22 March 2024

A Record Sort of a Day

I started out the day by breaking a nail. It split clear down past the quick. Not usually a big deal. I came in when I had time, trimmed the nail down, put a bandaid over it so the part of the nail I couldn’t trim wouldn’t catch.

Then we had to pull a calf.

The calf was huge, The heifer was a big framed girl, plenty big enough to have no trouble with any but the biggest calf. This was the biggest. I needed more than the one hand I had gloved to get the straps on. The thick front legs were squeezed so tightly together it was all I could do with both hands to get the strap over the second ankle. Pushing the strap up the leg the nail caught on something. The straps finally caught. We pulled. She strained. She went down. We let her out of the chute, then followed her continuing to pull. The sun shone down on us as big white flakes of snow drifted down around us. Outside with room to move around we were able to free the calf.

A giant head, thick shoulders, and wide legs gave the calf a strange look even before he stood up.But he was alive and working on getting up.

Then after lunch another heifer was starting to calve. And another. At the same time, claiming the calf born earlier in the day without any help. They needed brought in and separated, Then we watched and waited. The progress was quick at first. Water bags out then feet showing. Then nothing. Balancing that need to get in there quick enough to help and keep the calf alive and waiting long enough to give the heifer a chance to stretch and have a chance to have it herself is tough. The first one I think we waited too long. On the second one, who had started working on calving a little later, the timing was about right.

The first one was laying in the corral and didn’t want to get up. Weak with trying combined with a wonderfully quiet temperament. She laid quietly while we hooked up the straps, catching the broken nail with every try, and pulled the calf right there in the open. It made life much easier. Then she jumped right up and went to licking her giant calf. Maybe it was more quiet than weak. This calf looked just like the other. Thick neck and shoulders, huge head.

We left the calf in recovery position with his mama licking on him and went to pull the other heifer that was waiting.

She needed run into the chute. The pull wasn’t awful. The nail was busy doing it’s usual, worse now after being bent around so much. The calf was the same. Big head, thick through the neck and shoulders.

That was four calves on heifers in one day. One of them without assistance. Three pulled. With the one other heifer calf born this year that’s five heifers calved this year, four of them needing pulled. Not even slightly decent odds. Hopefully the rest of the heifers are easier. I don’t know what went wrong with these calves. Last winter was a hard year on bulls. There was only one of the older bulls left over, the rest were young and untried. At least there was no way this is from my Hereford bull. He wasn’t with the heifers.

It was the worst possible day to break a nail.

But it was the best possible day to have my husband by my side. Those really good men out there need to be fully appreciated. He never once lost his patience, he never yelled or got short with me. He might have cussed the cows a little, but that’s understandable. He strongly dislikes cows but was willing to help with them anyway because they are important to me. He is strong and skilled and willing and gives me more grace than I know I return to him. Together we kept three very difficult calves alive and never did stop liking each other even.

Category: Cows, Family, It's a God thing | LEAVE A COMMENT
17 October 2023

Knight Errant

Good husbands really are a good thing.

The children had run out of a few things that they desperately needed. Or so they kept saying. Monday was already packed but when they were in such desperate need, what could I do but fit in a trip to the store. Coming out with my cart full of groceries I looked lovingly at my car, thinking how much I loved the old junker. There’s no need to worry about parking carefully so she doesn’t get scratched and it’s nice to be able to leave windows down and doors unlocked when it’s hot out. No one would think there could be anything to steal in that old thing. And they’d be right.

Then I got in and started her.

The thunking and banging as the motor sprang to life was shocking. I thought at first there might be a mouse in the fan. Again. Got the air-conditioning shut off and the noise didn’t stop. Oh dear. Now I wasn’t feeling quite so proud of my old dear. It’s somehow more embarrassing to have car trouble when you know people will be judging you for the old piece of junk you drive. Popping the hood, and carefully holding it open because it no longer holds itself, I peered into the engine.

Not sure what I thought I’d be able to find. I know nothing about cars. In this case, the trouble was obvious and I actually was able to pinpoint it!

The belt. It was coming to pieces. Strips were coming off. As they banged around hitting everything in their path as the belt made it’s loop, they were the cause of the racket. It was also splitting the other way, cracks running across the short way. This didn’t bode well for the long drive home through a large area with no cell service.

