All the News

That's fit to type.

Got a surprising, but very welcome call yesterday, that the 4490 was not only ready, but the bill was reasonable. Didn't take the guys ten minutes to be on the road to go get it.

Tyler, Liz's old horse came home last night, to a gigantic new box stall built by Alan. We used to have a pair of almost 18 hand Belgians that lived in tie stalls in the old barn. He took down both of those stalls and turned them into one big box. I will get some pics later, but other than hitting himself with the hammer he did a real nice job.

The rain continues, so the time spent cleaning up and building stuff and flower gardening goes on....all well and good but it is past time for the crops to be planted, vegetable garden in and haying started. Will this rain ever end? We are beginning to wonder.

We are breeding cows like crazy now...if they all catch we will be fielding calves left and right next February or March. Busy, busy. We had five in heat Sunday alone.

That is Bama's new baby, Cinnamon Twist, in the photo. She is NOT that color, but rather a dark, rich mahogany color. I don't know why it is so hard to get true color photos on the milking shorthorns. Once in a while I get it right, but rarely.

She is about the smartest calf I have ever seen. She was eating grain and hay before she was two days old. Now she jumps up and down if she sees me kicking hay into the mangers. And she knows her name. She can be sleeping and you call "Cinnamon-n-n-n" and she jumps right up and starts bouncing and calling. What a little sweetie!

Self Portrait

Blocked

For some reason some people are getting a message when they try to visit that Northview is private and invitation only ...and some are not. I don't know how to fix this...it is not set to private on the settings page, and of course I don't want it to be private. Y'all are very welcome here and pretty much make my day...every day.

Can anyone help?

Sunday Stills...in the Sky

Thunder sneaking up on us

See the bunny?

Front porch

This was a surprisingly hard one, just because of the rainy weather all week.

For more Sunday Stills.....

The Mighty Mohawk

At Fultonville, calm as a sleepy oyster...butter wouldn't melt in its mouth

Looks pretty calm west of Lock 12 too

The lock

Somewhat less calm

Yeah, downright churny here

Is strutting its stuff. The paper says opening in this area is delayed again due to at least six inches of extra rain.

We stopped at the gas station here in town and then at Lock 12 to take some pics yesterday. Some contrast. I can vouch for what the story says about debris. There was a huge sort of island of logs and such...big logs...above the spillway. Woulda kept me in firewood for a couple of months once it dried out. However, to say that it is inaccessible...yeah... It will be staying there far as I'm concerned. The river is full and roily and wild, full of mud to the east of us and very high. I don't like it much.

Something's Gotta Give

(Rudeness is not confined to humankind.

Witness Baja shoving Broadway off a particularly tasty patch of grass)

If you smack yourself in the mouth with the claw end of a hammer.

Prolly a tooth.

Yeah, the stall-building fiasco project went south yesterday. Way south. I was just charging up my iPod and planning a productive day of cleaning and getting plants planted when Alan walked in all bloody and broken. He had struck at a stubborn staple, embedded in old, dry, oak, and the hammer rebounded and whacked him dead on, right in the mouth.

So we spent the day in a far away city waiting for an emergency dentist to tell him he needs a special filling which will cost a bunch and which also has to wait until they can fit him in for it. Not very dramatic.

However..... We were sitting in the treatment room awaiting the doc, when screaming erupted in the waiting room. And I don't mean just a gentle little shrieking. I mean full force, F-bomb spewing outrage. The upshot of the edited version is that some lady (and I use that term loosely) brought her sister who had had a "procedure" earlier in the week. The latter was now in a lot of pain, nobody would talk to her on the phone, she was going to *&**** sue, she was going back to find the (*^&&& doctor (insert shoving match with office staff here) etc. etc. heavily laced with profanity that would curl your hair. Yow

I was honestly afraid and thought about closing and trying to lock the door on the room we were in. I had visions of weaponry beyond bad language and felt captive there in the little room.

I also had visions of tattooed, dyed, spiked and pierced scary people out there in that resounding waiting room, forcing their way back to shoot or otherwise inconvenience us.

Imagine my amazement when the "girls" in question managed to shove their way into the passage outside our door. They were probably a few years older than I am, perfectly coiffed, dressed conservatively in expensive clothes, and looked like grandmas on their way to the grocery store.

Dang, they sure didn't sound like grandmas. Or at least not mine. I felt terrible for the office staff and the other patients, some of whom I guess were as scared as I was. This was not just rudeness. You see rudeness. This was craziness. I later overheard the staff saying that they had had no phone calls and would have gotten the women care if asked. Just craziness.

Oh, well, it wasn't your usual dull wait for a doctor.

He's Country

You know you are country when your school has a tractor day and this many tractors show up!

Go here to see my nephew, Kegan, driving his dad's tractor to school.

Sorry, Can't Resist

Male Baltimore Oriole with oranges

Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak

More bird photos. They are so tame this summer. The female Baltimore oriole actually lets me walk around weeding the flower bed by the feeder while she eats. It is fairly easy to sneak up on the others.

