Thursday, May 18, 2006

Chicken Poop and Bull Sperm

I should use that as the title of my memoirs.

Day started with Claire and her baby chicks. See, Claire told Miss Nancy at Day Care that she got baby chicks this week. Well Mom (me) tried to reward her for helping around the house and cleaning her room. I think a sweet is a better idea next time. Sweets don't poop on you.

Back to the story. Miss Nancy declared this Pet Week. Full week of Wanderer's Rest and pet care stuff. I was planning on bringing Clarie's goat Karo, but baby chicks it is.

Dave at Dependa Bull rang. Pretty early. Ring me before 8am and I'm likely to answer. He starts out by asking what I am doing. "Getting the chickens ready for Day Care" I tell him. A pause. "Chickens ready for Day Care. I thought you people in Hamilton were different..." Right.

"No, my Daughter's Day Care. It is Pet Week and MS. NANCY wants the chickens." I emphasise Ms. like you aren't suppose to do anything anyone names Ms. wants you to do. He chickles and says he figured that we were sending our birds to day care.

He then asked if I knew anyone named XXY. Nope. I don't know them. How about a John Truelson Jr. Yes. I know John. He is the manager at Plimoth. Want his number. Apparently after the morning was done I found that this fellow from Alaska rang John a year ago. Probably associated with the people who rang me and sent a letter to Dave. They were looking for bull sperm. They did their research apparenlty. Gave Dave a very detailed flight itinerary for the sperm. Kinda like the one Dave got for a potential calf last year. John has the semen at the Plantation now. Many sorts interested in conserving/owning rare breeds. I don't think any Guiness sperm is going to Alaska.

Lisa had a heart attack. Not a real one. She thought her cow was in labor all day. She has this midget kerry (Dexter) that is due to pop. No bigger than our weaned holsteins only with a heckof a hay belly. Neither were ready. The Dexter was more ready than the Kerry/Devon. We had coffee, biscotti and doubel stuffed oreo cookies.

Dave got the winch off of Tom's silo. Made me feel good. Didn't have to pay $485 for a new one. He helped Tom fix the harrows yesterday. Tom's Christian Logger payed him pretty well for the Maple today. $7600. There may be some veneer logs in the group. Most were "pasture maples". (if a tree grows near a meadow they tend to have more limbs that trees grown in a forest. Pines can go up 40-70 feet before you get limbs. Loggers prefer those. Less work).

Have to do the Wine event in Syracuse this weekend. Not looking forward to it. I've had so much interruption this week. Poor grammer there. Didn't get squat done. Looks like Colgate graduates this weekend and I probably should be selling cheese in Hamilton, not at a Wine Festival. Who knows I may do well. I'll drop in at Syracuse Real Food and see how my cheeses are selling there on the way home.

Heard from Rona. Guess she's had a long winter too. I was glad to know she was alive. Cheesemakers are solitary by nature. I think that it is good for us to check in on eachother. Keeps up in touch with the world. Makes me feel better when friends look me up out of the blue. She sent me info on a new Artisan Cheese makers Alminac type book. There is an application to fill out to get into it. I got the pictures back from Ian. Need product photos now. I may look into doing that tomorrow or Monday. He wants them by June 15th.

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