Crazy Monday With Vicki Hinders

I would like you all to meet my favorite person and good friend Vicki.  I invited her to do a guest spot on my blog because being a country vet tech I knew she'd have at least ONE super funny story for me.   

I wasn't disappointed.

For some, she may look familiar.  Not only does she live about 5 miles from me, she's also been on some of my blogs because she works for Clear Lake Veterinary Clinic;  the outfit that works cattle with us. 

Sorry Vicki...I have a lot of pictures of you vets out.  The cool thing about her is not only is she a great tech (by the way, she knows as much as the vets) she's a great mom of those three pictured above, her and her husband Stacey run cattle and she has a great dog grooming business on the side. 

She's probably the only one that could handle Fluff Dog.

Fluff dog is a spazz when getting her hair cut. 

Who am I kidding?  Fluff is spazz all the time.

This is Fluff after a trip to Vicki's.  She does an awesome job!

But without anymore distractions....here is Vicki's story.  It's about her side business grooming and a dog's bond with it's owner...

AND a steel door. 

But I'll let her tell it. =)  Meet Vicki....

Here is my story and I am sticking to it. LOL!

Well, I have this customer that is very elderly that has a hard time getting around and his dog is very connected to him. The owner is a bachelor and his dog is his family.  His pup feels she needs to take care of him and does not like to be detached from him.

I decided to pick up the dog for him because of his difficulty moving (did i mention she hates to ride in the car?) and then I'd take her home to groom, then bring her back.

Did I also mention that she's a lab -springer cross?  High strung!  

Well,  I have 3 children and things can be busy and I seem to have extra kids over all the time (sometimes Fairchild Farmgirl's 8). The first time I groomed her the kids opened the door just at the wrong time and off she went out the door in a flash!  

Amazingly, she heads in the direction of her home. 

I immediately went out to get her but she eluded me. I called her owner as I was following her and he came out picked her up and we were all happy. Luckily she was almost done I put the finishing touches on her and off she went with her owner. 

The story should be over right ?

Well the next year we did the same thing, having me pick up the dog.  But we had it a little different this time, I had to pick up kids from daycare because I worked that day. 

Well new year, new grooming game plan.   Did I also mention that she will eat my kennels if I put her in them?   (Now I knew not to do that because of 1st time). 

OK lets recap she hates kennels (eats them) hates to ride (acts like you are going to kill her) and doesn't care for kids.

But she does live in a garage when she does have to be away from her owner. 

So this was our plan: I would drop her off at our garage on my way, from there it's three miles into town. I'd also call daycare and have her get the kids ready because I need to get back home. I was literally gone for only 7-8 min and WOW there she was running down my driveway!

 Thank God I had her leash on her this time and caught her! 

Anyone guess how she got out?

Probably not...

Through the steel walk door.   She started on the bottom and ATE her way out. 

In less than 10 minutes!!!!!

I have not made any money on her after replacing a $130 for a new door. Unbelievable that she only had a few scrapes on her mouth after making a 12" hole in my steel door. I did finish grooming her she went home and we made a game plan for next year.

YES, I still groom her.

Well, now when I groom the dog, I just have him bring her over and he has to stay there, sitting on a chair next to her...

We are all happy then.

Thank you so much Vicki, you are a super friend!  Not only because we can call each other and vent, meet at the park with our kids, exchange recipes and gossip working "chute side" together, or the occasional family get together (it's our turn I know), but the fact that as I write this,


you are grooming my huge weirdo, and cursing me loudly because I have a large New Foundland that got dropped off at your house with a gazillion burrs in her 3 inch long fur.


Luv ya girl!
Sincerely Fairchild Farmgirl

Think Spring...Let's Incubate Some Eggs!

Yesterday was very important for us as a family.  We have gathered a bunch of eggs, Rachel and Ron marked all the eggs and all the kids had a hand in filling the incubator. 

