Chocolate, bioterrorism and the birth of Brazilian funk Engadget Engadget save share save share save share save share save share ear icon eye icon text file vr | Floor Deck Macking Machine

Myron deftly slipped the other end of the chain around his slippery wrist and dove back in. He grasped the recalcitrant foot with his hand and popped it into position. Miraculously, the cow sprang to her feet and started down the alley. Myron, of course, followed . . . approximately 32 inches behind! Florence was racing the cow and her attached obstetrician to the head gate. Florence swung the gate open. Too wide. Then she tried to close it. Too late. The cow shot through. Too fast. Followed by the tethered arm. Too bad.

People take chickens personally. My brother Bob had a rooster named Oscar. They hated each other! Lots of kids like Big Bird on Sesame Street. The state birds of Rhode Island and Delaware are both chickens; one red, one blue. Oklahoma has two cities named after the humble poult: Chickkasha and Henryetta. Toledo had a minor league baseball team called the Mud Hens.

Buddy ate like a span of Belgians. Although he didn’t get much taller, he developed an impressive rumen capacity. Somewhere around four hundred pounds he prolapsed. Ernie replaced it. He prolapsed three more times until at last Ernie administered the humane 22 caliber pain killer. Buddy became rawhide. Ernie made several scarf slides from Buddy. Buttons he called them.

In this Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018, file photo, a mule stands next to color patterns painted on a school wall in New Delhi, India. The animal is used for transporting construction materials and other goods. (AP Photo/R S Iyer, File)

   Just after 6.30pm on Tuesday, September 9, 1890, the mayoress of Lambton, Mrs W Dent, stood on the hill overlooking the township and flipped a switch that turned on the first electric lights in the Hunter Valley, “illuminating in a brilliant manner . . . 160 street lights, in addition to a large number of hotels, stores and dwellings.” 

 Dobell died in 1970 at Wangi Wangi, with the sole beneficiary of his estate the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation. 

Bob opened the stall and ran for cover. The steer took one look at the tractor then turned and dove under the chicken roosts! He was just tall enough to pop the 1×4’s and 1×6’s which were the frame of the platform. He ran the length of it, nails and pieces of board went flying! Next he jumped on the bales, stumbled and crashed through the back door on the other side of the shed, where Clark was not.

I look around at the pressures of farming today and on the surface, it does seem more demanding. Government programs, environmental considerations, public land use, the EPA, unwanted horses. and the I.R.S. Commitments to home, church, county and country, the Soil Conservation Service, the P.C.A., school board, Stockgrowers Assn., and the Fair Board. Kids with band practice, basketball practice, 4-H meetings, car payments and peer pressure. The constant barrage of national issues that the television insists we be concerned about!

I broke off and went to town for more ether. My daughter suggested it was outta gas. She switched the gas gauge from MAIN TANK to AUX, “See,” she said, “it’s empty.”

Flynt was just commenting the other day about how times sure did get away from us while you were here. All of a sudden we looked up and 6 weeks and 5 days had just whizzed by. We were sure sorry to see you go but since our livestock was about depleted and a good portion of our standing structures leveled I guess it was as good a time as any. Oh, by the way, the folks from the car rental place came by and picked up the Lincoln and were kind enough to set us up on a monthly payment plan until the $6300 in mileage and damages were paid off.

Its official name may have been the Newcastle and Suburban Co-operative Society Ltd, but to generations of Hunter people, it was simply “The Store”. 

And, he stressed, it is humane since they won’t have to go through the agony of getting injured in the first place. He says that a gimpy dog will be more cautious around kicking cows, truck tires, bangin’ chutes and cattle alleys. They can get right down to business.