Boys and their toys

Or maybe it would be a good idea for the good Hungarian doctor to learn about 4-wheelers. It is a great farm implement. We use it for everything you can imagine. Of course, sometimes Dave comes up and uses it for recreation. It is great fun

OR........maybe he would like to try out a bigger tractor than the one I mentioned yesterday. I drive the one in the picture when we use the chopper to fill the feeder wagon for the cattle. There is also the 4010, 5010 and the 3010. Jake has a thing about John Deere tractors. We are tractor poor.

I suppose he could try them all out and decide for himself which one suits him best. But then again there is always the bulldozer........

We really do have a lot more equipment than we did down in Salem. The best one is the combine. It is really cool, and I enjoy just riding along in that big machine.

High Ridge Highlight for June!!!

Yes, we have having a highlight that is actually planned. We are having a visitor, and not just any visitor. He is Dr. Peter Batar from Hungary. He is attending a medical conference in Chicago and is coming up here for a short, toooooo short, visit before he returns to Europe. It will certainly be a highlight for us. We haven't seen him since he did research in Oklahoma City years ago. It will be wonderful for us.

Now, what will he do while he is here. I certainly hope that he plans to take over my job as hired hand. I am quite willing to let him use my tractor as seen in the picture to do whatever the farm boss, Jake, wants done on that day. I will be glad to sit in the house or on the deck with my feet up. OR........he could use the new Dixon lawn mower. There is more than enough lawn to be mowed. OR........he could just sit around and enjoy "God's Country" with me and the critters. OR........he could do all of the above. It is his choice because I will just enjoy seeing him again.

Three on a match

I have been lax in posting to this blog. It is because the appraiser
came here today to have a look for our refinancing. I have been more
than busy getting all my "stuff" moved from the upstairs here to the
upstairs at the guest house. (sounds like a fancy place) Yesterday I
spent the whole day carrying boxes upstairs and getting them put in the
right places.

The real story is the three lambs that Mellow presented on Saturday afternoon last week. The sad part is that they are all ram lambs. Two of them have real crimpy fleece with the best one being the white one. Now, what do I do with three ram lambs? That is really something to think about. They can't be father to any of my ewes but Millie. Their father is my ram lamb from last year, Linus. He did quite a job on everything but the gender.

It is good to have something to think about.

The other picture is an example of the humor of my dear husband. He missed this shot with Ami's twins. Last year he got a great shot from behind of me picking up the twins for my picture with them. This year he got me again with the triplets. Maybe he is taking them to compare the size.......me or the lambs?????? This year I come out on the up-side compared to last year.

Now, if anyone who reads this has an idea of what to do with four ram lambs, just let me know. The freezer is really not an option at this time.

Stanley Steamer

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Well, the rugs got cleaned. I wish that Stanley
Steamer had come to do it, but I did it on the driveway the old
fashioned way with the hose and a long handled brush. They may not be
the cleanest they have ever been, but they are cleaner than they were.
All the plaster dust left the whole house a "pig stye ". Today I am
being a "spring cleaner". It is a nice calm day up here without too
much heat, so doing the rugs was a possibility. Now I wonder how long
it will take them to dry.

The other picture is Ami and Sugar
and Cinder. They are doing well. Ami is such a good mom. Each day the
lambs venture farther from their mom, but when she calls they scamper
back. If she happens to move away while they are distracted, you hear
the little call of the lamb who has lost his mom. She nickers right
back, and they are soon reunited...........and it feels so good.

Happy Ewe's Day

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I am sure that Ami is a happy ewe. Her lambs have arrived. On lamb check last night at 2:30, they were up and dry and outside. I knew that Ami was in labor when I went to bed, and I wasn't surprised to see them. Since it was beginning to rain, I
gathered them up and took them into their shed. All three of them are still there today.

Simply Sugar is the ewe lamb on the right with the sugar sprinkled on her head. Snazzy Cinder is the ram lamb on the left, black as a cinder. He is much bigger than Sugar who is quite small. Mom and lambs appear to be feeling fine.

That really made for a special 24 hours. First I-43 let me watch her give birth to Ziva. In the afternoon I saw a Baltimore Oriole. At night Ami gave birth without incident to twins. That makes for a memorable Mother's Day for me.

This morning we had a little excitement before church. After I checked the lambs, I checked to see if any cows were outside. Everyone was in the lean to keep out of the rain. Well........out----way out-----laid one little calf. I went out and made it stand up. It ran a ways off from me and immediately laid down again. I went into the house with the news. Jake came out and carried her into the lean. Of course, it was Ziva, not quite 24 hours old. After being only slightly late for church, we returned to find Ziva bounding around the shed. I guess she is feeling better now that the is with her mother and dry. It is always something around here.

Apology

Sorry about the mess on the last entry. I don't know why it does that sometimes. Where I wrote it, it was just fine; then when it was published, it was a mess.
I never know what will be there when I push the "publish" button.

Third time's a charm..........

