Leftovers

or, the one that got away.........

Just Think

How many miles of aluminum foil are being rolled out right now........

And Happy Thanksgiving from Northview Dairy Farm

Puzzles

Yesterday was sure interesting. New calves born to Zulu and 171. Great fun out on the hill in the dark trying to get them all rounded up. Spent hours in between all the fun writing the Farm Side about camel dairying. (Sure a different industry than ours!)

 Then a mystery package came in the mail. No pics yet, but a Farm Side reader, someone I did not know before this, carved my name in beautiful cursive from a lovely piece of blond wood and mailed it to me. What a sweet and thoughtful surprise.I'll get a pic later when there's light.

Next a high speed chase spanning a lot of local territory popped up on Facebook. Isn't it crazy and maybe a bit discomfiting how news plays out in real time on the social media?

As photos began to emerge we saw familiar places, a road that is part of our bird count territory, the same house next door to my folks, where their neighbor was killed last year and then just days later a car ran the stop sign and ended up on his home killing a young person too. The brothers and I hung out there all the time when we were kids.....

That chase ended in the ditch right there.

When we came in from chores the person alleged to be involved was pictured, once again on Facebook, plus on all the news channels in the area, and it was someone we have known since we were little kids. Someone who worked around our kids for years and years.

You feel the earth jolt a few degrees sideways when something like that happens, I can tell you.

I am hoping for a much calmer day today. I may cook and bone my turkey and put in gravy so I can have an easier day on Thursday. We'll have to see how crazy the day gets I guess.

I Defy You

To listen to this song by one of the nicest blog folks out there and not grin from ear to ear!

Seriously, this will make your morning, you gotta hear it.I was going to write about these clear, frosty mornings that we've been having but Robert did it better so....

Getting Smart

Sisters....with cookies!

My brother and some clever cousins came up with the idea of having an early, pot luck, Thanksgiving, for as many of the family as could make it.

Then they all went into action.

They rented a firehouse. They compiled an incredible photo retrospective of my grandparents, all of their children, as many of their children's children as they could gather. They handed out CDs to all and sundry, so each of us has the best of all the other's photo albums. That brought some tears I'll tell you!

It was all beautiful. The food was amazing....you don't find a meal like that in a restaurant. Everybody brought some specialty and Matt and Lisa used the cooker from the wedding to make pork and turkey.I brought butterscotch cookies and homemade cranberry sauce...It was cool to sample specialties from other people's holidays, many of which I had never tasted before.

You guys are brilliant! What a party! And now, we can all do our smaller Thanksgivings, with warm and fuzzy happiness at having spent an afternoon with the whole clan in fine fellowship. 

Amazing.

Sunday Stills....Snacks

Tiny, sweet tomatoes

Peanut butter cookies

Becky's amazing trail mix

Fruitcake, we hardly knew ye  :(

For more Sunday Stills......

My Own Cows

Our herd is mostly registered or eligible for registry and we each own our own cows, so we always know who is who. Because I pay the bills I am usually more willing to sell mine when the time comes than might otherwise be the case.

Thus, my herd was getting pretty small. However, with the boss giving me Asaki things were looking up.

Then I was just on the phone with Alan, who almost never makes it home any more, and he gave me Zulu, AKA Alpha Zulu Pinecone, or "Runner" because she always comes into the barn on a high jog and you don't wanna get in her way.

I am delighted. I always milked and liked her mother, old Zinnia, a swing-bagged, big-bodied old misery, who liked me for some reason and pretty much let me do whatever I wanted with her. Otherwise I couldn't have milked her as she was HUGE and her udder hung almost to the floor and was wide as a washtub. Not being awful stretchy in length, I had to put my head right down under her to milk her. If she had wanted to she could have killed me, but she never did. She was not quite as kind to others and was a calf thief as well.

So anyhow, I have two new (to my bunch) cows to add to those I already own.

Let's see....Broadway my original milking shorthorn, Scotty, my three-breed cow, Egypt, small, black, cranky, but hard-working, Velvet, not exactly my favorite, but...Northstar, another milking shorthorn, Dublin, young cow I got in a trade, Carlene, probably my best cow, another one the boss gave me, and Lucky, red carrier, bred back to Maxwell, hoping for a red heifer, but not holding my breath.

Some heifers too, Betty, a Citation-R Maple coming up to calving, a few more milking shorthorns, Pumpkin, Laramie, Rosie, her full sister, Bloomingdale, Strawberry, Cayenne, some Holsteins, including Liverpool, Lucky's last year's calf, Bastille, sister to Bama Breeze, a shorthorn steer calf, CleoPatrick (out of Egypt), and probably a couple of others I am not thinking of.

