Dairy Daze...and Now Beyond

December's almost here. Yikes! I have to get some Christmas cards going. I have neglected this blog terribly, BUT I did my 30 day National Blog Posting deal over on my other blog. So, I will now try to get back to you. Random events in the past week or so. Last week I learned how to drive the big bulldozer! Piece of cake. It' just a little toggle dealy that you push up and down to make it go back or forward. Well, it's more than that, but for now, just take my word for it. The weird thing is that you use foot pedals to steer it. I have yet to learn how to operate the bucket, but first things first. Hubby wanted me to know how to drive it so I can tow OTHER pieces of heavy equipment around here, when/if needed. Last week we were eating supper and I looked up and there across the back yard strolled a little heifer. So we had to high-tail it out there and chase her back where she belonged. Our renter and his buddies got 5 -FIVE- deer this firearm season, all out in

Where is that invisible line you cross when you look at a pile of leaves you've just raked and tell yourself things like; "It's too windy to burn these today and I don't feel like mowing them. I'll just leave them here, even though they are going to get old and gross and maybe attract snakes," instead of throwing yourself into them with careless abandon? When does the joy of life leave you and fuddy-duddy practicality set in? And why did I ever let it happen? It must have crept up on me while I was busy trying to be an adult instead of enjoying my childhood for as long as it lasted, even if it had lasted until I was 80 or 90. The next pile of leaves we rake up I am going to throw myself in them as well and have a real romp with my daughter. Who cares who might drive by and see.

Here's a shot of Ellen and Matilda. Ellen's shirt would not stay up on her shoulder, nor would Ellen herself look at or smile at the camera. Matilda wouldn't look at me either, so here you have an; "it is what it is" photo. Matilda is almost camoflaged in the leaves in the background. * Ellen loves to go walking in the woods and pretend to go camping. I am pretty sure she learned this from Barney. * We have a new lady on our mail route. Not just different, but new. New as in completely green to the job. Last Friday she delivered our mail at 8:55 PM. Yes, right as we were going to bed. Hubby had to get his boots on and go get the mail in his PJs. The next night it came at about 7 PM, I believe. I feel sorry for the lady, she's really sweet. But I hope she can pick up the pace a little bit. * Firearm season is in full swing. Our renter and 2 of his buddies got 3 deer out behind the rental house. They were in 7th heaven; 2 does and a buck. I waver

This morning as I was up the road doing my graining of the stock up there, it began to rain on me. The sun was just coming up. I turned around and there to greet me was a double rainbow; just beautiful. There for all the area to see and enjoy; embodying a promise of God. This morning we had to go to a funeral. I had never met the lady. Her sister had been a neighbor of my husband's family for many years. As had her nephew and his wife, I believe. She'd lived not far from here, and hubby's mom had kept in contact with her and her sister and one of her other family members. This particular lady who'd passed, I'll call her Bessie, was 94 years and 4 days old. She'd lived in this community for a long time. I am not sure just how long, perhaps 15-20 years. Maybe more or less, I just don't know. I should have asked before blogging. Anyway. We went to the funeral. The visitation was from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM, the funeral itself started at 10:30 AM.

OK. So I missed one day. It's a good thing I didn't get this blog entered into NaBlo. In the meantime, I just finished blogging on how to make brown sugar on my New2Me Recipes blog. Here are a few random topics I thought I'd discuss. 1) I had never heard of a "plumber's friend" until I came here. Back where I came from we called them "toilet plungers." 2) Yesterday in church a neighbor, well, 5 miles or so down the road, asked hubby if the deer slept on our doorsteps. Ha ha. It would seem as though they do. Most any time you might drive here you will see deer, either in the pasture/garden area to the west, or out here in front of the house. There are 2 does that are so tame they don't even bother to run until you get 100 yards from them, maybe even closer. 3)These Asian lady beetles are out in full force today. It's warm, 70s or so, and all the bugs, wasps, grasshoppers...etc, are out for a last hurrah before winter sets in. 4)If I

