Knolltop Farm Wife

It's sunny, breezy and quite warm out, now that it's nearly noon here on the Knolltop. I'm getting used to my new winter schedule. Now that the cows are staying in at night, my morning routine has changed and I have to go back out and help do some morning chores. I really don't mind, that just means I do more work and I can eat more. I like that. Especially that Halloween candy that I bought to give out tonight in hopes that no one will show up on my porch! Yes, I plan on turning the light on....for a few minutes anyway! Then it's an evening of pigging out on chocolate and popcorn! We had a new calf born last evening during chores and it was a hoot watching the kids trying to bring the new mom and her baby in from the pasture. Jake had a rope halter, I guess in hopes of putting it on the heifer and leading her into the barn. Never mind that she's not a show heifer and acts like she hasn't seen white man since she was born! While he chased her around...

Yep, it's official, the flowers in the planters by the entrance to the barn are dead. I pulled them out and threw them into the field. Now I've got to think about what to put in there for Christmas......but I have time for that later! The gutter cleaner worked so beautifully this morning, so now I've got time to watch the Autumn Opportunity Sale online where Tom Barrends is dispersing his herd in Fremont, Michigan. It's fun to just listen to the sale while I work around the house. Actually I should be cleaning off my desk...it's a mess! I think I'd rather be out cleaning out my flower beds and riding my lawn mower, but then there's that blasted laundress. She hasn't shown up in weeks! I pay her good money and she's still a no show...so I have to do all the laundry myself. By the way, in regards to the comments: Tom- You do not weigh 250! I don't think you could ever weigh that much, so you're not getting my treadmill! Not everyday is ...

It's a beautiful sunny morning here on the Knolltop. A cool 27 out this morning, I think all my flowers will finally be dead. I tried to keep the ones by the barn under protection, but I don't think they made it. I'll check on my way out to the barn...which is right now. More later!

Finally, I'm on this computer. What a morning! It's cool today with sun and clouds. This morning I remembered that the boys asked me last night to make something for their FFA lunch. Why not? So I started some sweetrolls as soon as I got in from milking. Then we went through our normal breakfast but I had to take the two younger kids in to school because JW and Luke went in early to pitch. Actually, JW was pitching and Luke was catching. It's basketball season you know....so it's time to wake up early and practice pitching????? It makes sense to them...so I guess it's all good. After breakfast clean up we headed back out to the barn to let the cows out, bed, clean the mangers, put more feed out and let them back in. While I was sweeping I remembered I needed to roll out the dough and make it into sweetrolls so they could have time to rise. I ran in, made up the sweetrolls, put them in a pan and covered them with a damp towel. Back out at the barn, the gutt...

It's a very cool 30 out this morning! Even the coons stayed in their warm nests this morning during chores. Usually they are bold enough to come right out and practically say good morning and put in their order for breakfast. Yesterday the rain came and went. It stayed long enough for harvest to shut down. So the fields will be quiet today and the dealerships and cafes will be filled with farmers. That rain was just in time, I have a Michigan Holstein meeting today and the odds are, most of the board will show up since they can't get in the fields. Better get to sipping my coffee before I head back out to the barn and then to the meeting.

It's cloudy and dare I say...we had snow falling this morning during chores! I'm not that excited about snow yet. I've still got to mow the yard one last time and really, I don't want snow yet. This is a very special day at Four Dot Dairy in Joliet, Montana. The matriarch of that ranch is turning the big 50 today! Yes, my wonderful sister, Virginia Stene is now a half century old! She won't mind me telling her age...in fact, she should be proud of it. She is a beautiful woman who is so accomplished. She has done more in 50 years than most do in a life time. She not only is a stay at home mom of five boys but she has homeschooled her boys and three of them have graduated. She is also a horse breeder and breaks and trains her own horses, she now has a dairy where she retails their milk and besides that she has a homeschool choir, plays the piano at church and does a whole host of other things. I should do a story on her, I could sell that story to any farm ...

The annual Legends of the Fall Sale, managed by the one and only (thank heavens) Burton-Fellers Used Cattle Sales team garnered another great sale at Gloryland Holsteins in Grottoes, Virginia. When the last cow was struck off the sale averaged $14,964 on 68 lots. The high selling consignment was lot 1 sold to David Tait and Lawson Bennett for $150,000. Those are the sketchy details as of right now. Maybe I'll have more later!