Visitor

A couple of years ago we had a blue bird attacking a window in the back of the house. 

 Now we have a cardinal attacking the window in the den.

 Every morning, "chirp, chirp, chirp."

 Then bang, bang, bang.

 Then he goes off for a few minutes,

then the cycle repeats.  I wonder how long he can keep this up.

Friday Fences #57

A big thank you to E for taking some beautiful fence pictures for me, even if it was during the time she was suppose to be loading wood on the truck.  

Can you see the fences?  I love the sycamore trees in this one.
For more Friday Fences click HERE.

Eastern Cattle Drive

It was time to move the bred heifers from some rented land to some more rented land.  Our cattle drives here are just a matter of loading them on the trailer and driving them to the next farm. 

 My job getting them up involved hiding in the truck - with the radio off.  

 My job loading them on the trailer was hiding behind the fence.

 I did get to move behind them once they were lined up to load and help scare them on.

 There is plenty of grass where we are turning them out.

 We have to unload them on the road and turn them through the gate.  My job here was hiding behind the trailer.

J seems to think I scare the cattle.  Two trailer loads of heifers then one more trip for the bull to bring him home.  Hopefully, they will be fine until February when they come here to calve.

New Wood Splitter

J, E and I went out to get a load of wood this weekend.  

 E decided to try her hand at splitting the wood instead of just picking it up.

 J's instructions were to "not hit the wedge with the sledge hammer handle."  That was his only request.

 First swing, we did not hear the ring of metal on metal but the dull thud of a wooden handle on a metal wedge.

 Oh well, a few more swings and another wedge,

 and a few more  swings,

 and a split piece of wood.

 Then it was back to just picking up the wood.  You can see it was a bit of a hunt.  J had cut this tree up back in the spring and the grass has now taken it over.

Another truckload of wood ready for the stove.

More on Brother

Brother's training continued today after a week off.  First being out of town then the weather.  But we are back on track now. 

J reviewed the basics with no problem.  Brother is a very fast learner and is retaining things from one lesson to the next.  

 He really enjoys the resting part.

Sometimes it is just too tempting to go ahead and get on.

Of course I'm not that reckless.  It involved working up on the fence first to get him use to the handler being higher than him.  We had already done this for a couple of days last week.  

Then he can get the idea that being next to the fence and standing still is preferable to running back and forth.

You can't tell from the pictures, but our far leg is still standing on the fence with most of the weight.

And then it is just a matter of letting him relax while he gets rubbed everywhere.  We've got some big expectations with him  following behind Otoelene but, so far so good.

Honey, At Last

Look what we got today, HONEY, from our very own bees.  

The man that gave us the hive robbed them for us, took the super, drained the honey, packaged it and gave it back to us.  Sound sort of like his bees just happen to hang out at our house.  Doesn't get better that that.  You can tell by the level of honey on the bear's face that we had to do some tasting before I could even take a picture.
For more Fresh From the Farm blogs, click HERE.

Fridays Fences #56

Jessica is an interesting horse.  She does not care for human affection.  She allows us to ride her (most of the time but sometimes very grudgingly) but she does not seek out contact as the other horses do.

 So it is surprising that she likes the billy goat.

 Yes, she shirks off any contact with humans in preference for a goat.  That can really put you in your place.

The billy now is out with his girls.
For more Fridays Fences click HERE.