22 April 2017

Planting Potatoes

It is supposed to be done on Easter weekend. I don’t know who decided that or why but it’s the rule. We didn’t quite make it. But on Tuesday, once the weather finally got nice, we planted potatoes. And by we I in no way mean me. Mostly it was The Goblin Child and her patient father. I spent most of the time trying to keep 8 from walking on the freshly planted rows.

The Goblin Child is getting old enough that she was really good help. She was gentle with the seed potatoes and was able to do exactly what needed done. 8 tromped around like the big boy that he is galloping happily across rows of planted potatoes and tossing the seedlings into holes.

Poppy finally had her calf! On the late side as usual, a nice healthy, so far, hold our breath and cross our fingers that he stays that way. Now we are only waiting on our heifer to calve. Blue is open, again, it will be good bye to Blue as soon as I can get her to a sale barn. The Goblin Child is mad about it but this is two years in a row, she has to go. The other cows had theirs and everything is good.

Category: 8, Cows, Garden, Goblin Child | 1 Comment on Planting Potatoes
15 April 2017

Our Cowgirl Strikes Again

We started the day bright and early, 8 likes to wake us up by six on any day we would otherwise be able to sleep in. We scarfed down a delicious breakfast and Tanna arrived to help sort pairs. 8 went out in the tractor to help the men feed and us girls saddled the horses. The Goblin Child wanted up behind Tanna and I rode Coyote as usual. We got them sorted in record time, they quite literally ran out the gate. The Goblin Child clung tight and was a real trouper not complaining all the way though.

 

 

Once in the lane they needed to go all the way out to the farthest pen, clear at the top of the hill. I got off to get gates and decided not to get back on. I had gotten off and on so many time I was clean out of cake, Coyotes reward for letting me on again, and baby calves can be much easier to move on foot. Leading Coyote along behind me I looked over at Tanna and The Goblin Child double on Onna and realized I could do something about it. I put The Goblin Child on Coyote.

 

 

At first he got to stand and eat at the trough while we tried to get the calves to move. Then I would grab a rein and bring him along a few steps then let him eat, try to convince calves to move. As we slowly progressed up the hill The Goblin Child began to move Coyote along by herself. Once we reached the circle at the top I turned her loose to push the cattle through the gate with Tanna. Poor Coyote. He put up with it for a little while then said that he was done, he’d had enough. Please save him.

 

 

After closing the gate I climbed on behind my saddle and let The Goblin Child steer us home. It was terrifying. Not just having a small child who had no control in charge of my hot, grouchy horse, not confined in a small area but on the way home, but also sitting right on his haunches. He’s bouncy. I thought for sure I was going to fall off.

After unsaddling I turned Coyote loose to graze, surely he deserved a reward for putting up with all that. The guys had been planting oats and I was going to keep a very close eye on him to make sure he didn’t get into the planted field. I forgot he was out there. As we were getting ready to leave that afternoon I remembered Coyote. I ran out the door frantically searching for him. Behind the house I caught a glimpse of his butt disappearing behind a shed. Running back there I found The Goblin Child leading him to the gate. She informed me that she was putting him away for me and indeed she was. What a good, big girl!

Category: Cows, Family, Goblin Child, Horses | 2 Comments on Our Cowgirl Strikes Again
13 April 2017

Little Cowboys

The Goblin Child sometimes wants to dress up as a cowboy, I always tell her that she IS a cowboy so no matter how she dresses she is dressed up like a cowboy. She doesn’t quite grasp the nuances.

Today as we wandered around the yard trying not to be blown away by the howling wind we found a calf laying in a corner, trying to hide behind a ceder tree. The pens are next to the house but the cows are not actually against the house. The calf was a long way from any prospective mother. We debated about which way to try to take him back and decided to go through the yard to the gate behind the house.

I told The Goblin Child that I needed her to be a big girl and help me, lots. She climbed the fence and ran for the gate. I crawled under the tree and flushed the calf. He ran right where we needed him, through the yard fence and towards the gate. I held him in the drive while the tiny little Goblin Child put all her strength into pulling the big heavy gate off its support block and into the howling wind. As she struggled the calf would run towards her as he paced the gate looking for a hole. She would leap back away from him shrieking a little in fear, then went back to hefting on the gate. Finally she was able to pull it back far enough to allow the calf to squeeze through on his next pass. What a brave girl. We had him.

We called the powers that be to make sure there wasn’t a reason for him to go anywhere else then put him back. It was 8’s turn to cowboy. For him too the urge to chase cattle was tempered by fear. He wanted to get that calf but needed a little backup.

Category: 8, Cows, Family, Goblin Child | 2 Comments on Little Cowboys
27 March 2017

A Chilly Spring Day

After church, and lunch, I took the children to the park so their father could take a sanity break at Walmart. Someone needed to get groceries.

 

 

 

Once home we took naps! I rode Rusty, out into the corner of the pivot. He was very good. My hard working husband finished mowing the lawn. After naps they wanted to fly a kite.

 

After that, because it was so nice out? Because they are insane? They ran through the sprinkler for awhile.

It was a busy cold spring day.

