(no subject)
I've had a great time with my family. My sister and father picked me up from the Devil's Lake airport at midnight last Monday. My flight had been delayed by nearly 7 hours, so I was fairly fatigued after the long flight. At the DL airport, I was awed by baren landscape. The wind was blowing snow from large drifts. It was minus a bazillion below 0. The scene reminded me of the sci-fi flick set in antacrctica, where a shape-changing alien infected members of a research station. I was also awed by the female strenght I witnessed at the airport. The pilot was female. The person who was guiding the planes was female. The person who lugged in our baggage was female (though it was hard to tell, perhaps this person was the same one guiding the plane). These are hearty people. The movie, Fargo, came to mind.
It was 1:30 am by the time I was home and in bed.
The next day I slept in while my family worked cattle. It turns out we have 198 head (including 2 bulls and 1 late-blooming calf, I thought we had 150 head), and most were pg'd (pregnancy checked, for those who don't do cattle-speak), dipped (generic ivermectin), and vaccinated for a bazillion pregnancy-problematic microbial infections. I took over my sister's job of administering shots and keeping the record book as she was miserably cold. My father had thought about cancelling because of the cold temps.... but it had to be done. We had about 6 open cows and 5 that were late (calving in July). Those will most likely go to the sales ring (dad says we'll get hammered with a low price, 30 cents a pound). We don't have the extra hay to burn to keep animals that won't produce. The large-animal vet was a woman. We bonded over discussion of cattle diseases and medicines......her with her arm up a cows butt and me dodging crazed cow heads, as I attempted to administer injections. Half of her had the warmest job on the farm.
I love picking my father's brain about farming. I think I would have been happy farming alongside him. I take after his personality. We could have built a farming empire, between our obsessive work ethic and desire for efficiency. My desire for an education and new experiences led me down a different path. Still, I may invest some retirement income in cropland.....
I asked him what he would do if oil was scarce. Could he maintain his cattle herd? Could he convert back to a simpler form of agriculture? He has the equipment needed for horse / oxen drawn mowers. To equal his output as a single laborer with current technologies, it would take 5-6 grown men working hard hours to produce an equivalent amount of hay and feed. Dad has calculated that he could convert 1/3 of his cropland to oil crops: canola, sun flowers, I think some sorts of soybeans. With a $20-25,000, he could set himself in an operation to extract oils from his crops and convert it into useable fuel. He looked into it when diesel was so expensive last year. Right now, it wouldn't be profitable to make the switch.
My father just purchased a brand new John Deere tractor, in an effort to not give the government any more money in taxes than he has to. He can purchase fuel, seeds, fertilizers, equipment..... and write it off from his taxes as business expenses. I pay more in taxes than he does..... though I suppose he pays more into social security.
Xmas was uneventful. I saw family and cousins I haven't seen in years. Some, I had never met (my first cousin's son is 5 years old this year - Xmas eve was the first time I met him). It will be years again until I see them again.
My sister and I have worked out twice. We sleep in the same bed -- not because we have to, but because it's fun to go to sleep talking with one another. I don't want to miss any moments with her. I love my sister. I wish we could spend more time together.
I pitty all vegetarians who live in ND (maybe not the ones who live in Grand Forks, Bismark, or Fargo). I recall when I met my first vegetarian. Her name was Bella Barkley, and she was a my 4H exchange student from California. She was nice and I liked her, but she was also very strange to me. She listened to the Cranberries, dressed in strange clothing, and well...... didn't eat meat. That was just.... so strange. Having lived away from ND for a bit and coming back for a visit, I can see how I thought it was odd to not eat meat. Rural North Dakotans have a very limited diet: we only eat steak, hamburgers, baked, mashed, fried or boiled potatoes, milk, cheese, and pasta. Veges are a vehicle to eat more meat. For example, my mother raises a ton of tomato plants, yet she doesn't eat a single one fresh. (I told her I can eat an entire raw tomato with just a bit of salt and pepper, which she thought was a bit icky.) She cans them, to be used in meaty spaghetti or lasagna. I think she made salsa one year. Vegetables are consumed pickled -- cucumber pickles and beet pickles -- or canned -- stewed tomatoes, green beans, peas, or corn. For three days, I witnessed my family only eating starches and meat. Lasagna on Day 1, Turkey, mashed potatoes, lefse, stuffing, sweet potatoes, a tiny bit of canned green beans, and gravy on Day 2, Roasted beef tenderloin with twice baked potatoes and buttery garlic bread on Day 3. On Day 4, I convinced my family to go to a Chinese restaurant (how exotic!) in Devil's Lake. There I feasted on steamed broccoli and mushrooms. It was the first non-canned veges I had eaten in days, save for some iceberg lettuce. O.o I am very spoiled, living in a city.
