Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

"Oh, what a beautiful morning,
Oh, what a beautiful day,
I have a wonderful feeling,
Everything's going my way." Maybe not everything, but it feels like it!

I know, I am old, but it is better than the alternative. This song from "Oklahoma" came into my mind because of how happy I am this morning. It has been a powerful long time since I felt this happy, and I like it. I noticed yesterday, I was singing, that was odd.

We have snow this morning, so what? It is winter, so what? It is cold, so what? The sun isn't out, so what? THE CALF IS NURSING!!!! That is the first time since he was born early Monday morning. Last night, I told Jake that I was afraid we were going to lose him.

This morning at 4:00, after my futile attempt to bottle feed him, he walked up to him mom and started "the head butt thing" after he had literally walked underneath her. She was OK with it and he was OK with it. She had been real shy of the nursing thing. All of this time, she had been by his side. She hadn't rejected him. When I went out again at 8:30, there he was nursing.

Yes, the little guys are all dressed up for the prom. We used to raise bull calves that we bought from farmers at about 2 days old. We had calf blankets for them, so now these little guys get to wear them, too. Neither of the boys have names, yet.



How Sweet It Is!!!



This is calf number three. I didn't know for sure what color he was until I looked at this picture. I thought he was black although when I took the picture this morning, I questioned his color. I think he is a brownie. He is getting a lot of attention because the pen he is in with his mother is next to where all the other cows come up to get water and to nibble on some hay. Nice noses, huh?



This is Fuzzy and Lovey. Lovey is one bouncy little babe! Although I couldn't catch it on camera, she was busy eating hay while I was in the barn when she stopped running and bouncing full speed around the pen.

And Then There Were Three..............

When I got home from my dentist appointment about 1:30 this afternoon, I saw one cow standing off from the others. I walked out to check on her and, what do you know, there was a calf. It didn't even belong to the cow I was checking. It belonged to a heifer. We are just in the house having gotten mom and calf, a bull calf, into the lean-to on the barn which Jake finished repairing about an hour ago.

The new calf is nursing, thank heaven. Holly's calf is not. We have tubed it with colestrum and about a quart of milk replacer tonight. Holly is sticking by its side and licking, but "here ain't no nursing happenin!!" That is trouble since the calf does not want to suck.

No pictures of the new calf. He is all dirty because his mom dragged him all over the pasture before we got them into the barn. Maybe he will clean in the new straw in the lean-to.

Oh, yeah, hope that goat in Iowa has triplets so she can keep up with us here in Wisconsin.

Oh, darn. It's a boy!

Here is the picture of the bull calf that was born about 4:00 this morning. It was a long labor, and it wasn't easy. And.....I missed the actual birth. I had been out there since 12:15 when I woke up and decided to check on Holly. When I got out there, the real part was just starting, and the water sac showed up quite soon after. Then it took until 4:00 for the calf to be born. I kept watching, saw something, saw a foot, saw feet and tongue, and could almost see the nose. Then I went outside to do some work for a second time. When I went back in to check, there he was. Holly was quite weak. It took her a while to get up and start licking. The baby took about an hour to get up on his feet. It is two hours later now, and he hasn't nursed yet. Still have that to worry about.

More later.

Fuzzy and Lovey

I am pretty sure that Lovey is aptly named. She is up and nursing and leaping about in her pen. Unfortunately, her mother, Fuzzy, seems to be almost leaping about now, too. She is not happy around people, and she does the the bull thing---flinging bedding all around the stall with her front feet-- whenever one of us gets too close. She is very protective. The sheep seemed to be entertained by the new creatures bunking with them.

Holly is totally swollen on her backside and has teats that are starting to point outward. Today she is swatting flies with her tails periodically. That is just fine, but there are not any flies in the barn. Could that mean that contractions are starting to happen inside of her? I sure hope so. She doesn't move very well anymore. She sort of lumbers around the pen. However, she is still eating whatever she can find. Oh, well, got to wait and see.

Lovey, I think.

