The Riley Factor #83

The Riley Factor Fort Plain, NY
October 4, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Planting and Plowing -- Susan spent Monday and Tuesday rototilling the first field and planting the winter wheat -- two acres of white semolina and an acre and a half of hard red.  Added 400 pounds of triple-15 fertilizer per acre, so the wheat will require virtually no attention until it is ready for combining next August.  Result next summer should be three to four tons of wheat.  We took this year's wheat to a grain house down the road and they cleaned the wheat and put it in stiched 60-pound bags - now all stacked in the barn for use.  We also put down 100 pounds per acre of the fertilizer on the 15 acres of hay fields, so those are all set for winter.

Riley -- Riley made a new friend this past weekend with Paisley, a year-and-a-half old Jack Russell Terrier/Beagle mix, owned by Samantha, one of CJ's friends.  CJ and peeps, James, Brooksie, Samantha and Alex, were in town for a 3k warrier road race that had a dozen or so obstacles on the cross country course, including were such stations such as running through fire, crossing a 5-foot deep water hole, crawling in mud under barbed wire, etc.  All survived and finished the course.  This weekend through tomorrow, the identical twins, Barbara and Betty, along with Betty's 84 year old 'boyfriend' Larry, are spending a few days visiting.

The Herd of Five -- The steers have a new habit -- they have refined their palates and when they leave the barn in the morning they stop, look up at the second floor hay door and moo until Susan drops a bale of the recently baled second cutting hay.

Fowl Weather -- Inexplicably, one of the 23 turkeys was found dead in the coop last Saturday morning.  We rounded-up the usual suspects and threatened the rubber hose treatment, but concluded natural causes was the culprit.  The remaining 22 Narragansetts are roaming free along with the 17 red RI/Cornish hens and the 31 black Jersey Giant chickens.  The turkeys have become accustomed to heights, spending time each day in the workshop over the garage and in the rafters over the top floor in the barn.  Plenty of turkey pooping is involved.  The Jersey Giants, now about four months old, are just starting to lay eggs.  Late breaking story: one turkey took-on a vehicle on route.  Result: now 21 turkeys are roaming freely ...

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- Susan and her friend Annie canned 13 gallons of grape juice on Wednesday -- made from three bushels of concord grapes.

Quotes of the Week -- All from the late, great Vince Lombardi (1913-1970), over the years --

  Fatigue makes cowards of us all.

  I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.

  If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?

  If you can accept losing, you can't win.

  It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up.

  Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.

  Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.

  Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser.

  The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.

  The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.

  The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.

  The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

  The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.

  Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything.

NFL Update -- The Packers are back where they rightfully should be, in first place (tied with Da Bears) in the NFC Central Division.  The Patriots are no doubt heading for a train wreck in Miami, on tonight's Monday Night Football.  This just in -- Aaron Rodgers is certainly one of the top three quarterbacks in the NFL -- no room for Peytonn Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees to join Rodgers in that Exclusive Club -- you pick the other two.