A visitor in the dairy barn

A few days ago, Regina was going in to the dairy barn to unload some bags of feed, and when she went in, she noticed a visitor...

Can you see it behind the right side of the bucket?

A little better view...

Removing the bucket reveals the Eastern Painted Turtle (I think that's right)

https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/reptiles/turtles/eastern-painted-turtle/eastern_painted_turtle.php

She is probably looking for a place to lay eggs.... there aren't any good places in the dairy barn, so Regina assisted her to leave (just to the outside of the barn).

What IS that sound?

We were outside and heard an "interesting" sound.... we couldn't exactly see what was causing it until we walked over closer... start this video and look away and see if you have any guesses...

When you look at the video, you'll see what was causing it...

It isn't COVID-19, it is itchy nose, maybe caused by Pollen-2020, cow-style!

Strawberrying

Last Tuesday, we went to "The Berry Patch" or Gallmeyer Farms (http://gallmeyerfarms.com/the-berry-patch/) to pick strawberries. Carl and I wanted some for eating and using in smoothies, and Regina wanted some to make some jam.

"Please Do Not Eat the Berries"

This restriction is evidently due to COVID-19 - they want you to take the berries home and wash them, not risking any contact with virus from previous pickers by eating in the field...

The berries are ripening late this year due to unseasonably cool weather - so there are still more berries coming on.

We got 4 double baskets to start - Regina got her two filled first and went up to the check in area to drop those off and to get two more. Though Carl and I were both filling ours, we were slower than Regina!

They had the fields marked out in grids and asked us to not have more than 10 people in a grid area. For the most part while we were there, there were only folks who had come together in each marked area (so 2-4 folks per grid).

Our two baskets

Once we had filled our two original baskets, we took them up and got two more and picked two for contribution to Regina's jam making (yum!).

Everything is having to be done a little differently due to virus restrictions. The farm had an outdoor washing station set up and asked everyone to wash up before coming to get our baskets. I was glad that they had the outdoor washing station as I used it after picking too (my arms seem to be very sensitive to some leaves of fruits and vegetables, but if I wash pretty soon, I won't get bumps). It was a fun few hours and we've enjoyed the results of our labor multiple times in the past few days!

Workday in the Produce Patch

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about some work we helped with in the Produce Patch:  https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2020/05/preparing-produce-patch.html

Monday was a scheduled workday for Jimmy and Regina's church family in the Produce Patch. Folks were SO happy to have something to do outside their homes!

Sunday evening, Carl and I helped Jimmy test out the transplanter:

Regina had ordered bare rooted sweet potato slips (1000 of them...)

I was separating them into individual plants as much as possible (we ultimately found that having them separated but then gathered into a handful was the best technique)

There were two seats on the transplanter -- the device in the center between the two trays is where the bare root plants were to go...

A closer view of the V-shaped devices that deliver the plants to the ground and plants them

Branding of the device

 Have you ever seen the episode of Lucy in the chocolate factory... this was something like that... unfortunately (maybe fortunately!), no video of Carl and my performance!

This is a link to the site of the company who makes the transplanter: https://mechanicaltransplanter.com/pages/bare-root-transplanters

Monday, the work crew arrived by 8:30am... 

Folks started on various tasks...

One of the squash plants coming up that we planted a week or so ago - with the blue coated seed attached to its leaf!

Folks were working all over the patch

Placing supports for the row cloth over the collards, and tilling between the rows of plastic mulch

Enjoying being outside and being together, at a distance

Laying out the row covers that act as bug deterrent

Planting cucumbers - the lady on the right is making the holes in the plastic mulch and the person on the left is sliding the seeds down through the pipe into the hole - someone later came along and watered them

Additional work going on

The green pepper plants are looking good

Row covers in place over the collards

Then it was time for the transplanter

Here you can see it in action - look how quickly those v-shaped receptors for the slips come around!

Some oak leaves put down in the rows between the collards covered with row covers to act as weed deterrent in the rows

Beautiful!

It was fun being with church family, even if it wasn't our personal church family, we're all family!