Now, mind you, Ron has been incubating eggs since he was a kid.  His family breeds pheasants and collect eggs.  I can't be sure of how many thousands his dad still hatches every year, but his incubator is SUPER COOL! 

It's awesome. 

And huge.  You can do hundreds of eggs at a time.  It looks more like a walk in cooler than anything, until you open the big door on it.  Some day I will take some photos of it. 

This is ours.  It's a start. =) 

This is what we have in there.  The biggies are the goose eggs.  See the one in the upper left corner?  That was so big I HAD to put it in, even though I promised Big D that I wouldn't put any more eggs in there...I swear it weighed three pounds (that was after I told Cody not to tell him that I had just put in five duck eggs.) 

SHHH!!!

I want a good hatch! 

When we butcher these ducks this fall, do you know what I'm going to make first?  Asian Duck Tacos.  I have found soooo many great recipes for duck, I'm super excited!

Sincerely,

"Don't count your duck, geese and chicken eggs before they hatch" Fairchild Farmgirl

Crazy Monday With Fairchild Farmgirl - The Shitzman Chronicles

Okay, I was too busy to find a guest for today's blog since this past week was crazy here.  We figured we hauled about 2,500 TONS of manure out of the feedlot. 

Yes, 2,500 tons of it.  That's a lot of Shitz-man. =)

So, the story I tell today will delight even the hardest of hearts...

It's about myself and my lovely husband.

And shitz. 

In the feedlot. 

=)

One day while I was out to here ----- with baby, (of course I was, I've had 6 pregnancies in six years...gulp...no wonder why I have to hold my mid section up with drainage ditch pipe.) 

I kid.

Anyway, my story begins with Big D feverishly working in the feedlots to clean them. ( I laugh now because we used to haul poop with one or two 5-6 ton spreaders and be at it for weeks!  Today should be the last day of hauling and it took 5 days.  Thank you 1 pay loader, 1 bobcat, 3 side dumps, 1 spreader truck, 2 15 ton spreaders and 1 11 ton spreader.) 

Amen!

Back to story time.  So on this particularly nice afternoon, I had the kids napping and I was in the house probably sitting back with a lemonade doing nothing...(again, I kid)  when the phone rang.  It was D.

"Can you bring your 4 wheeler down to the west pen and chase up some cows so I can get started on it?"
"Sure I'll be right down."  I said as I slipped on my new Ropers, I was going to be on the wheeler and they were quick to just slip on.  When will I ever learn?

So I buzzed down there on my 4 wheeler that let me tell you, I had bought in my crazy non-farming days.  It was a racing one, super light, super fast, super sucky in a feedlot situation.  It really was not built for that I'm telling ya.  I get to the gate where Big D is waiting for me and I quickly size up the situation.

"I'm not going in there." I said to him matter-a-factly.  "It must be 4 feet deep!"  In our defense, we NEVER let our lots get that bad, but we had a monsoon spring and early summer.  It literally rained so much we couldn't get in there to even bed. 

Each lot is split in two and we were on the lower end looking at the mess in front of us.  The cows would usually hang up front where we had control of the situation, but not that day. 

"You're gonna be fine!" He said...(by the way, that's husband code for 'I'm not gonna do it so you're going to') "You're not going to get stuck if you just ride the bottom ridge of the mound don't get off it and don't try to ride through the middle up top and you'll be just fine.  Now get those cattle up there, I can't get in there with the bobcat, so I'll just start right here at the gate loading. 

I was apprehensive. 

I plotted my way and slowly made it to the mound via the small path that he made for me with the skid steer.  I could hear D in the back of me telling me to hurry up and move the cows, but I pretended not to listen.  I was too fascinated watching an old Charolais building what looked like a raft to make it to the front of the pen.  It was belly deep. 

Not serious about the raft, serious about the deepness. 

As I got to the mound, I was spinning and starting to kick back slop (which by the way was covering my back, back of my neck and hair).

