You should see the trees these days! Outside my office window the maples are an array of brilliant oranges and the poplar leaves are discs of gold, set against the backdrop of a September blue sky and on a foreground of lush, green grass. It's a shame to be inside.
I've been trying to use this Sunday wisely - my way of making up for not getting to church this morning. There are so many jobs that don't get done with the day-to-day grind. Glen has been getting quite a few hours in at work this past week or so, but even though he does a ten hour day on a Cat, he still has to grind grain for the steers once a week, and feed them twice a day. He has more baling to do, if the weather allows, and all kinds of bales to haul home and stack, as well 100 acres of oats to harvest when they're ready. He has also been trying to get a last mile of fence up so that we can put our two herds back together in new pasture. The two bulls have never laid eyes on each other yet, and we want them to be well used to each other before they go into winter captivity together.
There is a lot of power thrown around when two bulls decide to fight. Neighbours of ours had a bull fight on their hands last week - the animals rolled through fence like it was built of toothpicks. Eventually they settled down - must have decided who was the toughest - and went back life as usual, but there wasn't much a puny human being could do in the meanwhile.
We use electric fence. It's not so labour intensive to put up or maintain. It looks flimsey compared to a three strand barbed wire fence, but it doesn't need to be a fort because one bite of that current and the animals won't go near it again. We had some trouble with our north pasture last week. Glen went to check and found that the solar panel that provides the electicity had been torn down and all the wires were off. He really couldn't think of how that had happened, but I'm wondering if the moose who likes to hang out along that creek didn't decide to play with it. One toss of a moose's head and there would be major damage done.
I spent this morning "doing apples", and I have the hands to prove it (the tannic acid turns your skin brown). Glen's aunt has been busy picking apples and giving them away for the last three weeks. I love these apples - I have trees of my own, but nothing compares to Granny's apples for baking. The trees they come from were planted close to a century ago and tended by a tiny little woman who I always think of as I prepare and preserve their fruit. I've tried to start my own from their seed, but so far, with no success.
I'm also trying to get the yard cleaned up before it gets any colder, and get ready for when the carpenters come to replace five windows next week. At least I have a good excuse to not wash windows this fall - not that any amount of washing has helped this past few years, the seals have all been broken and moisture has made a mess between the panes of glass. It will be so nice to have good windows again!
It seems strange now that there is just the two of us here. I moved Mitchell in to Brandon last weekend, and with that, Glen and I start a new part of our lives. The food bill is going to drop drastically, and I'll be able to cut back on the Internet package we use - I won't use a quarter of the time he did - but it's the little things that I've noticed that makes it feel different, like when it's bedtime, we turn out all the lights because there's no one to come after us. It's weird.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Late Mornings; Early Nights
I know that the days have been getting shorter since the third week of June, but , all of a sudden, it's dark by 7:00 and barely light at 5:30! In no time at all we'll be down to winter hours.
The short sunshine hours take a big slice out of a harvesting day. Even if the weather is clear and the sun shines all day, the dew on the grass makes the crops too tough to combine by the time the sun goes down, and it takes until noon most days to dry the windrows enough to go again. The only thing that stretches the conditions out longer is a strong, warm wind that keeps the moisture off. The more crop farmers can get off before September starts, the better.
We have our rye in the bin and Glen has been combining the barley today. Mitchell spent the afternoon cutting the last of the oats we grew for greenfeed (to be baled for the cattle) and I tried to give the lawn what I hope is the last cut of the season.
We had our house full to overflowing this past weekend with our son and daughter-in-law home with their three children ( a two year old girl and three month old twin boys). Jacqui's parents and grandmother from Australia were also visiting for the five days and on Sunday, after a triple baptism, we had a sort of "come and go" meal so that friends and family could come out to see the babies. I think, all tolled, there were 37 people here throughout the day. It was a good day, but it was really good to go to bed that night!
