Weekend Adventures:
- Yesterday was my birthday, and I was spoiled by my sainted husband and family and got to take a shopping day sans bebe and it was wonderful. I got my birthday Starbucks and snowman cookie fix, and came home with some really wonderful stuff.
- Today, we've done nothing but sit around, eat leftover pizza, play with Wacey, and watch documentaries on Netflix, and it's great. The calm before the holiday storm!
- Last night, in honor of my birthday, we got Pizza Hut (a major luxury in the middle of nowhere) and watched Jurassic World and it was appropriately cheesy and the ideal birthday night.
Agriculture:
- Did you know that there are only eight GMO crops? They are corn, soybeans, cotton, canola, alfalfa, papaya, squash, sugarbeets, and cotton. So when your organic quinoa says it's GMO-free, of course it is. Because there's no such thing as GMO quinoa (and being organic automatically guarantees it's GMO-free anyways). For the record, I have a bag of organic quinoa in my pantry that's labeled as GMO-free so I know this is a thing.
- If you've seen anything about the toy "slaughter trucks" aka cattle pots, then you know about the hype around them this year. These trucks are not always used to truck animals to slaughter; they are also used to truck animals to new homes or range that's too far away to move them afoot. For instance, in the spring and the fall, you'll see lots running up and down the highways of the mountain states as cattle are trucked to and from their summer range in the mountains.
- Farmers and ranchers only receive 16 cents on the dollar spent on the food they grow. The rest goes to things like production costs, transportation and marketing. In 1980, it was 31 cents.
- Farm and ranch families make up just two percent of the population.
On the Ranch:
- The cows had to be fed this week because of the snow, but it looks like we're going to be able to go back to just caking since a lot of the snow has melted. The shallower ponds have iced over, though! Remind me to tell you the story about the time that Duckie fell through the ice and we got to jump in after her.
- In the office, I'm working on looking at our cows' production so I can submit a list to the boss of cattle that may need to be considered for culling, based purely on their numbers. What I mean by that is I will look at her calving and weaning history and see if she's been a productive animal on the ranch. Does she have a calf every year? Does she wean a calf every year? How big are her calves relative to her size? Do her calves get sick a lot? We'll also cull cows based on behavior, what shape they're in, how their milk bag looks, conformation, etc.
On the Home Front:
- It's Thanksgiving week! We'll celebrate with my family on Thursday and then with Bert's family on Friday. While Thanksgiving isn't my Most Favorite Holiday, it's a good one, and it's been awhile since everyone's been together, so I'm looking forward to it. Also, since the snow prevented us in getting to the bull sale, I'm excited to meet my new niece.
- I’m totally decorating the house for Christmas this week, no and ifs or buts. A homemade garland is likely. Lights will abound. Christmas candles will be burned. The caroling and Christmas movie marathons are already in full swing!
- I'm DONE Christmas shopping for my boys, and I have a pretty good handle on what I'm going to get my momma and daddy. Now on to the nieces and nephews!
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