My Favorite Cow

In the course of looking for a photo of the girls working in the barn when they were little, I came across amazing memories. We are so fortunate to have done all we have done and experienced so many wonders.

This is why I was looking for the photo....you know how it is with apples and trees....

Talk about blessings!

Anyhow, I discovered that I sure took a lot of pictures of my favorite cow of all time, Broadway, my first Milking Shorthorn cow, a daughter of Alan's cow Bayberry and a shorthorn bull we bought after finding him online...I always called her "Beautiful" Broadway because to me she was.

This Old House

Was an antique shop when my folks ran a different antique and book store in the same village back when we were kids. Sad to see it falling into such disrepair. 

At least it still stands, unlike the one we grew up in, which was burned by arsonists not too long ago.

About those Work Clothes

These things are not the real deal no matter what the store that sells them for over $400 claims. 

And here's what Mike Rowe has to say about the concept of pre-unwashed work clothes.

 May I say that the "Borax wash" he mentions closely resembles the attributes of grout clothes, with which us relatives of driller folks are well familiar....They make the washing machine go clunk, clunk, clunk, and can stand on their own even after your best efforts to clean them.

On the other hand above are work clothes. They are worn by someone who gets them dirty with real dirt. The others are just wannabes. 

The Return

We much enjoy woodland creatures
and spotted this amazing fellow at Lyker's Pond the other day

Of the rain, came just as forecast. Seventy yesterday, several degrees below cold now. It won't hit fifty on the day watch today. Still, it feels like spring; all those pansies are planted either in hanging baskets or the lovely window boxes Alan got for me from one of his coworkers. They make even the dank cold look cheerful and sunny.

Peggy got to visit a dairy farm yesterday with her folks, the home of a fine young man they did 4-H with back in the day. He was always a hard-working go-getter and hasn't changed a bit. It is good to see how he and his young family are carrying on the dairy tradition.

Anyhow, while they were there a tiny goat kid was born. When Peggy got to go in to see it, all damp and matted down with being newborn, she asked, "Where is the shell?"

Everything that is born anew and observed by her youngself around here comes out of an egg...so there must be a shell, right?

Explanations were in order and she is now much taken by goatlings. It is such a delight to enjoy the wonder of learning in a little one. Plus Liz got to milk a couple of cows, which made her day.

I don't dream about cows any more, although I used to all the time. Oh, those alone-in-the-milking-parlor at the farm where I used to work come on occasion, but less and less as time goes by. I do look at photos of them and enjoy passing farm fields redolent with the scent of new grass and the valuable organic fertilizer cows provide though.

However with the challenges facing dairy farmers today....well, I don't think I could deal with that....again...... because as long time readers know, we lost our market....twice. It is harder than you think.

And farmgate prices are low despite thriving butter and cheese sales. There is a lot of blame to be laid at the door of government officials who told us back in the day that dairy fat was bad for us. Too many people still believe it. Not us, we love our milk and ice cream and cheese and don't feel a bit guilty about enjoying them.

Lots of these guys too...

What a Wonderful.....

The Boss of Bowmaker Pond
He has a nest way out on a little cattail island in the pool
But if you step out of your car up in the parking area he will swim over, clamber out
and give a good dose of the evil eye.

Weekend. We had a day of nice weather for a change, after a misery of a cold Saturday...the guys went racing and about froze.

However Sunday was glorious enough to make up for it and as frosting on our cake our boy brought his young lady down and took us out to breakfast at my cousin's lovely establishment.

We visited the folks for a bit and then came home and enjoyed the day until he had to leave to get things going for back to work today.

We next went out on the hunt and found Bonaparte's Gulls at Schoharie Crossing, life birds for me and a welcome addition to my county list for this year. Once you get all the easy birds, finding the more unusual ones becomes a bit of a job...albeit it a very entertaining one.

My how the countryside has greened up with the rains, even though they weren't exactly the warm ones that really get things growing. The mild winter has allowed the forsythias to strut their stuff and wild yellow flags border bright emerald lawns everywhere you look.

We stopped at Sunnycrest for the first time this year and Becky bought me a flat of pansies, some stunning petunias and a nice pink geranium. Today is a busy Monday kind of day but as soon as I can those pansies are going into the flower boxes for the sitting porch....

Bonaparte's Gull

One more nice day....and then the rains return.

Earth Day

Here's what is going on in our little part of the planet this spring. 

The weather is abysmal, although we certainly would have enjoyed a day like this back in February. It is cold, and wet, and grey. All day, every day.

We are seeing a few flowers, a scattering of crocuses....now gone, one hyacinth, some squill and daffodils.