I trudged on.  As I got to the cows, they started making their way up to the front of the lot.   I kept my eyes mostly on the soft clay beneath me.  I "hipped" the cows, (Hip girls!! Get up there! Come on!) D yelled at me, "Hurry up!  The tractors gonna be back any minute!"

Again, I paid no attention.  That by the way is wife speak for 'I choose not to listen because I'll say something I may regret.'

I rounded the mound and came to a part that I COULDN'T make it through. 

Of course a handful of cows stayed right in the corner and watched me.  I think they were daring me to get off the wheeler to go get them.  I muttered to myself that I don't get paid enough to do that so I wouldn't. 

"Can't get through up here," I yelled back to D.  Trying to figure out how I was going to get turned around.
"Chain the dang gate!" Was all he yelled back.
"I C-A-N-T get to I-T!" I yelled back.
"Get up there or else they'll start coming back down here!"  He hollered.  "There's a stand of rocks, go up a little further and you'll see it." 

"There is so NOT a rock pile in this mess or we'd all be standing on it"  I heard a red cow whisper to her neighbor. 

"I'm not even going to try!" I yelled back as a cow that was watching me from the corner crossed my path and was belly deep. 
By this time, D and I were both mad and yelling at each other (which happens like once a year) and the cows were all watching as if to say, we just spent twenty minutes getting through that mess, we're not even that stupid to go out there again!"

After I heard shut the gate one more time, I thought, 'FINE! I'm going to get stuck and your gonna get me out...some how."  I gunned it.  I sped over each of those 4 feet before I sank like a rock.

 I was stuck on Polaris Island (aka my sunk 4 wheeler).

"Now what?" I yelled at the cows.  They didn't have an answer.

Just as I'm conversing with the cows on what my next move would be, here comes my smarty pants husband in the bobcat, using the bucket as an arm to pull himself through the muck. 

"What the ____ am I gonna do now?" I yelled at him as he was safely in the cab of the skid steer.
"Get off and walk." He said through giggles, as he got up on the rocks that were a good ten feet from my sunken spot and got out of the bobcat...and chained the gate.

"GET OFF AND WALK????"

So he left me there. 

THEN when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.

I did the only thing I could do and stepped into the poop that was up over my knees and promptly...lost my shoes.  My new Ropers.  They were swallowed up in seconds, never to be found again.  (Seriously, nobody even found them on their fields.)

So I waded through the bottom lot, then crawled over the gate and through a pen of 100 head to get to the driveway.  With bare feet.

Do you believe in miracles? 

I do too.  My miracle is I'm still married to this funny man.

Sincerely,
Fairchild "Squelch, Squerch" Farmgirl

PS. When all said and done, he dug my four wheeler out with the bobcat, hauled it up to the house and cleaned it so well it looked like it came from a show room and I didn't even demand it. LOL.  Then he bought me a pair of Ariat Fat Babys that I drooled over every time we went to Runnings.  So when he's not laughing at me, he's pretty sweet. =)

Early Morning Conversations With A Sheep...Welcome To Motherhood

When I came out to the barn this morning, I was exhilarated (yes exhilarated) by baby lamb cries. 

After all, I thought that the Obama discussion on birth control had hit the sheep barn.

Thank God they're all Republicans out there...

=)

SO after sizing up the situation, I started talking to Petunia, the first time mother.  This is how it went:

Me:  "Oh Tuner, look at that cute baby you had!"
Petunia:  "Are you talking to me?  Why I didn't have anything such.  Wait....I think I'm a little constipated, I have to lay down for a minute.  I seemed to be a little backed.up.here.  Whew....what did I eat?"
Me:  "Look she had a twin!"
Ron:  "Well, what are they?" 
Petunia:  "Exactly what I was gonna say.  What the heck are those things?"
Me:   "Okay Tunia, your going to have to lick these off. "
Petunia:  "WHAT?? "
Ron:  "Darn, sheep are stupid".
Petunia:  "Ah hem!  I'm right here you know!"
Me:  "Seriously Petunia, this is getting old.  Lick them off.  NOW."

