The Frost Finally Did Them In

Way back on April 14th of this year, I planted some seeds that a friend gave me on the row right in front of the okra.  They were seeds (he told me) of a squash called the Tahitian Melon Squash.  It is supposedly the sweetest squash there is ~ even sweeter than butternut squash. 

The Tahitian Melon squash seemed to languish in the garden for most of the spring and summer.  No blooms.  No fruit.  Oddly enough, once the weather cooled somewhat, the plant took off!  It invaded the back half of the garden, creating long vines, huge leaves, blooms and fruit!  It was so prolific, it was hard to pick okra, because you had to walk around the vines so as not to damage any of the growing squash.

Finally, about a week ago, our first frost finished off the plant.  I went out and picked all of the squash off of the vines and put them in a 5 gallon bucket.  The leaves and vines had been decimated by the light frost.  I wanted to pick the squash before they began to deteriorate.  I think there was about ten of them.  They made a nice seasonal centerpiece on the supper table. 

Tricia cuts them in half and roasts them in the oven.  We use a spoon to scoop the flesh out and eat it as a side dish.  Very smooth, creamy and sweet.

I asked Tricia to save the seeds off of the biggest one so that I can plant more next year.

The Cream Always Rises to the Top!

One of the extra special things about milking cows is the cream.  If you look at the gallon jar below of fresh milk that we put in the fridge, you'll see a line about one third of the way from the top.  Everything above that line is cream that has risen to the top.  You can shake it up and drink it all - whole milk.  Or you can skim it off and drink the 'skim' milk.

We normally shake it up and drink whole milk - so sweet and delicious.  But, we also skim some off for coffee or for making whipped cream to put atop desserts.  I captured the process of the milkmaid, Tricia, making fresh whipped cream for our pumpkin cheesecake on Thanksgiving Day.  After skimming the cream off the top of the milk, Tricia poured it into a bowl.

She put the whisking (or whipping attachment, I assume) on the stick blender and turned it on.

In less than 15 seconds, the cream begins to thicken up.  Tricia has often said the stick blender is one of her favorite gadgets.  In the past we've poured cream into a quart jar and allowed it to come to room temperature.  Then we shake it for 4 or 5 minutes to make cream.  Needless to say, the stick blender speeds up the process.

And in two shakes of a billy-goat's tail, it's done.  The cream is ready to be put on top of the cheesecake.

All that's left is to taste it...

Delish!  The cream rises to the top.  From milk to cream to whipped cream in less than a minute! 

Using Heart Pine To Start The Fireplace

This morning when I woke up the winds were briskly blowing out of the north and east with temperatures in the mid 40s.  This evening it was downright chilly.  I made a fire in the fire pit outside.  Prior to that, though, I was thinking about starting a fire in the fireplace in the next couple of nights.  I've moved a load or two of firewood under the patio for when we light one, but realized that I need to go cut some heart pine or lighter pine.

When we light fires in the fireplace, we always start the fire with a few kindling sticks of lighter pine.  I looked on the Internet to see exactly what heart pine actually is and it confirmed my suspicions:

"Heart pine," as it is referred to, is only long leaf pine. It was the main type of pine found in the old growth forests from Virginia to Texas. This type of pine is called "heart" because when it reaches maturity the tree is mostly heartwood. This is not true of other lesser specie of pine such as loblolly and slash. The original old growth long leaf pines grew to be 300-500 years old. It contains almost twice the resin content of other types of pine and had much much higher structural strength. It was used for the tall masts of sailing ships and was referred to as "The Kings Pine" when this country was owned by England. Much of this information and more is contained in historical record of the Great Southern Lumber Company in Bogalusa, LA. This mill was opened in the early 1900's and was the largest sawmill in the world at the time, producing 1 million bdft of long leaf pine per day.  Credit Link

Here is a big chunk of lighter pine that I chopped some kindling sticks off of today:

I have a stack of this stuff that I keep on hand for fire starting.  I wish you could smell how Great it smells by scratching the photo below!:

From looking at heart pine from the outside, it is unremarkable.  Hard, heavy and dull looking.  But when you split it open, it has an amber tint and is oozing with sap and bursting with aroma of pine.  In my scouting days, they taught us to take our pocket knives and carve little slits in a stick of heart pine on every side, opening it up like a Christmas tree shape.  Then you would light it and use it to start a campfire.