Wow, I feel lucky! No wonder I keep wanting to hang on and keep going with such a good bunch of girls (and the one steer).

Silver with a Splash of Red

Brrrrrrrrr

Having a welcome spell of cold, dry weather..well, the cold isn't all that welcome, but the dry surely is. Still the boss got badly and serially stuck in the mud the other day trying to chop the last of the forages, so that is not so good. Sunrises are pretty anyhow. Pic above was taken at dawn and only cropped a little. It was still too dark to tell who the heifer is, but she looks kind of chilly.

Every morning every twig and blade of grass is frosted silver; every footprint leaves a trail across the yard and every kitty stands out like a stop sign. They are quite entertaining when they try to drink from the garden pond, which is skimmed with ice these days. It is just thin enough to dampen their paws and they don't think much of that.

Opening day of the southern deer season here. I expect plenty of fallout from that, especially with only the boss home these days to keep an eye on things. We're feeding the stock in the close pasture this morning instead of letting them up in back. Never can be sure that some folks can tell golden Jersey cows from brown white-tails. Oh, well.....

Missing our boy quite a lot even though he is living home....sort of...he is working a job that calls for six ten-hour days a week, welcome in terms of having a job while so many don't, but he comes home at night, staggers to bed and is gone before we get up in the morning.

And now he has to work Sundays too, making for weeks rivaling farming in the summertime, only spent somewhere else. I'm glad he has work though and not getting the hours cut or anything.

Finally got some bird seed yesterday, although I haven't put it out yet. Still, I was cleaning Nick's crate...old age is causing accidents...and a glorious male cardinal came so close to the office window I could look right into his eyes. He seemed wild and yet as warm and friendly as a pair of wool socks. Of course when I grabbed the camera he broke off our staring match and pumped off across the frosty yard, but what a delight.

Today is Dad's birthday, if you see him, wish him a happy....Happy Birthday from all of us dad, love you.

And this story made my morning. Go, read, laugh, and celebrate the Second Amendment.

HT, Jeff at Alphecca

Small

The moon was a bit frisky last night

The world is tiny. 

Really it is. Liz has been working with her bosses the past few days bringing some of her milk-inspecting skills up another notch, and in the course of chatting mentioned my parents and their current activities.

I say current because the folks have done so many things over the years...they have several claims to fame. Dad started out collecting antique guns, opened perhaps the coolest antique store in history (although I didn't think so when I was a little kid and had to be there every weekend), opened a book store, collected what we politically incorrect folks called Indian relics with the experts, took up gem and mineral collecting even into Canada, made all sorts of jewelry with the stones he collected and cut, even found one mineral that currently resides in the state museum collection, took up woodcarving and became a master of the art, at least in my opinion, did Christmas bird counts for decades, learned to bind books, had huge gardens, goats, veal calves, chickens, traveled all over the world for Clan Montgomery, winning clan tent competitions many times, and on and on....I am sure I have forgotten half a dozen things.

Currently they mostly go to gun shows with the books, but I wanted to be clear. (And don't get me started on mom. From painting, sewing things like formal square dance wear, cooking amazingly and sharing every single undertaking dad has found....yeah, my parents are cool.)

Anyhow, Liz and the nice gentlemen (whom I met and liked a lot) drove past the folks' house and Liz mentioned them. They got to comparing notes. 

Turns out one of the fellows has bought lots and lots of books from mom at shows over the years, knows them well, and calls her "the book lady."

Now, I ask you, how cool is that! They didn't have time to stop at the shop, but they are planning a return visit as soon as they can.

Not Border Collies I Guess

Just read in the news how some folks did a test to see if guard dogs actually guarded. 

Their conclusion was nope, they don't. Even though the dogs in question included pit bulls and Rotties, they didn't bite or attack, and some even tried to play. Many of those who commented pointed out potential flaws in the test, but the dogs were a resounding failure in repelling boarders. 

However, they didn't test border collies

People who have walked into our house uninvited, on at least one occasion bent on stealing from us, could probably attest that BC's are not adverse to biting first and asking questions later. Ditto English shepherds. My old Brandy dog, who was probably at least partly that breed, bit several people...all of them walked in uninvited...none of them did it twice.

You can read about one instance when Mike took care of things here.

Guess they should have tested the kind of dog that will face down a ton of bull or hundreds of sheep instead of city dogs.

And, dang I miss Mike.

Crowns of Shame

You've undoubtedly seen the dog shaming photos around. Well, here are a couple of cow shaming pics. You can tell that these two, Laramie and Bama Breeze, have been out by the crowns of burdocks on their heads. Burdocks don't get a chance to grow in cow pastures because they eat them. The edges of hay fields are another story. 

