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ROAD TRIP!!! —- Sunday, July 13, 2025
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Friday, October 12, 2007
Name the Calf
It's actually Liz posting this. But Mommy said it was okay. I'm doing a 'Name the Calf Contest' over on Buckin' Junction and Maqua-Kil Farm. See, I've kind of had two heifer calves born in the last couple of days, which both need "S" names. I've got one, but need another. Wanna help me out? You might just get to see the name you put in on a calf. Head over to one of the two to check it out if you have the time and inclination.
Annual meeting
Montgomery County Farm Bureau held its annual meeting last night. It was a fine and stimulating meeting...spirited debate on farm policy issues, dinner with good friends and colleagues, and some excellent speeches by several FB luminaries. (Notice I didn't comment on the food...far better that I don't.) Liz brought a friend of hers, who turned out to be a mannerly, pleasant, and entertaining young man, whose presence bumped the fun factor of the evening up several notches. (I do like farm boys, hands down.)
And then there was the election of board of directors members. Liz, running for the second time, finally made it on. She was delighted. We are an awful political bunch and she wants to get her feet wet. Much to my amazement I was elected too. The amazement part came in because I was already on the board, and had no clue that my term was up. I was pure-D astonished to see my name on the ballot, which is what I get for running off to Pennsylvania to see Emerson Drive rather than attending to my duties as a board member. (I missed last month's meeting.)
Anyhow, I looked down the list of other folks vying for the open seats and figured that pretty much all of them are seasoned FB veterans who would do a great job of steering the county. Those that didn't fit that category are the young and the eager. They have a lot to offer too. I found that I didn't care at all whether I was reelected. I like the board largely because it helps me keep up on important issues (and see my friends), but any member can attend board meetings so it wasn't like I had to be out of the loop if I lost.
However, it turns out there were exactly as many open seats as there were candidates.....which worked out well for all concerned.
Welcome aboard Liz. This is going to be fun!
And then there was the election of board of directors members. Liz, running for the second time, finally made it on. She was delighted. We are an awful political bunch and she wants to get her feet wet. Much to my amazement I was elected too. The amazement part came in because I was already on the board, and had no clue that my term was up. I was pure-D astonished to see my name on the ballot, which is what I get for running off to Pennsylvania to see Emerson Drive rather than attending to my duties as a board member. (I missed last month's meeting.)
Anyhow, I looked down the list of other folks vying for the open seats and figured that pretty much all of them are seasoned FB veterans who would do a great job of steering the county. Those that didn't fit that category are the young and the eager. They have a lot to offer too. I found that I didn't care at all whether I was reelected. I like the board largely because it helps me keep up on important issues (and see my friends), but any member can attend board meetings so it wasn't like I had to be out of the loop if I lost.
However, it turns out there were exactly as many open seats as there were candidates.....which worked out well for all concerned.
Welcome aboard Liz. This is going to be fun!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Lost and found
Alan tossed this rock on the table this afternoon, having found it out on the hill yesterday. He often carries sharp bits of flint to cut ag bag plastic when he is feeding the cows, and at first he thought that is what this was.
I was reading when he put it down and looked up casually and said, "yeah, nice," without much enthusiasm. Then I realized that it seemed to be a bit of the yellowish jasper we find every now and then. If it was jasper it was one of the biggest pieces I had ever seen so I began to examine it more closely.
And places where fingers fit
And showed me how it might have been held.
I think it was manufactured near here and somebody lost it. .
I was reading when he put it down and looked up casually and said, "yeah, nice," without much enthusiasm. Then I realized that it seemed to be a bit of the yellowish jasper we find every now and then. If it was jasper it was one of the biggest pieces I had ever seen so I began to examine it more closely.
That is when he pointed out the casually worked edge
And places where fingers fit 
And showed me how it might have been held.I think it was manufactured near here and somebody lost it. .
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
NAIS (allegedly) losing steam
(Although maybe only until Hillary has her hand on the throttle.)
According to this story in the Des Moines Register, even Collin Peterson is folding his tent (at least for a while).
