That's corn, by the way.
Showing posts with label Farm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Farm. Show all posts
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Earth Day 2010
Last night I caught the last 20 minutes of the movie Food Inc. on PBS. By the way, I love PBS, have I mentioned that before? Their documentaries are fantastic and who doesn't love Nature on Sunday nights? Great family television and NO commercials. Gotta love that! Anyhow back to Food Inc., I'm sure I'm one of the last people to watch the very revealing and widely promoted food industry documentary, but better late than never right?
I have heard many reviews and discussions about the film over the last year on NPR and even several bloggers have written about it after watching it and understanding how our food is made and where it comes from, so I was thrilled when I heard it would be on PBS. Like I said, I only caught the last 20 minutes or so (I thought it started at 9. The online listing said 9 but when I turned on the TV at 9:05 it was almost over. Boo! Hopefully they will re-run it this afternoon on one of the PBS digital channels.) and missed most of the film but the gist was that more and more food today is being grown on a huge scale, using LOTS of petroleum, with genetically engineered seeds and animals that have been cooped up in pens and feedlots fed lots of unhealthy hormone laden feed and sold to manufacturers to process the hell out of it, wrap it in shiny packaging and sell it to consumers out of gas stations and drive through windows. For the most part, they are absolutely right. Their message was for consumers to make healthier choices not just for the food industry but for their own families that are buying and eating so much processed and preserved food that is making them overweight and unhealthy. Um yeah. Have people forgot the saying, You are what you eat? Of course Doritos and soda aren't good for us. Of course eating McDonald's french fries and a Big Mac on a regular basis can't be good for your heart. Hello! How fucking brain dead have we become that we need a documentary, A MOVIE to tell us that our food sucks and that it's unhealthy?
It wasn't that long ago that milk and butter (the real stuff, not that margarine crap) were delivered directly to homes from the dairy and you would go to the butcher shop to buy your meat (generally local meat) and grow your own garden and take the time to can and freeze the food that was grown right in your own yard to feed your family for the winter. All without using genetically engineered seeds and animals, and fertilizers, and tons of petroleum to haul it all . How shitty is it that we as a nation have decided that instead of growing our own gardens (not me of course) and buying eggs and meat from local farms and butcher shops that we will now leave all of the prep work out of it and swing by the grocery store on the way home and see what's hot in the deli case. Granted I sometimes will swap the work for the convenience and I have certainly driven my car up to a speaker and shouted out the names of some food items that are not so healthy, then paid money for them before shoving a handful of french fries in my face, but I can assure that it doesn't happen very often.
Now that I got my little rant out there and wholeheartedly agree with the part of the movie that I saw but not much of that was new to me except for the part where the seed cleaner man was sued by seed mega giant Monsanto. I wanted to cry for that poor man... Being a farmer is tough work and I can certainly attest to that, but it's not all that bad. Not every dairy farm gives hormones to their cows to produce more milk. Hell the farm I work at is very much different from the farms featured in the movie. My boss is very careful about what her animals eat and what kinds of chemicals they have access to. She even paints her fences (actually I've been commissioned to paint her fence this year. I'm just waiting for a warm day.) with a non-toxic paint that won't make the cows sick when they chew on it or rub up against it, which is inevitable on a dairy farm. Her milk isn't organic or anything special. Her milk gets picked up every day and is pumped into a truck with other milk from the farm up the road and after her stop it will continue on to the next farm. Some farmers aren't ascrazy, particular, anal, careful as my boss but as long as their milk passes the tests that are required of it, it all gets mixed together and distributed. Some goes off to make cheese, some for direct consumption, and so on.
Not all farms are huge factory farms. Granted the volume of food that comes out of one of those big factory farms is astronomical and can't be replicated on small farms and that's why those monster factory farms exist but not everything we buy is made this way. There are still farmers that let their animals graze in pastures. There are still farmers that don't buy into all the crap that is advertised in farming magazines. Seriously the farming supplies and advertising is out of control. Every time I get a peek in my boss's kitchen I can see stacks and stacks of magazine and brochures that came in the mail. Craziness! The farming industry has changed and some of those changes were not such great ones as it turns out but some other changes have been revolutionary. When my husband started working for my farmer boss over 20 years ago, she didn't even have a milk pipeline (a stainless steel pipe that transports the milk from each cow's milking machine to the bulk tank in the milk house to be cooled) in her barn. My husband at the ripe old age of 10 carried stainless steel buckets of milk from each cow into the milk house and dumped them into the big cooler tank. Twice a day! Granted I'm convinced that my boss lives in a continuous loop of 1987, a world where cell phones don't exist and answering machines are completely optional (Seriously she doesn't have one and is very rarely in the house. Makes her very hard to reach.). When I come for nightly chores twice a week, we don't use any fancy equipment, besides of course the automated milkers, you gotta draw the line somewhere. No, the most technologically advanced piece of equipment I use is a push broom and a pitch fork. I pitch out the food we feed to the cows from the silo. I carry around bales of hay and distribute them to hungry, drooling milk cows. I carry buckets of water to the heifers in the shed because there isn't even running water out there. Seriously antiquated, but it works and is a fairly environmentally friendly way of farming. May not make lots of money and sometimes even loses money depending on the ever changing milk prices.
I know other young farmers, people my age who have given up on other careers and have started farming, to get into the family business just like their parents and grandparents did generations before. The sad part is that not all families carry on the farming tradition and operating farms shut down when the farmer finally decides that it's too much work. I can't blame them for that either. Being tied down to a farm isn't for everyone. It's hard to go away for even a day if there isn't someone around to feed and milk your cows. They don't care if you need a vacation, they still need to eat.
While we can't change how people run their farms as long as they are following the law, we can do things to make the food we eat safer and healthier. Start by growing your own garden if you have the room, really it's not that hard at all or even purchasing a garden share from a local CSA or just stopping by the local Farmer's market in the summer and support your local farmers. Trust me, as the local and organic farming movement gains momentum, there are farms popping up in many communities both rural and urban, you just have to look for them. Not hard stuff and that's what the film suggested also. Making a choice on what kinds of farming and food production you support when you go to the grocery store or out to eat. Don't buy those cheap white eggs, buy the more expensive brown ones from the lady up the road (and almost get pecked to death by her free range chickens on the walk from your car to hergarage store) in support of a local woman trying to offer healthy and very tasty food to her neighbors. Support that kind of farming not the kind that gets loads of bad press and is clouded in controversy over salmonella outbreaks and unfair treatment to animals and workers. Buying and eating healthy, unprocessed, organic, local food is more expensive, no doubt about that, but if you can squeeze in one or two things on a regular basis, it can be affordable. It can also turn you into a food snob *ahem* so be careful.
Oh by the way, Happy Earth Day! Now step away from the computer and go turn your compost pile.
I have heard many reviews and discussions about the film over the last year on NPR and even several bloggers have written about it after watching it and understanding how our food is made and where it comes from, so I was thrilled when I heard it would be on PBS. Like I said, I only caught the last 20 minutes or so (I thought it started at 9. The online listing said 9 but when I turned on the TV at 9:05 it was almost over. Boo! Hopefully they will re-run it this afternoon on one of the PBS digital channels.) and missed most of the film but the gist was that more and more food today is being grown on a huge scale, using LOTS of petroleum, with genetically engineered seeds and animals that have been cooped up in pens and feedlots fed lots of unhealthy hormone laden feed and sold to manufacturers to process the hell out of it, wrap it in shiny packaging and sell it to consumers out of gas stations and drive through windows. For the most part, they are absolutely right. Their message was for consumers to make healthier choices not just for the food industry but for their own families that are buying and eating so much processed and preserved food that is making them overweight and unhealthy. Um yeah. Have people forgot the saying, You are what you eat? Of course Doritos and soda aren't good for us. Of course eating McDonald's french fries and a Big Mac on a regular basis can't be good for your heart. Hello! How fucking brain dead have we become that we need a documentary, A MOVIE to tell us that our food sucks and that it's unhealthy?