These ladies have been out! Shame on them. Or shame on the deer, who work all night breaking the electric fences down, time after time.

Sold

Sent a cow and two heifers to the auction yesterday. Usually there is sadness when animals have to go. However, this time the cow was a really mean one. When she was young, she jumped on Liz's head and knocked her out cold.

The other day she attacked our finished beef steer and nearly broke his neck. It was gratuitous. He was in his stall just minding his own business and she ran up in with him and beat the heck out of him.

She wasn't giving much milk. We have some bills to pay. So....

Then this morning we were missing a heifer. She has gotten out with another Holstein heifer a couple of time before so we weren't real, real, worried until we realized that she was out alone. 

Cows rarely stray without a buddy. 

Deer season starts Saturday and she is red and black. 

We hear guns going off all day every day all around, including on our land.

Becky was all set to put on an orange vest and take her phone and go looking, when Liz saw her up behind the barn.

I really wish the deer would stop tearing down the electric fence in that field!

Bambi, Screech Owls, and Snowflakes

Red-neck reinforced bird watching portal

Went shopping with Alan after chores last night. The air was full of screech owls, like little red and grey paper airplanes shooting through the dark. I kept trying to really see one before it was past, but they were just too swift.

The roads were lined with Bambis. It was nerve-wracking running down the highway waiting for one to jump at the truck.

They didn't but still.....

Then at midnight the storm hit. It was as windy as Sandy, just didn't last as long. The yard is full of stuff that didn't blow around during that storm but did last night.

And I did something to my foot and didn't sleep at all last night, which is why I can tell you exactly what time each thing happened.

It is snowing now. Erk.

Love of Light

Up too early, waiting for daybreak to push back the tide of worry. For a morning person all things are possible once the sun comes up.


A faint light rises, the last nice day of the year or so I hear, with gossamer fogs and fluffy jet trails and cows hurrying across the horizon, just awakened and coming down to eat. Stars are still out, big glowing globes sprinkled here and there. Night to the west, just past the edge of the heifer barn and cow yard.

The tiny silver moon sliver is devoured by a tatter of dark grey cloud, then spit out again a little later. That razor edge of shining crescent is too sharp to swallow I guess.

I want to stay out in the half-light and watch the sun come up, but the silly kitties are following me places that are not safe from coyotes and foxes and such left-over creatures of the night. 

We put them in the chicken house last night as they have figured out how to escape the milk house and prowl the darkness. Coyotes are coming right through the yard these days stirring up the dogs with their wild, dark hunt. We would prefer that they confine their menu to rats, rather than ratters, but I hate to count on them.

Cat-riona and Pumpkin stayed in the hen house, but mama, Caledonia, was out hunting herself when I went out to release them from their prison. Must have found a hole somewhere.

Sunday Stills...the Color Yellow

click to see the tiny snail

For more Sunday Stills.....

****Ed says we should encourage more of you to join the fun that is Sunday Stills. I guess we have been at this for four years (and I think I have played since the beginning) and the more the merrier. To play just watch the Sunday Stills page for each week's challenge, post your effort on Sunday, and put your link in the comments on the weekly post. It is great fun to click around to see what everyone else has done each week and it is a real learning experience...but with no pressure. I love it and look for Sunday Stills pics all week every week.

Holstein Business Losing Stars

Within the past few weeks the highly regarded Hoskings herd was dispersed. Well-known among the folks in the industry, they will be missed for sure. We bought a bull from them once, Hosking-Brunn MWOD Arvid, a Melwood son off the Homestead SS Bell Alice cow. He did pretty well for us. We were real sorry to see them selling out.

Then Hurricane Sandy hit their neighbors, the Post family and the Post cows went to live in the vacant Hosking barn until they too can be sold, the eighth of next month. 

We also bought a bull from them, Pineyvale Cmatt Glen, some years ago. Liz's cow Foolish is a granddaughter. We have fond memories of showing under Mr. Post at the Fonda Fair and winning Intermediate Senior calf with a Mansion-Valley Delaware daughter named Birch, who was by far the youngest calf in the class, born in mid-February. She was also smaller than the others, but Mr. Post really liked her. It was a thrill for Becky to have a calf do so well. 

(We loved that cow family btw...one cow of ours had five daughters by Delaware. Three of them, Birch,  Beech, and Balsam did well at the show and had nice show careers for us. Butternut was a fine milker and had some good daughters. Alas the oldest died calving as a fairly young cow. Bayberry was off Balsam and my favorite cow, milking shorthorn Broadway is a daughter of Bayberry. Rosie, Broadway's daughter had a nice show career as a shorthorn, winning Grand Champion milking shorthorn twice, and I have a big full sister to her coming along now.)

