Saturday, we welcomed our 10th calf! Another healthy girl and mama.
Meet Uno with her mama, Pax. (Click here to read about her sister’s story from last year...)
(Yep, another calf born in the briars, lol…)
Uno was tired after walking across Mordor, so the boys walked Pax down and Mike & Uno got a ride down. 🙂
Prayers of thanksgiving this week for fixes, fixers, and The Fixer. 🙂
A cold front blew through on Friday, and the winds snapped a dead tree onto a section of our fence.
Lol – my 3 goofy boys! 🙂
Fortunately, this break was an easy fix for them. They cut the tree off, and were able to staple the same fence back up. (And they were so quick, that I didn’t make it out to get a “serious” pic of them working, lol!) No broken posts, and no hurt or escaped animals! 🙂
And then Saturday, a vein disintegrated in our milk system’s vacuum pump…
Mike was able to tear the pump apart; however, we aren’t always able to fix everything ourselves. But we sure are grateful for companies who are available to help when we need it!
I don’t think there’s ever a “good time” for anything to break, or to have to seek outside assistance… But as we focused on the blessings, the Lord helped us in the process of the journey:
We got our milking done that morning. BLESSING
We bought that pump used & for over 6 years it has worked perfectly for us. BLESSING
Service was out to us within a few hours. BLESSING
Since we only milk once-a-day, the late cleanup didn’t affect our milking schedule. BLESSING
The day was frigid cold, but Mike had weather appropriate clothes to keep him warm. BLESSING
Mike’s mechanical skills were utilized to reduce the amount of another’s labor. BLESSING
Father, we thank You for minds that can troubleshoot problems, and hands that can fix things. Sometimes they’re ours, and sometimes they’re others, but You coordinate them all to work together to make things right. What a blessing to watch Your handiwork develop! Help us to focus on the blessings in every situation – not dwell on the negatives or unknowns. We acknowledge You are THE FIXER, and pray for strength to submit to Your plan…even in the unexpected & unplanned for hardships. Keep our focus on today, not tomorrow – and that in Your time, answers will come. May we be faithful as we walk. Amen
Brought Victor over to join the other calves today. 🙂
Here he is sticking his tongue out at the crazy photographer!
Almost there…
Introductions…
Running! 🙂
Hooray – another healthy delivery!! Meet Gluey’s bull calf, Xray. 🙂
As with all our animals, he comes with a story, lol. His mama (not the brightest cow on the block) chose to have him at the furthest end of the field in the overgrown briar patch – just like Buttercup had.
Mike carried Xray out of the briars, and expected Gluey to follow him. BUT, she stayed in the briars “looking” for her calf.
Thought maybe she’d come out to eat the hay Mike brought up, but no. Stayed in the briars. Ug. 😦
So, back we went with baby-in-tow. The boys flushed Gluey out of the briars, Mike brought Xray out of the truck, she FINALLY realized where her baby was, and the parade to the barn began. 🙂
Here’s Suezy & Pax, watching the parade. Not too much longer & they should be in their own parade! 🙂
Xray made it almost as far as Winchester did. Then he got a ride down the rest of the way.
Only 3 more calves left to come…
Before I married Mike, I had NO IDEA what Carhartt’s even were, lol. Let alone the difference between overalls & coveralls! But now, they are a big part of our daily living – and I can’t imagine being without them… 🙂
Such useful outergarments – for trudging through briars, warmth in brutal winds and cold, and my favorite part – protection of regular clothes, underneath. 🙂
And they last for YEARS! Oh, they get stained & ragged after a decade or so, but thankfully, that doesn’t ruin their functionality. Truly, a great investment if you work outside through all the seasons in our neck-of-the-woods. 🙂
Normally, I just rotate throwing a pair into our washing machine at the end of our cold season, so they are ready for late fall. BUT, when your washing machine has died 😦 & you haven’t found a new/used one yet, the mind does start to wander as your already-dingy-basement piles up with more piles to wash…
How does that saying go? “Necessity is the mother of invention…” or something like that ?
Our power-washer actually worked really great as a “washing machine” & using our dilapidated picket fence as the backdrop, lol.
Mike sprayed the items wet…
I spritzed on diluted lye soap…
he power-rinsed them off…
and the sunshine + wind dried them on our clothesline.
I don’t think I’ll ever throw them in a washing machine again – they really don’t need to be “street-clothes clean” – it’s just nice to get the brunt of the dirt/mud off. 🙂
Also worked good for cleaning our rain suits, a sleeping bag, some canvas bags, & a throw rug!
Today, Caramel had her first calf. It’s a boy!! 🙂
Technically, his name should be Whiskey – since we are now on “W” of the aviator’s alphabet… But since I have an aversion to whiskey, we’ve decided to name him Winchester instead. 🙂
For Caramel being a first-time mama, she did a good job cleaning up her baby. Here he is not long after he was born.
Now he’s cleaned up & ready to go!
Winchester made it a little over half-way down, and then decided he was done walking, lol…
Poor little guy had a muddy walk today. (That’s ok, though…we really needed this rain!) 🙂
Mike carried/coaxed him down the rest of the way.
Victor was excited to meet his new brother! 🙂
Only 4 more calves left to go… 🙂
Met up with a friend from my past this week on Facebook, and was reminded of the alphabet code she & I made up in our elementary school days… It has been a joy to reminisce with her and catch up! 🙂
I remember creating it with her…trying to use features from each letter, but just mixing the features up. We would write short stories in a notebook, trade them, decipher them, and even graded them, I think! Yep. Began rambling a LONG time ago! 🙂
I’ve often thought about our “code” over the years, and at one point tried to impress my boys with it… (Which completely UNimpressed them – in fact, it was further proof that their mom was weird um, different, lol!)
There are two letters I can’t remember: Q and Z, but I don’t think that’s too bad considering that was 30 years ago or so! 🙂
Perhaps there are other creative young minds who will have fun playing with our code…? 🙂
Made our first batch of 2013 butter today. Cows’ diet is mainly hay right now. Just had some well-needed rain, so the pastures are finally beginning to green up. 🙂
Today’s (hay) butter on the left side of the picture is slightly less yellow than the (pasture) butter we have been finishing up from October on the right side… It’s always fun to watch the butter colors change with the seasons. 🙂
Boys went on a walk with Grandma yesterday afternoon & spotted Raspberry with her calf. A nice, sturdy boy! His name is Victor. 🙂
Victor walked with his mom for a part of the journey, then accepted a ride down to the barn for the second part…
Only 5 left to go… 🙂
Meet “Uniform”. Found him this morning with his mama, Disco. From a distance he looked all black, but as we got closer we could see a white underbelly and white flecks all throughout his coat.
He has a flecked stripe from his forehead down to his nose, which is definitely unique. I think we’ll call him “Uni”… 🙂
He is a large & sturdy boy, but not as big as his brother Tango was/is. Uni walked all the way down to the barn with his mama. 🙂
Sooo grateful for another healthy calf and mama! Only six more babies to go… 🙂
Roberts' Farm Blog 