Snapshots from the Back of My "Horse"

It was time to saddle up our "horses" and gather the cattle from the Ninnescah pasture. Our horses are of Japanese descent and don't requite any hay. Instead, they consume a steady diet of gasoline.

Thankfully, the round-up happened before last week's cold front arrived. I'm just behind in telling the tale. It was an overcast day, but at least the temperatures hadn't bottomed out yet.

For the first round-up, we gathered all the pairs - the mamas and their calves born last February and March. We enlisted the help of another neighbor, C.W., who provided his own trusty steed. Randy and I were also on 4-wheelers. Jake was in the pen near the old hunting cabin, tossing hay into the air, hoping that would attract the cattle.

There are lots of places where the cattle can hide, but this time, most of them were together, and we rounded them up relatively easily.

The guys brought up a few stragglers while I blocked them from the east. One of the slow guys was a neighbor's bull. We brought him into the lot and chauffeured him back home, too.

These two were also stragglers.

We got all the mamas and their calves up in the lots by the old hunting cabin.

As usual, I don't have pictures of the actual sorting process. Trying to separate mamas and babies requires my full attention and both hands.

Once we had them separated, the mamas watched closely while their babies were loaded into the trailers.

I don't usually use an HDR treatment on my photos, but I liked it on this one.

Since we didn't have room back at the farm for the mamas yet, we let them back into the pasture.(They've since been moved, but that will be a story for another day.)

They followed the trailers to the road, where I stood guard at the gate while the guys drove the trailers out.

We stopped by the Zenith branch of the Kanza Co-op to weigh the trailers. The calves averaged 640 pounds after a summer on grass, a weight gain my handsome chauffeur was happy with.

Once back at the farmstead, we counted the calves as they came out of the trailer.

Next up on Kim's County Line, the calves' appointment with the veterinarian.

Just in Time

The first fall of snow is not only an event,

 it is a magical event. 

 You go to bed in one kind of world

and wake up in another quite different. 

If this is not enchantment, 

then where is it to be found?

J.B. Priestley

The baler finally stayed together long enough for Randy to finish baling sudan on Saturday. It was just in time. When we got up Sunday morning, there was 2 inches of snow on the ground.

Randy baled 230 sudan bales from 120 acres of sudan.

 We have another 35 acres of sudan that we are grazing. Some mama cows are dining on stalks right now.

The hay bales provided a foreground for another spectacular sunset sky last evening. The guys soon will get them moved to the end of the field so we can feed them this winter.

This year, we baled a total of 1,350 bales of alfalfa and sudan, though 350 of those were for a neighbor. 

I guess I was lazy yesterday. I didn't get out and about to take many photos. I'm still trying to get acclimated to this cold snap!

Cheeseburger Roll-Up

This Cheeseburger Roll-Up is one of Jill's quick, go-to meals. It's about to become one of mine, too. Jill served it on Halloween, dressing it up as a mummy with cheese "bindings" and olive eyes. (She added the cheese after the cheeseburger roll was baked, putting it back into the oven to melt it just a bit.) The Halloween version was a hit with Kinley.  

But the taste was a hit with Kinley's grandparents, too. I can't get a refrigerated pizza crust at my hometown store, so I had to wait until I went to the "big city" to get one. But it was worth the wait. My favorite dietitian advises using a whole wheat crust, so I bought the name brand instead of a store brand, though it cost a little bit more.

If you wanted to make your own pizza dough, I'm sure you could do so. But using a ready-to-go crust speeds preparation in the kitchen, which we all need from time to time, right? 

Jill doesn't use the bacon called for in the original recipe, but I used it, and we liked the additional flavor that it added. I used packaged, prepared real bacon bits instead of frying it up myself. I might as well continue with the "convenience" theme, right?

I served the roll-up with tossed salad and fruit.

Cheeseburger Roll-Up

From Jill, Adapted from Kraft.com

1 lb.  lean ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, divided

4 slices bacon, fried and chopped 
1 pkg. refrigerated whole wheat pizza crust

HEAT oven to 400°F.

BROWN ground beef and onions in large skillet on medium-high heat; drain. (You may use minced onion to speed preparation, if desired.) Return meat mixture to skillet. Add 3/4 cup cheese, stirring until melted. Cool 10 min. 

UNROLL dough onto baking sheet that's been sprayed with cooking spray. Press into 15-  by 8-inch rectangle; top with meat mixture. Sprinkle with chopped bacon. (Jill leaves this part off to avoid additional calories.) Sprinkle with 3/4 cup additional shredded cheese. Roll up, starting at one long side. Rearrange, if necessary, so roll is seam-side down. 