When you aren't looking, all kinds of things can happen. When we went for breakfast, we saw a cow out in the fence line brush. Unusual. When we can back, she was still there and on closer inspection, she had a calf with her. We went out with our Toyota pickup and put the calf in the back with me and hoped the cow would follow. After several tries at that, we gave up even though we had the help of all the others cows.

When we drove out there again, not in the pasture, she was all alone, and she decided to come up to the barn. We had left the calf in a pen in the barn. With a little coaxing we got her into an enclosure, but she won't go into the barn. I am happy with that for now.

Lovey, I was feeling her up as we were bouncing along in the back of the pickup, is a heifer, real lively, and appears healthy. Her mom was not a heifer. If I am right, the new calf will be called Lovey in honor of Valentine's Day.

Still waiting on Holly, Claire.

Famous dog (not really)

If I had known, I would have made Libby sit with me on the couch and watch her relative, Sax, compete at Westminster. Sax's parents were Libby's grandparents on her father's sid. Thanks to Wisconsin Collie Puppies for showing me how to find Sax's pedigree. There was even one dog on Libby's mother's side that the two dogs had in common.

I do not think I will mention this to Libby because I do not want her to feel tooooo special for fear she will take it out on me and make me take her outside in the bad weather for some "exercise".

The Big Ugly

The dogs thought that it was windy out this morning. On the dog note, Sax, a blue merle collie won best of breed at Westminster yesterday and then went on to take third in best of group in the evening. Why do I mention it, you ask? Sax was bred by a vet at the animal hospital where Libby's Florida mom, Suzy, practices. The dogs could even be distant relatives since they have the same prefixes on their names. But, not being a dog person, I don't really know what that means. AND.....maybe, Libby's dad is one of Cindi's dogs. Close enough for me to feel some affinity for that beautiful furry collie dog.


As you can see in the picture, this time of year is "U... G... L... Y.....You ain't got no alibi." (Sorry an old cheer from years of watching high school football, snuck into my mind.) It is true, however. This kind of weather is ugly. I happened to catch the weather station device that we have up here this morning when the wind speed registered 56.3 MPH. Now that is a real gust. While I was feeding the sheep, I had to hang on the fence wire because there was wet ice underfoot. Oh, yes, the temperature is 42 degrees. I think I enjoy the weather station that I bought for my DH more than he does. He is the one with the weather obsession because he is a mechanic for the LaCrosse highway department.

A calf on Saturday could be named Valerie for Valentine's Day. No, there is no calf yet. It could be that Holly is just enjoying that big pen and no competition for food that she has now. Maybe she isn't prego.

Holly at the Hilton

Holly has moved up from Motel 6 to the Hilton. We got the barn cleaned out so that she could use it as a maternity ward. We were so worried that it would be difficult to get her into the barn proper, and she just followed the lane we had set up like it was something she did every day.

I hope that she won't mind having a few friends stay over because there at least three other cows who will deliver soon. Our next trick is to get them into the barn. For right now, we will just be glad that we got the barn cleaned and Holly moved.

Of course, she was waiting for a better place to give birth. Now, she can have that calf any time that she wants. On Wisconsin!

"Just Stringing Us Along......"

It was all timing. Holly was showing a string this morning before we went for breakfast. I saw it with my own eyes. I even made her turn around to be sure of what I was seeing. When we came back, it was no where to be seen. Maybe we are making some progress.



This is my "bird sanctuary". I know it isn't cool, but it makes me happy because I can see it out the "postage stamp" window which is in front of my sink. The other night I remarked to my DH that I wished I would have a different bird at the feeders. Well, last evening there it was. I even had to get out the bird books to identify it. I don't recall seeing it before although I probably have. It was a nuthatch. There probably won't be any pictures of it because it flits and snatches and flits away. I would never get a picture of something that moves that fast.



This picture does not do Fuzz Nutless justice. He is in the middle. The other two are Mom, gray, and Puff, yellow, mother and son. You really can't tell that Fuss Nutless is twice the size of either of the others. He is also twice as ornery although he gets along with Mom.