It wasn't that long ago that milk and butter (the real stuff, not that margarine crap) were delivered directly to homes from the dairy and you would go to the butcher shop to buy your meat (generally local meat) and grow your own garden and take the time to can and freeze the food that was grown right in your own yard to feed your family for the winter. All without using genetically engineered seeds and animals, and fertilizers, and tons of petroleum to haul it all . How shitty is it that we as a nation have decided that instead of growing our own gardens (not me of course) and buying eggs and meat from local farms and butcher shops that we will now leave all of the prep work out of it and swing by the grocery store on the way home and see what's hot in the deli case. Granted I sometimes will swap the work for the convenience and I have certainly driven my car up to a speaker and shouted out the names of some food items that are not so healthy, then paid money for them before shoving a handful of french fries in my face, but I can assure that it doesn't happen very often.
Now that I got my little rant out there and wholeheartedly agree with the part of the movie that I saw but not much of that was new to me except for the part where the seed cleaner man was sued by seed mega giant Monsanto. I wanted to cry for that poor man... Being a farmer is tough work and I can certainly attest to that, but it's not all that bad. Not every dairy farm gives hormones to their cows to produce more milk. Hell the farm I work at is very much different from the farms featured in the movie. My boss is very careful about what her animals eat and what kinds of chemicals they have access to. She even paints her fences (actually I've been commissioned to paint her fence this year. I'm just waiting for a warm day.) with a non-toxic paint that won't make the cows sick when they chew on it or rub up against it, which is inevitable on a dairy farm. Her milk isn't organic or anything special. Her milk gets picked up every day and is pumped into a truck with other milk from the farm up the road and after her stop it will continue on to the next farm. Some farmers aren't as
Not all farms are huge factory farms. Granted the volume of food that comes out of one of those big factory farms is astronomical and can't be replicated on small farms and that's why those monster factory farms exist but not everything we buy is made this way. There are still farmers that let their animals graze in pastures. There are still farmers that don't buy into all the crap that is advertised in farming magazines. Seriously the farming supplies and advertising is out of control. Every time I get a peek in my boss's kitchen I can see stacks and stacks of magazine and brochures that came in the mail. Craziness! The farming industry has changed and some of those changes were not such great ones as it turns out but some other changes have been revolutionary. When my husband started working for my farmer boss over 20 years ago, she didn't even have a milk pipeline (a stainless steel pipe that transports the milk from each cow's milking machine to the bulk tank in the milk house to be cooled) in her barn. My husband at the ripe old age of 10 carried stainless steel buckets of milk from each cow into the milk house and dumped them into the big cooler tank. Twice a day! Granted I'm convinced that my boss lives in a continuous loop of 1987, a world where cell phones don't exist and answering machines are completely optional (Seriously she doesn't have one and is very rarely in the house. Makes her very hard to reach.). When I come for nightly chores twice a week, we don't use any fancy equipment, besides of course the automated milkers, you gotta draw the line somewhere. No, the most technologically advanced piece of equipment I use is a push broom and a pitch fork. I pitch out the food we feed to the cows from the silo. I carry around bales of hay and distribute them to hungry, drooling milk cows. I carry buckets of water to the heifers in the shed because there isn't even running water out there. Seriously antiquated, but it works and is a fairly environmentally friendly way of farming. May not make lots of money and sometimes even loses money depending on the ever changing milk prices.
I know other young farmers, people my age who have given up on other careers and have started farming, to get into the family business just like their parents and grandparents did generations before. The sad part is that not all families carry on the farming tradition and operating farms shut down when the farmer finally decides that it's too much work. I can't blame them for that either. Being tied down to a farm isn't for everyone. It's hard to go away for even a day if there isn't someone around to feed and milk your cows. They don't care if you need a vacation, they still need to eat.
While we can't change how people run their farms as long as they are following the law, we can do things to make the food we eat safer and healthier. Start by growing your own garden if you have the room, really it's not that hard at all or even purchasing a garden share from a local CSA or just stopping by the local Farmer's market in the summer and support your local farmers. Trust me, as the local and organic farming movement gains momentum, there are farms popping up in many communities both rural and urban, you just have to look for them. Not hard stuff and that's what the film suggested also. Making a choice on what kinds of farming and food production you support when you go to the grocery store or out to eat. Don't buy those cheap white eggs, buy the more expensive brown ones from the lady up the road (and almost get pecked to death by her free range chickens on the walk from your car to her
Oh by the way, Happy Earth Day! Now step away from the computer and go turn your compost pile.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Here I am
It's been way too long since I've posted an update. I missed both Random Tuesday and Wardrobe Wednesday this week. *gasp* So here's what's been going on...
Last week Mae came down with strep throat and a double ear infection (sweet!) and the day after that I decided to go to the doc for another antibiotic after the sinus infection I was treated for a few weeks ago came back with a vengeance and slid right down into my left lung. At first I thought it would just go away on it's own, after all I have been taking vitamins and garlic to boost my immune system but by the time I drug my wheezing ass to the clinic, I had pneumonia. All weekend my lungs crackled and I coughed up green stuff and still today after 8 days of antibiotic (that also has a fun side effect of a terribly bitter taste in my mouth) I went back to the doc to have my meds extended into next week to be sure that I kick this bug once and for all. I am feeling better and I'm not coughing up stuff anymore but I'm still coughing and wheezing a little, especially last night after 3 hours of running around at the farm.
Speaking of the farm... My boss had a cow butchered last week and delivered a quarter of it to me today. I asked for mostly ground hamburger and a few steaks and that's exactly what I got. My freezer is once again full of local meat and I love it. Tonight the girls and I decided to try out the new batch which came just days after we finished our last batch of happy cow and almost all of the happy hog we bought last fall. I made tacos for Binny and I and Mae insisted on trying one of the tenderloin steaks. Actually we all took a bite of the steak just to see if this year's cow was as good as the last. It was one of the most tender and flavorful steaks I have ever tasted. I even tossed a piece to Oliver as he stood with his nose up in the air catching a whiff of the beefy goodness.
I gave Binny a haircut!
For the last 3 years, I have been the only one to receive a haircut by an actual hair professional. The Gardener and the girls are forced to endure my choppy yet free haircuts done right in my kitchen with an old tablecloth clothes-pinned around them in place of a cape. So far they haven't complained too much, but I'm sure the girls will start to beg me take take them somewhere when they get older and all of their friends are going to salons, but for now free works for us.
The Gardener hasn't been around much lately. He's still on second shift but even when he's home, he hasn't really been home. But fear not, he hasn't left me for another woman...
he's been out in the shed cleaning and painting his tractor.
That's a whole lotta green!
I talked with my grandparents the other night. Grandpa's hanging in there and still taking a crazy amount of medication but it seems to be keeping him out of the hospital which is definitely a good thing. My Grandma was thrilled to tell me all about her big Bingo win the other night. She won 50 bucks! Woohoo, Grandma Dee!
The Olympics have also kept me me away from blogging. I love both the Summer and Winter Olympics but especially the winter Olympics. Partly, I'm sure because of my North Dakota childhood which included both hockey and figure skating. I played hockey only a few years early on then switched to figure skating for the next 5 or so years. I was never really that great at either but it was fun and really what else is a kid to do in the middle of winter living in one of the coldest places in the US? I'll tell ya. Not much! So yeah, I like the figure skating and speed skating (short track especially, with it's roller derby like qualities) but my favorite is (believe it or not) curling. It totally sucks though that we don't have cable because curling is one of the events that is only shown on cable and cannot be pulled in by our rooftop antenna. I thought I would be able to catch it online but it turns out the curling video is a premium feature only available to paying cable customers and no pay per view option. Big bummer. Oh well, I'm getting my fill of skiing, snowboarding and skating so I can't complain too much. Maybe my sweet husband will take me out this weekend to a place that is showing curling on TV... Did you catch that Honey?
Last weekend I went out with a girlfriend that I haven't seen in a very long time. We drank beer and laughed until the wee hours of the next morning. It was so much fun and long overdue for the two of us to have a girls night out.
