Transfusion

We had a 10 day old calf that had gotten off to a great start. Then he suddenly started staggering, falling and laying around. I decided he probably had theileria.  There is still no approved treatment in the US. But some people have had success giving blood transfusions. 

Might as well give it a try.  I didn’t have a large enough collection bag so I used an iv fluid bag and added some heparin as an anticoagulant. 

Another jugular catheter, and the calf got a little over a liter of blood. 

 He was stronger when we let him back out. But only time will tell. I am sure he would have died had we done nothing. 

Sunday Funday.

Virginia and Mike brought Sadie and Allie over Sunday afternoon. First things first,

We rode Clyde!  After riding in the barn Allie said she was done. I had told Sadie that I would take her down the driveway. Allie decided she was not done and wanted to go too. They did a good job doubling. 

They wanted to go inside and watch TV. But I kept them interested in staying outside by letting them “help” me water the flowers.  

Of course we had to pick flowers. I wanted their picture and Allie just held the flowers in front of her face. 

 I made her try again.  When we were picking flowers I told Sadie that I had some different colored irises around the house. When she turned the corner and saw them she let out a gasp. She really loves flowers. 

103rd Little International

I was asked and accepted the challenge to judge the equine portion of this year’s Block and Bridle Little International at Virginia Tech.  I had shown in it every year for my four years in collage and was overall Reserve Champion my senior year. 

Back in the olden days, we had to halter break and show yearlings. I think we had two weeks.  Now they use the school’s riding horses.  The yearlings may have been better behaved. 

There was an acceptable audience. 

I had 13 horses divided into 3 categories, advanced, intermediate and novice.  By the way, this is all judged on Showmanship. Each division had a different pattern.   They knew the pattern in advance. There were still lots of issues.  Instead of placing the ones I liked the best I had to work the opposite direction and place the ones that made the least mistakes. The first horse in the advanced division ended up winning the horse championship and was the overall champion as well.  So I feel like I made the right choice. 

There were 50 in the sheep division.

And 50 in the cattle division. 

This took the longest and put us an hour and a half behind schedule. 

There were only 13 pigs also. I still don’t understand pig showing. 

It just looks like a lot of chaos out there.  I saw a few people that I knew and everyone was very appreciative of my support for the event.  It seemed like all of the contestants had a good time. 

And I came home with a new yeti with a metal straw. 

 

In Bloom At The 4Rs

It has been rough weather for Spring plants. From two nights of 18 degrees to 80 degrees and drought to below freezing a couple of nights ago not to mention the wind it just hasn’t been growing weather. But somehow, I have some flowers blooming. 

I left a couple of patches of Star of Bethlehem. It is the flower that I unescaped from the field a couple of years ago. Since it appears to be an invasive species, Emily recommended I do away with it. But since it has already invaded I thought I might just keep a couple of patches and not let them go to seed.  It is a pretty flower. 

The Siberian irises never disappoint. 

And the old fashioned bearded irises are always the first color to bloom.

“Poppies, poppies will make them sleep.”  You can’t see poppies and not think of that famous line from The Wizard of Oz.

I just bought three pots of pink phlox this spring. The butterflies are enjoying them too. 
 

Prototypes

When Virginia and Mike gave us their exciting new last week about a new baby girl arriving in October, I immediately  thought, "what kind of quilt will I make for her?"  I have since spent a lot of time on Pinterest trying to get inspiration.  

At first, I was really drawn to this Urban Cabin pattern. 

I didn't like how wide the white was on my first prototype.  I ended up enlarging the picture so I could take some actual measurements instead of guessing.  Because why would I pay to buy the pattern. 

The second prototype turned out better.

But I kept looking for more ideas and came upon this...

After seeing the butterflies I thought, "this is it, in memory of Mama.”                          

 It is much more difficult than the Urban Cabin but I think it will be worth it.  I like how the butterfly can be all the same fabric or a mixture on two or three different ones. Now let’s get to work. 

Round Two

The calf that was on IV's then turned back out with her mother Tuesday, took a turn for the worse Thursday.   We ended up tube feeding her that night. 

She was too weak to stand Friday morning.  So she made another trip to the barn for 3 liters of IV fluids.  She also got an antibiotic injection and some steroids. 

The next morning she was much better.  

We turned her loose but there some confusion about the truck being her mother.

She eventually figured it out.  I hope this straightens her out and there isn't a round 3.  
 

The Cage.

Last year I did not use the broccoli cage. I do not remember why.  But I thought I would pull it out of the barn and try it again this year. 

It was a little tricky to get to the house. But I managed.  I also had to make a few repairs. Where I had used duct tape before I did a more permanent repair with fishing line. 

I had already bought four broccoli plants and  four cauliflower plants. After working a couple of loads of manure into the rows I went ahead and put out the plants. 

 They look happy for now. Maybe I will get by without having to use any seven dust this year.