Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Out of the loop

Sorry for not posting in ages but our computer is so virus laden that it takes five minutes to load pages and I just don't have that kind of time. So, until our new modem arrives (the old one was fried, again, during a thunderstorm) and our computer is virus-free, I will be on sporadically when I am at the library.

Quick update on everything else:
-V is 7 months old! Yikes, where did that time go? Summer is nearly over, Fall Freshening is fast approaching, and I am the mother of a little boy who can roll over, sit up, and babble.

-I started my first canning project. 8 pints of bread-and-butter pickles are now in the cupboard and I own my very first canning pot. I still have one more batch of pickles to put up and tons of other garden produce to finish putting up.

-Green beans (2 gallons so far) are in the freezer and carrots are next. My garden is doing awesome this year! I have so much produce and we did better on the weeds than we have ever done. I am loving this. Nothing like sweet corn fresh from the garden for supper.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Bye Bye Bossy

Because I grew up in town, even though I now live in the country, I still tend to look at animals as pets rather than just animals. I'm getting better and certain aspects of farm life no longer phase me. It's just that I get this little pang for awhile when we send a cow to the sale barn.

We sent one just this morning. She was one of the older cows in the herd, had developed a slight limp, had a high SCC number, wasn't bred, and wasn't producing as much milk as she used to. Still, for some reason, I've become attached to that particular cow.

Perhaps I was attached because she was one of the first ones I could always pick out when I first started milking. She just stood out in my mind. Maybe it was her placid temperament. (In other words, she went into the parlor first without complaint, had a nice big bag with large straight teats, and didn't kick at you or the milker.) It could just be that I liked that cow for no reason at all. For whatever reason, it was still bittersweet to say goodbye.