Ain't Nuttin' Private?

The pictures aren't that great. (Blame it on Rayna.) Holly is in a difficult spot to take photos. Does this help any of you cattle people decide when the moment will be?

Maybe I will try again later.

Challenge.....Iowa vs. Wisconsin

I am throwing down the gauntlet. It is Stuffin versus Holly. Who will give birth first, goat or cow? Claire, if you read this and accept the challenge, you will have to help me think of a fitting prize for this contest. It just occurred to me when I went out to check on Holly, AGAIN, that we should have a contest since both of these girls are not telling anyone when they plan to be "unpregnant". You have an advantage since you know that you can't go any further than 25 days. I, however, do not have a clue when Holly was bred, but I do know that she is "with child"

What do you say, Iowa?

Thanks, Michelle

Thanks to Michelle at Bolderneigh for the Fabulous Blog Award. It makes me feel guilty because I really don't think that I am much of a "blogger." But........I'll take it since I appreciate that she thought of me.

Here are five things that I am addicted to:
1. My animals. (Like Michelle said.) My parents didn't let us have any animals when my brother and I were growing up. I guess I went overboard in my older years. It is just getting worse, and I am loving every minute of it.

2. Reading. I have always spent a lot of time reading. That hasn't changed. Maybe I didn't read as much when I was teaching and going to school, but I am making up for that now. But.....when I run out of the books that Todd has given me, I won't read as much, or I will become a regular at the library.

3. The beauty of our farm. Living in the country pleases me. Having a farm pleases me. I am pleased.

4. My computer. I spend a lot of time on any e-mail I get and reading the blogs that I follow. Since I am alone in a place where I have only lived for 6 years, I don't have a base of friends here. I can interact in a vicarious way with my computer friends.

5. Frivolous stuff: sweets,"NCIS", "House", WPR, NPR, eating out, donuts.

Now I need to find five blogs and pass on the award.

The three stooges

The three little pigs are still in a small pen in the barn. Pia is using her hoof correctly most of the time. I hope that they will be able to be in a larger place soon because I know that they need to run and jump. It can't be done in the barn. I found that out when the two rams that are in breeding pens got real antsy when I let the girls run around. No more of that. They will just have to eat hay and cookies where they are until they can get outside again.

It Will Bite You in the Butt

Good old 2008 has come around again to "bite us in the butt." Because of a whole list of stuff, I do not want to go into, we are having calves in the dead of winter.


Obviously no one in their right mind would do this on purpose. To complicate matters, one of the list of "stuff", there is no way to get them into a protected place. Last night we played "round up" like cowboys trying to get Holly into the barn. One way or another, we did get her into a protected area and isolated from the others.

Birth is imminent. I haven't learned to tell when this is going to happen as well as I have with the sheep, but she is going to burst soon. She is a heifer; the first calf born at our farm. Kind of sybolic, I guess. I feel much better just having her out of the elements so that there is a place for her to give birth. It may not be inside, but it is out of the wind and snow, and we can get help if it is needed. I can't keep from just going out there and checking on her. It is exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. Like lambing only with much less control. (There is not much control with lambing that I remember.)

Just hope for a healthy heifer calf so she has someone to pal around with. She is not accepted by the rest of the herd, either their idea or hers. Her mom died last winter, so she has been alone since then. I just don't like to see even animals without companionship. I know, they are just animals. I am a big softy, and I can feel any way that I want about that.

Five weeks old

The puppies in Florida are five weeks old tomorrow. Todd says they are wild. I think he means that they are normal puppies. He also says that they are totaly different from the first litter that Maggie had. Go figure! I guess it is just like humans. Each one is different.

I am enjoying the balmy weather today. It is above freezing. Wonderful!

January 20, 2009

This has been a fairly emotional day for me. Seeing a new president sworn in and hearing him address the nation with a message about responsibility and hope and hard work, has made me think that maybe now I can go back to being proud that I am an American. Maybe I will even fly the flag again. It has been a sad eight years because I have felt that we were on the wrong track. I hope we are back on track and will proceed in a more "American" way in the future.

