When Your Neighbor's Barn Burns Down

Well, it's been crazy. Not just the usual kind but the wacko kind of crazy. Our neighbor's barn burnt down. 

We could see the huge cloud of smoke from our house.
Here's a picture I took from my bedroom window:

We rushed over there to offer them our farm facilities since they'd be needing somewhere to milk their 130 cows and we have 130 empty stalls. Ever since last Friday it's been a constant buzz of vehicles going up and down our driveway now that there's a huge herd of someone else's cows being milked on our farm. Holsteins, nonetheless. ;) We've had to change a few things in our parlor to make it fit the bigger cow breed, but otherwise it seems to be working out. 
Here's a picture of the other farm's employees milking.... I was helping out, showing them how to operate our parlor set-up.

Today the concrete company my dad works for came and they poured some concrete walls in the parlor. They'll hold the big Holsteins in better than the old, metal railings we had in place before. 

 Hopefully this cement wall will hold the cows in better. ;) Anyways, I thought I'd share this poem I wrote back in 2010. It seems to fit well with the circumstances right now.

The Farmer
 
the farmer labors harder and harder each day
he can't go on vacation when there are bills to be paid
the weather it seems just ain't on his side
when the corn needs rain the ground is dry

the house wife continues hard at her work
sweeping the floors and moping up dirt
her mind is always thinking and planning ahead
working out problems and fighting off stress

with the bank at their heel's and over-due bills
there's always that feeling of climbing up hills
there's never rest nor enough time to relax
just a glass of wine to get by or a power nap

reliable help is seldom to be found
and the few hired-hands are rarely around
they have their own lives and don't understand
the drive for the farmer to hold onto his land

holidays are simply icing on the cake
a bit of cheer to disguise the chances they take
a time to forget the problems outside
and visit with the family be it December or July

winter it seems is constantly hard
things never start up but instead fall apart
the farmer sees the sun coming up at dawn
and knowing it'll be 30 below, puts more layers on

every day he just keeps on moving forward
with his wife by his side and his kids for support
and through the moments of good and times of bad
the farmer cultivates the dreams that he's always had