Category: 8, Family, Goblin Child | 1 Comment on A Chilly Spring Day
25 March 2017

Reading, Riding and ‘Rithmatic

Not that there’s any reading in this one but we do that all the time. I wanted to show what The little Goblin Child usually rides like. When her world is not collapsing because her lead rope is the wrong color. She’s such a good little rider. Tanna and I were going out to sort some pairs and she wanted to come with us instead of riding in the pay loader with her father. Unfortunatly she faced the same delima as last time. Her horse or her saddle. She chose her saddle and was going to get on behind me on Coyote.
I put her up and let her ride by herself through the gates. In the first pen I turned her loose, she had been loose the whole time so I guess I chased Coyote away from me. He was glued to my shoulder begging me to save him from small children.

We have been working with 8 on very simple counting for awhile now. How many eyes do you have? One, two, two eyes. While swinging at the park the other day I decided to try to teach counting the way I did with The Goblin Child, I would count to three as he repeated after me then at three I would let the swing go.

He was getting it. He counted to three once. I frantically grabbed for my phone, tried to figure out how to hold it and catch him at the same time. And he never did it again. Dang kids. He got kind of close though and looked cute doing it, that’s a start.

 

Category: 8, Goblin Child, Horses | 1 Comment on Reading, Riding and ‘Rithmatic
20 March 2017

The Pink Lead Rope

It was the last nice day. I caught Princess Onna and Coyote and saddled Princess Onna so we could go out for a nice ride. At first it went well.

The Goblin Child’s beautiful pink lead rope is long, very long, longer than what is really useful. I traded lead ropes. Coyotes shorter green rope would be easier not to get tangled in and to keep from dragging while ponying. The long pink lead rope would work fine as reins for me and 8 on Coyote, I would just tie a bigger knot to take up some of the length. It seemed simple.

Then this started as soon as we got through the gate into the cattle and she noticed.

 

I was going to take her over to a fence line, set her down and tell her to walk home after I switched lead ropes and gave her the stupid pink one. It’s not that easy a thing to switch with two squirming children and prancey horses, so I tried to ignore her. By the time we got back to the corrals it had progressed to this

 

When we got back to the house I switched lead ropes so she had the pink one. She sat on Onna and balled. I turned 8 loose with Coyote and had at least one happy child until he fell on his little butt. Then there were two screamers.

 

Why do I even try?

Category: 8, Goblin Child, Horses | 1 Comment on The Pink Lead Rope
14 March 2017

Life Lessons

We all piled on the four-wheeler and rode along to check the cows. As soon as we pulled into the corrals, there was a cow about to calve. We sat and watched, the children were hilarious. 8 kept saying baby, baby, baby. The Goblin Child was full of questions, most of which you can hear in the video.

I have more video of her cleaning him up later it is >here<.

 

Category: 8, Cows, Family, Goblin Child | LEAVE A COMMENT
10 February 2017

Not Much Going On

We got an awesome box in the mail from Grandma for 8’s birthday. They had a blast opening it.

 

 

I thought I should share this so if my children ever start showing signs of brain damage everyone can know where to put the blame. Plus they were cute inflicting it upon themselves.

We woke up to forty some degrees this morning. Although it’s cloudy it almost feels hot out. All our snow melted overnight, almost, leaving lots of mud. When 8 disappeared out the door in just a diaper and boots we didn’t try to stop him, just added a shirt. And sent his sister out too. They frolicked in the mud and water and wanted to ride Princess Onna. They wore boots and helmets, I think we had all the bases covered right?

Category: 8, Books, Family, Farming, Goblin Child, Horses | 2 Comments on Not Much Going On
27 January 2017

Blowing Snow

Dad. Justin, this one’s for you guys.

The driveway was well blown in. Plowing more only makes higher drifts. Unless it’s a major undertaking, like last year. They spent days plowing snow way back into the wheat. It took forever and the wheat showed the wear and tear that summer. My very efficient husband kept wondering at the time why they weren’t just hooking up the snow blower.

This year he got to it first. He hooked up the snowblower.

Category: 8, Books, Family, Farming, Goblin Child, Horses | 1 Comment on Blowing Snow
26 January 2017

We Got Stuck!

As I’ve mentioned, it snowed.

I had a hard time deciding what vehicle to take to pick up The Goblin Child from school. The wind is blowing and the snow is drifting. Just out of the tree row there was a pretty good drift burying the road. I thought the car could probably make it but we took the pickup, just to be on the safe side. The first drift was bad the second, over the hill out of view from the house was worse but Billy, that’s my pickup, could handle it.

Getting out was no problem.

Coming home our tracks were drifted in but it didn’t look awful and my faith in Billy is great. We forged ahead. Billy plowed on until she could go no further. We were stuck. But no, that couldn’t be. Billy and I have been in tighter places than that!

Back and forth we went, taking care to shift slowly between drive and reverse. Billy is twenty two years old now, I’d hate to break the old girl. We rocked until she was able to get going backwards and we followed our tracks back out. I called my trusty husband, because what else does one do when the have problems? He said no, we couldn’t hope out into the wheat field and go around. Farmers are so weird.

So we tried again. With one set of tracks made Billy was able to fight her way a little farther before sticking. Again with lots of rocking we were able to back out. This time I gave up and told my concerned husband to go ahead and call his father to come plow a path with the payloader. I hate having to be saved.

We waited and watched as the payloader pushed a pile of snow taller that the bucket. It cleared the path out to us and we were able to get home. Probably still couldn’t have made it without four wheel drive. Good old Billy got us home safe, what a good old pickup.

 

Category: 8, Books, Family, Farming, Goblin Child, Horses | 1 Comment on We Got Stuck!