Dairy Daze...and Now Beyond

Yesterday Bella and I decided to leave life behind for a bit and ramble.  We headed off down the hill to the creek bottoms to see what we could see. As we walked along the tree line the sporadic crash of bounding white tails startled us.  But we were both too wise to give chase; those waving white tails let us know we'd be out-bounded in no time. In winter it seems eerie down in the pastures, abandoned.  The wind sighs across the field, and Bella chases field mice through their grassy tunnels, her butt up in the air, tail wagging.  Her joy in the simple pleasures of life always make me smile.  For all that I did not want a dog, I have learned through her to enjoy the tranquility of the moment.  The bone-white upper limbs of the sycamore ghost over the meadow; seeming to float through the leafless wood.  Winter is their time to glow, to outshine their companions.  And I think that no matter how stark and haunted life should become, perhaps th...

No pictures for this one; just random thoughts.  Monday evening my bro Dan drove up for about a 36 hr visit.  He still had to work, remotely w/ his computer and cell phone, but we got in a good visit.  It was good to see him though he couldn't stay for Turkey Day today. All seven of us (Gary, Ellen, myself and the 3 in-laws) hied ourselves over to my mom's place for Thanksgiving, various ones of us toting bits and pieces of the meal. SIL gets a free turkey from work, so she fixes the turkey, plus dressing and dessert. And a tray of cranberry sauce.  Aunt-in-law always -for every get-together-fixes a big pot of pinto beans w/ham; cooked on her wood stove.  It might seem strange to have pinto beans for the holidays; but they are delish.  She always gives us the leftovers because she knows how much Gary loves them.  I usually put half of them in the freezer for later on.  Anyway, she also brought lemonade and mixed veggies. I did home-made ma...

Here are a few shots of various scenes around the dairy here.  I haven't posted many pictures lately on here so here goes. Back in October.  This hickory to the east of the milk barn likes to put on a fall show; especially in the evenings as in this shot. Fall means cooler weather; so off we go to get firewood.  Here is the dairy farmer himself, ripping into this limb.  This sycamore fascinated me with its wet bright green trunk; the peeled white part sets it off.  Plus the smaller limb growing straight up looks like a separate tree in the background. In October I found this box turtle fairly freshly dead; just lying on the ground by a stump.  I took it and wedged it into the fork of this tree.  About 4 or 5 days later the shell was back on the ground and quite empty except for a few tiny bones.  I picked it up and wedged it back in to place.  Heifers happily eating their breakfast.  Finally; Bella, t...

Our old laptop crashed a month or so ago and this new laptop wouldn't let me log into Google.  Then when I figured out what I needed to do (clear the history) and did it, Google itself wouldn't let me log in.  For some reason, way back when I created this account I was trying to be all stealthy and private and didn't use a real name for the account.  So I have no idea what my name actually is on this blog.  *sigh* But after much finagling around I figured out the email I use for this blog and the log in.  Those two have been inscribed in permanent ink in a place I will see frequently; lest I forget it again, or the computer or laptop crash again.  So now that I have access I shall attempt to remember stories and happenings and enter them here forthwith. Yes, I shall.

September sighs A cooler breath And summer's verdure dims, September shifts Drowsy, relaxed, Like insect-laced leaves Languid on limbs Summer's grip eases Releases early gems To gleam on paths To glow in clear pools Of the Faerie Spring To blanket secret woods Where sleepy spells drift and sway between the shadows September shrills With crickets' farewell to Steamy nights Summer stills In September, The Faerie Spring Is almost dry September sways And sweeps summer's Harvest From branch to Forest floor To become Spring's Promise

We sold all the of puppies.  And even Deuce. I sorta miss Deuce.  We had him about days less than a full year.  I feel like I failed him; but we just don't have the time to train the dogs and he was starting to be aggressive toward Bella.  Like he was jealous of her and/or didn't have patience with her air-headedness.  I'd have them out on leashes and he'd just up and attack her for no reason. Anyway; he went to a family with two kids so he will get all the attention.  He was just eating it up when they were here to pick him up. But now we are back down to just Bella. And now just Bella and I go on our rambling walks again; free from any aggravating males.  Bella loves to chase squirrels; Deuce never tolerated that. 

Last Tuesday, the 5th, Gary got this bizarre call from the in-laws down the road.  "Come down here and see what you can do, there's a calf with a bucket on her head!" Gary came up to the house from the barn to ask me to go see about her.  So I did. Um, yes.  There she was in the field next to the in-laws place; with a bucket on her head in very truth. How in heaven's name did she get a bucket on her head? Well you may ask.  We only have a faint idea of where said bucket came from. Many years ago, like maybe 7-9 yrs, we had a calf out in that pasture that had some sort of problem.  I vaguely remember toting water or feed to her in bucket.  All I can figure is that one of those water buckets must have been abandoned out there.  Heifer 231 found it and apparently did more exploring than was strictly necessary.  She could see a bit over the rim if she held her head just right so she wasn't easy to approach. But I followed her r...

