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Hi Everyone,
Last week was a very unusual week—I left the farm six out of seven days! It just so happened that there were places to see, things to buy, and things to investigate. The first day of the week was spent where I spend every Sunday morning—in church. Monday found us on the farm all day—and it was the only day that we spent all day on the farm. Does driving down our dirt road count as leaving the farm? If so, then I left the farm every day last week! Since it was Memorial Day, Steve asked to have off half a day, which meant that he went home once all the morning chores were done. Mom spent her day on the lawn mower mowing this paddock and that paddock, the front yard, and the holding area at the milking parlor. Papa spent his day on the tractor mowing in the fields where the milk cows and the sheep had finished eating. The animals do not always eat every square inch of grass to the same level and some areas they miss so if you go behind them and mow it all level it helps the grass to stay young and tender, and when the animals come back through that field they are more apt to eat the whole field instead of in the same spots that they ate last time. I spent my day chasing bunnies around the house—aka vacuuming. We had company coming on Tuesday, therefore I had a grand excuse to lock myself in the house and get some well over due vacuuming done. The back of the house was accomplished with no interruptions, but the front of the house found me having to drag myself back inside multiple times. You see, while Mom was out back mowing she saw “Yasha” running zig-zag’s all over the back field. She told Papa that “Yasha” was out and he tried to call her to him, but she just kept running and ended up running down the road. They thought she must be in heat since she wouldn’t come when called—that is until Papa followed her down the driveway and out into the road and saw . . . another dog! It wasn’t Yasha after all. Someone had dropped off two Great Pyrenees dogs—a male and a female. The sad part was that the male had a broken back, and the female was so loyal to him that she stuck with him. Papa picked up the male out of the middle of the road and put him up in the weeds. A little while later I went out to check on the dogs—I hadn’t had a chance to see them yet for just as I was heading out the door to go with Mom and Papa the phone rang and it was a friend. When I got out in the road I saw the male lying back in the road—but on the edge, and the female about ten feet away laying on the edge of the road too. Papa came down the road to check on them also, and he was shocked to see that the male was back in the road. We decided to bring him up to our barn—in hopes that the female would also follow. They were both the same color as the road—dirty white, and we were so afraid that they would get hit by a vehicle (for only the people that live on our road drive down it sanely). The female came as far as our driveway, but she wouldn’t come up any closer. I headed back inside to vacuum—but I had many interruptions as I kept going outside to check on the male and to see if the female had found him yet. One time I found the male laying in the barn barking and howling—I was sure that he was telling his female where he was. It wasn’t until late that night after Papa had finished locking up all the animals that he saw the female in the barn with the male. We put some dog food and water for them in the barn.
Tuesday morning when we woke up the dogs were in the driveway. I never could figure out how that make dog got around with a broken back—but from the looks of his side he had been dragging himself around for quite some time. All day long the male lay on the side of our driveway, and the female stayed with him some and walked up and down the road some. That night I took them a bowl of milk and a bowl of dog food soaked in beef broth—she didn’t like our flavor of dog food. Although I put the bowls right beside the male, he did not consume any of it. Once we backed away the female came up and drank the milk, but it took her until morning to consume the dog food. When we got up Wednesday morning we found that the male had died—and the female was still guarding him. She is such a loyal dog that we would love to adopt her—but she is terrified of us. Not too sure how she was treated before she ended up on our street—but I can say that her toenails are longer than an inch and a little twisted and she is afraid of people. You can get the closest to her from inside your vehicle, but you cannot get closer than ten to twenty feet to her on foot. We fed her twice a day and spent quite a bit of time sweet talking her. Our neighbors were constantly calling us to tell us that our dog was in the road, customers would drive up and tell us that our dog was in the road—and all we could do was tell them that we wish she was our dog, and tell them her story. When we woke up Friday morning she was gone—or so we thought. It was around 9:00 Friday night when another neighbor called and told us “your dog is walking down the road” and we knew that she was still in the area. Early Saturday morning I headed out to the road to see if I could see her and I caught a glimpse of her just as she was heading up the neighbor’s driveway. How I wish there was some way to catch her and convince her to be loyal to us and our animals—but for now she roams the neighborhood trying to figure out what to do.
Tuesday morning around 10:00 our guests arrived. A family from Kentucky had searched the internet for an A2 Jersey bull and we just happened to pop up and I just happened to still have Milkyway’s picture on our website. When he was born we thought that he would make a great bull, but because he was born with horns we didn’t want to use him on our farm—so we advertised him. We had many people interested in him. Some even put a down payment on him. Some said they would come to pick him up—then not show up. Some were eager to buy him, until someone else told them horror stories of owning a bull—I could tell them horror stories of owning a milk cow! So two years later and it was beginning to look like Milkyway was going to produce some tasty T-bone steaks—that was until we got an email from a family asking if we still had Milkyway. That email came on a Thursday and the following Tuesday they had arrived from Kentucky hauling a trailer to transport Milkyway to his new home and some girls! The family had five children and we spent most of the day with them visiting and giving a tour of the farm. We fixed lunch for everyone and then they loaded up Milkyway and they headed home around 3:00 in the afternoon. Just as soon as they left Papa and I headed to town—he needed to get some ice for the deliveries and I needed to get some groceries.