That's about it and now if you'll excuse me, I have have some men's figure skating to watch. I hope the costumes are as flashy as the music I can hear in the background!
Last week Mae came down with strep throat and a double ear infection (sweet!) and the day after that I decided to go to the doc for another antibiotic after the sinus infection I was treated for a few weeks ago came back with a vengeance and slid right down into my left lung. At first I thought it would just go away on it's own, after all I have been taking vitamins and garlic to boost my immune system but by the time I drug my wheezing ass to the clinic, I had pneumonia. All weekend my lungs crackled and I coughed up green stuff and still today after 8 days of antibiotic (that also has a fun side effect of a terribly bitter taste in my mouth) I went back to the doc to have my meds extended into next week to be sure that I kick this bug once and for all. I am feeling better and I'm not coughing up stuff anymore but I'm still coughing and wheezing a little, especially last night after 3 hours of running around at the farm.
Speaking of the farm... My boss had a cow butchered last week and delivered a quarter of it to me today. I asked for mostly ground hamburger and a few steaks and that's exactly what I got. My freezer is once again full of local meat and I love it. Tonight the girls and I decided to try out the new batch which came just days after we finished our last batch of happy cow and almost all of the happy hog we bought last fall. I made tacos for Binny and I and Mae insisted on trying one of the tenderloin steaks. Actually we all took a bite of the steak just to see if this year's cow was as good as the last. It was one of the most tender and flavorful steaks I have ever tasted. I even tossed a piece to Oliver as he stood with his nose up in the air catching a whiff of the beefy goodness.
I gave Binny a haircut!
For the last 3 years, I have been the only one to receive a haircut by an actual hair professional. The Gardener and the girls are forced to endure my choppy yet free haircuts done right in my kitchen with an old tablecloth clothes-pinned around them in place of a cape. So far they haven't complained too much, but I'm sure the girls will start to beg me take take them somewhere when they get older and all of their friends are going to salons, but for now free works for us.The Gardener hasn't been around much lately. He's still on second shift but even when he's home, he hasn't really been home. But fear not, he hasn't left me for another woman...
he's been out in the shed cleaning and painting his tractor.
That's a whole lotta green!I talked with my grandparents the other night. Grandpa's hanging in there and still taking a crazy amount of medication but it seems to be keeping him out of the hospital which is definitely a good thing. My Grandma was thrilled to tell me all about her big Bingo win the other night. She won 50 bucks! Woohoo, Grandma Dee!
The Olympics have also kept me me away from blogging. I love both the Summer and Winter Olympics but especially the winter Olympics. Partly, I'm sure because of my North Dakota childhood which included both hockey and figure skating. I played hockey only a few years early on then switched to figure skating for the next 5 or so years. I was never really that great at either but it was fun and really what else is a kid to do in the middle of winter living in one of the coldest places in the US? I'll tell ya. Not much! So yeah, I like the figure skating and speed skating (short track especially, with it's roller derby like qualities) but my favorite is (believe it or not) curling. It totally sucks though that we don't have cable because curling is one of the events that is only shown on cable and cannot be pulled in by our rooftop antenna. I thought I would be able to catch it online but it turns out the curling video is a premium feature only available to paying cable customers and no pay per view option. Big bummer. Oh well, I'm getting my fill of skiing, snowboarding and skating so I can't complain too much. Maybe my sweet husband will take me out this weekend to a place that is showing curling on TV... Did you catch that Honey?
Last weekend I went out with a girlfriend that I haven't seen in a very long time. We drank beer and laughed until the wee hours of the next morning. It was so much fun and long overdue for the two of us to have a girls night out.
That's about it and now if you'll excuse me, I have have some men's figure skating to watch. I hope the costumes are as flashy as the music I can hear in the background!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Not Sure How This Turned Into TMI, But It Did.
I once again (for the second time in just over a week) find myself all alone in the house. The girls are at a Birthday party and the Gardener and his dad just took off with the tractor and a trailer to pull a dead tree off of some guy's lawn to cut up for firewood. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that firewood is another one of the many things my husband refuses to pay for. The only reason he even uses a dirty, stinky wood burning stove is because it's basically free heat for his shed. Whatever, as long as I get the afternoon to myself, I don't care what he does, just as long as he doesn't amputate something in the process. And yes, I need the afternoon to myself.
All week I've been battling a pesky cold. I'm not usually one to give in and actually go to the doctor for myself but once my eye started to give me problems AND NOT GET BETTER, I decided it was time to get my ass to the clinic and have it checked out. At first it felt like there was something in my eye but after flushing it and examining it in front of the mirror for the better part of Wednesday morning, I gave up and figured that my contacts were the culprit or my eyes were just dry... or something, so I kept the contacts in their case for the next 2 days with absolutely no relief. Hmmm? So finally yesterday I decided I couldn't take the eye BS any longer and at this point I had also diagnosed myself with a sinus infection. Awesome!. So as not to be wasting money on a Doctor visit with just one ailment, I decided to get my money's worth.
Doc couldn't find anything significant wrong with my eye other than an irritated area near my tear duct (Hello!) and agreed that my self-diagnosed sinus infection was indeed antibiotic worthy plus he gave me some drops for the eye. So now I'm using the drops and taking the antibiotic which in turn is making my pee smell extra nasty. (Let's be honest, pee is not a great smell to begin with, but adding an antibioticor asparagus makes me really want to gag. Eeew!)
The eye is feeling better already but I'm supposed to keep my contacts out for another whole week. Yep, stuck wearing my old glasses for another week. I bought this old pair way back when I was just about due to give birth to Binny. (I'll do the math for you, Binny's 5.) One morning baby Mae decided to break my glasses when I was too sick to pay any attention to the activities of a one year old. I at least had the good sense to replace the broken pair right away but apparently I made my choice from the bargain rack and went for the cheapest pair in the store. Actually considering the crappy quality and ugliness of my glasses, they lasted longer that I had hoped. While we were out in Minnesota over the summer one of the arm thingies broke off while the glasses were on my face! My verycheap resourceful husband fixed them for me. Thank goodness my Brother-in-law keeps a soldering iron around. While my glasses are again useful, they really aren't meant to be worn outside the house, what with a big chunk of silver metal attached to the chipped bronze frames and all. Couple that with my too tight jeans and I'm one hell of a sight this week. All I need is a big nasty cold sore to complete the look.
Does it show that I took maybe a few too many Sudafed (the goodsemi-illegal stuff) this past week? It may be affecting my blogging...
Let's see, what else? Oh, there was a bird stuck in our house the other day! Yeah that was fun. Well it actually wasn't technically in the house part of our house. It was in the back porch but still, it certainly didn't belong there! I heard something bang on the back door, so I opened up the door to find a bird flying erratically around and around, while Oliver snored away on the floor completely oblivious to our houseguest. I called Rocko out to chase the bird away but he just looked at me like WTF lady? It's cold out here, let me back in the house! Or at least that's what he would have said if dogs could talk. So, of course I did the most reasonable and rational thing I could think of and consulted Facebook. By the time I got any FB responses, the bird decided to find it's way out the open back door. My dad (he doesn't FB or read blogs or any computer-y type stuff) somehow found out that I had a bird in the house and called me with some advice. Said he has a never-fail method for removing critters from attics, garages, back porches, etc. Says it "works every time, never fails!" My dad loves to offer any kind of help he can even if it comes in the form of crazy advice or a goofy story. After telling me a story (see?) about an old friend back in North Dakota and an attic full of squirrels after a tree fell on the roof of his garage, he said to hang an ammonia soaked rag in the infested area and come back a few hours later. The ammonia will either knock them out or be offensive enough to make the critters find a new hang out. Good to know, huh? I'm just glad the bird left without me having togo out there and have my already ailing eyes pecked out intervene.
