January Update

Since I am getting farther and farther behind, I decided to just get all my news blurted out on this blog before I forget it all.

I am checking in to other blog options. I just can not bring myself to cave in to Google and join some other invasive picture hosting site. I am not sure just what about this has set off my rebellious nature but it has...... so there!! LOL!!

I seem to be having alot of that these days. Menopause is not for the faint of heart......

Recently, the salt water collection tank for the oil pumped on our farm sprung a leak. The guy who owns the leased rights for the minerals on our property is a real chuckle head. One of those guys that should have a big "L" tattooed on his forehead. Everything he does or attempts to do is handled in a half hearted, half measure way. Nothing is ever completely fixed or finished.... just enough to hold it together for a little while. We make very little money for all the mess and inconvenience imposed on the farm.

When we discovered the leak, salt water was spewing out of the tank in a 15 ft arch and running down the field road, heading for the creek which would have contaminated our big pond. The kids and I managed to slow the leak and round up enough buckets and barrels to catch it in to try to reduce the soil contamination and grass kill. It was 18 degrees, getting dark and miserable evening. This guy did not want to deal with it. He could not find anyone to come out and fix it so he just planned on letting it run all over our farm until morning.

 I totally came unglued. Unhinged is probably a better word. It was not pretty at all. I scared my husband, kids and the guy. I nearly flayed him alive. I did not physically attack him but it was a close call. It is a wonder that I did not have a stroke. It took me two days to recover from it.......

In the end, Bozo got the tank pumped out (that night) and walked away from the whole mess. The lease is up for sale and I met the potential new owners earlier this week. We had a long civil conversation but I made myself perfectly clear on how things were going to be done on this farm---- and how they were NOT going to be handled. I believe that this will be a much better situation for all involved....... We shall see.

On a better note, on the advice of my friend (Kansas Farm Wife), I tried a new, stronger, much more expensive antibiotic on Bertha Belle. After just one dose, that cow is almost completely well. Her sore foot is much better. The other foot that has been weakened from the strain of holding all of her weight seems to be recovering , too. She barely limps up to the barn to be milked each evening.

I have taken on yet another big project. By the end of the week, I will be hand raising over FIFTY goat kids. Someone has hired me to do this and I have been very busy getting my barn and pens ready for the big mob!!

We have had more good news this week as well. Salena got a new job that will possibly lead to a management position when she graduates. Seth took his college placement test and did very well. He is enrolled to begin college next week. My chicks are growing up!!