Aug. 13, 2006 ~ Farm stuff
Looks like we have a whole family of armadillos. Unless I'm mistaken, they have decided to exact their revenge (for the loss of their brethren) upon us by tearing up every bit of our yard. Did I mention that our house sits in the middle of some sixty acres, and those sixty acres are surrounded by many more acres of woods? Do you think the rampaging armadillos could possibly snack elsewhere, on any one of those other acres? You might think so, but you would be mistaken. Little boogers are back, and with a vengeance. Husband has been diligently filling in the holes they have dug up, and there is a lot of filling to do. We both go out every night before bedtime, looking in the yard and nearby pasture for the varmints. They are probably all holed up somewhere, snickering - maybe roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, a real family event - just waiting for us to turn out the lights and go to sleep. Then the fun begins, at least for them. Do they hide and watch us in the morning, as ugly words fly from our lips when we step in the holes in our yard? Does that make them smile? Do armadillos even smile?
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Have you bought hair color lately? If you are a guy, maybe not, but if you are a woman of a certain age, perhaps you have. Or at least you know someone who has. At your local wally world, there are approximately twelve thousand varieties from which to choose. Husband did the shopping yesterday, and he bravely volunteered to purchase my hair color. Knowing the challenge he faced, I found the product online and was able to print out a picture of the box for him. He found it with relative ease. He's a really good husband!
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From an article in the Dallas Morning News...
In New York, "the Baked Apple" sweltered in 100-degree temperatures this week.
Washington, D.C., "sizzled through a withering heat wave." And in Chicago, "merciless temperatures" created "a summer steam bath."
Down here in Texas, we call it "August."
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That we do, but it's still not fun for us, and I'm sorry that others are experiencing this, too.
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Yesterday I read that this year is Texas' worst year ever for agriculture. Well, um, yes. It certainly looks that way. It's a bad year which followed several bad years and it's just all-around bad. Bad, bad, bad. That sums it up. Cattle sales are up. Cattle theft is way up. Thin cattle are everywhere you look. That's if you see any cattle at all. Most people have thinned their herds or sold out completely. We're hanging on for one more year. I believe that our state is the largest producer of cattle in the country. And with the huge sales of cattle at cheap prices, it is reasonable to guess that you SHOULD see supermarket beef prices go down some, maybe in the next year or so. But after that, watch out. Because Texas farmers and ranchers won't have nearly as many animals to sell next year. So the price should go up. Supply and demand.
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We had two inches of rain, two weeks ago. Things greened up and we had a little grass for a few days. Last week we were lucky enough to received one of the few "scattered showers." A tenth of an inch. The hay meadow grass looked greener and plumper for a couple of days. By yesterday it was dried out again, looking for all the world like hay instead of grass. The cows are in that meadow now, grazing only in the shade. That's the only place where the grass still looks edible, and the animals are also hot. Poor babies.
We did have a pretty black baldy heifer calf born this week. She's got a black body and a solid white face. New calves' colors are intense, because they are so factory-fresh. No dirt or dust or fading has affected the color of their coats. She's a pretty thing. Under other circumstances we would probably keep her.
Not this year, though.
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