One more TMI, then I'm done for the day, I promise. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I had a weak stomach (other than the aversion to weird pee smells), like getting grossed out by vomit or snotty noses or stinky dog farts.... or stabbing a cow's placenta with a pitchfork to dispose of it. Seriously, having kids may be desensitizing but it's nothing like working on a dairy farm. There was a calf born yesterday, so I had the pleasure of disposing of the cow's cleaning (farm talk for placenta) last night during chores. Well that's not really true either. I just moved it to a place in the gutter where the cats and dog couldn't reach it so they wouldn't tear it apart and make a mess all over the barn. Besides being slippery and full of blood and other bodily fluids, that sucker is heavy! I'd say 20 pounds or so! After we milked all of the cows and the poor new Mama cow, we had to feed the still soaking wet brand new baby calf. And guess who had the pleasure of holding his/her slippery body up so that it could drink some milk? You guessed it! By the time I finally got home, almost an hour after I usually do, I so badly needed a hot shower. I swear I stayed in there for a good 20 minutes before turning off the water.
Good times!
All week I've been battling a pesky cold. I'm not usually one to give in and actually go to the doctor for myself but once my eye started to give me problems AND NOT GET BETTER, I decided it was time to get my ass to the clinic and have it checked out. At first it felt like there was something in my eye but after flushing it and examining it in front of the mirror for the better part of Wednesday morning, I gave up and figured that my contacts were the culprit or my eyes were just dry... or something, so I kept the contacts in their case for the next 2 days with absolutely no relief. Hmmm? So finally yesterday I decided I couldn't take the eye BS any longer and at this point I had also diagnosed myself with a sinus infection. Awesome!. So as not to be wasting money on a Doctor visit with just one ailment, I decided to get my money's worth.
Doc couldn't find anything significant wrong with my eye other than an irritated area near my tear duct (Hello!) and agreed that my self-diagnosed sinus infection was indeed antibiotic worthy plus he gave me some drops for the eye. So now I'm using the drops and taking the antibiotic which in turn is making my pee smell extra nasty. (Let's be honest, pee is not a great smell to begin with, but adding an antibiotic
The eye is feeling better already but I'm supposed to keep my contacts out for another whole week. Yep, stuck wearing my old glasses for another week. I bought this old pair way back when I was just about due to give birth to Binny. (I'll do the math for you, Binny's 5.) One morning baby Mae decided to break my glasses when I was too sick to pay any attention to the activities of a one year old. I at least had the good sense to replace the broken pair right away but apparently I made my choice from the bargain rack and went for the cheapest pair in the store. Actually considering the crappy quality and ugliness of my glasses, they lasted longer that I had hoped. While we were out in Minnesota over the summer one of the arm thingies broke off while the glasses were on my face! My very
Does it show that I took maybe a few too many Sudafed (the good
Let's see, what else? Oh, there was a bird stuck in our house the other day! Yeah that was fun. Well it actually wasn't technically in the house part of our house. It was in the back porch but still, it certainly didn't belong there! I heard something bang on the back door, so I opened up the door to find a bird flying erratically around and around, while Oliver snored away on the floor completely oblivious to our houseguest. I called Rocko out to chase the bird away but he just looked at me like WTF lady? It's cold out here, let me back in the house! Or at least that's what he would have said if dogs could talk. So, of course I did the most reasonable and rational thing I could think of and consulted Facebook. By the time I got any FB responses, the bird decided to find it's way out the open back door. My dad (he doesn't FB or read blogs or any computer-y type stuff) somehow found out that I had a bird in the house and called me with some advice. Said he has a never-fail method for removing critters from attics, garages, back porches, etc. Says it "works every time, never fails!" My dad loves to offer any kind of help he can even if it comes in the form of crazy advice or a goofy story. After telling me a story (see?) about an old friend back in North Dakota and an attic full of squirrels after a tree fell on the roof of his garage, he said to hang an ammonia soaked rag in the infested area and come back a few hours later. The ammonia will either knock them out or be offensive enough to make the critters find a new hang out. Good to know, huh? I'm just glad the bird left without me having to
One more TMI, then I'm done for the day, I promise. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I had a weak stomach (other than the aversion to weird pee smells), like getting grossed out by vomit or snotty noses or stinky dog farts.... or stabbing a cow's placenta with a pitchfork to dispose of it. Seriously, having kids may be desensitizing but it's nothing like working on a dairy farm. There was a calf born yesterday, so I had the pleasure of disposing of the cow's cleaning (farm talk for placenta) last night during chores. Well that's not really true either. I just moved it to a place in the gutter where the cats and dog couldn't reach it so they wouldn't tear it apart and make a mess all over the barn. Besides being slippery and full of blood and other bodily fluids, that sucker is heavy! I'd say 20 pounds or so! After we milked all of the cows and the poor new Mama cow, we had to feed the still soaking wet brand new baby calf. And guess who had the pleasure of holding his/her slippery body up so that it could drink some milk? You guessed it! By the time I finally got home, almost an hour after I usually do, I so badly needed a hot shower. I swear I stayed in there for a good 20 minutes before turning off the water.
Good times!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
A Mixed Day
This cloudy, rainy Tuesday started with a dermatology appointment for me to have some more funky looking moles removed, 2 of which were on my face and neck. The looks on the way out of the doctor's office were ones I wasn't ready for. Granted this is no disability and is completely temporary, but I couldn't help but feel the stares from others as I walked out of the clinic with bandages covering my wounds and streaky, blotchy skin from the anesthetic.
Once I arrived back home I went out to the barn to feed the cat and found him lying on the floor not moving. Gator's gone. He was just a kitten when we found him hiding in one of our sheds crying for his mother 3 years ago. We decided to tame him and keep him around to help control the mice population in the barn. Binny named him, and most appropriately considering Gator was quite the wild kitty at first. He would hiss and hide when we came in the barn to feed him but warmed up to us fairly quickly. Lately he would run over when he heard the door of the barn open and rub up against our legs as we scooped food into his pan. Not sure what killed him but from our experience farm cats don't seem to live long very long lives.
As Mae bounded off the school bus she smiled so wide that I could see that she lost another tooth today. This time it was one that was ready to come out, not one that she thought should come out. The tooth Fairy has been notified and has a stop planned for later tonight.
Binny beat me at a game of checkers!
And lastly, Grandma Dee just called to let us know that Grandpa Conrad is in the hospital. He started feeling not so well Monday night and as my grandmother tried to help him to bed he said he would feel best if he went to the hospital instead. So off they went and he was admitted last evening. The culprit seems to be Congestive Heart Failure which is treatable (my grandmother has been hospitalized several times for this as well) but not fun in any case. He's on oxygen and has had several tests including an echocardiogram to check his heart. I spoke with him for a few a minutes before the nurse came in and he had to pass the phone back to Grandma Dee. Grandma says he's doing better but I'm almost positive she'd say that even if he wasn't. I guess I can't blame her for not wanting us to worry, and really we can't do much from two thousand miles away anyhow. He will likely remain in the hospital for another day but hopefully he'll be able to go home on Thanksgiving, which would be something to be thankful for.
So overall, my body hurts, our barn cat is gone, Mae lost a tooth, Binny was victorious at Checkers and Grandpa Conrad is on the mend. One hell of a day.
Once I arrived back home I went out to the barn to feed the cat and found him lying on the floor not moving. Gator's gone. He was just a kitten when we found him hiding in one of our sheds crying for his mother 3 years ago. We decided to tame him and keep him around to help control the mice population in the barn. Binny named him, and most appropriately considering Gator was quite the wild kitty at first. He would hiss and hide when we came in the barn to feed him but warmed up to us fairly quickly. Lately he would run over when he heard the door of the barn open and rub up against our legs as we scooped food into his pan. Not sure what killed him but from our experience farm cats don't seem to live long very long lives.
As Mae bounded off the school bus she smiled so wide that I could see that she lost another tooth today. This time it was one that was ready to come out, not one that she thought should come out. The tooth Fairy has been notified and has a stop planned for later tonight.
Binny beat me at a game of checkers!
