky stuff....just ucky. Anybody know what's up with that?



And I can't tell you how much I have been enjoying, vicariously, Alan's fisheries and wildlife studies. We quiz each other on Latin names every night in the barn. I know most upstate mammals and many herps and he is learning fish (if you wanna get stumped, try the minnow clan). Anyhow I am kinda, sorta jealous of his studies. Most days. College just wasn't' like that when I was there. (I might have letters after my name if it had been.) However, yesterday I was thoroughly contented to be at home shoveling ashes rather than doing what his class did. A DEC tech came in and dissected road killed deer for them in the interest of counting fetuses. Some of the deer were fresh. Others were.....not. Very, very, very not. He said it was the worst thing he had ever done.I endeavored not to laugh. It was much easier than usual not to be envious.

Some Days

Some days you take a lot of pictures, (starting the night before) out on the hill trying to get close ups of the outrageous numbers of ducks coming in every night.
And wind up with cold hands and blurs.

Some days the moon is simply spectacular so you go out before dawn and take a lot of pictures with the tripod and all kinds of settings.
And end up with cold hands and weird white circles

Some days you clean the ashes out of the woodstove
It will be nice to be able to fit some wood in (which should help with the cold hands situation).

Some days you go after action shots of birds


And simply don't get any.

Some days you look at the agriculture section of the porkulus plot...er, I mean the stimulus bill...and see that the vast majority of so called ag expenditures are planned for food stamps. Makes sense to me. Most farmers, particularly dairy, are looking at unprecedented financial challenges this year. Let's put 'em all on food stamps....

Sunday Stills, Reflections (a TwoFer)

Since open water is at a premium here in the Great Northeast this time of year, and since I have really overdone the mirror thing in the past few weeks, I dug into the archives for these. I am calling it a twofer because not only do you get Sunday Stills, you also get a peek back at summer (a season, which is much missed around here). The photos were taken last year during our Peck's Lake vacation. The cabin porch is my favorite place in the world and tranquil mornings there offer the finest sense of peace and joy I have ever found.




For more Sunday Stills, go here.