Migration seems to be lagging as well. Or maybe I just stink at finding warblers. Other people are logging all sorts of goodies, but so far we have seen a single Yellow-rumped Warbler on one hike and a flock of nine of same, in full breeding plumage and lovely with it, on another.

But where is my Palm Warbler? Didn't get one last year and so far none this year either.....

Yesterday we had the biggest congregation of Black-capped Chickadees I have ever seen though. There were thirteen on one set of feeders at one time, and a mess more in the trees. We have around six at the house all the time...tame enough to take seeds from my hand...and a few more elsewhere on the farm. However, this flock is plumb weird. There were as many as six on the red spiral feeder at one time...so many they were crowding each other off as they fluttered for a spot.

There are still quite a few of them here today. Two, which are no doubt our locals, landed on my hand as soon as I went out to fill feeders. Always makes my day.

Not a single White-crowned Sparrow though...of course I am jumping the gun on them so early...didn't see the first one until the second week in May last year, but some years they are here for most of April.

The boss bought me a forsythia bush.... He was lamenting the one he planted for his mother when he was 11. He was instructed to plant if at the corner of the old house over on the home farm and did so.

Except that it was the wrong corner and she was a bit wrathful because there were pipes there that she feared the bush would damage. It didn't.

The house has fallen into its own cellar hole now, and the driveway and the yard and that particular corner are gone as well, scooped away when the road was rebuilt. We thought the bush was gone as well, not having seen it in a while.

This is a bit that has sometimes been in our Christmas Bird Count Territory
(it has changed over the years)
Sure looks different in April than it does in December...

However, I walked over there the other day in a spitting rain and saw, down the creek and through the trees, a massive mound of yellow. We looked yesterday, and somehow the bush was shoved over near the creek. A second bit is growing on the edge of the artificial cliff....we always meant to transplant it, but I think it would be a pretty dangerous undertaking these days. Thus the new one. Plus a placement committee to decide on its location.

Forsythias are tough, but that one has outdone itself.

Earthquakes and Audio Books

We did stuff yesterday. A lot of stuff. We had plans; those plans fell through, and so we did other stuff.

Last night I was well past tired, falling asleep in the chair tired...so I went to bed early, managed to herd the gerbils off the mental wheel and into their various cages and slept the sleep of the really darned sleepy.

And then at 1:53 AM my cell phone peeped me awake..... Instantly. My ringtone for weather and safety-related alerts, is, alas, the same as the one for my boy. Thus the instantaneous wake up.

I was delighted to learn that there had been an earthquake of a 2.8 magnitude somewhere in eastern Canada. Oh, wow.

I have friends on the left coast and on the last frontier who wouldn't even roll over in bed for one of those, let alone one 250 miles away.

I am grateful for the emergency alert system....we experience some pretty dangerous weather around here for an inland area, and it is good to know about those severe thunderstorms and blizzards before the lightning is flashing and the snow is swirling.

However, the alert woke up every single one of those blessed gerbils and they hopped right on the worry wheel.

That's where the audio book came in. Becky has an Audible account, which she shares with me. We have discovered that even the most beloved of tales will lull the gerbils to sleep in about twenty minutes. There is a sleep timer on the app. So.....Father Tim and Barnabas and Dooley Barlow helped me to get through the rest of a night that otherwise would have been sleepless.

So glad Becky discovered this concept. Less glad that I snoozed through the part where Barnabas returns. Guess I'll have to play it again tonight.

Can you hide from Nap Time?

Somebody sure thinks so

"What are you doing, Peggy?"

"Hiding from the nap."

Headless Chicken

The head on the black chicken is surely attached, but I am not sure just how

Lousy photos...it was nearly dark and there was lots of action. These are just barnyard boys but they sure had some issues....

Boundaries

Bama Breeze as a little baby zephyr

We set out yesterday in the afternoon to repair the fence in the old heifer pasture. Moon and Bama and the beef heifer are itching to get outside and we are looking forward to them being able to eat new green grass rather than the hay we feed them. The old girls are both ten now....not young at all....but I'll bet you they'll be plenty frisky when they first hit that tasty green stuff.



However, they need firm boundaries to remind them that this is home. Thus brush must be cut, wires repaired, and posts propped and pounded in. It is a big job and hard for an elder hard-working fella with lingering injuries from last year....

Neon Moon, back when she was just a little crescent

However, he soldiers on and I follow, not much use to him except for company, and being the GoodBirdSpotter.

