by Bill Byrne | Apr 27, 2015 | Uncategorized
A sure sign of Spring is when we hear the first whippoorwill with their very distinctive and loud song. Some people may choose not to call it a song, since they will go all night long, and loud enough to keep a person awake. In fact, I have heard many a threat to send a particularly annoying bird to the happy hunting ground. We also have visitors to the ranch wanting to know “what was that red eyed creature that kept landing in front of us on the road as we slowly traveled along?” Again, a trait of the whippoorwill, and one which has had more than a few people concerned until they know the facts. May the whippoorwills quickly appear in your life also and herald the coming of Spring, my favorite season because of its promise of hope, growth, and renewal.
by Bill Byrne | Apr 10, 2015 | Uncategorized
Up on our decks at the ranch house, in the early morning, you can see miles of the large expanse of fields and woods lined borders. At this time of year the deer are out in the fields after fresh new-growth grass, and the turkeys are in the middle of their mating rituals. The toms spread their tail feathers as they impress the females, which usually number from 3 to 6 or more. The hens run around the tom, trying to chase away the other females in an endless circle that really has no effect….at least as far as I can see. Kind of like our own efforts many times….lots of rather useless running around with no visible results…I guess we’re not much different than turkeys sometimes!
by Bill Byrne | Apr 4, 2015 | Uncategorized
And that lesson is pretty basic….don’t leave small immature males in with your females…they quickly can change to small mature breeding males, and your lambing season moves up quite a bit earlier than you want. Our target date for lambing was middle of May, and we have instead been having young ones strung out since the middle of February. Ah well….the best laid plans of mice and men!
by Bill Byrne | Mar 27, 2015 | Uncategorized
In fact, 4 inches of rain in a couple of hours. We had a little bit of hail but not near as bad as areas only 10 miles away, so we feel quite fortunate. However, in these steep hills we get quite a bit of damage to roads and other areas when that much rain falls that quickly. Sooo….time spent on the tractor fixing things back up. Actually, I enjoyed the time out of the office, and all’s well that ends well!!
by Bill Byrne | Mar 19, 2015 | Uncategorized
We tend to get easily side tracked and forget that the search for meaning is so much more important than the search for happiness. Happiness is a result of a meaningful life.
