DH is talking to his cousin and a wind-mill salesman about wind turbines. Our cow pasture might be a good place for such. Take a big chunk out of the electric bill.
We'll see what the man has to say.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
And there were ... 135
...New baby chicks.
We ordered 75 broiler chicks to raise for meat. DH thought maybe we should have gone with 100, but in the mean time the cows got in the chicken pens in the barn and wrecked them. So we were going to use the smaller pen.
At the feed mill's chick day, Poultry Pullman boxes were stacked up all over the office.
The manager said that by the way, some people had not called for their chicks and they had a few extra.
We volunteered to take some ... 10 at first.
At the end of the day they came up with 100 extra.
We agreed to take 50 more. With those 50 and the first 10 extras, we now have 135.
Next project: Working on a bigger pen!
We ordered 75 broiler chicks to raise for meat. DH thought maybe we should have gone with 100, but in the mean time the cows got in the chicken pens in the barn and wrecked them. So we were going to use the smaller pen.
At the feed mill's chick day, Poultry Pullman boxes were stacked up all over the office.
The manager said that by the way, some people had not called for their chicks and they had a few extra.
We volunteered to take some ... 10 at first.
At the end of the day they came up with 100 extra.
We agreed to take 50 more. With those 50 and the first 10 extras, we now have 135.
Next project: Working on a bigger pen!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Rain coming ...
The forecast Sunday afternoon was a toss-up. Would we get heavy rain or not? The Cubs game was rain-delayed three hours, and they are upstream from us, weather-wise.
Even though it was a Sunday, and we don't work on Sunday, DH decided his ox was in the ditch and it was time to pull it out.
We had to put hay wagons away on two farms. I rode on the tractor fender back and forth while DH thundered along in road-gear. (He never drives the tractors that fast!) Kind of funny -- when you are out in the open, on a horse or bicycle or tractor, 10 to 15 miles an hour or so seems so fast it takes your breath away. In a car or truck it's maddening.
At the other farm we turned in with the last wagon and, what in the world. A truck was parked across the lane. DH went up to the house. THe renter's truck had died, so the renter, DH and DS1 had to push it out of the way.
The sky was overcast but not threatening when we got home. Had we done all that for no reason? There was a 50 percent chance of rain ...
Noah would have felt right at home though, by the end of Monday. According to our rain gauge, we got about 7 inches.
Even though it was a Sunday, and we don't work on Sunday, DH decided his ox was in the ditch and it was time to pull it out.
We had to put hay wagons away on two farms. I rode on the tractor fender back and forth while DH thundered along in road-gear. (He never drives the tractors that fast!) Kind of funny -- when you are out in the open, on a horse or bicycle or tractor, 10 to 15 miles an hour or so seems so fast it takes your breath away. In a car or truck it's maddening.
At the other farm we turned in with the last wagon and, what in the world. A truck was parked across the lane. DH went up to the house. THe renter's truck had died, so the renter, DH and DS1 had to push it out of the way.
The sky was overcast but not threatening when we got home. Had we done all that for no reason? There was a 50 percent chance of rain ...
Noah would have felt right at home though, by the end of Monday. According to our rain gauge, we got about 7 inches.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
"We'll take care of it ..."
No sweeter words could have been spoken a couple of days ago. We had gone to the local minor-league baseball game and grudgingly forked over $3 to park in the stadium lot.
Then, while reading bumper stickers on the cars around us and wrangling kids and joining the rush of people into the stadium -- we locked the keys in the car. (Pronouns have been changed to protect the guilty ...)
DH started poking around the windows because a couple of his hay customers, oddly enough, were magicians at breaking into cars after locking keys inside. The missing ingredient though, was a wire coat hanger.
Visions of doom crossed my mind: We have only one set of keys; and we couldn't get a ride home with anyone b/c all the inlaws and outlaws went to Canada this week. We'd have to call a locksmith. I saw a bill board for one and called on the cell phone ... but his office hours were 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The police don't do lock-outs unless it's an emergency such as a baby locked in the car.
Bottom line was ... how much was this going to cost and how would we get home?
I prayed and felt led that we should go inside, find the stadium office and ask about a phone book. Our first stop was the Fan Assistance Center. I told the gal on duty what we'd done and asked if they had a phone book so I could call a locksmith.
Bless her heart, she said, "Let me call someone here." She did and told whoever about it. Then they asked if it were in their lot, license number and so on.
The guy who answered the page had sort of a dark-haired Italian "Wise guy" look to him. "We'll take care of it," he said.
DD and I went ahead to the game. Then we got paged to the fan center about "some valuables for you." Lo and behold there were the keys.
The wise guy must have spoken to his associates and there we were. No charge. How thankful we were! I think the $3 for parking was money well spent.
And we are going to get a second set of keys.
Then, while reading bumper stickers on the cars around us and wrangling kids and joining the rush of people into the stadium -- we locked the keys in the car. (Pronouns have been changed to protect the guilty ...)
