The Riley Factor #72

The Riley Factor June 26, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, June 26 --
Planting and Plowing -- The hay baler has been transported to Lloyd Vanalstine's for a complete refurbishment.  We'll see how easy it is to find parts for a 50-year old machine.

Riley -- Pick-up 520 -- New game invented by Riley Saturday morning, after he chewed-on a deck of cards.  Dogs-or-Better to open.

The Herd of Five -- First attempt at worming them with Novomectin resulted in Chris being wormed and the cattle laughing to see such sport.  First aid indication on the box says, "If spilled on skin, immediately wash-off thoroughly.  Later, if you feel the urge to moo or eat hay, get to a vet right away."

Fowl Weather -- On Thursday morning, 24 Narragansett Heritage turkey chicks arrived all in good health in a box full of holes, courtesy of the USPS.  Susan says, "They are adorable".  One of the new chicks climbs on a small hay pile in the incubator and sits on it like the emperor on her throne.  The three senior turkeys have taken-up guarding the door to the new chicks' coop.  Beware all those who attempt to pass through this portal.  It turns out that one of the senior three may be a male, having hidden its gender during the period when we had two tom turkeys running the asylum.

The Narragansett Turkey is a heritage breed that was developed by crossing the Eastern Wild Turkey with domestic breeds brought to America by the colonists from England and other parts of Europe.  These are excellent turkeys to raise in free range environments because of their excellent foraging abilities and resourcefulness of eating crickets, grasshoppers and other insects.  It is also enjoyed because of its calm disposition and excellent mothering capabilities.  The good egg production and excellent meat qualities among its other utility traits make it an excellent choice to raise in large or small quantities.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- On Wednesday, Susan saw the world's smallest deer -- about the same size as our late departed Yorkshire Terrier, Jack -- less than two feet tall from hoof to head.  Ephraim arrived Wednesday evening with a ten-ton forklift and loaded the outdoor furnace used by the previous owners onto a flatbed trailer for transport to its new location at Ephraim's house on Tanners Road.  Stevie & Scotty and CJ & Jess will be visiting the NY Compound for Fourth of July weekend.

Quote of the Week -- "In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."  -  Benjamin Franklin

                              

  "You're gonna need a bigger boat." -- Amity Police Chief Brody to Quint, in the wheel-house of the Orca, in Jaws, 1975

The Riley Factor #71

The Riley Factor June 22, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, June 22 --
Planting and Plowing -- The hay is in the barn.  After four days of cutting, tedding, raking and baling,under a very cooperative sunny and dry sky,  252 bales of a blend of timothy, alfalfa, rye and clover were stacked in the barn, and field no. 4 no longer looks like the lawn belonging to your neighbor-who-mows-his-yard-

every-third-Wednesday.

Riley -- Becoming a bit more civilized, the now nearly 10-month-old loves sleeping on the cold stone tile of the kitchen floor.  That and torturing the three cats occupy most of his day.  Along with his daily swims in each pond.

The Herd of Five -- There is yet another addition to the NY compound menagerie -- when we were stacking the hay, Ephraim Blank and Chris saw a large rat scurry across the barn upstairs floor, abandoning one comfortable rat's den for another to be determined.  He looked happy and healthy, with a perfect light gray fur coat.  But he is, after all, a rat.  Where is the Riley when you need him?  No doubt, lounging in the kitchen.

Fowl Weather -- The Keets are hilarious.  They are now weighing-in at about two pounds each, and now bravely venture a bit outside of their coop.  But, they never separate from one another, always seen as a close knit traveling pack of 16, never straying more than an inch or two from their nearest fellow French Guinea hen.  It looks as if they are claw-cuffed to each other by tiny sets of handcuffs, all moving in unison.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Deer are being seen with increasing frequency on most evening drives through the trails, and the wild turkeys have returned, now that the month-of-May turkey hunting season has passed.  The other day, Chris raced one large gobbler from the middle of a hay field to the safety of the woods.  The turkey had to cheat in order to win, moving his point of escape further and further until he could get there before the Ute.  Little bastard -- but don't worry, the month of May will come around again.

Quote of the Week -- "When you think 'Obama', think weak and ineffective".  C Fuchs, April 2009
                                "When you think 'Obama', think incompetent and dishonest.",  C Fuchs, June 2010
                                "People who were duped by the liberal media into voting for Obama because the media was so intent on inflicting Socialism on the American people are now seeing what a bumbling incompetent president that Obama is.", Sean Hannity, June 18, 2010-

The Riley Factor #70

The Riley Factor June 17, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, June 17 -- All is quiet on the Western Front, in Middle-of-Nowhere.  Much sun, a little rain, beautiful days.
Planting and Plowing -- Spring mowings of fields & trails done.  The hay experiment continues, with a first cutting scheduled for this afternoon.  (Making hay requires several steps and 3-4 consecutive days of zero rain.  First the cutting, then fluffing, called tedding, perhaps more tedding, then raking, and finally baling.  If the hay is baled when wet, mold occurs.  If baled before drying-out internally, the hay may spontaneously combust after sitting in the barn for a while.)

