This is a picture of a water lily blooming on the garden pond. Thought those of you who are also shivering here in the far, far north might enjoy the reminder of better (and warmer) days.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Summer memo
This is a picture of a water lily blooming on the garden pond. Thought those of you who are also shivering here in the far, far north might enjoy the reminder of better (and warmer) days.
UPSTREAM still swimming along
Dan Weaver, who is probably my favorite local blogger, gave serious thought last week to quitting. More than a few would have missed his particular insights into regional news and politics. Thankfully, someone wrote him a persuasive email, convincing him to continue to keep us upstate New Yorkers informed about the shenanigans of state and local government. I for one am grateful.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Blue Monday
At least one psychologist considers January 22 to be the most depressing day of the year. One scientist even figured out a mathematical formual to choose the most miserable day, based on the end of the holiday season, bills piling up, cruddy weather and so forth.
We had no idea two days ago that we were experiencing the worst day in recent memory because of that formula. Actually we though we were just having a lousy day. First both the skid steer and the bucket tractor experienced major breakdowns simultaneously. The fellows couldn't get the manure out because of the ice.There was no pretty way to feed the cows because the bucket machines were both down. Instead the guys drove the feed cart over to the pile to get the corn. It is not made to work outside in rutted snow so one had to run alongside keeping it from tipping over while the other drove. Meanwhile they needed to get a new hitch on the truck as the old one broke and they had to hook the trailer up to take the pigs to the meat plant. While crawling around in the snow under the truck, Alan got a big chunk of rust in his eye and came screaming into the house in horrible pain. We got it out all right, but he really suffered.
It was ugly.
While all this was going on cow # 146 decided to tear her stanchion out, rip down all the water lines on the south side of the barn and run around the barn beating up on other cows.
Then the heifers got out. ...because the guys left the gate open when they ran inside to catch 146 and turn off all the water.
They raced to Hand's to get some plastic pipe and nuts and bolts and such to cobble everything in the barn back together so we could milk and the cows could drink.
It was just a horrible day. I hated to see the men coming toward the house. Every time they came through the door they had more bad news. By the end of the day we were just grateful to be done and sit down and forget about cows and tractors and snow for a few hours.
Who knew that all that misery was just Blue Monday ?
"The truth is a lot of people feel down at this time and a lot of people have depression as well, particularly men, and they don't want to talk about it," Dr. Arnall said.
I feel better now.
We had no idea two days ago that we were experiencing the worst day in recent memory because of that formula. Actually we though we were just having a lousy day. First both the skid steer and the bucket tractor experienced major breakdowns simultaneously. The fellows couldn't get the manure out because of the ice.There was no pretty way to feed the cows because the bucket machines were both down. Instead the guys drove the feed cart over to the pile to get the corn. It is not made to work outside in rutted snow so one had to run alongside keeping it from tipping over while the other drove. Meanwhile they needed to get a new hitch on the truck as the old one broke and they had to hook the trailer up to take the pigs to the meat plant. While crawling around in the snow under the truck, Alan got a big chunk of rust in his eye and came screaming into the house in horrible pain. We got it out all right, but he really suffered.
It was ugly.
While all this was going on cow # 146 decided to tear her stanchion out, rip down all the water lines on the south side of the barn and run around the barn beating up on other cows.
Then the heifers got out. ...because the guys left the gate open when they ran inside to catch 146 and turn off all the water.
They raced to Hand's to get some plastic pipe and nuts and bolts and such to cobble everything in the barn back together so we could milk and the cows could drink.
It was just a horrible day. I hated to see the men coming toward the house. Every time they came through the door they had more bad news. By the end of the day we were just grateful to be done and sit down and forget about cows and tractors and snow for a few hours.
Who knew that all that misery was just Blue Monday ?
"The truth is a lot of people feel down at this time and a lot of people have depression as well, particularly men, and they don't want to talk about it," Dr. Arnall said.
I feel better now.
Regional dairy meeting made the big news
Liz and I attended a meeting on the dairy farming situation here in NYS last week. In fact, this week's Farm Side is all about it. I was surprised to find that this story about the meeting made Dairy Alert from Dairy Herd Management, even though farmers, literally from the eastern border of the state to the western, were there. Here is another story from a newspaper in the region.
It was a good meeting, well-run, well-attended and very much to the point. Now we will see if all the legislators who attended it are able to do anything about the current pricing crisis. Always supposing that they want to do something.
It was a good meeting, well-run, well-attended and very much to the point. Now we will see if all the legislators who attended it are able to do anything about the current pricing crisis. Always supposing that they want to do something.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Sunday, January 21, 2007
You're not my mother...
Spent the morning outside in 4 degree weather, lugging box elder trees down off the hill behind the stove and trying to get the fire going good enough to get the indoor temperature above 50 degrees.
