Northview Diary

Wordless Wednesday

2013-06-19T06:42:00.001-04:00

Song Sparrow

Indigo bunting

I am your father

If You Wuz Me

2013-06-18T07:06:00.002-04:00

What would you do with fifteen years of Farm Sides? And, alas, this is not the whole pile. Back in the day I used to keep track of them and file them by year in order and all so there is a half a drawer full of filed ones too.

I really want to keep them.......

And I am missing a good few.....

Portraits

2013-06-17T06:21:00.003-04:00

One of these actually is the farmer lady. The other easily could be, at least this year. Just sayin'......

Sunday Stills...Sunrises and Sunsets

2013-06-16T06:23:00.001-04:00

Week 'o' rain, but we had a couple just the same.

For more Sunday Stills......

Happy Father's Day

2013-06-16T06:08:00.000-04:00

To my own amazing dad, who taught all his children the almost fanatical wonder that comes with being truly interested in life. Whatever else happens to us in this amazing world, we will never be bored.

Too much to see and know and do. And that includes the birds that rev my little engine every day. Dad was the birder who got it started....
Thanks, Dad, we love you. Hope your day is wonderful.

To the father of my children, to whom we hope we have passed that wonder down. Can you believe that it was 28 years ago today that we went to visit Justice McVean and came away matched up in double harness for life? Amazing....what a team!

Hope you have a great day too. Happy Fathers/Anniversary Day.

To a certain young dad we know and love, enjoying Father's Day with the most beautiful grandbaby in the world.... Have a great one, you make us proud to know you and your family.

And to all you fine fathers who stop by to read this...have a terrific Father's Day all of you!

Surprise Pressie

2013-06-15T14:45:00.003-04:00

Right outside the back door! Although we have a steady stream of Baltimore orioles eating oranges if we have them, or just hanging around yelling at us if we don't, I haven't seen an actual nest in a long time.

Then the other day when I was standing in the driveway I heard softly twittering baby birds (and they don't even have iPhones!) I looked up in the big old box elder and thought I saw this nest. Today I had some time so I went up above on the lawn and from there you can see it.....barely.....

Cool, huh?

Farm Girls Don't Fear the Dirty Jobs

2013-06-15T10:23:00.000-04:00

In the "Cow" Bird Seat

2013-06-15T06:42:00.004-04:00

Another lucky miss yesterday. We got about seven sprinkles, while nearby Middleburgh and Schoharie were flooded so badly that the children were stuck in the school for a very long time and the roads were closed.

Meanwhile we had the first really nice day in what seems like a while. As always after a spell of bad weather, the jobs had mounted up and there was a lot to try to catch up.

However, while the catbird was busy, busy, busy, the cows took it easy in the sunshine......

A Miss is as Good As

2013-06-14T07:21:00.000-04:00

The tornadoes in Virginia and Maryland missed our boy. Thanks to the hills the flooding missed us. The power went out for a while, but not long, the driveways may never be the same, but for the moment the sun is shining and I am grateful. I think the cows are too, grazing as if it were their job.

Oh, wait.

Not a happy camper when that mean old lady went up to the building to get the brush nippers.

Ominous

2013-06-13T06:38:00.001-04:00

We still have cows to calve so we got up and got out early. Boss checked 'em while I took pictures of the sunrise.

It wasn't quite up yet, just a silvery yellow glow in the sky. then it popped up quickly spotlighting the pastures and the grasses and turning the inside of the house pretty orange like the inside of a peach.

And in the time it took me to walk back inside the house it was gone.

Just like that.

All is dim and grey as if it never came up.

So we went out and fed before milking instead of after so we don't have to do it in the rain....which is starting even as we speak.....

And I realized that I never told you what name the calf ended up with a while back. We invited names from here and from the Farm Side and ended up with Abbekerk.

To be known as Abby for short. She is a cutie and growing well. Thank you to all who participated!

Just Another Morning

2013-06-12T07:10:00.001-04:00

Trying to get a sunrise for Sunday Stills....alas, they have been cancelled this week along with the closing of the canal. Much more rain predicted for tomorrow. yay.....not....

Sunlight through bunny ears

So here is what I saw when I went out photo hunting....

Bunny and flicker grazing together

An itchy fanny

Thirsty too

More bunny sun

When No One but the Vet Will Do

2013-06-11T12:30:00.001-04:00

We are lucky enough to have an outstanding one...well, actually several, but everybody has favorites.

Last night Lakota finally looked as if she might have her calf. Everybody got up by turns to check her all night.

No dice. No calf either.

Early this morning was my turn. One look and I knew something was seriously wrong. Don't know how to explain to you how you just KNOW, but you do, even if the cow is just standing there looking dopey with her tail up.

We waited until milking time, still no calf, no feet, no nothing. The boss examined her and couldn't determine what was going on, so we called our veterinarian.

Within minutes after arriving she had diagnosed a twisted uterus, which she then proceeded to straighten out without any of the boards, ropes, barnyard rodeo and such that have accompanied every other similar case we have dealt with.

A few minutes with obstetrical chains and a detorsion bar (did I get that right?) and she and the boss were pulling a huge bull calf unhindered by the twist.

