E-Train

Last year I took photographed a heifer I particularly liked, Frieland Andy ETrain. E is a daughter of the bull Golden Oaks Andy-ET out of a Citation R Maple daughter I bred from my Trixie family. Trixie was the heifer the boss bought me for Christmas way back when we were dating. She turned out to be a wonderful investment, giving us four daughters and one son that we kept (plus bulls that we sold) and starting a powerful cow family for us.

The bull we kept was Frieland Patriot, (as he was born on the Fourth of July), a Paclamar Bootmaker son. He only sired three daughters as we don't use homebred bulls much, but one of those, Beretta, was the dam of Beausoleil, mother of Bama Breeze, and one of the nicest cows I have ever owned.


E is a grown up milk cow now, and although Andy didn't turn out to be much of a sire of good udders, hers is fairly decent. I think that stems partly because Trixie was rated excellent on her mammary system and Citation R Maple didn't do too badly in that regard either, although now, long after his death, he is minus over 2000 pounds of milk.

Anyhow, here are some pics of E as a working girl.

Can lightning strick twice.....

....in the same place? Of course we all know that it can and does...after all, what do lightning rods do but encourage it to do so? But here is a poor guy who was personally (and painfully) struck twice, 27 years apart. Here is what to do if you are in a car, bus, or a vehicle with a ROPS and encounter a nearby storm.

Cammo and carrots

No frogs this summer! Normally as soon as the garden pond is up and running half a dozen show up to claim super-select bug guzzling spots and stay til fall. They soon ignore us completely and go about the serious business of slurping up mosquitoes and errant grasshoppers in contented oblivion. Some even accept handouts. In return for cheap entertainment we take the biggest garter snakes down below the bike path when we find them seeking frog leg lunches. (It is amazing how far we have to cart them before they stop coming back. They put homing pigeons to shame.) However, there have been no frogs this year....it has been too dry. Even up in the field potholes herpetiles have been rare as hen's teeth. Alan found one little green frog which he put in the garden pond a few weeks ago, but that is all.

The game of who can spot the hidden frogs (they have great cammo) loses some of its glamor when there is only one teeny-tiny frog (and an import at that). Then it rained most of our week at camp. It rained almost every day since too (putting a hellacious crimp in the hay baling I can tell you). Rainrainrain...thunderthundercrashinglightningstillmorerain. The driveway is a washout, barely passable by my SUV, (which I find I really NEED this year). It is too wet to pick zucchini. Or peas or beans. Too wet to weed. Too wet to mow the grass (which is growing again). It is no longer dry to say the least.


Yesterday Alan and I stopped by the pond for a game of find the frog. We hadn't seen even the little import in days. Simultaneously we spotted one....at least a foot a part! There were two! Then a third one plopped under a lily pad and frog-stroked for the bottom. Normally we get big, fat frogs; these were barely two inches long. (It makes spotting them even more of a challenge.) Wonder if the weather has anything to do with the small size or if it is just coincidence that we only have little ones this year. Doesn't matter. The pond, which is especially pretty this summer, is once again a fun place to visit.

We grew carrots in half a fifteen gallon barrel this summer. Our soil is so dense that normally you couldn't pull a halfway decent carrot without breaking it, (if you could even grow it in the first place), but a barrel makes it easy. (We grow lettuce, tomatoes and squash in them too.) Half a fifteen gallon barrel is the perfect depth. A mix of sand and compost equals perfect earth. The stuff we wash the pipeline with comes in such barrels and we only get three bucks if we redeem them so the price is right. They are easy to wash and just the right size for a wimpy old lady like me to drag around. Incidentally I have about six more out there in which the guys need to bore drainage holes pretty soon if I am going to have time to grow more carrots before winter.


I pulled this one for salad the other night and was astonished by the color though. Somehow I forgot all about planting Rainbow Carrot mix this year. Yellow is nice, now I can't wait for a purple one.

Where the buffalo roam

Wouldn't it be nice if Congress, animal rights activists and assorted other folks who don't feed the world were even half as concerned about the people whose cattle were slaughtered willy-nilly because of disease spread by government animals as they are about the bison? This is a new arrangement will let the bison wander ever farther outside the park, where they act as a reservoir for brucellosis in Montana.

From Rep. Denny Rehberg, "Let's not start throwing funds in on a federal level because of some guy from New York who's not familiar with the situation," said Rehberg's spokesman Bridger Pierce.

I guess I am one of those dummies from New York, (not that I don't agree with Rehberg,) but I will be darned if I see any sense in giving diseased animals more lee way. If you take some time to read some of the articles , you will probably be as mad as I am about how cheap the government was in compensating the ranchers and then turning around to force them to pay capital gains tax on what they gained by being forced to sell their cows for much less than they were worth. Bah!

So do they take a vote or what?

