Sunday Stills...Black and White

For more Sunday Stills.......

Thunderstorms

Are chaining down the valley. They are quick and windy and wild, with sun shine hot on their heels. I am getting sick of shutting down and unplugging computers.
Maybe I should go do something useful just for variety.

Fox Tail Fern

When I met the boss, his mom had a massive, fine leaved fern kind of thing growing in one of the big windows in the living room. She didn't remember its name, but had bought the seed from which it grew by mail order long before I met the family...well over twenty years ago. It has at this point got to be over thirty years old.

She treasured that plant and pampered it more than any other, and she had an amazing green thumb. When she passed away I inherited its nameless, one of a kind, self.

I had no idea how to care for it and wasn't on the Internet at that time...so I muddled along for years, slowly figuring out that it loves water and will be pot bound no matter what I put it in, as it expands to fill available space seemingly overnight. Finally after years of looking at assorted house ferns on the net, I discovered what it was.

It has made seeds for years, but nobody ever did anything with them, until spring before last I stuck two in with tomatoes I was starting for the garden.




To my total amazement in late summer there were two little baby fern plants in with the tomatoes. I planted more last fall, but finally gave up on ever seeing them germinate. I put baby Christmas cacti in the pot I had put them in.

Last week they popped up as if out of nowhere, so now I have five of them.

And the big one is in bloom again.

PS, the Eagle nest cam is back online and the chick has gotten really big. Today it was jumping up and down and practicing flapping its wings. Go see...

Nobody Likes Asparagus

But me.
Isn't that the luckiest thing!

And I am kind of proud of myself. About three weeks ago Microsoft Word 2000, the word processing program upon which I do my writing, put itself in full screen mode and stayed there, stuck. All my menus and tool bars were gone. Years of customizing the program just so, so that I didn't have to think about saving and word counting and thesaurus and all those other goodies, just gone.

It was nasty! I managed to use an online word count tool. I got things done as best I could, but it was really hard. You can supposedly press ALT V to get a view menu and get your stuff back. Or ESC to get out of full screen mode.

None of these things worked. The only other alternative was to edit the registry of the computer.
Frankly I was chicken!

However, after three weeks of misery I couldn't stand it any more. (I had uninstalled and reinstalled Word half a dozen times, and repaired it and changed it to no avail.)
Finally, I went to this site, followed the directions, and presto! In seconds, the tool bars were back.
Sadly all my customizations are gone, and of course, after so long I have forgotten how I did them, but I can happily manage the way things are. And I am glad I was brave and did the edit registry thing. Now if I can just find some more asparagus.

A New Use for an Old Plant?

The Beechnut cereal plant in Fort Plain, NY, may soon be turned into a meat processing facility. This would be a real plus for area farmers, especially those who raise a beef or a pig or two in the backyard and are at the mercy of less than scrupulous facilites around the state

Wordless Wednesday, this one's for Mom

Was it De Day?

What we saw at the house
while the boys were hunting on the hill Sunday

Yesterday we de-wormed the heifers. That was a simple matter of tossing the mineral salt block out of the yard while we were building electric fence and tossing in the SafeGuard block. They will do the rest themselves.

Then I de-grassed the rhubarb bed (reed canary grass is an acceptable cow feed, but it is terribly invasive in a garden. If let go it thinks nothing of growing feet and feet taller than my head! Roots are as thick as my pinky finger, woody and matted. I swear I could hear the rhubarb sighing with relief when I grubbed them out. I was the one sighing by the time I got done. I am out of shape after the long winter lack of garden work.) A wheel barrow load of well-composted horse manure and the job was done. Soon to be followed by rhubarb crisp....

The boss de-clumped the thorn apple tree field (so named because his dad once accidentally put half of one of that kind of tree through the hay mower there...not much fun to get it back out.) Actually he was chisel plowing but the end result was ground that was ready for the discs.

We de-moted the milk cows to the heifer pasture. They were de-lighted because it is a great, big, green field where they de-voured new green grass until they bulged. If I had time I would have taken a few "happy cow" pics as they really were. Happy that is.

I wish you could have seen them when old Zinnia and Etrain realized that the east gate was open instead of the south gate (which let them out into the field behind the barn, which is pretty chewed over.) Zinnia let out a mighty moo, apparently calling the clan to follow, stuck out her long, snakey neck, and shuffled through the puddles by the gate like a big, black duck. As soon as E saw what was happening she trotted on by and hustled up the lane like a magnet seeking north. The whole herd followed, grazed for a few minutes by the gate, and then took a walking tour of their new digs. Every time I looked out the kitchen window, the hillside was dotted with black, white, red and Jersey brown, as they ate or lay in the grass chewing the cud. It was nice.

