Self-explanatory

Family worship

Kyle acted Agabus for us this evening.

¹⁰ And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.
¹¹ And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

This is kind of neat

http://www.hickmanco.com/history_communities.htm

Processing Day

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It wasn't too bad really. The birds were big, but we were done by lunch! Kyle caught and killed, I mean, processed. Claire ran the plucker. Mama, this being her first real experience, bagged and labeled. Daddy eviscerated. Luke wasn't much help this time, but he was there. I scalded. Everybody knew their parts, and everything went smoothly.

A Feast for the Pigs

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We cleaned out the refrigerator.

Shakespeare

I've been trying to get through all of Shakespeare's plays. Perhaps I wouldn't feel like doing this had not the plays all been in one large book. For some reason I cannot make myself only partially read a book, whether it be a book of other books or not. So far, I've read over half of these famous plays, and I've understood them well enough (surprisingly!). However, lugging this book around the house with me is becoming tedious, and I will rejoice when I am through.

I found a quote I wanted to post on here, although I am not entirely sure what they are talking about in the context of the play. It can be applied to today's world though:

Sands: New customs, though they be never so ridiculous, nay, let 'em be unmanly, yet are followed.

That's from King Henry VIII, Act I, Scene III.

I think it's messed up

This has snow in the forecast for tomorrow! However, the low is in the 70's!

I want to go to...

Italy.

France.

Spain.

Greece.

Portugal.

Croatia.

Ireland.


Scotland.

In no specific order, of course. This is if I were to travel abroad. Perhaps I'll post about where I'd like to go on this continent later.

Link. Another Link. Those men are Greek. I think I like the Scottish kilt a good bit better!

Something I found in a magazine

Those promotional tactics- and hundreds like them- are funded by the Beef Checkoff Program. It starts at the state level, where $1 is collected on each head of cattle sold. The state beef council then sends 50 cents of every dollar to the Cattlemen's Beef Board for national beef promotion, research, and consumer education, and the other 50 cents is retained by the state. In Tennessee, that money is used in several ways.

"We work with local retailers like Kroger and Publix to provide them with beef signs, point-of-purchase promotional material, recipe racks, in-store demonstrations for new products, and sometimes even drawings for consumers to win steak knife sets or beef cookbooks," Bass says. "We also provide educational kits to teachers across the state free of charge, and we work with doctors and dietitians so they can provide nutritional information to their clients."

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I have a bad feeling about this, although I don't particularly know why.

Stanchion Pics

Here's some pictures of our milking stall. It's fairly straightforward, I think. We have made a few improvements as we've used it, and we will probably continue to do so.

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On the right Daddy built a shelf into the side of the stall so we would have a place to set our buckets and anything else that we may need it for. Right now it's holding a great deal of junk. We'll have to change that before too long. We have a roll of paper towels, a bag of plastic cups, and more junk in the plastic box. The trash can holds oats that we let Clarabelle snack on while we're milking.

A close-up of the "stanchion" here. We had the sides of the stall in place before the stanchion was built, so all we had to do was take a few of the lower boards out to allow two milkers at once. We built in the opposite side. There is a piece of plywood with a hole in it for a (well, I think it was a chicken waterer at one time) feeder. It works quite well.

Claire got this picture with Kyle in the milking position. We could improve the milking stools. Let's see, where to start on this picture? Ummm... well, there is a hole with a heavy metal pipe to keep her from backing up. We've already changed that a little since we've started milking her again. All we did was move it closer to the 4x4 to push her closer. I'm not sure what to call the heavy kickboard/table we set the milk bucket on. It rests on the 1x6 (rough-sawn), and we put another pipe so Clarabelle won't kick or push it forward. The kick board thing (the plywood in back) works very well. She used to manage to stick her hooves into the milk bucket, and now whe can't really get her feet over. We've had to scoop out the middle of the plywood, now that she's calved, because her udder wouldn't go over the top of it if we hadn't.

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I don't think I explained it very well, but I did the best I can for now. Little Chuck (Claire and Kyle kind of decided on that name for Clarabelle's calf) is doing very well, although he could be a bit better trained at the halter and bottle feeding. Not much going on around here. Everybody's a bit exhausted for one reason or another, mine is from having to get back on a schedule. I'm not forcing myself to get up at 5:00 am yet; 6:00 am is a bit of a stretch right now! We're getting very creamy milk right now, but it tastes very strong after many months off it. It will definitely take some getting used to again.

