Is it April Fool's Day or what?

Only here

Our favorite veterinarian was here yesterday to do herd health, mostly a LOT of preg checks, but also one DA surgery and some vaccinations. We are going to set up a program for Liz to vaccinate because we always seem to be falling behind on them. Time will tell how that will work out.

We were really happy with the outcome of the preg checks, especially that three heifers we had despaired of getting bred in fact are bred. It was also neat to see the little embryos on the ultra sound machine, although it is a good thing I am just the farmer. I could barely tell a cystic ovary from a wiggly little calf.

My favorite heifer, Encore, is pregnant for which I am much more grateful than you might imagine. We had a lot of trouble getting her that way and it was looking as if we were going to have to sell her. I really didn't want to.

We have two older cows, my Beausoleil cow and Bubbles, bred to SWD Valiant. He is another old time bull not much in use any more. However, we used a son, Walebe Jewelmaker, that the boss bought in Pennsylvania, that got us some of the best cows we ever bred, including Liz's grand champion Holstein, Dixie. I am especially excited about Bubbles (by Ocean View Extra Special) as she is a nice looking cow who did well at the shows herself. Hope she has a heifer. Blitz is bred to Roylane Jordan. Crunch is bred to Citation R Maple. The Maple daughter I have now (England) is a good cow and we have been trying for years to get another heifer. Maybe this time we will get lucky.

But then there was night before last. I was peacefully reading, grudgingly holding on to the last few seconds of my "day" off (really just a few hours) before Becky and I went out to milk. I kept seeing something moving in the darkness, just at the edge of my vision. This place is not so very well lighted, with chandeliers with single bulbs and a few table lamps and it is hard to see small, moving things. As I was alone I only had one lamp and the kitchen light on. Suddenly a piece of darkness broke away from the mass of the night and flew right at my head. It had sort of a sweeping motion, with a smidgen of fluttering thrown in....an uncomfortably unidentified flying object.
It had wings.
I hoped it was a starling.
I really hoped it was a starling.
It was not a starling.

It was a bat! A great big, brown bat, with Elvis hot on its heels. I won't tell you how it kept flipping by me doing figure eights just over my head. I won't tell you about putting a sweatshirt over that same head to keep it off me. I won't describe how stupid I must have looked, broom in one hand, flashlight in the other, with Liz's barn shirt draped over my head. I am not generally bothered by bats, but it was just plain disconcerting to have it sweeping through the house like that. I won't tell about putting the cat in the crate where he stared intensely at the darned thing when it hid on top of the cupboard.
Or calling Becky, the only one of the young ones home, to come to my aid. Sending her out into the zero degree cold to find her dad and get a can of ether. (I won't tell you either how rare it is for me to holler for a man to rescue me.) Or how long it took us (even with ether) to catch the darned thing. Or about how the porch freezer smells like ether now because we saved it in case it should need rabies testing or something.

I just won't tell you all that. It was one of those funny and not so funny at the same time kind of affairs that I would much appreciate not having to repeat. Ever. It is unfair that a bat should be flying around indoors in December when it is this cold. If I have to run around the house with frozen feet with a sweatshirt over my head, there should only be one cause....and that is the weather The bat was a gratuitous nuisance and, as such, should have stayed wherever it was sleeping. Worst of all, where there is one there are many and we have no clue how it got in. So I will probably be treated to an instant replay, hopefully at least not until next summer.

So now there is a dead, ether-soaked bat in the freezer on the bottom shelf among the squirrel tails (for fly tying). I don't know what kind of redneck that makes me, but I hope if we have company, I remember to tell them not to look in the freezer.
And I am going to call the past couple of days, the good, the bat and the ugly.

Sunday Stills Link

Here is a link to yesterday's Sunday Stills with the theme pet photos. Nice shots of lovely critters over there!

Sunday Stills

Here is the best I can come up with this week. Critters were simply not in the mood to cooperate, not even the fish. You can read about this at Linda's blog or here.

***For those of you who remember, "He's Got a Knife", he has run through the house yet again with a steak knife extended in front of him, this time with Alan hot on his heels, and last night he got up to more mischief. Liz was on the computer and I was putting the last touches on stew for supper before we went out to milk the cows. Suddenly a loud and commanding voice shattered the dark stillness in the house, then people started wishing me happy birthday and singing to me. (BTW, my birthday is the 4th of July). It took us both a few seconds to figure out what was happening and to turn on the dining room light.