I can remember clearing land at the farm in Oberlin that was previously all in pine timber.  We'd pile up sticks to burn, but we'd put all the pine knots and heart pine that we would find on a trailer and would save it.  Many years ago my neighbor gave me a bunch of logs of heart pine that he had gotten from Georgia while on a job.  Each year I cut sticks off of the bigger logs and place it on the bottom of the firewood in the fireplace.  It starts very easily and pretty soon, you have a roaring fireplace!

Here's my bucket of cut up heart pine.  In a few days, we'll be ready to burn our first fire in the fireplace of the winter.

Can't wait!

Daisy Comes Home

Daisy is the matriarch of our current Jersey herd.  Back in 2007, she came to us as a baby calf on the side of her mother, Momma Cow.  Momma Cow passed away years back, but Daisy remains.  She's getting up in years a bit and has been having trouble getting bred the last few times we've had her get together with a bull.

We've had her get checked out by our veterinarian, but he cannot find anything wrong with her that would be keeping her from getting pregnant when all the other cows have gotten bred.  So, we have a friend in Hathaway with a registered Jersey bull.  He agreed to let us bring Daisy down to stay for a few cycles with his bull. 

Our friend saw evidence that Daisy was bred by his bull, but this has happened before without her actually becoming pregnant.  Two days ago, blood samples were taken to check to see if Daisy is carrying a calf.  We await the results.  We picked up Daisy and brought her back to home.  She arrived in the trailer and began walking to meet up with the rest of the little herd that she hasn't seen in a couple of months.  There was lots of mooing and bellowing...

Cows go through some sort of a greeting process where they touch noses and then start walking around sniffing each other.

And then they sniff some more...

After a couple of months all the cows are back together again.

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We should hear results of the blood work to confirm pregnancy in about 10 days.  If the results come back that Daisy is open (not pregnant), we'll have to make some hard decisions.  On a three acre pasture, we can't keep cows that can't provide calves.  We'll cross that bridge when we get there, I guess.  In the meantime, we'll pray that Daisy is carrying a calf - a heifer calf!

Thanksgiving 2018

Psalm 100 King James Version (KJV)

1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving and had and opportunity, like we did, to spend it with family, eating great food, enjoying fellowship with those you love, and making memories. 

Baked Turkey Before it was Devoured

We ate entirely too much and then sat around and had great conversation with one another, telling stories and laughing.  Amazingly, these conversations didn't involve cell phones or computers. 

We sat around a fire pit and enjoyed the beautiful weather and then ate again in the evening.  As I write this I am so thankful for a great family, for health, for spending time with people that I love.  I am thankful for salvation through Jesus Christ and for blessings that I do not deserve.

Although our lives are far from perfect, God is so good to us, and we are so thankful!

Picking Up Hay - 2018 Edition

Hay is a very important feed source for our cows during wintertime when no grass is growing.  This year, due to a very wet summer, hay is in short supply.  We feed our cows hay that we get from two sources.  Last year we got 32 round bales from a neighbor who delivers them in lots of eight when he comes in every two weeks from working offshore.  The cows can usually demolish a round bale in about 6 days.  They would kill it off sooner if we didn't put the hay ring around it, but they would waste most of it.  The hay ring definitely cuts down significantly on waste.  We haven't purchased any round bales yet this year, but I have eight on order and they should be delivered during the middle of next week.

We also get square bales of hay from another neighbor down the road who charges $5 a bale picked up in the field behind the baler.  Normally, we pick it up in May or June.  This year they didn't get many cuttings due to all the rain and we just picked up 39 bales this weekend and the remaining 61 on Tuesday afternoon.  Tricia drives the truck in the hay field, Benjamin is in the trailer stacking the hay, Russ is picking up the hay and bringing it to the trailer.  I am the guy taking pictures and if you want to know what Russ is saying, he's saying, "Put down the camera and come help, Dad."