Frosty

The birds wanted food this morning. The male downy woodpecker was sitting on the feeder even though I was within arm's length of him. He is a real brave little fella. The picture is through my kitchen window and poor photography, but it gives you an idea of "the view" that I see so often.




Today was our day to have the frosted coating on everything is sight including the animals. It is very uplifting since even the ugly things take on their own form of beauty. And....we can use some beauty at this time of year in Wisconsin. (Yes, Beth, we finally got it up here; it just took a while.)



The Christmas wreath still looks fine with its snow and frost decoration.

















The old elm trees out by the road were beautiful probably for the last time since they have succumbed to Dutch elm disease and will become fire wood soon.







Even the boys and the woven wire of the fence had a decoration of frost.

It's Now or Never..........

The "old fool" has learned something. We are able to go out walking if we are careful where we walk. Today I could see how deep the drifts were. Today was the day to go out because tomorrow will be an indoor day. The sun is out today, as you can see from the pictures, and the wind isn't tooooooo bad. Tomorrow is predicted to be "a day to remember". AND......not because it will be so pleasant. The dogs seem to love the snow, but they do hesitate when it gets real deep, especially Scooter. Libby is more adventurous. It must be her youth although Scooter is only six months older than she is. At least they got some exercise and so did I.


This is how deep the snow was especially in our enchanted forest.



Dogs in the enchanted forest


The snow dogs and the four boy sheep.




The big boy sheep


Two snowy doggies

No fool like an old fool.......

This is the best picture so far of the litter of little bullies in Florida. I like the one with the belly showing. Even though you can only see five of them, the pile was precious.

(No pictures of this today.) Since Libby has been kind of naughty, I knew that she needed exercise. Soooooooo I decided that after church, I would take both dogs out for a walk in the snow. I figured I could break through the ice crust with my weight, and they could find a place to run. Not true!!! In some places it was fine. In some places I had to crawl to stay on top of the crust because the drift was so deep. In some places the snow had been blown off of the ice, and I didn't wear my ice boots. There was no "just right". Even Scooter did not appreciate the real icy places. Libby was just off on her own. Scooter stayed right by me. They both were nearly on top of my when I was crawling. Everyone can use a little good help, and two good helpers were more than enough.

I won't be going out to try and walk again. I will stick to knitting, spinning and running the quilting machine. I might even clean the house. Much safer!

BTW........Yesterday, Butthead got removed from his three black girls. It was necessary to insure that what was left of the shed and fence could still be used as a shelter and a fence. Ami and her two daughters are either PG or not. They only had two weeks exposure to the ram. I guess I will have to look to the other two rams to do their duty.

Not much, you?

Pansy chose this place for a photo op. I couldn't resist although I did not get a super picture. She is our beauty queen.

What do you know? There is not much happening up here on the ridge this week. I am finishing a quilt on the quilter and waiting to go to town tomorrow. I can't bare to take down the Christmas tree, so, I guess, I will leave it up until I am good and ready to take it down. It is cold,......nothing new. It isn't snowing........something new. As they say.......clear and crisp.

Butthead has ruined more of the shed. Jake will have to do something to shore it up, or it will collapse soon. Just when I thought that that ram was settling down, he up and ruins more of the shed. Go figure!

Not much, you?

My little "Lincoln"

This is the reason for the title. Fluffer is my white ram without horns. He doesn't even have scurs since he was put in with my wether and my ram lamb. He looks better without those misshapen scurs. This morning, when I went out to feed him, I realized how much he reminded me of a Lincoln. I just love the Lincoln breed when they have those beautiful crimpy locks hanging down around their heads. He doesn't make it in length, but he sure does in the crimp category. He has a part down his back and just beautiful crimpy white wool. He is my little "Lincoln". Now I wish he would work on giving me a little ewe lamb to carry on his mother's genes and disposition.

