Our "Brief 2-day Spring"

Good Morning Puffins.... technically it's morning as it was at 3:45 a.m. both yesterday and today.  Farmer-dear is working some over-time at the factory, so we all get up then... him, me and the cattle.  I don't mind quite as much in the summer as it is dawn about then, but in March, after daylight savings time has started (Way too early IMHO!), it's DARK!   But it is morning so we'll just get on with it...

Remember a few days ago when I mentioned the Blue-eyed One had the tractor and disk out for oats sowing?  I remember it well, for it was our 2-day Spring.  Here, let me show you how we spent it....

We had a thunderstorm complete with HAIL!  Those white blurs are more hail stones falling.   The hail ranged from quarter to pea-size .

This was a marble-sized hail stone outside the front porch.  If you look closely you can see a few pea-sized.

But shortly after that brief storm, the sun came out!  I hung jeans on the clothes line in the breeze and Farmer-dear did this...

Opening the drill boxes.

Reading the settings for oats.  (Notice the glorious sunshine on the hills.)

Pouring in the oats seed.  This was the last bag.  I helped by lifting the bags onto the walkboard. (I'm sure there is a technical term for that, but I don't know what it is.  I should ask Mr. Thinker.  )

Dumping out the last bits, as this was rather pricey seed!  And then off he went behind the hill until way after dark.  He was pleased he got finished and used all the seed.  

These "beauties" will have feed this winter.  We have a variety of colors in our lot now.  From pure white calves to these  funny brownish ones to dirt-colored ones.  Most of the Mommas are black, with a few brown and one white.  The Bull, Amos, is a white Charolais. 

Hello, Inquisitive.

And then it turned cooler (ok, cold) and Winter came barreling in for another round of rotten weather.  **sigh~**  To keep my spirits up, I went to the Thrift Store and found some bargains.

A gardening book, (the Farm Animal Ailment book is for Farmer-dear... I just don't want to know about any of that!), a Grace Livingston Hill book and an audio book for my sewing room.  Some serger thread.  I only got one spool to see if it will work for piecing quilts or if is too thick.  Some greeting cards.  And music cds.   

This morning (yes, I could see it in the dark) we awoke to snow on the ground, snow coming down and more in the forecast.   **bigger sigh~~**   On the bright side, we also had 2 new calves in the last 24 hours.  All is well with them and their mothers.  We are past the half-way mark on calving.  YAY!


I believe I'll be home today and while I should do some bookwork, I think it will more cozy to do my Bible Study, read more chapterz for our church's Bible Reading Challenge and then see how  many pinwheel blocks I can sew.  Also feeling like sewing some small giftie-type items like bags and tissue holders.  Both the laundry and dishes are caught up and it will only take a short amount of time to do the rest of the dailies.  


Final question... Chocolate Chip Cookies or Brownies?  


I hope Spring is firmly in place wherever you are (unless you are in the Southern Hemisphere, then I hope you are having a nice long, beautiful Autumn.)


Hugs!
K~
** "Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine."  ~Anthony J. D'Angelo

The corn is planted and Amos checks in

Yes, the corn is planted for 2010 and Amos' "little swimmers" are alive and active for the 2011 crop of new calves.

The potatoes (all but 4) are up and growing, as are the onions, sugar snap peas (time for a fence!), and both colors of chard. The spinach and lettuce were slow, but with the last rains and warmth the lettuce looks like lettuce now.

I dug, divided and replanted an old rhubarb plant in hopes I can make lots of desserts and some Strawberry-Rhubarb jam in the future.

The berm is mulched and the new purple coneflowers seem to have settled in, as has the Easter Lily.

This week I hope to dig up and return the 2 hydrangeas I bought last year from the local nursery. They winter-killed and I'm going to get either a butterfly bush or some other smallish hardy bush for those 2 areas.
Also on the list is to clean off the patio. How embarrassing, we had a party for the Blue-eyed Farmer's 50th birthday 2 Saturdays ago and they all gathered on my messy, leaf-molded, muddy patio. **blushing** At least the guests were all farm folk who understand dust, leaf mold, mud, cat tracks, etc....
While I'm working on the east side of the house, I'll straw the potatoes, put up the pea fence, and hopefully plant the first of the cilantro and basil. I need to take cuttings from the rosemary and repot or fertilize the sage. Oh and the volunteer dill is up!! (lots of it!!) So is the volunteer lettuce and I'm assuming the spaghetti squash (right smack-dap in the middle of the onions. sigh~~). But hey! Free plants are free plants.
And my final goal for this week, is to weed the day lily bed east of the porch. It will need mulch too but there is too large an area to haul it there myself. I figure if I can get the flower beds weeded, then when I get my ONE day (annually) of Farmer help, the mulching will go quickly and I might get all the beds done this year!

