It has been one of those days....

Where sitting down at all feels like a luxury.

I overslept to start with. Pain killers combined with up til quarter to 11 to keep an eye on an overdue cow are not wisely combined.

Then milking seemed to take forever. Plus I discovered our dairy software calculated my big show cow's due date off a week, so she is due the 9th instead of the 15th. So she is now resting with the other cow which decided to calve today.

I made a huge batch of biscuits. No issue there but it takes a while.

Following that I went out to redo some stalls, and build a new stall for my shortie cross bull so he could come in for the winter.

While building said stall, his future neighbor, who is also his half brother, broke his tie and ran loose through the barn. Which meant I had to fix his stall, catch and halter his sorry butt, and get him back IN the stall...This is easier said than done, and the little bugger stomped my foot bad enough to feel it. He is now in his stall. Brother boy is in his new stall and loven it. And my foot did survive.

As a bonus today, the overdue cow, Camry, chose to finally calve. In the rain. In a mud hole. On a hill. And have a big headed bull calf that took an hour and a half, and at several points me getting help from my mom to deliver. My hands are raw and burning. And I still have to milk and feed tonight.

Can we say chalk it up to a long day and gonna sleep good tonight?

How was everyone's wet Wednesday?

The Last Of Them...Who Can Guess What I Enjoyed Yesterday?

Based on my several posts worth of pictures...Who can guess roughly what I did yesterday? Mom and family are exempt!

The Town That Went Sugar Free...

As some may know, my Mom's birthday is this Saturday. Since she is not a huge fan of cake, I asked her if instead she would like me to make a big batch of oatmeal cranberry chocolate chip cookies (my recipe lol). She was all for that. So after a distressing trip to a local berry farm to buy some ridiculously overpriced berries (which taste pretty awful), I stopped at the only store in the two towns that has a semi grocery in it.

The shelf were sugar would usually be was completely empty...aside from a few bags of confectioners, and two very sad looking boxes of sugar cubes...So I went to the store manager. I really need sugar because I have no brown left, and well the cookies do require brown sugar.

Asked very politely if they had any brown sugar in the back. To which she replied...

"I am SO sorry. Some Amish guy came in and bought every single bag of brown and granulated sugar we had, while we were unloading it from the truck. There were almost 32 cases worth just of the brown and he just bought it ALL."

No I am not joking. Some Amish man bought the entire town out of sugar...there is no sugar...there will not be a delivery unless they do an emergency order for more than a week...The only other store we have that might carry sugar only carries the little bitty boxes of cubes. That guy bought roughly 100+ pounds worth of sugar if my calculations are right. I would really like to know WHAT he is going to do with it! I mean I have heard of having a sweet tooth, but this is ridiculous.

In the mean time...could I borrow a cup of sugar? lol

100 Things

1. Started your own blog
OH yeah. I have 2 actually. This one...and This one

2. Slept under the stars
Not really

3. Played in a band
if middle school and high school concert band count

4. Visited Hawaii.
nope and i dont plan to

5. Watched a meteor shower
Yes. They are so beautiful!

6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
Not really. Though I do give what I can

7. Been to Disneyland
No and I NEVER want to go!

8. Climbed a mountain
nope

9. Held a praying mantis
Held, caught, and enjoyed watching. They are one of my two favorite bugs! the other being the Box Elder bugs that live in the milk house in the winter.

10. Sang a solo
Couple times

11. Bungee jumped
Good lord no. What a scary thought!

12. Visited Paris
Nope

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
Nope

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
Nope

15. Adopted a child
No

16. Had food poisoning
No

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
Nope

18. Grown your own vegetables
Well I help mom sometimes

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
Not so much

20. Slept on an overnight train
Not hardly

21. Had a pillow fight
Oh yeah!

22. Hitchhiked
That is so dangerous these days!

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
mmm it wasn't exactly a "sick day" I skipped school to go to a couple of cow auctions a few times...the teachers got the real excuse though!

24. Built a snow fort
many many times!

25. Held a lamb
Yup. Raised a few too! I want more lambs...waaaa

26. Gone skinny dipping
yups

27. Run a marathon
hah no...i prefer to walk

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
Never been to Venice, will never go to Venice, so will never ride a gondola in Venice. Funny how that one works

29. Seen a total eclipse
Yes

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
many times....driving into Altamont when I showed there there was, except for show morning when I got there at 12 midnight, a sunrise coming up.

31. Hit a home run
gym class once, hit a lot of standing triples though

32. Been on a cruise
no i dont like that whole nasty virus thing that you get to bring home as an added gift

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
No but i want to

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

No but maybe some day

35. Seen an Amish community
we are surrounded by them

36. Taught yourself a new language
nope

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
does that ever actually happen?

