Cattle Delivery and Pickup

This has been a very fine day. The weather was exceptional - partly cloudy and working toward 50 degrees. Perfect weather to shuffle around some cattle.

A generous friend of my father-in-law gave us a young bull for Christmas. He has also offered to breed our cows to his fine bull. Well, the bull was delivered today and he picked up the cow/calf pairs to take back for breeding. The transfer was completed without incident, although it took about 1-1/2 hours which was much more than it should have. We don't yet have any handling facilities so the whole operation was rather makeshift and cumbersome. I also had a buddy come over to pick up a heifer and the extra hand was very helpful.

Kyle and I completed a water line repair that had been put on hold due to time and temperature constraints. I can't say enough about my 10 year old son's cheerful countenance when it comes to work.

We are about to head off to church for a Christmas Eve service. We would like to wish all a very merry and blessed Christmas.

Keith

Community

We live a couple of miles from a small town--a nice town, and we're happy here.

This town has a small local grocery store, a post office with limited services, a bank branch, a small restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch, and a farm museum that opened a few months ago. The only service station closed more than a year ago; we heard the owner died, and I guess no one has wanted to take it over. Oh, yes--a few churches, too. There is also a small building with a sign over the door that says "City Hall." I'm not sure if this building is ever used. All of these businesses are more or less on "the square" that surrounds a green area that has a gazebo in the center of it. This Saturday, Santa will be in the gazebo, with free pictures being taken, and a couple of the good local folks will have carriages hooked up giving free rides.

We've not had a lot to do with the town since moving in 14 months ago, except going to the restaurant--not often, although the food is generally good, and it's nice to at least have met the folks who cook the food. We also go to very small church in town, sometimes doubling the attendance. My parents have been better about becoming part of the community; they opened a bank account here pretty quickly; my father takes extra tomatoes in the summer to the restaurant; they occasionally patronize the grocery store; etc.

Yesterday, the kids got academics finished very quickly and we let all but the critical chores (critters and laundry) slide while we baked. We made two types of cookies, a batch of milk chocolate/mint fudge, and homemade turtle brownies, all from scratch. We had a good time and were weary by evening.

Today, the kids and I loaded up around 10:30 and delivered these goodies with Christmas wishes to the four downtown businesses (the museum is not open all the time; only upon request and on special occasions); a neighboring nursery--they've been very neighborly; and our closest neighbors, who are great mentors and friends. Each of these received the treats with genuine warmth and seemed truly touched (not tetched!) at the gesture.

It feels good to be neighborly.

Mary Susan

Guilt

I'm feeling guilty about my "bird-brained" post of Dec. 6. Maybe chickens are not as...well, as...as empty-headed as I think. I readily admit that we've never had chicks from our own hens (although we're hoping to work toward that this spring), and that the only chickens we've had are layers (and a rooster with an attitude toward children that won him a belly full of lead). I wonder if my respect for chickens will rise when I see one mothering her chicks.

I certainly appreciate their laying abilities; our production is up significantly since installing the light in the hen house and leaving it on a couple of hours in the evening.

I have wondered if chickens have had some of their chicken-ness bred out of them for the sake of production--that maybe some of the "chicken-ness" that God gave them to begin with has been watered down by man's tampering. I wish we knew someone nearby who has chickens of their own, that they have raised for generations, so we could start our own flock from clean stock.

I acknowledge that I spoke out of ignorance regarding the intelligence of chickens, which doesn't say much for my intelligence. However, I still maintain that they are incredibly fun to watch.

Mary Susan

I will not covet...

...my friend's quick-attach loader. I picked up an old bale spear at a buddy's house last week. He loaded it on my trailer for me using his loader. But first he swapped-out his bale spear for a pallet fork. Since he had a quick-attach loader, this changeout consumed only about 30 seconds.