Riley -- Went missing for 15 minutes on Tuesday.  Found across Cherry Valley Road, near Lloyd Vanalstine's place -- bad idea to venture across NY Highway 163.  The golden boy will need some more discipline.

The Herd of Five -- Happy, healthy and wandering around the pasture.  Each still receiving good night kisses daily from Susan.

Fowl Weather -- The three senior turkeys are becoming more and more needy.  They love to be with their Queen, Her Majesty Susan, for daily discussions and petting.  The 75 new black Jersey Giant chicks are developing nicely.  The 16 French Guinea Hens (Keets) are barely a month old and are the size of pheasants.  Although their door has been left open daily recently, they have not yet ventured outside of the barn.  Twenty turkey chicks to be shipped next week.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Ephraim Blank will be in the house next week, helping with the haying and cutting some firewood, along with doing a bit of welding.

Quote of the Week -- "Without imperfection, neither you or I would exist." -- Stephen Hawking

The Riley Factor #69

The Riley Factor June 13, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, June 13 --
Planting and Plowing -- Approaching the end of planting -- Australian Butter squash, rosa blanca eggplants, butternut squash, some herbs and another 50 tobacco plants went into the ground over the weekend.  The potatoes planted last week are all bursting up onto the scene, along with the navy beans.

Riley -- The Golden Boy's newest favorite activity of the day is playing with the steers.  The Herd of Five is frequently now a herd of six as Riley endeavors to get into the head-butting game.  So far, his quickness makes up for his giving-up 100 to 500 pounds to his combatants.  Although, he may be one hind leg kick away from becoming an astronaut.

The Herd of Five -- Zeke (the youngest, born February 13, about 150-200 pounds now) suffered some sort of war wound on Saturday, bleeding from his right rump from a piercing of sorts.  A bit of colloidal silver from Dr. Susan and an order of stall-rest and the patient was cured.

Fowl Weather -- One of the senior turkeys (the one that spent a night missing last week) has adopted the role of perimeter warden.  Dawn to dusk, alone, she patrols the street front, yard and barn yard, and assumes her post in the front of the barn, right at the door, squawking an alarm whenever some large being or chicken is present.  Susan corals her to move her occasionally, but when she stubbornly refuses to move she will sit down and stay fixed (the turkey, not Susan).  A bit of a mystery.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Deer Sighting Season erupted with energy and quantities.  We saw five deer Saturday afternoon and evening, all does, one at a time each at five different points here and there.

Tales from Freysbush Garage -- What could be a better story than spending 18 years building an airplane in the second story of a building with no external doors, stairs or ramps leading to that floor?  How about building a submarine and sailing (?) it down the Erie Canal from Fort Plain to Buffalo?  Credit (again) Leon Douglas with this amazing feat. Of course, no photos exist of the underwater voyage.  We won't even bother regaling you with the tale of his installing a V-8 engine in a 1970 Volkswagen Beetle -- pales by comparison.

Quote of the Week -- One of our favorites ... a classic ... "All man's troubles come from being unable to sit in a room alone and do nothing." ... Blaise Pascal, French mathematician and philosopher.

The Riley Factor #68

The Riley Factor June 10, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, June 10 --
Planting and Plowing --We are preparing for our first attempt at making hay.  No, really, that's what it is called when you spend the requisite three days mowing, drying, raking and baling the coveted livestock food.  Update to follow.

Riley's Antics -- High speed racing around and through large mud puddles is the favorite Golden activity of the week.

The Herd of Five -- Moo.  Much chest bumping and head banging -- their idea of fun.  Size doesn't appear to matter, as Zeke (150 pounds) gets into it with Gabe (600 pounds) and anyone (Michael, Raphael, Ari, each 450-500 pounds) in between.  Susan and her band of Amish sisters cleaned-out the entire barn Wednesday morning.  "Now it's so clean", commented Susan, "that the chickens and turkeys don't want to hang out in there any more.  They head for outside as soon as the doors are opened in the morning".