Monday evening as Mom and I were driving up and down the road looking for the female dog we saw that the house on the corner was for sale. Mom and I have dreamed of owning that house for many years. It is a small old house built in 1915 with old fashioned siding and the original pine wood floors. Over the years I have lost many hours of sleep lying in bed dreaming of that house. We wanted to return it to its original glory and use it as an Airbnb. Last year I even jokingly said that I wanted it for my birthday. We talked to the owners a few months back and they said that they wouldn’t be selling it for a few more years—well I guess that turned into a few more months instead. So on Tuesday we called the realtor and set up an appointment to look at the house Wednesday afternoon around 12:45. We were the first people to contact her on the house. The place was pretty over grown, and there was a lot of junk scattered around the yard. Inside was a junk yard too. The last tenants evidently left after a meal and didn’t bother to do the dishes or remove their belongings. I loved the lay out, I loved the wood floors, I loved the back porch and was fascinated when it was pointed out that there was a well at the end of the porch which probably housed an old hand pump. It looked like it might have had a second story loft at one time—or vaulted ceilings, but at some time when the central heat and air were installed they installed a very low ceiling—which would have to go! The trash inside did not bother me—the four walls seem to contain the mess, but cleaning up outside did seem a little overwhelming because there was no boundary encasing the mess. After the tour we came home and dreamed, and thought, and reasoned. Could we? Should we? How would we? Could we afford it? Would we really have the time to renovate a house and keep up with the yard work? In the end the number one deciding factor ended up being the asbestos. The outside wood paneling had been covered over in some places with asbestos shingles. The drop down ceiling could have been made from asbestos, and the insulation could have been asbestos. Mom and I already deal with enough health problems and the counsel was given that it was a project that we should not venture into. Believe it or not Mom and I were fine with that. So we contacted the realtor and told her that we must pass. Then Friday night our hopes were once again renewed as we talked with our neighbor who had called about the dog. She grew up visiting with the old lady who lived in the old house and her husband is a contractor—they wanted it too but didn’t have the finances. No one wanted to see that house torn down, we all wanted it to be renovated and returned to its old glory. Since our neighbor is a contractor that meant that he has a crew that could handle leveling the house, removing all the asbestos, and gutting the place. We talked about working together to save the house, and we dreamed some more. Saturday afternoon we got the news that someone else had signed a contract on the house Friday night. We can rest in the truth that the Lord evidently did not want us to have that house—and that is okay. It would have been a lot of work and a lot of money—even though the decorating and using it for an Airbnb would have been a lot of fun.
Thursday morning Mom and I headed to town just as soon as we finished milking the cows and taking care of a few customers. It is summer and Mom is set on making the porches cozy and inviting. The glider bench on the back porch was moved back around to the front porch with the rest of the furniture that it matched. Then we needed some chairs to sit in on the back porch. So we headed to Tractor Supply to look at some metal bouncy chairs and a metal bench. The Tractor Supply in Lake City didn’t have the bench, so we drove 15 minutes back toward home and another 15 minutes past home to the Tractor Supply in Branford. They had both the chairs and the bench—but one bench’s arm was already busted up and the welds were rusty. Then we noticed that the chair said that it only held 225 pounds. I couldn’t imagine telling company “Sorry, you cannot sit there if you weigh more than 225 pounds.” The legs of the chair were also very skinny metal and we had owned benches like that before and they didn’t last. So we headed home and weeded in the garden for the rest of the afternoon.
With the increase of milk I have been able to make lots of yogurt again—happy customers and happy farmers for I hate having to say “Sorry, sold out!” I was planning on making five gallons worth of yogurt Friday morning—but I forgot until after milking. As soon as Steve got back from doing his morning chores I had him carry the two stock pots full of milk over to the house so I could get them heated up. I set the timer and headed over to the milk house to bottle kefir. When the timer was almost fixing to go off I headed back over to the house to take care of the yogurt. The one pot was not hot enough yet, and to my dismay I found that I had never turned on the second pot. UGH! I turned it on, headed back to the kefir for about ten more minutes and then I headed back to the house to check on the yogurt. Papa met me and told me that the timer had gone off so he had turned off the burner. When I got inside I found that it still wasn’t hot enough (180 degrees), so I had to turn the burner back on and wait for the water pot to come to a boil again. Then to my dismay I found out that when I turned on the burner for the second pot of yogurt—I turned on the wrong burner. UGH! The first yogurt pot finally reached 180, and the second yogurt pot finally got turned on and I was next to tears with all my “forgetfulness and carelessness”. I finished up bottling the kefir and when I came back inside I told Mom to please forgive me but I must go relax on the front porch for a little while. So I grabbed me a banana, some water, my reading glasses and a book and I headed to the swing on the front porch and curled up and enjoyed some non-stress time.
When lunch was done Papa took Mom and I up to Jasper, FL to a visit a man who had a bunch of wooden swings, rockers, gliders, chairs and tables for sale. We were looking for some sturdy furniture for the back porch. Mom and I sat in every bench and every swing and every chair. I immediately fell in love with one style and told Mom that she just had to have the same taste as I did. It was the only style that supported your lower back and enabled you to rest your head on the back of it. We ended up coming home with a glider bench and a glider chair. They are so comfortable and they are the easiest gliders to move that we have ever set in. If you are looking for that perfect, sturdy outdoor seat you can check them out at: http://cwswingsandrockers.com/. We let Steve try them out the next morning and he said, “Do I have to get up?”
Saturday found Mom and I back in town looking for some porch décor, plants, stain for our new chairs, and paint for an old table and rocking chair. When we got home I put dinner in the oven and then I headed to the front porch to enjoy the great outdoors and read a book. I guess Mom has done a great job at making the porch cozy and inviting!
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare