Summer daze

Random mutterings on a Tuesday afternoon:

It is believed around these parts that when the Goldenrod starts to emerge on the roadsides and in the fields, that it is a sure sign that summer is winding down. Of course that’s just one sign of many. I must admit that I gave a great incredulous sigh the other day (actually almost 10 days ago) when I saw the first heretical back-to-school advertising showing up at one of our local big box stores. Granted, these are the same bozos who put the Valentine’s Day schlock out on the shelves as soon as the Christmas/Chanukah stuff goes away, so perhaps I shouldn’t take it to heart so much? It has been a wonderful summer here so far though, both for Cas-Cad-Nac Farm in general and also just for the wee Lutz clan that is lucky enough to call it home. I guess I’m just rather bummed to see it slouching towards Labor Day, seemingly without any regard for how that might make all of us feel! Weren’t we just celebrating July 4th? Oh well…

Though we have had many crias born here already this birthing season (20+ so far), the fact that the Arena is filled with 3 large feed groups of expectant females all due between now and the fall, means that we are still a very long way from being done where that department is concerned. We did unfortunately lose a newborn yesterday morning after a tough delivery, which is always frustrating and hard to take. In this particular case the bad combination of a large baby (23 lb.), a first time mom with not a lot of room to work with, and what was most likely either an umbilicus that snapped to soon or a prematurely separating placenta, lead to the bad outcome. The good news though is that the mom in question — young Jesusa who is just at the start of her reproductive life — is fine and will live to fight another day. It happens.

It has been an unseasonably cool few days here with temperatures down in the 70s. While that might have some folks wondering where the true summer weather has gone, our due moms at least are certainly enjoying the relative cool and there is considerably less huffing and puffing at the Arena than there would normally be as we approach the 1st of August. It also rained like no tomorrow over the past few days and in spite of some localized flooding in one of the nearby towns, I know I need only look at the drought map of the west coast to understand that too much water is a problem that many millions of people would love to have right about now. As it stands we will be rotationally grazing — and perhaps even mowing — into early August, which is always the mark of an unusually good grass season here on the farm.

As has been our July/August tradition for many years now, we have one of our older nieces visiting us here at the farm for a week. As such, we try to get out in between breedings, births, and farm visits to do some fun outdoorsy stuff with all three kids. Sam and Max and their two older cousins have been very close since they were all little (only three years separates the oldest from the youngest), so this is one of the times of year that we have always looked forward to. My sister lets us borrow her kid(s) and then at the end of the time up here, we in turn ship them all (in this case Eve, Sam, and Max) down to the outer Cape, where the rest of my extended family spends their summers, for a week or so of beach time. All told, it’s a wonderful way for our boys to wind down their school vacation, what with pre-season soccer practices starting for each of them in less than 3 weeks now. That can all wait though: time to go and work the grill while the kids play in the pool!

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