Good morning on a bright, cold December morning. The birds are out and about, the sun is up and there's a light coating of snow on the ground. Going shopping with a friend today. We haven't seen each other since Labor Day. She lives 8 miles away and milks cows, has 7 children and is caring for her elderly grandmother. Imagine, she doesn't have any spare time!

I hope you both have a fun day (I hate shopping).

Only three weeks until the days get longer again!

Honestly, I hate shopping too, but it is much nicer with a friend and it gets both of us away from our respective farm. When I get home, one of her kids will be coming over to help me with some garden chores and housekeeping. A good day ahead all around.

Porkpal, thanks for reminding me that the days will soon start to get longer. Just last night, when it felt like 10pm but was only 7:15, I told my hubby that it would be nice to live where the nights don't mess with us like this. On the other hand, I have lived in Alaska where the winter days were much shorter. At Palmer, near Anchorage, daylight came sometime around 10am and only lasted until about 3, Ketchikan was a little better, about 9 and 4. Here, just barely south of the 45th parallel, it's better. At the moment, 6:38 Pacific time, I can see a light sky to the east, it's still dark in the west, and I could see to walk outside without a light. I feed the horses about 4:30 every evening so that I don't have to do it in the dark. They live outside year around and have a shed for shelter if they want it. They seem to use it more in the summer to get away from the bugs than for relief from bad weather.

I hate the short days; I could not survive winters in Alaska too dark and too COLD! I feed in the dark AM and PM due to my other work - I hate that too. I like to be able to see what I am feeding, but if everyone shows up and no one is limping I assume they are okay. (No, I'm not really a grumpy person, thinking of winter, even our non-winter, just puts me in a bad mood.)

Don't get excited about finding a place with long days all year-around. I am south of the Tropic of Cancer, about 18 degrees lattitude. For a while in the summer, the Sun is north in the sky, and two days a year, directly overhead. The days are only 13 hours long. Now the nights are 13 hours long, and it's pitch dark at 6:30.

I guess the migrating creatures do it for long days!

Melissa, please tell us more about your climate. What crops are grown there? What is your temperature range?

temps never get over 97 in the summer, never below 68 in the winter. Generally about a ten degree difference day/night. Dry season Dec- May, but usually some rain. We've had a lot of rain this year. I sleep with just a fan, no airconditioning. Quite nice. humidity is around 60%

Soil is extremely alkaline, tests dark blue. Mountains to 1,000 feet high, some flat land, too.. Hmm, few crops, mostly food is imported. Every bug and disease is here. If you plant any vegetable, you'd really watch and be ready to contain problems. I plan a screened house for my veggie garden eventually. How to make it hurricane proof is the trick! Didn't have a storm this year or last, hooray! Air is salty, worse in some places than other.

A few beef cattle on the Island, they "invented" the Senapol breed here. They are gorgeous! See:

https://www.google.com/search?...

Nice place to live, but expensive and lots of hassles getting things done. Hamburger is running $5 a lb, zucchini $1 each. Land starts at 35-50k a lot. Rents start about 1k and go to 2k and more. electricity is 4x the states.

I've been here mostly, since 1988. In my yard, I'm growing papayas, some kind of vine spinach, soursop trees, mango trees, coconut trees. I need to grow more veggies. Oh, I have a three year old broccoli plant, I eat the leaves. And things like basil and lima beans are perinnials.

Some folks come and love it here, some hate it.

Thanks for all the information about the USVI and the link about the Senepol cattle. I went a step further and read about the development of the breed on the breed association page.

http://www.senepolcattle.com/h...

They sound like they would be well suited to the southern states where it is hot and humid for a good portion of the year.

Your growing conditions sound like they could be quite challenging. However, a determined gardener finds a way!

Our day was cold and windy. It's dark now and the wind shows no sign of stopping.

Kathleen, I know all about horrendous bossies............milked a few since we started relief milking. They all seem to see it my way by the time it is overwith. LOL

Just got back tonight from a week in Mexico. Wonderful down there, and we had a nice, fun, relaxing time.

Melissa, I've been thinking about your weather and daylight hours all day. We have had a lovely December day, high of 42 F, sun through high clouds, a few patches of leftover snow in the shady spots. The daylight length for today is 9 hours 21 minutes. In six months the daylight length will be around 14 hours 49 minutes, or something like that. The thing is, I find that I feel my best in the spring and fall when the days and nights are nearest to equal.

Those are beautiful bossies. I don't think they would fare as well as my shaggy outside Holstein heifers do up here. The outside girls have all acquired the plush toy look with their winter coats growing in.

I would hate to have to milk anyone elses horrendous cows. The few we've had over the years have been plenty, thank you!

Anna, I hope when you get assigned a herd with unruly cows the owners at least warn you about the rude ones.

Porkpal, I ALWAYS ask "so, are there any I have to watch out for that would just as soon take my head off when I go in beside them???" They usually tell me no. One place has a couple that are just a PITA, not really horrendous, and since I know about them and they know I won't tolerate any cwap (kind of like their master) they're not too bad.

I have a couple of mama cows that let me handle them quite readily but a stranger? No way! I also remember my uncle had a few one-man-cows. Could be there are stealth bovine felons out there yet to be revealed! (Ever the optimist)

Hey, any of you guys and gals out there.............I'm looking for a gently used vitamix juicer that is perhaps collecting dust in your cupboard. That way you could get rid of it and buy something new to take up its place.

I guess I don't have one as I don't know what it is. Good luck with your search.

I guess winter is here early. It was down to 27 this morning and all the water troughs, chicken waterers, pig buckets, etc had ice on them. I was hoping for some warm weather to keep the rain-revived grass growing. Sigh...

Milking job went ok (or so I thought, till I looked in the mirror and saw what I looked like after 2 days of cows). I must take better care of myself in the barn from here on.






DS#2 has an app on his new phone that can do this..........of course he showed Austin, the 8 year old, how to do it. ) He had great fun prettying gramma up. He had a long bleeding cut on my cheek, but couldn't keep that and the "eye" both. LOL

Yep, farming's tough!

Well, I can see that since that pic is in close proximity to my supposedly "decent" one that there isn't really ALL that much difference.