Then I stick her nose on them. 

Petunia:  "What was that for?  Now look you've gone and made them whine even more and I've got this slime stuff in my nose!  Sick.  I'm telling you, they're not mine!  Now if you'll excuse me, It seems my flock has left me for morning hay.  I'll just saunter off down the path to the hay.  Good luck."  She mutters under her breath, "they probably belong to tag # 26.  She's such an airhead!"
Me:  "Oh no you don't," as I struggle to keep her in.  Then I put one up to her face again.
Petunia:  Stopping dead in her tracks, she looks at them. "That smell, I just can't place it, but it's so familiar.  For some reason, which is beyond my knowledge, I just HAVE to lick them right now."  Lick, lick.  "This is gross, but it feels like I need to do it."
Ron: "Get her in the jug before she decides to ditch them."
Petunia: "Oh I don't think I can." she mutters. "I don't know why, but I can't leave them."  She's acting like she's having a serious change of heart.   "Now to just keep them quiet, got any ideas?"
Me:  "Tunes, your gonna have to feed them."  By this time we've been in the barn for 45 minutes.  I put them next to her udder and she bolts even though we are in crammed quarters, she tries to climb over me to get out. 
Petunia:  "That's where I draw the line.  I'll de-slime them, but I will not feed them.  For Pete's sake, I don't even know the first thing about it!" 
Ron:  "Lets leave them alone for an hour and come back.  Then if we have to we'll tie her up and make her nurse them."

An hour or so later, we came back to the barn.  There she is nursing away and loving on them.

Petunia:  "Did you know that this bag between my back legs has food in it for these babies?  Apparently they like it and they are getting it themselves which is even better.  I just stand here.  Easy peasy! I guess that just isn't to impress the ram like I thought!"
Me: "Good job Tunes!  They are so cute!"

Ron: I miss goats!

Sincerely,

In need of much sleep if I'm writing down sheep conversations I think I've had,
Fairchild Farmgirl

Crazy Monday With Karla Pool

Hey all!  If you live around where we do, you'd be looking outside and wishing for nice weather.  At least I have.  I worked in the grapes today and loaded cattle.

AND.IT.WAS.RAINING.

That just knocks all the fun right out of a job, you know?

Speaking of something knocking, I've got my friend Karla and her family from central Oregon to share a story that all of us cattle people are familiar with....

The Cow From Hell

"I truly understand the real meaning now of rolling on the floor laughing my butt off, my thoughts out to my parents especially my dad the other morning(this just happened last week).

Karla's dad.

It all started out yesterday.  A prime looking, good 10 year old cow lost her calf and to the amazement of a good bull and life, twins was born to a young heifer. Solution: mama cow wants a calf and well let the grafting begin! (To those of you who aren't familiar with grafting, they skin the dead calf and tie it on the new one to trick the mamma who needs a calf) Dad brought them in and did what had to be done-calf is wearing a new hide.

So, dad has a nice little room for new mama and baby quiet and quaint.  Many new lives have been raised out of that room. It was just perfect for the new pair, oh life has been created and everything was working nice.

Until 2:30 in the morning on March 10, 2012.

Sometimes things just don’t seem as they should.  Somewhere during this little time the cow went mad.

Literally.

She tore that quaint little room to pieces. Get this:  she jumped through the wall leaving a nice hole through the plywood and splinters everywhere.  Not kidding! 

She ended up in the tack room, and how she did this dad has not a clue!  You see he thinks this ol cow had a hidden drug problem because what lay at his feet he still shakes his head. The medicine cabinet hung up a good 5 feet is opened and all the contents on the floor! Bottles strung everywhere, pill guns, needles, and most of all how she opened the PILL BOTTLE he has no idea...pills strung everywhere! Some of saddles were strung here and  there, some sideways on the saddle racks as to say to dad, "it was a wild ride in here!" Things most likely got kicked and bucked around, the exit door is now hanging like, "what did I do?" Dad spots the old rip underneath corrals and over corrals, she is tearing things up left and right, as he is putting up panels as fast as she can tear them up!