"The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., says he has given up on the program until there is a new administration. Peterson once introduced legislation to make animal ID mandatory.
"We have our head in the sand if we think we can get by without having one," he said."
Just call me sandy head I guess, because I sure don't feel any need to do more government paperwork and stick more ineffective tags in my cows' ears. If we do end up, as we probably will, with a different party in the White House next fall, I wonder what will happen to NAIS. I am not eager to find out though.
According to this story in the Des Moines Register, even Collin Peterson is folding his tent (at least for a while).
"The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., says he has given up on the program until there is a new administration. Peterson once introduced legislation to make animal ID mandatory.
"We have our head in the sand if we think we can get by without having one," he said."
Just call me sandy head I guess, because I sure don't feel any need to do more government paperwork and stick more ineffective tags in my cows' ears. If we do end up, as we probably will, with a different party in the White House next fall, I wonder what will happen to NAIS. I am not eager to find out though.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Kegan's pickerel
My handsome nephew Kegan (that's him with the ruler) caught this 28 inch pickerel up at Peck's Saturday. That is one amazing fish and he didn't even have a steel leader. Photo credit goes to cousin Scott's weekly missive and I am thinking to one of my favorite aunts.
25 years today
Since the boss and I met...(been married 22) He asked me to dance and I did, only because of his farmer's tan. I thought by the looks of him that he must have had fifteen years on me (only four, but he was kind of a party animal in those days and didn't get a lot of sleep).
A lot of water has flowed down the Mohawk since then. Lot of gallons of milk been made. Tons of hay baled or chopped. Corn planted. Gardens grown. Toddlers morphed into teenagers, and at least one twenty-something. The babies I used to haul to the barn in a Snugli or Gerry carrier are running it now. They started helping as soon as they could pick up a shovel. Liz has been showing cows since she was six and we gave her Sonora who made the front page of the Recorder when Liz took her off the trailer at the fair. We were the first people I ever saw to get one of those high rear wheel jogging strollers so we could haul the kids around. We started with just Liz in the seat and ended up with Becky in the seat, Alan on her lap, and Liz riding on the foot rest. They were darned heavy too, but our bright red kid buggy would go over anything. Now everybody has them, but I will never forget how excited I was to find something practical in which to drive babies around fair grounds and such.
I will also never forget the day I had Becky in the Gerry on my back while I worked, (not really doing much more than keeping the boss and his late father company. There is danger in inherent in family farming and I always tried to be careful. However, things happen that are impossible to predict.) After a while she got heavy and I had just taken her to the house to leave her with grandma when a steel barn support upright fell on me and crushed me. Cracked my skull, broke the little cartilage thingie on my sternum. (My head is still pretty fragile and I am careful not to bump it.) God was sure watching that day, because if she had been on my back things would have been a lot worse. No one could have known THAT was going to happen, so we sure got lucky.
At one point I often walked around with Alan in the Snugli, Becky in the Gerry and Liz hanging on to the hammer loop on my jeans. Sort of a human baby tree. We hardly ever left them, no matter where we went. Still don't if they want to ride along and amazingly they usually still do.
I think the best thing we have to show for all the years is the kids...Anybody can run a business or grow a crop and there are plenty of farmers who do it bigger and better than we do, but I sure am proud of my kids. Wouldn't trade em for anything, although some nights when they get fighting...well, dang.
Anyhow we are still crazy after all these years. The boss is still flying with one wing and we are still covering all the milking and feeding, although he is chopping corn every day. I don't know how he even gets into the tractor, since most of the time we have to tie his shoes for him....but I am still glad I fell for that farmer's tan and those rugged, outdoorsman good looks. Really I am.
