Hog Wild!

Wow! It's been SEPTEMBER since I was here?!? Shows just how boring things have been, I guess.:-)

I just finished wrapping up wild hog sausage--two hogs, as a matter of fact. Our places are overrun with the things. You can come up on them in any of our pastures and there will be up to 30 or 40 in a group...Joshua killed one on the Wildcat Road place on Friday while he was deer hunting before he left on Saturday to go back to KY...he brought it home, strung it up, skinned it, cut it up, put it in large containers, covered them with water (to keep them from drying out overnight) and put them in the refrigerator out in the barn to chill. That was on Friday. Sunday after church Leslie went out to check on it and all of it was frozen solid! That's the reason we were a week late getting that one cut up...If nothing else, our barn refrigerator is working at top speed!

Then Leslie and I took a load of hay over to the same place a couple days ago around 4pm. Leslie stopped right inside the gate and I got on the tractor and followed him back to where we were going to dump the hay. He stops not too far past the corral and I thought he was looking at a calf or something. I looked up past a tree and saw something small stretching and thought it was a calf. Then another appeared behind him...then another appeared behind him...there were about six or seven grown hogs with around 12 or 13 little ones. They had yet to really notice us--I guess because they are used to the cows roaming around in the pasture.

Leslie had been taking his gun and hunting stuff with him every day just in case he saw a deer. All of a sudden I hear a "Boom!" One of the hogs jumps and they all turn in one accord and take off in the opposite direction. They went through the fence behind the neighbor's house and headed for the trees. For some reason, they all turned and started running back towards us. They came back through the fence and headed straight towards Leslie. That's when he shot a boar. That one went down. The rest scurried towards the trees on the other side and disappeared. So....we had two hogs to process.

Thankfully, we have a commercial tenderizer and a commercial grinder. Do any of you remember the store that was on Rosston Road run by Bob Lee? My goodness, that's been 35 years ago! I know that when I rode the JayCee bus to/from school our bus driver would let us off at the store and pick us back up when he made his circuit. Before anyone gets in an uproar about that, I don't think they allow that anymore.:-) When he closed that store Leslie bought his processing equipment for $200....that $200 has been used over and over on deer. This is the first time it's been used for wild hog. I really thought the meat would taste rancid but it tasted just like that you buy out of the supermarkets. The pork chops were terrific and I cooked a pork roast with the prerequisite veggies in a crockpot last night...

Anyway, that's what I've done today ...I can't really face cooking supper.:-) And I doubt I'll be eating pork again any time soon...

That Darn Cat!

One day I was headed to town. When I topped the hill right down the road, I saw an erratic movement in the road. I drove on, keeping my eyes on the movement until I could get close enough to tell what it was. It was a small yellow kitten that had stuck it's inquisitive nose inside a Cheetos bag some idiot had thrown out their car window. It was stuck and couldn't get the bag off it's head. I watched it for about a minute, thinking it'd shake it loose sooner or later but the kitten kept traveling in a somewhat straight line for across the road. I pulled up and stopped (except for the County Shop and a few houses, there's not much down our road so there's not usually much traffic along it). Watching the kitten fighting the bag, I knew it wasn't going to get it off anytime soon. For some reason I was worried about suffocation though it had to have enough air coming around the edges to keep that from happening. It was getting more and more agitated, though. Being the do-gooder that I am, I decided I'd give it a hand. I got out and approached the kitten . It had stopped and was trying to claw the bag off. In all it's moving around, fighting the bag, it hadn't seen or heard me. Keeping as much distance as I could and stretching my arm as far as I could, I got a grip on the bag and ripped it off as fast as I could. I've never seen a cat run that fast! It didn't even hang around long enough to say "Thank you". I despise litterers. There's no excuse for it. Keep it in the car until you get home and dispose of it in your own trash can. Litterers should be hung up in the town square by their toenails...

First Day of School

Just about every one I know has sent a child off to school this last week or so. Whether it's to preschool, Kindergarten, grade school or college, it's a hard thing to do. Many tears are shed and hearts are heavy. But somehow, God sees us through it...



