Our trip to Denver was a great success. We had some extra time Tuesday morning so we took a side trip to Colorado Springs. We were able too see the Air Force Academy from a great vantage point along the highway. It has a great location spread out with the Rockies in the background. Colorado Springs is only about 45 minutes from Denver.

The National Lowline sale was on Tuesday afternoon and both of our heifers sold extremely well. In the evening, Jim and I attended the Lowline Association Annual Meeting. It was typical of most organization meetings. Election of officers and plans for a great future.

It was getting time for Jim to head back to school. We got an early start on Wednesday and headed for Grand Island, Nebraska. This is where Case-IH makes combines. Our local dealer had maned arrangements for us to tour the plant. Jim and I both agreed that it was an impressive plant with lots of hard working dedicated people.

After leaving the plant, we stopped for a Runza. This is a Nebraska and only Nebraska with one or two locations in adjacent Iowa fast food. It is basically like a large dough pouch filled with steamed beef and onions and a few secret spices. If you like a pirogi you like a Runza. otherwise it is definitely an acquired taste. Jim had a hamburger.

We then headed off on the last leg of Jim's trip to Ames and we got there around 9 after a very full day. Jim went off to his dorm and I headed to the hotel. I got up early Thursday and headed for home. Home turned out to be 1016 miles and 16 and a half hours away. I got in just after midnight. The trip in total was just under 4000 miles and my diesel truck averaged 18.4 mpg.



Friday, we had the vet coming for regular herd health checks. All is well except for a few cows that have had trouble getting pregnant. We took some blood samples to see if we could find a problem.

We had to leave Denver before the cattle show. The way it works is you sell the animal on Tuesday and show it on Wednesday. Even though it's no longer yours, you get bragging rights and any awards. My friend from Minnesota had agreed to show my two animals. So I called him to see how it went.

You might imagine that I was very pleased when he told me that our heifer, Mae, was Reserve Grand Champion for Lowline calves. The way this works is that the calves all compete against their peers in age. Then the winners of those groups compete again. The winner is Grand Champion and runner up is Reserve Grand Champion. Our other heifer did fairly well in her peer group but not well enough to move on.

Here is the picture of Mae getting her award:

I've gotten back into the rhythm here. It's been pretty easy weather wise since I got back. No storms and mostly milder days and not all that cold at night. It's pretty quiet at the diner. Several of our main contributors, conversation wise, are off to the not so sunny and mild South.

We are starting to get geared up for this year's calves. Our belted galloways were pasture bred so we don't have a precise way of knowing when they'll calve other than knowing when the bull was turned into their pasture. We don't expect any activity until March but it's a good time to get things ready.

Yesterday, Mary and I were part of a panel discussion at the NY Beef Producers Annual Meeting in Syracuse. Our group discussed how our Beef Group obtained a grant for DNA analysis of our herds and how we can use the information to better our herd.

Well, we made it to Denver. We got Eileen all situated in Detroit and headed off. She called the next day to say she was at home in the south of France. The airline had told her to expect to be delayed in France by a vigorous snowstorm. Sometimes you can't get away from the stuff.

Jim and I drove right into the snow. We have a diesel truck and were a little concerned about fuel gelling in the cold. So we decided to take the southern route to Denver. We dropped down to Dayton and headed west. The first night we made it to Highland, Illinois.

The weather became extremely cold but we got out of the snow as we crossed Kansas. We stayed in Manhattan the home of Kansas State, a Big 12 school like Iowa State. When we left the next morning it was negative 13.

As we continued across Kansas, the temperature gradually rose until it was just freezing as we got into Colorado. For the trivia fans, mile 381 on I70 in Colorado is at 5280 feet or one mile. It was an easy ride the rest of the way to Denver.

On Sunday, after church, we checked out the NWSS cattle show. It is certainly impressive. Our two cattle looked like a million bucks although I doubt they';ll bring that in the sale. The whole open area is like a giant beauty and barber shop for cattle. Everyone is blowing and clipping and trimming to show the cows to best advantage. Now we understand why our hometown barber reminisces about learning to cut hair with cattle clippers.

Then we drove up to Boulder about 45 minutes NW of Denver. We saw the University of Colorado. Jim says we are on a tour of Big 12 north division schools.,

Last night, there was a cattle sale in the hotel ballroom with about 20 animals. There was lots of plastic on the carpets and sharp eyed folks with manure scoops. The sale is somewhat controversial as it was put on by a splinter group of our Association. I think there will be lots of discussion about this sale at the Annual Meeting.

Monday, we did the grand tour. We are very impressed not only with the natural beauty of the area but the obvious prosperity. All without benefit of our Albany politicians.

Happy New Year from Lake Breeze Farms.

We have been very busy the last few weeks since our children came home from college. We have been to dinner, celebrated Christmas and Mary's and my 25th wedding anniversary.

When I was a kid, in the infancy of television, there was a show I believe called I Remember Mama. It was about a Norwegian family living in urban America. They always did a Christmas show reminiscing about life in the homeland. A big part of it was when the father went out to the barn to give his animals an extra treat for Christmas. This was long before I knew I had any agricultural genes. So every Christmas Eve, I too go to the barn and give the animals some extra feed and a few words of encouragement.

This year the cows gave me a little something back. In mid afternoon on Christmas day, Jim and I had gone somewhere with the truck. When we got back near the barnyard, we saw some of the Lowlines running rather exuberantly. It just didn't seem like a running sort of day. When we got to the barn, we saw why they were running. They had managed to open a gate and several were over on the other side of the farm visiting with some bulls across the fence while trying to put their heads through to eat the bulls hay. They were remarkably easy to catch and before long everyone was back where they belong. When you catch wayward cattle and put them back they almost seem relieved to have been caught. They are creatures of habit.

The weather until today has been quite mild with only nuisance amounts of snow. That changed today. As I write this it's 10 degrees with the wind blowing and close to a foot of lake effect snow. I have already plowed twice. The cattlee are doing fine and all the waterers are working.

Eileen is leaving Wednesday for France. Her flight is from, Detroit to Amsterdam then Marseilles. The Amsterdam leg is the Europe bound version of the flight that that lunatic tried to blow up on Christmas. Neither Eileen or us are concerned since we feel that that flight will be especially safe.

Jim and I had planned to drive her to Detroit to avoid problems with weather etc flying from Syracuse to Detroit. We got looking at a map and Denver is only 20 hours from Detroit. You might recall that I took some heifers to Minnesota in November to prepare for the Denver show and sale.

We have decided to go. Lots of people from Jim's college go to the show so we think it will be a good one. Ames is about 10 hours on the way back on the direct route from Denver home. So after we leave we'll head for Ames. Case-IH makes their combines in Grand Island, Nebraska which is also along the way. We have spoken to our local dealer and he has been kind enough to arrange a factory tour. We toured John Deere's Waterloo, Iowa factory a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed. The combiner factory should be quite interesting to Jim as he continues his studies in Agricultural Engineering.

It has been a busy year for driving. Lots of our friends have now gone off to Florida. I have told them driving from Detroit to Denver is about the same as driving from here to Florida. It's just not South. The diner is pretty much deserted. Our friend up the lake had a wonderful Christmas Eve when his liquor license arrived. We are going to dinner tonight to his place and we hope the heat is working.