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A special visitor….
We welcome quite a few visitors to Thistle Hill, but mostly they’re looking for a bull or heifer or curious about where their meat is raised. Unique then to have a guest who just wanted to get into a tractor. But what an interesting guest! He’s Rev. Hayden Vaverfek, who grew up on a farm in Michigan and fondly remembers the little red Farmall. Father Hayden had no problem taking over the controls of our big Deere and tooling around the pasture. But the interesting part: the padre’s assignment is to help Catholic churches in the Mideast. As you know, Christians have been subjected to everything from prejudice to brutality and execution…
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On top of the world….
….a picture of our granddaughter, Marion, exuberant at the view of the Rockies from her summer camp. I think this captures perfectly the joy in being young, alive and confident of a limitless future. Just thought I’d share the feeling with you….hope you’re not so old that you no longer get it.
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Glad that’s over….
We were without electric service the past several days thanks to a lightning storm that was the most spectacular display I can ever remember, at least over land. (A few crossing the Atlantic in my flying days were probably about the same.) But this storm came rolling over the Blue Ridge with a magnificent fury, the sky constantly illuminated with uninterrupted lightning across the horizon. I should have gone to the pump house and cranked up the generator but it was time for bed and, as our guests will tell you, nothing interferes with my bedtime. First thing in the morning we were greeted not only with the power failure…
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Whistle while you work….
You wouldn’t think that, with a name like Thistle Hill, we’d be making war on thistles. But this is grandson, Church, on summer break, practicing his back-swing for tennis. That’s what we tell him anyway. Actually thistles, which blanketed the farm 10 years ago, have virtually disappeared, particularly in the pastures where we practice mob grazing. This is the field where we keep young bulls and it is set-stocked. And, of course, we don’t use herbicides for weed control. Bad for the tennis game. It’s great having Church here for the summer. He’s all “growed” and can out-work me. (He carries four mineral bags at a time; I lift one, and…
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It’s my blog….
…and I’ll post what I want to (with apologies to Leslie Gore) *. As threatened, here is great-grandson Rowan’s first birthday party. And his first Deere. At least this one we can afford. A busy day today with the new calves: tattoo-ing, dehorning, and moving to their new pastures and getting acquainted with their new herd mates. * unless Wooz says take it down.
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BULLETIN: We beat the bureaucrats!
It was a powerful demonstration of the new so-called “social media” at work. I’ve never seen such a push back as the ag community staged against the proposed Obama rule that would have prevented kids from doing chores around the farm. We reported on the proposal (see below: I’m from the government…) as did every other blog I read and apparently Washington was buried in an avalanche of protests. The Labor department has pulled back its plan and—more importantly—has even guaranteed it will not be resurrected during this Administration. The bureaucrats have a way of getting whatever they want on most issues by coming back until the opposition is finally worn…
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We’re off to the races….
Once again this year we were one of the sponsors of the Old Dominion Hunt’s point-to-point races. This time though we had something else on the menu besides food, drink and run. Thanks to great friends we raffled off some prizes to benefit the Wounded Warriors Project. Wooz and I and Church and Barbara are pleased to report we raised $3,534 for this good cause. We particularly want to thank the owners of the Black Horse Inn, who contributed a stay at their fine inn. The other prizes were a massage from Renata Shields of Orlean, spice packages from Tolsons Appliance Center and, of course, meat from Thistle Hill. Among the guests…
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Turkey Bowl VI…
Our annual Turkey Bowl has become a fixture of our family weekend. And the play has improved each year, mostly because our grandchildren have moved up to high school and college. Grandpa, in the center, has also moved up to great-grandpa and has been assigned a more limited role to a few plays as nose guard and center. This is a recognition not of his skill but his singular lack of mobility. Son-in-law Paul, the quarterback of our team, is the prime force in organizing the game and always has a few trick plays up his sleeve, which insure that our team will continue its losing streak. We were further set back…