And there he was, sitting on the answering machine, watching the headlights of the skid steer as the boss fed the heifers. As it happened I saved the messages that the boss's dear, sweet aunt sent and the wonderful singing of my next younger brother, who sounds great even singing happy birthday....so the cat played them. And now the little stinker is on the windowsill next to me, hiding behind the curtains and batting at my elbows.

Two Tufted Titmice

Tippling in a tree...or would you believe swinging in a hanging basket?

Vandalism

Only in the NY Times could bombing the Pentagon be called vandalism....even extreme vandalism.

I am old enough to have been terrified by the Vietnam War too. The boss's best friend died within days after being deployed there.
We still visit his grave every year...but we somehow managed to avoid ever bombing anything, even so much as a mailbox. I would feel better if people who did commit such excessive, criminal, and to my mind reprehensible acts, weren't given such a positive pulpit.

This is Foolish to the Point of Duh

Putting the new animal disease research lab in Manhattan Kansas is about as smart as putting a housing development in a flood plain. Might as well put it in the other Manhattan...there are fewer cows there. Trust the government...or wait a minute, don't trust the government. When do they get anything right?


Update, Here is another scary story. 19 cows, most of them belonging to FFA kids die after being exhibited at fair. I had no idea that this disease even occurred in the US. I thought that malignant catarrhal fever was an African disease but evidently it occurs in sheep world wide.

Here is a site with some information on the disease.


In a few days I may post on just what I think about the introduction of exotic wild animals and domestic deer to agricultural areas. I was quite dismayed to hear that bovine TB has cropped up on a Columbia County deer farm....this in the wake of the introduction of chronic wasting disease to NY by another deer herd. NY spent years erradicating TB in the cattle herd and I truly hate to see this threat showing up again.

Even Short Days Sometimes Seem Long

Liz and I went to the Farm Bureau meeting and Christmas party last night. It was fun to see friends and talk farming and all, but if I participate in midnight it is usually because I woke up after several hours sleep and looked at the alarm clock.

Last night that was not the case.

The Christmas lights (photographed at the unGodly hour of eleven PM) were seen right next to signs that offered gasoline for sale for under two dollars a gallon. And that was here in NY where anything that moves is taxed, everything stationary is taxed and everything imaginary suffers that same exact fate as well.

To my mind the only economic stimulus this country really needs is signs like that, with a few of those Christmas lights thrown in as an excuse to spend the money saved on fuel. Just give everybody's budget a few weeks to get used to the extra left in the pockets after they pay to make the old Chevy roll down the road and they will get back to spending. You can already see it. Black Friday sales were up three percent, or so I heard, and Cyber Monday sales up a whopping fifteen percent. Was anyone in Washington listening? I guess not.




Anyhow, it is Farm Side Friday, so if you feel like reading, you can find it here.

What a Fish Story

Missing class ring shows up inside 8-pound bass....I would be satisfied with catching a bass that big, let alone one that was packing jewelry!.

I've Seen this Guy Around

Meth lab right across the river!
(And a pox on drug manufacturers who make it tough for us regular folks to buy cold medicine!)

100 Things

Liz's homemade bread

The boss's reaction to Liz's homemade bread

From Linda...and a number of my other good friends. I kept seeing this and thinking I should do it...so here goes.

1. Started your own blog
Three of them in fact

2. Slept under the stars
Yes

3. Played in a band
Yes, several of them

4. Visited Hawaii.
No

5. Watched a meteor shower
Yes.

6. Given more than you can afford to charity.

Yes

7. Been to Disneyland
No and Never will

8. Climbed a mountain
Cat Head for one and Kane as well

9. Held a praying mantis
Yes, often

10. Sang a solo
Yes, and I apologize to anyone unfortunate enough to listen

11. Bungee jumped
HELL no

12. Visited Paris
No

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

Never been to sea, but I have watched some humdingers from the porch at the lake

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
Yeah

15. Adopted a child
No.

16. Had food poisoning
Sadly.

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
Almost all the way!

18. Grown your own vegetables
Every summer and lettuce in the winter

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
No

20. Slept on an overnight train
Never rode a train except the subway

21. Had a pillow fight
Back in the day

22. Hitchhiked
Yes.

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
I honestly don't remember

24. Built a snow fort
Many of them

25. Held a lamb
Yes

26. Gone skinny dipping
Yes, will never forget the canoe loads of teachers who showed up that one time...

27. Run a marathon
Only when chasing cows

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
No

29. Seen a total eclipse
Yes

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
Just about everyday..