That is life on the Prairie Farm for now.

In consideration of your sensibilities, I left out some cattle angst & rebellion; the round-the-world cruise we are financing for someone at the local John Deere shop after 3 pieces have/are being worked on and my on-going and now increased displeasure of push mowing that Danged Ditch!

You're welcome.

Hugs!
K~

** "The mere brute pleasure of reading - the sort of pleasure a cow must have in grazing." ~Lord Chesterfield

The best laid plans of women and quilters...

well, you know the song and dance I live by now....

I had plans for today, with my sewing machines and fabric and thread.

I told the Farmer of my plans. He agreed to my plans and told me to go enjoy myself.

And then my better nature & wifely guilt took over.... and I ended up going along to look at and buy 6 preggo cows from one of his co-workers; the one with the Bohemian accent that reminds me of my childhood days.

We got home and unloaded them and he said after I recorded their numbers and we let the baby and cow out of the barn, I could go sew. But first he needed to tag and band the little guy. And could I watch so the mother didn't go too nuts on him. Ok.... **sigh**

Then we notice a red cow up on the knoll in the lot had just had her calf. (Storms coming in will bring along babies.) Good job Mama Cow! All was well up there and so I went in, started the laundry, and got the ingredients out for the Cold-Oven Pound Cake I was going to make for Sunday School tomorrow. And then I was going to go down to the sewing room for an hour.

But I happened to glance out the window to see how Blue-eyed Farmer was coming along with his revamping some fencing for bedding areas and feeding areas.
Only he wasn't making fence, instead he was carrying the new calf towards the barns. So off I trotted to change back into a chore coat & boots & help him get this calf & it's mother into the barn.

And since it was starting to snow, he wanted to get a hay bale and more bedding for the herd and it would be a big help if I watched the gates and directed him as he put the feed bales in the right spots.

After a good hour of all that, I was getting too cold to be outside anymore. I had hurried out without a hat or scarf and my toes were numb. Plus I had that cake to finish up and we had had plans to go out for supper with friends & we needed to be ready to leave before 6 p.m. I hurried in and made that pound cake (which did not turn out) and was just getting ready to go out, when our friends called and said they were having calving issues at their place and needed to postpone.

With that change in plans, we settled in for a quiet evening at home. We found a quick supper for ourselves here and I did the laundry that I didn't get done earlier today and mixed up a second/different cake which just finished baking.

It is now 9:30 p.m. and not a single stitch was sewn today.

But we have a another new calf and its mother safe and warm in the barn; warm bedding down for the rest of the herd; 6 new cows to replace several we need to cull out later this spring.
We're fed, warm and have clean clothes for this coming week and we'll have cake to eat tomorrow.

Life is still good, even if I my plans did go all ca-flooey today.

Did your day go according to plan?

Hugs!
Kay~

** "There is never enough time to do everything,
but there is always enough time to do the most important thing."
~Brian Tracy~

I feel the same way

After the fence shenanigans of last evening & the bellering all night long;

I feel exactly the same way about you!

(I know, "bellering" isn't really a word. It's local jargon.)

A very tired,
Kay~

** "Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy."
~Cynthia Nelms

Meet Amos

We have a new addition to the Prairie Farm.


He's from down south (ok, southeast Nebraska. lol)
www.schnuelleranch.com

Meet "Amos."


Well, come on boy, don't be shy.


We're all waiting to meet you. (Some of us, more than others, if you know what I mean....)


No one here is going to gang up on you. We're a friendly bunch.


See?....


There you go.... Go meet your new "roomies." (loties? Pasture-ies? Ladies? ???)


Oh a few might be a bit "stand-offish," but I'm sure you'll get acquainted in no time.


AMOS! That's not exactly what I meant by getting acquainted! Sheesh!


That's ok... I know... That's just your way of being friendly.


Welcome to the "family," Amos! We're glad you're here.


