Dear Cousin
And the “rain, rain, rain, came down, down, down, down and fell upon poor Piglet” or so says Winnie the Pooh. And has it ever been raining! It’s like, just try to mow between rainstorms over here cuz. The other day here, we had tornado watches and the sun was shining while it was still raining and storming. Thankfully, we didn’t have high winds so no trees so far have come down on the mountain. But after our family reunion, cut short by rain, we raced the rain home, grabbed what we needed out of the truck and ran inside. In a matter of minutes a tree (which had been leaning into another tree) across the creek, uprooted and fell down the hill, across the creek, up the bank on the other side and the outer limbs landed on the farm truck.
Thankfully it didn’t even break a window or mirror. We left it there and just backed the truck out of under it Sunday morning and cut it up with the grandson’s help on Monday. Bob is a good limb puller. We pulled out five good logs, which will make a lot of winter firewood. The trees just keep falling on Cleveland Mountain. I tell the grandkids, don’t even think about crossing that mountain if storms are coming. But I’m sure the July rains will stop soon and hot dry August will be here by the time you get this letter.
So now, with the family reunion being over, it’s catch up on the farm time. We got over to the USDA in Lebanon to put in for the drought assistance. So many farmers had to buy extra feed and hay this spring as the grass didn’t start growing until mid or end of April. We put out extra hay and just kept moving them from pasture to pasture. Our grass still is not where it usually is by this time of year. Our hay didn’t produce many bales for the spring cutting either. Over in the holler the cows just kept breaking out of their pastures to get fresh roadside grass. We still haven’t found that crazy Black Angus!
We have had folks showing up to look at our spring calves, which are getting close to going to new homes.
And speaking of new homes, someone dropped off a wild young cat here that now has three kittens. We kept trying to catch her and get her fixed. Russell County needs a shelter as soon as possible. We are having a lot of trouble around here with people coming out into the country and dropping off literally boxes full of kittens. County folks are overwhelmed with cats and kittens dropped on their doorsteps. And they don’t have the money to spay and neuter all the cats dropped on their doorsteps. And these cats start having more kittens — it’s crazy! So if you know some sweet little kid who could use a kitten, let me know ([email protected]). I have three that are now eating food who need a home. Three big roosters here need a home as well. (Or they would make a good free dinner for a poor family)
So for now cuz, we’ll just keep mowing, moving cows to new pastures until the grass runs out. Perhaps the weather will cool down soon and we’ll get some fencing done or some more cedars cut over in the holler. School will start soon and there will be only evening hours for the kids to do farm work.
Until next week, keep looking up.
RJ Kennedy