Finally he settles her in the BIG corral. Shaking his head, he figures the mess can wait until morning, calf will be fine until morning, by the way it’s around quarter to 4 now and he headed to the house.  Mom is up worried ready to head out.  Dad tells of the findings from how he met THE COW FROM HELL!!!

So waiting until daylight not getting much sleep, dads sees what he went to see in the morning. It's early dawn his cow is out of the big corral and the calf bucked the hide off. Well, you see that cow has made this ol cowboy MAD and since she'd gotten herself into this mess, she'll get in and most likely will be introduced to cow hobbles,then that calf could suck.  AND if that didn't work, a trip to the sale and she won't be his problem anymore.

BUT, you see, that ol gal had a change of heart....

There is a happy ending to this little true story, Friday night you see that ol cow decided after all she wanted that baby and they are happy as can be.


AND so were the Fairchilds...one less for the cull pen!  No I kid...we don't go as far as Oregon, but we sure would like a rap sheet on some of these ladies that we get in here. 

They can be wicked!  

So if you like this story and it gave you a chuckle, please shout out a big thank you to Karla in our comments section!  I was happy to have her take a minute for me as her and her husband are knee deep in calving themselves. 

So, double chain your gates and keep your cattle meds out of harms way...they can be spendy!
Fairchild Farmgirl

Working Eight Weight Heifers With The Fairchilds

"I believe Hell is a place full of cheap socks that constantly fall off your feet and sit in the toe of your boot as you chase cattle up the chute, running on a slippery sloped ice and muck covered path."   -Fairchild Farmgirl

It sure was cool working these little shavers today.  No back tags, no nuts and only one grody mess to work with. 

I dare say...it was almost boring!

The funniest thing of the day was Fluff dog stealing Big D's Lemonade.  Then she dropped it in the poop in front of him like, "fine have it!"

So after all that, we decided we were going to do "killer" first.  She was the only cow we had to work today.  When working with dogs, I have always been aware of the little ones will get ya, while the big ones have a serious bark. 

Seems to always go the same with cows.  She was a smaller cow and she wasn't nice!  We had her penned up with a bull and they hated each other.  Then she saw us...

and tried to jump the gate.

So we finally got her in the chute because she has a bum knee.

We poked a hole in the front and joint fluid came out with the puss.  Then, she started jumping around and she broke it open.  That's puss on the door of the chute.   You know it's cool, don't deny it.

The infection was so bad we felt it's track all the way up to her shoulder.  Again, she came here with that...were just fixin' what's broken.  Next time you are getting your soda from a chain restaurant, think of this.  Doesn't it look like she's pressing a button for root beer or something? Yukky!!!

So now that you know how to drain a knee joint abscess, lets move on to better things:

Dehorning a heifer

Let me just say that our vets are awesome.  They let me take pictures of EVERYTHING and if it's annoying, they don't say it.  Actually, I have the best time when their here...we talk up a storm.

So the tool above is a dehorner.  I know I've shown you how to do it with a string saw, but I thought you'd like to see this too.  This pinches the horn off.

This is what it looks like when the horns off, before you pull the veins.

Here, Kristen found the vein and is pulling it.  You can make the picture bigger to see it.  It's literally in her clipper.

It always amazes me that these little worm looking veins (red things on her head) are what each side bleeds so badly from.  CRAZY! 

SO...now that you know how to dehorn cattle both ways, (someday I'll show you cauterizing the veins) I'll show you something a little crazier...I sure hope you can handle it.

It's our boy, coming from nap in his room.  Unfortunately his room is by the "too small" clothes tubs and he has to walk by the hat & mitten box.  Hence the girls skirt with a cowboy shirt and a ski mask. 