What's up for today? I don't know yet...de-pends on the weather.

Oh, and as a bit of a post script, Liz's original Jersey cow, Dreamroad Extreme Heather, presented her with a lovely little heifer calf about half way through the afternoon. It is cute as a wagon-load of speckled puppies.

Nesting Frenzy

Totally unrelated really cool, really old building in Glens Falls NY

We got the 4490 back last week and it has barely sat still a minute since.
Field work frenzy you might say.
Anyhow, the oil gets checked in a tractor working that hard.
Often.
Despite this when the boss checked the oil yesterday morning a bird had built a nest on the cap of the dip stick thingie.
Weird.

Sunday Stills....Flowers and Plants

For more Sunday Stills, Flowers and Plants.

PBR Glens Falls NY

Reese Cates look alike?
Mike Lane of Virginia

Speaking of Phone Calls

Donnie Gay at Glens Falls NY PBR
Photo by Liz at
BuckinJunction

I got a really cool one last night. Liz drove up to Glens Falls for the PBR, I think Enterprise Tour, event there. First, like the thoughtful person she usually is, she called me when she arrived (after getting lost, I understand, something like four times). Then she called to tell me that her row three seat was actually the front row right by the chutes.

Then she called from the arena. The din was uproarious and I could barely make out what she was saying. A garbled something something about the guy who was introducing the event. I could hear an announcer in the background, but between the phone and the echo in the arena I couldn't recognize his voice or understand just what he was saying.

Had I been able to hear his voice though I certainly would have recognized it. When Liz was a colicky little baby and we were young, broke, and living in a four-room Adirondack cabin, with no indoor plumbing, we did have TV. Since we got home late from milking here at the farm every night we ended up watching just two things while we walked the floor with her sobbing, jerking, screaming little self night after night.

Those things were Mets baseball and Mesquite Rodeo. (Check out 1986...guess who won it all that year.)
And I guess it is no wonder she loves rodeo today, as, if and when she ever fell asleep at night back in the day when she took up about a football's worth of space in my arms, it was to the sound of the guy she met last night, announcing the likes of Monty Henson and Joe Beaver back when they were riding.

Yep, she even got me an autograph when she talked to him a while last night. The announcer for the show was as well-known as any of the bulls or riders, the one and only Donnie Gay.

She promised to take a real good picture for me to post here so I will add that later, cause I don't want to wake her up. Okay...it is up there now. Thanks Liz

And tonight, I get to go too!!

Friday, Yet Another Early Morning

Woke up at two. The boss's knee is bothering him and he got up to sleep in his chair.

Woke up at four. Alan's good friend was pulling up the driveway for their rain and miserable weather, cold and gloomy as heck, better them than me, opening day turkey hunt. Wally, the unhousebreakable, cat-crushing (he murdered my dear little Comedy cat last year), sneaky, laundry-peeing, (and herb garden too...he doesn't get out of his kennel much) nasty-rotten blue heeler was barking his head off of course. So was our late and beloved Grandma Peggy's little pound hound Sadie. Soon sounds of the blue bomber rumbling through gates and up the hill announced their departure on what I hope will be a safe and successful trip. We have literally hundreds of wild turkeys so a couple of fat toms won't be missed. Wild turkey tastes just like tame turkey except skinny and stringy and dry, but the boys love to hunt and food is food. Thank God May doesn't last too long though, as I am mightily tired of hearing turkey calls in the barn...in the house...in the car....everywhere. The kid is good with or without his mouth call, but really.....

As I lay there in bed debating whether to get up and play computer and take the house dogs out and feed the cat and start the first load of laundry of the day, I realized that my recent tirade about phone calls might be misinterpreted by people whom I love and WANT to call me. I decided to take it down. The army recruiters and Sienna college poll folks are not going to see it. However, folks I really like to hear from might and might think I am too busy to talk to them.....never happen, friends and family can call every day, twice a day and I will only be delighted, but that is where it went anyhow. So call me. You know who you are. Your know I love to hear from you. lol

I got to thinking as I debated the relative merits of a few more minutes snuggled under that red horse blanket thingie that is so warm against a few minutes pounding the keyboard (recently anointed with Lysol in honor of the North American, H1N1, swine, shine, whine flu's arrival in the area), I realized how much I rely on the friends I have made blogging for support, comfort and entertainment.