There are few things as lovely as early spring here in the foothills of the Adirondacks. Pale veils of soft green wisp the edges of the woods and the tops of the trees. Bright red maple buds look like lipstick on their branches, getting painted all up for pollination and reproduction. Everywhere seems a watercolor in pastel and pretty. If you stop to take a look around it is hard to get going again. So much to see and admire

He got the brush cut out of the fence up to the second corner in the cherry wood. I "got" two Ruby-crowned Kinglets and a pair of Brown Thrashers, first of the year for the latter, first for the county and the farm for the kinglets. Everywhere there was love in the air, pairs of everything, two by two, White-breasted Nuthatches with a new nest cavity, Downy Woodpeckers chasing each other up and down trees, even old farmers, although no trees or chasing were involved.

Now if only we could find a way around the boundaries set by the bazillions of ticks that are lurking everywhere. They seem to drink DEET like soda pop and love all of us nearly to death.

Anybody tried those permethrin clothes? We are getting desperate here.

White-throated Sparrow....they will soon head north and be gone until late fall
Already the American Tree Swallows have headed out

Tax Freedom Day

Found this cultivated into a farmer's field up near the folks' house.
Dunno why it is there, but it sure seems fitting for the day

Ain't gonna be here for a while yet in beautiful, Upstate NY. You can see how your state stacks up in the gouging and grabbing  taxation situation by checking the map in the story. Ours stacks up pretty much in the pits with a long way before anyone sees daylight.

It Ain't just Fries with That

We pay a lot of attention to news about Mickie D's as we have a manager in the family.

As you can see from this story, sometimes they are pretty darned intrepid and intelligent folks. I used to think I would do well at such a job, but it is considerably harder than it looks.

Did you make the Call Yet?

Cable TV at its finest

We saw this story when it came out, so it came as no surprise when our bill went up....significantly. It's happened before, back when we had Time Warner Cable.

Usually the bill would take a big jump because a promotion went off or somebody had a bad day or whatever. I would spent an unconscionable amount of time on the phone with someone and get the bill back down somewhere near where it used to be.

It was frustrating, but we could live with it. We usually got a decent deal; sometimes someone really helpful would even get the bill lowered a little.

This time when I called I at least quickly got to a live, pleasant, English-speaking person. However, the best deal offered cut about half the TV channels the boss likes to watch like NatGeo and the like and saved us FIVE WHOLE BUCKS. Yeah, five.

So we will eat the increase. On one hand I'm not surprised, but it is outrageous the way huge companies like this make deals with our government and then totally ignore them, to the detriment of customers and tax payers. 

By the way, the "promotion" that expired from the TWC days was in fact one of their standard pricing options.......I do believe that the new company "expired" it. Bah humbug!

Don't try this at Home

We had an hour to kill before we picked up Becky so we went rambling. Nothing stirring on the river, but the boss found a new venue to explore........

Yatesville Falls State Forest Our journey started as just another narrow dirt track making a right angle into some planted Red Pine and mixed hardwood stands. It seemed innocuous enough so we bumped slowly along, listening for birds and admiring the scenery, which was quite fine.

After a bit we began to encounter ever narrower spots, deep, swampy, holes, boggy bottoms, pot holes the size of small canyons, and other features which put me eerily in mind of the Golden Road. This made me nervous....very nervous. It is still early spring here in the Great Northeast. Ya never know what ya might find back in shady woods country.

I began to suggest that maybe the next time we spotted a place to turn around we might do so (the road was a scant lane wide.)

Then came the hills and valleys. Tricksy and twisted and still featuring soft spots and narrow spots and blind corners with barely room for all the tires to stay on the road at the same time. A few more turnarounds appeared and the road kept getting worse. My suggestions became more urgent. 

Finally I said, "This is on you. I don't have cell service so if you get stuck in this stuff we are here to stay unless we walk out. As far as I am concerned we can stop any time. Your call......"

I felt better then, having assigned potential blame somewhere besides on my own shoulders.

Suddenly the road dropped away on the passenger side of the car. And by away I mean A WAY DOWN THERE!

We had found the water fall. It is a beauty. We admired and photographed and enjoyed for a few minutes, and then attacked the return trip as it was time to pick up Becky.

I had only a couple of things to say to the boss as we bumped and bumbled back to the hard road. "This had been fun and it is pretty back here. But I am never doing this again. Ever."

He just laughed.

Rain Out

After the requisite turkey for Easter, we thought to visit the cemetery where the boss's folks are resting.

However, just as we prepared to head that way, a ferocious storm sprang up. The wind rocked the car like a demented cradle and rain lashed and slashed.

We discussed getting our gallon of milk and some cherry vanilla ice cream and going home, but in the end we went anyhow.

The setting was quite fitting.....