The last of the company left this morning and we got back to work around here. While the men did field work today I tried to think of what Mitchell will need for his first apartment as he moves out on his own this weekend. The fellow he's sharing a small apartment with is already moved in and has started tech school. Mick is going to try out for Emergency Services Training School but won't know if he's made it until early next year. Meanwhile he's looking for gainful employment; his last day at the local Coop grocery store was last Saturday.
Brandon is only 100 miles away, and I thought we might see a lot of this last kid on weekends, but with the price of fuel the way it is, we'll be lucky to see him at all. It is just obscene what it costs to fill up a fuel tank these days, and before you agree with me, think of a farmer's plight. A combine alone can easily burn $600.00 worth a day. Add to that the grain trucks that haul the grain, the tractors that till the soil, the sprayers and swathers - the fuel bill of an average sized farm climbs into the tens of thousands of dollars just to get the job done.
We always listen to the market report at lunch time - although what we hear probably gives us indigestion: in less than a minute, they speel off the prices of fuel and grain commodities; the fuel continually goes up and the grain prices are pathetic. I honestly wonder how most farmers are surviving these days. I know when I spilled a little diesel fuel this afternoon, I felt like I'd committed a crime.
By this time next week, Glen and I will be empty nesters. Over the past month, as he has been preparing to leave, I've been on a mental journey of my own. I am the first to say it's time for him to step out on his own, but I just can't seem to let him do it without non-stop advice and/or warnings. I have been living this "mission to mother" for so long I don't know how to shut it off. He'll be fine - and eventually, I'm sure, so will I.
The short sunshine hours take a big slice out of a harvesting day. Even if the weather is clear and the sun shines all day, the dew on the grass makes the crops too tough to combine by the time the sun goes down, and it takes until noon most days to dry the windrows enough to go again. The only thing that stretches the conditions out longer is a strong, warm wind that keeps the moisture off. The more crop farmers can get off before September starts, the better.
We have our rye in the bin and Glen has been combining the barley today. Mitchell spent the afternoon cutting the last of the oats we grew for greenfeed (to be baled for the cattle) and I tried to give the lawn what I hope is the last cut of the season.
We had our house full to overflowing this past weekend with our son and daughter-in-law home with their three children ( a two year old girl and three month old twin boys). Jacqui's parents and grandmother from Australia were also visiting for the five days and on Sunday, after a triple baptism, we had a sort of "come and go" meal so that friends and family could come out to see the babies. I think, all tolled, there were 37 people here throughout the day. It was a good day, but it was really good to go to bed that night!
The last of the company left this morning and we got back to work around here. While the men did field work today I tried to think of what Mitchell will need for his first apartment as he moves out on his own this weekend. The fellow he's sharing a small apartment with is already moved in and has started tech school. Mick is going to try out for Emergency Services Training School but won't know if he's made it until early next year. Meanwhile he's looking for gainful employment; his last day at the local Coop grocery store was last Saturday.
Brandon is only 100 miles away, and I thought we might see a lot of this last kid on weekends, but with the price of fuel the way it is, we'll be lucky to see him at all. It is just obscene what it costs to fill up a fuel tank these days, and before you agree with me, think of a farmer's plight. A combine alone can easily burn $600.00 worth a day. Add to that the grain trucks that haul the grain, the tractors that till the soil, the sprayers and swathers - the fuel bill of an average sized farm climbs into the tens of thousands of dollars just to get the job done.
We always listen to the market report at lunch time - although what we hear probably gives us indigestion: in less than a minute, they speel off the prices of fuel and grain commodities; the fuel continually goes up and the grain prices are pathetic. I honestly wonder how most farmers are surviving these days. I know when I spilled a little diesel fuel this afternoon, I felt like I'd committed a crime.
By this time next week, Glen and I will be empty nesters. Over the past month, as he has been preparing to leave, I've been on a mental journey of my own. I am the first to say it's time for him to step out on his own, but I just can't seem to let him do it without non-stop advice and/or warnings. I have been living this "mission to mother" for so long I don't know how to shut it off. He'll be fine - and eventually, I'm sure, so will I.
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