And lastly, Grandma Dee just called to let us know that Grandpa Conrad is in the hospital. He started feeling not so well Monday night and as my grandmother tried to help him to bed he said he would feel best if he went to the hospital instead. So off they went and he was admitted last evening. The culprit seems to be Congestive Heart Failure which is treatable (my grandmother has been hospitalized several times for this as well) but not fun in any case. He's on oxygen and has had several tests including an echocardiogram to check his heart. I spoke with him for a few a minutes before the nurse came in and he had to pass the phone back to Grandma Dee. Grandma says he's doing better but I'm almost positive she'd say that even if he wasn't. I guess I can't blame her for not wanting us to worry, and really we can't do much from two thousand miles away anyhow. He will likely remain in the hospital for another day but hopefully he'll be able to go home on Thanksgiving, which would be something to be thankful for.
So overall, my body hurts, our barn cat is gone, Mae lost a tooth, Binny was victorious at Checkers and Grandpa Conrad is on the mend. One hell of a day.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
In The Blink Of An Eye
There have been so many blog worthy moments lately, but I haven't really had the time, or more so the words to put them down. Kind of a blogger's block of sorts. Every time I sit down to write a post, the words don't seem to make sense, so I delete. Finally though, I can't hold it in any longer, my need to blog has surpassed my writer's block. So here goes...
We're only 2 weeks into summer vacation and already my kids are getting the best of me. The constant go go go. The slip and slide, the kiddie pool, the beach, the crafts, the endless laundry, the need for daily showers, doc. appointments, the park, the fights and of course the "Mom can I..." that seems to be never ending. Last week was so hot here and usually I am not one to complain about the heat, but the crankiness of my sweaty family was starting to wear on me, plus Wednesday night at the farm was so hot (95 and humid). It seemed like I was running the entire 4 hours I was there. My boss had spent all day out in the sun baling hay and most of the bales were still sitting out in the field with a forecast of rain. So after chores I stayed (because the person she lined up to help unload the hay was a no show) and helped her unload 24 giant bales of hay. I even had the opportunity to drive one of her tractors in from the hay field, a first in the three and a half years of working for her. Not that I couldn't do it, but once I show her that in fact I am capable of doing tasks she only allows the men to do, I know she'll want me to do it more often and I'm certainly not willing to give her more of my time than I already do. Watching her use the fork lift loader and tractor though was quite an amazing sight to see. She gently maneuvered the forks under each giant bale, then lifted and finagled the bales into the shed 4 high with such finesse that only a seasoned pro could accomplish. She is farmer through and through.
I also learned (again and still) that farming is a very dangerous profession. For the second time this summer, a local teenager was killed in a tractor accident. I don't know the families personally but in such a small community everyone knows each other in a round about way. The most recent teen was the grandson of the man who makes the big hay bales for my boss, they are also neighbors of my in-laws and the boy's father has worked with the gardener (my husband) on many construction projects. In fact we saw the boy and his dad at the annual dairy breakfast just last weekend and said a friendly "hello" to them both. The funeral was yesterday and we didn't go but the family was in our thoughts all day. So tragic, so young. What more can I say?
We're only 2 weeks into summer vacation and already my kids are getting the best of me. The constant go go go. The slip and slide, the kiddie pool, the beach, the crafts, the endless laundry, the need for daily showers, doc. appointments, the park, the fights and of course the "Mom can I..." that seems to be never ending. Last week was so hot here and usually I am not one to complain about the heat, but the crankiness of my sweaty family was starting to wear on me, plus Wednesday night at the farm was so hot (95 and humid). It seemed like I was running the entire 4 hours I was there. My boss had spent all day out in the sun baling hay and most of the bales were still sitting out in the field with a forecast of rain. So after chores I stayed (because the person she lined up to help unload the hay was a no show) and helped her unload 24 giant bales of hay. I even had the opportunity to drive one of her tractors in from the hay field, a first in the three and a half years of working for her. Not that I couldn't do it, but once I show her that in fact I am capable of doing tasks she only allows the men to do, I know she'll want me to do it more often and I'm certainly not willing to give her more of my time than I already do. Watching her use the fork lift loader and tractor though was quite an amazing sight to see. She gently maneuvered the forks under each giant bale, then lifted and finagled the bales into the shed 4 high with such finesse that only a seasoned pro could accomplish. She is farmer through and through.
I also learned (again and still) that farming is a very dangerous profession. For the second time this summer, a local teenager was killed in a tractor accident. I don't know the families personally but in such a small community everyone knows each other in a round about way. The most recent teen was the grandson of the man who makes the big hay bales for my boss, they are also neighbors of my in-laws and the boy's father has worked with the gardener (my husband) on many construction projects. In fact we saw the boy and his dad at the annual dairy breakfast just last weekend and said a friendly "hello" to them both. The funeral was yesterday and we didn't go but the family was in our thoughts all day. So tragic, so young. What more can I say?
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Drama, Drama and Foot Trauma
Another TMI post, you've been warned!
The Honeymoon is officially over! Remember a few months back when my farmer boss had a huge temper tantrum over sweeping? Well she was on good behavior for a few weeks, trying not to be so nit-picky but slowly she has worked her way back to her annoying OCD self. Last night when I pulled into her driveway, there was a truck blocking where I normally would park, so I start aiming for the pre-approved alternate spot when she waves me off (arms flailing and shouting) and makes me park clear across the yard. She walks over and before I even get out of the car she's waving her arms and carrying on and on about how I shouldn't park in the alternate spot anymore and I should justwedge my boat of a car in next to the silo "park over there" as she stretches out her arm to point with her curled up old lady fingers. Then as I'm putting on my rubber shoe covers (a farm must have) she notices the bags of peat moss and composted manure that are sitting in the trunk of my car. "Whaddya want that for? You know you could come and get a bushel basket of the shit scrapins from the yard? That's just as good as what you have there?" The idea is to cut the crap, not put it in my garden. I know I know, people have been using manure for gardening for years, but seriously I take enough shit from her already, I don't want her fresh poo. I'll take the actually composted (sitting on a pile in the cow yard for a week does not equal composted) stuff for $1 a bag over her stuff that I can still see bits of corn in. Although my dogs would love it, I don't want it!
Then while we were milking the cows, the sports guy was on the radio talking about Brett Favre (former Quarterback for the Green Bay Packers) and his possible move to Minnesota to play for the Vikings. Now normally I don't care about (American) football, it does not interest me in the least and I was actually lucky enough to find a man who also doesn't care about the sport. I know, I lucked out with the Gardener. So anyhow, people are calling in to this sports show and complaining about Brett Favre and how he's just doing this to get back at the Packers management and more than a few callers (during the day this station runs conservative talk shows mind you) were saying that they hope Brett Favre would be hurt (Really Christian Conservatives? You wish harm upon another human being just because he's going to play for a rival team?) in the first game and out for the rest of the season. As she's agreeing with the irrational callers, I ask her, "You don't really think he's coming back to football from retirement for a second time just to piss off the Packers do you?" She responds "Oh my, yes!" Then she had a mini tantrum right there in the barn as she switched the milking machines between cows. I know the Packer fans around here are serious about their team, but come on, this seems too wacky even for the Cheese Heads.
