Winter? Or Spring?

A month.  That's how long it's been since I've posted.  I'm in a blogging slump right now, but stick around!

We've been keeping busy with regular stuff...you know, milking, feeding, cooking, cleaning, repeat.  The weather, however, has been very confused!

Two weeks ago we were running around in shorts and T-shirts...at least Jim was!...and last week we had a "blizzard".  Stella, the nor'easter paid us a visit on Monday evening and 'til she was gone, we had somewhere around a foot of snow.  We didn't know what to think!  It was pretty cold, but seemed frigid, considering the unusually warm weather we had all winter.

Here are a few pictures from the storm...

On Tuesday morning, just after I got up, and the snow wasn't too deep yet, I snapped this picture of the daffodils along the south side of the house...

The biggest concern for us was when the milk truck would come, and whether or not we would be ready for him.  He showed up just as we finished milking, and just as Jim was ready to hop on the skid loader to open the driveway.  It was pretty good timing, actually, because the snow was only about 6" deep at the time, so between the chains on his truck and Jim on the skid loader, he came and went with little trouble...

That's always a relief.

When I fed the calves in the morning, I glanced in the chicken pen, and was surprised to see these hens all huddled together outside...

I have no idea what they were thinking, but there were no tracks around them, so I'm assuming that they huddled together outside all night, with the snow coming down around them.  I carried them inside the shed, where they happily joined their friends for the duration of the storm.  They're fine...and laying eggs quite happily now that the snow is gone!

I got a new phone, and was having fun taking pictures in the snow.  This is one of the hens that was outside all night...she was intrigued by her first selfie...

Now, a week later, most of the snow is gone, except for a few big piles.  It had better be...because SPRING is officially here, and I'm happy about that! While I don't like losing an hour of sleep over the change to daylight savings time, the longer daylight hours energize me.  I feel so much more motivated to get things done when there is daylight and sunshine!

One thing I've been working on the past few weeks is something called 40 Bags in 40 Days.  You may have seen postings on face book about this, or read about it online somewhere.  I'm not following it to a "T", but I'm working on cleaning out and simplifying.  It coincides with lent, and is so satisfying to me.  I've cleaned out closets, cupboards and book shelves. (why was I keeping things in my kitchen cupboards that I never use?) When I'm done cleaning out, I'm planning to scrape wall paper in the upstairs hallway.

Enough rambling...

I hope you're seeing signs of spring wherever you are!

Friday's Hunt #6...

Once again it's time for another Friday's Hunt post.  Thanks Teresa, for hosting again!

This week's prompts are...

Starts with F...

We've had two fresh cows this week, and are expecting two or three more at any time!  For those of you unfamiliar with farmer lingo, a fresh cow is a cow that has just had a calf.  This cow just had her third calf, but we have a slew of two year old heifers that will soon be freshening and joining the milking herd...

*the correct answer to yesterday's post about this cow and her unusual birth is...the calf was born backwards...or breech.  The fact that both the cow and calf were facing the same direction indicates that the calf was born back feet first.  Normally the calf presents it's two front feet first, with the nose on top of the feet...as if were taking a dive headfirst off a diving board.  You can quickly determine that the calf is breech if the bottom of the hooves are pointing upwards.  (think about how the bottoms of your feet are face up as you enter the water from a dive) It's usually a little more difficult calving, and the cow often needs a bit of assistance when this happens. Jim peeked in on her, noticed right away what was going on, and was able to help her without complications.  The calf was big, but she is an experienced mother, and that was definitely to her benefit!

The second prompt is "week's favorite"...

Yesterday was my Mom's 83rd birthday, and tonight my Dad invited us down to their house for a birthday party.  Definitely a favorite from this week!

The last one is "negative space"...

I'm a novice photographer, but when I looked up what it meant, and looked at some of the other photos, I came up with this one.  It's from a snow storm about five or six years ago, but I was able to find it!  The focus is on the milk truck of course, but  I thought the blowing blinding snow gives the proper effect.  And yes, it really did look like that on that very cold winter day.  I remember it clearly...

To see more entries for Friday's Hunt with Teresa at Eden Hills, click here.

Thank a Trucker...

Once again the ground is white here.

At 4:30 this morning, it was raining...but by about 5:30, the rain had turned to snow, and it's fallen quickly. I'd say that by now (10:15) we have around 6 inches.  This time, instead of a light, fluffy, powdery, easy-to-push snow, it's a wet, heavy mess.

