The Second Week of March

A view from our farm, Fairview


Thoughts From my Big Green Chair: Lent

Ah, Holy Jesus

Ah, holy Jesus, how hast though offended
That man to judge thee hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by thine own rejected,
O most afflicted.

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee.
‘Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee;
I crucified thee.

Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;
The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered;
For man’s atonement, while he nothing heedeth,
God intercedeth.

For me, kind Jesus, was thine incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow, and thy life’s oblation;
Thy death of anguish, and thy bitter Passions,
For my salvation.

Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee,
I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee;
Think on thy pity and thy love unswerving,
Not my deserving.

By Johann
Heermann; tr. Robert Bridges

Tonight’s Sky

Planets: Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus are visible this month. Venus is the morning star now and shines brightly in the east just before the sunrise. Get up some morning early enough to peer out an eastern facing window and if the clouds have been blown away, you should see Venus, one very bright “star,” announcing the rising of the sun.

The Moon: Full on March 14th

Constellations: Orion is getting farther into the west, and in another month, we will find him slipping away for another season. I love Orion. I miss his shining belt during the summer months. Virgo, Leo, Cancer, Gemini, and Taurus are riding the ecliptic this month. The ecliptic is the path the sun, moon and planets take through the night sky.

Messier Marathon: The MM is coming up around the time of the Equinox because it is when we can see the most in our night sky. Our mission? To tour as many of the possible 110 deep-space objects in the Messier Catalog, which were originally inventoried by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1774. We will spend the evening looking at star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies and an assortment of sky objects. If you have access to an astronomy club, join them for a night time of telescope fun. Starts at sun set and goes until dawn (or whenever you give out).


My New Baby: Meade ETX 125PE

My telescope has arrived. I’ve saved my money for birthdays and Christmases, Valentines Days and anniversaries until I finally had what I needed to buy my dream ‘scope. It arrived on Friday. Yeah! The tripod had a broken leg. Oh, no! They are sending another one…























My Meade ETX

On the Farm

We have had a couple of new calves this week. New life is exciting! It also keeps the farmer busy going up to check the expecting mamas—all hours of the day and night. One cow was due soon, so hubby brought her over to the pasture where we could more easily watch her, and when he went to check on her, she was dead! We do not know why. She was one of the daughters of the cow we called Twin Mama because she always threw twins.

We also have a small show calf that was having problems with bloating. The vet came three times and finally she inserted a filter—a tube “screwed” into his side that has a hole in it so that the extra gases could escape from his stomach. Even though it must have hurt terribly, the calf seemed to be greatly relieved by no longer having all the gas built up in his stomach, which was making it very hard for him to breathe.

Mud season has arrived in full force. This is not good for the new babies. We’d rather have cold weather. My floors would rather have cold weather, too, since less tracks into the house when the ground is frozen!

Farming is not for the faint of heart.



















Our new calf

Cats and More Cats

I should soon qualify as a veterinary cat assistant: India has a UTI and I’ve been giving her Clavamox; Ruffy had blood in her urine, and she, being a barn cat, is on less expensive amoxicillin; Ears has been looking droopy and I’ve been trying to figure out what I should do for him—he did get some eye med for a couple of days because he was not opening it. Oreo had an infection behind one of his ears that started draining a STINKY liquid, so he was on amoxicillin, too.
One night both India and Snowflake decided they wanted to sleep with me. This is unusual because they normally cannot curl up on the same bed without a few paws thrown at each other. All night long I had Snowie sleeping on my feet and India trying to get comfortable at my side. In the morning I determined that the next time they tried to do this I would send them off to sleep next to the big green goddess (otherwise known as the woodstove) so that I can have a better night’s sleep!
















William of Orange resting on the wood pile.

School Days

School is going O.K. Sometimes we all weary of the task (it’s March, you know.) We now open most of our books past the midsection, and once in a while I get a child coming to ask if he can skip a lesson or lab. Yes, it is March.

I’m already starting to make my plans for next year, It will be my daughter’s last year of homeschooling, which reminds me that I need to get those hugs, conversations, and laughter piled thickly into our days. And then I’ll hope that she finds the school of her choice CLOSE TO HOME!

By the way, my daughter has had some fun photos and blog entries this week on Farm Girl.

Blessings to all who visit here!