Thanks for being there folks and for sharing your trials, tribulations, joys, sorrows, tales of your lives and wonderful photos of same with this NY farm wife. I learn so much from you every day, whether it is bird identification, wild plants in Florida, or ranching and farming everywhere from Colorado, to Alberta, to Oregon and Kansas. Missouri. Alabama. Mexico and GB and all over the north, south, east and west....even right here at home in NY. It is all a great way to start the day. Keep up the good work!

Morning

The light lies across the land like a golden blanket.

Dawn is a gift, gently proffered, kindly offered.

Every morning.

Take it or leave it. It is here for your comfort if you need it.

It sweetly softens the sting of worry and strain.

Time for the Tour de Cure

Please support my handsome brother if you can. He does this every year and I much admire him for it.

Out to Grass

Liz taking Mandy for a turn on the lawn the other day. Mandy is Blitz's mama

The whole herd got to enjoy grass yesterday, as we turned out to pasture for the first time this season.

The first time they go out, I have to stand outside the door and break up fights. Cows are thought of as being sweet and placid....However they love to battle each other to their knees, and pound on one another with great zest. My poor Etrain was put right on the concrete and pushed along the ground by Lemonade. Good thing I was there to restore order! After a few runs up and down the hill and some jumping and kicking they fell to eating grass and pretty much calmed down.

Grazing

Sunday Stills.....Barns

Hop House

Ed encouraged us to look for something different so here is our hop house from back when hops were a major crop here in the valley and some haymow pics I couldn't resist. I love the way the mow looks early or late in the day with the sun slanting in through the rafters (and assorted holes in the walls).

For more Sunday Stills barns

Update, the boss suggested we go photograph the round barn up on Round Barn Rd. Then Ed had a real cool round barn.....so.......

Men at Work

And other farmer folk and friends

Some of us are sillier than others.

The Barn Blackboard.

It has been quite a while since I posted a photo of barn art so here are some peanut butter and jellyfish (click for brand names).....mostly by Becky with editorializing by assorted other denizens of the dairy. (Note the countdown to the rodeo in the lower left corner....very important.)

Etrain wondering what I had with me in the stall
when I was supposed to be getting ready to milk her.

The girls were not thrilled to see mom
floating around the barn with the camera yesterday morning.

Beef Prices

Have been so low all winter that there has been little value in shipping cull cows and almost none in calves. For example, two weeks ago we sent a pair of bulls to the sale, 114 and 108 pounds. They were healthy, lively and real nice calves. We got $30 a piece for them. In a normal year the check would have been more like $250 for a pair of calves that nice. Despite this dairy cows have been culled in record numbers as farmers struggle to survive on milk prices that are many dollars below the cost of production.

Tuesday we sent a cow that has been dry all winter. She has been running out with the bred heifers and we didn't sell her sooner because of assorted logistical problems involving the truck not being available and the actual challenge of getting her in and loaded (which did turn out to be quite a job). Yesterday we got the check and it was the most we have gotten for a cow since prices started their precipitous slide. It is probably just a fluke, but I hope not. Sadly I think if either beef or milk prices climb much you are going to see a lot of farmers going out of business in a big hurry. Right now I think a lot of guys are holding on because if they sell their cows when prices are so bad they won't get even a fraction of their investment back.

LJ Hand Farm Store

Got some much deserved recognition in the paper today. People in the area take Lynwood Hand's store for granted, but believe me, if you don't live around here and you visit for the first time, stunned amazement is a normal reaction,

Hand's has everything that exists that can be used on a farm and if he doesn't have it he will find it. When I first joined the farming world visiting the store was a like a trip to Disney Land, with a wish list a mile long and everything needed to fulfill it right there on the shelves. The boss remembers a man from out of state that he talked to at an auction who was looking for certain tractor tires. The boss sent him to Hand's and he darned near bought out the store. He had never seen so many supplies and things in one place and priced right as well.

I am glad the paper took note of our favorite farm store and I wish them many more years of successful business. They are having a customer recognition open house this Saturday from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM, with discounts and vendor displays for folks who attend. I hope you get a chance to stop by and tell them how much having them here means to the community. You will have a great time if you can! (And you can stock up on barbed wire and baling twine. Ear tags and neck chains. Tire chains and tires and tubes and tools and oil and teat dip. And snaps and buckets. And medicines and brushes. And anything else you can think of from bearings to hydraulic lines.)

Wordless Wednesday

Update on the Craigs List Killer

They caught him. And he was from around here! Came from Syracuse, met his wife to be at SUNY Albany. Wow....

Greening up

Fence guru

Tools of the Trade

Rain today, perhaps necessary, but not at all welcome as we need to ship a cow that is going to make us run around in it, and we finally just saw the end of most of the mud. Oh, well, you can't change the weather....although there are others who could use this more than we can.

