Completing a Job

For the last month it has been too wet to garden, so what is there to do?  Well, there's always things on the list that don't require dry weather.  I decided to knock a few things off the to-do list.  Some were indoor jobs and some were outdoors, but not out in the inclement weather.  When we built our home, we opted to go with fiberglass columns on the front porch.  The fiberglass columns were cheaper than the wooden ones or concrete ones and they don't rot.  But there are some negative aspects to them, first and foremost painting them!  Or more precisely, getting paint to stick to them.

I guess the fiberglass columns are so smooth and slick, it is hard for the paint to bind to the surface. Over the course of about four years, the paint begins to peel and flake off and looks ratty and then I know it is past time to get to work.  I think we've repainted them 4 times.  First we took an electric sander and sanded the columns where the paint was flaking, roughing it up so the paint would stick. Even though we were under the porch, the rain still stopped us several times.

We taped newspaper around the base of the columns so as not to get paint on the bricks or cement. Then we primed the columns to give the paint something to stick to.  Finally, we put two coats of paint on each column.  We went through lots of sandpaper, three paintbrushes, two cans of primer and a can of paint.  With the rain-outs we experienced, it took us two weeks to finish up the job, and I was happy to have that done!

Finis

"Give us the tools and we will finish the job." - Winston Churchill

The Best Protection Ever

 He will cover you with His pinions,

And under His wings you may seek refuge;

His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.  - Psalm 91:4

The other night I headed out to the barn to do my nightly chores.  Up until now the momma hen always sat in the corner of the stall with her two little chicks tucked up underneath her.  Tonight however, the momma hen had flown up to the top of the gate to the large stall.  Her wings were pitched at a strange angle.  But where were the little ones?  I hope that another snake hadn't eaten them.  

As I looked a little closer, I realized that one of the little chicks was right beneath her!  She was sitting on her baby to protect her.  She looked at me menacingly.  Is she giving me the evil eye, or what?  But where is the other chick?

I lifted her wing to find out.  Yep, sure enough, just as the verse above says, the chick is seeking protection under the sheltering wings.

Peek-a-boo!

The imagery in that verse is so strong and descriptive.  Just as the chicks seek refuge from danger (like snakes and rats in the barn), we seek the same from Our Creator.  He is indeed our Shield and Bulwark.

That is not the only verse that uses the imagery of protective wings.  In Luke 13:34 Jesus says:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!"

It is kind of neat to think about the fact that Jesus, as a boy in Nazareth, may have walked into his father's wood shop and found a momma hen protecting her baby chicks and that example of concern, care, and protection made an indelible mark on Him.  On the other hand, He is God.  He is the Almighty.  He made it all.  He knows how momma hens protect their little ones.  

The imagery of a hen protecting their young was, I'm sure, a familiar sight to those He was teaching in Luke 13 and I'm sure it struck a chord with them.  The tragic part of verse 34 comes at the very end - "and ye would not!"  Like the momma hen, Jesus wanted to gather them and protect them, but they were stiff-necked and would not allow Him to.  It would be a mistake to attribute that folly to the Jews of Jesus' day and not realize that we are guilty of that today.

When we go outside the protection of the Sheltering Arms, we put ourselves in harm's way from him who comes to steal, kill, and destroy.  There is evil in the world today.  There is civil unrest and violence and men kill one another.  As I type this, riots are breaking out in Charlotte, North Carolina. Lord keep us under your protective wings and may we not stray from you.

The Power of Attraction

Ol' Rosie girl's milk production has been coming steadily down lately.  She's making less and less milk and that's really odd.  Daisy only has three teats and she's giving more milk that Rosie.  Rose Ethel has always been our biggest milk producer, while Daisy's milk is richer, with more cream in her milk.  Something's going on with Rosie and we can't quite figure out what it is.  She's eating well and there is still plenty of grass in the pasture for her to graze.  She's not sick or acting strangely.  Heat does seem to affect her more than the other cows and she spends a good part of the day laying in the mud in the shade, but she's always done that. What could it be?