I called my husband.

He was very busy. Mondays at work are always hectic. He was not quite as far away as home was. But almost.

He advised a little trimming. I tried that. It silenced the noise, and maybe without the extra flapping and added damage I could make a run for home? As I drove off I asked God to please not let the car die where there was no phone service. Back to our town would be nice. I wasn’t asking to make it all the way home. Just closer and not in a bad spot. Please, if he didn’t mind.

By the time I got out of the parking lot it was obvious home was not going to happen. The belt was falling apart fast and the racket was back to full volume. So I pulled into Runza. Parked and called my husband. Again. He would take care of me. And he did. Borrowing tools from a friend in town he called around and found a new belt, then started driving. I waited contentedly in the parking lot, after going in and getting a drink. He picked up parts and met me. We had lunch together. Then it took him all of five minutes to replace the belt.

Our cars have never died in a bad place. It’s always things like this. The best possible of a bad situation. Once we got off a train and got in the old car we had at the time, well after midnight middle of winter. The car started up and drove us the rest of the way home. Then would never start again. But it waited until we got home. This time God said, um, no. You can’t try to drive that home. How about this instead? I asked Him not to let it die in a bad place, and He didn’t. He also got me a very nice lunch with my wonderful husband.

I’m not sure how people survive without good husbands like this. Men who can fix anything, who take care of all the things despite already being loaded with responsibilities and a heavy workload. I have a father and brother and even a son, young still but well on his way, who are the same way. Hard working, loving, taking care of their families no matter what. The good men out there are one of God’s best gifts to us. Even better than cars that always die in the best places.

 

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17 September 2023

Autumn

It’s September. The best and the worst month.

I can feel fall coming. The pumpkins are big and beautiful. The garden is subsiding. The air is still hot, but with crisp cool nights.

I can feel fall passing by and am doing nothing about it. The need to harvest, to carve pumpkins, to set by supplies for the winter, it’s overwhelming. But it’s hot and still mostly summer. The contradictions leave me feeling depressed with a wistful longing for times long past.

Watching Tales from the Green Valley to satisfy my craving my son sat and joined me in the watching. He stared at the boiled partridge with dumplings they prepared from scratch, as in alive, and insisted on finding the recipe. Then as they hand spread wheat seed, covering it with a Hawthorn branch pulled by a horse he wanted to try that too.

Ah, a child who takes after me.

That is one thing that we can do. I discussed it with my farmer husband. He bequeathed us a corner of his garden that will be fallow through the year. If we wanted we could gather left over wheat seed and give it a try. We spent the morning raking and tilling a very small piece of land. Then went in search of seed. Our search is a bit late. They’ve spent the weekend up until now cleaning out the drills that planted the ‘real’ wheat crop in the last couple of weeks. He was slightly annoyed as he was trying to get work done when we came asking for scraps. But, he found a place in the seed truck where seed always hung up and needed cleaned out. Then came in search of us so we could catch it to use.

It was way more than our tiny plot needed and we kept the extra to grind over the winter. I love having home grown and ground wheat to cook with.

Then we planted. He planted. He hopes to harvest by hand next summer and use the straw for braiding rope or making baskets. Maybe together we can fill this craving I always feel.

We have put up as many vegetables as we have jars and room for. canned tomatoes, green beans, pickles beans. Frozen corn. Soon we will dig potatoes and bring in some pumpkins and store them away. Some things don’t change as much as we think. The pleasure of putting away food for winter is still strong.

I’ve begun picking a few of the pumpkins and placing them around the house. Maybe the best season of all isn’t quite us passing by.

Category: 8, Garden, It's a God thing | LEAVE A COMMENT
4 August 2023

Dragon Flies

At first I thought they were birds.

It was surprising to see so many swooping and diving in the yard. After that brief moment of surprise I realized they couldn’t be birds. They were dragon flies!

Huge and black they filled the air space of the yard. Enough that I would be scared to walk through the middle.

The children came out briefly when I called them to come see. My husband stayed longer. Our patience was rewarded as we noticed the small bugs. Golden brown they glowed nearly golden in the setting sun. They seemed to be hatching? They were flying up from the grass of the yard, hundreds of them. We could see them as they came up. If we looked close. Then we would see a dragon fly swoop towards them and snatch them out of the air. Occasionally one would slip past the gathered hoard and find its way to freedom.

