Wednesday, March 06, 2013

A March ramble...


These first days of March have come in like a Lion, just as it almost always does.  Actually, I don't much like March because it always seems like the windiest, chilliest, nastiest time of the year here.  We were supposed to have a "nice" day in the mid 50s today, but no.  We woke up to 10 degrees and a deep, penetrating cold.  The barn where the newest ewe/lamb families were stashed for the night was bitter cold.  Inside we found one ewe with triplets who just keeled over for no apparent reason so those three M-babies were gathered up, poor things.  (The lambs were marked with the letter M at birth)  Another four lambies were all humped up, thin, and bleating.  One young mother only wanted one of her twins, and the other lambs were evidently doing so poorly on their aged mothers that we grabbed them and put them in the bum pen too, poor neglected things.

Today has been a suckling day.  Every four hours or so you'll find me sitting on the milking stool  trying to get those bummies to suckle onto a bottle.  The triplets are the best suckers, but the other four require more patience and attention.  They are weak, frail, and tiny and don't have as much "want to" as the Ms do.  We'll carry on though, feeding a little milk at a time until everyone comes around to being expert at suckling.  With each feeding the bummies get a little better and a little smarter, and they come to think of me as their Mama Sheep.  After I feed them, I rub them down and wipe off their faces with my mittens and tell them what good lambies they are.  That's what their mother would do.  Despite my growing attachment to them, I am planning to sell them to Dr. Liz if she still has room in her bum lamb program for them.  If not, we'll keep them and raise them.
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 Loggerhead Shrike from All About Birds

The other day we were in the barn working heifers and sorting them up into calving groups.  We'll be having baby calves just any day now.  As we were working I noticed a fairly large bird flying back and forth, back and forth through the rafters.  I tried and tried to make out what it was, and finally it clicked in my brain.  It was a Loggerhead Shrike -- a handsome predator bird who wears a black mask and has a large, hooked beak that is made for eating mice and small birds.   It gave me a thrill to see it since it would mark the beginning of the bird migration here.  I've also noticed the Canada Geese flying in by the flockfuls.  I just love seeing the birds return home for the spring and summer months.  Still no signs of robins or the western meadowlarks.
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As you know, I love my coffee.  In fact, I think I have become a coffee snob -- meaning I want to drink the Best Coffee every time I drink it.  Why not?  Well, today I was looking at a Bialetti  on Amazon.  Have you ever tried one?  I haven't, but I'm thinking about buying one.  It is really inexpensive, and it is said that this old-school Italian espresso maker makes the best coffee ever.   For our regular morning coffee, we have always used a Bunn with fresh-ground coffee.  It's ok, but being the coffee snob that I am, I never think that the water is hot enough when it pours over the coffee grounds to make the very best coffee.  I do like the taste of my Melitta One Cup pour-over because I bring the water to boiling every time and the coffee is excellent, but it isn't practical to only make just one cup at a time for the two of us.  Hubs, on the hand, really doesn't care a flip about "good coffee."  He likes the stuff they make at the vet clinic that sits in one of those aluminum pots all day long so he would probably be just fine keeping the old Bunn on the countertop forever no matter the water temperature. My only other justification for buying the Bailetti  or this stainless Farberware Classic is that so often we have power outages, and it would be so good to have a stovetop espresso coffee maker for those times...you know....so I don't have to suffer too much.  (We do have a generator -- thanks be to God -- but you know, what if someday we can't afford electricity?  It could happen.)  So what about you, what's your favorite way to make and drink coffee?
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One of the college sons came for a quick little visit yesterday.  He is on spring break, but he is working at his job through it.  A day visit was just great.  We talked and laughted and cooked together and made chocohotopots for dessert.

The townie grandlittles were here today.  Bee and Ladybug brought their mom out for a visit.  They even came bearing molasses cookies for coffee time.  Wasn't that nice of them to do?  We didn't get to spend much time outdoors like we planned because the wind was blowing fierce and cold out of the east, but Bee and I fed the lambies together at the barn, and she insisted on kissing each of their heads. Ladybug is just two months old and she is smiling and cooing and saying cute baby words.  I just love being a Grammy.
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I ordered baby chicks last week, but the feed store won't receive them until the very end of April.  Rats!  I was hoping to have chickies for the grandgirls for Easter.  I guess we will just have to look at the lambies and the new baby calves instead.  I ordered 24 pullets of various breeds:  Pearl White Leghorn, Red Star, Buff Orpington, Barred Rock and Araucana.  I also ordered 4 roosters because I thought it might be fun to raise a few of our own chicks later on.  I may regret that decision.  Usually I get sick of roosters and their nasty ways, and they end up in the stock pot.  We'll see how it all turns out later.
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I shoveled some snow over the spot where my hyacinths will hopefully push through when spring finally arrives for us.  I don't bemoan the snow.  We actually need snow or rain or anything wet because we are short on grass and short on water where we live.  More snow, especially wet snow, would be most welcomed.  Or rain.  I'd love some rain.  It did rain a couple nights ago, just a little, and then it snowed, but not much.  It mostly turned cold and the wind blew hard.  If wind was snow, we'd be buried in the stuff.