Scientist versus squirrel

Funny article - funny video a few paragraphs down in the article... it is 20 minutes long, but... funny!
https://gizmodo.com/former-nasa-engineer-builds-a-ninja-warrior-obstacle-co-1843636932

This guy *may* just have too much time on his hands...

Mowing

An on-going needed chore is mowing... we did some mowing in the yard...

...then we did some mowing in the barnyard...

Carl took a turn on using the mower too.

Then I went out to do mowing under the fences... Jimmy had already mowed with the rotary mower which gave me a relatively clear path next to the fence. I was mainly mowing right under the fence and as close as possible to the fence posts. The plants that grow up and connect the fence to ground serve to reduce the effectiveness of the electric fencing.

I enjoy the views too!

It is an on-going task!

Finding a refrigerator

We had determined that the refrigerator (specifically, the freezer compartment of the refrigerator) in Carl's rig was not working well. He had had it worked on previously, but we were thinking, at this point, that "fixing" it wouldn't be worth the cost, so, at 8 years old, we should look into replacing it.

Well... that is easier said than done in a limited space and limited accessibility vehicle... The space in which the refrigerator is placed is on one of the slides, so the height of it is limited to less than 70". The depth has a bit more flexibility, but the width is fixed at a maximum of 33".

And... then there's the accessibility... there really is not a way that a new refrigerator could come in the front door. When we asked at National Indoor RV Service Center about getting them to replace it, they indicated that it would need to go through the front windshield, which is a one-piece huge expanse of glass... a non-trivial task to remove and replace.

After searching for a refrigerator with the features that we would like (french door with freezer in a bottom drawer) that would fit into the configuration that we have, and considering the difficulty of getting a new one into the RV (Jimmy offered to chainsaw a *new* hole in the side of the rig, but we declined that offer...) we decided to have this one repaired instead...

So, the Maytag repair guy came...

On his first visit, he diagnosed what the problem was and identified what was needed to repair it. He ordered the parts and returned a week later, pulled the refrigerator out of its spot and got the parts replaced. It was quite a job and took about 4 hours.

One day, we may need to replace the whole thing - hopefully there will be more/different options in sizes of refrigerators by then. But for now, the repaired unit is freezing well and keeping the refrigerator at the temperature setting on which we have it set... so we're happy!

Enjoying the local produce and critters

We sure are enjoying the benefits of being on the farm...

The girls (hens) need to provide a couple more large ones to complete 3 dozen...

That one will do!

As will that one!

.... hmmm, that one looks more like a medium....

Some of the bounty in our kitchen from the farm - eggs, fresh butter, fresh milk -- yum!

An update from a couple of days ago - I had posted about the chickens (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2020/05/chickens.html) and showed the elderly Lavender Orpinton -- it turned out that she passed away just a couple of days later.

In that post too, I had taken a picture of one that I thought was the Chocolate Orpinton, but it was an Ameraucana.

The "fluffy" one in the middle of this picture is the Chocolate Orpington.

Finally, the bulls were moved to the pasture that is right behind the house (and beside where our motorhomes are parked), so we've started getting to know them...

Duke was up close to the yard so Carl got his picture taken with him...

... and gave him a scratch on the head as a thank you... carefully staying on the other side of the fence from Duke...

Duke seems to be reasonably friendly (though not quite as much as Henry that some of my earliest readers may remember meeting: http://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2016/05/sweet-henry.html). Henry has passed away, though his legacy remains in several daughters still in the herd.

Anniversary...

I posted this today in my previous blog, Trekin' with the Cartwrights.

Carl suggested that I also post it here... so... here it is...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Today would have been Dwayne's and my 31st wedding anniversary.
We had been married almost half of my life at the time of his death (I was 29 years, 10 months when we married, and we were married 29 years, 9 months).
I was "older" when we got married; I remember telling co-workers a little while before we started dating that I didn't think I was going to get married, that it wasn't God's plan for me.

But, it was...

And I never anticipated what a blessing it would be to be married to Dwayne.

