Christmas

Well Christmas is over for another year. It went so fast . Right now we are having cold and windy weather . But no snow. Guess that is good, since a lot of places are having lots of snow . I am enjoying doing nothing ! I have been sitting in my recliner , working on my cross stitch and reading. I just finished a book by Iris Johansen. Such a great writer ! Now I am starting a book by Karin Slaughter. Also just finished a book by Beverly Barton. Another WONDERFUL WRITER and a very, very nice person ! Last night I finally watched THE EXPENDABLES with Sly Stallone and all the action stars. Loved it !!! Tonight is my night to watch THE CLOSER on TNT . One of my favorite shows ! After it is over then I watch HAWAII FIVE O . I can remember watching the old one with Jack Lord. I never missed that show! The new one is great too ! Usually in January I tend to hibernate . I like to take it easy after the hustle and bustle of the holidays and working on crafts . I hope to get back to my walking again. I always feel so much better when I walk a couple of days a week. I will try and do better ! LOL !

Christmas Time !

Christmas is almost here . I can't believe it ! It is one of my favorite times of the year . I LOVE to decorate all my trees and put out all my decorations. I have a 7 1/2 ' tall , thin tree in the dining room and a 9' tall , thin tree in the living room. Also other small trees all over the house. Right now we are getting some snow . It really makes it look like Christmas ! The grandbaby is taking a nap so I am getting things done on the computer . I have listed lots of New Goodies on my ebay auctions , my Etsy Shop and my EZ Shoppe. Hope you take a look ! Our granduaghter's birthday is next week. I have most of her birthday shopping done. But I still have more Christmas shopping to do . I was going to go today after the grandbaby leaves , but with this snow I may just stay put ! I do not like driving in snowy weather . We have a 7 ' 0r 8 ' Star that lights up on our shed and I put lights out on our big porch with Pine Garland and Bows. It looks so pretty and festive. Hope you an your family have a MERRY CHRISTMAS !!

Gift Basket Giveaway

Well , It is that time of the year . I am having a Gift Basket Giveaway again. Like I did last year. If you make a purchase on my EZ Shoppe, my ebay auctions or my new Etsy Shop you will be entered. I have added lots of New Goodies . I have New Angel Ornies , Santas , Snowmen , Candle Lamp Arrangements , Candle Boxes , Pans and Paddles with Grubby Candles and Fixins ,Grubby Snowman Ornies , Barnwood Boxes with Fixins , Wreaths , Baskets , Grubby Tea Stained Doilys and More ! This year the Basket will contain a Candle Pan with a Grubby Candle and Fixins , Tarts , Hand Painted Ornies, Jingle Bell Fixins , a Grubby Tea Stained Doily, a Santa Ornie and More !! The Drawing will be December 21 . Good Luck !!

Putting the Cows Out !

We put our cows outside into our fields or our neighbors fields every morning and every night. The other day I started thinking of all we have to do to put the cows out. A person who isn't a farmer sees the cows in the field and probably thinks : A farmer just lets the cows go down to the field. Not quite !! LOL ! A farmer knows what all goes into that ! First , we clean out the troughs of any hay . We sweep the trough . Then use the shovel to get any small pieces. Then get all the cows up that are laying down. In the hopes they will poop in the gutter ( I know we can hope ! LOL ! ) and not all over the walkway . Once the cows are up , I unhook them and my husband chases them out the door. And of course most of them poop all over the walkway ! We get all the cows out the door . Then we have a heifer who we don't trust yet to not go through the fence. We put her out in the pen . My husband gets the cows down to the field. Hooks all the fences. I start scraping the floor of all the poop . Then sprinkle lime to help dry it up. I feed the calves and the heifers hay in the barn. My husband feeds the heifers and calves in the extension. My husband and I rebed the cows with straw for the morning. I feed the cats their milk . We turn out the lights and head into the house for supper. So when you see cows in a field , think of all that goes into getting those cows into down there !

Walking up to the Mountain

On Monday we had a picnic here on the farm. The grandkids and our one daughter walked up the lane towards our mountains. She took this picture . I thought it was so beautiful !

Counting my Blessings !

