Guess its about that time of year again when the seed catalogues give us hope that winter will eventually end and gardens will grow. This old Lazy Farmer cartoon is classic.

Snowmobiling 1990

Here is a little bit of digitized vhs tape from 1990 featuring me out for a drive on my Kawasaki. Its almost enough to inspire me to try starting the old machine up and going for a drive. Although I know it will involve plenty of rope pulling and priming and even then maybe not getting it to run. The exercise involved trying to start it will keep me warm anyway.
The weather has finally warmed up above the zero (F) point today and it felt warm. A chance to catch up on snow blowing the various parts of the yard I need to drive in and put a couple more hay bales out in the feeders for the cattle. Still keeping that new calf in the shelter although he is getting close to a month old and would likely be fine outside. Still, with the severe wind chills we have had I figured he is better off in the shelter. The cow is co-operative not complaing at having to stay indoors with her calf overnight and then out for the day with the rest of the herd.
Not much excitement on the farm in the cold days of January. At least they are going fast.

Just An Observation

This news story about a huge  snowball fight seemed a little ironic today. Here in Sask. every small town and city is spending a small fortune cleaning up and trucking the snow out of town off the streets. Meanwhile in Seattle they spent a lot of money trucking in some 162,000 pounds of snow to play with.
And what is with blogger lately? It won't let me upload a photo from my files. I have to link to a photo that is already on the net or in an online album of mine.

January 10 2013 Blizzard

Well that is me standing out in a blizzard. First one of 2013 yesterday and it was a good one. Not so good the day after when I see the mountains of snow drifted up against buildings, cattle feeders and places I need to drive. I shoveled a bit today but didn't get too far into it as the wind was still drifting snow and putting it back where I had just moved it from. Out in the open unsheltered spaces the wind has swept right down to hard packed ice surfaces putting most of the snow into the trees and fence lines.
Now the temp has dropped below zero farenheit and wind chill factors are in the dangerous range so I guess I will use that as an excuse to call it a day.

Well it seems I am a little out of step with the rest of the world. Heard a news story today saying that even at today's high food prices, on average 38 percent of all food purchased is thrown out unused. Its a little hard to believe because I don't think I waste even 3 percent of the food I buy. If I don't eat it myself my cats or chickens will. So there must be some people out there that waste more than half their food to come up with an average percentage of 38 percent waste. I guess it is how a person is raised, not to waste. Yet today it seems an outdated concept. I guess food is still too cheap.

In other news, my cattle schedule is a little off too. January is about the worst month of the year for calves to be born outdoors in Sask.. but one of mine showed up yesterday morning. A little early and unexpected but very lucky that the weather was not too cold or miserable. The cow was still a little stunned and not paying too much attention to the calf. Fortunately the calf was strong and knew where to find it's first meal. Today she is a little more interested and I have confined them with panels in the shelter which will be a more comfortable environment for them to spend some quality time bonding .