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Well, it is Saturday, and we slept in. When I
got up, I went out to feed my sheep and check on the cows. I loaded my
wheel barrow and then decided to go out the field to check on the one
cow that I thought was ready to calve any minute. Of course, I have
thought that since Thursday, but I knew it was close. Scooter is my
morning helper, and we walked out to the field. As we got closer to her
she was mooing like the other cow had done when her calf was on the
other side of the fence. So......I continued walking now looking in the
tall grass for a sleeping calf. I passed the cow, and she looked the
same to me. I went to the end of the fence and then continued back
looking on the other side. As I got up to where the cow was standing
about 10 feet into the field, she pushed, and the calf began to emerge.
I high tailed it into the house to get Jake thinking I would have
enough time. Seeing me hurry is a real hoot. I can't run, but I can
still try. I ran into the house and told him the news and headed back
to the field. I needn't have worried. It took her about 15 minutes to
deliver the calf. On the last push she stood up, and the calf
dropped to the ground. Thank heaven it didn't break it neck.

The pictures show the calf's first attempts at standing up. Again, three times and it was up. We did not know at this point if it was a boy or girl.

I finally did it. I saw a calf born. I will admit it got me worried for a
while there when she was pushing and not much was happening, but we got
through it. Of course, the calf was born in the dirt, and the more the
mother licked, the more dirtier the calf got. After the calf was up for a
short time, it began looking for its first meal and was successful
after a few tries. What a miracle, both the birth and the instinct that
both mom and calf have for this blessed event. Nice Mother's Day
weekend present from both of them.

Yuh Think, McGee!?

Here we go again. We spent two hours last night from 7-9 waiting and watching for Spike to have her calf. We knew it was going to happen; we saw her water break; we could tell that she was having contractions. But would she have the calf before it got dark, and we went into the house? NO!!!!!!!!! I went back out at 10:30, and the calf was on the ground, wet, but licked off. We missed it again. Last year, Poppy did the same thing to us, only worse. We had her in the barn, and when we went in to grab a quick supper, she had her calf.

Oh, well, I guess I am happy that he is here and doing well. Unfortunately, he is a boy. His name is McGee. He is the brown one in the picture with his Hereford mom.

The other picture is Ducky, the calf that was born on Sunday morning while we were at church.

That brings out total to five, three boys and two girls. We need more girls!!!!

And then there were three.....

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Last evening, Tulip gave us another heifer calf, Jen. She has a lot of white on her and is easily recognizable. It all happened while we were working around here, and I could have been there and seen the whole thing. But......another chance to see a
calf born slipped by me. I know it will happen sooner or later, but I
wish for sooner.

We have three out of a possible eleven now. Two girls and a boy. We want to be heavy on the girl side this year to enlarge our herd. Right now we have fourteen females. Three of them are too young for calving this year. Two did not produce last year and are getting a last chance this year. Time will tell.

Other news. I still haven't learned to never say "never". We are getting thirty
guinea hen keets around the end of May. They are supposed to be real good at
eating bugs. That will help with our organic gardening. (We are going
to have a garden this year. Yeah!!!) Ticks are included in the bug
thing, and we sure do have a multitude of ticks. With all the deer tick
and Lyme's disease stuff, the hens will have a big job to do. The other
thing that they do is sound an alarm whenever they think something is
wrong or different. I guess they are quite loud about it. "Well",.....she
said, as she ate her words......"I guess we will be having something around
here with feathers besides pillows." I hope it is a successful project. We will have to outfit housing for them and raise the keets from small things. Who knows how all of this will go. I will update you when it all happens.

And then again..........

Then last Saturday Pepper gave us this little guy. Meet Jimmy Palmer. Our calves this year will be named after fictional characters from television shows that we watch. I chose this name because Palmer is a small time player on NCIS and who knows if he will be there next year. Unfortunately, Palmer, the calf, comes from the cow that threw the calf that was ill and died last year. We gave Pepper another chance. We will be watching carefully to see if she just keeps throwing calves with some defect or whether this one will be healthy. Her calf last year was fine for a while but then slowly went downhill even though the vet tried everything he could think of to bring Schroeder back to health. We will keep our fingers crossed.


We are at fifty-fifty. One heifer, and one bull. Hope for heifers!!!! Other births are imminent, judging by the way the cows move around. I feel for them and remember the days. There is also one sheep that is "heavy with child".

And then......

A week ago today, Poppy gave us this little heifer calf, Abby. She is quite small, but active and thriving. It is the beginning of the calving season. More should follow since many of the cows are shaped liked eggs in the middle.

One month later.....

Here is the first addition. His name is Skooter. He is a rough tri collie dog. He is wonderful. So far he is easy to train and plays well with others. That is more than you can say for me. He is growing and has been here for over a month. He was born on January first so is almost four months old. He likes going for walks which is good for both of us. Suni thinks he is a pest, but he loves his old Suni and often lays down and sleeps sunggled up with her. He is learning to interact with Junior Minty Fresh, who was real testy at first. Unfortunately Pansy doesn't know enough to get away from him, and he tends to maul her. We have to work on that and getting brushed since he usually comes in from outside with burrs somewhere on his body.

More Stepping Up!!

Another time when the pictures do not show up. These pictures go with the previous text.

Stepping Up!

