This gave me a chuckle, but it is quite true. The farming games are a lot of fun and I play them too, but they are pretty far removed from reality (which is fine...they are games after all.)
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Hope and Change
The dairy industry is changing rapidly these days, and in fact many days I feel as if it is changing right out from under us. I put a post up here on the Dairy Economic Loss Assistance Payment Program or DELAP a couple weeks ago, with a link to what was known at that time about this bail out for desperate farmers.
I soon started getting a few hits a day as people looked for news on the much needed assistance program. And since that day no more information has emerged...or not that anyone can find...and each day I get more and more hits from all over the country as farmers try to find out what is going on with it.
With all this change there seems to be little room for hope. Even if the government gets its payment into the hands of farmers really soon nobody is making enough to pay the bills....milk costs around seventeen bucks to produce and we have been getting ten all year. The price is up to thirteen now, but that isn't going very far to make up all the losses. We are all discouraged and grateful for any shred of good news that might come our way.
Yesterday we had another lousy day with a visit from our milk inspector to deal with some equipment malfunction that was damaging our milk quality. We pride ourselves on receiving quality premiums every month so that was a blow.
After a long day of coping with that and all the usual other stuff I stood outside the milkhouse door with Alan during the last few minutes of chores. I can't remember just why we were standing there, but we were right beside my shorthorn, Broadway's, stall.
I glanced over and noticed a curious bulge waxing and waning along her right flank. She is a bit of a skittish young lady so I had to be very slow and careful to lay my hand there (she milks off the other side and doesn't worry about what I do over there). I stroked the wiggly bulge. It thumped at me and slid around under her thick, red skin. Every touch of my hand elicited a more than equal and opposite push or shove in the other direction.
Then I had Alan put his hand there and pet her side a bit. You should have seen him grin as the bulge danced against his hand. At that point, big old BW started swatting at us with her tail so we stopped bothering her, but it is nice to know that there is a lively calf in there waiting to be born next February.
Hope. It is still there I guess, in the future, and in the next generation of cattle with which we will mingle our lives and dreams. I hope B-Dub, as I call her, has the calf all right....don't care if it is a bull or heifer; we will keep it either way as we need a service sire for heifers. Hope we are still doing this when she has it and haven't had to sell them to pay the folks to whom we owe money....
I soon started getting a few hits a day as people looked for news on the much needed assistance program. And since that day no more information has emerged...or not that anyone can find...and each day I get more and more hits from all over the country as farmers try to find out what is going on with it.
With all this change there seems to be little room for hope. Even if the government gets its payment into the hands of farmers really soon nobody is making enough to pay the bills....milk costs around seventeen bucks to produce and we have been getting ten all year. The price is up to thirteen now, but that isn't going very far to make up all the losses. We are all discouraged and grateful for any shred of good news that might come our way.
Yesterday we had another lousy day with a visit from our milk inspector to deal with some equipment malfunction that was damaging our milk quality. We pride ourselves on receiving quality premiums every month so that was a blow.
After a long day of coping with that and all the usual other stuff I stood outside the milkhouse door with Alan during the last few minutes of chores. I can't remember just why we were standing there, but we were right beside my shorthorn, Broadway's, stall.
I glanced over and noticed a curious bulge waxing and waning along her right flank. She is a bit of a skittish young lady so I had to be very slow and careful to lay my hand there (she milks off the other side and doesn't worry about what I do over there). I stroked the wiggly bulge. It thumped at me and slid around under her thick, red skin. Every touch of my hand elicited a more than equal and opposite push or shove in the other direction.
Then I had Alan put his hand there and pet her side a bit. You should have seen him grin as the bulge danced against his hand. At that point, big old BW started swatting at us with her tail so we stopped bothering her, but it is nice to know that there is a lively calf in there waiting to be born next February.
Hope. It is still there I guess, in the future, and in the next generation of cattle with which we will mingle our lives and dreams. I hope B-Dub, as I call her, has the calf all right....don't care if it is a bull or heifer; we will keep it either way as we need a service sire for heifers. Hope we are still doing this when she has it and haven't had to sell them to pay the folks to whom we owe money....
Milk Truck Roll Over
Right across the river. The boss's dear aunt heard about it on her scanner and gave us a call. Not our truck and no one hurt, but much excitement in the little village of Fonda.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Looking Forward
Becky will be coming home this week. I am looking forward to it more than you would believe. It just can't come soon enough.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Maybe Facebook Likes Me After All
Check it out here
"We’re all big fans of strong bones at Facebook and we will soon revise our promotions guidelines to lift the complete ban on dairy and simply prohibit giving dairy away as a prize.""
