I have been watching The Poll and so far the winning group is 8 or 9 piglets. What do you think of that Charlotte?
“Trying not to think about it miss c. Now tell the barn flock to stop staring at Tui on the nest, they are staring too loudly. I need sleep!”
Oh? Oh. Everyone is staring at Tui. But now look below. Later there were two peahens on the eggs. Tomorrow when they get off for a break I shall remove a few and pop them under a chicken. Goodness! Danger of breakage.
These two peaheans are inseperable.
Daisy, who has been milking for exactly a year now (pictures of the birth of The Bobby here) has at last transitioned to once a day milking. Her production needs to drop a little more then I will dry her up. So far so good! I will miss the milk dreadfully but a break from the milking will be nice. What would be perfect is if she is bred and then it will be only nine months without milk. Though nine months seems an awfully long time.
Soon she can go back to eating as much as she likes of this…
and this.
To encourage her to drop another gallon she is eating this..
In Pats Paddock.
Blue is being a good boy. And has earned his blue belt collar.
Good morning. This morning we pour the concrete for the recycled glass house. It will have a heated floor too. It is quite small and will be built later in the year. Just the concrete and the plumbing for the moment. We don’t have to actually start using it until the winter.
Do you remember that we are going up into the Rocky mountains for a wedding July 4th. You and I. Pencil it into your calenders. I will be flying into Calgary. I will need to watch the weather up there carefully, will it be cold up there? I have never been there before.
Have a lovely day.
Tomorrow we are taking you on a wee road trip. We are very close to Route 66 so we are going to find some local Route 66 service stations. I have quite a collection of images already. Here are a few. I am not as interested in the shots of prettied up old gas stations. I like the dilapidated, abandoned, broken down ones. I think they say more about the progression of History at speed that one can see travelling along American roads.
Route 66 was actually commissioned in the 2o’s and officially finished if you like in 1937. Basically they collected a whole lot of existing roads and linked them all up from Chicago to Santa Monica (LA). The roads were made of concrete and had two double lanes running in each direction with a strip of grass in between. Many of them still exist but with big no trespassing signs on them. I will find one for you tomorrow so you can see what I mean. As I remember it some States lobbied to be included in Route 66 so the road veers to and fro through as many states as possible on the way. I have a 1962 Atlas with the original road on it. I will dig it out before tomorrow.
Now, Route 66 is just fragments – left to grow weeds, replaced by the interstate which by passed most of the Route 66 small towns effectively closing many of the little service towns. Later many of the financially strapped towns opted to widen and pave one of the lanes into two laned country road, so you drive along a well maintained road with the curious ghost from the past road running along beside you. We drove along as much Route 66 as we could find from Chicago to LA a few years ago and it was lesson, though after going through so many dying towns I am not sure what the lesson was. But it is a sad one. The Boom was over by the late 70’s. By 1985 Route 66 was officially decommissioned though already the interstate had stolen most of its traffic and the gas stations and movie theaters were closing. (I also have a small collection of movie theaters… they are harder to get inside.)
Things change. I shall collect a few interesting facts for you (probably a good idea to get out the books instead of relying on my memory) and take you out onto Route 66 tomorrow and we will see what we will see.
Being a recent immigrant in this country, one of the things that strikes me about America’s history is the fast pace at which it is played out. The first immigrants must have been a deeply determined and forceful bunch and this foot to the floor trait has flowed down through the generations. I am quite happy to live at a reduced pace out here on the Farmy. Speaking of which I had better get dressed and get to work. I don’t milk in the mornings now, but there is still plenty to do!
Have a lovely day.
your friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
56 responses to “Hope you are right!”