In late November at least it is not as hot as it is in summer when we are normally doing this.

We can normally load about 75 bales in both the trailer and the truck.  We had loaded up 39 bales and then... the truck tires started spinning.  We got stuck in the middle of the field.  Our neighbor came and pulled us out, but we decided to not rut up his field.  He picked it all up with a trailer and we'd pick up the remaining bales from his barn as soon as we could get it.  That ended up being Tuesday night when Tricia and Benjamin went and got it.

Since it was too wet to actually drive in our pasture to the barn with the hay, we moved the 39 bales 3 at a time in a wagon to the barn.  Not very efficient, I know.  I climb up in the loft and we have a pulley that we use to hoist the bales into the loft.

We have a bungee cord tied to the end and Benjamin would attach it to the baling twine on the hay bale.

I use the pulley to pull the hay up to the loft.  Using a ring fastened to the top end of the rope, I run the ring through a nail I have hammered into the barn rafters.  This holds the bale in place while I walk to the bale, pull it into the loft and unfasten the bungee strap and send it back down to repeat the whole process.

We got 39 bales in the barn loft this weekend.  Tonight Tricia and Benjamin unloaded the hay in the garage.  We'll give the ground a few days to dry up and then we'll bring all this hay out to the barn to store in the loft.

The cows will be happy to eat all this hay.  We'll be happy when all the work is done and "the hay is in the barn!"

4-H Night With The Tigers

Each year we try to make it to 4-H Night with the Tigers.  It is an LSU football game where they honor 4-Hers.  Benjamin has been a long-time 4-H member and he's in his senior year, so this will be our last one!  They have a big tailgate party behind the Cow Palace with free jambalaya (it was delicious!) and ice cream from the LSU Dairy Store (always a favorite of ours!).  Here is my family in front of the Cow Palace.  "Pistol" Pete Maravich once played basketball in the Cow Palace.

What a nice looking bunch!

We walked down to see Mike the Tiger, but he was sleeping and had no time for pleasant conversation with us.  Too bad.

We watched the football team get off the bus and walk down Victory Hill and then we watched the Golden Band from Tigerland march down.

With 100,000 of our closest friends, yelled as the band played "Hold that Tiger" and got the crowd whipped up into a frenzy.  If you have claustrophobia, this is not the place for you.

As we walked up the ramp to our seats in the nosebleed section, I paused to get a few photos from a different vantage point.  Memorial Tower (the Campanile) is to the east and has scaffolding all around it as they are doing some work on it.

Looking southeast, you can see the copper roof of the Cow Palace in the distance, with the smoke stack at the old sugar mill in the foreground.

Looking due north you can see the Maravich Assembly Center with the Mississippi River Bridge on the horizon.

As the sun makes its home in the western sky, "It's Saturday Night in Death Valley!"  We enjoyed watching the sunset and seeing the mighty Mississippi River from our Upper East seats.  We were way up there!

LSU was playing Rice.  I felt sorry for Rice.  They were 1-10 and were not competitive.  A lot of people knew it wouldn't be much of a game and stayed home.  We still had a great time.

Our seats were only a few rows from the very top!  As the night progressed, it got colder and colder as the winds blew.  I did not bring a jacket or a blanket, even at the urging of my wise wife.

We enjoyed the game, the band, the atmosphere, we sang "Callin' Baton Rouge" and "Louisiana Saturday Night"...

But after halftime,we decided to sneak down and watch the game in the lower section.  We stayed for the third and fourth quarters in the southeast endzone level.  It was much warmer there!

I drove home listening to the post-game show as the rest of the family slept.  It was a good day.  Geaux Tigers!

We're Caught in a Trap

"We're caught in a trap

I can't walk out

Because I love you too much, baby

Why can't you see

What you're doing to me

When you don't believe a word I say?"