I remember when Joshua (my oldest) first left for Dallas and SMU. That's a five hour ( if I remember correctly) trip. We loaded his truck and mine up with things along with the five of us and took off to get him settled into his dorm. I was a little upset at what was coming but I'm one of those that puts things on the back burner until absolutely necessary to examine them.We were about to leave and Toby (middle son and one grade behind Josh) had been visiting the computer room down the hall. When we left Joshua's room I was looking at the hallway walls, the floor--anything not to let them see my eyes were tearing up. When we got to the truck Toby wasn't there. We thought perhaps he'd stopped off again in the computer room. I told the others to stay at the truck and I'd go back and get him.



As I was heading through the back door of the dorm, a campus policeman on a bicycle was wheeling his bike through that door. I followed and headed over to the elevators. The cop told me, "No ma'am. You'll have to use the stairs. We have someone stuck in the elevator and when one's messed up, usually the other will be, too. They are pretty old." How does a mother know these things?:-) I continued to stand beside him and when he looked over at me I said, " I think that's my son in there."



"What's your son's name?"



"Toby."



He leans towards the elevator and says, "What's your name, son?"



There's a little pause, then..."Toby..." (grin)



The guy tells us that if we are patient they'll call the elevator company and have them send someone out. Apparently, that wasn't good enough for Toby. There must've been some kind of catch on the inside because it was just a little bit when the door opened. Albeit, the floor of the elevator was about a foot above the floor we were standing on. I don't think he liked the idea of staying in there for that long.:-) The cop pulled out his ticket book to take notes. He started off asking Toby his full name, address, etc. He asked if this was his dorm. I explained that it was his brother's..that Toby was still in high school. The whole time Toby and I were both trying to contain our grins. We both have the same kind of silly sense of humor...finding humor in almost any situation. The fact that the cop was taking down all this info on Toby simply because he'd gotten stuck in the elevator..well..somehow it tickled our funny bones. I still maintain that that episode was engineered by God. He knew I needed help to get us off that campus and out of Dallas. We laughed and giggled about it all the way out. My heartbreak tears were exchanged for a different kind --tears of laughter.



I still cried when Joshua would come home then head back..it's something moms just do. But that very first time of leaving my child hundreds of miles away from my protection...God saw me through it. Now he's a seminary student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. I've not seen him in months. He decided to stay there for the summer and work. He's coming home fall break or Thanksgiving. He's 25 and I know I'll STILL cry when he heads back...a mom does, you know.:-)

Bottoms Up!!!

Leslie took a half day vacation in order to come home at 11am to work on his hay mower and finish cutting the hay on the place that's catty-corner to us. I'm off with a hired hand piling thorn bushes to later be burned and get home almost at 6pm. I pay the guy, take a shower, go sit outside and at almost 8pm I call Leslie.

"HELLO!!!" I hear the tractor running in the background.

"How much do you like?"

"I'M THROUGH!" (Never dawns on him that HE'S the one that can't hear with the tractor running and that the person on the other end has no trouble hearing his screaming), "I'M GONNA TRY TO BRING IT HOME THE BACK WAY!!"

Ever come SOOOOOOO close to telling someone not to do something but don't--then live to regret it?

I'm sitting on the back porch enjoying the evening and keeping an ear open for the advancing tractor. It doesn't come...I've just about decided to call him when my cell rings.

"Well," he says in his much calmer voice--there's no engine sound in the background, " I didn't quite make it."

"Did you tilt it over?" I ask in my just-as-calm voice.

"Yeah...."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah..."

"You want me to come get you on the four-wheeler?"

"Looks like you're gonna have to. Bring the power saw."

I don't question him...I just grab the key and go by the truck and grab the power saw on my way out to the barn and the four-wheeler.

I don't know what I'm going to find when I get there but all the way back there I'm thanking God for his blessings on the idiot who tried to bring the tractor--with a hay mower attached--through the back way where he's gonna have to go through a dry creek, turn and come UP an incline much steeper than most pond banks AND do it at an angle.

I drive across the pasture, turn at the far corner into our woods, drive a crooked path for about 50 or so feet and turn into a makeshift gap...I have to go just a ways more before I spot Leslie standing with a hand on hip, staring down at the tractor that's laying on it's side at the bottom of the incline, contemplating his next move.