DH started poking around the windows because a couple of his hay customers, oddly enough, were magicians at breaking into cars after locking keys inside. The missing ingredient though, was a wire coat hanger.
Visions of doom crossed my mind: We have only one set of keys; and we couldn't get a ride home with anyone b/c all the inlaws and outlaws went to Canada this week. We'd have to call a locksmith. I saw a bill board for one and called on the cell phone ... but his office hours were 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The police don't do lock-outs unless it's an emergency such as a baby locked in the car.
Bottom line was ... how much was this going to cost and how would we get home?
I prayed and felt led that we should go inside, find the stadium office and ask about a phone book. Our first stop was the Fan Assistance Center. I told the gal on duty what we'd done and asked if they had a phone book so I could call a locksmith.
Bless her heart, she said, "Let me call someone here." She did and told whoever about it. Then they asked if it were in their lot, license number and so on.
The guy who answered the page had sort of a dark-haired Italian "Wise guy" look to him. "We'll take care of it," he said.
DD and I went ahead to the game. Then we got paged to the fan center about "some valuables for you." Lo and behold there were the keys.
The wise guy must have spoken to his associates and there we were. No charge. How thankful we were! I think the $3 for parking was money well spent.
And we are going to get a second set of keys.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Show me the money ...
... just because we're getting a little worried. All but one load of wheat went to one elevator. Almost a month ago. We're looking at, oh, I don't know ... about a quarter of our income for the whole year.
No check has arrived. Praying ... praying ... praying ...
Property taxes are due Friday. The state legislators crow about tax relief for homeowners but shifted the burden to farmers and other property owners, since the money had to come from somewhere.
Our last year's taxes came in two installments -- December 2008 and January 2009.
*sigh*
No check has arrived. Praying ... praying ... praying ...
Property taxes are due Friday. The state legislators crow about tax relief for homeowners but shifted the burden to farmers and other property owners, since the money had to come from somewhere.
Our last year's taxes came in two installments -- December 2008 and January 2009.
*sigh*
Monday, July 27, 2009
Back to the fairgrounds ...
...to pick up the kids' projects. Brown paths lined the parking lots. The lanes among the barns, 4-H building and food booths were empty. So was the sky of the midway. No giant Ferris wheel, or Ring of Fire, or Freak-out. Just empty blue above the rock quarry and railroad line. The horses, cattle, sheep, goats, poultry and small animals are gone. Some of the farm animals were sold at auction and have already gone to their last round-up. Others, like our dairy cows and heifers, are back home on the farm.
We ended the fair with the open dairy cattle show, which brought in youth exhibitors from all over the northern part of the state. The kids bravely participated and gathered some last-place ribbons but kind words from the judge. The winning cows looked like box cars. Ours looked like ponies compared to some. The judge did comment about DD's cow that Verna was "correct and well balanced, just not enough of her to compete with some of these long tall cows out here."
We went to the rodeo and watched most of the bull riding with grit teeth. One mean bunch of Brahmas out there.
I took the boys to the tractor pull. We watched the super modified class that look more like rockets than tractors. We were there until one of them blew one its four jet engines. A long delay shaped up as officials set out to gather shrapnel from the track. The noise is indescribable -- a lot like being on the flight line with jets taking off -- the kind of sound you feel as well as hear.
Everyone surprised me by deciding after the 4-H show to keep the cows out there all week.
DS2, "Yasha," made the rounds of all the animal barns and displays. His favorite was the cow and calf barn. The dairy association lined up several close-up cows who freshened all week during the fair. Fairgoers could see the new borns, participate in hand milking, even saw managers pull a large calf.
It was fun and now we're done. Until next year ...
We ended the fair with the open dairy cattle show, which brought in youth exhibitors from all over the northern part of the state. The kids bravely participated and gathered some last-place ribbons but kind words from the judge. The winning cows looked like box cars. Ours looked like ponies compared to some. The judge did comment about DD's cow that Verna was "correct and well balanced, just not enough of her to compete with some of these long tall cows out here."
We went to the rodeo and watched most of the bull riding with grit teeth. One mean bunch of Brahmas out there.
I took the boys to the tractor pull. We watched the super modified class that look more like rockets than tractors. We were there until one of them blew one its four jet engines. A long delay shaped up as officials set out to gather shrapnel from the track. The noise is indescribable -- a lot like being on the flight line with jets taking off -- the kind of sound you feel as well as hear.
Everyone surprised me by deciding after the 4-H show to keep the cows out there all week.
DS2, "Yasha," made the rounds of all the animal barns and displays. His favorite was the cow and calf barn. The dairy association lined up several close-up cows who freshened all week during the fair. Fairgoers could see the new borns, participate in hand milking, even saw managers pull a large calf.
It was fun and now we're done. Until next year ...
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