-Elvis Presley "Suspicious Minds"

We have two separate varmint problems going on simultaneously.  It is high time to get the problems under control.  First, in our barn, we have a rat problem.  The infestation has gone from bad to worse in recent days.  I have caught several young ones by simply placing a bucket against the wall in the feed room.  Young rats jump in and cannot jump back out.  I then ensure their jumping days are over.

We've caught several rats in buckets full of water.  Apparently rats get thirsty and lean over the water bucket to drink and fall in.  Unable to climb out on the slick sides of the bucket, they drown.  We've caught several by NOT killing a rat snake that has made our barn his home.  The snake is like a heat-seeking missile and is knocking off the rats one by one.

I took out a small animal cage and baited it with dog food, thinking it would add one more rat eliminator alternative.  So far, so good.  I've trapped three in three consecutive nights.

He realizes the gig is up!

You dirty rat!

Rats cause a sanitary problem in the barn.  I like to clean them out prior to storing hay in the barn.  Cleaning them out is easier said than done.  The barn borders a patch of woods an a lot of rats live in the woods and move in the barn when colder, inclement weather sets in.  Just this evening, I took my Marlin .22 rifle loaded with rat shot and killed three rats by shooting them off the rafters.  We're slowing thinning out the population and having success, but we still have a lot of rats to kill.  We'll keep at it.

One of our trapping operations, however, is not so successful.  We lost a laying hen the other night to a predator - an old possum.  I got out my large animal trap and baited it with dog food.  I walked out to the woods and set the trap right on a trail leading out of the woods to our pasture.  This morning... BINGO!  I noticed that I had caught something in our trap.  Uh oh!  I caught our neighbor's cat!

The cat was very unhappy and was hissing at me and carrying on.  I quickly released the fierce and ferocious feline, after asking the cat not to "rat" me out to the neighbors.  The cat was none the worse for wear and after giving me an evil look, he ran back to the neighbors property.

I don't give up easily.  I'll keep my trapping exploits up and running until I eliminate the rat and possum problems.

Don't Turn to the Right or the Left

Watch the path of your feet

And all your ways will be established.

Do not turn to the right nor to the left;

Turn your foot from evil.  - Proverbs 4:26-2

This week Benjamin ran in the State Cross Country Meet at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana.  It is hard to believe, but Benjamin is in his senior year in high school.  This was his last cross country meet.  He still has indoor and outdoor track seasons left to run, but now cross country season is behind him.

He's working very hard now on college scholarship applications, writing papers for school, taking college courses while still in high school, and doing his chores, of course.  He's a busy dude, no doubt.  We're proud of him.

And it got me to thinking, regardless if you are a senior in high school or a senior citizen, hard work and focus are critical to success.  Many people start off strong and leave the field behind only to "run out of gas" and be overtaken by competitors.  Many simply lose direction and wander off the path.  Many simply get discouraged and quit running the race. 

King Solomon wrote Proverbs and the one atop this blog post.  He asked for, and was given, great wisdom.  The principles he wrote about remind me of Benjamin running his races, but they apply to our lives.  Run away from evil.  Be aware of where your feet are leading you.  Don't stray from the course.  Good words to live by!

It rained during the entire race and was incredibly muddy and cold, but Benjamin pressed through to the finish line.  Benjamin did a fantastic job in his race and as a senior, he was allowed to choose the restaurant where his team would eat in Natchitoches once the race was complete. 

There was a reward for even non-runners.  Tricia and Benjamin brought home a box of Natchitoches meat pies for supper!

Image Credit

Yum!  We were ALL winners!

It's A Great Day to be Alive

Image Credit

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: Philippians 4:11

Today was NOT a beautiful day.  I awoke to overcast, grey skies with a strong north wind and temperatures in the mid 40's and drizzling rain.  I put on another pot of coffee when I got to the office and waited for a break in the rain before I went outside to take inventory of the various products we have on hand.  Dreary days have a way of affecting your mood and outlook.