A New Face

Clarabelle calved!!! He's a little bull calf, and just as cute as can be. From the looks of her udder, we're going to have lots of milk! Clarabelle is a good mother, as far as I can tell. Her calf is clean and allowed to eat as much as he wants. She lets him stray quite a bit farther from her than our Angus cows let their little ones. Well, the Angus usually have a sort of sitter for their babies. One cow will stay close to the calves, and the others will graze farther off.

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Quotes of the Evening

The first two here are from Luke; the last is from Kyle!

"I was gonna check email!" Excusing his extreme distraction during the discussion after family worship.

"My hair was like pig slop!" Talking about how he came in after picking the garden with Claire this morning.

"Well, if I knew big words, I'd like to use 'em!" During a conversation on vocabulary.

Hmmm...

MOLLER INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES PRODUCTION OF JETSONS-LIKE GROUND-EFFECT VEHICLE

Moller International (OTCBB: MLER) has completed tooling and has begun producing parts for its Jetsons-like M200G volantor, a small airborne two passenger saucer-shaped vehicle that is designed to take-off and land vertically (see www.moller.com).

The M200G is the size of a small automobile and is powered by eight of the Company’s Rotapower® rotary engines. This vehicle is intended for operation continuously in “ground effect” up to approximately 10 feet altitude.

Dr. Moller calls the M200G, “the ultimate off-road vehicle” able to travel over any surface. “It’s not a hovercraft, although its operation is just as easy. You can speed over rocks, swampland, fences, or log infested waterways with ease because you’re not limited by the surface. The electronics keep the craft stabilized at no more than 10 feet altitude, which places the craft within ground effect where extra lift is obtained from operating near the ground. This lets you glide over terrain at 50 mph that would stop most other vehicles” he continued. While the Company does not foresee the requirement for significant training or licensing to operate the vehicle, it is prepared to offer demonstration sessions in Davis, California once the vehicle is ready for market.

Production on the initial six airframes started earlier this week using hard-tooled molds with the capability of producing one fuselage per day.

Depending upon engine production volume the M200G price could start as low as $90,000. The key component in determining the M200G production price is the cost of its Rotapower® engines. The Company is working with a strategic partner to produce this engine for a number of different applications in order to obtain the cost benefits of high volume production.

Persons interested in purchasing a M200G volantor may reserve a delivery position by making a refundable escrowed deposit.

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The future?

I thought I'd post this just 'cause it looked interestin'. Kinda funny lookin' at my blog now! I've got a flyin' saucer post closely followin' a farm post! Well, you never know! Maybe one of these days someone will come out with a very affordable flyin' farm machine!

Another Name for Yoda

Luke comes through with something amusing once more! He didn't understand what they called Yoda when we were watching Star Wars the other night. He heard Soda and Theoda! There were other things he heard differently, but I can't remember them right now.

More Farm Pictures

Clarabelle. This picture is a really good angle for her; it doesn't show how barrel-like she's getting!

Teddy, with all his pride and none of his tail.

Pretty or pesky.

Our first giant sunflower.

Scruggs is livin' the life.

We canned 19 quarts of green beans this morning.

Kind of pretty, I thought.

We didn't get even enough corn to eat this year! The coons (or whatever it is) have eaten very well though!

Now tell me, how can little tomatoes and mid-sized tomatoes grow on the same vine? Really, there are golf ball-sized tomatoes and normal-sized tomatoes growing on this vine!

Here's a volunteer weed, only... I think it's called ground cherry. I've read that they'll take over, and that they're related to tomatoes. I've even read that they're edible, although I don't know how.

Pig Pics

Well, that's a sort of good picture to show their ever-increasing size.

You know, it's terribly hard to keep these piggies still in order to get a good picture of them!

I just liked this picture.

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Guess what?!! You never will so I tell you! I took these on my own! I still hate the camera though; almost none of my pictures came out clearly!!!