Green Day

Look What they found in the back of the barn

Had one yesterday. After all my moaning yesterday morning, we had at least ten hours with no rain and the sun came out. Yay!

So I ran around digging and planting and playing in the dirt and overdid it and crashed like a baby after chores last night (would have loved to crash BEFORE chores, but alas....)

We finally sat down to supper around nine and by the time we were done eating it was sluicing down again. I was using a plastic sled to haul tubs of plants around yesterday and it is half full of water, at least an inch, this morning....

Oh, well, it was perfect for rinsing off my bare feet after I chased the stupid chickens off the freshly worked garden dirt at five-thirty this morning.

Speaking of the chickens. Next Amish auction they are leaving us. Except for Laura and possibly Crooked Leg that is. CL had a nest full of ready-to-hatch eggs in the horse barn..you saw her pic a couple of weeks ago. Those witches and their boy friends chased her off day before yesterday and ate all the chickies right up out of the eggs. Becky caught them at it, too late to stop the carnage.

The kids are doing over the back of the horse barn, building a ten by something or other stall for a horse Liz got last year. We really didn't have feed for him so she boarded him up near where she lives...full board...and he lost so much weight under the "care" of the people there that he looked pretty awful when she pulled him out. (He is about 27 years old.)

So she moved him to a place with a lot of pasture and he was getting most of his weight back and looking better when she started having trouble with some neighbor folks. I won't go into detail, but can we just say, unreasonable and unfair? Poor old man.

So finally the boss relented and said she could bring him here as long as she buys feed for him.

If the kids want to do the work there is a pretty big field with a lot of grass that we are not using. Just needs fence. There is a run in shed and everything. We used to run heifers there and then the old horses when they were alive. However, it is right near houses in the village so we don't risk putting cattle over there any more and it is pretty much too hilly to be worth working. However, if they want to get the fence back up one old horse would be in hog heaven with all that greenery.

And there you have it, all the news that's fit to print. (Oh, and Dani, I am going to plant sweet peas this morning if the rain lets up! Thanks!)

You Hear it First

(Taken last week before the rainslaught)

The rain that is. Of course you know that it is going to come. Even the weather gurus are getting it right this time, rain, rain and more rain.

But when you are outside trying to get something...anything...done.... the first sign of its arrival is a soft patter, like the rustling of dad's newspaper back in the day.....just before he got up from his chair to give you what for.

And then it sweeps across the land, giving you what for again. What for you tryin' to work out here? This is my land, I have taken it and I am keeping it.

And it has and it is. It has taken over all our ground and turned it into fresh churned mud, and it hangs on and clings and drips and droops and bothers all day every day. No let up from the gloom, not a single ray of sunshine.

It is ever needful to keep a fire going to dry the clothes we wear out in it, hanging over every register, dripping and drooping.

In fact that is what I was doing when the latest rain laid claim...building a fire so things would dry...while my latest set of dry things got wet...again...at least polar fleece sheds rain real well for a while at least.

Can you imagine? Polar fleece in May?

Corn Planting and Emergence Report

I found this article, which I stumbled upon while working on the Farm Side, to be really interesting. First of all corn work is way, way, behind the five-year average this year. Way behind.

And 23% of the entire 2011 crop was planted in one week (the only week of good weather we have had). It is projected that total US corn acreage will surpass 90 million acres. Can you imagine that? That is just plain hard work.

Substance Abuse

We got it. Nick went out this morning and rolled in something.

On a farm there is no lack of something, by the way.

My nose is curling up like a leaf in winter. Talk about nasty. I wasn't going to make him spend any time out in his kennel run this summer. He is getting old and has discovered being a good boy in the house...pretty much. However......

And look what is on the heifer barn roof! I think they smell him too.

(Actually there is a dead deer down on the road somewhere.....)

Thinking and Planning

Orange Upstart

As far as the cardinal is concerned this is HIS feeder. He is picking up sunflower seeds and shelling them, before tenderly feeding them to his lady love. What's up with this orange guy hanging around slurping up oranges with his girl friend? ******Photo taken through kitchen window so not too clear...and I can't stand very close to the window or they all fly away in a huff.****

Much excitement in the barn last night. Bama Breeze (still with us, FC, and a big, sweet, pet) had a gorgeous half-shorthorn heifer calf and brought it right down to the barn. The new baby is the color of rich, dark, mahogany with lots of bright, white bling to flash on feet and flanks. Right about now I am kinda wishing I hadn't given Bama to Alan.

Of course pseudo-mom and hard-working calf thief, Zinnia, decided that it was hers and raised holy Hell. Wouldn't come in the barn, charged the boss when he brought the baby in. Thrashed around like a fool in a frenzy running around and making us crazy, while Bama calmly followed her baby into the barn and behaved herself.

Then big Z began to bellow.

And bellow.

And bellow.