We are so lucky to live where we do. Hublersburg is a very tiny town. There are about 40 homes, a Firehouse, a Hotel , an Elementary School and a Church. Two of my grandkids go to the School. It is the same School I went to and our two girls went to. Our farm is the only working farm in the town. There are a couple of other farms but they no longer have animals. The other night I sat outside under our very old tree . We had finished supper. I got myself a cup of coffee and just sat and relaxed. It is so quiet and peaceful back here. No one else around. I can look up in the sky and see all the stars . There is nothing like it , to sit and feel such peace and contentment. When I see on the news about people who live in the city and live with violence every day , I count my Blessings ! I sometimes think how did we get so lucky to be put on this beautiful farm to live every day . I take a walk about every day . I go out our lane and cross a state road . Then go back our neighbors road. On my way back home I can look across the field and see all the mountains behind our farm. It is breathtaking ! Fall is my favorite season. Soon the trees will be in vibrant colors of gold, red , rust and orange. It will look even more beautiful. This past year ( 2009 ) was such a stress filled time. With milk prices so depressingly low , it was all we could do to hang on to our farm. But I know we are lucky in many ways . Like having our farm to work, live and enjoy ! Yes, I do count my Blessings !

First Cutting of Hay

Our first cutting of hay is done. We had a great first cutting. We unloaded 6030 bales. Usually it was myself, my husband and our retired farmer neighbor unloading . Sometimes my brother helped. A couple of times we had 5 to 7 loads in one day . Then a friend , his son and soon to be son in law came and helped too. We filled the one hay mow, part of a another , one of the over hangs and some of the back wall where we keep heifer hay . But the second cutting has not been good at all. We desperately need rain. Everything is drying up. Our yard is starting to turn brown . Most of our sweet corn is done for. We may get a few ears but not many. I will miss that . Usually I freeze a bunch of sweet corn. It has been very hot and humid ! Yuck ! The older I get the more I mind the humidity. Guess I am getting old ! LOL ! They are calling for hit and miss thunderstorms the next couple of days . Hopefully some of them will get to us and help the dry fields .

Things Should Be Better !!!!!!!!!

By now I really thought things would be better . That we would be doing ok. That there would be enough money to pay our bills. That someone would do something to see that dairy farmers were paid an honest (!!!) and livable price for our milk. But I was wrong , it hasn't happened and I don't think it is going to happen. Dairy farmers are being ignored. Dairy farmers are being told there is too much milk . They are being told we are going to hold hearings and hear testimony about the dairy farmers troubles. They are being told ....Yes, we are going to study all this and we are going to help the dairy farmer ! Really ?? When , in the year 2095 ??????? Dairy farmers need a decent price for their milk and NOW ! But , like I said NOBODY is DOING ANYTHING !! And we do not want a handout or a BAILOUT !! All we want is to be given a decent price for our milk that we deserve ! At this very moment , we have exctly $ 50.00 in our checking account. And this week we need FEED ($ 200) , we need GAS ($ 500) and we have our HOUSE INS. ( $ 450) . Oh, yeah , that doesnt include all the other bills we also have due this week . We do not recieve our next milk check til June 17 or 19. My husband and I are so sick and tired of trying to operate our dairy farm with a milk check that doesn' t even cover the essentials of farming. Tomorrow we have 5 to 8 loads of hay. I just pray we don't run out of gas before the hay is all baled.
We are trying to figure out what to sell to pay for these essentials of farming. Which does not include any groceries for us. What is this country coming to, when a farmer who feeds the world can't afford to feed his own family ???
I sat out on our front porch this afternoon before barn time and cried . My husband said he doesn't know what else to do. Neither do I . Because .... NOBODY IS LISTENING !

Our Little Farmer

Our 6 year old grandaughter was here this afternoon and she helped us at the barn. She is our little farmer. She loves being at the barn and helping. She says she wants to be a vet someday. She probably will because she just loves animals. When we have the vet here for one of our cows and Lexi is here , she stands by the vet and watches everything she does. One of our mother cats just had 6 kittens . Lexi went right to their box and was checking them out . She asked if it was ok to pick them up yet . We told her she could. So she walked around the barn carrying a kitten . She gave them all a turn . She went with Papee while he went to get the wheelbarrow to feed the heifers in the extension . He brings her back up to the barn in the wheelbarrow. He fills it with silage and Lexi fills the bucket with chop. Then down the two of them go and get their feeding done. Lexi has a couple of pet cows. One is Bluey who she likes to pet. Then there is the cow named after her, ALEXIS . Her cow just had a heifer calf. We told her she could name the calf. She picked CUPCAKE . She was outside at the pen looking her calf over . If she was old enough I know she would take over our farm and run it .