August 21, 2017 was the Great American Eclipse. We kept Ellen home from school.  Gary and I, my mother in law, sister in law and Gary's aunt all packed lunches and headed up north to the totality zone. It was fun. The drive there was super easy; no traffic to contend with whatsoever.  We took the back roads, past acres and acres of corn and soybean fields.  Turned off of 64 at Cole Camp; went through that lovely little town.  Ended up in Pilot Grove.  We found their little city park and joined quite a few others there: It was like a big impromptu festival.  We all used the special eclipse glasses Gary had ordered months ago.  He got a 10 pack for like 2.60 something.  We set up our chairs, got out our lunches and waited. And waited. Eventually the light got a bit dimmer and the temps dropped almost imperceptibly. The crickets and night bugs started chirping and creaking.  The street lights came on there in the p...

Bella had three pups, we registered them.  To register them you have to give them names, so from top to bottom: Jip, Bailey and Mick.  I named the two males; Gyp and Mick.  Ellen came up with the spelling of Jip, so that's what we sent in.  Ellen named Bailey.  In any case yesterday Jip went to live with a friendly paunchy bachelor-type dude in his late 40s or early 50s maybe.  He lived north of Clinton, Missouri.  Today Bailey went to live with a family in Springfield, MO.  A lady had called and said they'd come see her today and when two little blond girls got out of the SUV I figured Bailey will likely have a good life.  They were gaga over the pup and the dad seemed really patient with the dogs and the little girls.  But that leaves just little Mick.  Poor little feller; I hope someone takes him to a good home. 

Good surprises are fun.  Sometimes you really want something for a long time. You try to make it happen, but for one reason or another it fizzles out.  So you don't bother trying any more, you just sit back and wish. And think how great it would be if you had this thing.  Occasionally you peruse catalogs and consider buying it, but then you rationalize it away: ......too frivolous ......no room to put it ......likely it would die anyway of ......disease or some varmint So you close the catalog and toss it.  Then one day, last summer some time in fact, someone (the husband in fact) notices something and says; "Looks like you have a tree growing there. Might be some sort of fruit tree." And he adds in his Eeyore way; "Probably be from a hybrid and won't produce anything." So you forget it.  But then a year later in March you see something: No, actually not the photo-bomber in the background.  Ha ha... You see pink blossoms. ...

For the past month I have neglected to record that the TDIDW (the dog I didn't want) had 4 puppies on May 11th of this year.  She and Deuce finally got 'er done.  Unfortunately the runt didn't survive; so we have 2 males and one female we are trying to sell as registered for $220 each. To me this seems a crazy amount to pay for a dog; but after doing a search on the WWW it is actually amazingly cheap.  We paid $111 for Bella (the $11) was to get her registered with the ABCA (American Border Collie Association).  But on some Border Collie sites people are asking up to $1600 per pup!  Whew! We have had 2 inquiries on them, and though we answered them so far no one has taken us up and actually come to see the pups.  I hope we can get rid of them.  It is already a pain trying to clean up after 5 dogs!  And they have little doodles still! 

Childhood and sunlight, both elusive and ephemeral Flicker between the leaves Dance on the water Shine bright in the treetops Both grow dim with The passage of time But if you search Peering down leaf-strewn ravines With the eyes of youth You may find echoes of childhood Still wading barefoot In clear waters Where childhood and sunlight meet once again To float free Or shine on the mossy rocks and feathery ferns Of a Faerie Spring.

It has rained almost non-stop here for the past 3 days; just one storm after another sailing by overhead.  The flooding in part of Missouri south of us has been horrendous and a few lives have been lost.  Notably a lady attempted to drive over a water-covered bridge and was swept away.  Somehow she managed to get rescued, but 2 small children in the car were swept away.  So needless, so tragic. The Niangua River here, close to us, flooded badly again.  Not as badly as last year; I don't think it got over the Windyville bridge, but very, VERY close to it.  Neighbors across the river had their basement flooded again.  EEK! So anyway, after a few days of laying up in their doggy houses I figured Bella and Deuce would like a long walk.  Ellen and I took them down to the creek to see what we could see. First off at the bottom of the hill they found this: Some sort of snapping turtle.  They didn't bother him too much; seemed to instinctiv...