Hay, Hay, Hay, Goodbye!

Na, na, na, na. 

Na, na, na, na.

Hay, hay, hay!

Goodbye.

Some of our hay is going goodbye (and not just into our cattle's stomachs).

For the first time in the past three years, we have some extra alfalfa hay to sell. After two years of extreme drought, we got enough rain this past summer to raise sufficient hay for our own cattle and then have some left to sell to others.

This year, Randy chose to market the hay through Sunflower Trading, a division of the Kanza Co-op. Randy established the price he wanted for the hay, then he contracted 10 loads of hay with Sunflower. They sold it to a feedlot near Cadillac, Texas. Sunflower arranges to have a truck come to the field to pick it up, and either Jake or Randy load the truck.

After the alfalfa is baled in the summer, the guys stack it in rows near the road. This year, we got three cuttings of hay. The first two were better quality hay than the last cutting. The feedlot was willing to take a mixture of the hay.

Jake picked up two bales at a time and brought them closer to the truck. He then loaded each one on the truck individually. The bales are placed two across on the flat-bed. For the first couple, the truck driver signals him to let him know where to place it. Then, it's kind of like building with Legos. You just keep adding "pieces" to the "design." Unfortunately, there are no handy connective pieces to keep everything stuck together like Legos.

Kinley needed to be here so we could practice counting!

As Jake got to the back of the truck, he pushed the last ones in the row on to "scrunch" them together and keep them on the truck.

After the bottom rows were in place, he added another layer, positioning the upper deck in the "groove" between two bales.

As the bales are added, the truck driver tossed straps over the bales to keep them in place. With a strong south wind the day these bales were loaded, he had some help in sailing the strap over to the other side. (You can see that if you look carefully at the photo below.)

I left before the truck was totally loaded, but you can see that the driver added a sign, "Oversize Load" to the back of the truck (and also to the front).

The driver had weighed the truck at the co-op before he came to the field. After it was loaded, he went back to the co-op and they weighed the truck full before he took off for Texas. Each truck carries around 30 large round bales, weighing about 25 tons (or 50,000 pounds).

He had planned to come back on Monday, but he couldn't get his truck started in the subzero temperatures.

The load I photographed was Load 6 of the 10 we have contracted.  A couple of neighbors also buy a few bales from us to feed their cattle. 

Randy says it's nice to have enough hay that we're able to sell some extra this year. That "hay, hay, hay, goodbye" is kind of a happy anthem for my Kansas farmer - even if it does get stuck in my head!

Breaking the Ice

In awkward social settings, it's often left to some brave soul to be the one who breaks the ice.  Back when I was a middle school Stuco sponsor, I was always thankful for those one or two brave preteen boys who were the first to venture from the self-segregated boys' side of the room to the corner filled with the giggling girls. That's when the dance officially got started. (I also said it was a successful dance if no girls ended up crying in the bathroom by the end of the night. But that's a different story.)

We've needed an ice breaker around here the last few days, even without a middle school dance. A whirlpool of frigid, dense air known as a "polar vortex" descended Monday into much of the U.S., pummeling parts of the country with a dangerous cold that broke decades-old records with wind chill warnings stretching from Montana to Alabama. While we didn't break any records here, we did have -8 degrees Monday morning. That had me thinking, "Ice, ice, baby!" even if I don't remember any other words (or the tune, for that matter).

On these cold days, Randy literally broke the ice, swinging a mallet to break the surface on the cattle's water tanks. I think the cattle were as glad to see him as those middle school girls were to have those brave boys "break the ice."

When we arrived at the barn, the cattle were all standing around the water tank like those middle school girls. But, when we got out of the pickup, they scattered to the feed bunks in the adjoining lot. It didn't take long for a curious - and thirsty - cow to look longingly back at the water tank ...

... and come back for a long swig of water from the now-available water.

Breaking the ice is just one task that has to happen to care for cattle during inclement weather. The guys spread some hay around the feed bunks to give the cattle a dry place to lay down. During the winter, we try to have cattle in pastures and other locations with a north windbreak (like that pictured below). It gives them a little protection when the north wind is howling.

Randy & Jake also make sure the cattle have plenty of feed before snow or subzero temperatures hit.

