Actually, the first journal was in late July last year, so I'm a bit late with anniversary greetings. Dave started us out on July 8, but we didn't really get rolling for a few days. So here it is, a few days late, but happy one year to the Farming Forum.

We had a couple of scatter rain showers yesterday, basically enough to set the dust. Stan took the dump trailer up with him when he went to check heifers yesterday and came home with a surprise load of mulch. I called in some help and we got the frist two rock beds and Jess and Erin's garden weeded and mulched before the rain.

It was kind of funny, I had to chase the kids, who were running around in the sprinkler, into the house because it was thundering.

Short day at the sale barn.......only 128 calves. One buyer bought 92 of them. Not many needed the health papers, but we still had to do them. LOL

Hot here again today, but there is a breeze. Need to go and weed some and water stuff too. Suppose the SU will go help the kid with his roof shingling project later. Hmmmm..........maybe Grammie needs to go and swim with the kids, as he gets them tonight. 5 is the "trade time". And this is his weekend too.

A nice rainshower would be appriciated. I will ask nicely when I am in church Sunday. Perhaps I have been making too many musical mistakes. The Lord doesn't find it joyful???? LOLOL

Haystacks are everywhere. Big haystacks. Some ranches have hay sheds, just posts and a roof, and many of them are full and have hay bales stacked way out past the buildings. Other big stacks are on high spots at the edge of fields where the cattle will be fed in the winter, or where they are handy to get a semi for loading and selling. We don't get a lot of rain or snow, so storing hay inside is not absolutely necessary as it would be in wetter climates. Some stacks get covered with heavy tarps, others with a layer of older bales, and some with nothing at all. They keep their quality quite well, being nice and green and sweet smelling 2 or 3 inches in from the exposed surfaces. Most of the big ranches have gone to the big bales that weigh about 1000 pounds. They are quicker to bale and handle, but require more machinery. One of our neighbors does custom baling as well as doing his own hay for about 500 cattle. He couldn't do that with a regular baler that makes 100 pound bales.

The ranches right around us have cut and stacked most of their hay. Up here in the dry hills we seldom get any second cuttings except for alfalfa. Down in the valleys where they have a long irrigation season they will get 3 or sometimes 4 cuttings. They get their water from the river, we get ours as runoff from the mountains via a creeks and into our ditch. Smaller ditches come off the main one to supply the ranches. When the water level in the creeks reaches a certain level, they turn off the ditch and save the water for migrating fish. That happened a couple of weeks ago. The mountains are just bare rocks now.

Here in my garden, I have dug out the onions and they are drying on the ground in the sun. No rain in the forecast and most mornings there is no dew at all, so they should cure nicely and keep well into the winter. I hang them in mesh bags from the ceeling beams in the basement where the temperature stays at about 52 degrees. My corn has not started to tassle yet. We are anxious for corn. No ripe tomatoes yet, but lots of zucchini and other summer squash. I sold some of that at the co-op today.

Daytime temps are near 90, nights about 55. Normal year for here.

Just back from the milking job............4 more to go. LOL They are going to the Wisconsin State Fair; their 2 kids are showing dairy. They'll be home for Sat. pm milking. Thinking of taking my swimsuit along tomorrow night (or tonight too) and taking a dip in their nice inground pool. I went and stuck my hand in it this morning. It's quite pleasant.

Good for you Anna! Have FUN

Then Monday and Tuesday milking job close to home.........3 miles away. Then Thurs. I am off to NY for that job. Ends the 21st.

Wow! Busy summer! Any more jobs and you might as well have your own cows back.

No, no...................by doing this we get PAID!!!! We are making more money milking someone else's cows than we ever did milking our own. Well, maybe we did ok when milk was almost $20.00.................but still............And I know there will be an end. Oh, and tomorrow is feeder cattle sale at Equity, so I will need to be there at 11;30. Said they have "only" 500, so hoping I will be done by 5.

Last morning of the milking job (started Thurs. am). We’re milking Todd’s cows...........his dad is EJ. Anyway, EJ came wandering through the barn this morning when I was about half done and I told him, “I’ve been looking at all these nice cows, and if someone came and told me I could have any one of them that I wanted, THIS is the one I would take..........good choice or bad???” I pointed to a nice, tall young cow with a really nice udder. EJ said “good choice. REAL good choice..........she has been Supreme Champion several times”. Too bad I didn’t have my camera so I could have taken her pic. Mostly black (I’m not a fan of mostly white cows, nothing prettier than a nice, shiny mostly black Holstein cow). Guess I can pick ‘em, eh? LOL

It's a cool morning, so I'm canning some peaches. Only had enough to do 7 pints, but I find it easier this way. I remember doing bushels and bushels when I was a kid. We all went to Grandma's and Grandpa and the boys shook the peach tree and we canned for days. She had two canners so there were always some being peeled, some being put in the syrup and some in the canner. Now I need to wash the floor in front of the counter...