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Here are the before and after pictures of how
the kitchen looks as you come in the door of our house. The stairs are
gone. There was both a downstairs and upstairs set. They went down on
Sunday. It really enlarges the kitchen and makes the cook very happy.
That is an understatement. The new stairs are under construction. They
will just be going upstairs since there is another stairway to the
basement in the shop.....soon to be the living room. The stringers were
cut tonight, and one is standing in what was the office. It will be up
against a wall and take up so much less space. I can hardly wait since
when they go up, my quilting machine will follow them into the
upstairs. That will free up the shop to be a living room and give us so
much more space on the first floor. There will be a lot of work to do
in the upstairs, but so what? I am not allergic to work. I just wish
that I could do more of the construction work.

Florida and bulldogs (2)

Don't ask me why these pictures were not published with the text.

Florida and bulldogs

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This is Todd's townhouse in Fort Lauderdale and his truck sitting out in front of it. It is new construction and surprisingly quiet. It amazes me how they can plant vegetation and have it look like it has been there for years. In the north that could not happen. He said after the hurricane, a year and a half ago, many of the trees were down. Things are different there in many ways.

Now, the bulldogs are another story. Bruno, pictured with Todd, is a hoot. He is
the proverbial bulldog......stubborn as the day is long. Likes to be
sweet-talked. I don't know if that is a bulldog trait, but he doesn't
like being told to do things. He would rather be sweet-talked. The
other picture is Maggie. She and I got on famously. I really liked her.
I guess it was a woman thing. She followed me everywhere. Maybe that
was because she was still sort of a puppy. She is only about 9 months
old. The truth is.........I liked her best. I think Bruno was just a
little toooooooooo independent for me. I guess that is because he is Todd's dog. They are quite a pair.

Todd would like to move back up to Chicago. If he does and can't find a
place to live right away.............I get to keep the dogs while he
stays with friends. That would be fun. I wonder if Suni could handle
that. If she couldn't, they would have to live in the other house by
themselves. I would rather have them here. It would be a real "Super
Circus". (Remember that???? All you people from the Chicago area would
surely remember "Super Circus". But I guess that dates me. So
what???????? Being old is surely better than the alternative!!!!!)

Real winter

I have been in Florida. I left on Thursday, February 22. The STORM came on Friday, February 23. You would have thought that I had planned it. I didn't. I left Jake with a _____load of work moving snow. He couldn't get to work on Saturday, but he did go in on Sunday afternoon and work until Monday morning. What a mess. We had upwards of 24 inches of snow. So far, there haven't been any tragedies. I came home on Monday evening and haven't left this place since then. The second storm came on Thursday and has lasted until now, Saturday morning. Another mess!! Sure glad that someone invented the "skid loader". It does more than double duty.

The sheep are confined by the snow and can barely get out of their sheds. The boys can stand on top of the snow in one place. That gets a bit worrisome. Even the cows don't go out of the lean-to. Next week is supposed to have days above freezing. That will be a welcome mess. High Ridge is ready for spring.

Dicken

May 9, 1994 --- February 14, 2007

Dicken is gone. He will not be forgotten. He was always cheerful never dull. He remained a puppy always. It was hard to believe, but he always thought that if you came to our house, you must have come to see him. He could be a real pest if you didn't want to pet a German Shepherd. It was just his nature to be friendly. I only wish that he could have been out and running in the fields with us. He would have loved that. He tolerated the indoor cats and kept them in line if they got too wild. The new kitten didn't have to endure so much supervision because by this summer, Dicken has slowed down. But.......every now and then, Junior learned how to behave because the big dog let him know what he should be doing.

Dicken will be missed by all of us.

Lilies in February

I splurged and sent for these pips from a catalog. I thought it might cheer me up in the dead of winter. Little did I know that we would have such a cold snap just when the lilies were really getting going. Right now they are in their prime. The smell is awesome. I have them on my little table that I wedged into a space between my fridge and a window. Now I can sit down and have breakfast or lunch and look out the window. I sure do crave natural light. On the side of the fridge I have family pictures and other memorabalia to light up the space. The flowers are just the crowning touch for me. It makes a nice cozy little, very little, corner for me to eat and read and sniff the flowers and look outside to see the cold February weather.

It has been and will be a small place of peace for me while I deal with my new medical problem called long lasting headache........like two weeks and three days with 2 days off. I am very tired of it. I have so much work to do.

Snowy sheep

Here are the sheep finally today. First the girls coming over to the fence for cookies and then at the fence wanting to know when the cookies are coming. The two white ones are not related although they are a mature ewe and a ewe lamb from last year.

Second is the cows at their feeder which was newly filled with their hay for the week. You can't see them very well, but you can also see our road in the background which gives you an idea of how much snow we have.

The boys are third. They just got back outside together this morning. They have been running and leaping ever since. I guess they are quite happy to be outside again, but it was good for them to be together in a small place after breeding pens.

The two boys head to head are Tommy and Linus, dad and son. The other picture is the three of them playing "ring around the log". It is a new game that they have made up. It is so good to go out with the dogs and hear all the bells ringing. There is only one that does not yet have a bell. I sure do like the bells.

Now, if the cows just had bells I would be really happy.