Dairy Daze...and Now Beyond

The past week or so there has been a heifer up the road who was nearing her calving time. Yesterday she'd been off by herself, but nothing happened all day. Then this morning when I went to feed them I went in to check on her. She was lying down, with the hooves and the nose of a calf sticking out of her rear. I took one look at the calf and thought; "It's all over for that one." Its tongue was hanging out of its mouth and it just didn't look good. I whacked on the cow but she didn't move; just laid there with her chin in the mud. I was going to head back to get hubby, but then I saw something. The calf's chin twitched. I thought I was seeing things. I chucked it a bit and sure enough, it moved again. I whacked on the cow again, but still she would not move. I thought maybe I could herd her to the corral, but no dice. So I ran back to the 4-wheeler, got hubby's nice new rope, put it around one of the calf's ankles, dug in my heel...

My husband has all but accused me of being the above when it comes to Christmas trees. Here, in my own words, is my story: One of my favorite Christmas pastimes as a kid was going to get the tree. Depending on weather conditions and time we would either get one from the National Forest Service land a mile or two from our place, or we’d pack up and go for a long drive into the mountains. We lived in the Pacific Northwest, on the rugged North Coast of Humboldt County. Dad would pack up the old Ford truck, a couple of us kids would pile in and off we would go, further inland, higher up into the wild. Up, up we would go until we’d break through the coastal fog layer into the sun, the fog a roiling gray sea below. And still up we would go. Eventually we’d get to Willow Creek, a town whose fame has something to do with the Bigfoot legend. I remember every year we’d see the town’s life-sized wooden statue of the furry creature, and we’d speculate on the possibility of seeing him fo...

For those of you who aren't connected on Facebook. Here is the picture I WAS going to use as one of those photo Christmas cards to send out. Just imagine it with the caption underneath; "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" Off and on all summer Ellen would drag this snowman kit out and try it on for size. She'd ask; "When is it going to snow?" "Argh," I'd say. "Don't rush things." We did get a dusting of snow last week, but it was too dry and powdery to make any kind of snowman, even a teeny one.

YAY! NaBloPoMo 2011! We did it! I DID IT! Ha Ha!!! If you have children who watch Dora the Explorer, you will recognize the above title as a phrase she sings at the end of each show. After they have completed their mission the characters all dance around and sing "We did it! We did it! Lo hicimos!" This time it went by faster and easier than last year. Maybe I am just getting better at it. ************************************************************************* In dairy news. On Monday, as I blogged, we got rid of one bull. Now we need to get rid of the other AND find 2 new young bulls. Hubby called one Holstein bull breeder, but he didn't have any at the moment. Hmmmmm.... Tomorrow we are going to take about 7 of our "extra" young, open heifers down to the Norwood Special Cow Auction. I think this is located somewhere past Mansfield. Hubby will drive the truck and trailer. Ellen and I will ride in the "chase car" in case h...

First: Dairy news. Today hubby is busy transporting critters from Long Lane over here to their winter quarters. This means that I will have to get up earlier in the AM to have time to feed them; TWO trips up the road on the four-wheeler in sub-freezing temperatures. Fun stuff. ************************************************************************* My Recipe Box For some strange reason it came to my attention that perhaps maybe I ought to go through my little recipe box. It’s not like I can’t find the recipe I need in here, because I know the general area where I keep the recipes I use the most. Some of them WERE repeats because I’d lost the original recipe in here and then looked on the internet for another copy of it; I didn’t include the repeats in my list. Some of these are recipes I have never tried before, though I have had them for years and years. Some of them are recipes I have tried once and will likely never try again. Some of them really sounded good at the ...

. In the roughly local area, there are three sale barns; one in Urbana on Mondays, one in Lebanon on Thursdays and one in Buffalo on Saturdays. So, we had kind of a Russian Roulette for Mr Bull, to see if he'd actually come into the corral with the milking herd on one of those particular days of the week, AND if hubby had the time on THAT particular sale barn day to take him. Today was IT! He came into corral by accident...too long of a story to relate. However, even in the trailer he was posturing and trying to act tough. So we went to Urbana today. We can tell Ellen is a true country girl. She wanted to go in and watch the sale in progress. She sat there and observed intently; and then waved her little arms around like she was buying or selling. Fortunately they were patient with little ones, so they didn't make us buy any of the beef stuff she must have bid on. ha ha. Someday I'd really like to be there when they bring in one of our bulls to sell. But t...

