Poor Management

I just read a little snippet in the Hoard's Dairyman concerning a farm in Maine which has fallen into the hands of the EPA. Apparently this 250 cow dairy was discharging cow manure into a local stream. After three separate "Notices Of Violation" which spanned four months they lost their operating permit. Under the Clean Water Act, the farm is now facing some serious fines. These fines could be as high as $32,500 a day and would be back dated to October of 2006. So, they would be looking at roughly $5,850,000 worth in fines. I guess that is correct, I was never very good at math. It seems to me this dairy has fallen into the hands of a poor manager...

BONK!!!

For starters I could not figure out what this incredibly annoying noise was. This incessant clanging in my ear. Oh yes up I must get. To the barn I must go. I was pulling the crowd gate to the back of the holding pen BONK occurred. This crowd gate used to be electric. Had a motor on it which drives a pulley which had a piece of cable wrapped around it. The pulley would pull the gate forwards or backwards. However, this handy apparatus stopped working quite a few moons ago. So we rigged up a rope to pull it forwards and backwards. The end of the track has this metal bracket that was held in place by the cable. Now it is held in place by the rope. I welded a pulley on this bracket for the rope to run in. The rope runs in this pulley most of the time however this morning was not one of those times. The rope came off of the pulley the gate hit the bracket and it fell out of its proper place and cracked me soundly on the head. I holler, scream, utter unutterable epithets and hold my head in my hands. Then to top it off when I crawled onto the metal gate at the back of the holding pen to put the bracket back in its proper place I received quite an electrical jolt from a stray fence wire. This caused me great distress which I expressed by yelling loudly. These things always tend to happen early in the morning when my body is telling me it should be in bed. This morning I agreed with my body...

Hmmmm?

I stopped in to pick up an alternator today and when I walked in the guy said "Man, what happened to you? You have gained some weight!" Later, I was telling Sonny what this fellow said and he told me he was explaining to the Dr. the other day who he worked for. The Dr. said "Oh, he is the skinny one?" To which Sonny replied "Uhhh, he ain't so skinny any more." I think I must be fat now...

Daily Activities

Today was rather busy with things not really pertaining to work. I did manage to get a few odds and ends down this morning before leaving for a memorial service. My great Uncle, Dallas Tester, passed away and the had a memorial service this morning. I would much rather go to a memorial service than a funeral...
After the memorial service I stopped at Lowe's and bought two trees. One was a Silver Maple and the other was a flowering Cherry tree of some sort. So, I planted those this evening after which I made a sand box for the kids. After this was finished I told Sierra I was thinking maybe we, her and I, could go on a date. She was overjoyed with this thought and promptly went and brushed her hair. We went to Altavista and found our selves sitting in Hardees. We had a fun evening. Girls are amazing, they just chatter on and on...

VOP

We are singing this evening in South Boston, not Massachusetts. We are then headed to Josh's parents for an after church party . Should be home by ten or so...

Supper

Jackson loves his food, most of the time, cookies especially. Jayden does as well. Jayden, however, doesn't react to other things in the same manner Jackson does. Jackson says, I love my cookies....

Jackson

...but I hate bugs, wind, flys and any other living thing that creeps crawls or blows in my presence...

Mud Boy

You may not be able to tell but my brown/red boy fell in the brown/red mud. He looked like he had been working so hard and now on the picture the dirt hardly shows up. He seemed rather proud of his mud slide. He smeared mud all over his face with his hands...

PI Count

We have been running some very, no, extremely high PI counts. (Unfortunately I cannot remember what PI stands for but it has to do with bacteria in the milk.) About a month ago I was informed we had a count of over a million. This caused me some consternation and I checked the inside of the tank. Their was a very nice build up of milk stone on the agitator paddles. So I had to squeeze my over sized body down into the tank. I was armed with a brush and a bucket of pipeline cleaner. Their is only one way to enter or leave the tank and that is through a hole in the top. This hole is circle about the size of a manhole. The problem is the ceiling is only two feet from the top of the tank and it is hard to bend my body the way it needs to bend to get through the hole. I always get nervous when duty calls me to enter this claustrophobic space. I am worried the lid will fall shut while I am in their and somehow I will be unable to get it open and then I would be stuck in their for hours and I would suffocate and die. So far that hasn't happened...
I was pretty sure cleaning the paddles would fix our count problem but it hasn't. It has been lower but it is still not low enough. I think we discovered another problem this morning in the vacuum line so I will try to clean it now. I believe the PI count affects the shelf life of the product. Souring milk would make all the customers grumble I am sure...