I call Tricia, "Theory Woman" sometimes, because she always has a theory about everything.  Of course she has a theory about Rosie's reduction in milk.  And here it is: Some things are attracted to one another like a magnet to steel.  Some things put together just make a good pair like peanut butter and jelly, rice and gravy, and red beans and rice.  Some attractions are deleterious like that of Samson and Delilah and David and Bathsheba.  While yet other attractions are good and natural, but the timing is not quite right.

Tricia thinks that prior to building our "bull pen" that you see below that cordons off the bull from all the cows, Chuck escaped and bred Rosie.  At that time we were trying (unsuccessfully) to keep them separated by just using an electric fence and that is about as effective as a screen door in a submarine. Chuck got out one night and Tricia saw he and Rosie together while she was in heat.

We are not positive that Rosie is bred, but Chuck did break through the fence at the time when she was in heat and she may have been exposed.  We also haven't seen her go in heat since then.  Finally, a reduction in milk production is a natural occurrence for cows that are bred.  We're going to take a blood test from Rosie and send it off to confirm just to be sure.  Tricia counted back and if she was bred, she'll calf in April.  There's no other bull, so if she's bred, you're looking at the guilty party:

Incarceration

If she is indeed bred, is it the end of the world?  No, it's not, but our goal was to have all of the cows exposed to Chuck in December or January.  In so doing, they would all calve at once.  This, we've learned from experience, is just a lot easier to manage.  It also means that we would dry them off at the same time, giving us a break from milking.  Oh well, we will just have to give Rosie a pregnancy test and if we have an April baby, we'll have an April baby...  And we'll chalk it up to a lesson learned - the power of attraction between a bull and a cow is too much for an electric fence to hold back!

Seeing the Full Cycle

Early Saturday morning I was awakened by loud sounds of rumbling thunder that shook the windows and walls.  It was incredibly loud and its vibrations were powerful.  Later that afternoon I walked around the yard and observed that the thunder must have caused a large rotten limb in one of our live oak trees to fall down to the ground.

The combination of the height from which it fell and the decomposed condition of the limb caused it to shatter once it hit the ground.

There's no telling how old this tree is - well over a hundred years old for sure.  While the tree lives on, limbs die from time to time and fall like this.  Before it falls, however, a metamorphosis is taking place up in the tree.  When the limb dies, it rots and the wood softens.  It becomes a haven for bugs and worms and those attract woodpeckers that come and hammer away at the wood, seeking the tasty morsels contained within.

These holes caused by woodpeckers and exacerbated by continued rot, enlarge and become nesting places for all sort of critters like squirrels, birds, rats and who knows what else.  They poop in the hole in the wood and speed the decay and decomposition of the wood.  Finally, it falls and if I was to kick this limb, it would pretty much turn to sawdust.  Actually, parts of it looks just like soil.

What's interesting to me about this is the cycle that this 'compost' that I'm holding in my hand has taken.  The compost in my hand is primarily rotten wood and (I think) some sort of fecal matter from some animal mixed in.  That's not very pleasant to talk about, I know, but it is nature at work.

This is a handful of fertility that I'll reincorporate into my garden soil.  It is interesting for me to think about the long trip that this handful of compost has traveled.  You see, it's not just people that recycle things.  God has created nature to do the same.

Many, many years ago this live oak tree pulled nutrients and minerals from the soil. This enabled the acorn to grow into a mighty oak, stretching its limbs skyward. Now many years later those nutrients and minerals are returning to the soil, falling downward and are broadcast around the base of the tree.  If I was to leave the remains of the rotten limb where it lies, the compost would create rich topsoil that would continue to nourish the tree from which it fell.  I think I'll move the rotten material into the garden to nourish my garden soil and grow some good vegetables for our table.

Lesson Learned - Pumpkins Don't like Wet Soil

In THIS BLOG POST FROM AUGUST you were able to read about how we planted pumpkins and got to see some beautiful, healthy pumpkin plants with broad green leaves.  The plants were vining and putting out blooms.  I could even see some baby pumpkins.  And then the floodgates opened, figuratively speaking. The rains started and have not let up.  Let's go out and take a look at the pumpkin patch.