__________
My mother washed my cell phone, by accident. It was living in my fluffy bath robe, and she offered to oxyclean it (it's old, and even though I regularly wash it, it's starting to lose a pristine apperance).
Shockingly, it still works.
__________
Tomorrow, I hope to shoot with my brother. I hope for a lesson in cleaning firearms. Woot!
It was 1:30 am by the time I was home and in bed.
The next day I slept in while my family worked cattle. It turns out we have 198 head (including 2 bulls and 1 late-blooming calf, I thought we had 150 head), and most were pg'd (pregnancy checked, for those who don't do cattle-speak), dipped (generic ivermectin), and vaccinated for a bazillion pregnancy-problematic microbial infections. I took over my sister's job of administering shots and keeping the record book as she was miserably cold. My father had thought about cancelling because of the cold temps.... but it had to be done. We had about 6 open cows and 5 that were late (calving in July). Those will most likely go to the sales ring (dad says we'll get hammered with a low price, 30 cents a pound). We don't have the extra hay to burn to keep animals that won't produce. The large-animal vet was a woman. We bonded over discussion of cattle diseases and medicines......her with her arm up a cows butt and me dodging crazed cow heads, as I attempted to administer injections. Half of her had the warmest job on the farm.
I love picking my father's brain about farming. I think I would have been happy farming alongside him. I take after his personality. We could have built a farming empire, between our obsessive work ethic and desire for efficiency. My desire for an education and new experiences led me down a different path. Still, I may invest some retirement income in cropland.....
I asked him what he would do if oil was scarce. Could he maintain his cattle herd? Could he convert back to a simpler form of agriculture? He has the equipment needed for horse / oxen drawn mowers. To equal his output as a single laborer with current technologies, it would take 5-6 grown men working hard hours to produce an equivalent amount of hay and feed. Dad has calculated that he could convert 1/3 of his cropland to oil crops: canola, sun flowers, I think some sorts of soybeans. With a $20-25,000, he could set himself in an operation to extract oils from his crops and convert it into useable fuel. He looked into it when diesel was so expensive last year. Right now, it wouldn't be profitable to make the switch.
My father just purchased a brand new John Deere tractor, in an effort to not give the government any more money in taxes than he has to. He can purchase fuel, seeds, fertilizers, equipment..... and write it off from his taxes as business expenses. I pay more in taxes than he does..... though I suppose he pays more into social security.
Xmas was uneventful. I saw family and cousins I haven't seen in years. Some, I had never met (my first cousin's son is 5 years old this year - Xmas eve was the first time I met him). It will be years again until I see them again.
My sister and I have worked out twice. We sleep in the same bed -- not because we have to, but because it's fun to go to sleep talking with one another. I don't want to miss any moments with her. I love my sister. I wish we could spend more time together.
I pitty all vegetarians who live in ND (maybe not the ones who live in Grand Forks, Bismark, or Fargo). I recall when I met my first vegetarian. Her name was Bella Barkley, and she was a my 4H exchange student from California. She was nice and I liked her, but she was also very strange to me. She listened to the Cranberries, dressed in strange clothing, and well...... didn't eat meat. That was just.... so strange. Having lived away from ND for a bit and coming back for a visit, I can see how I thought it was odd to not eat meat. Rural North Dakotans have a very limited diet: we only eat steak, hamburgers, baked, mashed, fried or boiled potatoes, milk, cheese, and pasta. Veges are a vehicle to eat more meat. For example, my mother raises a ton of tomato plants, yet she doesn't eat a single one fresh. (I told her I can eat an entire raw tomato with just a bit of salt and pepper, which she thought was a bit icky.) She cans them, to be used in meaty spaghetti or lasagna. I think she made salsa one year. Vegetables are consumed pickled -- cucumber pickles and beet pickles -- or canned -- stewed tomatoes, green beans, peas, or corn. For three days, I witnessed my family only eating starches and meat. Lasagna on Day 1, Turkey, mashed potatoes, lefse, stuffing, sweet potatoes, a tiny bit of canned green beans, and gravy on Day 2, Roasted beef tenderloin with twice baked potatoes and buttery garlic bread on Day 3. On Day 4, I convinced my family to go to a Chinese restaurant (how exotic!) in Devil's Lake. There I feasted on steamed broccoli and mushrooms. It was the first non-canned veges I had eaten in days, save for some iceberg lettuce. O.o I am very spoiled, living in a city.
__________
My mother washed my cell phone, by accident. It was living in my fluffy bath robe, and she offered to oxyclean it (it's old, and even though I regularly wash it, it's starting to lose a pristine apperance).
Shockingly, it still works.
__________
Tomorrow, I hope to shoot with my brother. I hope for a lesson in cleaning firearms. Woot!