Another milking job today and tomorrow............here is what happened this morning.



Gads......................the milking job went less than stellar this morning. Blew a fuse on the receiver jar pump. 15 amp automotive type ones. Of course we couldn’t find ANYTHING there, so SU came home and found 2. Only 1 of the fuses in the box was blown, so he just replaced the bad one. 9 cows left and it blew the one we put in. So, he puts in the other one he brought along that we didn’t need...........flipped the switch and the pump made a horrid grinding noise and blew out the one he just put in. Grrrrr............I had called the Surge guys and he talked us through the fuse thing, so I had called them back and said it worked. Now I had to call and say “you better come out............I have 9 cows left and 7-5 gallon pails of milk that drained out when everything filled and overflowed into the trap. Meanwhile SU comes back home again (only 3 miles) and robbed the only one we had left.........it was in the old 442...........he put it in and it didn’t blow out this time. So, I was able to finish the 9 cows, suck the 7 pails of milk through and the repair guy was replacing the pump when we left. Mr. Trumpy is NOT going to be impressed with the bill from Surge. LOL That motor h as to be about $600.00. Got home about 10:30..............usually home a little after 9. LOL Oh, well, it should work like a charm tonight. At least I know it wasn’t something I did or didn’t do. And yes, I did take the pipe out of the cooler.

Do you ever get the feeling that were it not for bad luck, you wouldn't have any luck at all? I hope that's the end of it.

Makes me wonder what will happen next week when I have the 10 day gig in NY. LOL

On Wednesday, I went to Empire Farm Days up at Seneca Falls. Our good friends' daughter ( and my grandson's girl friend) had been part of the 14th Cornell Junior Dairy Leaders program and they were giving a presentation and receiving their certificates. Our husbands were both haying, so we did a road trip/busman's holiday and went up to get her and one other girl from the area. The trip up was the first time that we've gotten to talk all summer, so it went fast. The presentations were good, but they went long. Robin and I walked around the show while the girls were getting their stuff from the van they rode up in. There were a lot of oversized tractors and tillage and harvesting machines, robotic milking systems, we both signed up to win a Morton building, took pictures of the tiny antique equipment, drank a lot of iced tea. The ride home was pleasant - I got to pick on Bobbi about Tom and she got to pick on both her mother and me. The other girl will be going to Cornell in two weeks. She is the one who nominated my granddaughter for the job of FFA president, even though Jess is only a Sophomore. Kelsey was the president, and she said that Jess was the only one that could do the job. Jess isn't so sure but I think, like Kelsey, that she'll do fine. Bobbi is the president of her FFA in the next tiny school over. Tom has no interest in farming, but he does like Bobbi.

For one of their field trips the Jr. Dairy Leaders went to World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin and visited several large dairy farms while they were there. Bobbi really thought WI was much more dairy friendly than NY.

Thursday, the little kids and I 'set off' our volcano. It didn't erupt in a spectacular manner, but it had good flow. We used vinegar and red soda water for the effects. Maybe next time, we'll go with Mentos and red pop.

We've had a little more than 1/2 an inch of rain and temperatures for today at least are in the 60s - a bit different from earlier in the week.

Kathleen, I'm waving to you from Madison, NY. Can you see me? Day 1 is over.........only 10 more left.

Everything going okay - for a change?

So far...............they had the trouble before I got here. Pipeline problems and silo unloader problems. And the hired guy has even showed up on time.

Yeah, you're a ways east of us, like 2/3s of the state east. We were probably about 1/2 way there on Wednesday. Hope all is well.

I was still in WI on Wed. SU will be here tomorrow, so that will be a bunch of help for me. I have the pity factor going for me here.......he feels sorry for me since he saw what all I had to do.

That's progress, Anna, did he ever feel sorry for you in the years you milked, did field work, laundry, cooking, and housework? Maybe it's a good excuse for a trip. Motorcycle this time?

I noticed a bit of crop diversity when we traveled to another town about 40 miles away this past week. Mostly it's been hay, wheat and other grains, with mint added about 15 years ago. New crop is sunflowers with short, stocky stems (2 ft?) and big heads with lots of seed compared to the size of the whole flower.