Wait just one cotton-picking minute!  Where are the pumpkins?  All I see is a weed patch.  Planting directions for pumpkins say that they must be planted in soil rich in compost and soil that is well drained and not soggy.  The soil in which I planted our pumpkins fit those specifications perfectly. So what happened?  Well, a month of rain almost every single day has the ability to turn the driest of soil into a mudfest.  Our beautiful pumpkin plants turned yellow and died.

As I kicked amongst the dead pumpkin vines, I came across a Jack-Be-Little pumpkin in the weeds that seemed to mock me.  This is our 2016 pumpkin crop! Sad.  Oh well, there's always next year.

But all is not lost.  In the same blog post I linked at the top of this post, I talked about also planting some cowpeas in the northern end of the pumpkin patch.  It was a mixture of some saved seed that included Blackeye peas, Ozark Razorback peas, Purple Hull peas, and Holstein peas.  While pumpkins get sick and die in wet soils, cowpeas can be a lot more forgiving.  Actually, they seem to be almost immune to all the rainfall.  They (along with some weeds, admittedly) have grown nicely.

The peas were tall and had many pods ripe for the picking.  I went inside and got a bucket and spent the next 15 minutes walking around the pea patch, poking around in the canopy and picking cowpeas. The fact that something in the garden was still thriving other than weeds was encouraging and lifted my spirits.

I picked a nice 'mess' of peas in varying stages of ripeness and brought them inside and washed them off.  Fresh picked peas always have all sorts of little critters on them, especially aphids, ants and stinkbugs.

I hollered at Benjamin who was in his bedroom.  Benjamin likes to shell peas.  We sat in the den and shelled peas while we watched a college football game.  That's one of my favorite things to do!  In no time we were done and had shelled an assortment of cowpeas of the varieties we discussed above and it measured out to be a little more than a quart.  In a few days, Tricia will put a pot of rice cooking and then she'll cook these peas with some sausage added to give a little smokey flavoring and we'll eat a fine meal of peas over rice.  That'll stick to your ribs.

Although the pumpkin patch was certainly disappointing, I'm happy with the peas and they'll continue to bear for a while now.  Also, I think if we root around in the deep freeze for a bit, we may find a ziploc bag or two of processed pumpkin from last year.  We may get that pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving yet!

Too Much of A Good Thing

Saturday morning after milking I like to walk around the pasture and the yard just observing things. I'll pick up a few fallen branches, fill all the water troughs with water and just give everything a close inspection.  I walked past the navel orange tree and noted that the tree was heavy with fruit.  I mean the limbs were drooping so much with the weight of the fruit, I was concerned about the health of the tree. More on that in a minute.

Notice the right side of the tree

Softball-sized fruit adorned the orange tree almost like ornaments on a Christmas tree.  We love our citrus trees.  My favorite is making freshly squeezed orange juice. Minute Maid just can't even come close to comparing with this OJ.  As I stood by the tree I thought about standing in this same location this spring.  It was cool and I was inhaling deeply as I smelled the fragrant orange blossoms.  Many of those blossoms are now the fruit you see hanging in the photo below.

A Heavy Load

The morning sun was streaming in from the east and I apologize for the poor quality of the photos today.  Believe me, the rays of the sun were beautiful in person.  Not so much in a photograph.  Anyway, if you look below, you can see something that looks out of place and not right about the tree.  The branches on the right side of the tree are leaning.  In fact some of the oranges were touching the ground and with all the rain, they had burst open and had grey mold growing on it. Other oranges had a blue-green mold growing.  What is that?  Well, you might remember from science class a gentleman by the name of Alexander Fleming who grew those molds and discovered Penicillin. That's great, I guess, that we have penicillin growing in the back yard, but I'm allergic to it.  

