Farm News 11-13-05
Sunday morning, after chores
Bump Report
Bump is alive and doing well. He has discovered that the pasture is a dog free zone and knows all the quick ways under the fence. Everything he needs for survival is in the pasture, but Bump likes to explore the yard and hang out with the turkeys. It's interesting how different domestic animals will hang out together.
Microdot Moves Up
Microdot, the only bantam chick this year, has moved from the goat shed attached to the barn into the barn proper, above the door, where he can help the older generation poop on the heads of people.
Guy Struts
Guy is still a young turkey who hatched early last summer. Friday evening during chores I turned around to find Guy strutting behind me. 'Strutting' is the mating display of a male turkey. He lifts and spreads his tail into a vertical fan and spreads his wing flight feathers down. At the same time his head turns blue and the red bumps turn brilliant red. It's quite a performance and Guy is still too young to put on a good show, but he's trying.
Two Year Old Rides Ginger
Milo, my two year old grandson, visited Calvin and took a short ride on Ginger. She stepped along gently but he kept sliding off to one side. He'll get the hang of it soon.
Ginger it the four year old pony mare that Calvin is trying to sell for too much money. She is truly gentle with kids, generally ignoring them without stepping on one. She also appears to be in foal, as Calvin claims. I still think that what Calvin calls the Palomino stallion is an old horse named Pal, but Calvin swears she is bred to an excellent pony.
Calvin is young and has not yet gone through the years necessary to come to the point where one has had time to ponder the minutiae of journalistic ethics, so I was not offended when he offered me $50 if I could use Farm News to help him sell Ginger. Leave it to a teenager to create new kinds of ethical quandaries.
Walking on Water
In the pond, after the recent deluge, the screen which protects the outlet pipes from floating sticks and such was pushed underwater on one side, a situation which effectively rendered it useless. The outlet pipes are about five feet tall. At the bottom they make a 90° turn and go another twenty feet through the dam to discharge on the downhill side.
Problems occur at that 90° bend. A nine inch long stick can't make it through that tight corner, and so it sticks. As more sticks come in, even short ones will eventually be caught and held. Sycamore leaves, which are plentiful in the pond at this time of the year, stack up on top of the sticks until the pipe becomes completely plugged.
Poking around down through the vertical pipe with a long rod will loosen all that stuff and then it will flush out. It is a minor problem and easily fixed except for one detail. The tops of the outlet pipes appear about six feet out into the pond from the dam. This might be considered some sort of design error, but I prefer to think of it is a challenge. When the pipes become plugged, one simply walks out on the surface of the water and pokes a stick down the hole until the problem is fixed.
Walking through the water to the outlet pipes is relatively easy and extremely cold. The water temperature is around 57°F, a temperature way too low to enjoy when immersed. The depth at the outlet pipes is slightly more than five feet, which means the immersion is close to complete. Also, the bottom is muddy and one's boots become messy while walking out there. Walking on the water is definitely the best way to approach this problem.
Writing two newsletters each week takes a lot of time and doesn't leave much for practicing walking on water skills. Next week, if there is space, I will try to explain how one accomplishes this. The real trick is to stop walking, kneel down, and then reach down through the surface of the water. Do not try to do this at home without professional supervision.
E-mail Subscribers: To subscribe, unsubscribe, contribute stories, complain or send a gift subscription, send an email to FarmNews@GeezerNet.com . The editor reserves the right to steal ideas submitted, rewrite submissions, and sign false names to them whenever it strikes his fancy to do so.
Bump Report
Bump is alive and doing well. He has discovered that the pasture is a dog free zone and knows all the quick ways under the fence. Everything he needs for survival is in the pasture, but Bump likes to explore the yard and hang out with the turkeys. It's interesting how different domestic animals will hang out together.
Microdot Moves Up
Microdot, the only bantam chick this year, has moved from the goat shed attached to the barn into the barn proper, above the door, where he can help the older generation poop on the heads of people.
Guy Struts
Guy is still a young turkey who hatched early last summer. Friday evening during chores I turned around to find Guy strutting behind me. 'Strutting' is the mating display of a male turkey. He lifts and spreads his tail into a vertical fan and spreads his wing flight feathers down. At the same time his head turns blue and the red bumps turn brilliant red. It's quite a performance and Guy is still too young to put on a good show, but he's trying.
Two Year Old Rides Ginger
Milo, my two year old grandson, visited Calvin and took a short ride on Ginger. She stepped along gently but he kept sliding off to one side. He'll get the hang of it soon.
Ginger it the four year old pony mare that Calvin is trying to sell for too much money. She is truly gentle with kids, generally ignoring them without stepping on one. She also appears to be in foal, as Calvin claims. I still think that what Calvin calls the Palomino stallion is an old horse named Pal, but Calvin swears she is bred to an excellent pony.
Calvin is young and has not yet gone through the years necessary to come to the point where one has had time to ponder the minutiae of journalistic ethics, so I was not offended when he offered me $50 if I could use Farm News to help him sell Ginger. Leave it to a teenager to create new kinds of ethical quandaries.
Walking on Water
In the pond, after the recent deluge, the screen which protects the outlet pipes from floating sticks and such was pushed underwater on one side, a situation which effectively rendered it useless. The outlet pipes are about five feet tall. At the bottom they make a 90° turn and go another twenty feet through the dam to discharge on the downhill side.
Problems occur at that 90° bend. A nine inch long stick can't make it through that tight corner, and so it sticks. As more sticks come in, even short ones will eventually be caught and held. Sycamore leaves, which are plentiful in the pond at this time of the year, stack up on top of the sticks until the pipe becomes completely plugged.
Poking around down through the vertical pipe with a long rod will loosen all that stuff and then it will flush out. It is a minor problem and easily fixed except for one detail. The tops of the outlet pipes appear about six feet out into the pond from the dam. This might be considered some sort of design error, but I prefer to think of it is a challenge. When the pipes become plugged, one simply walks out on the surface of the water and pokes a stick down the hole until the problem is fixed.
Walking through the water to the outlet pipes is relatively easy and extremely cold. The water temperature is around 57°F, a temperature way too low to enjoy when immersed. The depth at the outlet pipes is slightly more than five feet, which means the immersion is close to complete. Also, the bottom is muddy and one's boots become messy while walking out there. Walking on the water is definitely the best way to approach this problem.
Writing two newsletters each week takes a lot of time and doesn't leave much for practicing walking on water skills. Next week, if there is space, I will try to explain how one accomplishes this. The real trick is to stop walking, kneel down, and then reach down through the surface of the water. Do not try to do this at home without professional supervision.
E-mail Subscribers: To subscribe, unsubscribe, contribute stories, complain or send a gift subscription, send an email to FarmNews@GeezerNet.com . The editor reserves the right to steal ideas submitted, rewrite submissions, and sign false names to them whenever it strikes his fancy to do so.
posted by The Geezer at 8:39 AM
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