31. Hit a home run
Probably not, but I certainly played enough backyard baseball

32. Been on a cruise
No

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
Yes, and I can report that it is scary as heck to stand beside it and feel the earth shake

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
Only the ones that were born here

35. Seen an Amish community
Surrounded by them

36. Taught yourself a new language
Bits and pieces of several from reading

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
I am satisfied with enough for the bills and every now and then it happens

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
No

39. Gone rock climbing
Sort of...see #8

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
No

41. Sung karaoke
HELL no

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
Yes

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
No!

44. Visited Africa
No

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
Tirrel Pond mighty fine view of the milky way there

46. Been transported in an ambulance
Yes

47. Had your portrait painted
No

48. Gone deep sea fishing
No

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
No

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

No,

51. Gone SCUBA diving or snorkeling
Oh, yes!!

52. Kissed in the rain
Yes.

53. Played in the mud
Occupational hazard in my world

54. Gone to a drive-in theater
Yes

55. Been in a movie
No

56. Visited the Great Wall of China.

No

57. Started a business
Kinda, sorta

58. Taken a martial arts class
No.

59. Visited Russia
No

60. Served at a soup kitchen
Only my own

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
yes, but mostly 4-H cookies

62. Gone whale watching
I get sea sick

63. Got flowers for no reason
Yes, from my dad. It was great!

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
yes.

65. Gone sky diving
HELL no

66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
No

67. Bounced a check
No

68. Flown in a helicopter
No

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
Yes,

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
Yes.

71. Eaten caviar
Take it off a cracker and put it on a hook

72. Pieced a quilt
Yes

73. Stood in Times Square
Yes, not a thrill to me

74. Toured the Everglades
Yes, keep your windows rolled up

75. Been fired from a job
Not really

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
No

77. Broken a bone
Yes

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
Not speeding but I have been on a slowing one.

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
No

80. Published a book
Almost, do rejection notices count?

81. Visited the Vatican
No

82. Bought a brand new car
Yes

83. Walked in Jerusalem
No

84. Had your picture in the newspaper
Yes, every week in fact

85. Read the entire Bible
No

86. Visited the White House
Driven by

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
Many times

88. Had chickenpox.

Yes

89. Saved someone’s life
Possibly

90. Sat on a jury
No

91. Met someone famous
Yes

92. Joined a book club.
yes

93. Lost a loved one
Yes!

94. Had a baby
Thrice

95. Seen the Alamo in person
No.

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
No

97. Been involved in a law suit
Yes

98. Owned a cell phone
No but the kids do

99. Been stung by a bee
Lots!

100. Read an entire book in one day
More than one...average at least two a Sunday.

Okay people, your turns now!

Not Much to Talk About Tuesday

One of the Easter Cacti set fruit and made seeds, so I opened one of the pods and planted them in some potting soil yesterday. Wouldn't it be cool if I get some!


Sunny yesterday...another storm brewing up today.



Who would ever suspect a border collie of left leaning tendencies, but Mike has 'em. It's the old dog vestibular disease at work and it doesn't make his life any easier...poor old guy...

Wood Run in Wild Weather

The past couple of weeks, my baby brother, whom you will see in the comments every now and then as Mappy, has been giving Alan and me slab wood for the stove. (His real name is Matthew, but our lovely Lithuanian landlady who owned the building where the antique shop was when we were little kids called him Mappy because that was the best she could do with it. She was a dear and it stuck..... I've forgotten why he calls me Fred but he does.)

Anyhow, the slabs of hemlock extras off his saw mill have been great. We have blocks of elm half again the size of my torso, but it is hard to get them going good. The soft wood fires them right up and we have great heat. Yesterday he called and wanted us to come up so we set off in perfectly fine weather to pick up a load and to see the new barn he and his wife are building. By the time we got there it looked like this.




It got worse and worse. We ended up only being able to go 15 mph on his road and about 30 on the state road. We got home in freezing sleet and drizzle and pounding snowy ice balls that stung when they hit your face. Still the house is toasty warm even this early in the morning and I know it will stay that way.




Thanks Mappy, (and Lisa) we love you!

I am so not ready for this

But someone else is. He has been scouting for weeks for just the right one. This year we put it in a corner of the living room so it doesn't obscure the light from the big windows. I can't stand the gloom... being a SAD sufferer in a big way.

