Why Did Old MacDonald Sing?

It has been a busy, hectic week. We have been anxiously waiting for news regarding Farmer Art’s condition after his recent mule melee. The news is good and bad. Art returned home over the weekend after a week in the hospital. He has three broken ribs, a broken left collarbone and a looming date with a cardiac catheter lab. His head injuries have healed to the point that they are not critical. The problem with the collarbone and rib fractures is that they really cannot be immobilized, so every movement is extremely painful. Please continue to pray for Art.

We spoke to Art’s wife Brenda and asked if Art knew what happened. He has no memory of anything that occurred from the time he started messing with the mule until he was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I told Brenda to remind Art that he promised to give us his nicest tractor. It didn’t work. Apparently even after a head injury he would remember that.

Our new flock of four hens has not started laying eggs yet but we do expect them to any day. For motivation we purchased some brown ceramic eggs and placed them in the nesting boxes in the chicken coop. I think this might be the same theory as running the water when you are trying to potty train a toddler, but I’m not sure. As of tonight nothing from the girls, but old John Adams has been practicing his crowing…A LOT. We are very happy that we put thermo pane windows in the coop now because even with the coop all closed up and the windows in the house closed we can still here him. He’s like a concert pianist trying to perfect a concerto. He practices at least eight hours a day. I hope the hens find it endearing or he may be evicted from the commune. He is getting louder but we are concerned that he is spending too much time with the girls. His crow actually tails up at the end as if he’s asking a question or confused. We hope he is not confused about his responsibilities on the farm. A rooster that doesn’t rooster is soup.

Brad and Mia’s cows next door are growing fairly quickly. The plan is to raise them for the rodeo. They will be roped by cowboys a few dozen times and then sent back home. I’m not sure what the long term plans are for them. I think the way you train a roping calf is by sneaking up behind them and whispering “LOOK OUT” or something like that in their ears so that they become overly neurotic and easily spooked. (This works on little sisters also). Then you wave pictures of cowboys and large crowds of spectators in their face while playing loud hard rock music in eight-second intervals. By the time they get let out of the gate at the rodeo they are absolutely crazy and run around at full speed kicking and thrashing. I know this is how they do it because I read it on Wikipedia. We are planning on having a few beef cows in the back pasture in the future but they will be the thick, juicy kind of cows, not the crazy ones.

The Milwaukee goat girls, Laverne and Shirley, have not attempted an escape since their first outing and have become very friendly to all of us. They know how to get Chris to take them for a walk and tie them out where the grass is greener and when Gayle calls the dogs or the cat the girls always answer in unison. They hate to be left out of anything. We will take them on their first date when they reach eighty pounds or so and hopefully the birds and the bees will be working that day.

We are very appreciative of the warmer weather and the longer growing season and still cannot get used to the climatic disparities between Cleveland, Ohio and Mount Ulla, North Carolina. Only an eight hour drive but a world of weather difference. We look forward to our first and probably only snowy day sometime in February, but for now we will have to settle for days like these.