Sunday Stills...High and Low

This time of year I can find all the high I want just standing on the back porch waiting for the dog. It is so green, the air is redolent with the scent of lilac bushes the size of a semi, and rings with the calls of dozens of arriving migrants....however, I don' think that is quite the high Ed is looking for, so here is a blossom high up in the winesap apple tree and a lowly dandelion lurking in the lawn. I threw in some of those lilacs too so maybe you could enjoy the whole experience.

For more Sunday Stills.......

The Easiest (and best) Macaroni and Cheese

That you will ever eat. Imagine not having to boil up the macaroni first!

First dump two small or one large can cream of mushroom soup into a large, oven-safe bowl. Add garlic powder to taste.

Take a pound of your favorite cheese and chop it up or shred it and dump it in. We use super sharp Cheddar, but about any cheese will do.

Add 4 or 5 cups of uncooked pasta, elbows are fine, but we love shells or bow ties.

Stir it like you mean it.

Add 6 to 8 cups of milk and give her another healthy stirring...you want everything coated really well.

If you have it on hand you can toss in some diced ham (cooked). This really gives it a kick.

Then cover with foil and bake for 2 to 3 hours at 350 degrees. We like ours just a little soupy, so keep an eye on it and take it out when it looks to have the texture you like.

We love this stuff! This is a huge recipe as it is even better warmed up the next day, but you can adjust the proportions pretty freely. Credit goes to Becky for taking a simple recipe from an old ADADC flier and making it much, much better.

High Gear

Yeah! We are in it. And hoping and praying that the rain holds off...all week if it wants to.

One field is ready for the seeder and the Sudex is waiting to be planted. Another field is started.

New bull is home after an all day trip for the guys to bring him. New pen was built for him in the new woodshed so he can be quarantined for a bit. He is way too friendly and is going to need to learn his place in the grand scheme of things. Nobody needs a friendly dairy bull. Probably a ring in his nose will help.

He is a son of the milking shorthorn bull, Logic, out of a show cow from a herd up north of here. Not as pretty as Promise was when we got him, but he has a half sister that is real nice and we loved his dam when we looked at him last spring (took a long, long time to get him bought.) His name is Hot Fudge......hmmmm.....guess I will call him TNB for short...The New Bull that is.

World Series of Birding is on today in New Jersey. I cannot wait to see the lists of what birds are counted. Cornell fields amazing teams and they have been scouting and posting photos and making my little heart beat apace all week. Field guides can't compare to the pics they put up when it comes to identifying obscure birds. I am confident that I will know some warblers now that I never even tried to look for before. Best of luck to teams Redhead and Anti-Petrel.

*****Can you find Keebler the Shuttlecat in the third photo?

So Yesterday's Post is Gone

And Blogger is acting very weird. I am just grateful not to have lost the whole shooting match. It went away for a while once and I felt like I had lost all my friends.

That would hurt.

Ah, well, I still have the pics of the robin wars and if anyone wants to see them I can always put them back up.

Meanwhile the guys went to pick up a new shorthorn bull, the skid steer is back from its axle surgery, the 4490 has gone to have its injectors rejected or some such thing and me, I am just trying to get a fire going so we can have showers. Wet wood doesn't light too well.

Also potting off plantlings. And recycling an over grown flower bed.

Plus marveling at the spectacular array of arriving migrants and their frantic rush to nest, nest, nest. Yesterday I saw a fight among a robin, a blue jay, a grackle and a cardinal. Wow, that was some blaze of color and some racket too. I try to spend a little while every day sitting out on the sitting porch with the camera. Better than a National Geographic show on the television.

Fight

In this corner, weighing at not very much, Robin Redbreast

And in this corner, weighing in at about the same, Harry the Harbinger of Spring

And the winner is......Robin Redbreast (click for a better view of the action)

Mike Rowe Speaks to Congress

Yellow warbler

About the importance of skilled workers...and our disconnect from the jobs they do.

