Too many cats

I've been reminded that I need to blog once and a while. Things have actually happened so I should report them. We have far too many barn cats. I've always maintained a feeder in the barn for our official barn cats and never worried about the occasional stray passing through. Unfortunately, some fertile queens moved in and rapidly filled the barn with feral cats. I tried to end the welfare entitlement and feed the authorized cats under supervision. This did clear out some of the cats but not all. One of the kittens managed to get an eye damaged, Stacey saw it and now we have a $300 one eyed kitten living on the porch who will be moving in when he's healthy enough. His name is Jack. I'll try and include pictures. We had a birthday party of some note. Stacey and I both have birthdays in August so we invited a lot of folks out for food and firearms. Stacey entertained the folks in the house and I had built a small range in back. We shot skeet and everyone's favorite firearms. It's been a while since I shot my T/C Cherokee and I really enjoyed it. It's lightweight and with the .32 caliber barrel , there's no kick. It was good to see old friends again. With our vet expenses this year, our ability to enjoy the area fairs was limited. We had to miss Wood Co. and Sandusky, both good fairs. We did make the Fulton Co. fair and enjoyed it very much. Their ag display this year was farm trucks which didn't interest me greatly. Everything else was great as expected. Our garden is total crap this year. I have to weed whack large portions just to find the veggies I planted. The tomatoes are producing a handful of poor fruit and the peppers are doing ok. I don't know where the onions and leeks even are. I've got to use more mulch but I've got to hill the dirt up as well. The Farmer's Almanac for next year says it will be a repeat of this year. The upside of all the rain is that I have more apples than I can pick and store. I've discovered a tree in the back of the orchard with magnificent tasting apples. I don't remember planting one in that location. It's too close to a peach, for one thing. I'm going to try to actually take care of it. I hope that doesn't kill it. I'm not good at orchards. The animals are doing well. I had to put up some electric fence to keep the adult steers from walking down the fence to get to all that good stuff on the other side. It doesn't matter that they have perfectly good grass on their side. The stuff on the other side always looks better. Work is a mixed bag. The job is easy on thinking as I'm replacing the batteries in the sirens . My aging body, however, is not happy with the physical labor involved. The muscles seem ok with it but my joints are very unhappy. I hope to be retired by the next battery change. We're supposed to be upgrading the radios in the sirens but it keeps getting pushed back. We'll be doing it in the snow. I know how these things work. No job is ever done on time. That's about it for now. Hopefully, everything stays boring. Take care.

A Lessor Death

I regret to report that our cat Kah-Li ( commonly know as Callie) has died from pancreatitus. She wasn't much of a lap kitty. She seemed to prefer to sit next to us rather than on us. The exception was when she grabbed on to Stacey, climbed up to her shoulder and slobbered in her hair. She had a magnificient purr. She purred until she died. She had the personality of a dumpy maiden aunt most of the time. When she thought no one was watching, she played like a kitten. She was a good kitty and we miss her. Before you start lining up spare kittens for us, let me remind you that we already have 2 others in the house and 2 others outside. We have plenty. The lamb crop is good this year. We have somewhere around 15 that made it. They have formed their lamb flock and spend there days running and playing. I wish I had more time to watch them. I had to pull Anna, the dog out for a while. She had some type of allergic attack that had her pulling her flank hair out. She seems fine now but I'm checking her. We brought in the hay this Friday. My cousin Matt and his girls helped put it in the barn. The girls hold up better than boys. The boys mostly fade out too fast but the girls keep going. I had a bad winter spending too much time indoors. I've been worried that I'd never make it back to health like I was. The fact that I'm writing this means that I survived and if I can do that, I'm ok. Mind you, there were 3 times I was doubting that I'd make it but I did. I remember that Stacey prepared a feast for us and it was good but I started to fall asleep after that and things get fuzzy. What garden I managed to plant is doing well except for beans. The dang things just won't sprout this year. I've planted from 2 different seed sources and nothing. A friend gave me his excess tomato plants and I put them in early. They caught the last frost and died to mthe ground. They came back, they're 3 foot high and forming tomatos. Not bad. I planted Bloody Butcher field corn in a small field in back. I'm told that it's up but I haven't made it back lately. I'm going to have to cultivate it soon. That will be a trick since I don't have a cultivator. One problem at a time. I have some bantam chickens setting. It will be interesting to see how they do. Somehow, I have to get a field of timothy hay started, mow a good part of the farm and shovel out the manure from the sheep pen. I'm tired. See ya later.

Degeneration

I was going through some of my old blog posts and realize that I've been a much better writer. I was happier, funnier, my view of the world was rosier. I was searching for the cause of all this and I've come to the conclusion that it's Obama's fault. He just sucks the life right out of me. Even the antics of Shotgun Joe Biden aren't enough to cheer me up. Eventually, I'll get used to the increasing inflation, stagnant economy and high bullshit levels and be fine. There are meds for that and very few people become mass murderers because of them. I've got a good chance of avoiding that. Stacey and I went to the Tri-County Beekeepers meeting on the 2nd of March. We needed a few tools and a refresher course. The bees haven't been very well kept these last couple of years. Stacey has to do more work with them since I've been using up my spare time trying to grain farm. We had a good and useful time, discovered the box lunch is better than the hot lunch and Stacey got to eat out for a SECOND time in one day at Cracker Barrel on the way home. Since the box lunch constituted our anniversary dinner, I gave Stacey a turtle as an anniversary gift.This turtle is gold with ruby eyes and diamond chips outlining the shell instead of the usual kind that we'd cook. She was quite surprised even though she was the one that picked it out in the jewelery store. I've been cutting brush on the farm but the next major task is shearing the sheep. I need to get them done by April if possible so that they can go back on pasture. I'd list all the other things I need to do in the meantime but it's impossible anyway so why bother? I do need to get a seed order out. I've got to get more of those bush beans we had last year. They were really good. I need to finish prepping the garden and maybe start working the soil if it thaws enough. I have to go. Stacey's home and I'll probably have to unload groceries and prep the brussel sprouts.

The Realities of Inflation

Back in the 1980s, I decided to take up black powder shooting as a cheap alternative to modern rifles. Ammo was expensive and casting my own lead looked attractive. I bought a Thompson Contender Cherokee in .32 caliber for $99. It took me 3 payments because that's how broke I was.It's been my favorite gun ever since. It's more fun to shoot than anything else I have. Recently, I got back to shooting it and decided to check the Net to see if there were any others for sale cheap so as to have a backup. If you can find one, they now run between $450 and $800. Oh, if I'd only bought more guns. I couldn't have, of course. I was just too broke. Since I'm trying to get back to muzzelloading , I went to the Lost Arts Trade Show at Fremont this Saturday. Wow, talk about sticker shock! It costs real money to live in the 1700s now. $70 for period basic pants, I didn't check the rest of the clothes. $130 for a possibles bag. It's a nice bag but Come On! Decent rifles start at $800. I guess I'll have to learn to make all my own stuff. I'd better get the loom going so I can make my own cloth for a shirt. We went to Cirque Du Symphony last night. The Toledo Symphony did a show at the Stranahan with jugglers, strongmen and such performing to the music. It was pretty good though I thought the performers detracted from the music. That was only me, though as everyone else loved it. The farm is doing ok. I still have the sheep on pasture although I expect that to stop rather quickly. I've been putting some hay in the shed and they're starting to pay attention to it. I've been thinning the Banty chickens a few at a time. I've spent some time with tractor maintenance but not enough. I'm having trouble working out in the cold. The joints are starting to complain more. I have to start ordering seed for next year. I want to put in a nice field of timothy since I can process that easily with the equipment I have. Not much else to say right now but make everything you can for yourself. You can't afford to buy it.

Merry Christmas To All

Merry Christmas to all! I have been remiss in my postings. I tend not to post unless I have some pictures. I worry that if I don't have something bright and colorful that I won't keep your attention. My apologies. Thanksgiving went well. The food was great and all of it hit the table hot. Everyone had a good time and no fights broke out. The farm proceeds, if not as planned. The calves are still growing, we've butchered the big chickens and ducks and have a lamb in the freezer so we're eating extremely well. The sheep are still on pasture but I'll probably have to switch hay by February. That's going to suck because the hay crop wasn't good this year. I tried planting sunflowers and oats this year. I need a better oat seed and planting sunflowers in a major bird migration route is futile. I'd like to try some Einkorn, a primitive grain, next year but I haven't found a worthwhile source. I still want to plant some feed corn and buckwheat. Much of those wants will be controlled by my paying job and it's demands. It's still 3+ years to full time farming. My Ford 8N tractor is reaching half of new price. It was squealing on the left side rear whenever I moved it. $600 later and I had a new left rear axle, bearings and seals. I finished the mowing and noticed that I had a radiator leak so I decided to pull it while it's winter. I got it repaired and am putting it back on. Oh yes, the right rear axle is starting to make scraping sounds. I'm still saving up to buy lumber for the barn. How I do will be determined by my taxes. Ohio has instituted something called CAUV. I haven't figured out how it works yet. It appears to be designed to screw small landowners out of more tax money. I guess I'll need a lawyer at some point. It may just be practical to pay the extra extortion. It's Christmas Day and it is cold out. That's it. No snow and the grass is pretty green. It's harder to get in the Christmas spirit when it's so green out. I want to garden. It has been a Christmas more focused on spirit than gifts. We can't afford much in gifts. There seems to be a discrepancy between the .gov reported inflation rate and what things really cost. Imagine that. We got food and a new house roof. We're good. Well that's it for now. I'll try and do better next year. I'll try and scrape up a photo or two.