A lot of water has flowed down the Mohawk since then. Lot of gallons of milk been made. Tons of hay baled or chopped. Corn planted. Gardens grown. Toddlers morphed into teenagers, and at least one twenty-something. The babies I used to haul to the barn in a Snugli or Gerry carrier are running it now. They started helping as soon as they could pick up a shovel. Liz has been showing cows since she was six and we gave her Sonora who made the front page of the Recorder when Liz took her off the trailer at the fair. We were the first people I ever saw to get one of those high rear wheel jogging strollers so we could haul the kids around. We started with just Liz in the seat and ended up with Becky in the seat, Alan on her lap, and Liz riding on the foot rest. They were darned heavy too, but our bright red kid buggy would go over anything. Now everybody has them, but I will never forget how excited I was to find something practical in which to drive babies around fair grounds and such.
I will also never forget the day I had Becky in the Gerry on my back while I worked, (not really doing much more than keeping the boss and his late father company. There is danger in inherent in family farming and I always tried to be careful. However, things happen that are impossible to predict.) After a while she got heavy and I had just taken her to the house to leave her with grandma when a steel barn support upright fell on me and crushed me. Cracked my skull, broke the little cartilage thingie on my sternum. (My head is still pretty fragile and I am careful not to bump it.) God was sure watching that day, because if she had been on my back things would have been a lot worse. No one could have known THAT was going to happen, so we sure got lucky.
At one point I often walked around with Alan in the Snugli, Becky in the Gerry and Liz hanging on to the hammer loop on my jeans. Sort of a human baby tree. We hardly ever left them, no matter where we went. Still don't if they want to ride along and amazingly they usually still do.
I think the best thing we have to show for all the years is the kids...Anybody can run a business or grow a crop and there are plenty of farmers who do it bigger and better than we do, but I sure am proud of my kids. Wouldn't trade em for anything, although some nights when they get fighting...well, dang.
Anyhow we are still crazy after all these years. The boss is still flying with one wing and we are still covering all the milking and feeding, although he is chopping corn every day. I don't know how he even gets into the tractor, since most of the time we have to tie his shoes for him....but I am still glad I fell for that farmer's tan and those rugged, outdoorsman good looks. Really I am.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Too many peppers
Not enough pepper people***
***I grew a nice mess of hot peppers for the kids this summer. They eat them. We don't.
However, there are a whole slew hanging out on the clothesline waiting for someone to decide what to do with them. Anybody want to make some salsa or something?
***I grew a nice mess of hot peppers for the kids this summer. They eat them. We don't.
However, there are a whole slew hanging out on the clothesline waiting for someone to decide what to do with them. Anybody want to make some salsa or something?
Friday, October 05, 2007
Eighteen cents
The boss and I hauled ourselves over to a bank across the river this noon to pay the school taxes on our side of the mountain. (They went up over $300 bucks this year, thanks to a change in the formula used to calculate ag taxes. It nicely canceled out most of the rebate our trusty governor saw fit to hand to New York property owners this year.)
Anyhow, while the boss was standing in line waiting to render up our portion, another fellow was getting in trouble for overpaying his share by $ .18.
Eighteen cents.
Today that will not buy a first class stamp.
It will not buy penny candy. A cup of coffee. A shoe lace.
Or much of anything.
When the boss and I were kids (and Fonda had several stores that sold such things) that same eighteen cents would have bought a grape Nehi or an Orange crush.
Or a Royal Palm root beer.
AND a palm-sized Three Musketeers candy bar. Or a Milky Way. Or a Snickers.
AND SIX pieces of Double Bubble chewing gum. That's a lot of gratuitous sugar in any body's book.
However, we were not fat. We were skinny, wiry critters, probably partly because it wasn't easy to come by eighteen cents when you were a kid back then. That much cash would also darned near buy a gallon of gas for the old Chevy and that had priority over treats for kids. However, it was probably also because he worked all the time and played baseball and because I spent most of my childhood being a horse (since I couldn't have one) and galloping or trotting everywhere.
If by chance we weren't doing something useful my parents' favorite refrain (particularly when we hung around the antique store pestering them for a nickel) was, "Go outside and play. Go over to the playground and swing or something."
So we did
Anyhow, while the boss was standing in line waiting to render up our portion, another fellow was getting in trouble for overpaying his share by $ .18.
Eighteen cents.
Today that will not buy a first class stamp.
It will not buy penny candy. A cup of coffee. A shoe lace.