The Graduate

His truck

Today our youngest baby took the last final of his college career. Thus for the first time since 1991 none of our offspring is in school (and nursery school started before that.)

I gotta tell you...you can spot a farm kid a mile away. He came home from that last test, changed his clothes, and got on a tractor for the first field work of the season.

Congratulations Alan, we are darned proud of you.

Spring Book Sale

At my folks place.

They have rare and collectible books about guns, hunting, fishing, Colt, Savage, Stevens,Winchester, Derrydale, New York State, US Navy, Adirondacks, NY State and much more.

Check it out at Tryon County Book Shop.

Triple Decker Robin Condo

And all day cafeteria

So of Course

On day two of out to pasture the cows were just awful. Several crawled under the gate to get into the barnyard, where the gate down to the road was open as it was tanker day. Then they ran around like loons rather than go back where they belong. I think it took me a hour to hang up one load of laundry because of chasing the fools.

The day was just one interruption after another, with silly cows, phone calls, and assorted other events keeping me hopping. I did get about half the Farm Side written.....

On the bright side the Baltimore orioles are back, as are the chimney swifts. We were just talking about putting oranges out for the orioles and not half an hour later I heard one and then another. Then while I was chasing rude show cows around the barn yard I saw a couple blazing across the sky. So lovely!

Hopefully over the next few days the cows will get the idea and start staying where they belong. At least Gracie came in the barn for morning milking quite nicely and barely bothered at all at night.

Cows Out

Yesterday was the day. The girls went to pasture for the first time this year. It was peaceful compared to some years. Instead of keeping them in the barnyard while we let them all out of the barn, one by one, we opened the gate to the temporary field before we started.

At first they congregated in the barnyard, fighting off their grudges and wandering around. Then they saw that gate and all but the dumbest young ones were gone.

They didn't mess around with their usual running up and down the hill either, but just fell to grazing like it was their job....oh wait ...

When time came to put them back in the barn all that petting and fussing and calling them Boo Boo all winter paid off. Although we never did get wild and crazy Gracie back in the barn (she will probably come in on her own this morning and be glad of the opportunity), the other youngsters came in real well and let us talk them into their stalls without fuss.

Even Egypt (Boo Boo) and Carlene, who stand side by side, went right to each other's stalls and waited to be locked up. A little talking and pushing and they went back where they belonged. Lucky gets the gold star though. She ran right to her stall and started eating. I couldn't believe it.

For a few weeks it will take a crew to bring them in, as we stall train all those youngsters, but they sure did have a nice time yesterday and came in all fat with green grass and shiny with sun polish.

Here's hoping the grass in the other pastures gets going so we can start rotating and turning out yearlings...the temporary field has only single strand electric and the babies aren't fence broke. Thus we prefer to turn them out in the big heifer pasture, where there is both barbed wire and electric, for the first few weeks. Then they are sure to see the fence before they crash through.

Hurry Up

The rain has let up for a couple of days so fencing is going on apace. Cows go out today if we get the electric fence working right. Always an exciting moment.

Nick took off this morning and went way up in the old horse pasture and wouldn't come to a call. He will be spending some hours in the outside run to remind him how very lucky he is to be a house dog with yard privileges.

Meanwhile, i would not have been outside in this lovely light if I hadn't had to go looking for him, but don't tell him I am grateful for all the birds I saw and the amazing contrasts and shadows.

Yesterday I took my little bit of Sunday morning off/Mother's Day down time and sat out next to the garden pond where the bird feeders are. I was astonished by the variety of birds that came right next to me to eat. I only got photos of a few, as they flew away if I moved to focus the camera, but tufted titmice, gold finches, white-breasted nuthatches, song sparrows, and of course my good buddies the chickadees came right up about six feet from me to eat. They were closer than the chickens will come.

It was cool.

Happy Mother's Day

Sunday Stills....Doors and Door Knobs

For more Sunday Stills......