I faced several challenges installing the spear on my tractor. Challenge number one was getting the old Ford 4600 started after an uncharacteristically cold 12 degree night. As most of you know, diesels and cold don't mix well. Old diesels, weak batteries and cold can be downright disagreeable. But I am thankful that she started once again. Challenge number two was removing the bucket that had been in place for more than three years. This really wasn't the challenge I expected. Liberal application of brute force using a 3 lb. engineer's hammer and a cold chisel removed the three pins securing the bucket. Challenge number three was attaching the spear. This would not have been too bad had the attachment points lined up properly. This homemade bale spear is designed with one large spear and two small stabilizing spears. Unfortunately the small spears were welded in a location that prevented me from being able to adjust the attachment brackets exactly where I wanted. Never-the-less I was able to coax (ref. engineer hammer) the brackets into an acceptable position so that I could make the attachment.

In all, the changeout took about 40 minutes and it will be quicker the next time. I am thankful for the equipment, that I was able to accomplish the task, and that the cows have been fed. I am thankful that a little (or often a lot) of muscle and sweat is good for us and can sometimes do the job better than a piece of expensive equipment. I truly don't covet the quick-attach loader, but don't ask me about my friend's workshop, back-hoe, dump trailer....

Keith

Fruit

Keith talked this morning to a friend whose father, Mr. Smith, raises the best apples in the world. We had a late frost last spring that wiped out this year's crop, and we've missed those delicious apples. In the past, we've made apple sauce, apple butter, dried apples, and apple chips (very-dehydrated apples; one of our favorite snacks), as well as having fresh apples raw, fried, in pies and cakes, etc.

A few years ago, Mr. Smith helped us get root stock and grafting stock, and we put in 6 trees. The grafts took great (even Mr. Smith couldn't believe how well they did), and we hoped to have some good apple trees in the future. However, we moved. We also moved the grafted trees (sort-of-large twigs, I'd say) in the dim hope that they would survive, only to put the driveway in over them once we started building. And so we have none of those trees left.

We did put in 10 apple trees last year, and they seem to be doing fine, but they won't produce apples like Mr. Smith's. (His wife, of course, is Granny Smith--but the apples aren't.)

In talking with Mr. Smith's daughter today, Keith learned that he also grows muscadines, which we are hoping to grow, too. I'm sure Keith will be talking to him soon about apples and muscadines. He also grows incredible peaches, but rarely has enough survive the late frosts to sell or give away. This is fairly common around here; just a little too far north to have a reliable peach crop, I guess.

Keith's wanting to plant blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries, too. And our wonderful neighbors grow grapes--Concord, I think. We made jam this summer with some of their grapes. This neighbor's wife told us her husband would start us some vines this winter with his cuttings.

Looking forward to some good fruit in the future! So neat to think of providing more for ourselves, relying more on our own sweat and God's providence and less on industry. Also really great to have friends who can help us with the know-how and with starting some of our own crops.

Mary Susan

Bird-brained

Chickens are fun to watch; they provide a fine explanation of the term "bird-brained."

However, if our 15yo daughter is correct in her assessment that chickens are empty-headed, the term "bird-brained" is oxymoronic.

Mary Susan

Enemy in the home

Rather than continuing the fight against a strange (or is it?) adversary in our home, I'm considering trying to accept the dirty deed and incorporate it into our lives. However, I'm having a difficult time letting go of my prejudices.

Much like weeds in a garden, these sprout throughout our house and beyond--yes, even in the garage, the utility vehicle, cars, and yard. I would not be surprised to find that we leave an ugly trail wherever we go.

My thoughts now are toward not only acceptance, but even of incorporation. Yes, the abhor-tolerate-accept-embrace progression. Not generally thought of as a good progression, but maybe in this instance, I have been too extreme in my abhorrence.

And so, humbly (but a bit grumbly) admitting defeat, I'm trying to come up with a decorating scheme that would be enhanced and improved by--or, more realistically, that is built around-- dirty socks.

Mary Susan