Just like his daddy. J/K!

Please don't let Big D read this tonight!

Fairchild Farmgirl

Crazy Monday With Nelseena Lehmann

Crazy Mondays are back!  To my new readers, I've had Crazy Mondays for my Monday blog in the past because, heck...others need to know that they aren't the only ones that have an occasional bad day. 

And what are Mondays??? 

Some days we all just need a giggle. 

My really cool friend Terah (aka Cowgirl Red I've had her on my blog before) introduced me to a Ranch Wives Page on Facebook and I feel like I belong!    Finally other women who deal with as much cow poop as I do!

I met my guest blogger, Nelseena (I think the coolest name I've ever heard of by the way) on this page.  She's a saddle maker and leather artist to boot (excuse the pun) and her work is beautiful!  Find Nelseena Leather Company on Facebook.  You'll be glad you did. PS.  That's her in the picture with one of her beautiful saddles.

So......without further adieu,  take it away Nelseena!

Casey's Zorse

 

Casey has rode horses since he was old enough to navigate. He grew up in South Dakota and now lives in Arizona, but has been all over the country with one thing or another having to do with horses. He was at a horse sale one day and this dun colored zorse comes through. Seeing dollar signs, he purchased her thinking that since he could ride anything with hair, he would break her and sell her to someone wanting a novelty and increase the bottom line on his checkbook in the process.

The zorse wandered about the rancho for awhile and she was obviously more than marginally athletic. She could stand at the hitching rail and flat footed jump over it sideways and land between it and the saddle shed without ever tightening the halter rope. Finding herself still discontented, she would jump back across the hitching rail, never doing anything more than amazing those who were watching her.

One day, due to outside pressure to "do something with the zorse", Casey set about to accomplish just that. 

Casey had his good head horse saddled, his big grey horse is very fast, very broke and very handy. He picks up rodeos with him and does some PBR things as well. This is not just an average arena horse, definitely a cut above. Since his intent is to ride her, he first must catch her, and due to her uncanny abilities, Casey determines that he should pony her for a little way and take the edge off of her. First mistake. She gets away and she is heading for parts unknown. Casey hits grey horse in somewhat of a Pony Express mount and begins pursuit. Mistake number two...underestimation of Zorse's speed. She lights out and her heritage starts to surface in the fact that her ancestors survived so well because they could outrun the cheetah...she proves to be no slouch as well. She is headed for the city and must pass through the golf course. The shortest distance between two points would be a straight line and Casey is headed straight for her. Leaving divots in the golf course he jerks down his rope and in hot pursuit of the Zorse, he encourages grey to find another gear. Next mistake, Casey thinks he has opportunity and casts his twine, to no avail, it comes up empty but has enlightened the zorse as to intent of this pursuit. She grabs another gear and is gone.

They are speeding through various greens on the course, through sprinkler systems and at last, the sand trap proves to be a friend. While the zorse is plotting her next move and executing a seemingly successful escape, she makes an error, her first. She chooses to cross the sand trap instead of going around it, the sand is deep and soft and flips her end for end, dazing her. Casey manages to get there before she regains her feet and her senses and just manages to get her roped as she is coming up. She has been roped and choked before and she leads up to him like a long lost friend.

Casey hits a long trot with the Zorse in tow. Trying to avoid grounds keepers and various sundry other individuals who are less than impressed both with the show and the state of the golf course. Casey, grey and the zorse arrived home much calmer and slower than they had left. He got over his need to ride her, the zorse found a new address, and the grey horse is once again the fastest animal on the place.

 

 

 

Thanks Nelseena!  She mentioned that she will be back if I need her.  Don't you think she should come put her feet up and tell us more sometime? 

 

Or make something for us? 

 

Just look at that picture of her work!  Which reminds me...my little barrel racer needs a belt with her name on it.  I'm thinking Nelseena is my choice, let me know.