Click on the link above to learn more about Amos' past and if you are in SE Neb. & are looking for a new bull, Gabe is a really nice guy and we enjoyed doing business with him.

Hugs
K~

** "Thou shalt be blessed above all people:
there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle."
~The Holy Bible-Deuteronomy 7:14

Cattle Calls

On Friday we had another adventure in cattle. We took 2 old cows and a bunch of young steers & heifers to the sale barn.

I wrote to my sister about it, so I'll just copy it here:

"Home again after a full day at the office, got fuel and washed the Durango, then hurried home to help a sleep-deprived Farmer hook up the trailer.

The silly man took Excedrin instead of Advil for his headache last night and then was awake from 2-5 a.m. He never takes Excedrin. That is MY drug of choice. He forgot about the caffeine in it. LOL

We got hooked up and I changed into my lovely too-big knee high irrigation boots, bright turquoise blue jacket accessorized with dark green fleece gloves. I was lovely. I was only missing my usual gray scarf tied around my ears and neck. It was too warm for that.

We backed the trailer to the gate w/ minimal grousing. (I said, Turn EAST!!) The 2 older cows hopped on the trailer easily. I felt a bit deceptive. I think they thought we were taking them to their summer pasture home. I guess I should think about how they will be in the happy pasture in the sky very soon, right?

After some deliberation we decided to keep back 3 black calves. Two steers for butchering later and one heifer to put back in the herd. The remaining 6 went on the trailer pretty easily and I wasn't crushed under the pipe fence I was trying to hold up while manning (womanning?) the barn door. You didn't know I was so multi-talented, did you? lol

All loaded, gates stored, everyone fed who needed feeding and watering and clothes changed. 1.5 hour drive to the sale barn, where we waited in line to unload. It will be a big sale tomorrow (Saturday).

While we were waiting, all of a sudden, a large red steer comes galloping by the pickup!

I had just been gazing at the sturdy wooden fence that borders the parking lot and separates it from the main road, golf course and nearby residential area (the city/town has grown up around the sale barn.). I was sitting there wondering if they had ever had any cattle escape, and had the fence contained the animals. And here is one going wild next to me!
Men came running, from pickups (other farmers/ranchers) and from loading shoots and from ??? This steer has it in it's head to go through that fence! A young guy hurdled the fence to keep it in and off the road. That pisses the steer off, big time!! It had it's head down and was pawing and stomping the ground and I really thought that poor kid was toast! I could just see the steer going through the fence and through, over, & dancing on the kid.
About that time, a pick-up came roaring by and the pickup and kid got the steer corralled in the hay barn at the edge of the property. From there I don't know what happened but I assume they got it back in a reinforced pen. Wild!

I tried to take some photos of us unloading but dear-Farmer got cranky, saying I was going to scare everyone's (??!!) cattle. Um...no-one else, including OUR cattle cared what I was doing. Silly old Farmer. lol

After finally getting unloaded and all ours documented, we headed back home. We stopped in our hometown for supper in a freezing cold Pizza Hut! It's hard to eat when you are stiff, but shaking with cold. We turned the heater up to "Blast Furnace" when we got back in the truck and headed home. The trailer was parked in it's shed and we got all snuggled in and warmed up!"

Let's see if I can get the photos linked in here.... I'm having trouble with my photo editor so I may have to save this and come back to do it.
"HEY! MOVE OVER!!"

"Will you STOP taking pictures of me!"



"I hear other cows!"



"Can you see where you are going??"



"Everybody Off!" (Isn't that outfit handsome! )



On Saturday, we did various house-hold and farm chores before we went back up the sale and picked up our check. The cattle sold pretty well, according to my Farmer. He was happy with what they brought.

The rest of day was spent driving to different farm stores and implement dealers looking for a no-till drill. I brought along a couple of magazines to read and I did get lunch "out". It was so nice to just enjoy the day together, talking and singing along with the radio.

We also stopped by our favorite furniture store and looked at several different reclining couches but in the end we decided to wait. We have some ideas & plans for the kitchen for this year and I'd rather work towards that end first. Besides, I'm not sure what I want to do in the living room when we renovate it in a few years and our current reclining love-seat is fine. It's just not a full-sized couch. I think I want a red couch but I'm not 100% sure yet.

After we got home, we chored and spent the evening watching a movie and doing laundry.

Hugs
K