What Do You Give
BEFORE the storm yesterdayThe girl who has everything....except enough feed to go through the winter?
It has been such a bad year here. The boss was still haying two weeks ago as we had rain almost continuously since last May....and still there isn't enough out there in the ag bags...now we have snow and there will be no more.
So my dear younger brother and his kind wife bought...and delivered...eleven huge bales of baleage for us yesterday. It was snowing and then freezing, soaking rain, and Lisa is sick with a nasty cold...but they still worked out in the weather to get that feed to us. They also took the time to drive back home...and they don't live close by any means...to pick up Matt's homemade, but really cool three-point-hitch fork lift attachment when our skid steer proved unequal to the task of unloading. So Alan got them off Matt's friend's trailer after a while....
Last night Liz and Alan and I tore open a bale and unwound it and fed a couple of wheelbarrows to the girls.
They devoured it. I went around after milking and fed an armful to each of the high producers and they devoured that too.
I was happy to know that they had that good stuff to fill them up.
Thanks guys! What you did was well and above and beyond the call of duty. I am very thankful and so are our ladies. That went right to the top of the list of the best Christmas presents ever!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Went Looking For This
For you and for me too....Yeah, it's just a dandelion, but wouldn't it look good right now? Especially if it was surrounded by knee high green grass? Balmy spring breezes, birds singing......
I know I'm whiny, but it sure is cold. The guys worked three hours yesterday fixing the reverse curve on the stable cleaner, not a fun job in the best of weather, but brutal when it is so cold with the wind a'howlin;. It meant they never got in to sit down for more than maybe fifteen or twenty minutes all day. The heifers are in so they are another job to be added to the list. Never got the last field of corn in, although maybe we will get a short thaw so they can get it.
Anyhow Liz made them some venison and rice for a really late lunch (like maybe 4PM) and then made us all grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for supper after chores (we usually get in around 8). That meal is not exactly punishment, what with her homemade bread and the award winning cheese the milk coop gave us for Christmas....and even a cup of humble Campbell's tomato soup is pretty darned good with a little rice thrown in and some Italian seasoning. Pretty welcome when you are cold all the time...
Hope you are all staying nice and warm.....me, I am wearing so many clothes that if I fall down on that relentless ice out there I am just going to roll away...so if you don't hear from me, check the bottom of the hill.
Friday, December 11, 2009
More Melamine in Chinese Dairy Products
Story here
And it appears that suing someone who causes you harm is a bit harder there than here.....
And it appears that suing someone who causes you harm is a bit harder there than here.....
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Facebook Hates Me
After all the time I waste playing there, making money for them.
Below are some of the site's rules, which are posted here
I am not pleased with them! I won't say that I am going to quit playing Mafia Wars but....
Below are some of the site's rules, which are posted here
Section 2. ProhibitionsYou may not publicize or administer a promotion on Facebook if:
2.1 The promotion is open or marketed to individuals who are under the age of 18;
2.2 The promotion is open to individuals who reside in a country embargoed by the United States;
2.3 The promotion, if a sweepstakes, is open to individuals residing in Belgium, Norway, Sweden, or India;
2.4 The promotion’s objective is to promote any of the following product categories: gambling, tobacco, dairy, firearms, prescription drugs, or gasoline;
2.5 The prize or any part of the prize includes alcohol, tobacco, dairy, firearms, or prescription drugs; or
2.6 The promotion is a sweepstakes that conditions entry upon the purchase of a product, completion of a lengthy task, or other form of consideration.
I am not pleased with them! I won't say that I am going to quit playing Mafia Wars but....
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Hey, Copenhagen
Gotcher Global Warming right here. Yeah, as we read about naturally occurring gasses, (essential for all life on earth.. like the CO2 that keeps all the plants we depend on for...well for everything...alive and thriving)..... being regulated by a greedy bunch of money-grubbing hypocrites, all in the name of Anthropogenic Global Warming (try typing that before you have finished your first cup of coffee) it is not warming here. We have had a cold, miserable summer. One of the coldest Octobers on record. November was warmish, but alas it is over.
Today NY has a storm. It is not in any way, shape, or form a warming storm. (Maybe we are just not global enough.) Traffic, what there is of it, has slowed to a crawl, even down on the usually speedy Thruway. As I lay under about six covers, including three knitted afghans, this too darned early morning, thinking about getting up....but procrastinating, even though it is milk tanker day, the room was aglow with reflected light. Um....unless there is a really big moon, and right now the moon is smalling down pretty quickly, that means lotsa snow. I came downstairs and plugged in the coffee maker...Houston...we still have power. However, it didn't look too pleasant down across the river. The sky is pink from the lights in town bouncing off a curtain of snow. It is frigid.