Or much of anything.
When the boss and I were kids (and Fonda had several stores that sold such things) that same eighteen cents would have bought a grape Nehi or an Orange crush.
Or a Royal Palm root beer.
AND a palm-sized Three Musketeers candy bar. Or a Milky Way. Or a Snickers.
AND SIX pieces of Double Bubble chewing gum. That's a lot of gratuitous sugar in any body's book.
However, we were not fat. We were skinny, wiry critters, probably partly because it wasn't easy to come by eighteen cents when you were a kid back then. That much cash would also darned near buy a gallon of gas for the old Chevy and that had priority over treats for kids. However, it was probably also because he worked all the time and played baseball and because I spent most of my childhood being a horse (since I couldn't have one) and galloping or trotting everywhere.
If by chance we weren't doing something useful my parents' favorite refrain (particularly when we hung around the antique store pestering them for a nickel) was, "Go outside and play. Go over to the playground and swing or something."
So we did
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Country folks
Yesterday I was outside hanging up laundry and feeding the ever-demanding maw of the woodstove when a friend called. When I got in to hear the message she said she was bringing over food.
Food...wonderful homemade meat loaf, sour dough bread, potatoes, corn and cuppycakes with the best frosting I ever tasted. She also brought the boss a Sudoku book, which he amazed me by finding totally engrossing when he came in from overdoing it and half killing himself with work he shouldn't even attempt. What a friend! She is busy with her own farm and her own farm guys and calvings and all the headaches that accompany being a farm wife. She already works too hard. Yet she took time to make us the best meal we have had in ages. We couldn't wait to finish up milking last night so we could come in to dinner. It was worth the wait.
Thanks!!! That is all I can say. It was a tremendous kindness that we won't forget any time soon.
Food...wonderful homemade meat loaf, sour dough bread, potatoes, corn and cuppycakes with the best frosting I ever tasted. She also brought the boss a Sudoku book, which he amazed me by finding totally engrossing when he came in from overdoing it and half killing himself with work he shouldn't even attempt. What a friend! She is busy with her own farm and her own farm guys and calvings and all the headaches that accompany being a farm wife. She already works too hard. Yet she took time to make us the best meal we have had in ages. We couldn't wait to finish up milking last night so we could come in to dinner. It was worth the wait.
Thanks!!! That is all I can say. It was a tremendous kindness that we won't forget any time soon.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
The answer
"The eartag hole shows how easy those eartags can be lost, even by goofy looking cows."
Lee, a local reader, saw the problem right away in this picture of a cow involved in the foot and mouth disease outbreak in Great Britain. Even though GB has a cumbersome and extremely restrictive National Animal ID System, not only has the disease spread unchecked reaching 8 farms by this time yesterday, but clearly cows over there don't retain tags any better than they do here in the USA. While researching this week's Farm Side I also discovered that the cows on one farm had foot and mouth for four weeks before anyone noticed. Guess the ID system and tags didn't help much there either.
Lee, a local reader, saw the problem right away in this picture of a cow involved in the foot and mouth disease outbreak in Great Britain. Even though GB has a cumbersome and extremely restrictive National Animal ID System, not only has the disease spread unchecked reaching 8 farms by this time yesterday, but clearly cows over there don't retain tags any better than they do here in the USA. While researching this week's Farm Side I also discovered that the cows on one farm had foot and mouth for four weeks before anyone noticed. Guess the ID system and tags didn't help much there either.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
What is wrong
with this picture?
Update: I guess I need to be clearer. I have some great answers, but I specifically mean what is wrong with the picture itself.
***Answer in the comments. First to get it right will get a post with a link tomorrow.*
Update: I guess I need to be clearer. I have some great answers, but I specifically mean what is wrong with the picture itself.
***Answer in the comments. First to get it right will get a post with a link tomorrow.*
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Not a blue heeler
Nope, it's just a naughty border collie who tried to steal some crust when Liz was making a VIP (that's a very important pie). See what happens to dogs who reach for the table just as the pie crust gets rolled out!?! Wish I could have gotten a picture of her trying to lick the flour off the back of her neck.