BAKE 20 to 25 min. or until golden brown. Serve with ketchup, mustard, salsa or other cheeseburger condiments. 

Here are the slices topped with honey mustard and ketchup. I guarantee that this recipe tastes better than I could get the individual servings to look!

Bye, Bye, Fall!

 

 The human soul is slow to discover the real excellence of things given to us by a bountiful Creator, and not until the shadows of death begin to gather around the object that we love, do we see its worth and beauty. Autumn is the dim shadow that clusters about the sweet, precious things that God has created in the realm of nature. While it robs them of life, it tears away the veil and reveals the golden gem of beauty and sweetness. Beauty lurks in all the dim old aisles of nature, and we discover it at last.

 ~Northern Advocate

The landscape looks as though it's been left outside too long in the sun. A wintery blast has faded the world like a pair of well-worn blue jeans.

Just a few weeks ago, colors seemed to glow from the inside out.

Leaves hung on tenaciously to their lifeblood until they danced like butterflies in the wind to the ground.

 

Just a week ago, a golden luster of sun-kissed leaves still dressed up the brown landscape of pasture grasses like a glittering ring set against a Tiffany-blue-jewel-box of a sky.

Though fall always comes to Central Kansas, each year is as individual as a fingerprint - a reflection of weather patterns and rain gauge totals.

But each is beautiful in its own way.

These are some of the "leftovers" from fall photos I've shot. Though the freezing temperatures have zapped the color out of the landscape, I love each season on a Kansas farm.

Click on the links for the more vibrant photos of fall in Central Kansas - from Quivira National Wildlife Refuge and from Dillon Nature Center.

Red Sky at Night, Baler's Delight?

Red sky at night, sailor's delight.

Here in landlocked Kansas, I don't know anything about that. But it was red sky at night, baler's delight here on the County Line last week. As the sky was providing another spectacular sunset, Randy was finally starting to bale the sudan field across the road. (For a step-by-step pictorial of a sudan harvest, click here.)

However, as seems to be the norm this year, the baling was curtailed by another breakdown - this time, a broken belt. The next morning, it looked kind of like a coiled snake, ready to strike havoc on finishing up haying for 2014.

 

We did have a spare on hand, so while the guys waited on the veterinarian to arrive to do pregnancy checks on 69 cows, they worked to install the new belt. 

Randy did his Leonardo DiCaprio imitation on top of the baler as he worked to thread the new belt through: "I am the king of the world." 

Unfortunately, he's not even king of this baler. When he went back out to bale Saturday afternoon, he got one bale and then the machine wouldn't work.

Maybe I was reading the skies incorrectly. The other part of that motto is: "Red sky at morning, sailor's warning."The sunrises have also had their share of red lately. Maybe it was a warning to balers as well as sailors, who knows?

On Monday, Randy made two trips to the repair shop in Hutchinson before he got it up and running. He got another 70 bales before it broke down again. We are still waiting on parts and repair. 

It's time for a new baler ... and a new swather. Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas to Randy and me!

In a Soldier's Own Words

The Army summed up Oric Neelly's service during World War II in fewer than 100 words:

Radio Operator, High Speed. Served for 36 months in European Theatre of Operations: Africa, Italy, France and Germany, as Radio Operator with 1st Armored Signal Battalion. Received orders from Tank Commander and transmitted them to other tanks in the platoon. For 18 months, worked in Radio Control section of the 7th Army receiving and transmitting itinerary communications in Morse Code. Receives and sends Morse Code at the rate of 20 words per minute. Was also operator in Army and Navy Teletype Communications, which was set up to insure the safe reception and transmission of confidential and secret messages. 

Oric Neelly was my great-uncle, the youngest brother of my Grandpa Shelby Neelly. He was born February 12, 1919, and died June 5, 2014.

Several years ago, Oric's daughter, Brenda, asked her Dad to record some of his memories of World War II. He decided he'd rather write them in his own hand. She transcribed them and compiled them into a hardcover book, "Memoirs of World War II" by Oric C. Neelly.

When Oric died this past June, my brother, Kent, and I sang at the funeral. One of the songs we chose was "America, the Beautiful," in honor of Oric's service to our nation. On this Veteran's Day, I'm sharing just a snippet of his story from the book, which I was privileged to receive from Brenda.

The words of Oric C. Neelly are below:

We boarded ship at Norfolk, Virginia, on or about the 20th of October, 1942. We were at sea for about 18 days. We were dodging submarines or maybe just waiting for D-Day. D-Day being the day the invasion was to start. ...