It’s always fun to see all the dragon flies. I know, in abstract, that they are wonderful for controlling mosquitoes and other insects. To get to see them swoop down and attack, to hear the occasional clatter of wings as they crash together as two go after the same bug, it brings the abstract to reality.

Category: It's a God thing, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
28 March 2023

Small Miracles

Miracles don’t have to be huge and flashy to have a huge impact. Sometime the small whispers and touches of God are barely even noticeable. Until we realize what it would have been like without that small touch.

Going out to feed on a cold frosty morning I was met with two new calves. One with a close, attentive mama, was up bouncing around.

The other lay in a frosty shivering heap, as his mama napped near by. I got her up and bothered her, hoping she would get defensive of her calf, start licking and helping him get warm. She shook her head at me and laid back down as soon as I left. He shivered harder.

Back with proper tools this time I rolled him into the sled. She shook her head and yelled at me but didn’t come close enough to make me use the hammer I had ready just in case.

Bellowing loudly she chased us to the gate. If she had shown that much interest earlier I wouldn’t have needed to be taking her calf in the first place. As we got to the gate I started to wonder how this was going to work out. I had left it open so I wouldn’t have to stop, but how would I keep her in once I got out? It wouldn’t be fun having her ‘help’ as I got the calf into the warmer.

As I pulled the 4wheeler through the gate, the rope connecting the sled to the 4wheeler came untied. Right in the middle of the gate. I cursed it in my head. What a terrible thing to have happen. Then went to pull it through by hand.

Because I was there pulling it slowly by hand I was able to shut the gate as the calf came through. I was able to chase the mom back a little bit and keep her from coming through the gate. I was able to close the gate on her nose as she tried to follow through. The rope had come untied at exactly te perfect spot to make everything work perfectly.

It’s those tiny, sometimes barely even noticeable, miracles that make the huge differences. The calf and I both survived. He is getting warm now. I will go get his mom and bring her in so they can have another try at this whole mothering thing. Maybe he’ll be able to help himself out a bit more and make it work this time.

God is good.

Calf pictured is not the calf in question. This calf we pulled out of a heifer. It was huge, bigger than Pansy. Up and doing good!

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2 December 2022

Advent Calendar Time

December is here. That means it’s time to start some of our favorite traditions.

Advent calendars!

Not the usual kind. We’ve done that but aren’t very good at it.

We have one new one this year. A Christmas tree. All computery like. It has 25 lights on it. My husband sat down with the kids in the end of November and explained to them how he was programing it. Did i stick? Do they suddenly know how to program in java?

No.

Do I even know that that’s what he was doing it in?

Again, no.

But they were very interested and actually paid attention for once, so there’s that. The lights are coming on one at a time, a new one each day of the month. He showed them the numbers for different colors of light and all the things I have no clue about.

The other one, that we do every year with a LOT of enthusiasm, is Mary and Joseph. They travel around our house having all sorts of adventures. Until, eventually, they reach a stable where baby Jesus is born.

I have fun moving them around and trying to come up with fun things for the pair to do. They ride on horse drawn wagons, in tractors, even trains. We’ve added on considerably to the original stable kit they all came in. Now there are cows, fences, chickens, horses. All the good farm toy set accoutrements.

It will be fun to see what the lovely family gets up to on their trip this year. I love when the kids help with the daily moving and how enthusiastically they search for the new locations.

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6 October 2022

Chasing Rainbows

The sun shone bright under dark clouds as I picked the kids up from the bus. They had gotten rained on in town. Here there was no more than an occasional mist.

At home they hopped out at the corn field. A small corner had been wind-rowed for hay and was more appealing than they could resist. They were going to pick up some ears! I just happened to have a bucket in back of the pickup. They were set.

I went on to the house and started feeding animals and gathering from the garden for supper. The footsteps of my daughter echoed through the yard as she ran for the house. I waited until she got to the door then yelled at her from where I was hidden under tomato trees. Apparently she was looking for me, not headed inside. She ran towards me then, gasping out of breath, and saying…   something.

