Everybody talks about the weather

I may as well address this brutal cold.  Misery loves company, and it seems as though the whole country is in the grip of Old Man Winter, even in the south.  I'm thankful for a warm place to eat, sleep, and live.  I'm thankful for e-books from the library, so I can check out a book anytime I feel like it.  Once again, let me count the reasons I love digital books. 

1.  The ease of checking out books without leaving home.

2.  I can make the print be whatever size I need.  It's a comfort knowing that as these cataracts grow (they seem to be advancing rather slowly so far, knock wood), I can make the words readable until the time comes I need to get the cataracts removed.  I know it's a simple procedure, but my mother ended up blind in one eye after her second cataract surgery.  So it isn't always as simple as you think... sort of like Cliff's 8-day torment in the hospital for what was supposed to be a "simple" gall bladder surgery.  Not so simple when you have stones all through the inside of you and have to have drainage tubes put in place to get through your ordeal.  But I digress.

3.  I often have trouble keeping characters in a book straight, but with an e-book, when I come upon the name of a person I can't quite place in the story, I hold my finger on the name and am taken to a passage that explains to me who it is.

4.  Using the Kindle or Kindle app, I can share whatever I'm reading to Cliff's Kindle.  This is nice if I'm reading a book I know he'll like, one I may have reserved for weeks or months before I got it.  If he wants to read it, he won't have to wait for it like I did.

5.  A digital book takes up no space in a house where there's already too much clutter.

6.  With my slightly arthritic wrists, holding a book can be uncomfortable.  I can lay the iPad, or the Kindle device, in my lap; when I'm ready to turn the page, the touch of a fingertip will do the job.  

Now, every time I explain online how much I like digital reading and give the reasons, I'll get somebody trying to argue with me.  Folks, I don't care if you prefer real books, I'm happy for you.  I'm not trying to convert you.  I just want people, especially older folks with arthritis and failing eyesight, to know there is a way they can read without straining the eyes, hurting the hands and wrists, and leaving home to get the book.  You do NOT have to convince me that paper books are better!  That, my friends, is a matter of preference.

Now, on to the weather.  The two Holstein calves we bought recently are thriving in spite of single-digit temperatures.  They're already eating a lot of calf starter, which could be considered baby food for bottle calves.  I know the larger of the two is eating the most of it; in fact, I don't know if the other one is even eating any of it.  That's the problem with multiple calves in a pen:  You don't know which one is doing what.  They are quite healthy, though, getting two bottles of milk replacer daily.  I also take them half-a-bottle of warm water between the morning and evening feedings.  There's no way to keep water out for them in this cold weather, and I like to know they're getting hydrated.  I've not heard of anyone else giving bobby calves water in their bottles, but I've been doing it for about fifty years; so far it hasn't hurt anything.  I feel bad for those babies when I see them shaking with the cold as they take their bottles, but really there isn't much you can do about it.  And I'd rather raise calves in winter than summer any time, because with the flies and hot temperatures of July and August, germs have a heyday multiplying in summer.      

This is Gabe, watching me create this blog entry and wishing he were on my lap.  He likes to sit on my lap or beside me in my chair, these early mornings, but there's no room on a computer chair.  My computer room is also the toy room, and this boy just can't help himself sometimes:  He'll snatch one of the Little People or a Legos block when I'm not looking and run away as fast as he can.  What a character he is.  He has most of his adult teeth now.  I'm working on his frequent tummy upsets, which usually seem to be tied to eating too fast.  I am in the process of switching dog foods, going from the very expensive kind the breeder preferred (Eukanuba) to the EXTREMELY expensive Blue Buffalo brand.  I'll be mixing them half-and-half for a long time, because I intend to use the Eukanuba until it's gone.  It seems as though if I feed him small amounts, and don't fill his water dish too full, he gets by without any problem.  If he weren't growing so fast, and if he weren't feeling so full of life all the time, I'd probably take him to the vet.  But for problems like this, sometimes I don't think the vets really know what's wrong either; they just use trial and error until something works (while throwing in an expensive x-ray or two).  I'm doing what I've always done with my calves:  Watching behavior closely and making changes slowly.   

I believe that's my blather for the day.  Stay warm, be thankful, and spoil your dogs.

Happy New Year!