Here, for lack of anything else pertinent, is a pic I took back in August. Sometimes we can get spectacular sunsets here. This shot doesn't do it justice. I am not the photographer that jel is (from My Place-link on the right). But I thought I'd share it anyway. It's my way of saying goodbye to warm weather. It was 26 degrees this morning when we got up at 3:45 AM. Probably will be cold tonight too. Oh, the photo up top was taken down in the creek bottoms a couple weeks ago, I believe. Cows are still grazing, so there was still a bit of grass. OK, enough random wanderings. Bye

A year ago Ellen was still peeing in her diaper...and pooping in it as well. A year ago Ellen was still sitting in her high chair to eat. A year ago Ellen was still sleeping in her crib. Now she is sleeping in a big bed. (Of course this means she can clamber out of it and get mom up 4 times per night now, I am praying this phase will soon pass.) Now she is completely potty trained. (Now if I could just convince her to wear panties. Not even Dora panties will she allow on her body.) Now she is eating at the table in a big chair. (She's so tall she's never needed a booster seat.) All of the above was pretty much her own idea; in fact it was 12:30 AM one night when she squalled in her crib and got me up. I went to her and she told me she didn't want to sleep in her crib any more, she wanted to get into the big bed. So, I picked her up, tucked her into it and, voila; that's where she's slept since.

OK. So I am not doing NaBlo with this blog, but I am trying to keep up with it. And I am already drawing a blank. It's only day 4... Oh, I know. Our voting place. This time they changed our polling place. It used to be in the Windyville Community Center; no wheelchair access, no A/C and no central heating; just a potbellied stove. Oh and no potty, unless you count the outhouse outside. Now it is in a local church in that town. However, this was worse in some ways. The driveway is a single lane, on an embankment/bridge type of deal. The parking lot...well, it just isn't , that's the easiest way to put it. Umm...inside they only used the lobby/entryway of the church. OK, there's about enough room for 3 people to stand comfortably, well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but still, it's SUPER small. Hubby spoke to at least one couple who tried 3 times to get in there, and just went home the first two times because it was so jam-packed. Surely they can fin

OK. I am sitting here typing on the computer, on my new blog, that is. Suddenly I hear someone driving in, really slowly. I watch through a window. Some guy in a truck. He drives a big circle in front of the red garage. Then pulls up in the driveway behind the house. And HONKS! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Why do people do that? It's so Pavlovian. If you want to talk to someone, get your lazy butt out of the car and come to the door. For pete's sake! It just makes me MAD! I am not a dog to be whistled for! I just went and stood on the porch, made him turn off his truck to talk. OK. Rant over. Buh-Bye

Well, NaBloPoMo is now is full swing once again. I am participating, but with a different blog. New2Me Recipes I wanted to do this one too, but they will only let you enter one blog, I believe. So far above blog is pretty boring, but I am going to try get something fun and interesting on there in the next week or so. Maybe I will use the next year to really prepare for it by making more interesting recipes. ***** In the meantime; The little twin calf continues to do well. The only thing is that we'd like to dehorn her, but she doesn't have any hornbuds yet. Weird. Probably because she was a premie. The bull calf we pulled yesterday is an absolute monster. Even if he had been laid right the cow probably couldn't have pushed him out! Yikes! But he's a cutie. Too bad we have to get rid of him. Hubby continues to prepare for winter; bulldozing fencerows and stretching new electric wire. We have our hay supply in, so that's good. I am not looking forward to

It all started off as usual. Except when I went up the road at 6:30 AM to feed the heifers and dry cows I found one dry cow going into labor. We usually give them a while before we go back and check on them. If she had been a first-calf heifer we'd likely have brought her back to the barn ASAP. So I went back and finished chores. Then at about 8:30 AM, when everything was winding down, a guy comes by and needs hubby to help with his well pump. He'd been out of water for TWO WEEKS trying to fix it himself. To make a long story short, hubby had to go up there and pull the pump again and fix the wires on it. This took until nearly noon. Meanwhile, I took mother-in-law and Ellen to town. MIL had a doc appointment. When we came back I checked on the cow. Uh-oh. NO calf! Hubby came home, ate, then we took Ellen to her grandma's and took both 4-wheelers up the road for a cow round-up. We got her back with no problems. However, when hubby went in to the trailer to do