If you look closely, you can see the cow's breath in the cold air.

I know people were digging in the closet for their warmest coats and long underwear. It's good the cattle have already "put on" their winter coats.We are thankful that we weren't calving during these past few days. We'll put in our "order" for a little warmer weather as we move toward the end of January and the first of February - the time when our bovine maternity ward is expected to have a pick up in business.

S'no'w Joke: It's Cold!

Pull up that snow blanket and hunker down.

While I'd much rather turn my electric blanket up a notch as the thermometer plummeted to 8 below zero yesterday morning, I guess the winter wheat has to make due with a frosty white blanket of snow.

As with most extreme weather episodes, time will tell whether the sub-zero temperatures will impact the 2014 wheat crop.

My crop expert is cautiously optimistic. Then again, he's always optimistic. (That's a wonderful trait in a husband, by the way.)

Other experts are hedging their opinions a bit more. Don Keeney, agricultural meteorologist for a commodity risk firm, MDA Weather Services, told the Associated Press that freeze damage is likely to hit about 15 to 20 percent of the Plains wheat belt, which includes Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, northern Texas and eastern Colorado. According to Keeney, a couple of inches of snow are sufficient to protect winter wheat when temperatures dip as low as minus 4 degrees. But wheat needs at least 4 inches of snow cover to protect it when temperatures get much colder.

However, predictions about what might happen are about as valuable as those forecasts of spring we get from Punxsutawney Phil each February. Who would have thought that our 2013 wheat crop would survive April freezes and produce the best crop we've ever had?

As wise farmers are fond of saying, "There's a lot of time between now and harvest."

Light for the Darkness

Christ candle & the cross at Stafford United Methodist Church

When we are in darkness

Christ is our light.

When we are in despair,

Christ is our hope.

When we are grieving,

Christ is our comfort.

When we are anxious,

Christ is calm assurance.

For all people gathered in this place,

Christ is for us; let us offer our gifts and praise.

(Our call to worship from Epiphany Sunday, January 5, 2014)

This time of year is always a little sad to me. Just this past Friday, I unhooked the stockings from the mantle. I unplugged the multi-colored lights from the tree and undraped the lighted garland from the grandfather clock. I nestled the angel from the top of the tree in a shoebox, and Randy toted the packed-to-the-brim plastic tubs to the basement, where they will be stowed away for the next 11 months or so.

At church, the Advent wreath goes back in the storage room, and the greenery and twinkling white lights are pulled from the gold banisters and go back into a brown cardboard box.

Sunday was the last day for the white porcelain Nativity scene ...

 

 and the poinsettias.

Out of sight, out of mind, right?

But, no, it shouldn't be that way. While I pack away the bright lights and ornaments of the Christmas season, I shouldn't pack away the truth of Emmanuel: God With Us.

Just like Christmas shouldn't be about just one day, neither should Epiphany (though it is today,  January 6th, each year). The message is for everyone.

"Three Gentile star worshipers show up at the home of a good Jewish family. That is the last thing anyone would expect to happen," Pastor Ben told us in his sermon. "But it shows us that Christ's glory was not just for the Jewish nation but for all nations. ... They kneeled and paid him homage as a symbol of reverence, obedience, submission and an offering up of themselves.

"The journey continues to give us new opportunities to find the Christ Child," Pastor Ben told us yesterday. "The magi expected to find the King in a palace, but that's not where He was. He may be where we least expect Him. ... We find Him in kindness, in forgiveness, in generosity, in the gift of listening. God's glory is bold and different and life-changing and world-changing."

On Sunday, we had communion during the service. And I thought about how fitting that was, too. Because the story doesn't end with the Child. It doesn't end with the cross. Instead, it is Emmanuel: God With Us - yesterday, today and tomorrow. Before we come forward for communion, Pastor Ben says these words from St. Augustine: "Behold what you are; become what we receive." 

Today, we again receive the Light of the World.

Yes, it's time to pack away the Christmas decorations for another year. But I should keeping singing the song of Christmas all the way until Advent next year. And I should keep seeking and receiving the Light.

