By Barb Lumley
At last ---two
days without rain! Today as I sit on my
deck and write, it is a beautiful day with warm sunshine, a cool breeze, and
puffy white clouds in the sky. I have
three hummingbird feeders and the birds are coming to feed constantly. They flit, fight, and feed! It is so peaceful and tranquil. So sad that so many people all over this
world never have the opportunity to enjoy the peace and beauty found in the
rural countryside.
We had eleven
inches (11) of rain in three days. Time
and sunshine are needed to get things dried out! There is a lot of cleanup to be done in many
areas. Hats off to the people who worked
night and day to take care of flooded roads, downed trees, mud slides, cleared
roads covered with rocks and debris, rescued people and more. It is pretty unusual to see a snow plow
clearing the road in June!
Last Saturday I
announced the Northeast Ohio District 1 & 2 Holstein show held at Lisbon,
Ohio. What a great show! Eighty eight (88) registered Holsteins
paraded the show ring. I will have a
report on the champions for you later.
There is a list of the winners and pictures on Dairy Agenda Today. The quality was outstanding --- beautiful
cows with beautiful udders! The Holstein
breeders in that area have accomplished so much in both type and production
over the years! Seeing beautiful
Holsteins, announcing the show and visiting with old friends and new ones is
always a joy for me.
I have to talk
about those great kids I see at every show.
They range from “peewee showboys and showgirls” to age 21. They do a great job of showing their
Holsteins. Hard working, responsible,
confident, kind, respectful, the adjectives could go on and on! They take care of and work with their show
cattle every day as well as helping with all the other farm chores. Most are active in sports, school activities,
and community happenings as well. These
country kids are the best!
There was a small
crowd on hand to just watch the show, including Holstein breeders who have been
involved for years. One of those was
Mrs. Marjorie Whiteleather (shown above with Jason Whiteleather) who will celebrate her 97th birthday in
July. The Whiteleather family has been
involved in registered Holsteins and members of the Ohio Holstein Association
for many years. They have an outstanding
herd of Holsteins and the Whiteleather prefix is well known.
As I have often
said, I enjoy reading and do a lot of it.
Over the years I have subscribed to many magazines of all types. Hardly a day goes by that my mailbox does not
contain a letter encouraging me to subscribe to a magazine. Since so many of them contain very little
except for advertisements the letters wind up in my bag of papers for my
cousin’s church to recycle. However, I
always read them first. I did recently
subscribe to one whose purpose was to promote healthy eating. There were many recipes using fresh produce
and both red and white meat. However the
majority of them called for ingredients such as kimchi, bok choy, tamari sauce,
agave syrup, soba noodles, shisito, aleppo pepper, cointreau, orecchiette pasta
and more. These ingredients are not
available in our local grocery store!
Therefore the magazine was not very helpful for my health!
This week I did
receive an advertisement for a magazine that is a bit different. Included in the envelope was a brochure and
the following caption quickly drew my attention, “Butter Makes Everything
Better”! Hurrah! A magazine that encourages the use of a dairy
product! My request for a subscription
is on the way and my check is included.
Any magazine that encourages the use of dairy products and supports
farmers is going to get a subscription from me and I am looking forward to
reading it!