I'm on my way to buying some baby calves, bottle feeding them, and then weaning them and graining them until they are about 500 lbs. Well, at least I got one! One little Holstein (a milking breed) bull calf I got from a dairy. When they get some more bull calves I'll go pick them up too, but they just don't have any more yet.

I would like to have beef calves instead, but they are expensive right now. It is calving season around here, so if a farmer loses a calf, they want to pick one up to put on the cow so they aren't carrying a cow for a whole year without her producing anything. I heard a few weeks ago, those were going for $300 a piece at the sale barn...I picked up my bull calf for $80! But, I figure here in a month or so, everyone will be taking their cows out to grass and no one will want to bottle feed their extra calves anymore, so I might be able to pick some of those up for pretty cheap.

Problem is, we don't have running water out on the farm, only a well that we pump each day with a gas powered transfer pump. So, no hot water heater, so no heat. Well, as my mind comes up with pretty fanciful ways to do things, I figured out that I could use a coffee pot to heat the water I pull from the well, instead of having to drive into town to get the bottle ready at night. We have a large 10 cup one we use in the house and only have the small 4 cup one as a spare. 4 cup would be enough for this one calf, but we want to get up to 10, so I figured, get something bigger. One of those big 36 coffee percolators, the kind you use at family reunions, weddings and such, are so expensive new. Over $80 for the ones I saw. But hey, it is going in the barn, so it definitely doesn't have to be new!

I found one on ebay for $5.99, with $13.52 in shipping. It is avocado green! Definitely from the 70's. But, it will work. So, for $19.52, I'll be able to heat the water out there. Won't mix the milk in the coffee pot, just heat the water and pour it into something else to mix the milk.

Anyway, I bought it from a guy who's screen name is elmothespaceman, and his email address starts with spaceport430! I just think it is so funny that that is going in my taxes file because I can write this off. If I get audited, the IRS agent will have to decide if an avocado green space coffee pot can be a legitimate business expense!