Fun with National Grid and the Tree Crew

One of our favorite bloggers had a go round with the tree cuttin', line clearnin' fellas just a little while back. They are much noted for their enthusiasm and lack of common sense and respect for property and they did not do right by her.

Over the years we have had plenty of fun with them too and wouldn't you know it, they got us again this year. We have power lines across the front (and the back and the middle) of the place. The one line runs along the edge of our front pasture fence and our maple woods. The boss was out fixing up the fence yesterday so we can turn cows in there, and lo and behold, the fence was cut, the wires pulled back, brush was piled all over the fence, and a little ravine with a small "sometimes" creek in the bottom was so piled with cut brush that he couldn't walk in it.

So he called 'em up and they called back and left a message and so began what I know from past experience won't amount to anything but aggravation. When they moved the road they took out dozens of good trees and just took them away. When we complained they brought us back some junk wood....oh heck, I could go on and on. Nothing will come of this except that he will move the darned brush himself and fix the fence and next year they will do it all again....bah

Another Day

Liz and Becky both took off farm jobs over the past couple of weeks, which kind of leaves everybody scrambling to get things done, but we are getting it done. Glad they started in springtime like this when I can conjure up at least a little bit of energy to take up some of the slack. Writing projects are finding themselves kind of on the back burner though...sorry about that.

Yesterday we shipped a cow and a steer over to the sale (with special thanks to my brother and family for the loan of their bigger truck). Alan stopped on the way home to pick up the check rather than waiting for it to be mailed. Cow brought almost sixty cents a pound, which although not spectacular is better than it has been. We are wondering about the weigh scale over there though. We sent one of the biggest cows we had a couple of months ago and got paid for an eleven-hundred pound cow. We kinda wondered where the rest of her went. This cow wasn't near that big and weighed the same, leading me to wonder...not for the first time. We got cheated by a trucker a few years back, who switched the auction tags on our big cows with his little ones, until we caught him and fired him. Reason why we truck our own despite our lousy trailer and having to borrow a truck (as soon as Alan gets a tire on his he can go back to hauling for us.)

Then the boss and I trimmed a hind foot on a lame cow, my old Citation R Maple, England. She had been getting progressively lamer and needed a pedicure and some medicine and a nice, thick bandage. He did the real work while I just held the rope that held her foot off the floor. Unlike horses, most cows will not hold their foot up while you work. However, she was quite blase about the whole affair and continued to eat hay while we worked. When the trimming was over she was standing much more comfortably. Since we have been feeding this product our cows have had amazingly improved foot health, and I think the last cow we had to trim was this time last summer, when this same one got her feet done before. We feed this too, in our trace mineral mix. It is such good stuff for those living on this selenium depleted soil that I take a human version of it every day with my own vitamins. A proper balance of minerals and vitamins as important to cows as it is to us, so we have to use carefully formulated feeds for them.

Despite the freezing weather, which may not bode well for the apple and peach trees, the flower gardens are a delightful tapestry of texture and greenness. I love the way the spears of the irises offer spiky contrast to the fringed lupines and the tassels of the tiger lilies. The many varieties of variegated hosta turn the bed into a painting in green, with just a few flower highlights to set it off. (Thanks to the God Awful winds there isn't much left blooming.) Liz BF mowed the lawn again and he is a plumb adventuresome lawn mower person. There is smooth green grass in places that just used to be brush. Thanks guy....

Birds are busy, grackles like fighter planes seeking everybody else's nests like Darth EggVader. Mockingbirds fending them off like angry bomber bees. Chimney swifts came back the day before yesterday, but although other folks have swallows I have yet to see one. The kestrels are sitting on eggs, and the Mrs. sure doesn't want Mr. joining her under the eaves. She sends him packing no matter how hard it is raining. Due to lack of youthful farm help I put the cows up the lane yesterday and enjoyed a short interlude with a questing robin. No matter how common they are I love the way they tamely come close and sing as sweetly as the thrushes they are. This one was foraging almost at my feet and I spent a few minutes just watching him. It was probably the most peaceful moment of the day and I thank him for it.

Anyhow, what with a fence yet to finish, finances requiring daily management by the bookkeeper (yeah, that is me, alas) garden to plant, and so on etc, including hay starting as soon as it dries out and some crops left to plant. I apologize in advance for missing some days here. Hope spring is treating you right.