Other than that it is (in theory) my morning off, it wasn't really a horrible job. Alan had the foresight, when we first got him his saw, to knock these little trees down for emergency wood. They are not far from the stove and they are bone dry so they are very light. It is easy to pick up a 4-inch thick, twenty-foot tall tree and drag it away with one hand. Lots of nice little birds were chinking and cheeping nearby, the sun was shining off the snow, the sky was brilliant blue and the wind wasn't too bad. As long as it stayed down we weren't really uncomfortable at all.
The box elders burn like tinder....(wait a minute....they are tinder) and we soon had the stove burning great. We are now quite comfy, (although somebody is going to have to get the darned tractor started and get some real wood pretty soon).
However, what really gets me going is to come inside and turn on Channel 9 Weather.
And to hear the weatherman, who is quite literally young enough to be my son, tell me firmly, (as if I were three and a half), "Bundle up when you go outside. Cover all exposed skin and don't be out any longer than you have to. There is a real danger of frostbite and hypothermia."
DUH
I have so many clothes on INDOORS that I would roll off the hill if I happened to stumble. When any of us go outside we wear even more than that. Most sensible folks do. The average person over the age of five is smart enough to figure out for themselves that it is cold outside in upstate New York in January. If they missed that part of life 101, having the weatherman tell then how to dress just isn't going to cut it....so to those pesky (and generally inaccurate) weathermen I say, show the long range forecast and get it over with.
I have been dressing myself for a while now!
Other than that it is (in theory) my morning off, it wasn't really a horrible job. Alan had the foresight, when we first got him his saw, to knock these little trees down for emergency wood. They are not far from the stove and they are bone dry so they are very light. It is easy to pick up a 4-inch thick, twenty-foot tall tree and drag it away with one hand. Lots of nice little birds were chinking and cheeping nearby, the sun was shining off the snow, the sky was brilliant blue and the wind wasn't too bad. As long as it stayed down we weren't really uncomfortable at all.
The box elders burn like tinder....(wait a minute....they are tinder) and we soon had the stove burning great. We are now quite comfy, (although somebody is going to have to get the darned tractor started and get some real wood pretty soon).
However, what really gets me going is to come inside and turn on Channel 9 Weather.
And to hear the weatherman, who is quite literally young enough to be my son, tell me firmly, (as if I were three and a half), "Bundle up when you go outside. Cover all exposed skin and don't be out any longer than you have to. There is a real danger of frostbite and hypothermia."
DUH
I have so many clothes on INDOORS that I would roll off the hill if I happened to stumble. When any of us go outside we wear even more than that. Most sensible folks do. The average person over the age of five is smart enough to figure out for themselves that it is cold outside in upstate New York in January. If they missed that part of life 101, having the weatherman tell then how to dress just isn't going to cut it....so to those pesky (and generally inaccurate) weathermen I say, show the long range forecast and get it over with.
I have been dressing myself for a while now!
Friday, January 19, 2007
A duckache tonight
Liz and I were waiting in heavy traffic on Riverside Drive tonight as we left the Truck Stop after fueling up her truck for the big return to college Monday. As we paused for a parade of semis to pass, I watched perhaps fifty or sixty assorted gulls wheeling over the river. There were herring gulls, great black backs and a mess of ring bills. They were just beautiful against the storm blown clouds and I wished aloud for a pair of binoculars and a safe place to park so I could try to sort them out and look for exotics.
As they drifted away east a gap opened in the traffic and I estimated whether I could safely exit or not. Suddenly a large bird, blacker than the gulls and seeming somewhat larger, sailed swift and silent downriver from the west. It reversed right in front of us and swooped like a bolt down toward the water. A pair of ducks we had not seen sprang up in panic and the big bird whirled away defeated.
It was a bald eagle.We were astonished. I was expecting maybe a stray cormorant or something. Not that eagles are terribly rare here but we don't usually get that close to them. It proceeded on east behind the gulls hot on the trail of a mess of mallards. Who knew that eagles eat ducks? We thought it was fishing.
As they drifted away east a gap opened in the traffic and I estimated whether I could safely exit or not. Suddenly a large bird, blacker than the gulls and seeming somewhat larger, sailed swift and silent downriver from the west. It reversed right in front of us and swooped like a bolt down toward the water. A pair of ducks we had not seen sprang up in panic and the big bird whirled away defeated.
It was a bald eagle.We were astonished. I was expecting maybe a stray cormorant or something. Not that eagles are terribly rare here but we don't usually get that close to them. It proceeded on east behind the gulls hot on the trail of a mess of mallards. Who knew that eagles eat ducks? We thought it was fishing.
Here we go again...mandatory NAIS
Just as the USDA kinda, sorta, maybe caved into pressure from farmers and ranchers and made National Animal ID a voluntary program, some **&^%$( in Congress wants to go back to a mandatory program.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Where have all the small forks gone?
(Old dogs took them, everyone.)
Yeah, the mystery is solved.
See there are a couple (or three) of us here at Northview who like to eat with salad forks. (I don't know just why, but I can promise you that it doesn't have anything to do with small mouths.)
Anyhow, over the past year or so, our small forks have dwindled in number until we were down to four. That meant that there was no skimping on dishwashing between meals. The drawer was always bare.