Our milk truck usually comes relatively early...just after morning milking, and today he was right on schedule...until he got to our farm.  The roads were not yet (and still haven't been) salted or plowed, and he has to almost stop to make the sharp left turn into our driveway.  To make it worse, it's on a hill.  You can probably guess what happened...

Surveying the problem, and trying to figure out the best way to get un-stuck and in the driveway...

Jim scraped the snow off the road all around the truck, and up the the hill to our upper drive.  The truck usually comes in the lower drive, but the way it is situated, they decided to try coming in at the top of the hill instead...

Throwing down salt and putting on more chains...

A lull in the action while a buggy passed by...

And finally...

Jim hooked up the D-17 to the milk truck...gave him a pull to get started...and they got up the hill and in the driveway....

So...next time you take a drink of delicious cold milk, be sure to thank a trucker for driving in all kinds of conditions to get the milk from the farm...to you!

Christmas day...

I'm not sure how they missed it, but our cows must not have seen the calendar yesterday.  They expected to be fed and milked just like any other day...

We rolled out of bed a little early; there was much to be accomplished as quickly as possible.  We wanted to be sure that we were finished with the milking long before the milk truck arrived...it wouldn't have been a good morning to make him wait!  Christmas day for milk truck drivers can be a real hassle.

We had decided to give the kids the morning off to spend time with their cousins who had arrived from out of town on Christmas eve, so Jim and I headed out to the barn and got busy.  Thankfully, "everyone" and "everything" cooperated, and we were finished with the morning work by about 11:00.  Then it was time to head to our first "family feast". 

We had a delicious lunch and spent a fun afternoon with Jim's family.  All too soon, 4:00 rolled around, and Jim and I headed home to take care of the ladies.  The kids stayed behind to spend time with their cousins.  I made the mistake of getting comfortable on the sofa  "for just a few minutes" and had a hard time getting out to the barn!  That's how it is for me...getting out there can be a slow process, but once I'm there, I'm always surprised at how quickly things go.

After milking, when the kids came home, we spent a quiet evening watching old "Get Smart" episodes on dvd.  Ahh...mindless entertainment!

The celebrating isn't over yet...more cousins arrived from out of town today, and we'll spend tomorrow with my family!  We'll fit in the fun between the chores for the next few days, and then it'll be back to the regular routine.

We are thankful for the few hours we have off between milkings, but I'll be honest with you...we long for the day when we can have a real day off!  But until the cows learn how to "hold it", Christmas will be just like any other day!

Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet...

You know that saying about the mailman?  Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet…will stop this courier…I forget the exact wording, but regardless…it applies not only to the mailman, but to the milkman as well.

One of the people that we rely on regularly is the milkman.  It seems like a lot revolves around his schedule…

“Don’t park in the driveway; the milk truck comes today!” 

“Make sure there’s soap and acid in the tank washer; the milk truck comes today!”

“We’d better get started in good time this morning; the milk truck might be here early today!”

This is Tony, our regular milk truck driver.  He’s a nice guy…he comes in the driveway nice and easy, takes care not to drive on the grass, and doesn’t seem too get too worked up about anything!  He’s even stayed for Sunday lunch!

He rinses out the tank before starting the automatic tank washer before he leaves...

We ship our milk to a local co-op.  The milk goes anywhere from Baltimore to New Jersey to several other plants in Pennsylvania, including Turkey Hill, a local plant that processes milk and makes delicious ice cream!



Occasionally, bad weather makes headaches for the milk truck driver and the farmer both...

Last winter, we had two back to back "blizzards", totalling approximately 48 inches of snow in 10 days.  We were expecting the milk truck right in the middle of the worst of the storm.  Jim spent all morning on the tractor, trying to keep the driveway open.  Tony called us about 30 minutes before he thought he would arrive, so we knew when to expect him.  All of a sudden, there he was...

We were his last stop before leaving for the processing plant, so he had to seal the compartments on top of the truck...

And off he went...loaded up with some sandwiches and a fresh thermos of coffee.  Jim followed him to make sure he would make it back out to the main road.  He almost made it, but had to stop just before the top of a big hill to wait for an Amishman who was picking his children up from school on his tractor...

Jim and some other neighbors got him going again, and another farmer came with his tractor and snowblower to help him the rest of the way out to the main road.

When it comes to picking up and delivering milk, the milkman is just as reliable as the mailman.  We rely on him, and eveyone works together in bad weather to see that he can get through!