It took awhile before I could catch it. There was a rainbow. With the misty rain coming down in bright sunshine that wasn’t surprising. They had found the end of it though! Come quick, we could catch it. Looking around I could see it. There at the edge of the stackyard, into the cornfield. The rainbow came right to the ground. There was no way I was running that far. Instead I ran the other way to the shed.

On the fourwheeler I picker her up then we went for her brother. All children gathered, we took off after that rainbow.

It was no longer at the edge of the corn field. We chased it through the middle of the corn, down the sectionline, then stopped on top of a hill to look at it over a friends house, way off at the highway, We were too late. Too late didn’t make it any less fun.Who needs a pot of gold wen we have all the riches we could want right here.

Turning for home the kids asked me to come pick more corn with them.

After a busy day I still had chores that needed done, there were dirty dishes in the sink, and supper to get on the table. I paused with all the reasons I couldn’t on the tip of my tongue.

Sure! I said and we wen off to play in the corn. Some opportunities are to great to let slip by.

 

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15 September 2022

In God’s Time

The link had been open on my laptop for months.

I enjoy listening to podcasts while I clean house, so not many had been listened to lately. Horses In The Morning is a big one. It would sure be fun to get an interview there! I always thought. So I pulled their page up and looked for contact info.

Hard as I looked I could not find any or figure out how to get a hold of them. Guess that one was out of the question. Finally, I clicked on the tab again. There were too many open, I was going to have to close a few. But, one last look first.

Immediately an email address popped out at me. Weird. I had looked and looked and could never figure out how to contact them. That is, I may have seen the email address before, obviously it had been there all along, but never been able to comprehend how to go about contacting them. That day, suddenly it was crystal clear. I dropped a quick email, introduced myself, said I’d love to talk about whorls someday if they ever wanted.

Then forgot about it. They would never want to talk to me.

Then one day I checked email to find one from Horses In The Morning! They had an opening and would like to do an interview. The next day! We got everything lined up and I was nearly sick with nerves. But I didn’t realize until the interview was just about over just how important my lack of ability to contact them had been.

As we finished up talking Glen said that he had received my email just after talking to a friend about horse whorls. The timing was perfect and made him want to talk.

Had I been able to figure out how to send that email sooner the timing wouldn’t have been right. The interview may or may not have taken place. But sent just when it was everything fell into place.

Sometimes God puts blinders on us. He stops us from seeing things that are clearly visible right in front of our faces. These blinders hold us back and make us wait on God’s time, instead of rushing forwards on our own. When He knows the time is right, He will remove the blinders and send us out to do what is needed. Everything is on time when it’s on God’s time.

You can find the interview here: https://www.horsesinthemorning.com/understanding-whorls-evacuations-and-horse-bread-for-sep-14-2022-by-state-line-tack/

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10 August 2022

Missing

The Goblin Child was playing with one of the calves when I got there. Laughing and giggling as her fingers got sucked on, she was as happy as the kids always are to play with calves. Once I finally forced the children out there.

We laughed and talked about how cute and gross the calves are for a bit. Then I looked at the rest of them. My count came up short one. A second and third count showed the same. With two gates to get through to get out of the barn it didn’t seem possible. We searched the barn. Then counted again. Still one short.

Outside I sent the kids to walk through the tree row while I drove a 4wheeler to look across the big open fields. Maybe he had just gotten out and would be visible as he ran across one.

I knew exactly which calf it was. They had all gotten ear tags the night before. We had named this one Styx. This morning he had refused a bottle. His voice was hoarse from calling for his mom. Not being able to raise him didn’t mean she hadn’t been a good mom, while she did have him. He wanted her back. Of all the calves he was the one who wasn’t beginning to recognize us as the food source and a good thing.

I was positive he was long gone. Running the way scared calves do, blindly and full out.

It made me sick. I knew it was all my fault, no blaming the kids on this one. After feeding I had carried the feeder out of the barn, then gotten caught up in other things. I was the one who hadn’t remembered to carefully lock both the gates.

We searched all morning. I spent the time asking God to take care of of the poor little calf. Whether that meant us finding him or him finding a herd of cows. He didn’t deserve this.  Then we had to leave, go to town. Hurrying home we searched the rest of the afternoon. Not that we had any chance of seeing him if he was laying in the yard. A small black calf in a shaded spot would be as invisible as nature intended them to be. Hidden from us as well as predators. In cooler weather a calf can hide for a couple of days and live.