Garbage Disposal

Upon moving into the farm house we discovered, much to my chagrin, that our kitchen sink seemed to have a much larger drain then we were used to. How did we discover this? Things started ending up in the knives of our disposal. Sippy cup lids for one example. Today after supper I was told that a piece of my wife's mixer had fallen into the jaws of this disposing machine. I had to detach this piece of equipment from the sink in order to work on it. I was able to retrieve the mixer part and the disposer is still working. This is not a job I like to do but I must admit the praise on receives after completing the task makes it all worthwhile.

Rocky Garden

I have been digging up my garden with a shovel. Our garden is a little strange. We use 4X4 squares. So, while I was digging I kept finding rocks. As I found them I would toss them in a five gallon bucket and then deposit them in a mud hole located in the drive way. This evening the boys were out helping me. I noticed they were busy taking the rocks out of my bucket. So I decided if they were smart enough to take them out surely they would be smart enough to put them in. I told them to put them in the bucket and showed them what to do. They picked all the rocks and put them in the bucket. One of them weighed 4-5 lbs and Jackson was able to pick it up and drop it in. He was proud as a peacock. So was I...

Time

Do you think it should be daylight savings year round? I think I would like that. How about you?

First Grader Quote

A young lad's mom said the other day that her son was very serious when he came to her and said "I think I'm going to just live at home with you and Dad all my life. Just have an apartment in the basement. Because the only two things I would really want to marry is a gun or Great Grandpa. And you can't really marry a gun and Great Grandpa is too old, isn't he?"

Mom said, "So why do you want to marry Great Grandpa?"

Son said, "Because I just love him so much."
Editors note, sorta...
I have removed names from this post so the people involved in this quote are not embarrassed in any way, shape, or form...

Rain

It started raining around 7:30-8:00 last evening. It stopped about 6-7:00 this evening. I am unsure how much it rained but it was a lot. We were getting very dry. The hay has really greened up and the rye is looks like it may have grown six inches today in the rain. It will be interesting to see how much it grows in the next week. The forecast is calling for temperatures ranging from the high fifties to the high sixties. How is your spring shaping up?

Blessings Jar

We have, well my wife has, come up with this really neat idea. First you buy some marbles or take them out of your Chinese Checkers game. Then you take a quart jar and as your children bless each other they get to put a marble in the jar. You explain to them what a blessing is or how they can bless other people. Being cheerful, helpful, nice to their siblings, and a whole host of other things. You also explain to them that they will not get to put a marble in the jar every time they bless some one. You need to bless all the time even when you are not rewarded for it. After the jar is full we will go do some thing special as a family.

Found! (Sorta)

Well, this morning they, the steers, were all back around the barn. They had tore our fence down again and they were all out in the field but are all accounted for. We have come to the conclusion that several stray dogs are making sport of them. Finding great joy in scaring the daylights out of them and watching them run wild. Crazy dogs. Tonight we are planning to keep them in the barn and see if that makes any difference.

Lost

Yesterday evening we took 12 steers and put them out on some pasture. This morning their were only 7 left. We looked all around the farm. 360 degrees to no avail. We never saw a track or any other sign of their presence. It is so strange. Usually bovines tend to come back, we shall see. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post Found!

Mom & Dad

How many of you call your in laws Mom & Dad? Or is it Dad & Mom in other words which one of them do you mention first? (Are you going to Mom & Dads or Dad and Moms?) Or is it on a first name basis? I am finally beginning to call my in laws Dad and Mom?

Spring

Today was a lovely spring day. 70 degrees with a clear sky. Usually this kind of day would make me want to hook to my corn planter. This spring, however, I will be chopping small grain before I begin to plant corn. So I am itching to start mowing rye and barley. Still early to do this but I need to get my equipment up to speed this week. Days like this make me glad to be alive also. What are you doing this week?

Self-Defense

When is it appropriate to defend ones self against an accusation which you feel is false? Does it ever do any good? Why do the accusers always appear to win? Surely you can think of some instance, whether it be from your school days or some other recent incident, in which you were accused of something inaccurate. Did it do any good whatsoever to present your side of the story? Also, let's assume for a minuet that the accusation is accurate but you were not informed of the issue and were thrown out on your ear without being talked to 1st. Then what? How do you react to this? Do you lay down and die? I must say that we as Christians sure are a strange bunch at times...

