Monday, May 21, 2007, 04:52
Life on the Farm
I have spent a substantial portion of the weekend immersed in agriculture.
Saturday evening I covered the 50th Anniversary FFA Banquet (Future Farmers of America) for the school district where the newspaper is located that I write for. I got to the banquet at 5 p.m. and didn't get home until well after midnight. I was taking pictures for the newspaper and for the FFA advisor. And of course, now I've got to write a story about the event.
Then Sunday afternoon, I did a presentation at the local historical society called "Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam." Between 20 and 25 people attended the presentation, and we had a great time. Everyone in the room had either grown up on a farm, lived on a farm at some point in their lives or were still living on a farm. I got a tremendous amount of audience participation, and nearly everyone had stories to share and spoke up. We all agreed that is unfortunate that so many people in society today have gotten so "civilized" they don't have the vaguest notion of where their food comes from.
So that was pretty much it for my weekend.
Funny thing about the weather, though. A quick thundershower came through Saturday morning while I was feeding the horses. I hurried up to finish and dashed back to the house as the first raindrops began to fall. Only rained for about 10 minutes. We got a tenth of an inch out of it.
The weather turned hot and humid after that -- mid 80s Saturday afternoon. I wore a sleeveless shell to the FFA banquet because it was so warm.
When I came out of the university student center at midnight, the wind had switched to the north and brrrrrrrrrrr! I had to walk six blocks back to the newspaper office where I had left my truck, and I was cold by the time I got there. I could hardly wait to get the truck started so I could turn the heater on full blast.
Sunday the weather was downright chilly. The high in the afternoon was only in the 50s. So I wore a sweater to the historical society presentation. That's May in Wisconsin, I guess. Sleeveless shell one day. A sweater the next day.
The weather forecast says the temperature will be up and down all week as various fronts move through. I don't imagine we will have any more chance for rain than what we've had. Sunday afternoon it sprinkled a little bit. But that was all.
The weather has been so dry that the daylilies on the east side of the house are looking downright pathetic. Usually the daylilies are pretty tough and drought resistant, but on the sidehill like that, they just haven't gotten enough water. A couple of times in the past week, I have bailed out the washing machine and carried the water out to them. They're starting to perk up a little bit now.
I planted the daylilies on the east side of the house 12 years ago when we moved back here. They are offspring off the daylilies Grandma Inga planted 80 years ago. I put them there to keep the soil from washing away from the foundation and making gullies. The summer we moved back here, we got 13 inches of rain in one week, and gullies were a problem. It was so wet that summer that when we dug the postholes for the horse pasture fence, the bottom of the holes filled with water. It is going to have rain an awful lot for an awful long time before fence post holes fill with water. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
Friday, May 18, 2007, 20:02
Time Flies
I can't hardly believe it is Friday. Where has the week gone to? Well, I can tell you where it went, I guess. Two nights this week I did not get home from the newspaper until after 10 p.m. And I still had stories to write after that.
It's Friday, but I'm still not done with the newspaper for the week yet because I have to take pictures at the high school graduation this evening in my hometown. And then Saturday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., I have to cover the FFA (Future Farmers of America) Banquet in the city where the newspaper is located. It's the FFA's 50th anniversary there.
But for right now, I had better get out and water my lettuce. I have neglected it all week! And I have to water my seeds in pots, too, before they dry out and we don't get any pumpkins or sweetcorn. And then there's my volunteer tomatoes in the bed by the basement door.
I was thinking I wasn't going to get any volunteers this year, but I think it has been so dry that they have been slow in coming up. They're coming now, and I don't want them to die off.
And the dogs need a walk, too, before I head into town with the camera.
And then there's Kajun and Isabelle. I haven't hardly had time to say hello to them this week much less do anything else -- except for hang onto them while they got their feet trimmed on Wednesday morning.
The horses were both very good, and the job went fairly quickly. Isabelle is a little sore on her tootsies now, but as soon as the hooves grow out a little, she'll be fine. Think about how odd you feel when you cut your fingernails a little too short. That's how a horse feels when they first get their feet trimmed. Especially if they needed a trim pretty bad. I've had it on my to-do list since April to get Kajun and Isabelle's feet trimmed. . .
As for frost, there was ice on the bird water pans early Wednesday morning when the thermometer said it was 29 degrees.
LeAnn R. Ralph