Three-Plus or Minus

I am try to not get too excited. Many things can still go wrong. 

But with three months or less to go it is looking promising. 

That is not a fat belly it is a baby belly. So far so good. In a few more weeks I will need to take her off pasture and just feed hay hoping to avoid fescue toxicity.  Then if all goes well I need to decide whether or not to breed her again and if so to what stallion. Lots of things to consider. 

 

Frozen

We have been having a very long stretch of cold weather.  It was 1 degree this morning, 4 degrees yesterday and it is not getting out of the 20’s during the day. 

It doesn't seem to be bothering Hugo, he is fat and fuzzy.  He even let me walk up at pat his nose.  I think he knows I can't make him work right now.  

 The cold has been a bother about Hugo's water buckets, they stay frozen.  Joe has to take jugs of hot water down to the barn twice a day to thaw them.  Maybe one of these days we should just put him out with the other horses, or just wait for it to warm up again.  Whatever. 

New Idea

I had a new idea for what to do with the base of my previously stunning bird bath. 

I thought it might make a beautiful gazing ball stand.

The problem is that it will be glass on glass.  I am considering using some flexible caulk to join the two parts.  It is still a work in progress. 
 

Is This Really Me

For some reason I have been receiving emails about auctions in the state of Virginia.  I hope the top picks for me are just randomly generated.  Otherwise, I need to change something about my internet surfing behavior.  

I hope that I am not portraying myself as someone interested in crowbars 

and old lamp shades.  Or do they know me better than I know myself. 

 

Later Than Usual

Sometimes life happens and work gets put on hold.  We usually have the calves weaned by now but bad weather and difficult family matters delayed the process. 

But today’s weather was better, Joe had everything lined up and Mike was able to help.

We thought it would be easy for the cows to just follow the tractor and hay to the barn lot.  

But the cows had another idea.  They wanted to make an extra lap around the field before doing what they were supposed to.

We put groups of cows and calves in the barn.  Joe dewormed the cows and Mike helped sort them out of the barn.  Then they went into a different lot.  Next, the calves were dewormed and sent in a different direction.

My job was to monitor the gate holding the cows back.

There was lots of bawling as expected. After finishing up the forth group, it was time to move the cows out to a different field where they would have fence line contact with the calves.  This is supposed to make weaning less stressful. 

My next job was to babysit Jessica to keep her from getting in the way.  At 25 she has mellowed a lot and didn’t cause any trouble. 

Job done a few days late.

 

From The Kitchen Window

When Sadie and I were having another tea party Tuesday, I looked out the window and saw this…

A beautiful red tailed hawk was sitting on a yard fence post.

I see it in the driveway almost daily, but this was the first time I caught it this close to the house. 

Then this morning when I looked out there was the most spectacular sunrise. 

The sky was amazing.

Lastly, one more glance out of the window to check the sunrise and I had to grab the binoculars to make sure this wasn’t a coyote.  No coyote, just a big red fox.

 

Weather Move

Joe had planned to move the bred heifers from some rented land 20 minutes away, back to the house Friday. But some unexpected weather brought in some snow which thwarted his plans. Next plan was to move them Monday. But another weather system was on its way. If we didn’t get them out then Joe was going to have to start feeding them there.  That would be an undesirable situation. 

So this morning we headed over to bring them home.  Joe had been feeding them a little grain for a few days to get them use to coming in the lot. He didn’t have any trouble today. I hid in the truck and when he was done he came and got me. 

Next was moving some panels to make a loading area. 

Joe has this part down pat. The heifers were also pretty tame and there wasn’t too much yelling to get them on the trailer. 

Back at the house we just stopped in the road to let them out

and then herded them through the gate. 

They headed on around the hill while we went back for a second load. We finished just in time. It wasn’t long after we got back that it snowed another 3-4 inches.