I do have breeding groups finally --- for a week now. Pogo has been renamed Butthead. He is totally destroying the small ewe shed. You would think he would be happy to have three black beauties for his own, but "OH, NO!". He has to be a butthead. He has been somewhat better the last three days, so maybe I can leave him in with them. They do not seem to get along well at all. The two other groups are much more settled, especially after the first day.

I am finally spinning again. It has been a long time, and it feels good. Yesterday I plied some yard to use for a hat for my daughter-in-law. I am not an accomplished knitter, but I will give it the "old college try". She said it could stay the white that she saw me spinning on Thanksgiving. It is a beautiful cream color, and I really love how it looks. It is in a sink full of water now being "finished". I need to gather up some other stuff....aka.. needles, stitch holder, etc. When the wool drys, I will be ready to get started. Time will tell.

A Christmas gift

SCOOTER


AND








LIBBY













Say "Thanks!" to G.W.Bush for the "Get out of jail free card" he gave them yesterday.

P.S. Jake reminded me that Fuzz Nutless got his name from his former life when he was just plain Fuzz Nuts. Jake is good with names. Who knows what he calls me when I am not around.

(Peter, if you didn't understand, it is a U.S. joke. By the way.....We would gladly send you some of our snow.)

Christmas blessing

Wishes to you for a blessed Christmas. Love your family and try to realize how blessed you are to have them near you to celebrate in this season. (Peter, is Europe having a horrible winter, also?) Don't willfully get to the point where you do not celebrate with your family. (advice from me)

It is snowing AGAIN up on the ridge. Jake left about 8:00 am to be in the LaCrosse County garage if any of the snow plow trucks needed mechanical help. It was going to be two days extra off from work, but "old man Winter" had other ideas. Doesn't winter care that we won't have lambs in the spring if Jake doesn't get some more time off?


And these are the two outside porch kitties. The big yellow one, Fuzz Nutless, can't go in the house because he is mean to everyone. The "other house" ....read.......(one room schoolhouse moved here and turned into living quarter by former owner) is the "cat house" when it is cold. The other cat, Spotty, is "challenged" and can go in but sometimes doesn't. They have formed a "mutual admiration society" when it is bitter cold. They huddle together to stay warm here on the ugly, ugly porch.

My Christmas Miracle

On the day after I picked up two new lambs from Nancy Krohn, one of them broke her leg. It was a back leg, and it was just dangling there when I found her. My vet wasn't even willing to try to treat it. I found a vet that was willing. Jake and I took her to the clinic where Dr. Brown examined the break, totally snapped below the hock but not compound, and put a splint on it. We took her home with penicillin to give her for five days being told that 48 hours and 10 days were the times to be especially observant.

Well......it has been four weeks now, and today Pia went to the vet and had her bandage changed. Dr. Brown said it was healing and it was warm, both good things. In fact, not good, GREAT!!!!! She has been kept in a small pen in the old milk house which is attached to the barn with her friend, Aggie. Many cookies have been consumed by those two little dolls. Pia is exceptionally friendly, and we have bonded, big time.

When I got home from the vet this morning, I made the call I have been dreading and hoping for. It was to Nancy to tell her how sorry I was that Pia had gotten hurt, but that she was getting better. I didn't want to worry Nancy about the treatment when the outcome was in doubt. I have been waiting and wanting to make that call for four weeks now. It is so good to have good news to share with someone.

PIA IS MY CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! Dr. Brown is part of the miracle. I guess I have a new vet for my sheep.

Creature Comfort

Pansy liked the stove when it was in the old living room, now dining room. As you can see, she still likes it. It is hard to believe how warm/hot she can get and still lay in front of the fire.

Sure is a cozy place to be here in the below zero weather.

The winds are blowin ............ (as the song says.) But we can weather the storm........ It's a lot easier with that fire in the corner of the room.

You know.........global warming.

A Welcome Addition

What a good day to have my DH decide to get the stove set up in the living room. It took longer than he thought it would, but it is excellent. It will warm up the room when we are sitting around watching TV in the evening.