And then, I never expected to marry again after being widowed. I thought God had a plan for me as an "undistracted widow" - available to do things for Him that I couldn't easily do as a married woman.

I am so grateful that God brought Carl into my life. I am so blessed with him.


Which makes days like today difficult.

Shouldn't I be so grateful for my relationship with Carl that I wouldn't sorrow over the loss of my relationship with Dwayne? Doesn't it seem inappropriate?

And yet, even though I would not be sharing my life with Carl, a life that I am so incredibly thankful for, had Dwayne not passed away, even so, days of remembering bring tears for the loss of Dwayne.

But, I am also grateful that Carl goes through similar sorrow - sorrow at losing Sue - even in the midst of the joy of our relationship. It doesn't make sense to either of us, but there it is... 

Carl and Miss Kitty

Miss Kitty has found a devoted servant in Carl... and Carl has discovered that he likes having a cat... she joins him anytime he takes a nap, and loves to sit on his lap and watch the mouse move on the screen when Carl is on his computer.

A picture of him taking a picture of Miss Kitty -- on his side of the bed right up at his pillow -- about her favorite place to sleep unless it is chilly, and then she gets under the covers and we have a "squeaky lump" in the bed.

He tells me that he has to always move her when he gets up in the night... that she always usurps his spot in the bed. I figure she is just keeping it warm for him, right?

Miss Kitty staring at her nemesis... that *tail* that follows her around, taunting her with its twitching!

 She often entertains us with chasing it!

After staring at her tail, then she came over and sat next to Carl, staring at him, waiting to get on his lap.

For someone who has never had a cat (or a pet other than hamsters) before, Carl has readily adapted to having a cat as part of his life!

Social distancing farm-style

In case you don't have the concept of social distancing yet...

The cow version of social distancing!

So, now you know!

Bringing the round bales to the barn

A few days ago, Carl helped Jimmy bring the round bales from across the road to the barn.

Jimmy with a round bale on the "spike"...

... placing it on the truck (one of Carl's jobs was driving the truck).

Unloading from the truck...

... into the barn.

Carl's other job was to put the pallets down before Jimmy needed them for stacking the bales. The pallets to help protect the bottoms of the bales from spoiling and so they get air.

Bottle babies

I had posted from back in March that we had had the opportunity to help feed the bottle baby (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2020/03/monday-on-farm.html) and then I posted a couple of weeks ago about the new calf being born and the first feedings for her (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2020/05/on-her-own.html).

I thought you might find it interesting to see some more about this... filling the bottles.

Each of the calves gets 3 quarts (1.5 bottles). Initially the baby was only getting one, but after about a week, Regina increased her to 1.5 and she has tolerated it well.

The "baby" (we are kind of calling her "Mocha") getting her bottle.

The older calf, whom we call "Duracell" (because she is so copper!), had already had her bottle, so she went over to mom, Mandy...

She does not nurse from mom, but she will suck on Mandy's tag or the end of her collar, and Mandy will wash Duracell too.

Even though Mandy hasn't "mothered" in the sense of feeding her calf, she "mothers" her in many other ways.

Morning Glory also "mothers" Mocha as much as she can - again, she isn't nursing Mocha, but she will give a low, almost humming "moo" to her, and when/if Mocha comes over to the fence, she'll wash her as much as Mocha will allow. At the point when we took this picture, Mocha was busy begging for more milk from us (since we were still there, albeit taking pictures), so she couldn't be bothered to go over to her momma!

These pictures were from a few days ago... Mocha hasn't been feeling 100% the past couple of days... Regina thinks that she may have eaten one of the weeds that grow around her enclosure and that it upset her stomach, or possibly that some of her milk went into her rumen instead of directly into her stomach. She hasn't been as demanding about eating -- Regina has given her some enzymes to try to settle her tummy and help her get past this. She has been still up and around, but not at quite the high energy level that she had a few days ago. This morning (Monday) she was again quite demanding for her bottle... so I'm hoping and praying that she is on the mend.