Tarda Tulips

Remind me of Linda

Can't Complain

Of course the lawn is nice and

green and Sadie the pound puppy/deer guard is liking it

About the weather....because it is so much worse in so many other places, but dang it!

We have had the worst spring, rain, and rain, and more rain and so cold they said it was going to snow last night.

The cows should be out to pasture, crops should be getting planted, the garden should be half in, fences built etc. etc.

Instead the cows are languishing in the barn, we are running out of feed, and we can't do a thing about it. Bring on the proper spring weather please, and bring on the green grass! It's time for Pete's sake and past time!

Oh, and locking the gates...yeah that worked. Not. I felt so much more secure with it locked until last night an Amish kid came to the house just after chores to ask if he could hunt (no). And he had come from the barn side and climbed right over the gate, ignoring the dog. Guess we need a longer chain.

Musical Cows

Yesterday we burned a CD for the barn, taking turns choosing what songs went on it. Thus it was downright eclectic and various.

This morning it was playing while we milked, early, because Liz and her BF had important commitments elsewhere.

Along about the end of the task the cows got to bellowing for their grain. They care nothing for our schedules and passionately about their own and it was TIME.

The CD player hangs in a window on my side so I turned it up.

And they turned it up.....the bellowing that is.

It was painful (can't grain them while we are milking or they will stomp all over us.)

We raced to get done so they could have breakfast and we could have sanity.

Then Sherry, by the Four Seasons came on the stereo.

Instant cessation of the mooing and hollering.

Only one cow let out a soft moo the whole time the song played.

Then as soon as the next one came on they were back at it.

Who knew that they were fans of the classics?

Wordless Wednesday

The 11th Highest Property Taxes in the Nation are Right Here at

Home, sweet home....and yes, we had noticed the pain.

But it still really is home, sweet, agricultural, home. Second graders from our local school did pretty darned good in the statewide My Favorite Food contest

Finch Event...or Alternatively Not a Finch

This IS a goldfinch

Went out to fill the feeders after morning chores today. As usual there was a noisy cluster of goldfinches hanging around the apple tree and honey locust awaiting that event.

As I neared the tube feeders a small, gold-finchy bird sat on the clothesline between them fending off any regular goldfinches that got impatient and landed nearby.

I couldn't make it look quite right. Although it was close to the color of a female goldfinch, it appeared to have stripes on its breast. When I got really close I saw that it was a pine siskin. We do get them pretty much every winter, but this one is really late.

It also must have been really hungry because I walked over and held the yellow scoop up next to it and it jumped right in and started eating seeds.

I couldn't believe it. Over the years I have hand trained chickadees many times and have a pair that greet me every day when I go outdoors. (And let me know in no uncertain terms when they are hungry.)

However, never have any other birds come in to eat like that, and certainly not wild arctic birds like a siskin. I don't think he was sick because he lit right into other birds like he owned the feeder.

It was pretty cool. I hope he gets all fueled up and gets to where he is going.

A Little Skeptical

About what will happen next. Or maybe worried would be a better word. Delighted though, just delighted.

Sunday Stills...Rust

*****Click any photo to enlarge

No shortage of rust around here.

For more Sunday Stills.......

While the Cat's Away the Mice Will

Mirror, mirror

on the wall

Keep a close eye on everything, and lock the gate, and listen hard for the dog to bark if anyone messes around the barn or tool shed.

Today is the Sprout Brook Auction. Go! Have fun! Say hi to the boss and most of the rest of the family, who will be there. The boss is auctioneering and everyone else is just watching the bargains and schmoozing with friends.

Except Becky and me. We are here, holding down the fort, keeping safe the cows and listening for that dog. I don't mind a bit except for the repelling boarders part. Chores are done, cows fed, bedded and milked, barn clean, peacocks fed; time for breakfast. It is for the moment peaceful and calm and we can hope it stays that way.