OK. So it has been a long month. But when I saw this I thought it was hilarious. (I think Donna posted it on Facebook. Thank you Donna.) They say that your sense of humor can be very revealing about your personality. Heh. I wonder what this reveals about me? No, don't say anything.

It has been a blustery day here in Missouri. Wet, too. I am just praying that it doesn't snow before it's over. The temps are supposed to drop for the next few days. Ellen is snoozing away. I need to wake her up, she won't sleep tonight already. Today I will just leave you some good words of wisdom: "These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33 No matter what may be happening in your life at the moment; HE has overcome it. Trust in Him.

Here I am on Day 25 of NaBloPoMo. I think, as long as my internet connection holds out, that I will make it yet again this year. They ought to rename Black Friday. Wasn't it last year or the year before that shoppers trampled the employee who unlocked the doors at a Wal-Mart? Now this year some woman goes in pepper-spraying folks. I hope they catch her. They ought to call this day something along the lines of Let's See Who We Can Kill or Maim Just So We Can Buy More China Junk Day. Is "stuff" really that important to us as a society? I guess it is. That's why these storage rental places keep popping up all over. I remember one of my co-workers in Portland saying that she had a storage rental place full of stuff. And a house full of stuff too. And I am not immune. Here we just got our second storage shed. I am all for donating or yardsale-ing all the stuff we don't use any more. But not the hubby. He is all for keeping it in case of emergen...

On this Thanksgiving day, the disappearing holiday, I am thankful for all the good things in life; family, food, health, salvation; not necessarily in that order. If you do not know one or any of these things then you are in my prayers. H3 had a nice big bull calf this morning to show me. He was up and doing well. I am glad she didn't have twins. This one we can sell for a fair price, I believe. Ellen is happily playing, hubby is taking a well-deserved rest while I am blogging. I hope everyone has had a nice Turkey Day.

Today Ellen was watching a Charlie Brown show trailer, sneak peek, whatever you want to call it. I remember how as a kid I would get so mad at the snotty "little red-haired girl" that Charlie Brown would vainly pursue. Why couldn't she at least give him the time of day, send him a Christmas card, or whatever? Then I would get so annoyed with Peppermint Patty and HER relentless pursuit of Charlie Brown. According to Wikipedia the little Red-haired girl was based on a real character in Schulz's life, someone named Donna. Read about it here. But I was thinking today that this teaches us, as Charles Schulz no doubt intended, two separate lessons. First. The LRHG remains, in the comic strip, unseen and unnamed, and she causes Charlie Brown many sad moments...in which he pines for what is unattainable, ephemeral. But here following behind him in an equally vain pursuit, is Peppermint Patty. She is unabashed in her devotion to Charlie Brown. How often do we...

There is something sexy about a man wearing shades and operating a chainsaw.

1) The bull with the dairy herd is starting to get worse as far as temperament is concerned. Nasty, in fact. He won't herd at all. Like, if hubby wants him to get out of the way or to go with the cows, Mr Bull will just stand there, paw, huff and kink his neck. It's super scary. Twice a day I always am on pins and needles when hubby does the round up. He, hubby, is hoping Bull will follow a cow in heat into the corral, then it will be a trip to the sale barn. 2) The bull up the road that I have to feed every morning isn't quite as aggressive yet. I am always super cautious when he comes into the corral while I am dumping their grain, but he always goes to the other side of the feedbunk and starts eating. I skedaddle as soon as I can. 3) I like watching him-the bull up the road-when he is walking to the corral. There is a certain fascination in watching a dangerous animal; the muscles sliding under his skin as he walks, his big head swaying back and forth. He...

Flocks of geese are honking their way south. If you live down south you will soon be seeing them; hanging out in the golf courses and ball parks. So far we have missed out on super cold weather and snow. It has been down in the 20s one night, but that's it so far. We haven't had to worry about getting in too much wood so far. But it's coming. I don't look forward to winter, but I AM glad the bugs are gone for awhile. This past summer I have had 2 grasshoppers up my pants leg, a spider down my shirt and a walking stick on the back of my head. ICK! I can do without bugs. ******************************************************************** Ellen wanted to do some blogging too. Here's her contribution: rjfigjgfngufngvhgyrftghgrfygrfhhgvhgrhghjhjyhjvhjjh1fgflgkfdglf;ghlfhflg.df,gvd,g;cgvpcclflvdg,lglvclgvkgfgjigkkglglg;;g;gfgckg,gjggbfgbvhbhbncv;c'gvcv2folopfld.l;gkdmfjdkgfgfvfdohvjnyinhcjngbvkyhbjjuhjhjgkuhj,jhky6gvknhoiuyrfkhmvkhgfjfbjgutvyht...

