The Riley Factor
Fort Plain, NY
September 20, 2011, Issue No. 108
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)
Fort Plain, NY
September 20, 2011, Issue No. 108
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit-to-print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)
Riley -- Happy Birthday Riley ... who turned two years old on September 3. Riley was born in South Dakota on September 3, 2009, and was acquired by CJ at a pet store in Braintree, MA, when Riley was 12 weeks old. The rest is history. On one recent morning, from another room where she was sweeping the floor, Susan shouted-out, "Riley, if you're out there in the other room shedding, I'm going to shave your ass." I said back, "Well, you have two choices, he's either shedding or chewing." Susan replied, "Riley, I'm going to have your teeth pulled too."
Tales from the Amish Auction -- We went to the annual fall consignment auction at the Mohawk Valley Produce Auction site, run to benefit Amish medical expenses. The second item offered for sale was a white cardboard box about a foot square. The auctioneer yelled to his helpers, "Open the box!", and out flew a large white chicken. The next 10 minutes were spent watching 10 Amish boys run around trying to catch the world's fastest chicken. Unfortunately, the Amish are not big fans of America's Funniest Videos, so no one was around to capture the hilarity on tape. For those interested in Chicken Auctioning, there was a second chicken in the box, and the pair sold for $5.50.
Tales from the Amish Social Calendar -- Susan planned to attend an Amish bridal shower on September 8, for Annie Kanagy Jr., who is engaged to marry Aaron Miller (wedding planned for November 1), but the torrential rains and local flooding caused postponement of the shower. Susan did not fully appreciate my humor when I said, "So, you and your Amish buds will have to delay partying like it's 1899".
Planting and Plowing -- Fall farming season is arriving. We recently baled the straw that remained from the combining of the wheat and oats, for use as animal stall bedding. And on the last official day of summer, we baled 213 bales of second cutting hay. Now, we are debating whether to plant winter wheat and oats for harvesting next summer, or wait until spring to do the planting. In any event, we will soon plow or rototill the fields.
And They're Off -- Apples, apples everywhere this year - huge difference from 2010, when a late spring hard frost killed-off about 80% of the apple crop in these parts. Horses whinny and stomp around for apples every day now. And the steer are not far behind. All would eat apples non-stop, if allowed. We limit them to a few apples each per day. And this >>> Recently, one morning at about 8AM, there was a knock on the door. A passer-by was reporting that Lady was wandering around the pasture with the hay feeder stuck on her head. The hay feeder is a 40-pound wooden structure about four feet long, three feet high and two feet wide (think wooden bath tub on 12-inch legs), into which a bale or two of hay is placed daily for the animals to eat. The horses and steer frequently knock it around or over when it is empty, but it has never drifted more than a few feet from its appointed location next to the barn until Lady decided to make a head-wear fashion statement. At least this is better than the story I heard last week, where a cow stuck her 11-inch head into a 10-inch culvert pipe, and the owner had to spend a half hour's labor and three pounds of butter to free the animal.
The Herd of Three -- Moo, eat, moo, eat, drink, clamor for apples, poop, repeat. The bovine life is a simple one. Developing into connoisseurs, they love the McIntosh and red delicious apples, but routinely reject the yellow pear apples. Not possessing any biting teeth, cows must be fed apples that are small enough to fit entirely in their mouths.
Mowings, Musings and the Woods -- Deer have been very scarce this summer. We rarely see any. Same for the wild turkeys. Two nights in a row, however, we did hear a pack of coyotes running around the field across the street and in our pasture. With our horses and steer spending nights outside the barn lately, the coyotes don't linger in the pasture for long - but they do love to howl and yip.
Fowl Weather -- The turkeys are growing like weeds, having moved-up from their July 12 hatchings to their current size, each roughly the size of a small chicken. The chicken chicks, who were all hatched on or around July 1, are also growing well, each now about 2/3rds the size of a full-grown chicken.
Visitors -- Quiet times as fall approaches. Those inseparable identical twins, Barbara and Betty, stopped-in for a little barbecue on Labor Day. And fully recovered from his recent bout with mononucleosis, CJ spent most of a mid-September vacation week here at The Compound. On his first day, we baled about 120 bales of straw, left in the fields from the recent wheat and oats combining. A few of the bales were a bit damp and therefore heavy, some as much as 60-70 pounds vs. 30-40 pounds or so for the dry bales, and after they were all stacked in the barn, CJ exclaimed in an unguarded moment, "I'm beat. Your retirement is harder than most people's work."
Blog -- The Riley Factor's official blog site is located at http://the-riley-factor.
Quote of the Month --
No day shall erase you from the memory of time. -- 9/11 Memorial
Facts of the Month --
Commentaries of the Month --
The Democrats are the party of welfare, higher taxes, spending and debt. A year from now, as the presidential election approaches, the Democrat Party will be on its way out. -- Stuart Varney, FOX Business Channel, September 2, 2011
The Environmental Protection Agency has become the Environmental Punishment Agency. It has scrapped its environmental role in order to push its own political agenda. -- Steve Forbes
Polls? ... Naaah ... Polls are for strippers and cross country skiers. -- Sarah Palin
Only the free market can create prosperity ... not government-backed loans or government subsidies. -- Andrew Napolitano
No man is wealthy enough to buy back his past. -- Oscar Wilde
'Community Organizer' is just today's politically correct term for 'Socialist'.
NFL --
Opening day ... September 8 ... Green Bay Packers 42, New Orleans Saints 34
September 18 ... Packers 30, Carolina Panthers 23
NFL's Most Valuable Franchises (Forbes Magazine):
1. Dallas Cowboys $1.85 billion
2. Washington redskins $1.55
3. New England Patriots $1.40
4. New York Giants $1.30
5. New York Jets $1.22
6, Houston Texans $1.20
7. Philadelphia Eagles $1.16
8. Chicago Bears $1.09
9. Green Bay Packers $1.08
10.Baltimore Ravens $1.08
All 32 NFL franchises are included on the list of the most valuable 50 sports franchises in the world. The average value of an NFL team is $1.04 billion, and, on average, an NFL team currently has annual revenue of $265 million and makes an operating income profit of $30.6 million per year.
And Then There's This --
Susan and I were out for dinner the other evening at the Sprout Brook Country Store, which includes a small restaurant - to get a mental picture, we call the place Hooterville (think Uncle Joe, Sam Drucker, Mr. Haney, Oliver and Lisa Douglas, Billy-Jo, Bobby-Jo and Betty-Jo; not Hooters). On the wall was proudly hanging a sign that read,"The menu has two choices, Take It or Leave It."
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