Baby Pics

Mirage, daughter of Magic and Tri-Day Valiant Gold. Born yesterday in the middle of my bookkeeping marathon.Magic needed a little help, but mother and daughter are doing fine now.

From Both Sides

People are such a various lot. Some of them do good beyond all expectations and some of them are terrifyingly not good. Talked to the boy early this morning and he had horror stories of subway platforms and slow death happening even to the harmless and the danger of standing near the trains....It twisted my heart right up. Such death and mayhem.........and then I read this story. One young American saw something awful happening in another country and reached out via social media to find help.


And found it, so much more than he had even imagined possible.


And last night I read another story, which on one hand was very moving, and on the other hand is so typical of the lengths farm folk will go for others. We have been the recipients, several times over the years, of help from unexpected directions, coming at the darkest hour, and lightening our lives, probably more than the givers imagined possible. I will try to wipe the subway images out of my mind for the day and think of the good people, and the new baby heifer that Magic presented to us yesterday and get on about the day.

Let NY Farm Act

The boss (in his mystery shopper outfit) and Bubba, headed for the barn

Sounds good to me. Read about it here.

Last Year's Weather

Northstar, a name the calf graduate, all grown up

Is still hanging around biting everybody right...well you know where. Even though we are enjoying this long spell of warmer than normal weather, what happened last summer is having lasting ramifications for farmers and ranchers from the southern borderlands to the far, far north.


Nobody has feed...well, some folks do, but there are a lot of shortages and staggeringly high prices for what is out there. We are about out of haylage, maybe a couple of days worth left, and buying round bales...spring and green grass can't come soon enough for me!


The guy we buy our crop seeds from called the other night...talked to the boss for quite a while. He wanted to give us a heads up that the seed we buy from him will nearly double in price for this year...drought in Texas wiped out most of the seed crop. He is big, successful farmer but he will be out of feed soon and told of dozens of customers who are feeding out their last bits. He thinks a lot of folks who have bought from him for a long while won't be in business this summer.


And yet, the big players are still manipulating the CME, while the milk to feed ratio drops like a rock. I am sure somebody will still be making milk come spring...the Chinese are buying dairies in New Zealand so their farmers can be trained how to do it right (first clue...leave out the melamine...it tends to kill people.) 


China has also become the world's number one nation for feed grain and oil seed production and yet they are still huge importers of food products and feeds....and ammunition or so they say.....


***Dad update. It has been a really tough haul for Dad and for Mom, who has been an amazing trouper through it all, but yesterday she reported solid progress. He is in rehab now and is doing stairs and getting around without the walker. Your prayers have been appreciated more than you could possibly imagine...thank you!

Wild

The weather that is. One minute it's pouring rain, the wind howling like a whole tribe of banshees, and the heifers are running for the stable. Next minute the sun is blazing down, it's as warm as April and all the fields are draped with dazzling, dangling, dripping water crystals like a million, billion shining gems. 


The heifers come back out to bask against the side of the barn, soaking up rays like girls on the beach. You can almost see them reaching for their Oakleys and slathering on the sun screen.


I have been spending my time today (when not doing bookkeeping and chores and writing this week's Farm Side) checking on the pony, Jack. Becky thought he was a tiny bit off this morning and she asked me to keep a watch on him.


I could see what she meant...he sort of had a contemplative look and was flicking his ears back and forth for no apparent reason. I got an inkling that maybe he isn't drinking like he should so I took him up a handful of delicious kosher salt from the kitchen.


He sure liked it, and scoured up every crumb. 


He is such a cool little guy. I really liked having an excuse to fool with him. This afternoon he seems fine...if anything ailed him, whatever it was (or wasn't) it seems to have passed.


***PS the boss says that he saw two rainbows between the storms. 

Beware those Secret Shoppers

The boss does a lot of our shopping...I am kind of a hermit, and he likes to shop...and yesterday he ran up to an area store to get a spiral ham and a birthday cake (although I can bake cookies with the best of them I don't do cake.)


He wasn't exactly dressed for the prom, if you get my drift (although you can take my word for it that he cleans up pretty good.) Anyhow, various store employees kinda, sorta, ignored him so to speak.


He waited a while at the checkout, then suddenly a dressed up sort of fella saw to it that a whole bevvy of cashiers corraled up to wait on him.


 Then the dressed up guy approached him and offered him a job as a secret shopper.


Being a fairly busy sort of lad, he declined, but we got a heck of a good laugh out of it....


So, anyhow, watch out. You will never know if that grubby, haircut-challenged guy, who looks like he lost his razor is just an old farm boy...or a corporate spy!

Happy Birthday Breezey375

AKA Becky, who keeps me in good books and stretches my imagination with books I might not choose for myself and feeds me chocolate and preps my cows for me. You are a paragon of daughterhood and I love you madly.

Poor Craftsmanship Alert

The boss always buys me an extra turkey at Thanksgiving time when prices are low. It gets pulled out of the freezer on weeks like this and much enjoyed in sandwiches and pot pie.


However, this time the second bird posed a puzzle. It had two necks, two livers (huge livers!) and no heart. 


Must be a GMO bird. 

It wasn't me, really it wasn't...

Okay, Here It Is

The boy stopped in yesterday on the quick, hurry up, to show me his new window decal. He asked me to take a pic and share it with you as he thinks it is pretty cool. (FYI, it is the Bone Collector one. When we went down to Cabela's he bought me a Bone Collector air freshener, which is very nice too.)

And then he was gone, off to Jersey and the pier, to make holes in things and then fill them up again.