Where I grew up in the Pacific North West, mostly all we had were Douglas Fir trees and Alder. And some spruce and hemlock, I guess. Only the alder would shed leaves, only the alder even HAD leaves, aside from the fruit trees. But somehow one doesn't get many leaves from apples trees...even if there are some 30 of them scattered around the place. At any rate it wasn't until I was in my teens that I ever heard of anyone burning leaves and I was completely bewildered as to why anyone would want to or need to do such a thing. Here in Missouri I now comprehend all too well. This picture is a case in point. Ellen loves to play in them after I get them all piled up like this. It was much too windy to do any burning today. But I don't really like burning them anyway. It makes a nasty dead spot on the lawn for a long time. We have started just mowing them. It seems to work just as well.

Here is a less-than-stellar photo of Ellen at the Dixie Stampede last weekend. The lighting was really poor, but I got this shot of her with "Sam" the horse in the background. Before the shows they have all of the horses stabled outside where you can walk around and read a little blurb about them right under their names, which are posted in the back of the stall; you can see it just over "Sam's" back. ************************************************************** I know this blog's title would lead you to believe that I blog about our dairy; but lately I seem to have been blogging mostly about Ellen. I apologize. You see, there's just not much going on with the dairy; Feed calves, put out hay, milk cows...and more of the same. We do have one cow up the road who is soon to calve. H3 has a history of pushing out twins on a regular basis. In the 7 years I have been here she has had at least 3 sets of twins, I believe. Two sets of both heif...

Last week when Ellen and I went to Lebanon we went to one of their excellent thrift stores downtown. Ellen loves to go to this particular store. I suspect it's because they have a kids' playroom. But she also loves to get "new" clothes. I found a cute little pair of pants. (I don't have a pic because they are currently in the laundry...more on that later.) They are knit, light pink, with rhinestones on the bottom cuffs. They were only $1.50 because they had a faded spot on the bottom front. But since they are so light in color anyway you can't really tell, and for that price I figured they'd make great play pants, since they are in great shape otherwise. So the first time she has them on, Friday, we go outside to play. She almost immediately kneels in the grass and gets stains on the knees. When we go in I take them off and treat them and get them clean as new. The second time she wears them was Tuedsay, when she had that touch of flu or whate...

Sneaker Holidays As a rule I am sorta-kinda always ready for Christmas fairly early. I usually start buying in late spring or summer. But this year Christmas kind of sneaked up on me. Is is "sneaked" or "snuck?" I never can remember. I guess it's of no consequence. At any rate. This year I am not ready, except for my overseas pals. I have a vague idea of what to get a couple of people, but for the most part, I have no idea. Halloween sneaked up on me too this year. Sneaker Holidays. They catch you by surprised, unprepared. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think this is happening to me because I am getting older. I believe this is a chronic and universal ailment. The older one gets, the faster the time goes. And the quicker the holidays sneak up. A Disappearing Holiday Thanksgiving is next week. How about you? Are YOU prepared for Christmas? Are you prepared for Thanksgiving? Hubby thinks that Thanksgiving is becoming ...

A young friend on Facebook recently changed her relationship status to "single." I am afraid we inundated her with congratulations and advice rather than sympathy. Rather than overburden her or any one else on FB, I have been thinking through things I'd like to tell Ellen when she gets up to dating age. Dear Ellen, Right now you are only 4, almost 5 years old here in a little over 3 months. Your biggest worries are keeping your toys (I am constantly trying to get you to weed them out), wanting a new DVD to watch on the computer (we don't have a TV), and wanting to know what we are going to do on the next day. But a day will come when you will start thinking about boys. You will want to date them, maybe. Then eventually you may want to get married. There are reams of books and advice out there on relationships. But there are a few things I wanted to tell you. Here are the first three; the most critical things you ought to look for in a mate: First off...