 

Until we see what tomorrow brings....

 

Happy to own a horse that can't be away from my heifer who can't be away from me with no golf courses in sight,

Fairchild Farmgirl

Something To Chew On

I wanted you to take a look at this picture.  It's our boys helping out.  They're learning responsibility, how to problem solve as well as caring for animals.  They look happy because they are.  I don't pay to put smiles on their faces, after all.  =)

Now, if an agricultural child labor law gets passed, this could be a thing of the past.  I haven't heard much on this up & coming bill lately to see if it went through or not, but lets hope it doesn't.  From a Republican Representative out of Iowa (can't remember his name) he states that it will allow kids to work on family farms to a certain extent.  But it won't allow kids to work on others farms. 

I was out for a walk yesterday and two things occurred to me.

1.  I didn't take five minutes to put my snow shoes on.  NOT COOL.

2.  If it weren't for the hard work my family did on our farm, I don't think I'd be the hard working person I am today. 

I thought back on us as kids hauling wood out of the forest to split for the winter.  According to that law, there would be no kids able to work int he timber business.   That would mean no more Cody working for his uncles chopping/hauling and stacking wood. 

At first I thought, 'That sucks, but at least it wouldn't affect this farm.'

Err!!!!

What about all the area kids picking weeds for me?  Most of these 5th, 6th & 7th graders pick weeds for me and save money for school stuff, fun money or family trips.  A typical work day for us is I go and pick up the kids, (would Subway or Dairy Queen do that?) then we start exactly at 8 AM. out in our vineyard or pumpkin patch, or barns (to clean) they get music of their choice and cold drinks.  We take a break at 9:45 and they get to rest in the house for 20 minutes and have a snack.  Then we go back out and work til noon, then they're done. 

The greater majority of family farms do use neighbor kids, or town kids, but they also get paid very well.  These kids also don't have much opportunity to work anywhere else.  This new law would not allow my kids to pick rock either.  For picking rock, they get paid $10 an hour, they get snacks, water and take frequent breaks.  The farmer also will only let them work 3 hours at a time. 

Doesn't that sound like these farmers are total jerks? 

NO!

If kids arent' allowed to work beside their parents, how are they going to learn the ropes and who will feed us as a nation? 

I read an article from last month by a Democrat who was behind this law all the way.  In one of the comments after the article, a person said, we don't need more farmers, we need more scientists.  Huh? 

We have to eat people!  Are you going to engineer our food?  Now, I know that people have discovered a way to generate cells of meat but do you want a steak from a petri dish? 

Not this girl. 

There's also  a crack down on minority labor.  Which I'm not sure what stance I take on that.  I used two Mexican men right after I had Jessica to weed the grapes.  It took those 2 men 4 days, working half days.   I pay the school kids a lot more because it takes a lot more time but I want to teach these young people responsibilities.  SO...if I can't hire kids, and I can't hire minorities because of all the red tape, whom shall I hire? 

Just a hint, I could have an ad in the paper for a month and no Caucasian adult would pick rock or weeds in a million years.  If most (not all) can't sit behind a desk, they don't want to do it.) Our neighbor said, I will hire any white person that will work as hard as a Mexican.  He still hasn't found one.  That's been 3 years.  For some reason people think Agricultural work is a bad thing if they don't have a personal stake in it, (such as ownership), when its really rewarding.

When a kid is told that he shouldn't have to do "manual labor" and grows up like that, he's most certainly not going to start later in life.  Maybe, but not likely.  So who will feed us and other nations that depend on the food trade with the US?  Do other countries have the same strict growing regulations as the US? Not sure...not sure I want to find out either.

I really feel these people who are trying to pass this bill probably don't know that a tomato comes out of the ground and they need to come visit a farm for a while.  Sadly, they know nothing of agriculture and obviously take their food source for granted. 

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest!

Fairchild Farmgirl