I cannot wait for a road trip. I far prefer the dilapidated buildings, too. Far more character.
absolutely, the prettied up ones look so .well… pretty! c
I love the trip you are gong to take today 🙂
Have fun and also at the wedding and give a kiss to your pig and cow they some LOVE
I leave for canada on July 4th so you have time to pick out your frock! Route 66 might take a couple of days – we are pouring concrete today! But by the day after tomorrow I will have a page up for you! c
awesome!
his is a few from a wedding I was asked to shoot
http://nutsfortreasure.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/they-eloped-and-invited-me/
Can’t wait to see your stories
Enjoy your road trip today C! I’ve always wanted to drive Route 66. We’ve done bits and pieces, but perhaps one day we’ll do the whole thing. Looking forward to seeing your pics from the Rockies too. It is stunning up that way!
The whole thing is actually interminably boring and mostly on the interstate, with wonderful hits when you actually discover a bit of route 66, but most of it is gone. It is more of an idea than a reality as far as driving the Mother Road right across. You can find the odd motel though, we stayed in original motels but even those are few and far between and pretty rough most of them.. c
Route 66 is so mythic that it’s made more than it actually is. When I was about 10-years-old, we went on a road trip during the summer months and travelled it a considerable distant. As a 10-year-old, I found it exhaustingly boring, and read Gone with the Wind twice (whilst car sick). But the memories of that time I recall clearly, and I think that’s what Route 66 is all about: the memories of people who travelled it looking for something better than they knew.
Good morning, c, and all the best to the farmy on this lovely sunny Saturday.
That is some pig! Here is a Route 66 song for you
although i cannot watch utube out here with the dreadful internet connection here, eha opened it for me and I do love that version! c
Looking forward to the Route 66 photos–and the wedding ones too. Calgary is a great town, but hope you have time to see Banff while you’re there. Weather should be pretty nice.
We will be up in Canmore, i hear it is very beautiful.. c
Ooh, ots to look forward to, piglets, weddings, weaning off milking and a road trip 🙂 Oops, almost forgot the pea chicks (what are they really called, I think i made that up)?!
pea chicks is exactly right.. c
I was inadvertently clever 😉
I chose 9 piglets for Charlotte as our Effie had that many first time around. 12 the second. Our other pig, Flora, had six 1st time but she was smaller. Charlotte strikes me as a strapping lassie like our Eff was!
Christine
I hate long car journeys, but have always had that romantic image of Route 66, and thought it was still there.. I hope Daisy takes to the new milking regime, and that all your plans work out well for you. Have a lovely weekend and I look forward to the pictures.
Love, Viv x
You and my daughter! she read The Help for the first half and another fat book for the second! c
I look forward to the Route 66 tour: everyone I know knows the song line, “Get your kicks on Route 66.” I don’t think I’ve ever been on any of it.
Look forward to what you will show in the future…enjoy route 66 and take lots of photos I’ll never get there…
I still think they should be called Chick Peas, especially if they are being raised by the chooks or at least sat upon by them! 🙂 Can’t wait to see the photos of some of Route 66…I don’t think I have ever been on any of it, even with all the road trips we have taken back and forth to the midwest.
Will Queen Charlotte let you feel her tummy and if so can you feel any of the wee piglets moving around? Maybe you could count them, that way! 🙂
She does not mind a tummy rib but I have never really felt anything, and chick-peas is fantastic, so they are re-named! c
Enjoyed going back a year to see Bobbie Blanc’s birth. Haven’t seen him for a long while. Has he gone to the abbottoire?
Enjoyed the old gas stations. Quite artful, poetic, poignant statements.
Bobbie is still munching in the fields, he has a summer to go yet.. c
Oh, Celi, you know how much I would love to accompany you and Our John on that Route 66 journey. It’s exactly my kind of adventure. Can’t wait to see what you discover. Enjoy.
BTW, that last photo today of Blue’s blue collar is glorious with that fabulous light and the angle leading my eye into the image. Love it.
I love that one too Audrey, he was desperate to move.. c
Oh Darn, Darn, Darn! I’ll be in Calgary late June for 4 days but back in Vancouver and probably already off to England by July. Would so have wanted to find you and give you a big hug! 🙂 Next time. 🙂
Oh Veronica what bad luck, that would have been such fun, we could have met on a mountain! c