Stuff and nonsense in These titles mean nothing.
- March 24, 2022, 2:31 a.m.
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- Public
So I skipped the bitch who was handy with a louse detector until she got sloshed, and then I find myself with, hello their!, the chest was lined with the fleece of an enchanted sheep. I think it was golden but I’m not sure. The hind was golden, but it sailed away. Too much anger in the choir.
I tried Quordle but it’s too hard for me. Perhaps a greater challenge? Perhaps.
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We sold calves yesterday. Jim says that’s the hardest day of the year for him. There is work - the work of loading and hauling them, the work that went into them, the daily emotional, financial, personal aspect of the whole thing. They are sentient, sweet, personable creatures who depend on him, and he of course depends on them too. The check he gets is the biggest payment of the year and he divides it among many needs and uses. To a great deal it is the purpose of the farm and the purpose of the farmer. He never watches them sell.
He takes them in the day before the sale. I put on my rubber boots and went out and helped him a bit when he loaded them. Five trailer loads. It was warm and there was a light rain. He kept back 11 heifers. He asked me how I liked their faces. He tries to keep back the girls he thinks have the best dispositions, the ones that will handle life and motherhood and dealing with him the best. We like smart calm pretty faces.
He sets up feed bunks and gates and cattle panels, and he loads them through the front part of the old hog lot. It is a matter of reducing options until they get on the trailer. He didn’t get kicked. One of the panels fell over right after I walked past it. The panels are heavy steel and you do not want to get hit with one of them. So that was our luck for the day. That it missed me.
The IceCreamTruck had a big week. It went 200 miles to bring home the new used green soil finisher/tiller on Sunday and then took the calves to town on Tuesday. The mint green retired U. S. Forest Service pickup with the big engine is having a good second life with us.
Every time I write about this I end feeling defensive for raising cattle at all. There are easier, cheaper ways to feed the world. Ways that don’t relate so closely with life and death. When things don’t go well, I wish we would quit. But then we can’t really do that.
I’ve been watching youtubes on tiny homes and they remind me of the trailer we had when we were first married. I remember then wanting to have a couple cows who would each raise a calf each summer. It was something that I wanted. Funny, I got it.
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The basement is wet. Rain does that. There is a puddle in front of the door into the furnace room and the laundry room floor is just wet. I can’t do my house walks when the puddle is there. And my house walks are important. I can’t do my outdoor walks which are harder to do when it’s raining either.
The house needs eave troughs. I’m not sure if roof gutters are in the Amish repertoire or not. I know we talked about them when we put the steel roof on, and didn’t talk about them when they put the siding on. They come equipped with a good hoist that would get them up and down well. Maybe later this year we can do something like that.
The washer and the furnace are on blocks - the furnace for sure. The washer is on a high place in the cellar floor. I think. That is a joke. Not a good one.
Just Annie ⋅ March 24, 2022
I find tiny homes fascinating, but I don't understand why people build them for retirement homes and then have a loft which is only accessible by a ladder. But I've noticed they are getting slightly bigger, 400 sq feet instead of 250, and some are all on one level. I could get a small kitchen, but the bathrooms are too, too small for me.
Hope your day is a good one.
woman in the moon Just Annie ⋅ March 26, 2022
Aging and stairs/steps/ladders/no railings, etc. In the last years of the last century my husband and I drove to Chicago on a Saturday to see a show of Renoir portraits at the Art Institute. We drove past a lot of Illinois corn fields being turned into big multi-storied, muti-roofed single family dwellings. I marveled at their inefficiency, the SIZE, etc, and thought the so called boomers must have a lot of faith in medical science to believe they would want to climb all those stairs into old age.
In other words, I agree with you.
My current exercise plan involves going up and down my cellar steps which are wide and bright and interesting, but I can't remember the last time I was up to the second floor in my house. Those steps are dark and narrow and steep and there is no railing.
Hey, have a good day. Your place is lovely. Best wishes to all your family as well.
Beret ⋅ March 24, 2022
I totally understand the cattle conundrum. As a farmer. Personally, it makes no difference to me since I don't eat meat and it's not for ethical reasons.
woman in the moon Beret ⋅ March 26, 2022
Aesthetic and health reasons, I assume?
Thank you. I don't think I ever used the word aesthetic before, had to look it up, for sure.
Beret woman in the moon ⋅ March 27, 2022
Not really. At least at first. Certainly health considerations regarding too much red meat would be of concern if I were eating it. As a very young child I did not want to eat meat. At least most meat. Whatever my aversion, it's long-standing. Same for fish.
NG and I went to a ramen shop yesterday for lunch and I had the vegetarian ramen bowl. It had a piece of seaweed in it. I just couldn't. I picked it out and gave it to NG. It smells like well, the sea. Almost fishy.
Neogy Titwhistle ⋅ March 24, 2022
The standard size of the park models here in the park are 400 sq. ft. And a lot have added "Arizona" rooms to them for a little added square footage. My "Arizona" room is 98 sq. ft. (7ft. X 14ft.) That's where I live. I only use the galley and the bathroom in the trailer.
woman in the moon Neogy Titwhistle ⋅ March 26, 2022
It seems a simple creative way of living.
I appreciate my space - it comes with the generational cows, but I can imagine other lives too.
Purple Dawn ⋅ March 24, 2022
My brother doesn't watch his calves/cattle sell either. I watched them online when they went to market this last time. I had to phone him and tell him how it went. I'm happy that your son and my brother are the kind who enjoy their animals.
Tim has been wanting to do something other than raising beef too. Maybe letting some of the herd go and selling more hay. Both us could happily be vegetarians.
gattaca ⋅ March 24, 2022
So I skipped the bitch who was handy with a louse detector...
That's exactly what I was thinking!
I become attached to animals. And I would become attached to calves, I'm sure.
woman in the moon gattaca ⋅ March 26, 2022
About the first sentence - they say great minds ....
what is it they say about great minds?
NorthernSeeker ⋅ March 24, 2022
It's good you own your livelihood. The calves live the best part of their lives on your ranch and I'm glad there are eleven who get to stay there. I eat beef so I'll own my part of the whole industry. There are many, many people who are part of the train to the end: auctioneers, drivers, people at the plant, people who butcher meat, people who sell meat, people who eat meat.
Jinn ⋅ March 25, 2022
I got in bad trouble as a kid for telling a buyer that a group of calves were sick . They weren’t ; I just did not want my Grandfather to sell them. After that he would let me choose one heifer to keep every season. He had brown Swiss and Jersey cows ; they are sweet tempered and docile usually . I use to put bell collars on the ones I picked . I loved to hear them roaming about the fields . You could hear them running to the barn at milking / feeding time too . :-)
noko ⋅ March 25, 2022
I hope things are drying out now. It is such hard work your son does and you help with. Glad you remain unscathed.