So I just spend half hour typing a post here, hit send and blogger logs out and gives me an error message. My post is gone, never to be recovered. Please mourn for those words that you will now never read. For I do not have the time to retype them all. Suffice it to say it wasn't much, though. Maybe I will do a re-do later. Maybe. Happy blogging.

We had a great time at the Dixie Stampede yesterday. The show was spectacular, the horses were lovely, the food was really good. It was interesting eating a 4-course meal without utensils, but it worked out pretty well. Along toward the end they give you a hot wet heavy-duty paper towel. What boggled my mind though was the fact that the place seated 1,100, they do 4 shows on Saturdays and EVERY seat is filled...every time. That is FOUR THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED chickens, biscuits, corn on the cob, apple pastries...ect, every Saturday! FOUR THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED! I told hubby next time I'd like a pass to go backstage and see the kitchens. *************************************************************** In other news; it was opening day for gun deer season yesterday. As usual the buck madness ensued. Our neighbors, several of them who have property of their own, mind, have pestered to hunt over on our property. During bow season here a couple of weeks ago they wanted to se...

Really, to me there ISN’T any place like home. When it starts getting dusky outside in the evenings, I like to be at home. I want my family at home with me. When it comes time to fly away and go visiting I start having “home” withdrawals several weeks in advance. I often feel queasy when I even think about leaving and then I start having traveling nightmares. I prefer to be with what is familiar…with those I love. Today I am taking a day off and going down to see Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede show in Branson. It makes me nervous to be away from my husband. He is staying at home. Plus, I keep thinking of all the things I could be doing at home instead of going off and enjoying an adventure. Not that I am opposed to having adventures. After all, I DID up and travel to Malaysia by myself several years ago. Well, my friend met me there, but still it was rather nerve-wracking. And I DID pack up and leave my whole life back in Oregon on a one way ticket out here to Missou...

OK, so either my internet connection is bad or Blogspot doesn't like me today or something. It keeps kicking me out of here. Every other site I go to works, but this one. So....really quickly like. Tonight I have to write up a blog to post for tomorrow, really early, because on the morrow "we" (meaning Ellen, myself and MIL and SIL) are going down to Branson to catch Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. Hubby got us the tickets! They were the discount kind. That is why we got them. But we are looking forward to this as it will be the Christmas show, with real, live camels and sheep and whatnot. Ellen is, of course, all agog. We are all packing plastic forks and knives in our purses because they serve you a 4 course meal, but no dinnerware. Because supposedly that's the way real cowboys used to eat. Hmmmm... The menu (according to the flyer): tender whole rotisserie chicken, hickory smoked barbecue pork loin, butter corn on the cob, their own creamy veg...

Today was the last day of the home school "pre-school" for Ellen. The first hour I taught my Spanish class. The second hour I went in to help in Ellen's class because the regular teacher was going to be doing a mom's class and demonstrating how to make yogurt. Never again. UGH! There were 16 kids (Pre-K age) in the second hour. Only THREE of them were girls. The rest of course were terribly rowdy boys. ARGH! They were shoving and whacking and fighting each other. This is not the norm. Or at least it has never been like that before when I was in there. It was the longest hour I have spent this week. Usually it goes fast because they will have a craft or something. But today even during the craft time they were cutting up. After the hour was over I hauled Ellen out of there and skedaddled as fast as I could. And for the record. This is the last day for this semester, and this is the only day that Ellen didn't howl when I left. I begin ...

I come from a family who sewed all the time. I married into a family that sews all the time. But I am a sewing dud. I have a lovely, fancy sewing machine. I asked my husband for it for Christmas several years ago. It has been sitting in its box in the spare bedroom for several years. Only used maybe twice. Today I broke it out again...for a purpose that I can't reveal at this point in time because it might spill beans or let cats out of bags that ought not be spilled or let loose. At any rate. It is always interesting to do something new and unusual with a four year old around. She is always so very helpful. While I am reading the instructions and trying to figure out how to load the thread and all, she keeps wanting to look at the instruction manual. "I want to look at the pictures." "Ellen, why do you need to look at the pictures?" "So I can tell you how to do that." In a few minutes, after I have figured out how to get th...