(I'll insert here: This is not the D-Day we think of. As best I can tell, this would have been part of Operation Torch, the British-American invasion of French North Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II, which started on November 8, 1942).

Back to Oric: There were, I suppose, around six or seven thousand people on board. We were packed in pretty good, bunks stacked on top of one another. ...

The invasion took place on the 8th of November, 1942. The ship pulled in closer to shore and started unloading tank lighters, tanks, half-tracks and all the other equipment. Of course, the battleships and everything else were firing into shore. We were out on deck watching. ...

The ship was listing from side to side ... Being from dry Kansas, I didn't know how to swim. I thought this may be a problem. Anyway, I took off all my clothes and shoes, being just in my shorts and dog tags. I kept my billfold, which was a good thing because after I got into the water, it was a pretty good paddle. I went down a wood and rope ladder that was hanging down the side of the ship away from the fire, but the fire was on both sides of the ship. I got as far away from it as I could and pushed off into the water. My life jacket slipped up my back and stopped at the back of my head, but it kept me above water. Then I started dog-paddling away from the ship. ...

The waves in the ocean were high, not breaking over, but almost. ... I just paddled away from the ship. I never noticed the cold much, but I think it was. I was in the water for about 45 minutes, just getting away from the fire and the ship. There was a Frenchman in a small fishing boat that came along and picked me up and took me in to shore. That was at Fedala, eight miles north of Casablanca.

There were only a few on that little boat. I don't know what made that Frenchman pick me up. There were at least two or three thousand guys in the water at the time. ... The Frenchman took us to the dock and let us off. I regret to this day I didn't get that guy's name, but I didn't. When we got off the little boat, I didn't have any clothes on or shoes. My fair, eyebrows and mustache were all white, burned from the fire, so I must have looked pretty bad. ...

Now that I am ashore, I don't know where to go or what to do without any clothes or shoes. Someone told me to go to First-Aid and told me where it was. My sea legs were so bad I could hardly walk, but I took off. When I came to it, it was just a small house on the side of the road. I went in and there were guys laying everywhere, moaning and groaning really loud and blood everywhere. I looked in the next room. Two guys were throwing dead people out the window. ... I said to myself, "I am not hurt this bad, I am getting out of here." ...

After that, I wandered into a camp of GI's. I told them I was off that ship that was burning out at sea. It burned all night. They took me in and gave me some chow and a blanket. One of the guys was gone, so they gave me his cot to sleep on. I was fixed for the night and safe on shore, which was a good feeling. ...

Now this was just the start of the war. I was over there 2 1/2 years. I can't remember some of it too well, so that's why I'll just tell you the highlights now and again.

I want to insert some sayings and words of wisdom that I have picked up going through life, hoping you will find them interesting or amusing, whatever:

***

The book recounts other memories of Oric's service in the Army. For me, it is more powerful than a history book because I knew the author. 

An honor guard from Fort Riley played "Taps" at Oric's funeral in June.

And, Oric's words, written in his own hand, seem particularly appropriate on this Veteran's Day. 

This just a small portion of the book, but on this Veteran's Day, I thank my Uncle Oric and all the other brave men and women who have served our country. 

Thanks also to Brenda for making sure one veteran's story was told and preserved. It is quite a gift! (More thoughts from Oric's service are here: Who Has Seen the Wind?)

Watch with Glittering Eyes

Sunset over a wheat field

Psalm 19: 1-4

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.

Notice the horses' silhouettes in the reflection of the pond.

It was free admission to the greatest show on earth last night.

Our church was in charge of the afternoon worship service at Leisure Homestead. By the time I made my obligatory stop at the grocery store, it was nearing sunset. Randy wanted to look at some ground on the way home, so we deviated from our "normal" route.

Sunset over Peace Creek

The timing didn't work out for me to go to the movies at the Ritz this weekend, but I got a free show instead. As the sun skedaddled beyond the horizon, the heavens shifted in an ever-changing palette of colors and shapes.

Sunset, across from our house, as we arrived back home.

This morning on Facebook, a friend posted a link to the 20 Quotes from Children's Books Every Adult Should Know. This one seemed to fit our sunset-drenched ride home.

Above all, watch with glittering eyes 

the whole world around you 

 because the greatest secrets are always hidden

 in the most unlikely places. 

Those who don't believe in magic

 will never find it.

Roald Dahl from The Minpins

Which of the sunset images do you like the best? I find it hard to choose just one! (What else is new? The story of my life!)