New Blogger

While at my in-laws this past week I decided to update my blog to the new blogger. I didn't know what it was but I decided it must be better than the old one or they wouldn't have updated it. Now, when I log in, I see a page that has my last 25 posts on it and how many comments have been made on each post. I like that. I also get to label each post now which seems to be real sophisticated. I don't know that it will be of any help to any one but it looks cool. Have any of you updated to the new blogger or I am the only one that is still using blogger at all?

We're Home

What a day... We were unable to leave until 12:10 PM. Drove through snow half the way home. Van didn't have a working cruise which caused some discomfort in my right foot. So tis good to be home. Kids have been sleeping for almost an hour. I am headed to the happy snoozing grounds here directly. Have a good night everyone... By the way, how many of you have driven without a cruise control in the past week?

At Work With Dad-In-Law

Our day started with a breakfast date with Rod, Dad, and I. We then headed to his office. Dad works at pallet shop and he is shop manager. He spent 90% of his time on the phone. The other 10% he spent running round and round the shop trying to get things done and keep things going. He also sent me to the bank to make a deposit and then back to the bank to make a payment he had forgot to send. Picked up lunch went and went to True Value Hardware store. I then went to Sully's to pick up the van. Sully's had to work on Dad's van. The brakes were shot. The front rotors were cracked. What a day. I am exhausted and I didn't even do anything much. Wait, I did help unload a van trailer. This fifty-three foot trailer was loaded with hay equipment. We are off for home tomorrow sometime...

Stuff

My luggage was dropped off last night around 8:00. It felt good to put different clothes on. This morning I went over to Rod's house and cut up some firewood. I am not sure what I will be doing the rest day. Probably not much of anything. For those of you who know what we have been going through as a family I will say this. We have seen some marked improvement since last nights prayer service.

Delays And Stuff

The flight out of Lynchburg was a little bumpy. It felt I went over a knoll way to fast several times and we had to go back and find my stomach among the clouds. In Charlotte I changed airlines. The flight from LYH was US Express and my other flights were Delta. It took me almost as long to get to my new gate as it did to fly down to Charlotte. I didn't run but I sure was moving at a rapid clip. The flight from Charlotte to Cincinnati was nice all though we did experience some turbulence. Had a very nice steward. I got some coffee on this flight and he actually came back and wondered if I wanted another cup of coffee. I was pleasantly surprised. I landed at 2:20 and my flight to Akron was suppose to leave at 3:55. I wandered around trying to find something to eat. I finally settled on the great American fast food legend, McDonald's. I then sauntered back to my gate and settled down to wait. I spent most of my time reading but after while that became somewhat tedious so I put my book away and began to watch people. I always find this quite interesting. At 3:45 we were told our crew was late and our departure time was pushed back 15 min. About 15 min. later they pushed it back again. This continued for two hours. I am not kidding. We finally left the ground about 5:30. The crew was stuck in Richmond VA. They had weather issues as well as a maintenance problem. So we had to wait till they got their before we could leave. Sorry, I am not done yet. I landed at Akron and went in search of my luggage. (I had to check one bag due to size.) Well, this bag never showed up. Delta said they never checked it into their system in Charlotte. He then said this is nothing. Cincinnati is pretty good but Atlanta is terrible at not getting luggage onto the proper flight. He has had as many as 15 bags per flight not show up. I think they need a new system in Atlanta. Anyway, I am here and in spite of the problems I had a lovely day...

I'm Off

My brother should be here any minute to haul me to the airstrip. I am armed with a bag of Peanut M&Ms. I also have placed a James Herriot book in my brief case along with another book entitled Father Hunger Fathers, Daughters & Food by Margo Maine, Ph.D.
I don't know if I will get much reading done or not but I plan on trying. It looks like a beautiful day for flying. I am excited about it. I love flying. Absolutely, positively love it. Did I mention I love flying?

Mood

How many of you suffer from depression? Okay, I know no one will anser that question. It is far to revealing. I tend to be a fairly even keel kinda guy. At least I think so. I have noticed that my moods tend to change with the weather. It is not unusual for us to have a week of cloudy weather. Each day the clouds are hiding the sun my mood darkens. I become more irritable and drive my family crazy. Hopefully that is an exageration. However, when the sun pops out it changes the whole day. Makes me feel like singing. Have you noticed any correlation between the weather and your mood?

Leaving Town

My wife and the children are in OH this week. I have been informed that my presence would be a good thing. Why is it a good thing? Let's just say that our family has expierenced some turmoil in the last several weeks. I have a flight leaving Lynchburg Sat. morning at 11:00. I go to Charlotte, then Cincinatti before heading to Akron. I hope to bring the family home next week. In case your wondering, I am being intentionally vague, I think.