Due to the presence of the cat, the "good" ornaments will have to stay in their boxes this year, so we will have to get creative. So far some chili peppers tied in bunches and a metal coyote have made the cut....kind of Southwestern, don't cha think?

National Animal ID tags get lost in Britain

A number of farmer bloggers have long said that ear tags are a lousy way to permanently identify cattle. If you have cows and use tags, it is simply obvious that they get lost. Often. Sometimes in our yearling pens only one or two will still have tags even though they are all tagged as babies.


In Great Britain where animal ID rules are so stringent as to be absurd, that exact conclusion is coming to the fore.




This is still not good enough for authorities there who fined a farmer for having cows leave the farm with two tags and get off the truck with one.
And they were really, really ticked off when he won his court appeal.



I hope farmers here in the USA continue to fight national ID as hard as they can. The cost if the program is implemented is going to be staggering



Um, gee, that tagging thing really worked out good didn't it....at least for the ear tag companies.


And here is another good article on the cow tax....wherein you can see that this suddenly became a hot button issue because our new president elect is solidly on board with the big bucks for carbon trading, global warming bunch. He is threatening Congress with EPA action on this matter and using farming as a bargaining chip.


Here is what the Cattle Site had to say about emissions from dairy cows.


Here is something else that really ticked me off at the time (and is making me even less happy now). Our Dairy Check Off dollars (to the tune of six million of them) were pledged by our trusty leadership to fund an EPA study of emissions on dairy farms. We are forced to pay the check off out of our milk checks before we even see our money. It is supposed to be spent to promote dairy products, which is an admirable goal. It was NEVER INTENDED to be handed to a government agency to help them find a stick to beat us with.

DAT Farm Side Friday

(Day After Thanksgiving) Here

Good Turkey Safe Travel

Happy Thanksgiving to All

Pictures of cold stuff....brought to you by Frost

Road Trip for T-Day

Winterberry holly

Lykers in the fall

Busy little beavers
Do click these collages for detail

Liz and I did our shopping for Thanksgiving yesterday, always an ordeal, but we had a great time just talking together on the trip over and back. We also stopped by the swamp we call Lyker's Pond for a late autumn shot or two. It is semi frozen, but the beavers have been busy closing up the culvert between the two sections of pond. This is where we saw all the fish this spring. There were crews out cleaning up other beaver work on the under road culverts in the area, but this is pretty isolated so I suspect it will be a while before they get to it. The winterberry holly is gorgeous still.

The old horse that is now the header was grazing where he always is in an overgrown pasture at the end of the road. He looked so perfect there that I got Liz to stop so I could snap a shot of him....
We have taken pictures of the pond in almost every season now and when the corn is done and things slow down I will get together a post with some of them. It is such a wonderful place, just a few hundred feet from houses and busy roads but so full of wildlife and water life that we never fail to see something interesting when we stop.

The Cow Tax

I first heard about this from Sarpy Sam at Thoughts From the Middle of Nowhere. It has been a source of much delight to me and the family that Sam has begun posting again. He is very well informed on farm and ranch issues and his opinion is well worth hearing.

Then World Dairy Diary had a short piece on it. Dairy Today had an alert about it too, just this morning

As I was working on this week's Farm Side, which was originally going to be all about the price of turkey and corn in fast food, it came to the forefront of my really busy with bookwork and Thanksgiving Day preparations brain that this is bad news. REALLY bad news! The $17, 500 bucks a year that it would cost a farm the size of Northview would put us out of business.


Yesterday as I was researching to add a bit of information about this outrageous trespass upon common sense to the column I realized that I had heard nothing from our state Farm Bureau about it. I dropped them a note. They were probably already working on it but within hours one way or another the alert was out to members across the state.

Everyone, everywhere, needs to get on top of this. If you are a farmer or rancher or even grow crops go to your state Farm Bureau website or anywhere else you can find a place to do so and leave a comment for the EPA. The public comment period ends Friday, so you are up against a short deadline. I figured out yesterday that just for animals alone this regulation would cost the county where I live $2,467,500.00. That doesn't include what would be required of those who raise corn, soybeans or other row crops or hogs or other livestock. Talk about hurting the economy! This is scary...

Turkey Club

Literally! A quick thinking shopper nails a car jacker with a frozen turkey.
I like this.
I feel very sorry for the poor woman he assaulted, but as he gets over his headache in jail, I hope he has time to reflect on the true meaning of the season...which doesn't include being thankful for someone else's stuff.

I wonder if the Constitution needs another amendment....the right to keep and bear turkeys....