It is greening up around here at the proper time of year, (although Alan was up to the top of his chest-high waders in a vernal pool at school yesterday and it snowed!) rather than leaving us with bare fields at the end of May as was the case the past couple of years. As soon as the fence guru (above) and his staff finish a few little details (such as a new gate) we will be able to turn some dry cows and bred heifers out in this pasture. I am ready!

And the tip of the day for first time electric fence builders...always make your gate dead! That is put it on the side of the fence where when you open it the circuit is broken and there is no electricity in the gate wire. Easy to do and awfully painful when not done and you brush that gate wire by accident.

Craigs List

As I listen to reports of the robber and murderer who seems to be using this resource, it is kind of disconcerting. We use it all the time for find things that we want or just to see what livestock and machinery folks have for sale. It is a handy clearinghouse for unwanted stuff that may be valuable in other hands. So far we have found a source of lovely gold fish for the garden pond and a real treasure just this week.

Last week besides dealing with the milk mafia and all sorts of other interesting problems, our barn refrigerator croaked. I have no idea how many calves Liz is feeding but it is a lot. Normally we save waste milk for them in the fridge and she heats bottles and buckets and feeds them all while the boss and I milk the last line and hospital cows.

With the fridge dead, she had to wait until we milked the "bucket cows" to feed calves. It meant hours and hours of extra time in the barn for her. Finances being what they are, a trip to Wally World for a new one, even a dorm sized one, was not a prospect we cared to contemplate.

Therefore I checked Craigs List. The very first day that I looked, right across the river in Fonda, there was a listing for a large dorm sized fridge for fifteen dollars! Exactly what we needed....It took a few days to actually make contact and for the men to get over and check it out, but it now resides in the milk house and Liz is back to getting done about the same time the rest of us do. Nice for her, and much, much better for my personal guilt quotient.

However, I got the men to go across the river to check it out, rather than us women doing it. And I got them to take a phone along.
Just in case.

Sunday Stills.....Religion

For more Sunday Stills.......

Guess who

Got accepted at SUNY Potsdam?

To study archeology?

This Girl!

(We are just normal, average type parents....so we are so darned proud!!!!)

Dedicated to Florida Cracker

If only upstate NY and Pure Florida were not so far apart you could bring that JEEP right over and we could fill all your landscaping needs!



I wish the skid steer was just a little meaner so the boss could bring some of these down for me.

Company

One is never alone these days even when working in the yard.

The blue jays have gone silent and secretive with the nesting season getting under way. Still it is easy to spot them as they pounce down upon some succulent thing, fluffing their blue bloomers behind them and acting all important and proud. They have been coming closer the past few days than they ever do in winter, and it is nice to get such a good look at them.



My morning walk downstairs feature a serenade from the white-throated sparrow and a distant cardinal. Soon the white crowned sparrows will stop by for a while. For some reason they love the box elder trees and for a few weeks almost every one of them will sport a showy sparrow or two.
And the wait for the hummingbirds has begun.

In The Back of the Bottom Drawer

Click for a close up
This just epitomizes Liz
Determined to get it done herself
and the devil take the consequences!

I lost my last good hair clip while wandering around the college the other day.
Therefore I was digging through all the rarely opened drawers looking for a stray....to no avail I might add. (I have to find somewhere to get some! Cows like to eat long hair and it catches in everything and snarls something terrible out in the wind.)

However, I found this 1993 copy of the Recorder, with Liz and her first show calf, Sonora, on the front page. (Since I didn't start writing for the paper until 98, it was just serendipitous that the reporter and photographer happened to pick Liz for her article. Maybe it was the determined look on her face.)

I don't remember how Sonora fared at the fair. Probably not all that well, as her only claim to fame and ticket to the show ring was that she was gentle. Liz was only seven and not so very large either. However, that first long ago fair was the start of a show ring career for her that continues today.

Over the years she has held up both ends of the line, with old Dixie being grand champion Holstein once and reserve a couple of times and Mandy junior champion twice. Showing cows doesn't pay beans unless you are one of the big guys, but waiting and hoping for that next great one takes the edge off the drudgery aspect of the job. Last year the cows didn't do all that well, but who knows what will happen this summer. You just never know when a good one will show up!

Conficker Eye Chart

I am supposed to be writing the Farm Side right now and it is wordless Wednesday and all, but this is just too cool not to pass along to you.

Here is a site where you can quickly check your computer for the Conficker Worm thing.
It is so simple.
If you can see the graphics on the site, you are all good.
Otherwise.........