Dairy Daze...and Now Beyond

What has been going on here the past month or so? Well...While I was out of town we got a new heifer calf. We got another one this past weekend. That will keep my in bottle calves for the next couple of months at least. The hay situation here isn't looking good; it has been too wet and our regular hay guy hadn't been able to cut it until late. Then when he did finally cut it the rain poured on it and we don't figure that he was able to get it very dry. We are figuring to have poor quality hay this winter. Hubby, not content to rest on his laurels since his retirement from driving the school bus last October, has been busy with other things. His backhoe/rock hauling business is doing pretty well. It'll do better once the ground dries out. In the past month he has also got his ham radio license, though they haven't issued him his call letters yet. Plus he has been working on getting his certificate to work on water well pumps. For these last two he has had t...

I can't resist posting about this. In the June edition of Hoard's Dairyman , the National Dairy Farm Magazine, there is a little blurb about the benefits of manure in the Farm Flashes section. Here is the basic gist of it: D AIRY FARMERS FIVE TIMES LESS LIKELY TO GET LUNG CANCER The bacteria in manure is preventing lung cancer in dairy farmers. In a study of 1,561 Italian dairy farmers they were 5 times less likely to get lung cancer than their local counterparts, as reported in the Journal of Indoor and Built Environment. Active dairy farmers breathe in a lot of dust and when working around their cattle that dust includes dried manure along with the bacteria that grow in it. The endotoxins in the bacteria build up immunity in the body which in turn reduces the risk of developing lung cancer, reported researchers from the University of Padua in Italy. The greater number of cows, the greater the protection for the herd owner. Dairy manure even helped dairy farmers who smo...

In my previous post I promised a word or two about my niece's boyfriend. Really it has nothing to do with the journey much, just a passing thing, however I cannot resist the urge to illustrate the fact that it's a very bad idea to offend a blogger, however insignificant the blog. The word, especially written, is much mightier than the sword. Anyway, back to the boyfriend. I will call him K for Kook. ( hahaha ) He is really a very nice guy, they have only been going out a few months and her parents (my brother and sis in law) really like him. He comes into the house, makes himself to home, talks with them, plays games with them and otherwise makes himself a part of the family. He's 19, has his own car, holds down a good, steady job and, last but certainly not least, treats my niece with respect. They get along great. She likes visiting his family as well, by the way. That said. There was one point when K came in the front door while I was in the kitchen, and I hear...

(Disclaimer: Please do not think, while you are reading this, that I am not impressed with the students or school about which I am blogging, it's just that when one has a squirming 15 month old in hand one's patience gets a tad thin early on in the game.) The whole point of this West Coast trip was my niece's high school graduation in Portland. Let me tell you how that went. She went to Portland Christian High and was one of 73 who graduated on 1 June 2008. The ceremony was held in a large church in Vancouver, Washington. Her boyfriend (more on him in a later post..hehehee) was gracious enough to save us seats and, thank God, it was a pew in the very back of the auditorium. They started the ceremony, the graduates paraded in. A couple of faculty had to speak, a student had to speak. Then an international student who was graduating had to speak. (The school has an excellent international program.) Then they had to honor ALL the international graduates. Then they had ...

Everyone generally asks how Ellen did on the plane. She did very well, much better than I had worried about. She sucked her thumb during take-off and then she'd go to sleep. A couple of times she was asleep before we even left the ground. On the very first flight, from Missouri to Denver, I was very nervous about what to do with her, so I had packed a bunch of things for her to eat and do. Inside the airport she was still wide awake (even after a 3:00 AM awakening and an hour ride to the airport) so she played around a bit. Then, as we were sitting waiting to board, she decided to take a break and sit in my lap. About 30 seconds later I felt this warm and wet sensation on my leg. *sigh* Yes, a minute or so before they call for us to board she wets on my leg. It wasn't TOO terribly bad so I just wrapped her in my coat and figured I fix it in Denver. On this first flight she stayed awake for the first half hour or so because she was hungry. Well, to make a long story sh...

(Haven't had a chance to get on-line in the past couple of days; Thurs Ellen had her 15 mo check-up and Fri it was stormy all day.) The West Coast vacation/trip started off with a bang. On Thurs May 22 I called to confirm my flight from MO to CA on 24 May. I was told by the airline that there was no record of my having a flight on that date and furthermore the flight I was scheduled for no longer existed! I was told to call Expedia-the web company I booked it through. OK. I called Expedia and "Ramon" helped me out. In Feb I had originally booked a round trip from MO to CA, then I called a couple weeks later and tried to make it a round trip from MO to CA on 24 May to OR on 31 May and back to MO on 7 June. However, the United Airlines dude who had helped me had cancelled the first leg of the trip from MO to CA on 24 May, so I was booked from CA to OR on 31 May and from Or to MO on 7 June. Great. To make a long story short (literally) ONE HOUR AND 47 MINUTES after I called ...

It's good to be back home...Dorothy had it right in the end: "There's no place like home." Even if it is hot and humid. But actually it's cooled down quite a bit here, so that is nice. My traveling stories are still in the gel stage, but I will try and get them recorded as soon as possible. As a teaser though, here is a picture of Ellen at the beach. The whole time I was on the West Coast, both in CA and in OR, the weather was somewhat disagreeable, but I managed to find a fairly tolerable day and take Ellen to the beach while we were in CA. She loved the sand, look at her hands. In the background, through the fog, you can see what is called, "Trinidad Head," a large outcropping of rock that resembles a gigantic whale. That is where the lighthouse and fog horn are located. I grew up hearing the fog horn blatting on foggy nights. We were quite a few miles from it, but you can hear it for a LONG, LONG ways away. Anyway, for now, I have changed my blo...

Here I am once again in the great North West. It is cool and cloudy here; I wish I could take this weather home with me. I have a couple of great stories to tell you, however, I want to wait until I get home so I can think and tell them properly; good stories have to gel a while until they come out right. In the meantime my niece has officially graduated. The ceremony yesterday (yes, on a Sunday afternoon-held at a church) was quite the to-do, but more on that later as well. Now begins real life; I remember those days. I am glad they are over. When hubby and I were discussing this one day not long ago I said I wouldn't want to go back and be in high school again; he thought it might be fun. Hmmmm... Later.