Tornado Allert!

Environment Canada's Official Weather Warnings

Warnings
Brantford - County of Brant
12:51 PM EDT Tuesday 25 July 2006
Tornado warning for
Brantford - County of Brant issued
An area of severe thunderstorms with possible tornadoes in moving eastward at 60 km/h through or toward the above warnings. Trained spotter has reported rotation and lowering in a storm near London. As a result tornadoes are now a threat over the above regions.

Gister om 1 uur middag trok er een zeer snel opkommende storm over Buttermine Farms.
We waren tarwe aan het oogsten maar konden net het graan in de vrachtwagen onderdak krijgen voordat de bui losbrak. Dit is de 2e X, van deze zomer, dat we een Tornado waarchuwing kregen en dat betekend dat rotatie in de storm is waargenomen en wij er op voorzien zijn om in de kelder te huizen als de rotatie aan de grond komt. Dit is hier, in 1979, gebeurt met veel schade van dien.
De foto's geven weer hoe het van dag op nacht werd, in seconden, tewijl ik buiten in een nog vreemde stilte sta ! De bui barst los en geen Tornado. Wel weer een plas water, tesamen met veel donder en bliksem!.... in 1 week uit 2 stormen.... 8 cm. water gekregen! We blijven in dit zeer onstabiele weer patroon voor de komende dagen met een zeer hoge vochtigheid is het bar heet! We hopen dat jullie ook wat water krijgen, zonder de Tornado's natuurlijk!

Boeren Praat!

9 July, de 1e snee hooi ( nieuw ingezaaid) binnen gehaald met z'n tweetjes. Velden bij bij de Brown Farm en Lilley farm.


Chris was een bedrijf aan het verzorgen in Mildmay Ontario. Dus de twee oudjes vlug nog even 80 pakken binnen gehaald.
De loon werker had de dag daarvoor s'avonds alles in pakken gemaakt. Het weer was dreigend met buien dus s'morgens vroeg wij snel alles opgeladen en in de hooi schuur gestapelt.

Frieda

Frieda, een zus van Ab, verwent ons altijd met leuke foto's van haar landgoed in Friesland....een heerlijk plekje aan het water met koeien,schapen, kippen en honden vrij om je heen. De groenten tuin in wagenwiel vorm samen met de bloemen tuin een prachtig gezicht.Het geurt, groeit en bloemt weelderig rond het hele bedrijf.
Je zou zeggen dat Frieda op een eiland huist, want je moet de brug over om op het erf te komen. De brug, net nieuw betimmerd, met de honden maakt het een prachtige foto. De hooibouw zit er ook op en is alles in het pak. Bij Frieda is er altijd wel wat te doen,laaste keer, roeiden wij de vaart af, aan beide oevers schaapen, een trek pontje over het water, molen,een gemaal bezoeken en natuurlijk praatje maken met de dorpslui. De zons ondergang op de punt is een prachtige besluit van een heerlijke vakantie dag. Hartelijk dank voor de foto's van thuis en familie.Hartelijke groeten aan ieder en we komen nog wel eens van de rumpot proeven.









Hi there Vandenberg's , no translation needed.... right.... ?

Nick and Eri

Saturday the 8th.of July we enjoyed a BBQ at Piet and Edie's, Nick and girlfriend Eri, home from Japan, joined us.
Nick and Eri are leaving for Germany, for a month long holiday.

The young ones!