Worst thing was that no one said anything about it, so I was peacefully sitting there in the living room when this multicolored dog walked nonchalantly by......
Saturday, September 29, 2007
The silver lining
The boy ran into a little tractor trouble today. He came down to get the tools he needed and asked for some company for a while. I was pretty much caught up so....
Behind the barn where the cows like to hang out in summer
Looking for the portable air tank
Hickory tree field, from the 30-acre lot
Pretty
A coyote runs through it
...
Behind the barn where the cows like to hang out in summer
Looking for the portable air tank
Hickory tree field, from the 30-acre lot
Pretty
A coyote runs through itPretty special
Silly turkeys
Found it
Through the gap into the old pasture lot
Click to see how the sun glitters on the corn leaves
Friday, September 28, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Getting by
We are. The kids have stepped up and done amazing things. Alan has covered ALL the feeding for nearly 100 animals every day plus going to school plus getting the bagger set up and a little corn chopped. Liz cleaned the barn alone (which is a HUGE job...her hands were all torn up last night) and filled the waterers and did all the calves and so many other chores I can't remember them. Then the two of them milked while Becky and I got some groceries so we will be amply supplied with appropriate junk food (plus some nutritious materials to fill in around the edges.)
This morning the girls and I milked very early as they had to be in school by 8. They had to leave when we were finishing up so I finished alone. Couldn't find a couple cows so they will just have to wait until tonight. It is so foggy and dark mornings. Neither of them is giving much milk so they will be fine. The boss is going nuts wanting to work and keeps coming out to the barn and we keep chasing him back to the house. His shoulder is so messed up...there is a groove in his arm where the muscle came off the bone.
Went to a very valuable meeting yesterday with our new assemblyman, George Amedore. He seems like he may be someone who will work with farmers. I hope so. Liz went too, as she is trying to get into the swing of farm politics in the area. You can't just sit back and let the outside world rumble along without you these days or you will find yourself regulated right out of business. I hope we have raised a set of good citizen activists. I know some of their teachers already drive them nuts with the nonsense they preach. Alan has a guy "teaching economics" in school right now who says that public schools originated because farmers needed to learn time management or they wouldn't be able to become factory workers, because they would go fishing if they felt like it rather than build fences. Oh, and he also says that farming isn't labor intensive any more because of machinery.
I could tell him a thing or two.
Oh, and a hellish awful thing...Patrick Bourque, who has long been bass player for Becky's favorites, Emerson Drive, (he left them in August) died suddenly at his home in Canada. Today would have been his thirtieth birthday I think. We were simply stunned and Beck felt particularly bad as she really liked and admired him.
This morning the girls and I milked very early as they had to be in school by 8. They had to leave when we were finishing up so I finished alone. Couldn't find a couple cows so they will just have to wait until tonight. It is so foggy and dark mornings. Neither of them is giving much milk so they will be fine. The boss is going nuts wanting to work and keeps coming out to the barn and we keep chasing him back to the house. His shoulder is so messed up...there is a groove in his arm where the muscle came off the bone.
Went to a very valuable meeting yesterday with our new assemblyman, George Amedore. He seems like he may be someone who will work with farmers. I hope so. Liz went too, as she is trying to get into the swing of farm politics in the area. You can't just sit back and let the outside world rumble along without you these days or you will find yourself regulated right out of business. I hope we have raised a set of good citizen activists. I know some of their teachers already drive them nuts with the nonsense they preach. Alan has a guy "teaching economics" in school right now who says that public schools originated because farmers needed to learn time management or they wouldn't be able to become factory workers, because they would go fishing if they felt like it rather than build fences. Oh, and he also says that farming isn't labor intensive any more because of machinery.
I could tell him a thing or two.
Oh, and a hellish awful thing...Patrick Bourque, who has long been bass player for Becky's favorites, Emerson Drive, (he left them in August) died suddenly at his home in Canada. Today would have been his thirtieth birthday I think. We were simply stunned and Beck felt particularly bad as she really liked and admired him.
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