25 comments:

  1. Your ramble is filling my mind with pleasant images - I'm sorry also that you can't get your chicks sooner; that's a long time to wait! I am remembering the great fun of 25 baby chicks coming to the post office and living under a light bulb in our garage so long ago.
    Keep your head warm and out of any drifts of snow!

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    1. Post office chicks....yes, I used to do that too, but have been ordering through the feed store now because I can get less than 25 if I want and still have the choices. No snow drifts here except in the draws and creeks. My head is always warm with the pull-on stocking cap I wear every day. Makes for "hat hair" all day long.

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  2. I'm glad you got some moisture. It was so dry to the north the last time I went to Rapid. I agree about March and those cold winds. You have my sympathy about all those bumm lambs. That is a lot of work. I've only helped lamb out one time and I was amazed at how hard it was to get them to suck. Calves were born putting those raspy tounges to work. Glad you had fun with your son and the grandkids. I'm sure they won't miss the chicks with all those lambs and calves around. Good luck with the rest of the month.

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    1. A wee bit of moisture, but mostly wind here. The bummies are beginning to suck really well now. We lost one lamb though....she was so tiny and weak, poor dear.

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  3. Oh on coffee. Grandma taught me to drink it hot, strong, and black.

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  4. Here in Italy, I use a Bialetti (we call them caffeterie moka, or moka pots) every day. I have four different sizes of them. And yes, they do work when the power goes out, which is lucky because with our limited circuit, I trip the switch a lot! (Did it today in fact, and smiled as I noticed that the little blue flame was still going.)

    Two things to know about mokas: They take a finer ground that your average US grocery store variety of coffee, and what they make is really more like espresso. We drink it in small cups. Or you can water it down and call it a lungo.

    I'm in total agreement about March. I found March a difficult month when we lived in NYC, because I'd grown up in the South and my internal seasonal clock thought it was time for something to bloom already. And you're colder than NYC by far. Luckily for me, at least, Torino is a little more like the South. I saw what I thought was forsythia starting to bud yesterday!

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  5. Jeff had a coffee maker like that when he lived here and it smelled good. Bill is like your hubby, he could drink old boiled coffee and be happy. I am picky.
    I have a French press that I should employ, so I can have very hot coffee. We are using a faulty drip coffee maker right now and it is not working so well.
    Have you ever read First We Have Coffee?
    LOVE that book!
    Love YOU!
    I still haven't sent your books. Boo.

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    1. Pom Pom, I have a French Press too and it's ok, but I prefer the pour-over in comparison. I think I'm going to get the stainless steel stovetop percolator. I don't like aluminum so much. Yes, I have read First We Have Coffee. Love it...It is one of my favorites! Love you too.

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  6. It was so very windy here yesterday too, Jody. The wind blew so much of our water out of the creeks and made the big river very low. Many boats were in mud. I know your wind is much more severe. I'm sorry about the poor sheep and lambs in the cold, but I love picturing you holding the babies and feeding them, and then petting and rubbing them. So sweet! Wish I could be there to help you for a few days. That's a lot of work! Spring is on the way. I must go look up a picture of that bird you mentioned.

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    1. It sounds like you had a lot of wind if it's blowing out of the river and creeks. Today seems like a better day. No wind and the temp is inching up to 30 this morning.

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  7. What a lovely ramble Ms. Gumbo! When I read the first paragraph, I mistakenly read that the triplets had keeled over, instead of their mom -- very sad. Sounds like you're busy and having fun with the bummies though. I wish I were there to help -- I think that would be so fun!

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  8. The triplets are doing the best. One of the tiniest, weakest lambs died overnight. I kind of expected that. The rest are happy and sucking well.