I went back to the Dermatologist on Tuesday. The moles are gone and healed but the nasty, ugly warts remain on the bottom of my foot. After 2 weeks of acid and Compound W treatments, my poor foot looks like it has been through a war, and lost. The skin is tender to the touch which makes walking a little interesting, but doc says to keep on keeping on if I want to get rid of these awful things for good. Plantar warts are actually caused by a virus (thank you Google), more specifically the human papillomavirus (HPV- the same family of virus that can cause certain types of cervical cancer). The kind of HPV I have is not an STD (no weird foot fetishes around here), but not fun in any case. I go back in 2 weeks for more of the same. I asked my doc how long he thought this eradication process would take, he just laughed. I guess that means no sandals for me this summer. :(
The Honeymoon is officially over! Remember a few months back when my farmer boss had a huge temper tantrum over sweeping? Well she was on good behavior for a few weeks, trying not to be so nit-picky but slowly she has worked her way back to her annoying OCD self. Last night when I pulled into her driveway, there was a truck blocking where I normally would park, so I start aiming for the pre-approved alternate spot when she waves me off (arms flailing and shouting) and makes me park clear across the yard. She walks over and before I even get out of the car she's waving her arms and carrying on and on about how I shouldn't park in the alternate spot anymore and I should just
Then while we were milking the cows, the sports guy was on the radio talking about Brett Favre (former Quarterback for the Green Bay Packers) and his possible move to Minnesota to play for the Vikings. Now normally I don't care about (American) football, it does not interest me in the least and I was actually lucky enough to find a man who also doesn't care about the sport. I know, I lucked out with the Gardener. So anyhow, people are calling in to this sports show and complaining about Brett Favre and how he's just doing this to get back at the Packers management and more than a few callers (during the day this station runs conservative talk shows mind you) were saying that they hope Brett Favre would be hurt (Really Christian Conservatives? You wish harm upon another human being just because he's going to play for a rival team?) in the first game and out for the rest of the season. As she's agreeing with the irrational callers, I ask her, "You don't really think he's coming back to football from retirement for a second time just to piss off the Packers do you?" She responds "Oh my, yes!" Then she had a mini tantrum right there in the barn as she switched the milking machines between cows. I know the Packer fans around here are serious about their team, but come on, this seems too wacky even for the Cheese Heads.
***
I went back to the Dermatologist on Tuesday. The moles are gone and healed but the nasty, ugly warts remain on the bottom of my foot. After 2 weeks of acid and Compound W treatments, my poor foot looks like it has been through a war, and lost. The skin is tender to the touch which makes walking a little interesting, but doc says to keep on keeping on if I want to get rid of these awful things for good. Plantar warts are actually caused by a virus (thank you Google), more specifically the human papillomavirus (HPV- the same family of virus that can cause certain types of cervical cancer). The kind of HPV I have is not an STD (no weird foot fetishes around here), but not fun in any case. I go back in 2 weeks for more of the same. I asked my doc how long he thought this eradication process would take, he just laughed. I guess that means no sandals for me this summer. :(
Thursday, April 2, 2009
April Foolin'
Last night as I walked into the barn, my boss came over and said in her best old lady voice...
Did anyone else get fooled yesterday?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now my response to yesterday's comments.
I can scream politics and my (wacky, non-believing) religious views, but it's my BUTT that has people expressing their dislike for me? Thanks ladies, I'll remember this the next time one of you flashes a photo of perfect skin, or a clean house. I'll be watching!
You know, it's going to be in the seven-tees tomorrow.
Oh really?
No... April Fool!
Pretty lame but at least she tried right? Mae also got me yesterday. She switched my toothpaste with hers. I didn't even notice that I was brushing with bubblegum flavored toothpaste until she pointed it out to me. Thank goodness she hasn't discovered other things that would be fun to apply to an unsuspecting family member's toothbrush, like say preparation H, or dish soap.
Did anyone else get fooled yesterday?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now my response to yesterday's comments.
I can scream politics and my (wacky, non-believing) religious views, but it's my BUTT that has people expressing their dislike for me? Thanks ladies, I'll remember this the next time one of you flashes a photo of perfect skin, or a clean house. I'll be watching!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Wardrobe Wednesday
These are the pants I wear to the farm. I labeled them so they don't get mixed in with my other clothes, for obvious reasons. My Farm shoes (and rubber covers) are a real prize, but I think I'll keep that image to myself.
Check out more Wardrobe Wednesday here!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Is It Acceptable to Treat Someone Like Crap If You Buy Her Kids A Present?
In short NO!
Last week at the farm my crazy employer had a bit of a temper tantrum because she didn't like the way I was sweeping the manger. The cows had not finished all of their hay from the morning so she wanted me to remove the uneaten (the reason they wouldn't eat it was because it was lousy hay. Full of sticks and kind of stinky.) hay and feed it to some other animals in a different pen. So I decided to do one side of the long manger first, sweep it all up, then do the other side, like I always do. Well she came over to make sure I was doing it right and of course I was not. She snatches the broom out of my hands, swears at me then proceeds to drag all of the shitty hay through where I had just cleaned. I tried to stop her, but she was all wound up over SWEEPING! I was about ready to tell her to stick that broom somewhere her virgin ears had never heard of, but I bit my tongue and went about my business. After an outburst like this she tries to make excuses for her actions and over explain why she wants things done a certain way, to prove that she's right and not crazy. Well, she ain't foolin' me. The rest of the night was terrible. She picked apart every little thing I did and went out of her way to prove that she was right and I was wrong about stupid shit like sweeping and where to set the milk pail. "no no, 2 inches this way!" I am so not joking about her pickiness.
In the 3+ years that I have worked for her, she has gone through over a dozen employees because she couldn't get along with them. I think she knew that my way of sweeping would have been perfectly acceptable (made more sense to me even) but she is my boss and it is her farm. This is not the first argument we've had and not the first time I've thought about leaving and never returning. On my first night there she lost a hook for the milking machines in the straw between the animals. She ordered me to "get down there and find it!" As I was digging through straw and cow shit, she forced a giant cow over in my direction which made the cow step on me, kick me in the back of the head and throw me into the back wall of the barn. Really f*cking nice! I still have a hoof print on my left shoulder, and I continue to go there twice a week. What the hell is wrong with me? I always return hoping that she will calm down and not fly off the handle over stupid stuff.
Fast forward to this week. After her mid-way through chores potty break, she enters the barn holding something. I tried not to pay any attention and go on about my business. She comes over and says "here, I bought this for the girls, so they have something to keep themselves occupied next week during Spring Break." She bought them a CD of kids songs. Nice gesture or I'm sorry without ever saying the words "I'm sorry"?
I would love to quit my job, but my husband has a high level of respect for this woman. He started working for her when he was 11. He's now 31 and still goes over to fix things for her and occasionally does chores when she calls last minute and I refuse. The extra money always helps too, but still I wonder if it's worth the trouble and stress for $200 a month and the extra work load for my washing machine?
Last week at the farm my crazy employer had a bit of a temper tantrum because she didn't like the way I was sweeping the manger. The cows had not finished all of their hay from the morning so she wanted me to remove the uneaten (the reason they wouldn't eat it was because it was lousy hay. Full of sticks and kind of stinky.) hay and feed it to some other animals in a different pen. So I decided to do one side of the long manger first, sweep it all up, then do the other side, like I always do. Well she came over to make sure I was doing it right and of course I was not. She snatches the broom out of my hands, swears at me then proceeds to drag all of the shitty hay through where I had just cleaned. I tried to stop her, but she was all wound up over SWEEPING! I was about ready to tell her to stick that broom somewhere her virgin ears had never heard of, but I bit my tongue and went about my business. After an outburst like this she tries to make excuses for her actions and over explain why she wants things done a certain way, to prove that she's right and not crazy. Well, she ain't foolin' me. The rest of the night was terrible. She picked apart every little thing I did and went out of her way to prove that she was right and I was wrong about stupid shit like sweeping and where to set the milk pail. "no no, 2 inches this way!" I am so not joking about her pickiness.
In the 3+ years that I have worked for her, she has gone through over a dozen employees because she couldn't get along with them. I think she knew that my way of sweeping would have been perfectly acceptable (made more sense to me even) but she is my boss and it is her farm. This is not the first argument we've had and not the first time I've thought about leaving and never returning. On my first night there she lost a hook for the milking machines in the straw between the animals. She ordered me to "get down there and find it!" As I was digging through straw and cow shit, she forced a giant cow over in my direction which made the cow step on me, kick me in the back of the head and throw me into the back wall of the barn. Really f*cking nice! I still have a hoof print on my left shoulder, and I continue to go there twice a week. What the hell is wrong with me? I always return hoping that she will calm down and not fly off the handle over stupid stuff.
