Day One Hundred Fifty...

This is a photo of one of our 'passion vines' in bloom. THe blooms only last one day, and the butterfly larvae love them for breakfast!

Okay, so far so good. I slept in until after 6 AM this morning, that was great. Got up and made coffee, Jody was up before I even went out to get the newspaper. Read the paper, and wrote one check for a bill that I was putting off paying for as long as I possibly could, just because it was for some work that was done at the farm that was a totally crappy job, and really expensive. I truly feel like I was taken advantage of, so I wrote on the check that I was paying in protest, and that the work done was totally unacceptable. Whatever...I am sure they will cash the check and laugh about what a dumb-ass I was for being taken advantage of monetarily by them. That is what I get for trusting folks to do good work, etc., etc., etc.

So, on the way to the mail box with the check, I got a little bit distracted, and about four hours later had cut most of the front and part of the back areas around the house. Probably at least two acres, maybe more. The first part was cutting-in and around all the trees and stuff, then I took a break for breakfast...Jody fixed bacon and blueberry pancakes. Then it was back outside to do the big parts of the yard with the riding lawn mower. There is something wrong with the riding lawn mower, it gets to where it does not want to go into gear, and I can hear something slipping when you try to put it in forward or reverse. But, eventually it will decide to go, so I was trying to cut the areas immediately around the house first just in case it quit for good. I had to put gas in it once, and then it would not really run for more than a few minutes. Maybe it was flooded or something, but after a couple more hours, I get it running again, and it seemed to do pretty well.

THEN it was time to move the cattle to the other pasture, which means moving their feed troughs and molasses buckets and mineral and salt-licks, not to forget moving them! They were happy to go to the other pasture, and as soon as they got there, they put their heads down and went to town on the fresh grass. The little boy calf that we 'banded' last week is doing well, but his little testicles are turning black, so it seems they will be dropping off in another couple weeks or so, and he will join the ranks of the boy sopranos.

After that, I took a rest for a couple minutes...so far I have drunk three root beers with no fizz...we brought them from the old farm, and somehow they lost their fizz. They taste kind of like creme sodas, not terrible so I am gonna finish off the two or three that are left. Not bad! I moved three bales of hay (the last three bales from last year) out of one of the pastures that I will put the cattle in in another three weeks. Hopefully, we will be baling hay in out other pastures here in another week or so, so that will give us plenty of hay to make through the winter (I hope). Hopefully, we will continue to have a little rain now and then, and the grass will continue to grow, and we will not need to depend on (or have to buy more) hay for a while.

Anyway, after that, I hooked up the shredder to the tractor and I am planning to cut more grass later tonight or tomorrow. I must be doing something wrong hooking up the shredder to the tractor, because I do not think it should be that hard of a chore, although it would definitely be easier if it was two people putting it on. Anyway, I got it done, and took a couple swipes to make sure I had the height correct, and brought it up to the front of the property. I will need to fill it up with diesel before I do much of anything with it, so it is sitting out on the side of the property right now, waiting for fuel.

We are heading to the Catfish Parlor for dinner, yummy! And then I think it will be early to bed for me! I am getting tired, and I think it will be an early night.

Random Photo! I saw this in a grocery store parking lot the other day, and went back to my car to get the camera. Where would we be without the ta-tas? This photo is in honor of my friend Shane! She knows who she is!

Do something nice for someone, and remember that niceness works two ways! Have fun!