I had to share these words from my one brother Ken , who lives in Florida. His daughter was up for a visit for a few days to see her Grammy and Papee . ( many of you know my Dad had a stroke this past summer and has had a rough time and it has been very hard on my Mom also ) . Kareen took this picture of them and posted it on facebook. My brother had these words to say about them.
" You are looking at the most honorable man I have ever met in my life , who has never done anything but respect everyone he has ever met and treated them accordingly and the most caring woman I have ever met who would give you the shirt off her back , if it would make you feel better . I have been truly blessed . Love You Mom and Dad , wish I was able to help you out more ." I thought those were the most beautiful words you could say about your parents. And I know all 4 of us kids feel the same way about them.
I recently got an email from some farm friends. They are selling their dairy cows after struggling to recover from the low milk prices of 2009. It is such a sad time for them . My heart just breaks to think of them having to sell their girls. I know exactly how they will feel. We sold our dairy cows on Friday, May 13th , 2011. They will be selling their cows on Friday , January 13, 2012 . She said they could maybe have continued to " rob Peter to pay Paul " . But the stress was getting to them both. I know so well that awful stress you have ,worrying how are you going to buy feed , gas, seed, fertilizer and on and on. It wears on you year after year . It still is a very hard time for many farmers and I see no end to the stress and worry for so many of them . She said she doesn't think she can bear to be there when the cows are loaded. That feeling of seeing your barn family being loaded up on a trailer and being taken away , it is awful and so absolutely heart breaking . There are many , many tears and as hard as it is to see them being loaded....that is nothing to when you go out to the barn the next day and it is empty and quiet. There are no cows in the stalls , the milk pump no longer is running and there are no milkers to carry into the barn . Like us, she knows it probably is the best thing to do for them . But it is still so very hard to see them go. Janice, you will be in my thought and prayers tomorrow . I wish I lived closer so I could come be there for you and give you a hug . And tell you it will be ok , things will work out . Good luck to you and Todd !!!
My husband actually had a PAID ( !!!!! ) vacation since before Christmas . But tomorrow he will be going back to work at the Township . Maybe he will have to plow some snow. They are calling for some snow , but not a lot. The western part of PA is getting a lot more. Up near Erie they could get 12 " !! I am so glad after years and years of milking cows every day, twice a day that he can have days off and is actually getting paid for it !! Never before in our life did that ever happen . When you have cows the work does not stop for the holidays . The animals still needed fed and milked and taken care of. But we did not have the milking this year, but did have to feed the heifers and calves .... oh, and the cats ! LOL ! This was our first Christmas without the dairy cows. It was different and in some ways nice not to have to rush in from the barn like we used to. I can remember when our girls were small and we would be at the barn for hours. I started making a big stocking for them and I would leave it outside their doors. They would get up and open the presents in the stocking til we got in from doing the barn work. They still remember that . We had very nice Christmas and hope you all did too !!