With Ocean-View selling their cows, Spungold, and so many others going out, you have to wonder what the Holstein business is going to look like by the time the current downturn and all the disasters are over.

Sa-Doodle

Way, way back in the day, shortly after the boss's dad passed away, his mom asked me to take her to the shelter to get a dog. She worried about being alone out here.

So I did but there was nothing in the runs there but great big pit bulls and rotties and other dogs utterly unsuited for someone in their eighties.

We went inside and I asked, didn't they have any dogs that would work better for the situation?

Well, they might if we didn't mind waiting for a couple of weeks or so. They had a little hound sort of dog that was picked up after being hit by a car in a nearby town. If we would wait until the pins came out of her hip and leg we could adopt her.

She seemed like a good bet, so we waited.

Her name was Sadie, but she had several nick names, not all of them complementary. Liz took her to obedience school and then she fell to work at her new job, guarding Grandma with a will. She was calm and friendly, but she wouldn't let strangers get out of their cars. She even turned away the state police one time.

Good girl. When Grandma was nearing the end she worried what would happen to her little dog. I promised her that she would always have a home with us.

She has. Through the untimely demise of a couple of dozen chickens...the whole flock once....in her eager jaws, through chasing cows willy-nilly and never, ever coming when called, through running away every chance she got and barking all night just for fun...she has stayed.

Becky took up the job of caring for her and she became her dog. With her hound ways she mostly lived outdoors, of late in Nick's kennel run with a nice, snug dog house. When her teeth grew too poor to hold up to dry dog food, Beck bought her cans out of her meager Micky D's salary and even cooked for her.

In the winter she lived in the cow barn. Tonight when Becky was taking her over for her first night this year in the barn, she was running along happily, eager, dragging Beck behind her.

Suddenly she keeled over and a few minutes later she was gone. 

To me it was a good way to go for a wayward old dog, happy one minute and over the next...she was fourteen or fifteen, and the time was inevitably coming...but Beck has a sad. I hope you will think of her.

Fluffy Butts Twinkling in the Twilight

Cat-riona

I am turning into a crazy cat lady. The logger kitties know I feed them so they follow me back and forth to the barn. At night their three little fannies bob and blink in the light from my flashlight as they precede me to the door, where noms await. A study in tortoiseshell and black and white,

They like to come to the house too, and follow me over in the morning, but mean old Simon boots them off "his" porch if they try for cat food there. If only I could tolerate cats in the house......

They are crazy entertaining and funny and full of kitty cuteness. Hope they are also smart enough to avoid varmints.

Weather by the Crows

Every morning thousands of crows fly over us, heading west, I guess to forage.

Every evening they fly back east, I believe to roosts around Amsterdam.

I swear you can predict the weather by how high they are...storm coming they are low, good weather, up there where the eagles soar.

Today they are sailing right through the backyard like so many hungry kites. No sign of the storm yet though.

And the other day the weather was downright nasty and they were so high they were barely specks in the sky. However, someone was sighting in big guns across the river, boom, boom, boom, all afternoon long. I expect that they noticed.

On the bird count front, for the fall and winter list I am at 34 species seen from house or barn and yards...or heard...heard counts too. I was lacking a killdeer until well after dark the other night when one flew right past the porch screaming its eerie call.

Didn't count a raven I heard the other morning though. It kronked ONCE and never made another sound and I didn't see it, so no go.

Got the bald eagle though after missing it at least six or seven times this summer. I was always walking the puppy when I saw it. No binocs, no camera, and if I went in to get them it was gone.

This time I was once again walking him and it was so high it was just a speck. I managed to race to grab the binoculars before it was out of sight though so there's a good tick off on the list.

For now, unless I get a couple of woodpeckers or some waterfowl off the river (gulls and ducks obligingly fly right through the backyard fairly often) I am not going to get much until I get some sunflower seeds. Only got a handful left.

Studies in Agriculture

In the course of writing the Farm Side I find some perhaps surprising data.

More and more studies are showing that our grandmothers, who told us to drink our milk and eat our meat, had the right idea all along, and the anti-fat and protein movement is full of hooey.

Here are this week's crop: 

Milk contributes to fitness in old age.

The Most Spectacular Mutation in Human History...the ability to drink milk beyond childhood.

Chickens may not be as happy in cages, but they are safer and greener. (If you prefer green chicken.) A bit off topic but interesting just the same.