Fowl Weather -- The Keets are now flying, and running at high speed around their stall, and the barn when one escapes, which happens on a daily basis.  Only a little while before the next phase of this experiment arrives -- releasing them to roam freely around the place and wherever else they are inclined.  Separately, it turns out that the reason one of the three senior turkeys roams so widely is to lay her eggs out of the reach of the chickens, who peck them into scramblers, if given the opportunity.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Recently, we had our closest encounter with a deer.  Chris took a shortcut on a little used trail while racing Susan and after making the turn back on to a main trail was 20 feet from a large doe, just standing there looking at her new favorite human.  After a few seconds of study, she trotted back into the brush.

Tales from Freysbush Garage -- Leon Douglas has run Freysbush Garage ever since he dropped out of the sixth grade over 50 years ago.  Cash only, and be ready to go to the auto parts store to buy whatever parts Leon needs to fix whatever you brought him to fix.  Recently, I have made the trip to Fisher's Auto Parts in Fort Plain to get brakes all-around and a horn for the Jeep, and a water pump and serpentine belt for the Xterra.  I could recognize about half of those items if they were laying on a table in front of me.  Leon is the local mechanic and a great guy, very talkative whenever we are there for something or other.  Freysbush Garage is halfway between our place and Downtown Fort Plain (remember, don't blink), about three miles away, on the corner of Cherry Valley Road and Nestle Road.  The business is located in a green and black two-story building, formerly a house, covered in asphalt shingles that were applied back just after asphalt was invented.  Leon lives about 200 yards down Nestle Road and walks to and from work twice each day, including the trip home for lunch with his wife. The Garage has no employees, other than Leon, although there is a helper there some days, who provides conversation for Leon -- unclear what else the helper actually does.  Leon stories abound.  The tale of Leon's installation of his car lift 18 years ago is a good one -- which involved a couple of neighbors, three tractors, and several days of digging and cursing.  One of my favorite Leon stories is about the airplane he once built.on the second story of the building.  A full-size two-seater with plush deep button leather seats, polished wooden dash and beautiful crimson paint job.  He spent 18 years on the project.  When it was done, it sat fully assembled on the second floor of a building with no external doors, ramps or stairs.  Once the plane was on the ground at some landing strip (still a mystery or two there) he flew it once and sold is for $36,000.  Next time's story >>> the submarine.

Quote of the Week -- "Am I the only  guy in this country who's fed up with  what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage  with this so called president? We should be  screaming bloody murder! We've got a gang of tax  cheating, clueless leftists trying to steer our  ship of state right over a cliff, we've got  corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we  can't even run a ridiculous cash-for-clunkers  program without losing $26 billion of the  taxpayers' money, much less build a hybrid car.  But instead of getting mad, everyone sits  around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Trust me the economy is  getting better." -- Lee Iococca, in his new book, Where have All the Leaders Gone?

The Riley Factor #67

The Riley Factor June 6, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, June 6 -- Planting and Plowing -- The planting and plowing is done for this spring.  In the fields are an acre each of barley, oats, buckwheat and rye, each destined mostly for animnal feed, but some for baking flour.  Also from last fall are four acres of hard red winter wheat and an acre of semolina (soft white wheat).  There are also 20 rows of corn and 13 rows of soybeans in field no. 1.  And  around the greenhouse in the garden are 100 tomatoes, 200 hills of potatoes (Yukon Gold, Red Cloud, Swedish Peanut Fingerlings and Russian Banana), 75 peppers (various types), 75 cucumbers, various herbs.  In the raised beds are lettuce, sweet potatoes, green beans, navy beans, broccoli, cabbage, onions, and some other stuff.  Still growing in the greenhouse are the two lemon trees, two lime trees, two olive trees, lufa gourds, some watermelons, a few cucumber and some other long forgotten and unlabeled stuff.

Riley's Antics -- Riley sustained a minor abrasion Thursday, while riding in the back of the Ute -- trail brush whacked him in that long Golden Retriever snout.  He took it like a man/dog, with no whimpering as the golden blood dripped from his noggin.  On Sunday, he found some sort of egg somewhere -- looked like it might be a turkey egg -- and he carried it round for an hour or two before succumbing to dog hunger and eating it raw.   Yum.  (Or yuk).  At 100 pounds more or less, the nine-month old still thinks he is a lap dog.  Can you say "ouch"?

The Herd of Five -- The Fearsome Fivesome have become less cooperative lately at dinnertime, requiring a rodeo round-up of sorts (which they seem to thoroughly enjoy) to get them back into the barn.  Susan normally mounts an ATV, as the herd runs for the other side of Rock Creek, and chases them around the pasture a bit before they eventually make it to and through the barn door.

