Calves with Sam

Old Habits Die Hard

Christmas Day. I'm awake early as on most days. The habits of being in the barn to milk cows at 3:30 AM and then later getting up in time to be feeding calves at 7:00 AM are hard to break. Regardless of when you begin this day,  please enjoy your Christmas celebration.

All twelve years that I cared for calves at Noblehurst Dairy in Livingston County, NY I worked the morning shift on Christmas Day. My relief worker had small children at home while all four of Esther's and my sons were grown and married.

In order to make sense of my next comment you need to know that our 100 hutches were spread out in 20 rows of 5 along a county road. Every Christmas morning at least one and sometimes as many as five persons would stop their car and come over to speak to me while I was feeding calves. It was always the same story. "I see you nearly every day when I am driving past. This morning I just felt that I had to stop and wish you Merry Christmas." After a few minutes of conversation they would be on their way. 

I appreciated having them stop. They praised me for having such lively healthy-looking calves. And, from that day on they always waved or tooted their horn as they went by.