God of all glory, by the light of a star you led the wise to worship the Christ. By the light of faith lead me to your glory in heaven. Make me wise enough to wonder; make me wise enough to ask why; make me wise enough to search. Give me your wisdom. Give me your light. Give me your Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen.

 (Our offering prayer for January 5, 2014)

***

I'm linked to Jennifer Dukes Lee's Tell His Story. Click on the link for more from other bloggers of faith.      

Scratching That Itch

Ogden Nash once said:  Happiness is having a scratch for every itch.

Well, an unknown cattle culprit had an itch. And she (or he) scratched (as shown by the evidence left behind on the barbed wire. Who needs CSI to discover the crime?). 

I hope she/he was satisfied. Because we weren't. Happiness is not chasing feeder cattle in the cold and the dark after someone's scratching knocked down a wire on a gate. The culprit and a few friends evidently "itched" to escape the confines of the pasture after the fence failed.

Randy & I left our couch and our comfy fleece blankets behind and took off to round up the escapees.

He got the cold job, riding the 4-wheeler through the snowy field across the road. Thankfully, the snow kept the cattle near the round bales across the road. Like revelers at a New Year's Eve party, they didn't want to get too far from the buffet. 

My job was to use the pickup headlights as a guiding light. I was supposed to light up the entrance to the pasture so the cattle could find their way back home. After I had to quickly change directions when they took off on an uncharted course, Randy did get them guided back in with their friends. (You can barely see their rear ends (below, right beyond the weeds at the gate.) I was not going to use my flash before they were in the pasture and there was no danger of them getting spooked.)

We did a little fence fixing. Yes, it really was "we." I did my part by pushing when Randy said to push so we could get the fence tight. 

And then we closed up the gate and went back home to our fleece blankets.

All's well that ends well. 

William Shakespeare ... and Randy Fritzemeier.

Time Will Tell and Time Will Fly

Notice the pink polish on the toes to match her cast!

Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas
 if you stop opening presents and listen. 
–Anonymous

I wish I could say that Kinley was pointing at wonder to the overflowing stockings and the full array of presents under the tree.

 

But that would be a falsehood. (That sounds so much better than a lie, doesn't it?)

 

Instead, I believe she was pointing to her favorite television show, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, while we waited on the rest of the family to wake up.

Instead, I was the one staring in wonder.

How times have changed in the past two years! Our belated family Christmas of 2011 was interrupted by a little girl who couldn't wait until her January due date to make an appearance. She was scarcely bigger than her stocking when our little family opened presents on January 1, 2012.

And, two years later, she's a go-getter who doesn't even let a bulky cast slow her down.

Does her fascination with lip balm portend a love for make-up during her teen years? Time will tell. And time will fly.

She is a helper - whether it's in the kitchen, dusting the furniture, sweeping the floor or constructing with Grandpa and Daddy on Christmas morning (or on December 23, which is when we had our little family Christmas).

As I quipped on Facebook: "How many engineers, farmers and toddlers does it take to successfully complete the construction of one doll nursery?" Evidently, one of each, since Kinley was able to use it to feed and sleep her dolly later in the day.\

As I watched her loving her baby dolls, I thought of another little girl.

It doesn't seem that long ago. 

Jill & her dolly

As she ripped into the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that Uncle Brent was sure would be the best gift of the year, I thought about the little boy the gift giver used to be.

And I remembered a gift that he thought was the best Christmas gift of all time. I can still hear him say, "I'm naming him Lucky because I'm so lucky to have him!"

Amidst the empty boxes and torn paper were other memories, too, especially of a very special Santa's helper in our lives. Christmas itself would be emptier without the memories.

Brent & Santa's helper - AKA Grandpa Melvin at a long-ago Stafford Santaland

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit

in jars and open a jar of it every month. 

–Harlan Miller, author

Isn't that kind of what we do when we remember? I think so.

(I know it's January 2014, but I took a vacation from the blog during the last week of December. I'm still playing catch up!)

First Sunrise 2014

Happy 2014 from The County Line

with this first sunrise of the new year!

 

The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

Psalm 19: 1 

 

A New Year's Poem 

by Edith Lovejoy Pierce

We will open the book. Its pages are blank.

We are going to put words on them ourselves.

The book is called Opportunity

 and its first chapter is New Year's Day.