This summer the milk cows have been using two pastures, one up the hill, one down and around. Given the choice they seem to like up the hill better, but we can direct them either way just by changing the gates. However, for about three weeks now they have had their choice..both gates are open. Invariably they have gone up the hill, which turns out to be handier for the guys, who put their feeder wagons full of chopped oatlage and field peas there.

The night before last they all sort of drifted down toward the other pasture gate. They hung around down there a while, then changed their collective mind and went back up the hill.

Yesterday morning they did almost the same thing again. However, they just stayed by the gate looking indecisive and we went to breakfast wondering which way they would go.
When we returned, they had clearly gone down the hill and around the back to the old pasture. They came in full of milk and happy as larks.

Today it was back up the hill as if they had never heard of the downhill pasture.

So why did they all do that? It wasn't that Heather, the usual lead cow, took them, because she was lying on the bridge ignoring the whole affair. Nobody drove them. They just went.
Puzzling.

Oh, wow, what cows!

I chanced upon a wonderful site while whiling away a little time before milking this morning. Denise Rich paints fantastic cows..... dairy, beef, and even rodeo bulls. I completely lost track of what I was doing while I browsed through her paintings.

Lucky shot

The view from the outhouse

Should it finally materialize (off topic, but what the heck)

I will immediately listen to the singing on this video....all at once and without waiting a week for it to load. Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs, (which the guys watch and which I can't seem to avoid watching even though I am really trying to read the latest JA Jance) is the only person I have ever heard sing the National Anthem without straining for a single, solitary note. All the way through, beautiful and painless. I could listen all day. Way to go, Mike.

Getting high speed Internet

Is not all that easy. I signed up the day we left for camp. I clearly and repeatedly informed the young telemarketing/pest gent who sold me the package that I would be away and no one else here deals with that stuff. He assured me that there would be no problem with that. Oddly enough the company's representatives were still frantic that they couldn't contact me instantly. However, along with high speed we also will receive some other services, including voice mail. Guess where they sent the phone calls about getting everything set up? Guess who had no way to access the new mailbox? So--o-o-o-o-o.....guess who spent an unconscionable length of time on the phone with someone with whom communication was challenging trying to get 'er done? Maybe I don't speak clearly. Maybe they don't. I dunno. I hope this gets better as we go along rather than worse. It is only a little more expensive than the tangled conglomeration of stuff that we use for phone and net now, but I am getting worried that it is going to be a lot more challenging to work with. Oh, well....

Congratulations

To the Red Scot at Adventures in Ruralia (and his wife and family, of course) on the birth of their first child. His son was born on the 4th of July and will share his special day with not only our great nation, but with me as well. I can say from experience that the Fourth is a wonderful birthday. Imagine a lifetime of imagining that all those fireworks are for you!

Things that make you say hmmm

Corn affects the weather......

Strange to be back

It is so odd to be home. I was kind of a park rat for so many years...Adirondack Park that is and it is easy to slip back into that world.

"Today the Park is the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States greater in size than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Park combined."

Grandma and Grandpa Lachmayer had a camp there, not on a lake, but we had fun just the same. We stayed there darned near every summer weekend of my childhood. (I was hell on frogs.... needing to get a closer look at every single one I could find.) The special scent of moldy canvas can take me back to sleeping in a leaky tent and living on macaroni salad and hot dogs in an instant.

Then I lived in the park off and on as an adult. And camped in the park. Hiked the park. Canoed the park. Stayed in lean tos. Fished. Picked berries. Watched birds. Tried to garden....(a fascinating pastime with the short, short summers up there). It was another life than this one, as far removed from the high pressure of farming as keeping a diary is from working for the New York Times. Every year our visit to Peck's Lake turns me back into a person of simple wants and needs and few responsibilities for one short week. Then we come home and I morph back into farm wife, parent, writer, bookkeeper, and put on all the other hats I wear. It is like stepping out of one life, taking a trip back in time, then moving forward again. Weird but worth it I guess

Three mornings......More of why we love Peck's Lake

Home again, home again

See ya

Boil up some hummer food, clean and fill the feeders, take out the trash, clean out the fridge, finish up all the laundry, pay the bills, balance the check book, order grain, order teat dip, roll up the change and take it to the bank, pack the snorkels, fins, poles, tackle boxes, grab a stack of books at the library, indulge in the latest Nora Roberts (brought to me by the Farm Side, thank you), bandaids, Skin-so-Soft, Off!, dog food, dog ropes, canoe? (no, we'll come back down and pick that up if things are quiet on the lake; no sense getting swamped by the maniacs) charge up some camera batteries, drag extra hay up to the horse yard, Frontline on the dogs, don't forget the can opener, leashes, life preservers, remember the butter, hotdogs, macaroni, spaghetti sauce and home made jelly, bring along shampoo and flashlights and blankets....and oh, heck, where is that list anyhow!??!!!