Spring Time

Well, spring was here for a bit. We had a couple of beautiful days. Now winter is back. We had left the coal fire in our furnace go out . But this morning my husband had to start a new fire. Our old farmhouse was getting kind of chilly. It feels pretty nice in here now.

My husband has been busy plowing the fields. But we owe the seed and fertilizer company money from last years seed,etc. And we don't have the money to pay the bill , so we can't buy new seed and fertilizer for this year. My husband is very disgusted with farming right now. He keeps saying he is going to sell the cows and get out of dairy farming. But we don't think we will get enough for our cows to help pay off all the bills we owe. So we keep struggling along.

Farm Aid has a link for people to contact the USDA and let them know dairy farmers need help immediately. Click this to help .
http://FarmAid.org/FairPrice
They need to realize the situation has not improved for many dairy farmers. We heard just the past 2 weeks of 2 or 3 dairy farmers selling their cows in our area . Many of the dairy farmers in our area are struggling to make ends meet . Many are ready to sell out and are very disgusted with the politicians and their hearings and studies . Dairy farmers do not need studies , they need REAL HELP !

Listening to the Dairy Farmer

I just sent a Letter to the Editor of our local paper. I had seen the tragic story of the New York dairy farmer who recently killed his 51 cows and then killed himself. I can't imagine the grief his family must be feeling. My heart goes out to them . This is what I said in my letter.

Dear Editor,
No one listened when the milk price dropped to below a 1970 level . No one listened when farmers began losing their farms . No one listened when farmers were pleading for a fair price for their milk that could actually pay their bills with. No one listened as dairy farmers were asked to send their cows to be slaughtered , even as cows were being imported to the US. And no one was listening as a dairy farmer in New York , out of desperation and depression , killed his 51 cows and then killed himself . Is someone going to listen now ??

Loss of Sandy

A New Year is here. And like always I hope and pray each start will be better than the year before. But it usually isnt. And this year has not started well. First my husband,Jim, got sick. He ended up at the Doctor's . They found he had bronchial pneumonia . He has had it a couple of times over the last couple of years . Before he went to the Doctor he had a couple of coughing spells that were so bad he couldn't breath . We almost ended up at the ER . He had to get presciptions filled that were not cheap. They seem to be helping. He seems to be getting better . Then , one of the best cows in our herd went down with hot mastitis. She went down last Thursday or Friday. We called the vet and she came numerous times ( adding to a vet bill that is rapidly growing since we can hardly afford to send them anything on our bill ). She still didnt get up . Her leg was across the gutter and she was part way out on the walkway . Jim couldnt clean stables til we got her leg up and got a grate under her. So we , along with a couple others , worked to get the grate under her . We finally got it done. Jim was able to clean stables. We had the vet come again. But " Sandy " did not get up and didnt even try . We were never able to get her up again. Today we lost Sandy . She was one of my husbands pets. She would never go out of her stall til Jim would pet her and rub her head. When I would feed chop on the other side of the barn, she would stand in her stall and look over at me , like she was saying get over here and feed me my chop . Sandy will be missed !

Peggy Sue Got Married

This weekend I watched the movie Peggy Sue Got Married. It is probably the 6 th. or 7 th. time I have watched it . I love this movie. It makes you think. If you could go back in time , like Peggy Sue does , would you want to ?? She gets to see her grandparents again. That part I would like. The year I got married my parents and 3 brothers moved to Florida. My Mom wasn' t here ,so Grandma C. was like a second Mom to me. We were very close and did so much together. It would be nice to be able to go back in time and let her know how much I loved her and how much I wish I had told her how much she meant to me . To go back in time knowing what you know now. Back in High School , the things you thought were so important , you now realize meant nothing. Back in High School , there were kids who you thought were so great and you wanted to be like them . Now you would know to be yourself. I don't know if I would want to go back in time or not. Would you ??