Well, Stan's hay is getting wet, going from really nice hay to bedding over the next couple of days. He did get the little orchard baled and put in the heifer barn for summer hay. We think this is the first time we've baled in May. Now that it's June, there's rain in the forecast for the next week! Who says farming isn't exciting?

Glad we don't have that worry anymore. SU got positively ugly during haymaking. And planting. And wintertime. And snow. And corn harvest................And rain when the cows had to go through slop and laid in it instead..............'bout covers it all, I guess.

We had a very brief shower yesterday and a less humid day today. It was still in the 90s but wasn't too uncomfortable even without much wind. The lack of wind was actually appreciated as we are rebuilding the lean-to on the east side of the barn and today we started putting up the roofing tin. I hope there isn't much wind tomorrow either so we can finish - maybe.

Kathleen, is that Harrison's Yellow?

The eulogy was well-received today. My goal was to make people laugh.........they did.

porkpal, yep, that's the Harison's. I have three now and am hoping to start some more. That one would do well for you, I think.

Anna, I'm glad things went well.

It's overcast this morning. Yesterday it was often downpouring rain with bits of just sprinkles in between. I don't know how much we had but I wouldn't be afraid to bet on an inch or more.

I dont' have a decent rain gauge...........I just check the back cellar. 2 inches if the laundry basket I left on the floor is floating. A torrential downpour if I see the Tidy Bowl man in his little boat.

Chautauqua County is experiencing an army worm invasion. The kid who helps out on occasion took his younger brother out and they found 10 per square foot in one field. they filled a jar and fed them to their mother's chickens. Their going to spray their corn. Stan says he's seen a good number of wild turkey going through one field on the rented land and wonders if maybe we have some, too. He'll just let nature take its course at this point. When I was a kid, there was a bad infestation and one guy saw them crossing a road to get to another field. He ran and got his tractor and ran it back and forth over the column until they stopped coming. He didn't know if it really did any good, but said it made him feel better.

We have lurched into summer - highs in the 80s and a bit more humid. Stan baled up the hay that got wet and put it in the bedding mow. All he has down now is some pasture that got too big to graze. The only day that has rain in the forecast is Tuesday, so maybe they will get the hay up on the hill later in the week.

The 'little' grandkids got to see a calf born this week. I told their mother she was in for some questions. This week, it will be all about dog breeding, as it is that time again. I'm not sure why our dogs have to be out in the yard - there's a whole lot of farm available!

Hm, that will be an interesting tutorial.............dog breeding for kids. Glad it's you and not me.

So, it's a beautiful, sunny, drying day. Stan has 20 acres of hay down and is presently on his way to Erie to a doctor's appointment. Never fails. There was a miscommunication with the young man who works for us,but he's up there now with a lunch and the new tractor hooked onto the two rakes. I have the kids, who for some reason are playing in the house? I have bread in the pans and could use a nap, but that's not happening!

I finally got finished my barn rebuilding project - well, all but a few details, so now the pigs and chickens can return to their usual residences, and a pensioner racehorse with an injured leg can move into a large outside stall and keep his bandage dry if it rains - as it has been doing fairly often in the afternoons. - Yay! normal June weather this year.
Meanwhile I broke the PTO shaft for the little shredder so the "yard" in front of the house looks like the Pampas or something. The tractor repair shop said they'd have it back by now...

Oh, and the dogs have killed two copperheads lately, and managed not to get bitten in the process - amazing!

I am so glad that we don't have to worry about poisonous snakes up here. Just an occasional mountain rattler in the wilderness areas, but mostly red bellied racers and garter snakes for us.

Even tho they are beneficial, I still hate snakes. They are so.....well......."reptilian". LOL

There is something really creepy about anything with no legs being able to move so fast and just ooze up trees and such...

We have a couple of big rat snakes that keep our barn free of rodents - unfortunately they also help themselves to our hens' eggs. I don't like the surprise of finding one of them in the nesting boxes when I collect eggs - ycck!

We ended last night with 4 large pizzas (the 5th is in the freezer), a motor on the elevator that had a broken wire and a broken power shaft on the baler. Stan has the motor fixed, the shaft jury-rigged hoping it will hold until the one that he's gone to order comes in. It's a JD 327, so it's around 30 years old, but it much more modern than the 24T we had before. I believe that would be in the area of 50 years old. Nothing like a baler you can depend on. Actually, there has been talk about buying a round baler. We'll see.

They got half the field done before things started falling apart. The biggest problem now is where to put the rest. Stan is running out of room for the first cutting in the hay mow. He's got the storm shed full! The poor barn swallows were beside themselves yesterday with all the furor going on in what they believe to be their space.

Oh, and the dogs have been rather thoughtful about their puppy production practices. Having said that, I'll have to watch out, but so far so good.

Sounds like time to get the dogs fixed.

Well, they are part of our retirement - registered working Border Collies, so not yet.

First cutting, except for the oats, is done. There were some army worms in the wagons, but when the little kids were here they were diligent in their stomping. So far, I haven't seen any, but Stan says we have a few. Always something.

Happy Summer! 90 here today and humid.

Welcome to our summer conditions!

Cooler, with even cooler weather next week (high of 63 one day). Stan is down chopping the first of the second cutting. the army worms got some of it - pretty much devastated one field, but he planned to plow that one up anyway. He says it looks like they came right down the gas line. That's interesting...

it's writers workshop week for me - a whole week wherein for at least 2 hours a day I get to sit and write. lovely!

The farm is up to its usual tricky self - flat tires, dead twins, pink eye in the heifer pastures, army worms making their presence known in the hayfields, a rock where there wasn't one at first cutting taking a chunk out of the new discbine, broken power shaft on the baler -- HEY! I think we're good with all the calamity. Let the rest of the week go well!

The weather has been pleasant, cool Monday, warming yesterday and today, what i call hot tomorrow, but that's ok, a little heat is good.

This is the article I wrote for the Jamestown Audubon Society. It will be in the Post Journal Saturday, but here's a preview:

http://jamestownaudubon.wordpr...