Stuff

The first phone call of the day was "can you dress warm and come out and run the corn silage unloader"?  That certainly isn't a sign of a good day but I went out and watched the mixer while the 550#  of corn silage ran in. While I did this Bruce was up in the silo watching the unloader going around and trying to figure out what its issue is. At this point he thinks in this cold weather it needs the collector ring dismantled and greased so that it turns easier. While I was waiting and watching I did have entertainment.  Mike came charging into the feed room all excited that I was there.  It wasn't long before he came in again, this time with his kong.  Our previous dog, Max, was a professional at playing fetch, so much so that if you ignored him long enough you would have a stick, pine cone, ice cream pail cover, 5 gallon pail cover, plastic milk jug, random piece of wood and even a rock at your feet to choose from.  Once, while Bruce had help here pouring cement, Max was the self appointed entertainment committee for the cement truck driver. Since the driver had arms, Max pulled one of the height marking stakes right out of Bruce' project for him to throw.  Mike doesn't get that concept.  He spent the first 6 months of his life either kenneled or running with about about 10 other border collies.  We suspect "keep away" was not only fun but a survival thing at that point in his life.  His version of playing fetch is running into the feed room, and as soon as you acknowledge he has something, turning and bounding out to get away.  He played this game at least 10 times while I was there but once when he came in I lunged at him as though I was going to jump over the 4 ft. wall and grab him.  It's hilarious seeing a crazy happy 2 1/2 ft long dog turn around in a 1 ft space!

Normally Bruce leaves the house first to mix feed and I come out in time to help milk.  When things go badly I tend to start milking myself just to keep the work of the day moving along.  He did announce that feeding wouldn't take as long now that his electric feed cart had all 3 speeds again.  He then explained that every time the connection would fail he would have to go around to the other end and kick the battery box to get it going. The connection that was bothering was the one on the battery tray that pulls out so you can work on the batteries.  At times it would stop in end alleys or corners where he couldn't get past the cart and he would have to go all the way around a row of cows to get to the "kicking" side.  Sometimes it would move1 ft and he would have to do it again.  He is more than thrilled he managed to get it working yesterday.

We spent the middle part of our day going to the funeral of a neighbor, 62, who died of lung cancer.  She was soft spoken, generous and had no health history to suggest she should have a cancer diagnosis in Nov. 2009. It's sad when farmers spend their whole lives working, and when they finally get to the point of being free to do things, one of them is gone.  Perhaps she can be a wake up call for the rest of us.

All day it has snowed on and off, big fluffy flakes.  By this point tonight we have at least 4 inches on the ground.  Life will get interesting when the wind blows again. Bruce spent the afternoon filling feed box again while I spent mine paying the bills.  Today is the "guess" milk check day along with the arrival of our steer check.  I do not believe we have ever seen fed cattle prices this high. Given the fallout in 2009 and the forecast of fuel prices etc. we most definitely have a place for this money to go.  All of our financial records are done on computer.  I love to hit "print" and be able to read what it says.  My hands don't write like they should and I can get so much more detailed information this way.  I follow a long history of record keepers on this farm, all the way back to a little black book written in the 1880's in German.  We always find it interesting to look at the numbers in total at the end of the year.  So far, this looks like it could be our first good year in quite awhile.  It is also February.  Gotta love endless farmer optimism.