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
no

39. Gone rock climbing
no

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
no

41. Sung karaoke
hahaha they keep trying...i keep refusing...

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
No.

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
No.

44. Visited Africa
Nope

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
No. we dont exactly have beaches...

46. Been transported in an ambulance
No. And I dont want to be either

47. Had your portrait painted
Nope

48. Gone deep sea fishing
No

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
No

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

No.

51. Gone SCUBA diving or snorkeling
Does attempting to snorkel in the lake count?

52. Kissed in the rain
yes

53. Played in the mud
oh yeah

54. Gone to a drive-in theater
yes

55. Been in a movie
nope

56. Visited the Great Wall of China.

I dont even want to see China!

57. Started a business
Sorta

58. Taken a martial arts class
No. But Sean keeps trying to get me to.....I think he has ulterior motives...

59. Visited Russia
No.

60. Served at a soup kitchen
Nope.

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
No. 4-H cookies yes

62. Gone whale watching
No. Tried in 8th grade in the advance science class. Took them 3 hours to decide that yeah the water really was too rough...grrrrrr

63. Got flowers for no reason
No.

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
No.

65. Gone sky diving
Heck no. Why jump out of a perfectly good plane? I mean WHY WHY WHY?!?!

66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
No!

67. Bounced a check
Nope.

68. Flown in a helicopter
No…

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
Oh a ton of them

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
Nope.

71. Eaten caviar
Hmm I subscribe to the "Take if off the cracker and throw it on a hook" line of thinking...

72. Pieced a quilt
No.

73. Stood in Times Square
No

74. Toured the Everglades
No

75. Been fired from a job
No....my folks like me...the people I did my internship with keep trying to talk me into coming back...

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
Nope

77. Broken a bone
Yes too many

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
NO.

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
Nope.

80. Published a book
No

81. Visited the Vatican
Nope

82. Bought a brand new car
No.

83. Walked in Jerusalem
No.

84. Had your picture in the newspaper
Yes

85. Read the entire Bible
No

86. Visited the White House
No have no urge to either

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
Killed no prepared yes

88. Had chickenpox.

Yes

89. Saved someone’s life
no

90. Sat on a jury
No

91. Met someone famous
Trent Tomlinson, the guys from Emerson Drive, more famous bull riders than I can count like Kody Lostroh, Cord McCoy, and almost all the other top 45.

92. Joined a book club.
No

93. Lost a loved one
Yes

94. Had a baby
Not yet someday...

95. Seen the Alamo in person
Nope.

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
Nope.

97. Been involved in a law suit
no

98. Owned a cell phone
Yeah I have had two... My first lasted almost 4 years. I like my new one that I've had for the last year much better!

99. Been stung by a bee
too many times...I am allergic...I dont like it!

100. Read an entire book in one day
Yes many times not recently though...

I'm done!!!

I'm done. Officially that is! My internship is over! I am home...

So naturally today River decided to have her new bull calf in the very bottom of the ravine at the steepest part. And I went out to check her myself, so I had to carry the calf up, as she kept trying to get him out herself, and he wasn't big or strong enough to climb the crumbly bank. Which resulted in her constantly scrambling back down in to try and get him again. Which lead to her falling on her head more than once. I finally just scooped him up and scuttled up myself. It was interesting. I wish someone had been there with a camera. I had him under one arm and was balancing myself by grabbing small trees with my hand to try and keep from pitching over backwards (it was a long drop). We finally made it up and I slipped back down in to push Riv's up and out. Which was interesting as she was fairly determined her little baby boy was still down there. Eventually she figured it out and all was well when I left them. They had joined up with the other drys and heifers. All of whom though junior was the greatest thing they'd seen in ages. I think they will be fine until we bring them down at milking time.

But anyways now I am back. And hopefully I'll have enough time to not be constantly neglecting my blogs!

Sorry

...To have been gone so long. I have been working basically one and a half full time jobs. One at home. The other my internship. To say I am busy is a bit of an understatement. I work about 40 hours or so a week at my internship site, and other 15-20 I would say (roughly, it may be a bit less) at home. We are calving at home, so I get very little sleep at night, which I try to make up for during the mid afternoon when I have about two hours off from both jobs. Anyway, I am at 168 hours already, so I am hoping I will be done before too many more months go by. I apologize for not posting more, but as I am not even watching most of the PBR events because of fatigue it is hard to have much to post about!

Ahh Aint Life Grand?

Or perhaps not so much. The laptop I bought mid October had to go in to be serviced, as it is having issues. More on that after I get it back, if I ever get it back.



This post is more on some fun Mom and I had while driving ole laptop back to the store. We went the same way that the family friend who took me the first time to get the computer had. As we were going along, I wasn't entirely sure I was on the right road. The last time there had been cows out at one place, and it had been green, not snow covered.