So I have amused you for two days with my marriage reflections. That was fun. Now what? Ellen? Yes, she cracks me up. I have a book that I need to get started with recording things in. It's called; Oh, What you Said . I have a long list I have kept of the funny things she has said over the past few years, since she has started talking. Her first phrase was; "Who is that?" She'd draw out the "who"..."Whoooooo is that?" That's what I'd say when we heard her daddy coming in from chores. Now it is so funny how she picks up these big words and then trots them out at the right moment. A few months ago I was reading her a book on the sofa and hubby came up behind us and was teasing her. She sighed, and said; "Daddy, stop it, you're distracting me." "Distracting?" She's four years old. Where does she get "distracting?" ******************************************************************...

Continuing on with my anniversary reflections. Occasionally people will ask me how I met my husband and how I ended up in Missouri when I was living in Oregon. The world wide web snatched me up and flung me over here. Yes, it did. At one point in 2003 I believe it was, I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a computer. (My brother was so helpful in making this happen...so he must bear some of the blame for my being here in Missouri.) After getting the computer one of the first things I did was to join a couple of pen pal sites. One of them automatically asked me if I also wanted to put a blurb in their singles site. So I did. Look out! As expected, I got several replies from overseas. I also got a reply from a Baptist minister in Georgia and one from some farmer in Missouri. I had to look up Missouri on the map to see where it was. Seriously. (I know, I am bad.) The guy in Missouri wanted my phone number. We talked quite a bit. He had a dairy. I liked him...

This weekend marks our seventh wedding anniversary and I thought I’d share a few reflections of the past seven years. Here is one: Getting married for the first time at age 36 was rather a challenge in the cooking department. Cooking for one is much, much different than cooking for two; especially when the one you are marrying happens to be used to all kinds of homemade stuff; like potato salad and devilled eggs and desserts galore. In the 3 month time span between saying “Yes, I will” and “I do” there were hours of panicked ransacking of the internet to find recipes that I could maybe attempt. I was dismayed to find out one of his favorite desserts is strawberry gelatin with bananas. As far as I am concerned gelatin is something that ought not to have been invented. The texture is just nasty. But, always game for a challenge, I bought up a couple boxes of the stuff to try my luck at it. To start off with I discovered I’d forgotten bananas, but I was determined to go thro...

Sometimes...on the rare occasion I ponder about my gag relflexes and wonder why it is that some things can gross me out and others don't. Here on the dairy we deal with different gross things, as one might imagine. I am sure any reader could think some up without even trying. I found that most dairy things don't bother me...but there are others that trip that gag trigger. As a rule it's not the sight of things that makes my stomach heave, but smells. And sometimes it's just the idea. Today, for whatever reason, Ellen suddenly announced; "Skunk tastes like chicken." I ask; "How do you know." She replied; "I just do. And skunk hair tastes like potatoes." Me; "Ew. Eating skunk hair would be nasty." Ellen: "Why?" Me; "You'd get skunk hair in your teeth." She had to ask why about that several times and as I was trying to explain it, I just got really queasy. Even writing it down here mak...

So I have been trying to think of something deep, funny, and/or spiritually moving to blog about. Nothing has manifested at this time. I therefore thought that since November is the month of being thankful I’d do a post or two or more on things that I am thankful for. It occurs to me several times per week that I am thankful for a child who loves vegetables. When a four year old asks for more vegetables; carrots, cauliflower or broccoli, it is such a blessing. She especially loves cooked carrots. In spring she will also snarf down radishes, onions and green peppers. She remains skeptical about beets and asparagus, but that is just a minor issue. She loves peas and corn and green beans, too. ************************************* The dairy news isn’t too great or earthshaking. This fall here in the Ozarks we have had a bumper crop of acorns. Tons of them. This is good for the turkeys, deer, squirrels…etc, but not for the cows, who love them. The girls slurp them down ...

This past summer and fall were good for strays. At one point we had that stray black cow and calf; I think I blogged about them at the time. They were with us a week before we got them caught and back to their owner. Here a month ago we had TWO stray cats show up. This is not uncommon for here on the dairy. We don't have any dogs, just Matilda the cat, and we have lots of hay sheds and barns and various outbuildings. But this one little stray; a black cat with a few white patches on his belly and throat, has adopted us for good. Ellen is enchanted with him; he is her favorite color. Yes, black. He is a friendly little soul; more like an overgrown kitten. We are calling him "Boo" and treat him like one of the family. He needs his shots; which will happen maybe next week. I have been putting it off because putting money on the counter for him will make him OURS and not a stray. I personally could do without him. So could Matilda. But they are getting used to e...

