Cliff and I went to pick up a motorcycle for his brother yesterday, and I noticed these dogs in a pen. There are two dogs and three doghouses, but that one fellow would rather spend time on TOP of the occupied doghouse. It just struck me as amusing. I milked Bonnie this morning for the first time since the freezing rain before Christmas. I've bought milk twice. It's good to be back to normal, and I do believe Bonnie was happy to have her can full of sweet feed. In dry weather I take a kitchen towel that's wet and soapy on one end and dry on the other; I wash the udder and then dry it with that towel. Today, knowing how messy cows can get in thawing weather, I took a bucket of soapy water with a rag in it, plus a towel for drying. That way I had what I needed to make sure my milk would be clean, and indeed, it was.
Anyone who has ever milked a cow knows that no matter how clean the cow and how clean the milk, you are going to smell like a cow after you've milked one. In sloppy weather, you REALLY smell like a cow after getting up close and personal with her. I'll be hopping in the shower soon.
This reminds me of a man Cliff and I encounter when we patronize Pizza Hut in Higginsville. He's an older gentleman, and he obviously has a hog farm (a very rare thing these days, what with mega-farms producing most of the country's pork). When he walks in the door at Pizza Hut, he could almost clear the place with his odor; there are few smells on earth as bad as a hog farm. It certainly takes away some of the pleasure of eating pizza.
When I did that entry about "Missing Persons", I had a specific person in mind. She isn't one of the old J-land group, by the way. As far as I know, she doesn't post on Facebook. She had a much larger following than I do, and had giveaways sometimes. I doubt if she reads my blog.
It's just troubling when you follow somebody's life online and then they totally disappear. In the case of this lady, she has even closed comments and did away with the email address given on her blog. She has a relative who still is blogging regularly, but I'm not going to ask her if everything is OK, because she shouldn't be held accountable for her family members.
Under these circumstances, I know there's something wrong; I don't necessarily want to know what is wrong, I'd simply like to know that the lady is all right.
We like you have had milder days and messy ones as things thaw. In places here there is still ice on on the sidewalks and snow on the ground. It'll get colder mid week and have a chance of snow they say. Glad you got the fresh milk. It has to taste really good after not having some for awhile.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about the hog farm. I went to school with a couple of girls that their father ran a hog farm. I felt so sorry for them because of the smell, & they didn't even realize they smelled like that.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather used to smell like the cows he had and milked by hand. I always have such fond memories of him when I smell that smell. I know it isn't a good smell to have on ones clothes but it's worth it to me to think of him. :o)
ReplyDeleteHmm maybe that guy should have ordered and had it delivered! ;) Hopefully the blogger you spoke of will come back eventually and explain to her followers what is going on, or just that she is okay would be good too.
ReplyDeleteMy SIL & husband raised a small amount of hogs, if you said anything about the smell, she'd just say it smelled like $$$ to her.
ReplyDeleteOne of my first and fovorite blogs I used to read was about a woman who built a small campsite in the woods a ways from their home. She took a pop-up camper and made sleeping quarters, built a chuck wagon kitchen and had a firepit plus outhouse. She would go and spend the night there even if it meant by herself if her husband & children didn't want to. She cooked breakfast, etc. there. I thought it was neat because she did it all by herself. Anyway, I checked it daily and then all of a sudden she never posted again. It still makes me sad - after a year of no posting. I always wonder what happened to her.
How's the calorie counting going, Donna?
ReplyDeleteIt's going great! Of course, I only started this morning.
ReplyDeleteEler Beth's dog Bruin likes to sit on top of his doghouse, and sometimes his mother,Heidi, does too. Glad you were able to milk today. I could never get used to the taste of fresh milk, but I love the smell of a milking parlor -- was around one a lot when I was little.
ReplyDeleteDonna, thank you for the update on Bonnie and getting her clean and milked. So you small like a cow. I don't even remember what a cow smells like and I'm not sure I ever did.
ReplyDeleteDB