when the sun shines

John’s Farm New, 8th edition, Feb 17, 2021

Preface: I had off-the-farm assignments today leaving John to snap pictures of his day. He tried! And, you just know that today there were some unusual sights in the pastures. The problem is that a zoomed in to the max phone camera makes for blurry photos (those that I’ll share) and then some really blurry photos (those that I’ll not share). 

During the night John's Farm received a dusting of snow. The tracks made the last few days by vehicles and cattle were more obscure; seeing this photo made me think of footprints in the sand after a wave passes gently over or tracks in the sand after a wind storm. 

The sun was beaming this morning causing the snow dusted countryside to sparkle like diamonds-in-the-rough. How can it be that when the temperature was creeping upward from zero it almost seemed warm? The livestock noticed, too, as when John arrived on the scene most of them were up, nibbling on hay leftover from yesterday. All but one of the young ones were especially contented, sunbathing it seemed. But the one – he was droopy with head down and seemed to be miserable. John walked him to a pen where the calf was given a dose of probiotic (an organic remedy for tummy ache) and then turned out to join his buddies in the nearby pasture. 

Geese and ducks frequent the farm ponds but a goose, all by his lonesome, meandered with a waddle across the snow-covered wheat field. A couple of cranes made their way around the vacated farm house; one has to wonder what they thought they might find around the old home. (look closely to the right of the house) 

Back at the farm headquarters, John and Josh shoveled snow from in front of the shop and out of the pickup bed. One of the farm trucks needs a motor and, with some luck, one will be available tomorrow which means the lighter weight pickup goes on a road trip and the feed truck heads to the beef cows! There’s a few things on-the-burner for tomorrow – melting ice/snow, checking the calf with the tummy ache, road trip, warming temperature, and hopefully less-common creatures roaming John’s Farm, with the exception of wild pigs – they are officially UN-WELCOMED!