Fast forward to this week. After her mid-way through chores potty break, she enters the barn holding something. I tried not to pay any attention and go on about my business. She comes over and says "here, I bought this for the girls, so they have something to keep themselves occupied next week during Spring Break." She bought them a CD of kids songs. Nice gesture or I'm sorry without ever saying the words "I'm sorry"?
I would love to quit my job, but my husband has a high level of respect for this woman. He started working for her when he was 11. He's now 31 and still goes over to fix things for her and occasionally does chores when she calls last minute and I refuse. The extra money always helps too, but still I wonder if it's worth the trouble and stress for $200 a month and the extra work load for my washing machine?
Saturday, March 7, 2009
TV Conversion Of Sorts
So that crazy farmer woman I work for was all concerned about the digital TV conversion. Her current TV had a blown tube for roughly 10 years, so the bottom half of her television was pretty much useless. She decided that the TV was shot and that she would go shopping for a new one rather than buying a converter box for the old piece of crap. Now trust me when I say this woman is stuck in time. She doesn't own a cell phone or even a phone without a cord, hell she runs a business, is never in the house and refuses to even get an answering machine. So imagine her shock when she walked into the appliance store to find out that console TVs are no longer in production. Oh the nerve of those TV makers!
She raged for days about that one. "Why in the heck would they stop making those?" "How am I suppose to display (nobody ever goes in her house, so I don't see this being a valid argument) my Christmas cards?" And on and on and on...
So my husband being theold people enabler sweet, ever-helpful man he is, agreed (after she begged me for weeks to ask him) to put a brand new flat screen TV into the old fake wood box.
She raged for days about that one. "Why in the heck would they stop making those?" "How am I suppose to display (nobody ever goes in her house, so I don't see this being a valid argument) my Christmas cards?" And on and on and on...
So my husband being the
It's the Binny show!
Of course she f*cking loves it! He also fixed her refrigerator several months ago because the handle broke off and there was no way to open it without hurting herself. Her fridge is an International Harvester (think tractors) super old roundish looking thing with one of those hinged handles. Of course he fixed that and now she thinks that he has super powers all sorts of spare time to keep her old junk in working order.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
I'm out $30
In this economic downturn (ridiculous term, but I use it anyway, WHY?) you would think that I would take advantage of every opportunity to make a buck. Well, I didn't. Apparently that raccoon I helped kill the other night was worth a hefty $30, after being skinned of course. The full time farm hand was very pleased to find the frozen raccoon in the morning. He picked up the frozen remains and placed it in the trunk of his car, let it thaw then skinned it for the pelt.
No thank you, I don't care how broke I am, you won't get me to skin arabid animal.
No thank you, I don't care how broke I am, you won't get me to skin a
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Last Night At The Farm...
Oooh, that just sounds like trouble. Before you read this, may I suggest that you make sure all of your doors are closed and there is no chance that wild animals can enter, bite you and give you rabies. Seriously, do it.
Last night I went to the farm for my twice weekly feed, milk and pitch shit session on a very cold and windy evening. This isn't a post complaining about the bitter cold, although school has been cancelled today due to extreme temps, but rather a post about how I am not a farm girl. Just because I live in an old farmhouse, out in the middle of a large farm field and work on a dairy farm, does not mean I was born with the farm instinct necessary to deal with what I witnessed last night.
I was ready to bed the heifers, so I ran up the barn hill and into the upstairs hay and straw storage area to drop down a bale of straw to spread in the pens. As I approached the straw bales, I saw what I thought was just a farm cat leaning up against the very bale I needed to disassemble and toss down through the hole in the floor. As I got closer I realized that this was no cat. No, the tail was too fluffy, and bigger, much bigger than the skinny farm cats, and the mask around it's face??? Then all of a sudden this ran through my brain:
Holy shit! It's a raccoon, probably has rabies, is totally gonna bite me, I'm not carrying a pitch fork and my raccoon eradicator friend, Bonnie is nowhere to be found!!! all of this runs through my head as I stand there motionless hoping that the dirty, miserable thing doesn't see me. I catch my breath, calmly walk back downstairs and announce to the farmer, Ms. D. that "There's a f*cking raccoon upstairs; and this is where I draw the line." She chuckles and says, "did you at least get your bale down?" "Um-no, there's a raccoon standing next to it!" Then she says so matter of factly "Take Peppy (the hyper farm dog) along... and here this too" as she hands me a pitchfork. Reluctantly, I coax the dog outside and up into the barn. We get up there and the dog doesn't notice the raccoon. As I'm pointing with my fork from a safe distance, the dog finally sees the thing and of course as I suspected, all hell breaks loose. Biting, snarling, screaming. The dog had no intentions of just chasing the raccoon out of the barn; that crazy dog was out for blood. After about 10 minutes of screaming and thrashing, equal parts me and the animals, Ms. D pulls open the hay chute and yells,
"did he git 'em out?"
me: "Um-no, they're still fighting, and AAAAHHH!"
Ms. D: "I'm comin' up"
She comes in the barn to cheer on the dog and assist by using the pitchfork to lift the thrashing raccoon with dog still attached out of the barn and into the snow, where the dog could finish him off.
I catch my breath, make sure that I haven't peed myself, then chuckle and admit that "I am no farm girl!" Ms. D agreed as I took the pitch fork from her hand, threw down my bale of straw and left the barn.
After chores, I went out to start my truck and noticed that the raccoon was still lying in the middle of the driveway, motionless and well on it's way to being a frozen raccoon-cicle.
I know this is a fact of life living in the country, but at home, my hubby takes care of these things. It's common to see mice or the occasional rat at the farm, and I have even stepped on a mouse and called the cats over for an afternoon treat, but this was over the top.
Last night I went to the farm for my twice weekly feed, milk and pitch shit session on a very cold and windy evening. This isn't a post complaining about the bitter cold, although school has been cancelled today due to extreme temps, but rather a post about how I am not a farm girl. Just because I live in an old farmhouse, out in the middle of a large farm field and work on a dairy farm, does not mean I was born with the farm instinct necessary to deal with what I witnessed last night.
I was ready to bed the heifers, so I ran up the barn hill and into the upstairs hay and straw storage area to drop down a bale of straw to spread in the pens. As I approached the straw bales, I saw what I thought was just a farm cat leaning up against the very bale I needed to disassemble and toss down through the hole in the floor. As I got closer I realized that this was no cat. No, the tail was too fluffy, and bigger, much bigger than the skinny farm cats, and the mask around it's face??? Then all of a sudden this ran through my brain:
Holy shit! It's a raccoon, probably has rabies, is totally gonna bite me, I'm not carrying a pitch fork and my raccoon eradicator friend, Bonnie is nowhere to be found!!! all of this runs through my head as I stand there motionless hoping that the dirty, miserable thing doesn't see me. I catch my breath, calmly walk back downstairs and announce to the farmer, Ms. D. that "There's a f*cking raccoon upstairs; and this is where I draw the line." She chuckles and says, "did you at least get your bale down?" "Um-no, there's a raccoon standing next to it!" Then she says so matter of factly "Take Peppy (the hyper farm dog) along... and here this too" as she hands me a pitchfork. Reluctantly, I coax the dog outside and up into the barn. We get up there and the dog doesn't notice the raccoon. As I'm pointing with my fork from a safe distance, the dog finally sees the thing and of course as I suspected, all hell breaks loose. Biting, snarling, screaming. The dog had no intentions of just chasing the raccoon out of the barn; that crazy dog was out for blood. After about 10 minutes of screaming and thrashing, equal parts me and the animals, Ms. D pulls open the hay chute and yells,
"did he git 'em out?"
me: "Um-no, they're still fighting, and AAAAHHH!"
Ms. D: "I'm comin' up"
She comes in the barn to cheer on the dog and assist by using the pitchfork to lift the thrashing raccoon with dog still attached out of the barn and into the snow, where the dog could finish him off.
I catch my breath, make sure that I haven't peed myself, then chuckle and admit that "I am no farm girl!" Ms. D agreed as I took the pitch fork from her hand, threw down my bale of straw and left the barn.