We are off to camp tomorrow for a week, hopefully including some fish. Take care!

Jaws

Up from the depths he comes....

Oh, no, he's got me!

Much excitment

About the weather. We have had thunderstorm after thunderstorm...at least a couple every afternoon. For the most part the worst of the weather has gone off to the north bombing Gloversville and Johnstown with dangerous hail and high winds. Last night our turn came.

We got started milking late for one reason and another (mostly having to do with men). Alan had not yet fed the cows their wagon of chopped oatlage with field peas and new seeding so the boss sent him off to do so as soon as the cows were in the barn.

I happened to look up the hill as he was pulling out with the tractor and shouted for the boss to get that boy back ASAP. The gate where they take the wagon through into the field is in an area we call "Lightning Corner". Trees that sprout up there don't usually get more than thirty feet high or so before they are burned or blasted down.

Anyhow the boss let out one of his mighty whistles; the kid heard him and made it to the barn just as the maelstrom hit. Thank God! Within seconds I looked out to see the four or five heifers that stay in the barnyard while the cows are milked bolting down the hill. The tree that they were standing under crashed to the ground, and was still bouncing, as they came for the door. None were hit though. I think they heard it tearing loose before it actually came down. Now there is a large and tangled pile of potential firewood waiting to be cut up and hauled away. Right there handy so to speak.

It was a wild storm. Parts of the overhanging roof of the milk house porch blew off. Rain slashed in through all the windows, wetting us even inside the barn. Dirt blew into our eyes from the windowsills. (Gritty nasty stuff.) The windy downpour lasted most of milking. I hated to touch anything metal because lightning was banging down all around us, but I didn't have much choice as the stalls, dividers, pipelines and the grates over the stable cleaner, which we must walk on are all metal. On one occasion the cow I was milking jumped right up in the air when a bolt hit. I think she got a little zing there.

When the kid finally got to take the feed out after the storm blew itself out, Lightning Corner was a jumble of blown down and blasted trees. It took him a good hour and a half to shift them so he could feed the cows. I lay awake for quite a while last night being very, very thankful that we stopped him from trying to beat the weather and get the cows fed before it hit.
VERY thankful.

Thanks!

To whomever invented this product. I can't think of any beverage that would taste as good as milk with these drinking straws made from Cocoa Krispies cereal. I'll bet they are prefect for slurping up nice cold dairy beverage. and lousy for drinking soda, designer water, grape juice, Budweiser, or margaritas. Yay milk!

The Seven Wonders

NYCO had an interesting post about looking for the seven wonders of
that area of the state, which led me to contemplate the potential for finding the seven wonders of Northview Farm.

Of course holding it down to seven is about like eating one potato chip...there are a lot more in the bag and each one is tastier than the one before.

However, I will start at the bottom and work my way up through seven delights of life on this hill.

7)Soft fog cat-footing up from the river on a gentle summer morning. It deadens the sound of the Interstate and makes the train whistles echo lonesome and long across the valley.

6) Neon Moon peeking in through the sawdust shed window. She can barely get her nose over the edge but she sees PEOPLE and they are about her favorite thing in the whole world because they bring BOTTLES of MILK! There is always an inquisitive new calf or two to keep things interesting.

5) The scent of a mow full of fresh hay, which comes with the opportunity for the guys to grease the cross mow elevator without getting on that awful ladder...they can just stand on the hay and get er done. No worries mate.

4) Knowing that we FINALLY got the blood drawn and the hair pulled from the bulls for DNA testing so they can go to Dependabul and be gone from our lives. Remind me to tell you about what I think of the difference between breed requirements for DNA testing...a few ear hairs from the Holstein and BLOOD from the shorthorn. You can't get blood out of a stone, but you can from a bull's butt...it just isn't pretty...or fun....or safe. I am so glad that that job is over. Now we wait for results.

3) The birds, wildlife, flowers and just general outdoors stuff that surrounds us all the time. Living here on this hill is like spending all day every day in a national park or wildlife refuge. Just yesterday I was able to get the photos of the wren and the vulture on the no trespassing sign without taking any time out of my work day. They are just there. We also saw white tail fawns, eastern cottontail babies, woodchucks with kits, squirrels and dozens of other birds. I love it here.


2) Growing what we eat and eating what we grow. Right now except for herbs and lettuce and our own beef and pork and milk we are waiting...for tomatoes, squash, beans, peas.....and I CAN"T wait, I'm telling you. Meanwhile the guys grow a 300+ acre garden of food for the cows too. Neat.

And the number one wonder of life here is......

1) Working together every day, especially with the three kids that make it possible for us to do this. And I am not kidding. We couldn't do it without their help, from field work to cooking dinner to feeding calves and filling out registration papers, they have their hands on everything and I am glad for it. When you figure that they are fun and funny people too and a delight to be around who could ask for anything more wonder-ful? I am proud of them and I hope they know it.