This has been the warmest and dryest winter and spring on record. The trees are ready to leaf out, and tulips are ready to bloom any day now.  We need rain or snow to get the pastures greening up.  Horses are shedding out like crazy, and the neighbours are having grass fires.  Very strange.

Around lunch time I came out of the barn and headed for the house only to find a Moose and her yearling Mooselet munching on the shrubs beside my kitchen door.  They were quite at ease, because the mom Moose had been born on the hill beside the garage a couple of years ago, and was right at home.  They enjoyed their lunch and wandered off after H M ( Read more... )

I received a letter from On Star telling me that the unit in my 2003 Sierra truck has to be upgraded.  There is no charge for this work, but I have to agree to a whole bunch of new conditions that are really not in my best interest, but rather in the best interest of GM and my truck dealer.  I spent almost 2 hours reading their required conditions ( Read more... )

Just for the record, September and October were unusually hot and dry.  Not much growth in the fields, and what was there went to seed early.  Flail mowing got the fields looking good, but there was no recovery anywhere.  I hope we get some moisture next spring.

It has been a very busy summer, with hot dry times and severe wet times.  The farm lawns are green, but the fences are not as good as they need to be.  Lots of dead trees that need to be taken down, but no help available.  No mosquitoes, though, and that is good.

We spent some time this morning studying what the dash cam recorded.   We were very impresed. Everything is very clear, even the license  plates of the cars in front.  We haven't tried it at night yet.  Very easy to use.

I used my Drivers Reward points to buy a dash-cam at Canadian Tire yesterday.  It is the top of the line dash-cam, and was on sale for $150.00 from $200.00.  My hired man tells me that it is so sophisticated that it will do everything except wash the truck, and can be moved from vehicle to vehicle.  Should be useful.  It even has a GPS so that it ( Read more... )

The farrier arrived with his helper at 8:30 a.m. today looking refreshed and ready to work.  He was driving a beautiful new truck that he got in Ontario where his folks live.  He had been having a lot of trouble recently when his old truck was stolen.  I fed the horses at 7:00 a.m. and left them in the barn instead of turning them out as I usually ( Read more... )

We have had a large number of migrating birds resting here recently.  I turn the lights off at night so as not to confuse them.  The Canada Geese are back, of course, and are checking out the dugouts, but there is not enough water in them to be any good.  They  wont stay.  Some  shrubs are budding, so I guess spring is under way.  Not much green ( Read more... )

March 1st  started off cold but pleasant.  The next day was colder and so windy that I had to get my heavy duty parka out of the closet.  I kept the horses in until 9:00 a.m. and gave them extra feed.  When I turned them out I gave them hay in their shelters, so they managed O.K.  To-day, March 4th, was above freezing and very sunny.  All the ( Read more... )