National Blog Posting is in full swing. I barely remembered it this year. I haven't even signed up yet. They moved their site and you have to re-enter I believe. It's on BlogHer now. I am trying to sign up but the computer is giving me fits. In any case. This year I am just going to stick with Dairy Daze and not get fancy. I didn't make any preparations for this so maybe I will just follow their prompts. It could be interesting that way. Ha. That's all for now. I guess. I am running out of time today.

Ellen just had to go trick or treating. I can honestly say it's not my idea. I am of two minds about the whole deal. I'd rather skip Halloween altogether. For one thing, everyone is so OVERGENEROUS with their candy. She went to THREE places and got almost a full plastic pumpkin. But she's so cute and she loves going. She even says; "Trick or treat." and "Thank you." to everyone. She's slowly starting to come out of her shell.

This is my second batch of this type of freezer jam. So easy. Pina Colada Freezer Jam. It has a secret ingredient; zucchini. This is a great way to use up some of that extra zucchini and satisfy your sweet tooth as well. Even the hubby likes the stuff...which is good. I rarely ever eat jelly or jam. Mostly it's Ellen and hubby who eat it.

This was rather a surprise when I was making deviled eggs this evening. We had chickens when I was a kid, and the Rhode Island Reds seemed to push these out on a not-uncommon basis. But MIL's chickens (I forget the breed; they are black) are rather sparing with their double yolkers. In any case, I had never seen one hard-boiled before.

Here's the picture of the repainted PIP pup. Ellen wanted it put on our porch, so hubby drug out the drill and here it is. Ellen was thrilled with it. I am hoping it will be the only dog we have.

For the past 3 years or so the neighbors have had what they call Heritage Days at their farm across the river from us; in Windyville. It started, I believe, as a homeschool event and has turned into a sort of community get together. Everyone involved or attending is encouraged to dress in 1800s outfits. There are multiple demonstrations or activities going on. It is much like a toned down Silver Dollar City-type of day. It was super warm and all the women in their long skirts and bloomers (one person admitted to shucking hers) looked miserable. The whole experience gave those involved a renewed respect for the early pioneers and what they had to do to survive. I have to say kudos to Tim and Carla, who are the ones who organize the whole shebang. This is the first year I have attended. It was interesting. Of course the most interesting demonstration I watched was the one I got so fascinated with that I forgot to take a picture of; the lye soap making. Oh, well. Below are some ...

In case you aren't a follower of my blog, (and I wouldn't blame you) you may not know that my 4 year old has this thing with people giving her things. Here is yet another example. This dog head was on the post for the mailbox in front of our internet service provider’s office in Buffalo. Ever since Ellen has been big enough to notice it, for the past 3 years or so, she has wanted me to hold her up so she could pet the doggy. The receptionist would smile and tell Ellen not to forget to pet the dog on the way out. Well, I had noticed the past few months that it was getting rather wobbly. Then this summer we went in there one month and it was gone, but the regular lady wasn’t there. The next month Gary went in to pay the bill. Then just this past Friday we went in there. The lady WAS there; she saw us come in, groped back behind her desk and handed this over to Ellen because; “I know you loved it so much and it would have just been thrown away.” **sigh** So now I am ...

Every spring when I set out those little sweet potato slips I always marvel that they will eventually take over the area and become a writhing mass of lovely vines. They are very popular with the deer and groundhogs. Hubby's aunt's sweet taters were decimated by the deer. The tater part didn't get a chance to develop. The deer would eat the leaves as soon as they grew. My mother in law's sweet taters were decimated by a groundhog; they could see it running for cover sometimes when they went out there. Originally they'd thought it was a deer getting them, so they set a hotwire, but the leaves still kept disappearing. ARGH! I think just now they have finally started growing out, but we aren't too sure that the roots will have time enough to develop. You are supposed to wait until just before frost before you harvest; but I always jump the gun. I pulled maybe 3/4 to 2/3 of ours already last week. I couldn't wait to see what was under there. This was my take so ...

