Farm Life in Winter

Thursday December 8, 2011 we went shopping around our small town. I swear just the necessities of life; (groceries, toothpaste, toilet paper, soap and alcohol) are getting more expensive by the day. I am sure that someday I will end up broke, naked and living only on alcohol and cigarettes.

Friday December 9, 2011 I sat like a lump of coal at this computer all day long. My only exercise was walking out to the mailbox only to find it was empty. I froze my toes for nothing.

Saturday December 10, 2011 23 flipping degrees this morning after 17 overnight! I went out early this morning to walk through the woods. The sun was still low on the horizon and the frozen fog made all the cedar trees look white instead of green. The air was still and though the temperature was cold it was a pleasant walk. This time of year I can see a lot of work that I need to do out back. I want to make more paths in the woods and I can see that the thorny locust, the thorny Osage orange and wild thorny rose bushes all need to be cut back. The locust has no value that I can determine what so ever. The Osage does have value for fence posts, but the ground here is so rocky that I could never dig a hole deep enough to use it as a fence post. The rose is absolutely gorgeous in the late spring, but it has the tendency to take over its surroundings and kill everything else, leaving dead spots all around it. I can clearly see that my work here will never be done just because of the three mentioned natural growing specimens. I forgot to mention the wild honeysuckle. Since we no longer have sheep and goats, the honeysuckle could take over and make walking through it impossible. If I could eliminate those items the place would be wonderful. Oh yes, I neglected to mention the buck brush. It too has the ability to make passage impassible. I will never be out of work as long as I live here. That being said, the walnut, oak and elms have grown well all on their own. Once I get the pests under control (if ever) there will be some lovely shady spots to enjoy under the trees. Darn, I also forgot the poison ivy. That I spray and if I keep up with that, it dies back fairly well. It sounds like the place is a mess, but it is actually very pretty and the current paths make for excellent walking and enjoying some peaceful quiet moments. This time of year the birds get very annoyed with me invading their favorite spots and sometimes they wait too long to evacuate their roosts. They take off in a frenzy and both the birds and me are startled. Rabbits are the same way; they wait until the last second and then tear off, making me jump unless I see them first. As I walk along the fence line, the neighbors (all Black Angus) keep a wary eye on me. They are so funny; they will move away if I approach, keeping a comfortable distance, but if I am busy doing something their curiosity will bring them right up to and even leaning over the fence to see what I am doing. There were times when we raised calves that I would be working on the old Ford tractor I had and the calves would come up behind me and nudge me in the back to see what was going on. I would jump; they would jump and I would drop whatever I had in my hands at the time. It is always fun on the farm now that I don’t have to worry about feeding and watering animals in the frigid weather.