In this heat, without having had breakfast for sure, maybe no supper the night before, he had little hope. Laying in shade, maybe. If he had taken off running, not a chance. Maybe Styx was a bad name choice.

That evening we took milk out to the remaining calves. Finally accepting the smaller number, we mixed enough milk for what was left. They slurped happily at their milk. The children squealed and giggled as calves chased them around wanting a bottle. The ruckus was loud and enthusiastic. Then I had to step out the barn door for some reason.

Out the door I happened to glance up, and there was a calf in the middle of the drive!

It took a bit of looking to realize it was indeed a calf. Then my beleaguered brain had to spend some time trying to figure out how another one of the calves from the barn could have gotten outside. It was a few moments before I realized this was our missing calf!

All day while we drove all over, while we walked through the trees, while we had to have walked right past him a few times, he had been laying there. Perfectly still he blended and stayed invisible, just like calves are supposed to do. It must have been the sound of the other calves getting their meal that drew him out of hiding.

He was curious, but not brave enough to come up to me.

I yelled for a child to come help. Then sent him around behind the calf, to help push him towards me. We herded the calf towards the door to the barn. The calf shot out the side. We cornered him against a gate. My soon opened the gate. I tried to push the calf through.

The calf couldn’t resist the bottle any longer. He latched on and was not letting go.

We lead him back into the barn to join the others. His reluctance to eat from the bottle was gone. He was starving. The bottle got handed to a child while I ran into the house for more milk. Our prodigal son had returned.

My prayers had been answered. God is good.

Category: Cows, It's a God thing, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
24 April 2022

April Blizzard

We got a bit of snow yesterday.

It started Friday. Not the snow but the weather.

There was fog, haze and moisture in the air first thing, even dew. We haven’t seen that for ages. It was so sticky hot and humid that stepping outside was miserable.

Then the wind came up. It howl and ripped through the yard, even harder than it has been. Which says a lot because it’s been blowing. That night one strong gust ripped down tree branches and scattered kids toys out through the yard. Then the lightning started. The fear of fire makes any sleeping hard. Especially when you know they are burning out of control not too far away.

Finally managing to get to sleep we woke to snow!

A wonderful thing to see. The forecast predicted an inch. Maybe two. We had that already. The radar showed the storm circling. It was melting as fast as it came down and water was running every where. It was a wonderful thing to see. And the snow was still coming down.

We checked cows, luckily no calves. Some were huddled in good sheltered places. Some stood in the worst possible. Ghost’s brand new calf was laid against a fence, as dry as he could get, out of the never ceasing wind. The bottle calves were hesitant to cone out of their shed. They had never seen the white stuff before. They ate quickly, hungerly than ran back to safety.

The children forced outside to play and use up energy climbed snowbanks that drifted well over the fences.

This morning the snow had stopped. Sunshine and blue sky teased us that it might be warm, but the wind is still howling. After feeding and making sure everything was safe and healthy we went out for a drive. We had heard stories of stranded travelers and people staying with the neighbors until they could get their cars out of the ditch. We wanted to see for our selves.

The highway was nearly deserted. Still closed we heard as we parked in the middle of the road to talk. People had taken it upon themselves to move the barricades so they could get through but the roads were supposed to be closed. A semi blocked half of the road, not tipped on its side only by the grace of God. Most of the wheels were off the ground. A pickup buried way off the road. The car of a pair of college professors who couldn’t get home on the usual road so instead of staying where they were decided to try taking the long way. Instead they ended up in a ditch, walking through the storm to the nearest house. Luckily for them they were taken in, given a warm place to stay, then pulled out this morning. Maybe they should teach classes in not doing stupid things at the college?

In town buildings were opened to take in more stranded travelers. I don’t remember ever hearing about that? Maybe I just didn’t know in the past? Maybe more people were caught unaware with the forecast for an inch of snow and nearly ninety degree weather the day before.

We are not complain about the snow. It was wonderful! The most moisture we’ve seen for the last year. That’s all together, not at once. With this snow we might just have a little bit of grass. If nothing else the dust might not be blowing as bad for a few days. Hopefully this will be the start and rain will come again.

Category: Cows, Family, It's a God thing | LEAVE A COMMENT