So this past summer in the dairy department has been off and on. We have had two sets of twins born; both either bull/bull or bull/heifer combos...meaning that we had to sell them. The cows all seemed to coordinate births. In early Aug we had two cows go on the same day, and the same on another day in early Sept I believe. I think we have had 9 calves since early Aug, and maybe 2 or 3 in July. (It's hard to concentrate here, I have a pot of pinto beans w/ ham soup on the stove simmering; it smells very distracting.) We don't have a regular calf buyer anymore, but hubby just puts them on Craig's List and we usually have a buyer within 24 hrs. One guy came for two little bulls. He called when hubby wasn't here and asked me how big the calves were. Well, they weren't the biggest bulls we've had but they were fairly average sized Holstein calves. That's what I told him. Well, he shows up with a fairly flimsy dog kennel; the kind where the top lifts off...

OK So remember the post before the pallet post, just two posts down? Remember? Tonight as Ellen and I were walking down to get the 4-wheeler just out of the blue she says; "He has a key." Me, rather bewildered: "What?" Ellen: "The bull has a key to open the cow. I think he opens her back." Me, starting to catch on: "Why does he need to open the cow?" Ellen, with a sigh at my density: "So he can put in the seed in. The seed to make a calf." Me, trying not to giggle: "Oh." And that's where I left it because if I started trying to explain she'd want to see things for herself and we haven't gone beyond where we were at the last discussion. And it has been a long day and I didn't feel up to discussing penises. What I really need her to understand is how to wipe herself after using the potty, and how to not get both legs into the same underwear hole when dressing herself and practical things like that; not bovi...

Here, because I don't know what else to blog about, but I need to blog about SOMETHING, is a random photo from my files. This is a shot of a place out west of us, close to the Kansas border. The place must be 20 acres or so of cleared, rolling land. The owners have filled it with piles and piles of rotting pallets. Piles of pallets and old broken down trailers. We drive by this place on our way to get alfalfa, or to go to the tractor supply place out there near Lockwood. Every time we go by there we always like to speculate on why someone would fill their property with piles of pallets. Certainly they must be snake magnets. I can't imagine why someone would actually want to do this to their property. But to each his own, I suppose.

August 20, 2011 Last Monday, I believe it was, Ellen and I were walking down over the ridge to get the 4-wheeler from where hubby leaves it after his round-up. As is usual, the bull was standing there in the trees, a ways behind the milk barn. (He follows the herd up the hill and then stands there while hubby shuts the gate on him. He later decides he wants to join the cows and pushes the gate down to get to them. But that is a different story.) Ellen has seen the bull numerous times. We have had many discussions about how cows have udders and give milk, but she’d never really thought about what the bull is for…until that night. As we were walking by she suddenly asked; “Mommy, what does the bull do?” Trying to keep it light and unthreatening (to myself, not to her) I replied: “He eats grass and sleeps all day.” “No, Mom,” Ellen wasn’t satisfied. “What does he DO?” GULP Weeeelllll… I jumped in with both feet and just gave her the truth, since she obvio...

A few days ago, on Monday evening right after milking, we looked up the road and saw a little black cow and calf on the verge of the road, sniffing over the fence at our herd. We knew she'd end up being trouble of one sort or another. We were right. We had no idea where she came from. We surmised she'd come from the little herd just behind the 12 acres across the road. But the owners live in Marshfield and we have no idea of their names or phone numbers. We hoped she'd go on about her business and find her way home. I didn't want to mess with her as she's a beef cow and they tend to be aggressive when they have a calf. A couple of people either stopped and told us about "our cow" that was out (Nevermind the fact that we don't run beef cows.), or honked loudly and repeatedly as they drove by. Finally, at about 8:25 pm, a car pulls in. It was the owner of the cow. She'd actually come from about 2 miles from here (hubby said the ...

Ha ha. Ellen went to a cousin's birthday party last night. Well, I took her there of course. The cousin turned 8, but she has a younger sister who is Ellen's age. They had hit it off at a family reunion back in May. There were quite a few older children there, mostly family members and friends of the teenaged sister, so Ellen was quite shy at first. However she got her bearings, after a little cake and keem, and ended up having a fine time with her cousin. This is a picture of them. This cousin's birthday will be in Sept, so perhaps there will be another party to go to soon. And it has been revolving around in my mind that since Ellen's next birthday will be year number FIVE, perhaps we should have a party for her. We shall see. Where to have it is the question.

In early summer those 13 year cicadas came out. They had red eyes and were quite loud. I think I had mentioned them on my Facebook account, but not on here. Anyway, they were gone, had run their course...whatever, by the time we got back from our CA trip. But they left behind evidence. Here is a pic of the damage they did to the trees. The females cut little slits into small twigs at the ends of the limbs and lay their eggs. These twigs subsequently die, as shown here. You can tell which types of trees they prefer by the amount of damage. Hubby said it's mainly the white oaks that have the most dead twigs.