It has come to be where I just can't deal when things are wrong with animals. I worry myself sick. This was just such a case. I'm so thankful that when we need a professional we have someone who can come in and do wonders like this.

Hopefully the old cow...she is 12...will spring back and do well. At least she is up and eating the nice hay my dear brother and his lovely family brought down this morning....

Enough and More Than

2013-06-11T06:17:00.004-04:00

We have water running in places I haven't seen water since the big floods. It is actually getting a bit scary. The long range forecast calls for more rain, long-term chilly weather, and more rain and more rain. There isn't a sign of even a two-day dry spell in the predictions anywhere.

It is time to be putting up hay.

Last night at chore time there was a good-sized box elder tree lying on top of the gate down from the pasture. Took the skid steer to get it off. We have had no appreciable wind. It just toppled over from the weight of the wet leaves and the saturation of the ground.

Got nuthin more. Just rain.

Not a Gull

2013-06-10T06:02:00.004-04:00

Sunday morning computer time...getting Sunday Stills posted and all...when a strange gull call echoes from the backyard.

I am busy. I ignore it.

For a while.

Finally the urgency drags me out the back door....to stand on the steps and finally look up.

Nope, not a gull. A pair of bald eagles circling in flight and crying at each other right over the Winesap apple tree.

I think they stayed three or four minutes or so. I think the big dark raptor accompanying them was a juvenile.

I think having bald eagles dancing around in your backyard is incredibly cool.

And then this morning a new singer was tuning it up in the mulberry tree, also right off the step. Having learned the red-eyed vireo last week, I recognized this as a very similar call but different.

Tried the white-eyed vireo call.

Nope.

Warbling vireo? Yes, I think so. Not going to claim it because I am not positive, but I am really close to positive that that is what it is. How cool is that?

Sunday Stills...Horses

2013-06-09T06:44:00.000-04:00

not ours

ours

also ours

For more Sunday Stills.....

Show Cows will give you Grey Hair

2013-06-08T05:46:00.002-04:00

I'm being followed

Even the retired ones. We have a number of cows due to calve over the next few weeks. As is the case with human mothers, the transition between pregnancy and lactation is fraught with peril. Extra attention to the needs of the expectant mother is of paramount importance.

Thus I have been getting up a long, sleepy time before anyone else to trudge to the barn and check on Lakota and Monday, two of Liz's retired show cows, who are "springing" as farmers say.

And Blitz, another retired queen of the spotlit shavings, who is just being kept down to keep them company. Cows like company.

This lovely, dripping, dark, chilly, gloomy, early April.....oh, wait, it's June....morning, I slogged on over to find the expectant mamas resting comfortably chewing their cuds.

Blitz however, was tucked up in a surprisingly small ball for a cow whose shoulders are about the same height as my head.

By a

Unmoving. I called out, "Hey, Blitz, ya dead?" You know from Cool Runnings, as in "Hey Sanka......"

Nothing. I went up the hill and called again, not laughing this time.

Nothing. Not even an ear twitch.

Dang. On up the hill the rest of the way, slap the side of the old yellow milkhouse for a loud, satisfying bang.

Her head came up slowly and she peered at me owlishly, not unlike a teenager roused from slumber after a busy night.

"What the heck do you want? Can't you see what time it is? Go away."

I did, but not without some head shaking and grumbling about show cows that are so tame that they consider people to be herdmates...and lower echelon herd mates at that, not at all worthy of notice. I sure hope tomorrow, which is supposed to be my morning off, someone else does the daybreak barn check......

Tail Shadow, tail shadow....

Fluffy Cows-You can Grow Your Own

2013-06-07T06:33:00.003-04:00

Not fluffy

Fluffy cows are actually beef bulls fluffed up for the show ring. When I first saw them taking over the Interwebs I didn't get it, because beef show "club" calves have looked that way forever.

However I guess only folks who read beef magazines or go to shows have seen them before. Kind of a western thing. I have always read trade magazines, even before I was a farmer, because my uncle was a farmer and I read them at their house, so I'm pretty used to them.

But they are cute.

For hairy cows that is. (Does all this hair make my butt look fat? Why yes it does and that is the point.)

Here's how to make one for your very own. Seriously, go check it out...it's all in the grooming.

Read more about them here

And some explanations of the concept from the guy who owns the famous ones here.

And a discussion of some concerns about inevitable anthropomorphism here.

Barn Check Report

2013-06-07T05:52:00.005-04:00

Broadway

All three subjects are standing up at the feeder. Lakota is eating, Monday and Blitz are chewing their cud.

The importunate phoebe that woke us both up is still sawing away, FEEBEE, FEEBEE, FEEBEE.

Who needs an alarm clock with him around? The little rooster is crowing too, but the bird is much louder.

Yesterday was one of those Murphy's law days. With the rain promised...or should I say threatened...we wanted to get everything up to snuff for the wet days. The boss cleaned pens in the morning, then he and Liz went out to do the afternoon feeding early so he could chop hay to feed in the barn for the rain days.