****Oh, wait, I do have a dutiful destination in today's peregrinations. Gotta go out and take photos of rust for Sunday Stills. Shouldn't be too terribly hard around this place. No lack of material.

The Royal Wedding

Lovage, an appropriate herb for a wedding rant, don't you think?

Is perhaps the most annoying event in history. Why does anyone care? What is so awfully special about them-there two rich and privileged folks anyhow?

Weddings should be about family and friends and caring couples, not bazillions of strangers and a lot of money and obsessing about every meaningless detail of every pointless tradtion.

The boss and I did it right. We got my brother to do one milking for me at the farm where I was working as herdsman and eloped.

Just drove up to Johnstown to Justice McVean and got married in his living room with our two best friends to stand up for us.

It was quiet, sweet, and moving. It meant so much to me that I struggled to hold back tears...and I am not exactly the queen of overt displays of emotions.

And it was private.

When we were well and truly wed, our friends took us out for Chinese, the first time I had ever eaten Chinese btw. Heartbreakingly, my dear-best-girl-friend-ever had such terrible health problems that a few years later she couldn't remember anything about the day, and sadly she is gone now. We will always remember her with particular love though...always...

The marriage has lasted almost 26 years now (and so has the liking for Chinese food). I wish the royals as much fun and challenge and struggle and satisfaction as we have had.....but I sure wonder whether the world will let them have it.

Floods

What a week of insane and horrible weather for the eastern half of the US. WW has some photos and links to flooding in her area and the Dacks.

We are just wet and soggy here, (and I do mean wet...the garden is under water and the boss is having to fork feed out of the bag for the cows, because he can't get in with the skid steer) but there is flooding all over the rest of the state. They have even delayed the opening of the river because of high water and debris.

Liz's boyfriend drives truck down in the southern tier and he snapped the photo and emailed it to her. He actually had some others of worse stuff, but she deleted them. Thanks Jade for the photo.

The kids have good friends who live up near where the Frankfort tornado touched down. I guess they haven't been getting much sleep, with tornado warnings and watches. The other day we were under five watches and warnings at once, including tornado watch, severe thunderstorm warning and watch and flood warning and watch. Up here on the hill we are pretty good when it comes to flooding, but last year's Glen tornado started right here at home, right over Alan on the tractor....which was not so very comforting...

Here is a report of some survivors of the devastation in Alabama. The folks down there will be needing our prayers for a long time for sure. I don't know when the normal weather is going to show up this year...if it does....but it could come along any time now.

The Future of Farming

Here is a video from Channel 9 about Kirsten Gillibrand talking to farmers about the ongoing loss of farms due to high costs and low milk prices.

Oh, Baby!

The sweetest baby we know needs your vote for a fun thing her mama is doing. If you could take a minute to do a couple of clicks it would be appreciated.

Find the Hidden Object Game

At the far, far end of the lawn behind the house.

Wicked Weather

We just got regular spring thundershowers. (Not like we needed the rain or anything, but not much harm done.) However, up west of here, right near the homes of some of the kids' friends it was really wild I guess.

Meanwhile, Liz bought me my first ice cream of the season. I took a ride up west with her yesterday as she had to get some hay and shavings and feed all the horses she and the BF care for. She stopped at Auntie Kim's and got me some sort of orange pineapple concoction that was perfect for our first really hot, sunny day of the year.

I also discovered that the weather this winter simply wiped out my herb garden. The lovage lived, as did the garlic chives, walking onions, regular chives and orange mint.

Pretty much everything else seems to be completely gone. Can you imagine a winter nasty enough to kill spearmint!?!

I began a complete do-over, re-dig mission so I can get some new thyme and such for the empty spots. Sadly the speedwell also bit the dust after nearly ten years of out-bluing the skies and jays. That will probably be hard to replace, since I have only ever seen it for sale once...the time I bought it.

In honor of the warmish weather I made hummingbird food this morning. They should be back pretty soon, cold or not.