This is the husband's favorite photo of Ellen from our trip. We are out on Clam Beach. Ellen was rabid to go buy a shovel and pail and play in the sand on the beach. So the 3rd or 4th day there, off we went to the store and got those required items. Then we headed to the beach. Clam Beach is the closest beach to where we were staying so that is where we went. It is a nice beach, but it is quite a hike to get down to the wet sand and the waves. Ellen was a bit leery this time of getting too close to the waves, so we stayed well away. We filled the bucket once, made the pictured "sand castle" and she dug in the sand with her shovel once or twice. I took 2 pictures. Then she turned around and announced; "I have to go potty." The restrooms were, of course, a 50 mile hike back to the parking lot. (OK maybe I exaggerate the distance, but when you are walking through sand it seems like it.) When we got back she announced, "I don't have to go."...

I was going to tell our 2011 Calfornia trip story from the beginning; but how boring is that? So I will start with one of the funnier pictures I took. The Saturday before we left my mom (from here on out referred to as Mom) Ellen and I went over to the place where I grew up, Mom had had to sell it after my father passed away. The folks who bought it own a landscaping business and have fixed it up so nice. They have a garden, numerous fruit trees (most of which were the ones my father planted there many years before he died), berry bushes...etc. Down in the back they have a pen and raise a couple of pigs to butcher every other year I believe. They happened to have 2 fairly small porkers this year. So we went down so Ellen could see them. The lady gave them a couple of dog bone treats to get them to come out. I had Ellen stand in front of them so I could take a picture. Well, Ellen complied, but not without a certain dubiousness, which shows up so well in her expression in this p...

Here is my once-monthly blog entry. Really, I DO mean to blog more often, but somehow it just gets pushed to the wayside. I really need to update the photo too. Well, that will have to wait as well. Above please see Ellen and her newest buddy; the only other little girl in the pre-school VBS class. Fact: In 2 days we, Ellen and I, are flying out of MO and back to CA for a 2 week visit. Fact: Last week was Vacation Bible School at church. I am still frazzled from that. Fact: In the 2 weeks before and the week of VBS I get nothing done but the very basics. Fact: Now I needs must do cleaning, cook lots of food to sustain my husband in the 18 days I am gone, because he won't go shopping or do any major food prep by himself, and try and prep my garden for my absence as well. Fact: The weeds are taking over my garden. Fact: I will not be here when the peas need harvesting. Fact: I need to tie up my tomatoes. Fact: Oh, yes. I have to pack for both Ellen and myself. Any more ...

Yep, it was a memorable Memorial Day. I was prepping for our annual barbecue and was back in the laundy room. Ellen was playing in the front room. I heard a thump. Then I heard a squall and; "Ow, ow ow ow. Mommy, mommy, mommy!" ...ad infinitum. At a doc appointment on Tuesday they couldn't really tell too well from the X-rays, but they think it's a hairline fracture on her right shin, just an inch or two under the knee. That's where she points to when asked where it hurts. She won't put any weight on it at all; even with this walking brace/boot, whatever it's called, on. Because she wouldn't put any weight on it, they are assuming it's a fracture. They are going to refer us to an orthopedic doc and we shall see what will happen from there. She is not really happy about the boot; wants it off, as any sensible person would. I feel so badly for her. Poor little pumpkin. And she has a busy month ahead of her, too. VBS is next week, and she...

On the 7th we went to another free barbecue. This one was a customer appreciation day held by a company hubby buys some well supplies from. They put on quite the big shindig; afterwards having a free drawing for lots of loot they have displayed up on a table in front. They had fun games for the ladies, and games outside for the kids. Ellen wanted to do everything, cake walk, ring toss, bouncy house, face paint... She did too, except for the bouncy house thing. She just couldn't make herself get into it with all those other kids. But she did let a gal paint her face. This kind of surprised me. Normally she wouldn't let a stranger get that close to her. At any rate, to make a long story short. My husband wasn't too hot on staying late for the drawing, but in the end he won a set of pliers and wrenches (not pictured), I won the above Stanley 123 piece socket set and Ellen won the little digital camera. She was enchanted with this camera and soon filled up the memory...