Fowl Weather -- The newest shipment of 20 Jersey Giant Chicken chicks (which should have been Narragansett Turkey chicks) are becoming accustomed to their new surroundings, although it's tough to tell a complaining 'peep' from a 'we love this, you people rock' peep.  Although one newbie was overheard saying, "This Fort Plain place is much better than our last flea bag of a chicken coop -- now we're living the turkey life, in style.  Hope that the humans don't find out that we're chickens, not turkeys."  Brownie, the newly-coined name for the senior turkey that spent an unauthorized night away from the farm last week, has taken to wide wandering during the days.  Her two sisters spend the days calling and searching for her, but it usually takes a Susan Search to locate the happy wanderer.  Saturday, two cars beep-beeped her out of the middle of Cherry Valley Road, after which we had to go get her and turn her around from what looked like the beginning of a stroll to the Village of Ames.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods-- Friday morning, we cut down 25 poplar trees in the woods next to the north trail by the fourth field.  Left to lie in the summer sun, they'll be good fire wood by this fall.  We have started seeing deer most days while out riding the trails.  So far, all doe, with perhaps a fawn or two.  And with the May 31 end to turkey hunting season, we have started seeing more wild turkeys running around the fields. And finally, there is no truth to the rumor, well maybe a little truth, well might be sort of indicative of what might have happened, if it ever did happen, of which there is no proof, well no remaining proof, and no witnesses, and no driver admission, that Chris crashed one of the tractors through the fence again.  A 'not guilty' plea was entered for the defendant.

The Riley Factor #66

The Riley Factor June 3, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, June 3 --

Planting and Plowing -- Mowing continued throughout the week in the trails and fields.  With 13 straight days of sun, 80-90 degree temps and no rain, everything was dry as dust before Tuesday's rain.  Wednesday was perfect for planting and Susan and the Amish trio (Annie, Barb and Lizzie) transplanted about 100 tomato plants and 100 peppers from the greenhouse into the garden, along with some herbs (basil, cilantro, dill, etc,) and other veggies.

Riley's Antics -- Riley has taken to following Chris around when they are both outside during the day, around the yard and barns.  Riley always manages to get close enough to the pond for a splash and swim -- those webbed feet still work like canoe paddles for him.  He frequently stops and sits in two-feet-deep water with only eyes and top of head showing -- must be his alligator impression.  Not very menacing.

The Herd of Five -- Definitely insiders when the temps are above 75, venturing into the pasture only in late afternoon and evening.  No more nighttime escapes to report.  When we are in the pasture, we now have to take vehicle keys with us, as Gabe and Eli have taken to removing the keys from the ignitions and leaving them dropped hide-and-seek fashion in the grass (so far, nearby).

Fowl Weatherr -- On Monday, the tall white pole pine in the pasture contributed 14 more fallen limbs, and roosts were made for the Keets and the Jersey Giant chicks.  All are now happily roosting in their respective stalls in the barn, their coops, and able to sit at their chosen height in order to regulate their body temperature.  Prior to the installation of their new furniture, the new chicks had been running and jumping around like little maniacs, trying to get closer to the sky.  Now, they are at peace.  However, all the Keets and Jersey chicks have created one method or another of escaping their coops.  We routinely find a few strolling the main aisle in the barn.  The Keets are a tightly wound bunch, keeping within a half inch of each other whenever humans are in the vicinity.  The Jerseys run for their lives whenever we get within 10 feet of them -- 50 tiny black dots scrambling in all directions while peeping their heads off.  Actually, they look like very tiny penguins, being played at 78 when they are really a 33 LP.  (At least half of The Riley Factor readership has no idea to what that refers).  Wednesday night, one of the turkeys went out on an unauthorized overnight stroll -- went missing about 7PM and our evening search was fruitless.  But from the world of happy endings, as we left the barn at about 8AM Thursday, the missing link was running happily toward us across the back yard, soaking wet and completely mud covered -- no longer a bright white Domestic American Turkey, but looking more like she was camouflaged returning from a week-long sniper mission in the jungles of Southeast Asia.  And lastly, a peeping box with air holes in it arrived from the Post Office on Thursday morning, filled with 20 Narragansett Turkey chicks -- another 20 birds all to behave well but act very nervously around the Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter holidays.

Mowings and Musings -- Susan spent Tuesday afternoon re-landscaping the side of the main barn -- bucket loader and tractor under saddle.  Looks great -- no one would ever suspect the septic tank exploded a month ago.  But, Wednesday morning, two chickens were seen teaching two turkeys how to dig nests in the just seeded earth -- what's the deal with that?  New sighting -- while rolling around the place on Tuesday evening's ATV run, we came across a 10-12 inch snapping turtle in the road above the fourth field.  He looked happy enough, but we stayed outside of snapping distance.  10 and 10 each, OK, moving on.