My Many Hats...

There are many hats we wear in a life time, some all the time, some only a few times but the importance of that hat is not lessened.  I had a postal hat but I've laid that aside as I have many hats in my past. My current hats include but limited to those below.

At The Shop hat

Sweating boat-loads hat

My Wife hat

My construction/repair hat

My explorer hat

My cattle feeding hat

My cattle working hat

My rock hunting hat

and a hat I don't wear anymore.

We wear our hats with pride or in hiding due to our choices but we all have hats.  Wear them well.  Be proud of the hat you wear...change 'em around just for fun.  Maybe wear someone else's hat for awhile and look at the world differently but love the hat you wear.

Pushing Stumps

On a farm you never get done with cleaning and clearing.  Trees die, tornadoes blow them down and ice storms break them.  It is a continual job with much satisfaction.  You can measure your work by the piles of debris.

One stump plagued Dad for years.  Den finally got it out.  Another stump defied his powerful pushing.  It was a cedar.  The red heart center is the strongest and oldest growth.  We use it for fence posts.  This cedar stump will set some more. It refused to move.  Notice the bright red of the splinters.

The pile grows slowly

as the Dogwood flowers

and farmers work on and on.

Happy Easter.

Before Daylight...

I was awakened by the dogs, thank you, you worthless pack of mutts!!  I am sure they were after some critter but I did not check.  Coulda been skunks, armadillos or 'possums. They are really moving closer since it has been so dry.  I guess they are staying closer since they have discovered the eating is easier near the houses.

I so wished I had a camera the other morning.  The boys, a Jack/Rat and a Rat terrier, had an armadillo on the run, one on each side, yapping their brains out, snapping against the hard shell,  while the possum in armour kept on trotting his escape route.

The Borders approach these warm-blooded tanks a little differently...if you are sensitive to violence, stop reading now!  They work as a team, flip the armadillo, go for the soft underbelly and proceed to tear it apart.

You may think this cruel but farm life is cruel.  It is a battle...against the elements and animals who threaten the livelihood of domesticated animals and humans that have tamed this spot of earth for their own use. 

The reason armadillos are so unwanted is the danger they bring.  Danger, you ask??  They dig tunnels which can break the leg of any large mammal that is unlucky enough to step in.  They dig up plants, not on purpose, they are looking for grubs and bugs.  Armadillos also carry leprosy.

Sometimes farming isn't pretty and it's certainly not a job for the faint-hearted.  It is a way of life. You either love it or your hate it...there can be no in between.

Farm Labor Of Love

Farming has to be a labor of love, otherwise, we could not keep on keeping one. The trees still fallen from the tornado and new ones from the ice storm were gathered today.

The cows did not care.

The horses could reach the new tender grass where the limbs had been. They grazed happily and waited for each branch to be moved.

The pile was large since Kubota King had started it. Old, old black walnut limbs were stacked and burned.

The Burn Queen got to drive the Kubota! Bev did a fine job with it, enjoying the power of more than hand clippers. Today she did not protest the size of the fire, just enjoyed the gathering, the cleaning and the burning.

The finished product: ground cleared, wood to ashes feeding the ground. We were proud of the day's work.

One Thing I Know

The fact is no matter what you have to do, no matter how difficult or overwhelming it is, you can and will get it done.

In our case, you must take one stick, one limb at a time. You cannot look at the full picture or you would crawl in hole and never come out.

Limbs are in the creeks every where.

But there is still beauty in the chaos.

I toured some creek branches while working on fence yesterday(Hubby was working, I was taking pictures). The devastation from the ice storm and then the flood was quite depressing.

The beauty still showed through as I found places that had not been affected by the destruction. These are the places I must look and know the others will look like that when it is time.

The life of a farmer seems mysterious and magical. Chewing a hay straw, playing with animals, rocking on the front porch...right! The stock is chewing the quickly thinning hay, the animals demand care and surveillance and the front porch is rarely seen. You also have to love and respect the land, that part I can handle.

We must remember there are flowers

And the sun shines every day even when we cannot see it.

A Day AT THE FARM

Trying to cut hay but the rake needs new parts...$400 worth. Put the parts on backwards and have to start over. Hay is on the ground and waiting. Take the ranger to check on the new pond and pop a tire that will have to replaced. The horses got out and ate the chestnuts and Princess pooped all over the front porch! The roof is still half off the barn from our tornado. No one seems to have the time, strengh or money to get everything done. This hay will have to be baled and tarped in part of the barn that has no roof. The dogs are chasing the cats, the cats are chasing the roosters and I am hiding from it all. Tomorrow will be better.