After a little mathematical calculation I came to the conclusion that I don't have nearly enough hay to feed those dairy steers through the winter, and with the drought we had this summer hay is going to be hard to come by. There is a feeder sale at Middleburg Livestock Auction on Friday, so I have arranged to borrow Drake's truck. The weather looks bad for Friday morning so I may have to take them on Thursday. I guess I will have to borrow my neighbor Dick's tractor to get the trailer up onto the lane after its loaded. My tractor doesn't have chains on it and there is nothing as helpless a tractor without chains on a snow/ice/frozen ground combo. I got some welding done on the snowplow so that is ready to go. The truck has been running pretty rough though. I think its wet gas. Our local gas station is famous for their wet gas, as well as their courteous service and low prices.

I spent some time out in the blacksmith shop on Sunday making a pair of strap hinges for a new customer. Actually he is a chicken customer that we have known for years. I never knew that he was a cabinet maker and he never knew I was a blacksmith. Sometimes I think we should all spend more time learning about the people we deal with all the time. You never know when you will be able to solve each others problems. Rural people in particular need to become more interconnected. Anybody want to have a barnraising?

I also went on Sunday to look at some black locust trees that are on the next hill to the northeast of me. I have been watching them die for the last two years. They started out by turning brown in august of 2003, then again last year. Now they are quite dead. There are probably 100 of them. They will make good fence posts, but I am a little concerned about what is killing all these trees. If the winter isn't too rough I will probably skid them out with the horses.