Friday, March 20, 2026

You don't always get what you want. That lesson seems so simple and yet can be so complex over the course of a lifetime.

The finances of Dairy Farmers of America are souring faster than cream in a July sun, according to a May 9 Moody's Investors Service report.

While reading the book written by Bettie Youngs, I couldn't help but notice many similarities to so many farm families I have known over my lifetime.

Now that I'm a "real writer" (as opposed to my former slacker's life as a married mother moonlighting as a writer), I'm amazed at all the similarities - besides sleeping late - between tortured artists and me.

Helping prepare a program for my Monday (reader's) Club prompted me to dig out the correspondence my family has saved over the years.

Feed is the most expensive input on a dairy farm. Dairy operations typically incur annual feed expenses amounting to $1,000 to $1,200 per cow per year.

I am an unfit mother. Oh sure, other mothers might see the merit in hiding it better. But me, I work hard at it.

Although I've noticed the graduation cap and gown hanging in my daughter's closet on those few occasions when I invade her private space, nothing brought her imminent graduation home so vividly as an awards night ceremony where her classmates were honored for their high school achievements.

Standing atop the sweeping farm ridge 70 miles north of Berlin, the stiff wind off the Baltic Sea painted my cheeks apple red in minutes.

There has never been a time in my life without dogs. I can't imagine it any other way. I remember a black and white photograph in an old family album.