You can see Luke driving and JW riding on the tractor with a few girls on the float. I’m not sure what they were actually doing….but whatever.

Today it’s a cool sunny morning on the Knolltop. I even wore a turtleneck under my sweatshirt this morning to milk. In the middle of eating our pancakes and bacon a call came in from a friend and they invited Bobby and Luke to the Michigan State game today. So Luke and I scurried back out to the barn to finish up chores while Bobby mixed a load of feed. Then they got ready and left. While the cat’s away..the mice will play. JW is gone on his judging trip, Sarah has to babysit and Jake and I will do something fun…like go to town and maybe out for lunch.

Monday I get to cover something interesting in Indiana. Orion Samuelson is coming to speak at an Ag Industry Day in Angola. The coordinators wanted me to come to lunch and cover it for the Farmers’ Advance. I’m all for the free lunch and visiting with Orion!

Yes, it’s that time of year again…the annual Hillsdale College Women’s Board of Commissioners Rummage Sale.

The field house at Hillsdale College is transformed into a huge rummage sale where all kinds of stuff from ice skates to printers, to coffee mugs to treadmills to bed frames to Christmas decorations are put out for people to rummage through and unearth their treasures.

This is an event I look forward to each year. I can get more good stuff, especially barn clothes, at this sale plus other things like an extra coffee pot, white clothes for the kids to show in at the fair and oh so many wonderful finds.

Yesterday I went with Lori from Knolltop Morgans. We arrived 15 minutes after it opened and avoided the opening rush. We went through rummaging around and I found more stuff than I could carry including a brand new pair of white pants for Sarah to show in…tags and all. Anyone who has ever tried to find white pants in the fall can appreciate this find.

Anyway, while in the t-shirt department, Lori and I were looking and laughing but the laughing stopped when we looked across the table and we saw a t-shirt with an old familiar saying….”Milk drinkers are better lovers” We both spotted it at the same time and gasped. Not having seen that saying for nearly 25 years, we wanted that shirt. The college girls who were eyeing it up were laughing at the saying and thought it was the cat’s meow.

In an instant we started plotting how we were going to get this coveted shirt. As we whispered behind raised up shirts, we talked about just taking them out…they were skinny young things, certainly no match for us tough farm moms. Then we thought that might cause a scene…so we thought of just following them around to see if they might drop it while treasure hunting….but we really weren’t comfortable with standing in a jail cell, charged with stalking…so we just kept an eye on them to see if they were really going to keep the shirt. As we sorted through the pile of shirts, we kept one eye on the girls as they meandered away. Our hearts sank as we watched them walk off with a t-shirt that certainly they would never appreciate as much as we would! Then the thought occurred to us that there might be two of their shirts in the pile so we dove into the pile to start our search but came up empty handed.

Leaving with more stuff than two normal people could carry, we slumped out with our rummage sale finds disappointed we didn’t get the one t-shirt that was meant for us. We soon found ourselves drowning our sorrows at the local coffee house Lori with her froo–froo coffee and me with my regular with one cream.

What a great day!

Yes, it’s that time of year again…the annual Hillsdale College Women’s Board of Commissioners Rummage Sale.

The field house at Hillsdale College is transformed into a huge rummage sale where all kinds of stuff from ice skates to printers, to coffee mugs to treadmills to bed frames to Christmas decorations are put out for people to rummage through and unearth their treasures.

This is an event I look forward to each year. I can get more good stuff, especially barn clothes, at this sale plus other things like an extra coffee pot, white clothes for the kids to show in at the fair and oh so many wonderful finds.

Yesterday I went with Lori from Knolltop Morgans. We arrived 15 minutes after it opened and avoided the opening rush. We went through rummaging around and I found more stuff than I could carry including a brand new pair of white pants for Sarah to show in…tags and all. Anyone who has ever tried to find white pants in the fall can appreciate this find.

Anyway, while in the t-shirt department, Lori and I were looking and laughing but the laughing stopped when we looked across the table and we saw a t-shirt with an old familiar saying….”Milk drinkers are better lovers” We both spotted it at the same time and gasped. Not having seen that saying for nearly 25 years, we wanted that shirt. The college girls who were eyeing it up were laughing at the saying and thought it was the cat’s meow.