Her business end

And the beater on the forage wagon gave up the good fight. Five hundred bucks and a lot of driving and wrenching later it was fixed, too late...it was already raining. So he will have to do it between the showers if there is such a time.

Not helpful. Even the most upbeat of the young farm folks I'm friends with on Facebook are lamenting the non-fun of milking wet cows. Our cows have yet to settle down to summer calm and are cranky and switchy every single day. And it isn't even fly season yet.

Let's hope the hot air rising out of the center of the Beltway blows this rain out west where they can use it and sends some haying weather east. I checked Craigslist for hay yesterday, just taking the pulse of the market so to speak. Only about three ads, and those were for high-end horse hay.

Or mulch.

Or used bales that had been seats for somebody's party.

And the scary thing is, I'll bet it all gets bought.

Frieland LF Bama Breeze

Oh, well.

Nosy

2013-06-06T11:01:00.000-04:00

The Calm Before

2013-06-06T06:46:00.001-04:00

Guess we are supposed to get nailed by Tropical Storm Andrea, with up to five inches of rain over the next couple of days. I'm here to tell you that we do not need it.

It has rained and rained and rained again. Everyone who walks out after the cows is injured in one way or another by trudging through the mud and muck. We saw a pic of a friend's tractor buried almost to the top of the wheels in a HAY field. Gonna make buying extra winter hay and getting our own put up a serious problem.

Not good. The boss keeps getting started and then getting stopped by cruddy weather. Every time it rains all the pens and yards have to be hoed out, and the driveways leveled.

If we weren't farming I guess we could just whine about the golf course or something, but it sure is a pain in the neck, especially since elsewhere there is drought. I am waiting for the cows not to be muddy and to get all shiny and pretty like they do in the summer, but this year that time is slow in coming. They lie down and slap their tails and paint themselves with whatever that tail hits. Yay....well, have a good one.

Storm

2013-06-05T07:10:00.001-04:00

Snarky wind snorts up dust

And sneezes over the valley.

Thunder grumbles; trains rumble,

Sounding louder than normal in this prelude to weather.

The clouds are all piling

Across the horizon.

Getting darker.

Cooler.

Wilder.

Then the wind flexes muscles you'd forgotten that it sported,

The rain turns to torrents and the clouds seem to circle.

Then suddenly as it reared it's scary black head.

It's over, just over, and this flag flies instead.

Playing Hooky

2013-06-04T06:26:00.001-04:00

Orchard grass in bloom

Got the Farm Side to write. Every week for over a dozen years and at least once a month for fifteen. Sometimes it is a lot of fun...sharing the beautiful and funny, the tragedy and triumph of life on a small NY farm.

Sometimes it is work, writing about issues and events from the big screen of agriculture. Not as much fun, but I feel it is important. The mainstream press probably doesn't even see the largest percentage of the trade news that comes across my screen. If farm writers who work for conventional news outlets don't share what theylearn, who will?

Anyhow, this is one of those less fun weeks, writing about the takeover of Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, by a Shanghai-based Chinese company...scary huh?

Got up at 4:30 to work on it in the quiet (a rare commodity around here) and to check on a cow that is due to calve.

Lakota, and Blitz, who was kept down in the yard to keep her company, were both fine, chewing their cuds and lying in comfort. Everybody in the barn seemed okay. Cruise had not jumped out of her stall...what with the new board added to make it higher. Why is it that the nicest looking show calf Liz has had in years has to be such a complete and utter idiot?

Then nose to the grindstone, fingers to the keyboard, I have a huge folder of research, so time to get at it.

449 words of my thousand a week, done and partially proofread. I started this on Sunday when I began to read some of the details of the situation. What a mess.

Anyhow, half done at least. Should I finish up with Smithfield and do the second half on another issue or beef it up with more data...decisions, decisions.

Next comes a big mistake. You should never look out the window when writing a serious piece.

Or at least not at 5:30 in the morning when you live on the corner of Paradise and Heartstopping.....

Out to the sitting porch, coffee, cell phone, binoculars, and camera hanging off me like tentacles of technological octopi.

And darn it, it was worth cutting class. That fool bird that sings all day from before dawn to almost dusk, is not an errant catbird stuck on monotonous. It is a red-eyed vireo.

It is also loud. It nearly drowns out the other birds, but I still hear the phoebe, willow flycatcher, cardinal, robin, catbird, cedar waxwings, Baltimore oriole and such...

Hooky is a fine sport. If I could bottle June mornings and sell them in town I would be rich. And if I run out of time I can work later when the boss goes out to get feed and not waste the best part of the day studying and writing essays. I think that's what I'll do.

Orchard grass

More Weekend

2013-06-03T10:31:00.002-04:00

Black locust trees and riverbank grapes in bloom at the same time....wish I could share how sweet they smell....

Just Another

2013-06-03T06:18:00.001-04:00

Weekend at Northview

Sunday Stills....Sky

2013-06-02T06:39:00.004-04:00

Bunnicula

Puppy duppy

It was a good week for this with lots of varied weather. I joked with the boss that Sunday Stills is good for my figure, as it seemed as if every time I sat down, something would change in the sky and I would have to run for the camera. Lots of fun! Thanks Ed.