There's a country music song from about 20 years ago, written by Darrell Scott and sung by Travis Tritt, that speaks to me about NOT letting dreary weather or circumstances affect your state of mind. It's about being optimistic despite undergoing hard times and finding things to be thankful for even when the sun's not shining.  The chorus actually says, "I know the sun's still shinin' when I close my eyes..."  To me, that says that everything's going to be alright.  Being content in simple things, like cooking rice, growing out your beard, or making soup is an attribute that is almost forgotten in today's world in which we constantly compare ourselves to "the Joneses" and manufacture offenses and grievances.

I've posted the video below.  You can click the arrow to watch.  I've also posted the lyrics below.   I hope it makes your day a little bit brighter!

I got rice cooking in the microwave
I got a three day beard I don't plan to shave
It's a goofy thing but I just gotta say, hey,
I'm doing alright

Yeah I think I'll make me some home-made soup
I'm feeling pretty good and that's the truth
It's neither drink nor drug induced, no,
I'm just doing alright

And it's a great day to be alive
I know the sun's still shining
When I close my eyes
There's some hard times in the neighborhood
But why can't every day be just this good

It's been fifteen years since I left home
I said good luck to every seed I'd sown
Gave it my best and then I left it alone
I hope they're doing alright

Now I look in the mirror and what do I see
A lone wolf there staring back at me
Long in the tooth but harmless as can be
Lord I guess he's doin' alright

And it's a great day to be alive
I know the sun's still shining
When I close my eyes
There's some hard times in the neighborhood
But why can't every day be just this good

Sometimes it's lonely, sometimes it's only me
And the shadows that fill this room
Sometimes I'm falling, desperately calling
Howling at the moon, ah-ooh, ah-ooh

Well, I might go get me a new tattoo
Or take my old Harley for three day cruise
Might even grow me a fu man chu

And it's a great day to be alive
I know the sun's still shining
When I close my eyes
There's some hard times in the neighborhood
But why can't every day be just this good

And it's a great day to be alive
I know the sun's still shining
When I close my eyes
There's some hard times in the neighborhood
But why can't every day be just this good, ah-ooh, oh yeah

A Repeated Pattern

Do you ever notice how many times in life you catch yourself in routines and patterns?  The alarm clock goes off and you hop out of bed, shower, shave, dress, and grab a cup of coffee on the way out of the door.  You turn on the radio and you can judge if you are running late or early because the news comes on at the top and bottom of the hour.  The farm report comes on at 5:45 am and if I haven't passed Welsh, Louisiana yet, I'm running late.

Life ticks off the clock minutes at a time, marching on, stopping for no one.  Spring arrives with brilliant green growth followed by what seems like endless heat of summer.  By the end of summer, the grass has gone to seed and the bright green grass of spring has been replaced by dull, drab green colors.  The tallow trees (chicken trees) and cypress trees begin to turn colors, signaling the coming of fall.  Each year these routines repeat themselves. 

This changing of seasons, if you have animals on pasture, tells you that there is work to do.  As the grass goes dormant and the north winds begin to blow, it is important that you have hay put up in the barn or a good source to purchase it from.  Also, it means it is time to remove the temporary electric fencing that separated the pasture into separate paddocks. 

During the spring and summer, the pasture was broken up into separate paddocks with temporary electric fencing powered by solar energy, and the cows were rotated through each paddock throughout the week.  With the grass no longer growing, it is pointless, so I begin rolling up the poly rope with embedded wires onto my reel. 

It is amazing that a tiny "string" containing energy harnessed from the sun, can control a 900 pound animal and keep them where you want them.  The cows are very afraid of getting popped by the electric fence.  They respect it.

The sound of me rolling up the fence on the reel always gets the attention of the animals as they equate it to the opportunity to move to a new paddock with fresh, tender grass - only, at this time of the year, there's not much fresh, tender grass.

I walked through the pasture, removing the 'jump-wires' from the perimeter hot wire, rolling up the electric fence onto the reels and pulling up the step in posts and that transforms a pasture that was broken up into 7 individual pastures for 1-3 day grazing, into one 3 acre paddock.  I put all the electric fence equipment up in the barn.  It will sit there for another five months until the familiar sights and sounds of spring beckons me to begin the routine all over again.

Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name:  Jeremiah 31:35