In an instant we started plotting how we were going to get this coveted shirt. As we whispered behind raised up shirts, we talked about just taking them out…they were skinny young things, certainly no match for us tough farm moms. Then we thought that might cause a scene…so we thought of just following them around to see if they might drop it while treasure hunting….but we really weren’t comfortable with standing in a jail cell, charged with stalking…so we just kept an eye on them to see if they were really going to keep the shirt. As we sorted through the pile of shirts, we kept one eye on the girls as they meandered away. Our hearts sank as we watched them walk off with a t-shirt that certainly they would never appreciate as much as we would! Then the thought occurred to us that there might be two of their shirts in the pile so we dove into the pile to start our search but came up empty handed.

Leaving with more stuff than two normal people could carry, we slumped out with our rummage sale finds disappointed we didn’t get the one t-shirt that was meant for us. We soon found ourselves drowning our sorrows at the local coffee house Lori with her froo–froo coffee and me with my regular with one cream.

What a great day!

Things are heating up here in Michigan within the dairy industry. Oh, by the way…Good Morning!

Back to rBST….I know of one cooperative here in Michigan that is going to go rBST free in their milk and is currently asking it’s members to stop using it by January 1, 2008. The producers have to sign an affidavit saying they won’t use it.

Now all of a sudden Monsanto has hit the radio waves with commercials against this, with testimonials from dairy farmers saying they don’t like being told they can’t use the available technology for dairy producers. One farmer is from Missouri and another from Pennsylvania. These commercials just started yesterday.

Also yesterday I got an email notice that Penn State professor Terry Etherton will be in Michigan next week to hold meetings about the use of rBST….sponsored by…guess who? Yes, Monsanto. It’s getting interesting around here…I plan on attending the meeting next week.

And yes, my cooperative is at least one who is going rBST free….Michigan Milk Producers Association.

It’s awful foggy this morning but there were no delays for school this morning and the kids were bummed!

So now he kids are off to school, the house is quiet and I’ve got laundry, writing, errands to run and salsa to make. My tomatoes just won’t quit…which is fine with me. I’d like to make more salsa…you can never have too much!

Did anyone see that Michigan State won on Saturday while U of M lost….AGAIN! Just thought I’d let you know…in case you hadn’t seen the news…no thanks needed….just something I like to do for the good of the world. 🙂

The farrier came by last evening to trim Bud’s feet. He has three of us on this road and he just comes and does all of us whether we call or not. I found out he was coming so I had the horse out standing by the silo so he could see him. He usually stops here then goes to Knolltop Morgans and does whatever Lori has and then stops at Steve’s and does his horse. He likes to make Steve his last stop because after he’s done they sit around and have a cold one. They are a couple of divorced bachelors, so they have lots in common.

Well, I’d better get on my horse! Haven’t even made the second pot of coffee yet!

It’s awful foggy this morning but there were no delays for school this morning and the kids were bummed!

So now he kids are off to school, the house is quiet and I’ve got laundry, writing, errands to run and salsa to make. My tomatoes just won’t quit…which is fine with me. I’d like to make more salsa…you can never have too much!

Did anyone see that Michigan State won on Saturday while U of M lost….AGAIN! Just thought I’d let you know…in case you hadn’t seen the news…no thanks needed….just something I like to do for the good of the world. 🙂

The farrier came by last evening to trim Bud’s feet. He has three of us on this road and he just comes and does all of us whether we call or not. I found out he was coming so I had the horse out standing by the silo so he could see him. He usually stops here then goes to Knolltop Morgans and does whatever Lori has and then stops at Steve’s and does his horse. He likes to make Steve his last stop because after he’s done they sit around and have a cold one. They are a couple of divorced bachelors, so they have lots in common.

Well, I’d better get on my horse! Haven’t even made the second pot of coffee yet!

A good mechanic….everyone needs a good mechanic.

Yesterday Big Daddy came in and said something was wrong with the hydraulics on the skidsteer. Not being a mechanic, he gets a little fretful about these kinds of things. So after dinner, he was headed out to see if he could fix it and JW and I were going to milk. When I began milking I looked out at the skidsteer and there he was…our wonderful mechanic!

Immediately I stopped worrying…with Glen around there is no fear…he can fix anything and does so with a smile. He’s just one great guy. Before long, Big Daddy was on his way to the store for parts and he would have it fixed in no time. The bad news is, at this time at night, the right store wasn’t open, so he has to get the part today. So that meant all the feed was shoveled to the cows. Bobby and his crew, JW, Luke and Jake shoveled and wheelbarrowed and shoveled and wheelbarrowed until all the feed was fed. They had a great system going and it was done in no time.

You know that old saying, “You know the wealth of the water when the well goes dry?”Now we know the valued of the skidsteer when the hydraulics go dry!