Tis the Season, I guess

Wow, I could be really busy this summer if I wanted to be. ahahahaha  In the past month several invitations have come for us to attend this summer.  The problem arises with the timing of these events...see, the summer is the time when 90% of farming takes place: seeding the crops, working the cattle to pasture, cutting the crop, harvesting the crop, fencing,fixing our antique equipment and gardening. We used to be able to squeeze a weekend away about once a year, with R's parents to keep an eye on the house and garden and pets, and our old retired cowboy to look after the cattle end of things, we could slip away between seeding, haying or harvest. But now the in laws have both passed and the old cowboy has moved closer to the city we don't have anyone to help out.  We did try a couple of years ago to have my adult son come each day to at least feed the dogs but he didn't listen to our instructions about how to do it...( I know what you are thinking, how hard can it be to feed 2 dogs, but they fight, you see, when food is involved so you have to separate them and stand there while one eats...he is slow and intimidated by his brother so is afraid to eat...when his brother can see him and stare at him until he is shaking like a leaf...he would sooner go hungry than have his brother attack him over his food) but that is what happened.. they had a row, probably after going without food for a couple of the days we were gone and starvation drove him to ignore his brothers warnings and try to eat...the yellow dog attacked and when we got home two days later....the brown dog had gashes that were festering and had lost weight...when we asked my son what happened he admitted he didn't know because he had fed them the first day and then passed it off to his girlfriend,   who just threw the food in one dish and left....so we don't ask them anymore...not that it would work out now anyway since they live farther away now. All the neighbours have jobs in town or too many chores of their own to bother them with doing ours, even for a few days...

When it is so dry as it is now, we are very hesitant about leaving home anyway... the cows are constantly walking the fence looking for food and the dug outs did not fill up this spring since there was no run off. Last year two of the 5 dugouts we have dried up and are still dry.  So water may become a big issue. hard to ask someone to haul water every day to the cows while you are off gallivanting... so at this point I would say we will not be attending the wedding, the makepeace reunion or the anniversary party at Lake Louise either.  Maybe if they were taking place in the late fall but even then one of us would have to stay home.   That's the thing about farming, you have to make hay while the sun shines...hahahahaha

Well the trees are leafing out finally and even some of my perennials are showing signs of life.  I hope to clean my pond today and run some fresh water in it...get it ready for my toad to take up residence again this spring and keep us awake with his croaking. I don't mind because he keeps the slug population down, although that is one of the perks of being in a drought....less slugs. This toad creeps me out sometimes...especially when my mind is on other things and I am on my knees digging dandelions out of the beds...and he hops onto the sidewalk beside me from seemingly out of no where.   uggh. little bugger. 

Our next door neighbour had a farm sale yesterday and sold all his equipment and livestock handling equipment.  He had quite a turn out given the amount of traffic there was on our gravel road and the dust was horrendous.  We had to lock the gates on our drive way because people kept driving in here. The dogs were going crazy barking because our road is normally very quiet. This neighbour sold his cows the year BSE hit and has worked off the farm since then...and he was over last month moaning about how farming is so shitty he just hasn't had the chance to get back into it. so he is going to rent his land to some big corporate farm and just continue to work off farm. He and his wife hope to go to Arizona this coming winter, they are both big casino fans and ask us, or they used to to until they got tired of us refusing them, to go to the casino in the city with them.....I always gave the same reply, why the hell would we want to do that when farming is enough of a risk as it is, I couldn't tolerate any more risk...the stress could kill me.  Anyway, today we are watching his lifetime accumulation of farm equipment and tools pass by our place.  Kinda depressing. I wonder how long it will take them to spend the pathetic amount of money he would have gotten for everything, in the casino... We didn't go to the sale since we had to make a flying trip into Costco for some more sheet protectors for this genealogy project but I am finishing it today....yah....got a barbeque to go to to night....sweet....any time I don't have to cook is a good thing...