Spring is courting time on the farm the birds are back from Southern States and beyond, busy making their nest. They will carry any loose yard waste, sometimes I throw pieces of bright coloured yarn out, and in time will find it back in their nests. Robins,Cardinals, Hummingbirds, Orioles, Bluebirds, Barn Swallows and of course your garden variety of birds like Sparrows, Starlings and Red winged Blackbirds have made their home in the windbreak, barn, drive shed or even right under our windows. We will take the bb-gun out for the more disturbing birds, like crows and blackbirds, just one nest of their kind will upset the whole nesting population and Ab. Just the sight of the gun will make the crows and kind take flight, all the while screeching insults! The Trumpet Vine on the old drive shed becomes this mega housing complex for sparrows and with all families living in close quarters loud domestic disturbances are the norm and whole swarms will swoop out and bring the dispute out on the yard......birds!!!!!!!!
When the nest are in place and the eggs have hatched the moms and dads are cleaning house and deposit their baby poop with mouthfuls on the roof of the house or very neatly on the edge of the pool, they will keep the water clean because they frequently swoop down to take a drink from the pool, sometimes we do have floaters, the ones that never learned to swoop and should have stayed by the kiddie pool( dog water dish)! Peace and quiet returns when all the little ones have earned their wings. Mom will feed them for a couple of days but then they are on their own.......and the courting starts all over again! The birds are used to us being around and will stay on their nest but that means too that they are not scared to munch in my garden! I have to leave the romaine lettuce to save my green beans! This flock of juvenile sparrows is up to no good, they made French lace out of my delicious greens! Do tell......my greens have lice?
2 weeks ago, 3 young barn swallows took their first flight and parked right in front of my kitchen window. They preened and polished their feathers,mom and dad still catered to them, 3 big hungry mouths to feed,they were insatiable and vocal at each flyby.Now they are in full flight and quite the sight, all together they can dive-bomb this "innocent' kitty back to the barn!

The Lilley Farm

Stephanie you have been asking about the Lilley Farm and how the clean up is progressing.You know the inside of the house, how it spruced up from a thorough cleaning and a bit of a paint here and there. Dave, the renter, and his big clumsy dogs are still happy on the hill. On the weekend that Chris went to New York the back hoe came to dig the trench, so dad ended up laying the drainage tile around the house and installing an outside faucet ......no more wet basement. Dave's firewood for the winter and his feet stay nice and dry.At the same time we drained some wetspots in the field and put new drainage tile in.The roots from the trees at the laneway crept into the field drains and blocked them off.The barn is still standing (no bonfire yet!)...we cannot do much with all the crops standing in the field. We did sell off all parts from the pig hutches, gates, feeders, waterers, feed tanks and bins. The hutches are now good for equipment storage. Carien and Dad tried to remove one of the hutch covers this spring to see if they are good enough for resale but with all the rust holes in it, they buckle in the wind.After hauling out the manure, a high hoe cleaned out the lagoon, put in a drain connecting up to a field drain. The concrete barnyard wall by the gutter cleaner was opened up and now all surface water runs to the lagoon and drains out to the field..... the piggy smell is gone! Dad hopes to fill the lagoon with the leftovers from the barn levelling.The old barn has 3 floor and 2 are concrete plus the fieldstone foundation wall. We will have to ship that out somewhere else, it is a lot of fill ...maybe Woodstock .....that place is getting remodelled and reshaped, earth movers all over the place..There is a lot of wood in the top structure with many good beams , we hope that the Mennonites have interest in dismantling it. That's for later... we are busy with the crops till fall.We are filling silo today, it's a clear hot day,the crew,Jisk ,Douwe,Kees and Dad just had their break, a tire blew on one of the tractors pulling the rake.... coffee time! Al's Tire came out to fix and they put an other tractor in front of the rake and as of now, an hour later, the tractors are silent so the work must be done and the unloader is coming down from the top of the silo, Douwe and Dad are levelling off the silage.We have some hay laying out too for tomorrow, large bales.It's July and the weather pattern is changing ,hot and humidity on the way, It's the cold fronts now passing through that will have to give us the rain showers we need.
Feel sorry, scared for you two with Typhoon Ewiniar( stay safe!) heading for you and Monsoon season making it very humid.
Just a little longer till your holidays in Malaysia and Singapore....So excited for you and enjoy to the fullest! XOXOXO

Happy Canada Day