Missed

I was out in the sunset.

Camera right in my hand

Right there in my hand, turned on and zoomed out. Set on C where I often have it.

I failed just the same...missed completely

Too slow, too dark...too bad at aiming.

Thirty or so snow geese, honking softly, quieter than the ubiquitous Canadas, right behind me, the setting sun reflecting off the flashing white of their breasts as their wings beat black, pink, black, like traffic signals from the basement cat.

They were the exact color of flamingos, but seriously less elongated, like somebody washed them in very hot water. It was about the coolest thing in the world.

Sun Dogs

Weather bringers?

Winter Water Woes

Computer problems are limiting how much I can update or answer comments....sorry about that. I really appreciate talking to you, and will get caught up as soon as I get things straightened out.....as are cookie baking and frozen things. The war of the water bowls goes on and on. A water line broke in the barn day before yesterday. Thankfully the guys had only been out of the barn for a couple of minutes when they came in and found little Niagara flowing down the manger.

However, the repairs unleashed a bunch of rust into the water lines, which then got caught in all the valves in the self watering bowls the cows drink from. Thus Alan would fix a bowl and go milk a cow and then another one would start to overflow and he would fix it and milk a cow and so on....this morning there finally weren't any overflowing. Fingers crossed!

I was as surprised as folks who commented to see the white-crowned sparrow this time of year. Usually they come through in April, sing up a storm and offer us lots of enjoyment, then head on north. There are quite a few birds around though, including quite a few geese.

Hope everyone's Christmas preparations are going along well. Off the kitchen....

Brrrr

Real

Some fine music for you on this frigid Tuesday, while we ago about dealing with whatever chose to get froze last night.

Driving Excellence

I cannot wait to buy this book. Imagine taking a failing public service, running at a severe deficit, and turning it around to become both functional and profitable. Imagine lowering costs while increasing services. Imagine businesses coming to a public...that is government-run entity for advice on how to function better. I am looking forward so much to reading it.

Partly because I am astonished by what this man has done....partly because I will think it will change my way of thinking. And partly because I can brag that I babysat for him and knew him when, because he is my dear, wonderful, talented cousin. I hope he sells millions of copies. I am so proud of him!

Lucky

The Mid West took a shellacking this weekend in the weather department. We were threatened but lucked out in the end, with just a tad of ice and some drenching rains. Miserable, but nothing compared to a blizzard.

We were also lucky in that the boss told the guys over at the auction last week to give him a call if a really cheap stock trailer came in. They did and we got this for way under two thousand. It is really old, but not at all decrepit and will serve us for a bit and keep us out of the hands of the uncaring and unscrupulous among the haulers. I am grateful as heck for that.

More Ugliness on Eastern Livestock Meltdown

It always seems to come back and bite the little guy.

Sunday Stills....Pets

Click for detail

Notice the hard working border collie staring at his prey... lots of eye. Below find the prey. Nothing like a dog that works cats.

For more Sunday Stills.....

Thinking Thankful Thoughts

I have been lately. So many of you who come here to read about life on our small family dairy farm have helped us in amazing ways over the past year. Friends, family, people whom we have never met, but who would certainly be friends if we did, have helped us put another year behind us....still milking cows, still doing what we do, despite all odds, and they have not been good odds. When we ran out of feed last winter, people helped. People called from far away to offer help. You were so good to us, who had done nothing to deserve the goodness.

It was humbling...there were amazing acts of kindness. From seeds for the garden, neat things to plant from far away, to kind words of support when the world seemed black and frozen.

You are good for our hearts and our home and our lives and I just wanted you to know that we have not forgotten and we thank you every day that comes....

Definition of a Farmer

I could add a few to this. Farmers have to wear a lot of hats these days.

The Better Half of Snow

C'mon, you knew there had to be one. It can't be ALL bad..only almost....I am not a winter fan, less so after taking a crashing fall while taking sand in so the cows had better footing (guess I should have sanded where I walk first). However, despite the bruises and bumps, there is an upside to this white stuff all over the ground.

Tracking, reading the unfolding story of what happened in the night, out in the yard while we were sleeping. There the crook-legged hen left a garbled trail over to the porch to steal cat food. Here the rooster scratched for sun flower seeds under the feeder. It is like gossip written in blue and grey against the white....every one's secrets revealed.

This morning's tabloid offered a probable explanation of where Triton went. Triton was a lovely cat Alan brought home not long ago. I really liked her....what a hunter.

Then one morning she was just....gone....we never saw her again.

This morning a set of large, like German shepherd-large, canine tracks, led from the bank of the creek right across the heifer road and all the way to the house and beyond. Right next to the cars and the back porch where Triton lived.

Canis Latrans. Bold as brass, right up to the house, right up to the hen coop, right past the pony barn. Although we have three dogs, they are all confined in warm places for the winter. None of them left the tracks. I knew there were coyotes around; you can't miss hearing them, but I had some idea that they stayed out in the field....waiting for the cats to come to them.

Hah! I swear if the door was open they would probably walk right in the living room looking for Elvis and Simon.

There are also bunny tracks out there, but very, very few compared to most winters. I guess that is the better half of having a coyote in your back yard. Besides cats, he apparently eats rabbits too.

Still.....

Duck ID

Practicing up for the Christmas Bird Count. Here is a nice page of duck identification information. (I wonder if there will be any open water at all by the time the count rolls around!)

Cold Feet on Plum Island?

Maybe

Food Court Hallelujah Story Revealed

Last week I posted the video of the flash mob that performed Handel's Messiah in a Canadian food court (it still gives me cold chills when I listen).

Here is the story behind the video.

NY Farm Bureau Annual Meeting

Is on this week. Here is a nice story from the front:

NY Farmers donate 4.7 million pounds of food

Wordless Wednesday

Steckling

Not a sugar beet...nor a steckling either

A steckling, a steckling...my kingdom for a steckling.....

But I will most happily settle for a nice definition of a steckling from any of you wonderful agricultural folks who happen to stop by. (I am working on this week's Farm Side and need to talk about beet culture.)

Sugar beets are not exactly big business in upstate NY and the Net has been helpful, but not absolutely so, in my quest to write about the recent federal court decision on GMO beets.

Thanks in advance for any help you are able to give. Quotable quotes about the beet industry would be most welcome as well. You can leave them in the comments or email me at threecollie AT gmail DOT com.

Ethanol Hurts

On one hand my car runs so badly on it, seems like all we do is buy dry gas.

On the other hand we are paying prices for concentrates (grain) for the cows that we would never even have imagined just a couple of years ago. Between the cost of feed and the high price of all kinds of fuels it is a daily struggle just to survive...a very discouraging struggle. I personally would like to see the government go out of the food for fuel business.

Here is a story about the issue with a lively discussion in the comments.

Good Morning

From kinda, sorta, snowy Northview. I guess the western end of the county really got dumped on. We just got a little bit...enough for me for sure, but just a dusting. At least it wasn't rain. It was a fairly quiet weekend, which I spent working and enjoying the company of my boy, Nick. Doesn't look eleven does he?