Dairy Daze...and Now Beyond

Sometimes things happen that make me say; "This is totally God."  Others may call it coincidence, but I believe that coincidences are Spiritually influenced.  In 2005 we got a little red heifer; which I blogged about after the fact: Genetic Hiccup.  She was born before I started this blog, so I didn't get her in here at birth.  But here's Rosie's picture: Here is Rosie with her red calf, which was a bull I believe, I can't even remember.  Either it was a bull or it turned black eventually.  I strongly believe it was a heifer that turned black. A bit before Rosie calved we had this red heifer calf come along:  However you can see the black markings on her nose and around her eyes.  I wish she'd stayed like this but she eventually, over the course of 7-8 months, turned a solid black with just a red tinge in her ears and on her udder.    Rosie herself died of some mysterious malady a few years ago; back when Ellen wa...

My mom was born in 1929 in Blackshear, Georgia.  Her family moved to S. California back in the mid-30s in search of work. When she was in her late teens or early 20s, I am not sure and she probably doesn't remember either, she got a job at a fish cannery down there.  Yeah, she worked in Cannery Row. She can still tell tales of being called in the wee hours of the AM to go to work at the cannery because a fishing boat had come in to port.  She remembers about the gutters and the packers and how they had to put the fish into cans and send them on down the line. She was a packer, I believe. She remembers the stink of the fish.    Not even dementia can take that memory away.  Haha When I was growing up on the coast of Northern California; Humboldt County I distinctly remember that even though we were on the coast where fresh fish was readily available, it was rare that we had it.  My mom's memories of the stink of fish in the cannery overpow...

The Faerie Spring is an enchanting place to visit in the spring; flowers, laughing water, fresh green leaves whispering in the wind, cheery birds...you get the picture. But the past couple of years since I discovered it, I have wondered what the Faerie Spring is like in the winter. This past week Bella and I took a long walk to find out.  I had piles of laundry to do, but I took one look into those brown eyes and went to get her lead.  We trekked on down there. It was well below freezing, maybe in the mid- to lower-20s.  But interestingly enough at the head of the spring the water was yet flowing freely.  The leftover leaves of fall clogged the flow, and the mossy rocks were a determined green; so it was still a wee bit enchanted. We went further down, finding evidence of how life is hard in the wild.  This fellow didn't make it to see another year. As we went on we saw white ahead.  Random patches of ice. Then long stretches of ice, ...

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.