Mandy

We almost lost this lovely old girl at the end of winter. She stepped on one of her teats, got an infection, and was very, very ill. Good advice from our favorite vet and diligent nursing by Liz saved her life and she even came back in milk. Now her milk feeds all the baby calves and the cats.....She is Liz's dear old show cow, who won junior champion two years running when she was a baby. She is such a pet and likes to stay in the barn so sometimes Liz has to pull her out by her neck strap.

Happy Mother's Day

To my magnificent mom, who could always do anything. She and my dad have led a life of adventure, from running an antique store, adding a bookstore (the treasure cave or chain gang of my childhood depending...) to hosting the Clan Montgomery tent at Scottish games from here to Colorado. Touring Scotland, England and France. Carving fabulous art work from birds to King Tut, painting, digging incredible minerals, cutting stones, making jewelry...you name it...where their interests took them they followed. I have a lovely lost-wax process silver ring my mom made me with stones my father cut....one of my greatest treasures....An intricate quilt mom sewed with all my animals depicted it, that, although it is worn from keeping me warm for decades, is never put away.

Five days after radical cancer surgery Mom was panning for gold in the Carolinas....why ruin a good vacation over a little thing like a major operation. She is tough as a railroad spike, never mind your paltry little nails......

At least in part because of all those fascinations and wonders (and others too numerous to mention, from square dancing, in costumes mom designed and sewed to learning about area history from hunting fossils and Indian relics...even the whole bird watching thing) my two brothers and I are never bored. When you have parents that open your eyes to all the marvels of living in this world, up close and personal, you don't need television and you do revel in living in it. (In fact it was Mom's relentless nagging gentle pressure that got me to buy a computer and go online in the first place.)

So thanks Mom, for being all that you are, for marrying Dad almost sixty years ago, and for following his passions and yours wherever they led.

Hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day and many more to follow.

And Happy Mother's Day to all who read who are mothers and to their mothers and all the mothers everywhere. This is your day. Enjoy the flowers and the cookouts and the company of the ones who love you....

Sunday Stills...the Letter B

Bud

Blossoms

Bovid

Bird

For more Sunday Stills.....

Hay Video Update

***This whole affair is an incredible story of the wonder that it is the Internet and the people who communicate on it.

Our Florida blog friend, Sandcastle Momma and her family are responsible for the video of oil being soaked up by hay, to which I linked last week, as did several other bloggers who were astonished by such a simple, yet effective idea.

Thanks to the efforts of the good folks involved the story gained enough attention and impressed so many that the concept is going to be actually used on the beaches there.

Click here to read an update on what is happening and here for more about the hay video itself.

The Dairy Lawsuits

Here is a good story on what is going on and why. This situation is affecting real people and real families.

Even if the suit succeeds it will be too late for many. Here is the auction listing for the family dairy farm of one of NY's handful of dairy bloggers and an online friend of ours. It is already too late for her and her family to recover from 18 months of prices far below the cost of production, and my heart aches for them. (Wish they lived a little closer so we could go to the sale to lend moral support if nothing else.) If you click on the farm name on the listing you can see a pdf of their cattle and machinery. They have some really lovely cows and it must be heart breaking to have to sell them.

Stamp Out Hunger

Tomorrow is the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. Learn more about it here.

To help feed America's hungry, simply leave non-perishable food items in a bag at your mail box for pick up by your letter carrier . The NALC hopes to break the billion pound mark this year for the 18 year history of the food drive. Even during the deep gloom of recession, last year's drive produced 73.4 million pounds so they will probably reach that goal.

One of those dearest to us is a letter carrier and he is proud to do his part for this important campaign. (A we are proud of him for doing it.) He tells me that a marvelous and amazing amount of food is picked up each year, with one family leaving four or five bags of groceries at their mail box....what great folks live here in America.

**Donate items like canned meats, fish, soup, juice and vegetables, and pasta, cereal and rice. Please do not include items that have expired or are in glass containers.**

Great Quote from Mike Rowe

I read this quote from him a while back, lost the bookmark, and have been looking for it ever since. It is a big thought, but I think it might just be a true one. Worth pondering anyhow.
Read the whole thing here. It is well worth your time.

This is the part I was looking for:

"On Dirty Jobs, I’m no expert, and I’m even less of one here. But I have a theory, and it goes like this – all jobs rely on one of two industries – mining and agriculture. Every tangible thing our society needs is either pulled from the ground, or grown from the ground. Without these fundamental industries there would be no jobs of any kind. There would be no economy. Civilization begins with miners and farmers, and polite society is only possible when skilled workers transform those raw materials into something useful or edible."