Then we came to the turn. Ahh I said, definitely picked the right one. Those Herefords are as ugly as ever. Mom laughed pretty hard, and said "You know you're a farmer when you identify the right road by the cows in the pastures."



Well, in my case you definitely do. I remember where herds of cows are, as opposed to road names and numbers. Heck, I can't remember the names and numbers to the roads I take to school, and I've driven them twice a day at least for the better part of the year, for four years. And yet after only going down this road once, I knew right where I was, because there were a handful of Herfords, a few Angus, and a couple white faced blackies in a paddock. I think I could probably manage to get back to Ebensburg Pennsylvania without the map now because there were so many farms, and I can look back and remember which ones I turned next to,

New Co-Chair Young Farmers and Ranchers

My first Farm Bureau meeting was Thursday. It was interesting to say the least. I got to do the Young Farmers and Ranchers report, as the chair wasn't there, and I had attended the state discussion meet and round robin competition. Then the field rep got to putting together our reps for the different programs, Promotion and Education, Local Issues, and such. When it got around to Young Farmers and Ranchers, some of the people on the board wanted to go with the old chair. She's working out of state now, and won't be available all the time. SSOOO, our field rep said "Lizzy, why don't you co-chair?" A few board members were all for it, and I thought it would be good, so I said okay. And so now I am. Though I have no clue what I am getting myself in for. But I'll be out of school soon, so I should have plenty of time to figure it all out.

This coming Friday the field rep and I are going out as one of the teams to try and get some new membership. Anyone wanna join the NY Farm Bureau as a member of Montgomery County?

Thanks to Momma for linking to this one. I was surprised that I came out so high, when she was so low. Specially seeing as she is a FAR better writer than I!

Where Did All the Years Go?

How has it been five years (more since I am writing this a day late) since Mandy was born? She turned five yesterday, November 2nd. I love my big black cow, but it is hard to believe she has already nearly reached the aged cow class. She is still just my big, over sized, super gentle, and sweet baby. Now her oldest daughter is coming up on two, and her youngest is just a little baby herself. It amazes me how fast time really can fly.

Becky was nice and baked a cake, which I decorated, so that Mandy has a pretty one for her b-day. Granted she really can't eat it, but to me it is the sentiment that counts.

No time...

No time to do a real full post for this blog, but I did manage to get a new one up on Maqua-Kil Farms. Check it out if you are in the mood for a read...

How to know you should have stayed in bed...

A. You actually aren't up by 6am. That doesn't happen with me unless I am sick.

B. Bad feeling in your gut.

C. The road you drive to get to and from college most days has a big ole "Road Closed" sign.

D. You get a call from your Mom and Dad..."Dad fell in the barn, we think he broke his shoulder. Can you come home and help with chores and maybe pick your brother up from high school so somebody can feed the cows?"

E. All of the above.

If you picked E congradulations, you get a 100% and the option to come and help us get through Dad having a minimum of a busted shoulder, being unable to work for at least a month, and trying to deal with going to school (have a test tomorrow) and all the fun stuff that goes along with the fall season. Yeah for us.

Oh the Irony...

How insane is this? SUNY Cobleskill (my college) is co-sponsoring this years Capital District 100 mile Diet Challenge. It involves eating only those foods that are grown within 100 miles of your home (radius). And yet..here's the irony...they closed down the campus butcher shop and slaughter house. No one can get their meat either turned from animal to edible product, or purchase it there. So why are they sponsering the same thing they are helping to destroy? Hmm...

Meme

1. If you could have super powers what would they be and what would you do with them? (Please feel free to be selfish, you do not have to save the world!) Being able to carry lots of really heavy stuff, so I would only have to make one trip bringing in all the feed and such at the fairs.

2. Were you to find your self stranded on an island with a CD player...it could happen...what would your top 10 bloggers island discs be? Emerson Drive-Countrified, All four of the Todd Fritsch albums, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Chris LeDoux, Trent Willmon

3. If you were a smell what would it be? Hmmm. Might have to go with WD-40, that's some good smelling stuff!!

4. What bird would you most like to be? I'd like something that flew south for the winter. At least for a while

5. If you were a bird who's head would you poo on? Hillary Clinton, like mom, and definitely some of those animal rights wack jobs.

6. Are there any foods that your body craves? Coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee, get the picture?

7. What's your favourite time of year? Any but winter. Though spring and summer are my favorites. Spring brings a big flux of calves, and summer the show season really gets started.

8. What's your favourite time of day? very early morning. I have an east facing bedroom, so I always get to catch the sunrise on clear mornings.

9.If a rest is as good as a change which would you choose? Rest

10. If you could have a dinner party and invite any 5 people from the past or present who would they be? (Living or deceased.) Lane Frost, Jim Shoulders, Cord McCoy, Family, maybe Matt Owen cause him I'd like to meet


I'm gonna tag Matt Owen and any one else who'd like to do this. Cheers!