Then one day there were only three.
I KNEW there were four at dinnertime.
However, when I put away the silverware after I washed dishes one was gone.
I made a serious search. I even dug around in the outdoor woodstove in case some one had burned one up with a paper plate or something.
No fork.
I eventually gave up and we were months with only three small forks.
It was annoying. You almost always had to wash a fork before you could eat dinner.
Then the other day Liz went to take dogs out. Gael sat stubbornly in her crate, not wanting to brave the elements (can't blame her there.) Said crate is tucked in next to the chimney in a darkish corner of the pantry. There are sundry rarely used objects such as divorcee barn boots and single-parent gloves piled around it.
When Liz went in to haul the old lady out for a walk, there was something glinting under her fat, furry fanny.
Yep.
The other salad fork.
There is no way it was dropped there. Nowhere near the sink or table.
There is no way it walked there. No legs.
No pack rats. Too far east.
I don't think we have Borrowers.
Therefore the only logical conclusion is that Gael is practicing for the advent of opposable thumbs in Border collies. She has been using it to eat the dog biscuits that she hides in there every time I hand them out.
Now I am going to have to drag the darned crate out of its cluttery corner and see if the rest of the missing silverware is behind it.
I'll do it right after I have a discussion with Nick about why I found my 1970's era yellow lace prom gown in HIS crate yesterday….
Yeah, the mystery is solved.
See there are a couple (or three) of us here at Northview who like to eat with salad forks. (I don't know just why, but I can promise you that it doesn't have anything to do with small mouths.)
Anyhow, over the past year or so, our small forks have dwindled in number until we were down to four. That meant that there was no skimping on dishwashing between meals. The drawer was always bare.
Then one day there were only three.
I KNEW there were four at dinnertime.
However, when I put away the silverware after I washed dishes one was gone.
I made a serious search. I even dug around in the outdoor woodstove in case some one had burned one up with a paper plate or something.
No fork.
I eventually gave up and we were months with only three small forks.
It was annoying. You almost always had to wash a fork before you could eat dinner.
Then the other day Liz went to take dogs out. Gael sat stubbornly in her crate, not wanting to brave the elements (can't blame her there.) Said crate is tucked in next to the chimney in a darkish corner of the pantry. There are sundry rarely used objects such as divorcee barn boots and single-parent gloves piled around it.
When Liz went in to haul the old lady out for a walk, there was something glinting under her fat, furry fanny.
Yep.
The other salad fork.
There is no way it was dropped there. Nowhere near the sink or table.
There is no way it walked there. No legs.
No pack rats. Too far east.
I don't think we have Borrowers.
Therefore the only logical conclusion is that Gael is practicing for the advent of opposable thumbs in Border collies. She has been using it to eat the dog biscuits that she hides in there every time I hand them out.
Now I am going to have to drag the darned crate out of its cluttery corner and see if the rest of the missing silverware is behind it.
I'll do it right after I have a discussion with Nick about why I found my 1970's era yellow lace prom gown in HIS crate yesterday….
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Solid gold cornflakes
Sarpy Sam has a good post on the rapidly rising price of corn, which is being blamed on ethanol production. The Chicago corn price is the highest today that it has been since 1996. At the same time, world wide corn supplies are the lowest they have been since 1978.
With farm gate milk prices about what they were in 1970, this is creating a horrendous crunch for dairy farmers. We feed about two and a half tons of grain a week to our milk cows, heifers and calves here at Northview. The price we pay for it is skyrocketing, higher every time we get a bill.
The feeding of grain to dairy cows isn't really optional. Cows need grain to make milk. Calves need protein and energy to grow. Here in the Northeast, forages such as the hay and corn that we grew are very low in nutrient value because the incessant rain this summer leached minerals and other nutrients from the soil. Forages are in short supply as well, because excess rain this year prevented normal planting, growth and harvest.
I am not sure how this is all going to shake out, but I suspect by spring there are going to be a lot fewer dairy farms in Upstate New York. It's sad, but there comes a point when there is nothing more to be done.
With farm gate milk prices about what they were in 1970, this is creating a horrendous crunch for dairy farmers. We feed about two and a half tons of grain a week to our milk cows, heifers and calves here at Northview. The price we pay for it is skyrocketing, higher every time we get a bill.
The feeding of grain to dairy cows isn't really optional. Cows need grain to make milk. Calves need protein and energy to grow. Here in the Northeast, forages such as the hay and corn that we grew are very low in nutrient value because the incessant rain this summer leached minerals and other nutrients from the soil. Forages are in short supply as well, because excess rain this year prevented normal planting, growth and harvest.
I am not sure how this is all going to shake out, but I suspect by spring there are going to be a lot fewer dairy farms in Upstate New York. It's sad, but there comes a point when there is nothing more to be done.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Britain vs USA crime rate
TFS Magnum has the figures detailing which nation suffers more from violent crime. They might surprise you...too bad the only place you can find these numbers is not more visible to the general public.
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