And indeed Gael would not go out to tend to Mother Nature. Just stood on the porch shivering and glaring at me...well, alright, but you'll be sorry later.
Yeah, we gotcher Global Warming...it is falling all over the ground and piling up on the trucks and fences.
It is also here, where my good friend Earl needs a Zamboni for his kitty dish
And here, where one of our lovely Lindas has been without power and is freezing at around 35 below in this "warmest decade on record" weather
And here, where our other delightful Linda is also experiencing something less than toasty, sunny and warming
And here, where if you click on the picture of Loveland Pass, as seen through the window of a tractor trailer, your heart will probably leap right out of your chest like mine did...well almost....seriously, hop over there and click on that picture...
They have Global Warming down in North Carolina too.
Pennsylvania
Knoxville Tennessee
SoDak Maine
If that nasty little conference in Denmark got to experience a big, fat, weeklong blizzard it would be poetic justice, which is about the only kind we are likely to see within ten thousand miles of it.
Today NY has a storm. It is not in any way, shape, or form a warming storm. (Maybe we are just not global enough.) Traffic, what there is of it, has slowed to a crawl, even down on the usually speedy Thruway. As I lay under about six covers, including three knitted afghans, this too darned early morning, thinking about getting up....but procrastinating, even though it is milk tanker day, the room was aglow with reflected light. Um....unless there is a really big moon, and right now the moon is smalling down pretty quickly, that means lotsa snow. I came downstairs and plugged in the coffee maker...Houston...we still have power. However, it didn't look too pleasant down across the river. The sky is pink from the lights in town bouncing off a curtain of snow. It is frigid.
And indeed Gael would not go out to tend to Mother Nature. Just stood on the porch shivering and glaring at me...well, alright, but you'll be sorry later.
Yeah, we gotcher Global Warming...it is falling all over the ground and piling up on the trucks and fences.
It is also here, where my good friend Earl needs a Zamboni for his kitty dish
And here, where one of our lovely Lindas has been without power and is freezing at around 35 below in this "warmest decade on record" weather
And here, where our other delightful Linda is also experiencing something less than toasty, sunny and warming
And here, where if you click on the picture of Loveland Pass, as seen through the window of a tractor trailer, your heart will probably leap right out of your chest like mine did...well almost....seriously, hop over there and click on that picture...
They have Global Warming down in North Carolina too.
Pennsylvania
Knoxville Tennessee
SoDak Maine
If that nasty little conference in Denmark got to experience a big, fat, weeklong blizzard it would be poetic justice, which is about the only kind we are likely to see within ten thousand miles of it.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Monday, December 07, 2009
Frosting...no Pumpkins
Saturday we had a weird little storm. It snowed most of the afternoon with an inch or two of accumulation. What was odd was that it stuck to everything.
And stayed.
On Sunday morning it was still glued in place on every tree and wire. That is a very unusual phenomenon. Normally you can expect either wind or rain when the snow sticks like that and it usually arrives very quickly after the end of the snow.
Although I am no fan of winter, it was amazing to look out the big windows Saturday evening and see the trees over in the town across the river, coated in white and lit up by the street lights. It may be trite to say it but it looked like a Christmas card.
PS, this post was written and scheduled before I read about the accident below.
Sunday, December 06, 2009
I Heard This Happening
Weezer tour bus crashes. Heard a lot of sirens and all this morning early. Had no idea what was going on and I had forgotten it until I read the news.
Not music I listen to, but Alan likes them. Glad the injuries weren't serious.
Here is an update from the band website.
Not music I listen to, but Alan likes them. Glad the injuries weren't serious.
Here is an update from the band website.
Sunday Stills...Pets
This is an oldie, but a real favorite of mine. I had a picture of the cat all ready to go but he is on a certain list that precludes me glorifying him just now...the little stinker.Top pic is Liz and Foolish. Foolish is a milk cow now but still pretty gentle.
And here is that rare creature....hardly ever seen...a border collie hibernating. Dear old Gael (who has NEVER bitten me)...in her usual pose this time of year. She likes snow about as much as I do...not much that is....
For more Sunday Stills.....
Saturday, December 05, 2009
What Not To Do
If your gentle, amazingly well-behaved house cat goes tearing out the door to fight with a barn cat when you open it to let the dog in..(he has never, never even tried to go outdoors before.....)
Well, the thing not to do is to go out and try to get him back. The &^%^^&& cats rolled right across my leg, biting and clawing. I finally had to separate them with a canoe paddle.
So I am all clawed up.
Nasty. Painful.
I shoulda left the little stinker out there.
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