Selling Stuff on Craig's List

Yup, going out to take pics in a few. We have all kinds of old odds and ends we don't use any more...nothing a dealer will take on trade in, but one man's trash and all that. Plus a tractor with a bad engine but a good loader. We shall see......

More Bad News on Dairy

Here is an article on farm loss in Pennsylvania.

Things are just plain ugly...... I got the sad news that one of my blog friends and their family are selling out just yesterday. And alas there is still no sign of improvement on the horizon. We are looking for change, but nobody seems to know where to find it.

Could Hay be the Answer to Saving the Beaches

I was going to do Wordless Wednesday today because I am supposed to be writing the Farm Side. However, a blog friend in the sunny South posted this incredible story and I wanted to be sure you had a chance to read it.

Oil Removal, It's as Simple as Hay

Farmer ingenuity..you gotta love it. I also hope it works....

A Good Man; A Good Cause

Once again, my handsome, wonderful, slightly younger brother is riding in the Tour de Cure. It is a terrific cause...I hope you will support him if you can.
Thanks!

Each mile I ride, each dollar I raise will be used in the fight to
prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people
affected by diabetes.

No matter how small or large, your generous gift will help improve the
lives of the more than 20 million Americans who suffer from diabetes,
in the hope that future generations can live in a world without this
disease. Together, we can all make a difference!

Odd 'n' Ends

Somebody lives here...probably marmota monax



We were given a handsome male guinea fowl last week. Seems he was a trouble maker in his old home, always fighting with the other guineas and the family roosters. Here we are giving him his own harem in hopes that he will produce many more like himself...he is a lovely solid purplish-grey, I think considered a royal purple. Or maybe not..the color chart is kind of confusing. Anyhow he is a beautiful bird and we are tickled to have him.

More Nuts

Animals’ Right to Privacy Denied by Wildlife Documentaries, Says Researcher

Digging Herkimer Diamonds

A collage of baby brother and his handsome son mining for diamonds. Click for detail.

A vug, an opening in the limestone that they were mining, stuffed with lovely crystals on matrix.

My brother, his lovely wife and their family treated me to a mining expedition yesterday at Crystal Grove Campsite.


My usual method of digging for Herkimers is to take a garden trowel or even a spoon and scratch around in the tailings. However, they bring a pickup truck full of tools and indulge in hard rock mining. (Trust me their way is better albeit a lot harder too.) Although pickings were a little slim yesterday, they found some incredible clear crystals (not pictured, but I'll bet Lisa will have pics later) that seemed to roll right out of the ground as bright as shining ice cubes. It is a real ooh ah moment when a nice vug opens up and spills its treasure I'll tell you.



Matt dug for hours, processed probably about a dump truck load of rock, which started out as blocks about the size of an old-fashioned TV and ended up smaller than a bread box...some much smaller. I'll bet he is hurting today, but he found some nice stuff. And thanks guys for sharing such a great day with me.


We didn't find these, but the people who did kindly let me photograph them when they brought them over to show off. They are the size of a fist, but don't have the usual amazing clarity of gems from this site, as they are much cracked by winter frosts.

Sunday Stills...Controls

When this challenge called for knobs and switches and things that control non-living objects I was stumped for anything fun. Oh, we have keyboards and tractor controls and stuff...but they just didn't flip my buttons so to speak. Then this morning I remembered that this old house has knobs and switches and controls...many of which don't do anything any more...that are kind of cool...so here they are.




For more Sunday Stills...

The Cows are Going Out

To grass now. A few of them have been going out since the weather allowed, but now all but a few heifers who will be phased into the group will be outdoors every day. The pics above were taken in the pasture when we were finishing up the fence.

Drinking from the Wild Grape

Alan cut this big wild grape vine off the fence the other day...an amazing amount of liquid pours out of it.



Here he is enjoying a drink from a freshly cut one. He says it is the sweetest, clearest water you can find.....I cannot attest to that, as I didn't try it.


Here is a short video of the kid calling turkeys yesterday.

Fascination with Fencing

The woods in the heifer pasture

Trout Lily

Baby Cottonwood

Wild Violets...there was an incredible patch you could see from so far away.

Honey Locust

The boss, Alan and I finished the heifer pasture fence yesterday. Besides cutting a lot of wild rose bushes and looking for a short that we never found, there was much to see.