I have been thinking about how much city people changed the farming climate where I lived. Don't get me wrong - there were lots of city people that had moved to the country before the last wave that appeared shortly after 911. I think the big difference was though that when they came, they wanted you to change to their way of life instead of them changing when they moved.
It is like the neighbor that built a house along side one of our fields. One foggy morning the cows didn't appear at the barn waiting to come in to be milked. About the same time we were ready to start chores, the phone rang. It was this woman and she was very upset about her landscaping being trampled by the cows. We started to freak out because judging by her attitude, I knew for sure we were going to get sued for damages. So we went out on the tractor to figure out where they got out and figured on going through that spot and get past the herd so we could push them back.
We were shocked at what we found! Someone had cut our fence and it was like a road where four-wheelers had been riding. We started up the road and ended up at the woman's house. We told her, "build a road and they will come". She started to talk about the damages and I explained to her that we were ready to sue for cutting our fence, our time, and potential damages to our cows from eating things that they shouldn't be. By the way, I should have you arrested for trespassing on our land. It took her a few minutes to realize that she was in the wrong. Cidiots!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Birthing and Roadside Attractions
That is something that you don't see every day. At one time in my life, I saw that probably once a week on average. Part of my job on the farm was watching the cows that were ready to give birth. At first it was quite an experience to see it but after awhile it seemed old hat. I have very few pictures of these events because it was so common. I haven't seen this happen since we discontinued the dairy. We have beef cows but it is rare that you would happen to catch them in the act of giving birth.
I remember a few births specifically. I remember that one time a cow went a little early and she gave birth out in the field across the street. While we were getting her across the road and her calf, a neighbor was walking down the road. She started to freak out that we were taking the calf away from the mother. This woman walked by the farm a few times a week. Did she every notice that all the calves were in separate pens away from their mothers? I thought it was an interesting reaction.
And speaking of people not thinking, I remember one time I was in the calf pen during the winter. I went out with an axe to break up the ice in the water tank because the heater had failed. As I was chopping the ice, a car stopped on the road about 10 feet away from me. I heard the man say, "Hey kids, look at the farmer lady". It was a good thing that there were kids in the car because I was ready to throw the axe at him. I am not a freakin' roadside attraction. Go back to the city, you "ci'diot" (ci'diot (city idiot) is what we called the people that moved from the city to country).
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Clanging Change
The Merry Go Round
The same old car, and the same old girl,
The same old life with the same old whirl,
The same old road with the same old turns,
The same old gas that the old car burns.
The same old springs with the same old squeak,
The same old sights that you saw last week,
The same old toot of the same old horn,
The same old traffic cop, since you're born.
The same old desk in the same old place,
The same old boss with the same old face,
The same old job, and the same old pay,
No, there's nothing new in the news today.
And so the music goes round and round
In the same old way, with the same old sound.
By Burton Coon - October 18, 1937 Suggested by the daily trips of Miss Helen.
Helen is my husband's aunt that just passed away last year at the age of 96. Burton was a neighbor and when he was old, he used to ride with Helen to work in town. Burton was a farmer, not because he wanted to be but because when his father died, he had to take care of his mother. He was studying to be a preacher and gave it up for his mother. He wrote for the local paper and he admitted that he always resented it.
I have always wondered how some people can live their entire in the same town, and in the same house. I like change. I have lived many places. Probably the most interesting place that I lived was in a bar that a friend owned. The bar was on the border of the NJ and New York. There was an upstairs bar that was licensed in NJ and a downstairs bar that was licensed in NY. My boyfriend and I slept on the pool table after the place closed for the night. So he slept in NY and I slept in NJ because the pool table straddled the state line. We stayed there for a few months until my friend had to close the business.
I have never forgotten that when she closed the bar, I helped her take the bar stock up to her mother's house. We drove my boyfriend's 1960 Ford Ranchero about 100 miles away from the bar. I will never forget that every time we hit a bump, the bottles clanged.
The same old car, and the same old girl,
The same old life with the same old whirl,
The same old road with the same old turns,
The same old gas that the old car burns.
The same old springs with the same old squeak,
The same old sights that you saw last week,
The same old toot of the same old horn,
The same old traffic cop, since you're born.
The same old desk in the same old place,
The same old boss with the same old face,
The same old job, and the same old pay,
No, there's nothing new in the news today.
And so the music goes round and round
In the same old way, with the same old sound.
By Burton Coon - October 18, 1937 Suggested by the daily trips of Miss Helen.
Helen is my husband's aunt that just passed away last year at the age of 96. Burton was a neighbor and when he was old, he used to ride with Helen to work in town. Burton was a farmer, not because he wanted to be but because when his father died, he had to take care of his mother. He was studying to be a preacher and gave it up for his mother. He wrote for the local paper and he admitted that he always resented it.
I have always wondered how some people can live their entire in the same town, and in the same house. I like change. I have lived many places. Probably the most interesting place that I lived was in a bar that a friend owned. The bar was on the border of the NJ and New York. There was an upstairs bar that was licensed in NJ and a downstairs bar that was licensed in NY. My boyfriend and I slept on the pool table after the place closed for the night. So he slept in NY and I slept in NJ because the pool table straddled the state line. We stayed there for a few months until my friend had to close the business.
I have never forgotten that when she closed the bar, I helped her take the bar stock up to her mother's house. We drove my boyfriend's 1960 Ford Ranchero about 100 miles away from the bar. I will never forget that every time we hit a bump, the bottles clanged.
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