In the last couple days I moved in the neighborhood of 65 tons of topsoil, crushed stone, stones and boulders with a little backhoe. The cost in fuel was about 8 gallons of diesel. Fossil fuels represent enormously concentrated and convenient energy. I think we should prepare for the worst case scenario of global warming, because we as human beings and our corporate rulers will not forego this drug until every carbon atom is pumped, fracked, or dug out the ground, then burned and sent into the atmosphere as CO2. When we wake up from the binge, we may regret it (or maybe our children), and sometime before then you should buy stock in companies that manufacture SO2 which we will be pumping into the atmosphere to try and drop the temp. Until then, party on!
Cooking up Thor burgers
On our recent trip to Cape May, we cooked all our meals camp style. Saturday, mid day meal, the weather was warm and sunny, we were in a wildlife refuge, and we cooked up a couple of ‘Thor’ burgers. I felt a sort of spiritual moment, a special connection with the food I was eating. I had raised the cow and the bull. I was there when he was born into the world. I watched him grow, fed him through the winter snows. The many hours of hard work along with the pleasure of seeing the cattle grazing and growing, culminating in this hamburger on homemade bread on a beautiful spring day.
I like snowy weather. I don’t have to go anywhere so I have the luxury of not having to face difficult road conditions, but even then I enjoyed the challenge and the beauty of a snow covered world. With good clothing, the cold is easy to keep at bay. Sometimes when the wind is howling through the trees from the northwest and the snow is blinding, I like to go hiking (snowshoeing) up the lane, especially at night, and it feels timeless and remote and even a bit unnerving. And then I slog back to the house with its toasty wood fire warmth, and I know life is good.
The media won’t mention his passing. The rich and the famous are their focus. But I would put Bob on any list of the great people that have inhabited this world. A naturalist with an incredible head full of knowledge and a wonderful sense of humor that he was always enthusiastic to share with us. It was a pleasure and an honor to have known him for a short while. He will be missed!
We have water, hard water… but good water. I don’t know if you would call it an aquifer, but the water is near the surface and even bubbles to the surface as a spring. We tried once to pump it away with a large pump that we borrowed from the Fire Department. It had a 2.5 inch outlet hose and we could not pump the water away faster than it came out of the ground which means there was a bit of a fudge factor in the foundation of our ‘spring house’. In the infinite wisdom of our neighbors who voted for it, we now have a public water system installed. We didn’t tie into it as it would cost an average of $250/year/household just for the water. We have 3 households tied into the one farm water pump and it averages about $6/yr/household for the electricity used. In spite of our not being tied in, we still get to pay $504/yr/household (for the next 37 years) for the privilege of having the water line go down the road by our farm. Linda and I will be (would be?) 99 when its finally paid off. Considering we have tried to avoid indebtedness our whole lives, it grates on me that we can be indentured for so long with so little advantage to us.
Fay Harris is gone. Not that we kept in touch. I only occasionally heard bits that he was out there. I think the last time I saw him would have been sometime in the summer of 1962 when we moved off the dairy farm in Sterling. He lived across the road from the farm and was practically a member of the family, appearing in many family photos, right between Becky and I in the lineup. It seems odd that it affects me in a nostalgic way that he died, since it has been so long since we were a part of each others lives, but those were the salad days of youth with so many stories that still live vivid in my mind. Our imaginations fueled Huckleberry Finn Sunday afternoons on Sterling Creek which to us was just ‘the pond’, raging gun (rock throwing) battles in the gravel pit, and horseless stagecoach adventures coasting down the road. Fay hanging from a tree branch 12′ above the road… followed by a gentle bone saving descent. Fay covered with molasses from head to toe when the 55 gallon drum of the stuff blew off pressure in a warm barn on a January day…. “My mother isn’t going to like this.” The dairy farm demanded a lot from the whole family, but at that time in my life it was all part of a great adventure, and Fay was a part of that. May the stories live on.
Two cows and two calves went to New Hampshire today. Betty Ann was a gem and one of my favorites. And Caitlyn is gone… my nemesis ( I got run over in a one cow stampede Oct 2009). Had to get in the trailer with her one more time and she gave me the head nod that says ‘you have 2 seconds to back off’, and so I did. Just one bull, one cow, and 4 steers left.
Our electrical use is down substantially, and I’m not really sure why. Not that I’m complaining. At this point I think it may have been, at least in part, a faulty dehumidifier that maybe ran continuously w/out actually doing much. Whatever. Its helps the budget.
A fellow birder and active member of the Eaton Birding Society had the idea that we should do something special for one of our members who has published our newsletter for years. To start it off Lyn gave me a nice ash board that was once part of her rowing machine… not sure what happened to the rowing machine… and suggested a suet feeder. That got my creative juices flowing, and with a bit of wood turning, drilling, etc., we have a suet/peanut feeder. Its untested, but I hope woodpeckers find it interesting. Whole peanuts go into the holes. The cap is made of Beech, which is famous for warping… we’ll see how well it works. At least its fairly unique!
Mom called last evening to say there was a UPS type truck down by the barn and it had been there for 10 minutes. I went out not sure what to expect, but when I rounded the corner I could tell the driver had missed the driveway on his way out and found out how soft it is. He had sunk in pretty deep and the whole van was leaning toward the barn. My biggest fear was the he would demolish the electrical meter boxes before we could get him out. The tractor pulled him out with no problem and all was well except for the ground repair work. He offered to fix it, but I put it right the next day, but I suggest no one venture out on it… you might sink to your knees.