There's an old story from Burton's 1000 and One Nights about a guy in the market in Mecca who sees Death. Death sees him, looks really surprised and heads toward him. The guy jumps on his horse and rides 3 days to Medina. He jumps off his horse figuring he's beaten Death when Death taps him on the shoulder. The guy says” I beat you for 3 days. I saw you in the market and knew you were coming for me. At least I slowed you down.” Death said” I was surprised to see you in the market in Mecca since I knew you'd be here in 3 days. I was coming over to ask you how you planned to get here so quickly.” Death catches us all . You can run all you want, fight all you want; Death still gets you. He got my friend John Burcham this last weekend. John fought for over 2 years but Death got him anyway. John found humor in his situation. He had dutifully gone for a colonoscopy when he turned 50. That's when the doc found the Stage 4 colo-rectal cancer. The doc said” You've probably had that for 20 years.” So much for that medical theory. John did have a strong belief in Christ and the Resurrection so I hope to see him and some of you again. Of course, it could be very warm where I end up in which case, I'll see the rest of you. Don't hassle Death when he comes. Remember, he's just the ticket agent. You bought the ticket.

Catching Up

I've been away too long. I never finished our vacation story. On our way back from Florida, we stopped to visit with our friends John and Janet Burcham. John has Stage 4 colorectal cancer. He's still making the docs laugh at last report but he seems tired now. John and J

anet, you are continually in our prayers. Winston-Salem , NC has changed so much over the years. It's much more built up than when I was first there. Economically depressed now, it's still much nicer than 1978. The old architecture is nice, the new could be better. Of note is the Wachovia ( now Wells Fargo) office building known locally as the Penis. If only they had added a spray of white lights flowing from the top. The symbolism would be perfect. We arrived home and everything was fine. Our orange tree is growing in our window, we've thrown away our tourist grade marmalade ( Oh that was bad.) and Stacey still hasn't eaten all the pecans. So much for vacation. Now for the farm update. It was a good lamb crop this year with many twins. I attribute this to pasturing the sheep through the winter. Of course, it could be just luck. We planted a large garden as usual and mostly it died or never came up. We kept the tomatoes alive with mulch and irrigation but it was costly. I plan on sinking a well point for a small well just to water the garden with. The temperatures were so high that after a day of work, I just couldn't bring myself to go out and work. We had to buy tomatoes to can. The tomatoes are starting to produce but not very much. We had some of our own corn. The wheat field that was all I could get in last year produced a whole 20 bushels per acre, less than half of an average year. I tried planting oats and sunflowers this year. The oats is worthless. The sunflowers are doing well. It turns out that they are a good crop for drought. If I can get my combine running, I'll have some chicken and cattle feed. We got 50 chickens. 25 are Turkens for the freezer and 25 mixed Bantams just for fun. We bought 14 baby ducks from the county fair. Stacey likes to go out to sit and watch the ducks and chickens. I suspect that with the ducks, she's sorting them by recipes. Dumbass the steer is now in the freezer. He was a good steer and would have made a good pet but he makes an even better hamburger. I bought 2 more Jersey calves to show in the baby animals at the fair. When I asked the lady I bought them from how much they were, she said “ Ten bucks each.” I almost said” I'll take a dozen.” but realized that I'd have to feed them and only bought 2. I've named them Carter and Reagan because when I first got them, Reagan would take the bottle and drain it right down. Carter was too dumb to suck. I'm in the process of weaning them now and they're doing well. We paid a professional painter to paint our house. He did a magnificent job but we're still paying it off. We got new gutters at the same time. The house looks far better than it has in a long time. Next big expense will be the roof and I'm going for metal. That should last the rest of my life. We've cut back on the fairs a bit. We'll hit the Fulton Co. Fair this weekend. We couldn't miss that as it's the best in Ohio. One more chance to eat fried cheese curds and Belgian waffles before winter. I don't have much more right now. Take care of yourselves.