After chores, I went out to start my truck and noticed that the raccoon was still lying in the middle of the driveway, motionless and well on it's way to being a frozen raccoon-cicle.
I know this is a fact of life living in the country, but at home, my hubby takes care of these things. It's common to see mice or the occasional rat at the farm, and I have even stepped on a mouse and called the cats over for an afternoon treat, but this was over the top.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Look out Jiffy Lube, you've got Competition
Every girl should know how to change her own oil!
After my children+shopping= parenting nightmare, my husband must have felt bad for me, so he and Mae spent almost the entire Saturday together. They weren't doing little girl things. No no, they were changing oil and replacing the brakes on the truck. Good times! Both of my girls love spending time "helping daddy" and good for them! I think it's great that they can learn how things work and how to fix them, and who knows if auto repair will still be in the school budget when my kids are older.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
The Resistance of an Old House
Over the past 8 years we've done a lot of home improvement projects in a whopping 5 houses, so by now we're no strangers to demolition, messes, remodel and more mess. Even after all of the different types of houses we've lived in and altered, I'm always impressed with the quality and craftsmanship of this old house we're in now.
This house is roughly 100 years old and is the most solid house we've ever lived in. The wind can blow and blow and not a creek or moan form this old girl. The main reason I'm sure is that she's not been messed with. The kitchen had been remodeled sometime in the 60s and a bathroom had been added (the wonder of indoor plumbing) but much of the house is original. The windows had never been replaced, the siding is original and I'm convinced that the second floor had been closed off for about 40 years. It's was like stepping back in time when we first walked through. Some of the walls upstairs had never even been painted, the floors and woodwork pristine, as if the children who lived here were so well behaved that there was no trace of crayon on the walls, or broken windows that you'd typically find in an old house like this. The pride just oozes out of the floorboards. It's even more evident in the garage and barn where every oil change and field planted are written on the wall along with the phone number of the vet and the local co-op.
Without trying to take away too much of the character of this old house we have done some remodeling. We replaced many of the old single pane windows, repainted the exterior, painted inside, put heat in on the second floor, and the kitchen seems to be an ongoing project nearing completion. So that brings us to yesterday afternoon. My hubby decided that he would install the downdraft unit in our range so that I can finally fry bacon on my stove without setting off the smoke detectors. I now understand why he'd been putting it off for 2 years since we bought our fancy-schmancy Jenn-Air range. It wasn't that he didn't want me to enjoy the benefits of my "you paid what for that?" appliance but it's that our house seems to be resistant to modern conveniences. The same was true when he installed our dishwasher. Our house put up quite a stink about that one too. The floor in our kitchen is a whole 2 1/4 inches thick and the basement wall is 2 feet thick of stone and mortar, so drilling large holes seems to be an issue.
We did win this battle but I'm curious as to what she'll think if we ever decided to replace the old-style television antenna on our roof with a dish, or even add a second bathroom. How far in the future can we take this old house before she loses her composure and tells us where to shove our unnecessary modern conveniences.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Lazy Saturday
After a night of Trick-or-Treating, Pizza and too much candy, we decided to sleep in and not do a whole lot on Saturday. It was a beautiful day (unseasonably warm according to the local Meteorologist) and this time of year, I'll take what I can get. So we spent most of the day outside. We burned a big pile of brush, and I put away all of my flower pots and hanging baskets. The remnants of my once beautiful flowers looked awfully sad after the frost had killed off most of them, or was it because I gave up watering? Either way it was time to go.
It was also one more day for our dogs to be able to lounge outside in the sun.
"Leave me alone"
Friday, October 24, 2008
Extreme Home Makeover
Since everyone has been asking, I thought I would post some photos of our house. With the help of my husband's parents, we spent the entire summer scraping, caulking, priming, and eventually painting our old farmhouse. It definitely needed a siding treatment equivalent to a chemical peel. The paint was chipped, falling off and screaming "Paint Meeeee!" Can you believe this house has only been painted (from what we can gather) 3 times?
So instead of going with the same old white and black color scheme this old house has known for well over 100 years we decided to change it up a bit.
Hello Yellow and green.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Fire
We moved to this old farmhouse 2 years ago, and in those 2 years we have seen a big change in this farming neighborhood. We do not farm but are surrounded by fields of corn and soy beans. Many of the dairy farmers have retired, some still cash crop, but the majority of the farmhouses have been sold or left empty.
Shortly after we moved in, the house across the road was bought by a couple about our age who were moving out of the city. They are a nice couple who we have come to know quite well in the months since their move to the country and subsequent remodel and discovery of everything that is wrong with their house, barn, etc. Recently, we were over and they showed us their barn that is in desperate need of some structural rehab. The previous owners had raised goats and used the barn for keeping animals and for storing all of the farm essentials- hay, straw, chopped corn in the silos. After many years of inactivity the barn has started to deteriorate and many of the beams have either rotten away or broken from what we can only assume was poor construction from the start. In an effort to save their barn, they have employed the services of the local "barn-fixer" to come and replace the old broken beams and re-engineer the structure so hopefully this won't happen again. The only catch- they must remove the decade old hay and straw that fills the entire top floor of the barn, so the the areas of concern may be accessed. My husband volunteered to help remove and discard the old dusty, musty mess, and by discard I mean give away what anyone will take for their own farms and burn the rest in the field behind the house. It always amazes to me to see exactly how many bales can be stacked into one barn. After countless wagon loads had been pulled away, the discard pile was just waiting for a match. That's where it gets complicated.
We have experienced our own share of rather large fires over the years, so we warned them that a call to the local volunteer fire department might be a good idea, just so they aren't alarmed when someone calls it in (and there's always some pain in the ass do-gooder who does.) So when we heard the sirens, we figured it was just a false alarm. Turns out our neighbor himself called the fire department because the fire had jumped piles and spread too fast for just one man to contain. The fire department responded right away and were able to get it under control with pitchforks and the pump truck. The thing is, we live in a small rural community where the folks around here loves them a good hay fire. The volunteer boys were stacked 4 deep itching to get a hand on their hoses. So really it wasn't that bad, just caused a little welcomed chaos for about an hour, plus I stood on the stump in our front yard and took pictures- Lucky you, Internet. 
Shortly after we moved in, the house across the road was bought by a couple about our age who were moving out of the city. They are a nice couple who we have come to know quite well in the months since their move to the country and subsequent remodel and discovery of everything that is wrong with their house, barn, etc. Recently, we were over and they showed us their barn that is in desperate need of some structural rehab. The previous owners had raised goats and used the barn for keeping animals and for storing all of the farm essentials- hay, straw, chopped corn in the silos. After many years of inactivity the barn has started to deteriorate and many of the beams have either rotten away or broken from what we can only assume was poor construction from the start. In an effort to save their barn, they have employed the services of the local "barn-fixer" to come and replace the old broken beams and re-engineer the structure so hopefully this won't happen again. The only catch- they must remove the decade old hay and straw that fills the entire top floor of the barn, so the the areas of concern may be accessed. My husband volunteered to help remove and discard the old dusty, musty mess, and by discard I mean give away what anyone will take for their own farms and burn the rest in the field behind the house. It always amazes to me to see exactly how many bales can be stacked into one barn. After countless wagon loads had been pulled away, the discard pile was just waiting for a match. That's where it gets complicated.
We have experienced our own share of rather large fires over the years, so we warned them that a call to the local volunteer fire department might be a good idea, just so they aren't alarmed when someone calls it in (and there's always some pain in the ass do-gooder who does.) So when we heard the sirens, we figured it was just a false alarm. Turns out our neighbor himself called the fire department because the fire had jumped piles and spread too fast for just one man to contain. The fire department responded right away and were able to get it under control with pitchforks and the pump truck. The thing is, we live in a small rural community where the folks around here loves them a good hay fire. The volunteer boys were stacked 4 deep itching to get a hand on their hoses. So really it wasn't that bad, just caused a little welcomed chaos for about an hour, plus I stood on the stump in our front yard and took pictures- Lucky you, Internet.
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