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  9. I do love lambing and calving time. Too bad about the Ewe. I love your catching up post it is just so nice. I think being a grandma is just the best. My husband had never been a fan of March for just the reasons you describe. That was my gripe with Bunn too. It was never hot enough for me. I will be buying a new pot as we go through them so fast. I think right now I make three pots because all of my kids drink coffee so when someone comes in the door they always ask, " You want me to make coffee?" It is so nice to have them come in and visit over coffee.
    We used to have lots of Shrikes I don't know where they went. We have robins and meadowlarks now.
    It is nice when they show up because you know that spring is here whether it looks like it or not.
    A lovely post.

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  10. Coffee in the morning...tea in the afternoon! That is how I roll. I can't wait to check out that new coffee do-hicky. We have the regular drip...does not get hot enough. Also a french press which I love. But that little thing sounds nifty. DH and I both are coffee snobs. We have a brand that we love but they only sell it at the Sams we frequented in NM..so we have our daughter pick us up a bag once a month. I am going to have to find another source. It will have to be an online source for sure. Our local store only sells Folgers and the store brand..yuck.

    Loved you rambling post. I am not a fan of March either. Wind and more wind. And like you said seems like the days that it is cold it is just bone chilling.

    Sorry you all are having troubles with your little sheep. I know nothing about sheep but I do know that some years it seemed as if all we had were dogie(orphaned) calves. The mama's would not give enough milk or they would just walk away from them. Funny how it seemed to be in cycles. The animal kingdom is sometimes a very strange place.

    Have a wonderful day!

    ~M~

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    1. Thankfully, our little rancher grocery store is now carrying coffee beans from an area roaster. Delish! Hubs doesn't mind Folgers, but I won't drink it unless I am in dire need. Now that I've investigated the Bailetti, I'm thinking I don't really want espresso shots, but a good cup of Americano. I have a French press which I like too, but it's easier to do the "pour-over method." I'm leaning toward the Farberware stovetop percolator now.

      I sometimes think that the animals act a lot like some humans I've seen concerning their babies. We've seen cows abandon or just ignore their babies too. Sheesh.

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  11. Quite a post! So much to comment on here but I really can't get my mind off of the idea of no coffee! Horror.. gasp... I never really thought much about planning for disaster but perhaps I need one of those B------ thingies too.. :)

    Lambs are just the cutest, sweetest babies. I can't imagine what you are dealing with. So many orphans. :(

    I too am looking forward to beyond March. Wet, cold, windy March.

    Blessings, Debbie

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    1. I've thought about the horror of no coffee before so we must plan ahead, those of us who love it (or are addicted to it).

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  12. Okay, first things first,

    I almost howled when you wrote about your hubs loving the coffee at the vets! baha! So typical! Just love it! :)

    Love hearing about all the goings on at your place. We have had the utmost wicked weather as well, but my husband says March is always the ugliest. We start calving at the end of the month. I can't wait. It'll trick me into thinking it's true blue spring...and yes, when that meadowlark trumpets his announcement I know I'll be home in those happy months.

    Wish my bee & ladybug :) had you for a Grandma! I think your children/grandchildren have hit the jackpot by having you in your life.

    Wishing you hot coffee & a stream of sunshine in your window today.

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    1. So you know about vet clinic coffee too, eh? You wouldn't laugh if you didn't know it.

      I sometimes "think" I'm being tricked into thinking it is spring with these animal babies, but it's not spring yet. Cold. Windy. Yuk.

      I'd be glad to love on your Bee and Ladybugs. Have you ever heard of a "granny ewe"? She'll take anything! She'll even swipe what's not hers and start mothering/grannying it.

      Glad you stopped by!

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  13. If I'm not mistaken, that Bialetti is used for making espresso coffee to be served in tiny demitasse cups - it's the very strong, almost syrupy, coffee, served after a meal. I guess it would wake you up in the morning!

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    1. You are right, it is for espresso. I'm thinking this is not what I am wanting. I'm leaning toward the Farberware stovetop percolator. Thanks for the heads-up.

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  14. I love your blog, but have never commented. However I must tell you about the Aero Press coffee maker by Aerobie. It's only about 25-3o dollars, and is a bit like a press coffee maker, but trust me. It makes a GREAT cup of coffee!!! I've tried them all.

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    1. Thank you for commenting and for your recommendation. I'll go check it out. Thanks!

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  15. I have a similar pot, different brand name that I think starts with an "M". I have special espresso coffee I use for it. I really like to mix up my coffee making routine so I have two french presses (oh wait, gave one away the other day but plan on getting another because I like the size), a keurig, a regular plug in coffee pot, an espresso maker with frother, and this pot. It might be excessive, but they are mostly small devices. :)

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