Life seems so hectic for me these days. I work full-time at home, blogging articles and adding links to help our income. I rarely have time to sit and read a good story anymore. But this morning something caught my eye. It was the exceptional post by threecollie over at Northview Diary. Her post is titled "Dead Cow," and what a post! You have GOT to read this great story.

Born in 1992, and a little on the small side, she was an ordinary black heifer. We called her 403, the number on her eartag, although her name is Frieland AE Dandy Vanity. She quickly faded into bovine obscurity, merely another in a barn full of heifers.

In 1995 a horrible strain of pneumonia swept through the milk cows. 403 was milking by then, a little on the kicky side, but not bad, just another bovine in a barn full. She stood in a stall way back by the calf tie-up, about as far from the barn door as a cow could get.

When I went into milk her one night during the epidemic she seemed hot and sluggish. There were funny little bumps on her rib cage. I poked at one and it crackled like cellophane. “Oh, boy,” I thought, “this is real bad.” Crackly lumps on a cow’s body indicate air under the skin, which emanates from lungs that are somehow pierced...

Talk about crazy job descriptions! Life on a dairy farm is never dull, is it?

I just love this blog. It is a perfect picture of the Upstate New York dairy farmer, with loads of common sense and humor. Another great story from the Northview Diary! Be sure to check it out, and don't let your hectic day stop you from reading a good story today. ;)