Christmas Tree Treat Time

The goats were near the house and Joe was ready to get the tree out of the yard. 

He drug it out to the field and I grabbed my camera for a video. 

And as usual, they came running.  I think they have been conditioned to getting a tree treat this time of year.   

At one point you cannot even see the tree.  It's fun giving them something they like.  

Busy As A Mouse

Several weeks ago we noticed Kit Kat's food was disappearing from his bowl in the garage at night after he was let outside.  We started putting the food up when we let him out and putting out some rat poison.  Then in the morning when we let him back in, up when the poison and out when his food.  One day Joe was checking the oil in the car and cat food came pouring out from between the hood and the insulation.  We then started parking the car outside for awhile and I went on a mouse hunt.  I never could find anywhere that they were nesting.  Eventually, the cat food stopped disappearing and I thought the problem was solved.  That is until today....

I had an old rug wrapped around the metal support post in the garage as a way to store the rug and to prevent dinging the car door when I open it.  This is also the location we stack the dog food.  We were out of dog food and I had just bought 4 more bags.   I was sweeping the floor before unloading the bags when I noticed the rug sagging and went to readjust it.  Cat food started pouring out.  It ended up being about a gallon of cat food.  That was one busy mouse.  Looks like I need to try a trap next, none of the poison was ever touched. 

 

Double Cattle Drive

We had our annual cattle drive this morning, moving cattle from our rented land back to our farm.  The landowner doesn't want us feeding hay there.  Plus, Joe doesn't want to feed there either.  It would be just one more thing to have to do.  

If there was a third person, we probably wouldn't need the temporary fence.  But with just the two of us, we need a way to keep the cows out of the yard and head them to the road. 

We started off with 5 for the longer mile walk.  

Joe hopped in the Rav and took off ahead of the cows to be able to turn them into the gate at our farm.  I walked behind and picked up a bag of trash along the way.  My bag was too small, and there was too much trash.  But every little bit helps I guess.  There is a lot of beer and twisted tea that gets drunk along this stretch of road. 

That all went smoothly.  Time for the second group. 

This group was larger but not going as far. 

They took every opportunity to sneak in a few mouthfuls of green grass.                                                    

Then they turned the wrong way through the gate even with the Rav blocking the way.  Joe had to jump over the fence and cut them off to turn them the right way.

 No more drama.  They headed on to where they belonged.  

Goodwill Find

When I was out the other day I stopped at Goodwill.  I was thinking there might be some interesting things after Christmas.  

And I was right.  There were several totes filled with Christmas ornaments.
 

They are all glass and very unique.  At $10, I did manage to hold myself to just one tote, but if I’m in town again soon I might just have to see if any are left.  I did see that an empty tote, new is $10.  So it is like I got the ornaments for free.

Couponing #80

Paper coupons are drying up.  So everything I do now has to be digital.  That gets a little difficult when Dollar General's new cash register system won't cooperate.  I went this morning to a newer store in town that has the new system.  Less than half of the digital coupons attached.  That left the balance at $18.  I told her to void it, and I put everything back.  There is an older store a couple of miles away on the other side of town, so I went there to try my luck.  Unfortunately, they didn't have the Gain scented Mr.  Clean that I needed for the scenario.   I asked the manager if it was somewhere else and he said no, he didn't have that.  Plus, he said the digital coupons haven't been working there for several weeks.  He just adjusts everything manually.  So I asked since he is doing that, could I substitute a different Mr. Clean.  He said sure.  He would make it work. 

This was suppose to work out to around $2, plus I got a loaf of bread, so $4 total.  

And he was true to his word, he made it work.  

I finished up my shopping with a trip with a stop at the store near me.  They didn't have the Mr. Clean Gain scent either, so I made some substitutions.

Not too bad, at least the digitals all works (they still have the old system) and it was only about $1 more than if they had the Mr. Clean.  I told the manager there that if they get the new system I might have to figure out couponing at Walgreen's.

 

Vaginal Prolapse

First, here is a picture of Sadie opening her birthday present from C.  Now if you want to skip the rest this is your warning. 

Joe had a cow he was going to cull next week.  But this week she decided to have a vaginal prolapse. 

He called me at work Thursday to tell me about it so I could get my mind right about coming home and fixing it after work.  But thankfully, it had gone back in on its own.  But it was out again this morning, so time to get to work on it. 

It was a bit of a mess. 

I stated with an epidural.  That way she wouldn't feel anything I did back there. 

Then there was some cleaning to do. 

It went back in fairly easily.  Then to keep her from pushing it back out, I put in a purse string suture using a Buhner needle.   Remember, she had the epidural so she didn't feel any of this.  

Then I tightened it down to 4 fingers and tied a knot in the umbilical tape.  

Good as new.  But she is still being culled next week.  
 

Beautiful Day Photo Ops

We have been having some gorgeous sunrises lately.

 And the weather is continuing with springtime temperatures.

So this morning was Draper’s turn for a new year ride.  I haven’t ridden her in a couple of weeks. First it was zero degrees, and I wasn’t spending any more time outside than absolutely necessary.  Then when the weather was better, she was missing a shoe.  The farrier came out yesterday, so we were all set to ride.  Once again, I got on without lunging.  And once again, no issues.  

After lunch, Joe spotted a couple of woodpeckers in the yard,

a yellow bellied sap sucker,

and a red bellied woodpecker.

  This made me want to go on a little birding hike.  Unfortunately, as soon as I went out, the wind started blowing and all the birds apparently went into hiding.

I did get some nice landscape pictures.

And this little guy didn’t flinch while I walked up and took his picture.  Another beautiful day.