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-