Dairy Daze...and Now Beyond

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!