New Girls on the Ridge

Just girl pictures today. I went out to Nancy K's to pick up two young brown girls. They are adorable. Right now they are getting pushed around a bit by some of the other ewes, but that will end soon. They are about the same size as my lamb from last spring. The other picture is Ami and her daughter Sugar, a yearling. Ami is the grandmother of young Meg, my lamb. Meg's mom is an HsT. Cassy and Mystery will be companions for Meg. (I hope I got their names right.)

Toonces is still here. I made a place for him on the first porch, and he has sat on a blanket all day. Maybe it was a long trip getting home, and he is "plum tuckered out". He hissed at all the cats he saw last night, but when I took his brother onto the porch this morning, they just touched noses like Toonces had been here all along.
Go figure.

Home for the Holidays

This is Outside Toonces. (of SNL fame) He was born here about four years ago. His mother was left here when we bought the farm. He has one brother and one sister. The summer that they were a year old, they all went on "walkabout". The sister never came back. The brother, Puff, came back with half a face and a broken front leg. He was nursed back to health. Toonces came back but continued to disappear. One time he never came back. Last year on Thanksgiving vacation, when my son and dauther-in-law were up here, Toonces reappeared. I kept him in the little house for a day, and then let him out. He left and hasn't been seen again. He had been living inside somewhere because he was sleek and fat.

This afternoon while I was working in the kitchen. I looked out the window and saw a cat sitting in front of the barn facing away from me. I thought that it was awful dark to be one of our cats. All I could think of was.........Outside Toonces. Sure enough, I went out and it was him. Here he was at the same time of the year. He is still friendly to us, and I captured him on camera. I will not keep him inside this time. I am just glad that he came home for the holidays...........or............is he here for deer hunting? Either way, it is good to see him again.

It feels good!

Today is the first time that I have been working on a project that it felt good. It has been a long time since this happened. All I can think about is all of the things that I have that I can do. The picture is the blanket that I just finished for a wedding next week. It isn't wonderful like all the knitting projects that I have seen on your blogs, but it is what I can do. I really feel like working on several things right now. My therapist will be happy to hear this tomorrow. AND........I feel like this with totally "poopy" weather outside. Maybe the fog has lifted from my brain, and I can become a productive member of society again.

Libby's Surprise!

Well, Libby, my Florida dog, got a real surprise when she went out into the back yard this morning. Normally, she flys around the corner of the house when I let her out, but today, she got to the end of the stones where the grass starts, and she stopped. She looked down at her feet, and then checked out that white stuff with her nose several times. After that, she decided it wasn't going to hurt her, and she joined Scooter in their yard. It means nothing to her now. I sure wish I felt the same.

Hiding

I'm hiding. I'm hiding.
But no one knows where.
Cause all they can see,
Is a bunch of my hair.



The poem is changed a little from the one that my mom used to read to me when I was small. For some reason I have never forgotten the first part of it.

I have no idea which end is up on Pansy, but I do know that she was comfortable this morning when I caught her napping.


I told you he was sassy! After all the work I am going through so that he can have a soft comfy bed, he has the nerve to stick his tongue out at me.



Junior is wondering how much longer it will take to get the table filled up again because it is getting close to nap time. Go figure.

My mother told me.........

The stars of this show are Puff on an unwashed fleece and Junior on the drying table.

My mother told me there would be days like these. This small spurt of warm weather has been a blessing for us at High Ridge. We were able to make some third crop hay. It will be offered up in exchange for two ewe lambs to round up our color chart. I finished my job on a customer's quilt and started physical therapy for the pain that I get when I run the quilting maching or spin or try to braid roving. That has got to end because I want to all all three of those things.

I finally got around to washing my fleeces. This was supposed to be done this summer. My summer was a complete failure. Nothing got done that was supposed to be done. BUT.......on the high side, Junior Minty Fresh loves the new drying table that Jake made for me especially when it is full of drying wool. Last night he was cuddled up in a white fleece looking like an angel kitty floating on a cloud. Wrong! Looks can be very deceiving especially in his case. He is a terror. But he makes for some good laughs with his antics, so I guess it is worth the trouble.