More Scenes From Cabin 2

This summer's residential loon.

Another loon. But this one is a long time family friend. He also has issues with the concept of boat rowing, and his girlfriend really outfished him. But that's okay cause we're still crazy about him.

Did I Mention...

That we finally named Hooter's daughter? She's gonna be Maqua-Kil Hillbilly Delux. I think it fits in pretty swell with her sister's name, Hicktown. What do you think?

Have I mentioned...

That I simply love to cook? I made breakfast for everybody here this morning. It was yummy. Sorry yah all had to miss it.

Corn Bread Muffins

Sausage from our own pigs.

Bran and Raisin muffins.

Scrambled Eggs.

She's Such a Cutie...

Here's a few pictures of my new girl with her momma, Mandy. I'm gonna have to come up with a name. I may stick with Margaritaville, though it isn't quite 'her' if you know what I mean.

Another New Baby

Ahh, the last two days have been horrible.

Mandolin Rain has been, as we say, 'hanging fire', and not calving, but really acting like she wanted to. So as a result I have had a grand total of about 7 hours of sleep in the last two days, and less than two of those hours were last night. See, around 2 yesterday afternoon, she started really acting like she was ready. Up and down constantly. She was restless, straining hard, and dropping thick heavy strands of mucous. So I went back and forth between the barn all day checking on her. I panic when it comes to this cow. She is my darling baby. I pamper and spoil her constantly. She is easily the biggest cow we have, but she is something of a weanie. Not that I mind most of the year, but when calving time comes, it is not good. Every time she calves she has big problems.

No different this year. She kept straining, dropping mucus, obviously feeling miserable, and not doing anything. Her ears were a bit cold come milking time last night, so Dad and I were going to give her a bottle of Cal-Nate, a calcium supplement to ward off the milk fever she was slightly suffering from. Or at least we were until we discovered there was only one bottle left, and the other five bottles of drench were Dextrose, which wont do diddly for milk fever. So we decided to hold off in case she got worse.

I stayed up til just shy of midnight, and since she hadn't made much progress, and I couldn't yet feel a calf, I decided to try and sleep for a little bit. I managed to zonk out until just shy of 2. When I woke up with this feeling of 'get to the barn quick girl'. Sure enough, Mandy's water had broken, and when she lay down bigger than my fist white hooves were sticking out of her backside. I checked to make sure everything was lined up good, went back to the house to grab a chair and a cup of coffee and headed back out to the barn. By the time I got back it was obvious the calf was going to be a monster. Within another five minutes or so it was also apparent that Mandy and the calf were really really distressed. The calf had a sickly yellow tint to it, which spells trouble, and poor Mando was having real trouble, pushing harder and harder without getting anything out.

So lucky me got to pull the calf. Fortunately after the difficulty I had with her having the Blitz, this calf's full sister, last year, I had strings and such on hand for just such an emergency. It took more than a half hour of hard pulling to get the baby, but it sure seemed longer. I got to admit, I was so worried for the cow I was somewhat out of it. But aside from the calf's extreme size it wasn't a real bad pull in terms of calf position, just a 'baby too big for hole' problem.

I figured just based on size, and being a day late the baby would be a bull. But really I didn't care. I just wanted momma and baby to both be okay. It wasn't breathing when I finally managed to get it out, so I beat on its chest until it coughed up the gunk that had gotten into its lungs. Then I decided to check and see if it was really a bull. Much to my delighted surprise it was a girl. A big, lovely, inky black girl. I tried to get some pictures of her, but she wouldn't cooperate. And my dear dad kept sticking his hand in front of the camera everytime I lined up a decent shot. Poor Mandy has still got a touch of milk fever. Dad and I gave her that last bottle at four this morning. So now he and mom and Becky are off at Tractor Supply Co. in Amsterdam picking up some more.

What a long long day. I will try again later to get some pics of the new girl, cause she is just a little cutie. I was going to name her Margaritaville for the old Jimmy Buffett song, but somehow it just doesn't seem to fit her. Any ideas?

Oh, and Mom did a real sweet post today. Check it out. http://northviewdiary.blogspot.com/

Some Real Sweet Paintings

As I am too lazy at the moment to do up a post on this weekend's event, I figure I will point everybody over to my Mom's blog, Northview Diary. For today she has put up a post with pictures of some of my Grandma's paintings. I think you should take a look at some of the comments. See, the middle painting is of me at about four or five, I think. Joni says I look like I am ready to go get into trouble.

Uhhh

Hmmm,

Well, I was always up to some sort of mischief as a young child. Let's just say that hasn't changed much. I kind of ran (and still run) with the boys. Though I usually don't have to go looking for trouble if I want some. It is usually more than willing to find me.