Sunday, January 27, 2013

Sunday, January 27, 2013
On Saturday dear Mark and Annie picked up DD Abby from The Hilton where she had stayed overnight after a late flight from CA and drove her here to the farm.
We all had a jolly afternoon followed by a dinner of roast shoulder of lamb. We also baked one of our turban squashes. Sally made a blueberry pie. Annie and Mark were not able to stay overnight so the dinner was early. During the afternoon we had a brief visit from Max and Shireen. They brought me some feed.
Mark and Annie installed my new wide screen monitor from Bret. I can now see it much better.
Cold weather continues. It was about zero early this morning but got a bit warmer during the day. We are on the fifth day without our dishwasher. We think something is frozen up in there. Today we had a hairdryer blowing on it for awhile. Tomorrow perhaps we will try it longer. All the animals continue to seem happy though, except the hens are not laying well. I only got five eggs today, and a gallon and a half of milk.

Monday, January 28, 2013
Slightly warmer today. Sally and Willie got to go for a nice walk in the fields. Sally wore snowshoes though the snow wasn’t that deep. She found that the gate to the main field needs to be closed as the snow was deep and crusted enough for the sheep to get over the fence and into the road.
Abby and I went to Rumford grocery shopping, the first time in several weeks. We also stopped at the Free Store and Abby got some new clothes. After we got them home Sally washed everything.
This morning Sally found a dear little hen laying her egg in a vulnerable spot where the cows walk. She closed a gate to close her off and protect her. Later on I found three eggs in that spot.
I collected 10 eggs today and Fern gave over a gallon and a half of milk.
Sally made salmon chowder for our supper and Abby made a fine lettuce and avocado salad.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013
One and a half gallons of milk this morning and 10 eggs today.
We have had a day of respite from the cold. It reached 40F today. All the frozen surfaces melted and created a vast ice slick between the house and barn. Even Sally agreed to walk with a ski pole. School was called off. The prediction is for the cold to return tomorrow.
Dr. Cooper stopped by at lunch time. Abby whirled around and glorified last night’s leftovers, a chicken dish. She made it into a curry over pasta. She also made a nice lettuce and cucumber salad. There was enough remaining of the custard that I made yesterday and it all went very well.

Thursday, January 31, 2013
It was forty degrees this morning when we woke up. When Sally went out to the barn she reported that it felt hot outside. About ten o’clock in the morning after we were done with the barn chores Sally heard a great roar of wind and we were struck by a violent storm with wind and rain. Sally ran down to the barn to close the windows and got soaked.
The rain and warm weather still hasn’t gotten rid of all the ice. It is still dangerous walking to the barn.
I’m afraid that Fern is coming in heat again. When I collected the eggs in the afternoon the cows were running around after each other, but I didn’t see any mounting behavior. Abby came down to the barn too and stapled plastic over the windows.
Abby made wonderful almond-walnut cookies, and Sally made a quiche with my new homemade bacon. We ate it while we watched another episode of Pride and Prejudice.
Had a gallon and a half of milk today and eighteen eggs. The increase in eggs is no doubt a result of additional clabber that they are getting.

Friday, February 01, 2013
We got a little less than a gallon and a half of milk, and ten eggs. Fern was very quiet during milking- we’d been looking for signs of heat and decided she wasn’t in heat after all. But when Sally went out to give them their lunch things were all different. She and Milton were all circling and jumping, unmistakably in heat. We called Nate, my AI tech, but it was too late.
We discovered that Martin and his two kids were coming tonight so we scurried around and made spaghetti. Abby made more cookies.
While waiting for Nate (who didn’t make it) we watched two more episodes of Pride and Prejudice.
When Martin arrived he had a surprise for me, a propane powered generator. Sally had fun reading the instructions.

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