A four way tie...

New Bull Calf

Last night was terribly stormy. I had a hard time sleeping, because the wind was so loud. I am pretty sure I heard a few trees blow over in the storm. When we went out to feed the cows this morning, I was surprised to see a new calf nursing off his mum under a cedar tree, but not that surprised because I thought the calves were going to start arriving two weeks ago.

As I was surveying the herd, I quickly noted that there were actually, 1...2...3...4... new calves!!! 3 bulls, and one heifer calf. Most of the other pictures didn't turn out due to the fog, but I will see if I can get some decent shots of the newest babies up.

Catch of the day

It really doesn't look like much, but this little bit of metal was today's "unreachable star". The tractor has been having some trouble with the forward and reverse function for the last few days. It was usable, but really not doing that good of a job. After a little bit of research, I learned that the problem lay within a certain cable buried deep within the heart of the orange beast. I will spare you the boring details and try to keep it simple here.

Here is abridged version:

1. Faulty cable is located in an impossibly tight location...
2. Must tear tractor completely apart to make repair...
3. After tractor is half torn apart... reassess situation
4. There is a possibility that I can squeeze my hand up into a very tight area to pull the cotter pin on the cable.
5. 2 hours, several scrapes and curses later... Success!!!

Here is how we did it.

1.) Strip Wire

2.) Separate single strand

3.) Find heavy gauge wire

4.) Splice it all together

5.) I didn't know the key to success could be so small

Yes... that tiny little thing in my hand is what we were after. It is called a cotter pin. I had to get that out, so that I could get the cable off. Tractor is now fixed. Woohoo!!!

All in a day's work

Today we worked on the "Big Barn". Yes that's what we really call it. We are making it even bigger. It was cold. The tallest poles we set were 24 feet tall. It was kind of scary. These poles are heavy, probably around 300 lbs each. When you are plumbing and bracing them up anything can happen. By "anything can happen," I mean you could end up looking like a fly on the business end of a fly crushing apparatus.

Tomorrow, we will set some of the rafter beams and purlins, at least that is the plan. Who knows what will really happen. The weather forecast says we have some freezing rain coming. Climbing around like a squirrel, 20 feet off the ground in an icy downpour sounds enchanting. I wouldn't mind snow, but I guess we'll just have to see what is coming our way.

Before

After

A well balanced meal...

If you are a wolf, or maybe a shark one could consider this meal to be balanced. I only had room on my plate for a few bites of potatoes and 7 green beans.

Note the weight on the package...

there are two steaks per pack...

So here's the deal... Sunday was my birthday, and I still needed to try out some of the steaks from our latest batch. We did some extra-special aging stuff (22 days dry aging), and I wanted to see how everything turned out. Naturally I grabbed the biggest package I could get my hot little hands on. The porterhouse is one of my all-time favorites because it is actually two really good steaks rolled into one. On the small side is the filet mignon, and the larger side is actually the NY strip. You really can't go wrong.

King Size!!!

The picture doesn't really do it justice. I could barely fit this thing in the frying pan. Just to give you an idea... 33+ ounces. The steak was 1-1/4" thick. I rubbed it down with olive oil, salt and pepper and cooked it medium rare. After cooking for about 8 minutes (2 min increments per side) on medium heat, I put the steak on a plate and covered it with tin-foil so that it could rest for about 10 min.

I don't want to break my arm patting myself on the back, but suffice it to say, this was everything that a good steak should be... rich, flavorful, tender, and juicy. Happy birthday to me!!!

Helper #2

This is Eden...(aka... Helper #2)

One of my favorite things on the farm is having the girls come out and work with me. They especially love to ride with me on the tractor. Usually when I ask my two girls "who wants to come help dad?" a mad dash ensues to get their "work clothes" on. This morning Lia (5 yrs) was still asleep from her late night, new year's eve party bender (...we watched James and the Giant Peach and drank hot pear cider). Eden, (2.5 yrs) was also up for the festivities last night, but she woke up at 6:00 a.m. bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, because last night I told her she could help me feed the cows this morning. We really had a lot of fun together, even though it was about 10* Fahrenheit. By the end of the chores she was saying that she wanted "momma".

Magic in the air

Sampson

Hi folks, Jon here. I'm a little nervous; this is my first ever blog post. It's okay, you don't have to cheer so much; I'm not about to break my arm patting myself on the back, either. Mark's been bugging me to post something, anything! So it's my turn, and if this goes well I will probably do it again sometime.
Anyway, enough of that. Let me tell you about someone very close to me. In fact, he's sitting on my lap right now.
Meet Sampson. A.K.A. The Black Death, Shadow Stalker, Thief in the Night, Destroyer of Rodents, Lord of the Top Shelf.

The bathroom sink is one of his favorite places to sleep; it's like his own personal little tub. This animal really looks like a cat, but half the time he acts like a dog. He loves to be outside, and when he isn't massacring rodents, he is equally at home wandering among the cows or chilling with the chickens. It's a good thing the chickens are about the same size as he is, otherwise he might try to eat them more often.

Six Years Hard Time...

Jill gave these boots to me for Christmas when we were newlyweds six years ago. It was a really huge sacrifice. At the time we were both in college and starving financially. I was working outdoors in construction, and it was winter time. I had a pair of really cheap work boots that were not waterproof, and aside from being very uncomfortable they really just thrashed my feet. Sometimes I would come in from work and the soles of my feet would be covered in blisters. It wasn't because the boots weren't broken in, I had been wearing them for months. They were just poorly made. The new boots made all the difference in the world. It really touched me to be the recipient of her selfless sacrifice.

The old timers have a saying..."use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without". The time has finally come to retire my beloved boots. Jill and I have talked about it a little bit, and it is somewhat sad for both of us, but I guess they're just boots aren't they? It is kind of funny how an inanimate object can resurrect old bits and pieces of your life. Dust off the memory bank, so to speak.

So long boots.

R.I.P.