Sun and rain...at the same time

Yesterday we had a strange rain shower- it rained hard for a couple minutes while the sun was shining bright. It did it again this afternoon, in-between two thundershowers that had me unplugging the computers. Not a lot of rain, but the ground is wet on top now. We could use a couple days of good rain, but every little bit helps!

Yesterday the forecast for the week had 20% chance of rain- now today, tonight and Wednesday are at 50%, but it seems to change hourly- everytime we check the internet!

Garry ended up almost finishing chopping the farmer's hay yesterday- it turned out the Canadian- Ukrainian dairy commission guys decided we could keep the chopper because they had another they could use. He had a few problems- I think it was the metal detector, and the belts are a little worn- but Maxim ended up finishing today in a couple hours- with no problems.


So far no storm-related power outages- knock on wood- Garry is going to buy a generator for the barn just in case. Last night I thought there was some kind of power fluctation when I opened the fridge and it was off- it is plugged into a protector that shuts down when the electricity in the line is too high or too low- sometimes when Maxim is welding outside it shuts off because its low- it happened a lot last summer. I was wondering if I should unplug something else, when I looked behind the fridge- the little kittens had knocked the plug out while playing.

The mechanical instead of hand milking will be happening before long. Victor tried out the motor he got to run the vacuum pump, so we just need some shut off valves and the milking machines – the bucket kind. Then we’ll find out how the cows and the milking ladies like them. I understand that the last cow Garry bought from a lady in the village may be sold- they can’t milk her because she kicks too much. No wonder that lady was smiling.

Some of the neighbors are interested in joining the milk co-op. Victor had a meeting with some of them last week and they are getting the paperwork done to get it started- we only need five farmers to start it up. I'll keep you posted!