She stands in my string and is one of the first two cows I milk, so I got the full force of it...and you can hear a cow calling for miles. You can hear one real well for feet too....and I have to actually lean on her flank to put the milker on, so there weren't even feet between us. Ow, my poor ears! She cocked a leg at me menacingly when I went in to milk her.

And bellowed some more. Normally she really likes me (can't stand the boss) and is gentle as a great big dog. Last night it was hard to even get her attention so she wouldn't kick me. She really wanted that stolen calf.

She bawled all through milking. We tried playing Sherry, but even that didn't help...although when Liz sends me the cell phone video of the boss dancing to it in the barn aisle you are in for something...I am not sure exactly what...but something for sure.

By the time milking was over my head felt as if it was going to explode and it seemed as if we had milked a thousand cows.

Twice.

If the federal government needs a good substitute for water boarding, all they have to do is come to the farm with a sound recorder and show Zinnia a calf. Add in Chrome, Liz's calf, who screams to be fed whenever she isn't eating (and she can eat as much as three full-grown cows I swear) and alleged terrorists would be falling all over themselves to confess..

Sunday Stills...High and Low

This time of year I can find all the high I want just standing on the back porch waiting for the dog. It is so green, the air is redolent with the scent of lilac bushes the size of a semi, and rings with the calls of dozens of arriving migrants....however, I don' think that is quite the high Ed is looking for, so here is a blossom high up in the winesap apple tree and a lowly dandelion lurking in the lawn. I threw in some of those lilacs too so maybe you could enjoy the whole experience.

For more Sunday Stills.......

The Easiest (and best) Macaroni and Cheese

That you will ever eat. Imagine not having to boil up the macaroni first!

First dump two small or one large can cream of mushroom soup into a large, oven-safe bowl. Add garlic powder to taste.

Take a pound of your favorite cheese and chop it up or shred it and dump it in. We use super sharp Cheddar, but about any cheese will do.

Add 4 or 5 cups of uncooked pasta, elbows are fine, but we love shells or bow ties.

Stir it like you mean it.

Add 6 to 8 cups of milk and give her another healthy stirring...you want everything coated really well.

If you have it on hand you can toss in some diced ham (cooked). This really gives it a kick.

Then cover with foil and bake for 2 to 3 hours at 350 degrees. We like ours just a little soupy, so keep an eye on it and take it out when it looks to have the texture you like.

We love this stuff! This is a huge recipe as it is even better warmed up the next day, but you can adjust the proportions pretty freely. Credit goes to Becky for taking a simple recipe from an old ADADC flier and making it much, much better.

High Gear

Yeah! We are in it. And hoping and praying that the rain holds off...all week if it wants to.

One field is ready for the seeder and the Sudex is waiting to be planted. Another field is started.

New bull is home after an all day trip for the guys to bring him. New pen was built for him in the new woodshed so he can be quarantined for a bit. He is way too friendly and is going to need to learn his place in the grand scheme of things. Nobody needs a friendly dairy bull. Probably a ring in his nose will help.

He is a son of the milking shorthorn bull, Logic, out of a show cow from a herd up north of here. Not as pretty as Promise was when we got him, but he has a half sister that is real nice and we loved his dam when we looked at him last spring (took a long, long time to get him bought.) His name is Hot Fudge......hmmmm.....guess I will call him TNB for short...The New Bull that is.

World Series of Birding is on today in New Jersey. I cannot wait to see the lists of what birds are counted. Cornell fields amazing teams and they have been scouting and posting photos and making my little heart beat apace all week. Field guides can't compare to the pics they put up when it comes to identifying obscure birds. I am confident that I will know some warblers now that I never even tried to look for before. Best of luck to teams Redhead and Anti-Petrel.

*****Can you find Keebler the Shuttlecat in the third photo?

So Yesterday's Post is Gone

And Blogger is acting very weird. I am just grateful not to have lost the whole shooting match. It went away for a while once and I felt like I had lost all my friends.

That would hurt.

Ah, well, I still have the pics of the robin wars and if anyone wants to see them I can always put them back up.

Meanwhile the guys went to pick up a new shorthorn bull, the skid steer is back from its axle surgery, the 4490 has gone to have its injectors rejected or some such thing and me, I am just trying to get a fire going so we can have showers. Wet wood doesn't light too well.

Also potting off plantlings. And recycling an over grown flower bed.

Plus marveling at the spectacular array of arriving migrants and their frantic rush to nest, nest, nest. Yesterday I saw a fight among a robin, a blue jay, a grackle and a cardinal. Wow, that was some blaze of color and some racket too. I try to spend a little while every day sitting out on the sitting porch with the camera. Better than a National Geographic show on the television.

Fight

In this corner, weighing at not very much, Robin Redbreast

And in this corner, weighing in at about the same, Harry the Harbinger of Spring

And the winner is......Robin Redbreast (click for a better view of the action)

Mike Rowe Speaks to Congress

Yellow warbler

About the importance of skilled workers...and our disconnect from the jobs they do.