A New "Toy"

Daddy got an Olympus digital voice recorder to be used for our music lessons. Since the Pickin' Parlor closed Mr. Brantley has not been able to record our lessons, making it extremely difficult to learn hard songs. This week he recorded "Rawhide" for me, and it is making it much easier!!! The midi on that page sounds a little like the one he's teaching us.

Well, not much has been going on around here lately. Not too many predator problems. Not much rain (although we have gotten some amazingly). No processings. No calves. Nothin'. We're just going on with laundry and our ordinary, boring life. I suppose boring isn't bad, just kind of dull. It's much better than lively if the liveliness comes from predators though!

Things

I don't know what to title this post. It's not going to be about anything in particular, so much as things that have been happening lately.

Saturday, we went to our cousins' birthday party. Kyle amused us all by picking out the tune to Psalm 25A on some mounted PVC pipes that you play with the sole of a flip-flop. It was hilarious!

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Dug some of our potatoes the other evening. Well, I didn't, but the others did.

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Sometime last week poor Teddy lost all his "only beauty", but, with that, none of his pride! He looks so funny strutting around with no tail! We, unfortunately, have no idea how this calamity happened, but right now it is the least of our worries!


The dark, wild-turkey-looking turkeys will probably have to be kil... umm, I mean processed soon. We'll probably put them in the freezer until this Thanksgiving.






I wish I had some pictures of the pigs to put up. They are getting huge!!! I don't know why, but just lately they seemed to have gotten much bigger. Perhaps I haven't been out to see them as much.

I was given dinner duties recently. I've been at it for almost a week now, and I am trying to adjust my thinking. I have to get meat out of the freezer in the morning, do any prep work that can be done beforehand, and get started so that dinner will be ready by 5:30 pm. So far I have not done too well. No burned dinners yet; no undercooked meat yet, but my timing isn't great. Still, I think I've had it ready by 6:00 or 6:30 pm; I did a bit better this evening. I have learned a bit already though. I've done fruit and veggie trays or arranged salads with almost every dinner, and they've gone over quite well I believe. It adds a nice touch to simple meals without too much hassle!

I'm being told to "hit the publish button". Better stop now.

Predator Problems

In the past couple of weeks the corn in our big garden has been almost ready to pick. Of course, the raccoons or something began to find it around that time. However, we had corn on the cob for lunch and dinner today!!! I am convinced there is no better vegetable!

Something has been getting into the layers the past week or so. It's coming into the chicken house and killing the birds. We still have a few layers left, and we're hoping to build a hoop tractor with built-in nest boxes soon. Kyle set up the live trap in the hopes of luring our current predator with tuna (really, I don't think anything could be lured in with that!). He caught the cat.

Last night was the second night in a row that something has managed to get into our broiler hoop tractor. This predator gets in there, kills one bird by pulling the head off. It must be some sort of game for it because the head is on one side of the tractor and the body is on the other (from what I've heard). So far nothing has gotten into our turkey tractor. It's close to the house though. I think, if I had my way, we should have all poultry in tractors rotating through the yard.

Maybe we should just stick to larger animals. All cattle, pigs, dogs, and cat are still alive and well (although the cat may be a little traumatized).

Fourth of July

Sometimes I wonder what it is really that we are celebrating on the fourth day in July. In the Revolutionary War we were fighting for representation more than anything at first. Nowadays, the taxes still go up, and we have representation. I can't help but wonder if we have the representation we need. The media has us in its grip. It can control nearly a whole nation just by a thing one person decides to "report"; it is able to sway the thoughts of millions by the way they bias their report! We are not against government, but, man, it sure would be nice to have wholesale reform!!! I'm going to get myself in trouble; I'll move on to yesterday's pictures and light commentary. There won't be too many, don't worry.

Daddy smoked our ribs in the smoke house. He decided that we needed fire bricks and/or another layer of bricks in the firebox.

Kyle getting some green wood for better smoking.

Waiting for lunch/dinner (the ribs took longer than expected).

Bottle rockets. They turned grown men into boys once more.

After lunch (and a little time to allow for digestion) Daddy, Uncle Craig, Kyle, and I played "Pitchin' Warshers". Daddy and I won.

Around 8:30p.m. we shot off a few fireworks. All in all, it was a very pleasant day.