Deepfreeze Valentine's Day

What a lovely, bright deepfreeze day! The bottle calves are doing well in this very cold weather. As long as they have enough straw for bedding and enough to eat, they seem to be fine. One heifer calf, Lily, had been acting a bit droopy, but this morning she stood up quickly for her bottle and drank enthusiasticly. All of the female calves get a name, because they will be raised to become milk cows in a couple years. The male calves are raised for beef.

The milk truck comes every other day to pick up our milk. This morning I visited with the driver for awhile. The same family of drivers has been picking up milk here for over 30 years, so we know them pretty well. He told me that he and his wife attended the ultrasound viewing of their first grandchild last week. The other grandparents were there, too. The baby is a girl, so now everyone can start shopping for pink items! It's obvious that he is very proud and excited to become a grandparent!

It is so sunny today, and yet so cold. Even knowing all the scientific reasons for such a contradictory situation, it is still amazing to me that the sun can pack such a warm punch in the summer, then appear just as bright on winter days, yet with little warmth. I spent quite a bit of time outdoors after chores this morning. Our old van, which sits outside all the time, needed to be started and moved. That old thing looks terrible, but runs great and always starts, no matter how cold it is. I loaded it with items for recycling; newspapers, magazines, glass, plastic, cans. Maybe tomorrow I will take that stuff to town and get groceries. I also hauled trash to the burnpile, and walked several laps around the bins. Lately, the cold weather has been my excuse for not taking a daily walk. Shame on me for being a wimp. A few years ago, I started taking a long walk outdoors everyday. I would recommend it to everyone who is able.

Finally, I got back into the house. Decided to wash and mousse my mousy hair, so maybe I will look halfway decent when Husband gets in for lunch. Like he will care. But, it makes me feel better, and it is Valentine's Day, by golly! Yesterday, a radio reporter stated that American men will spend an average of $120 on their "loved one", and women will spend $85. Wow. Husband and I clunk into the basement on that one. We never buy each other anything for Valentine's Day.