Farm Friday

This week in review:

We've had a few inches of snow and have been experiencing well-below normal temperatures here. Some fellow farmers have lost some of their animals, as a result. We've been fortunate that ours are doing well. Yesterday, before we were expecting below 0 temps overnight, we made sure our animals would be as warm as possible. The goats have their stalls, the pigs have a run-in shelter, the chickens have coops; so everyone had a place to get out of the weather. I put cardboard over some openings on our portable chicken coop, just in case. Our bottle babies, Neo and Pearl, have no problem escaping the pasture to run through our iced over, snow covered back yard. They still love their bottles!

Georgia, our scarecrow, didn't get new clothes in time for Mardi Gras. Good thing as they might have been ruined in all this weather, plus she really wasn't able to get out to celebrate, She'll have her new clothes in time for our open house at the end of April.

We had a plumbing issue at our farmhouse. Bill heard the smoke detector sounding its alarm when we were walking near it. I went home to get the key. When I returned and unlocked the door, I was greeted by a couple of inches of water covering the kitchen. The pipe between the hot water faucet and the cut off valve in the powder room had separated and was the source of the flood. I was able to get the water turned off and everything cleaned up. Hopefully, we caught it in time and won't have any damage. When it warms a bit, I'll check everything to make sure. So far this year we've experienced fire, flood, and snow. May this be the end of it.

I'm finally replacing my computer. This morning after multiple times trying to get it up and running, without success, I ordered a new one. Of course, after I ordered the new one I was able to get my old one going. However, that is a wake up call for me to get it done before I truly don't have a computer. I had a long list of things I wanted to do today and almost all of them required my computer. 

We attended a presentation to our county's board of supervisors by a consulting firm that was supposed to do a feasibility study on a poultry processing complex locating in our county. The findings were "positive" and there were "really no negatives." In reading through the report, I noticed how they slanted much of the language and how they selectively reported information from surveys collected at two meetings I attended. What was amazing is that, based on 25 surveys from "the public," they determined the project had 75% support by the community. Really? Hopefully, our county officials will see there are huge negatives that were not addressed or minimalized and that such a facility, along with the required 500 chicken houses (containing 20,000 birds each), would be a bad thing for our community. Research shows how this industry has negatively impacted communities in the past.

The Don Cesar

On a personal note, Bill and I celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary! It's hard to believe it has been that long. It seems like yesterday that we had our quick ceremony in a lovely little chapel and then headed to the beach to spend the night at the beautiful Don Cesar Hotel, aka "The Pink Palace." (With the weather we've been having here, it's hard to even remember enjoying the beach in February!)

Still having fun after 27 years!

I've also started brushing up on my French again. When I'll use it, I have no idea. But I've always liked studying French, probably because it's such a challenge, so I decided to do it for no reason at all. I've found a great language app for my smart phone called Duolingo that I really like. It sends me reminders to do my lesson for the day, plus I can set the level of engagement I want - from "casual" to "insane." I've chosen the first option.

Have a great week!