I wondered why this was occurring and leaned inside the canopy of the navel orange tree to get a closer look.  Here is what I saw:

Darn it!  A broken limb.  Not only this one, but two more in addition.  I went inside and asked Tricia if we had any strong wind.  Negative ghost rider.  So what caused it.  Well, I'm no arborist by any means, but here is my theory.  Either one or both of these events may be causing this:  With all the rain we have had, the wet leaves added extra weight to the already heavily laden limbs, causing breakage.  Also if you grow tomatoes, you know that after a rain, the tomatoes will grow so fast, they split their skins.  Perhaps all the torrential rain caused the oranges to grow too fast and get too heavy for the limbs to support the added weight.

If you look at the pictures, the leaves are still green.  In the photo immediately above, you can see that about half of the limb is still intact, allowing nutrients to continue flowing to the outer limb, even though only it's only through 50% of the limb.  I liken that to someone who has a blockage in an artery.  They can still function, but not at full capacity and the situation should be rectified as soon as possible.

So here's my plan.  In an attempt to save the oranges, I'm going to cut a "V" shaped notch into one end of some 2 x 4's  and prop the broken limbs back up.  This will give some support to them and to keep the limbs from breaking off completely.  I'm not sure if it will salvage the broken branch.  Will it grow back together?  I'm not sure.  Our live oak tree did.  It's a little extra work to have to do this, but the benefit of enjoying a fresh squeezed glas of orange juice this winter is well worth it.

Pedicures for Everyone!

Since the monsoon season started last month, I can't even begin to think about getting in the garden to plant the fall seedlings I've been nurturing on the back patio.  There are other things on the list; however, and one of those things is checking on the goat's hooves.  That seems like an odd thing to have on a list of things to do, but it is necessary.

I can remember when I was in junior high school I showed sheep as a 4-H project.  Sheep are notorious for getting sick, lame, and other ailments. Sheep get hoof rot very easy and it seems like it happens overnight - one day they are fine and the next they are limping and require a good trimming. Goats are no different.

I got Annie and her two girls, Darla and Jane and brought them into the barn. Then I went to the pasture that we have placed the bull, Chuck, and the buckling, Buckwheat, and I brought Buckwheat in as well.  I put the goats in our little goat milking stanchion that I built and described the process in
THIS POST.  I put a little feed in the trough for them to eat on to distract them while I work on their hooves and close the head gate of the stanchion to stabilize them.

I lift up each of their feet and inspect the hooves.  One thing I immediately noticed is that the hooves had grown a little uneven and need to be evened out.  What will happen is the outside of the hoof will grow just a little long and a little 'flap' will create a pocket in which dirt, poop, and mud accumulates. This pocket stays moist and is a breeding ground for bacteria. In fact, if it is bad enough you can smell a putrid smell.

You simply trim the overgrown part of the hoof so that the hoof is straight and even, leaving no place for mud and water and the resulting bacteria to accumulate and fester.  Then I use my goat hoof clippers that I sharpened with a file to trim the pad of the hoof since that will grow uneven.  Sometimes in cleaning up the hoof, they will bleed.  I'm sure it hurts like a hangnail does, but it is necessary to get the job done.  They might limp on the affected hoof for a day, but in no time they are doing just fine.

Now you would think that this would only occur in months where there is abundant rainfall and their feet stay muddy, but it happens in dry weather too.  One thing that helps is to have cement (like concrete culverts) for the goats to climb on as this is a way for the goats to trim their hooves naturally just by climbing on it.

I always use Dr. Naylor Hoof 'n Heel to coat the area that I've clipped to stave off infection in the goat's hooves. Sometimes the goats will kick hard and cause my hand to slip and nick myself with the clippers.  In that case I put a little Hoof 'n Heel on my cut to fend off infection, too. It is not labeled for use on humans, so I hope it is okay.  Come to think of it, maybe it is Hoof  'n Heel that has made me ornery as an old goat!

I did the same thing to all four goats and in no time I was done.  It is not a bad job, but I'm not the one getting the pedicure.  I'll check up on them later and do it all over again in another month.  I wish trimming the cows' hooves was as easy.