Three Weeks Early

The fall cows are not suppose to start calving until the first of September.  And the Hereford bull wasn't put in until a week later.   So the Hereford cross calf  born Thursday is at least 3 weeks early.  Joe said it was shear luck that he even saw the calf.  The cow had had it then left it to be back with the herd.  Joe was able to get her and the calf up.   But the calf is not very vigorous.  

It weighs about 40 pounds.  It sucked 1/2 a bottle of colostrum Joe went back with but the next feeding he wouldn't nurse.  

I ended up having to tube feed him.  

He wasn't doing any better the next day so we loaded him up and brought him back to the house.  There was no way he would be strong enough to nurse the cow, so Joe turned her back out.  

He was born Thursday.  I have had to tube feed him 3 times so far.  This evening he did manage to nurse about 1/2 of what we were trying for.  Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.  

 

Cattle Worked

Yesterday morning Mike came over to help us work our weaned calves so they will be ready to head out to the feedlot soon. 

I pulled up the vaccines and Joe administered them. 

While Mike kept everyone moving up the chute. Everything worked well and everyone was still speaking afterwards. 

 Finished and fed in 2 1/2 hours. 

Zucchini

In case anyone has zucchinis and tomatoes in abundance, here is a good way to eat them.  

Slice zucchini, toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Lay out on cookie sheet.  Top with tomato slice and parmesan cheese.  

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  And you have a tray full of bite size goodness.   

More rain yesterday evening created some fog on the mountains.  

Things are very green for this time of year seeing as we have been in an extreme drought.  
 

Hit Or Miss

I have been away all weekend.  When we came home last night it was obvious that there had been a down pour.  

The driveway was washed, 

and the muclch washed out of one of the flowerbeds.  The rain gauge had 1 1/2 inches in it. 

The cattle guard had 4 rows filled with gravel.  Virginia said they only had 0.1 inches at their house 2 miles up the road.  The rain has really been hit or miss.  It can change from a desert to rainforest around here in no time.  

And just for fun, a picture of Golden Boy (not his real name). 

 

Camp Mimi

This was the last official Camp Mimi for the summer.  School starts Monday.  We had a great day!  We did puzzles, played barbies, 

played ball outside, 

and invented new games with a plastic ball and badminton racquet.  

We also picked tomatoes, cucumbers and weeds.  And we found a nest of baby grasshoppers.  

Sadie and Allie made me a surprise racquet full of flowers.  We played the marble game and spend a couple of hours on Wii Fit.  I had to leave for a staff meeting at lunch so PopPop took over for a couple of hours.  And we had our tomatoes and lettuce from the garden for supper in a taco salad.  I will repeat myself, It was a great day!
 

Done

Joe and I drove up to Afton Mountain to pick up Emily and Keiran at the end for their 100 mile hike yesterday. 

We got there a little bit early and went to meet them on the trail. I think they were glad to be done. Emily said she did not need to do that again.  It just took her a few days longer to come to Joe's conclusion that it was torture. 

 There was quite a bit of hobbling. Both Emily and Keiran had sore knees. On the way to drive them up to where they left their car we stopped and had lunch at a nice pizza place then crossed the street for some gelato (I opted for a brownie). 

Keiran shared this cool face he saw.

They saw surprisingly few real faces.  There was an Indian man from India that ended up at the same shelters several times.  

Food didn't seem to be an issue other than they said they carried too  much.  Any future hikes will probably be shorter with lighter packs.  

After we dropped them off at their car, I will say that I was glad I thought to bring a can of Febreze.  It made the 5 hour drive back more bearable.  

.

Not Like Planned

Joe, Emily and Keiran headed out Sunday to hike 100 miles of the AT trail through Shenandoah National Park.  

Things seemed to be off to a good start.  

Joe's pack weighted 25-30 pounds.  Emily messaged me Monday that she didn't think Joe was going to make it.  

Tuesday Joe called me and sounded like things were fine.  He had slept better and liked hiking in shorts instead of long pants.  

Wednesday, he called it quits.  

After 40 miles he wondered what he was even trying to do.  He was just walking in a green tunnel all day and not sleeping well at night.  He said it was torcher.  He came around to my way of thinking that it was a "forced march".  I drove 4 1/2 hours to go pick him up.  He was very disappointed to have not finished.  I think if I had gone, it may have made things a little better for him.  Maybe we will try some shorter destination type hikes in the future.  

Meanwhile, Emily and Keiran have continued on.  Emily has been taking some great pictures.  

We plan to go pick them up on Monday.