Welcome Gilbert, people here are very helpful. Please don't hesitate to ask any question you may have. Or search here to get all the info you need. I hope to see you regular at this forum. Marie

good morning sweetannie, yes, it does sound like paradise to me too - and I would be honored if I were your neighbor to come over and work for free and learn all I could Sigh, that is not to be. You know what is said about Paradise; "they took paradise and put up a parking lot." Of course your neighbors have a right to manage their property, but there may be regulations in your area on impact to surrounding land, check into that. I bought my little semi-rural plot in a teeny-tiny town a year and a half ago. It is sloped, and right at the highest edge are 4 evergreens. They are planted too close to each other... but they were mine, I wouldn't dream of cutting down 4 mature trees unless there were a pressing and logical reason. Well, two had quite a few brown tips and within a year ALL FOUR were dead as the proverbial doornail. I had an expert in to look at them, no - not borers - somebody has poisoned them. He said "someone has poisoned them, likely with copper." I look to the houses on higher ground and try to figure who may have wanted them gone, and who should PAY FOR THEIR REMOVAL, and there are no answers. I've tried posting them as free wood on CraigsList, posted on local bulletin boards, called tree services, etc. I haven't even 1/100th of the land you have, but as I said - it's MINE and I love it desperately already. I have my tiny meadow out back which slopes from my four huge dead brown trees gently down to the house. I've seeded with Crimson Clover, cone flower, and fifteen other wildflowers and I'd seeing tiny results. The neighbors, of course, seem to hate it. They were used to parking two cars on the top edge of it. Pfui. The only one who actually said anything is the house directly across the alley from me. Four dead trees stand between he and I. Ever since he (lightly) complained I have looked at him and wondered, how much did four tall trees and a neglected patch of meadow annoy him? Hmmm? GH-

CC, I enjoyed the story about "part-time milking" on the website. Took me right back to the farm. Very nearly my first experience with milking was when Dad and my older brother went off deer hunting in eastern Oregon. I know where we were living and I was 6, 7, and 8 while were there. Anyway, they left 3 cows for me to milk and I couldn't have been over 8!! I had 1 (ONE) cow up until that time! Suddenly they were both gone and I had all 3 cows! I doubt if they were gone more than a couple 3 days but this experience left a lasting impression on me! We had 3 farms while I was growing up. Actually, the first one hardly counted because it wasn't ours. Dad worked there a short time so as to acquire some of the dairy herd. Then we went off to a little farm along the Rogue River to start our own dairy. After 3 years, Dad gave up on the dairy idea (heck, what were we going to do with only 3 milk cows?). He got a larger place and picked up some beef cows and a Hereford bull and went into a cow calf operation. It never amounted to much and we kept up to 6 dairy cows so there were always cows to milk throughout my childhood. Anyway, it was fun reading about the Dexter cattle. Gosh, I had trouble milking the Jersey - the teats were so small! Any smaller . . . what's that a 1 finger and a thumb operation? Oh, we had an automatic milking machine but the cows didn't like it, Dad claimed. I wonder if he was lying to us?? Steve's digits

I'm in upstate NY, Mohawk Valley just west of Albany. Fortunately, my home wasn't damaged and I have electricity but I couldn't get to work today. Most of the counties have declared states of emergency and roads and bridges are closed. There's been significant flooding of the Schoharie Creek which flows through Schoharie and Montgomery counties into the Mohawk River which, in turn, flows into the Hudson River. Communities have been devastated. The historic Stockade district in Schenectady is flooding from the Mohawk as I write this and flood levels are expected to set a historic record. Many farms were flooded and one of them lost 100 cows. National news media have covered the Catskills and Vermont, but not this area. Please keep this region in your thoughts and prayers.