He glances up at me as I approach and gives me a sheepish look. I merely look at him. It's true that silence speaks louder than words, sometimes. He takes the power saw and starts cutting small trees and low limbs in anticipation of bringing the tractor up and through the woods. My main concern is not the trees on the path but how in blue blazes is he going to get that tractor upright?!? No way can a wrecker get back there. It's laying on it's right side at the bottom of the incline with the two large back tires not touching the ground...one of the front tires is mashed into the ground and against a tree stob ...the only thing that kept it from going even further was the fact that it had a rollbar and that hay mower..those two things stopped it from continuing it's roll. Had it continued on it's course, he would have been seriously injured as that tractor has a canopy, not a cab.

He finishes cutting a path, puts the power saw back on the four-wheeler, gets on behind me and we head back for the house. We get a couple of chains and the new tractor with the front end loader.

I tell him," You're not going to be able to pick that tractor up with the front end loader--you'll tear it up."

"I'm not gonna use the front end loader."

Okay, I'm figuring he has something resembling a plan in the making so remain quite.

He takes the tractor and drives it back to the corner while I drive the four wheeler with the chains in a bucket on front.

As he gets to the back of the hay field he backs up and picks up a bale of hay, then turns it around and goes forward and picks up another bale...Ah!!!! Weight!

We go into the woods and on down to where the tractor--believe it or not--looks just like it did when we left it ten minutes ago...pathetic.

Leslie gets off and studies the situation a bit more then proceeds to attach the chains to different places, changes his mind, and attaches them somewhere else. Finally satisfied with his situating of the chains he tells me to get on the new tractor, put it in low gear and slowly pull forward-not letting it slide backwards- while he gets on the wrecked one and turns the tires ...okay..that sounds reasonable except the part where he's going to get on the upturned one. It turns out he merely meant to stand on the side and turn the wheel in order to get it headed in the right direction. He then stands to the side and directs me on pulling it up and back onto the path....

It slowly but surely pulled right on up and the rest is anticlimatic but I did let him know that "I" would have had enough sense not to attempt that..I'd already slid backwards with a tractor AND lost a bale of hay at that exact same spot. I'd have taken it back around by the road--even if it did take three times as long.

'Course, I couldn't leave it at that...when we got home and were heading into the house I gave his arm a sharp slap and punch ...in some small way that made ME feel better!

A Job Well Done

(An older one)

Well, as mentioned elsewhere, Leslie is working late and not getting home until after 4pm...that's leaving us with about an hour and a half of daylight which we use to go across town and feed the two bulls and unroll round bales of hay for the cows. If you're wondering why we unroll them (yes, I know that was uppermost in your mind!) it's because hay was in short supply this summer, even though we were still baling in early December. People are really hurting for hay around here already and there's nowhere to get any more. So, unrolling spreads the hay out in a long row, letting the cows all have a chance to eat at the same time..they clean up up much better than if left in the roll as they don't lay on it or do unmentionables in it.:-) The hay lasts much longer...and we may STILL not have enough to last the winter...

Anyway, we have cows in five places so the remainder of the feeding falls to me each day. The cruncher is that we've run out of hay across the highway making it necessary to bring the tractor over and either go through the woods to the place behind us and get hay or go straight down the highway for about a half mile and get hay from another place. That's not so bad--except the time it takes--but the tractor we had over here was my (yes, it's MINE!!!) little John Deere. For the last couple of years it's been giving us a bit of a problem with the steering getting jerky and the lift grinding to a halt. So far, all we've had to do is replace the filter and add hydraulic oil and it'll last a few more weeks/months, depending on how hard we use it. We replaced it twice this past summer during hay season.

I brought the tractor out of the field the other day and brought it around by the highway and down Lover's Lane with the last bale of hay. Stopping off on Lover's Lane to give it to Elroy & Co. (there are only 12 head of bull/cows/calf over there-it's our 'Senior Citizen's Pasture) I barely managed to make it the rest of the way down Lover's Lane and across the intersecting road to my driveway. I parked the tractor by a tree along the driveway and left it. After cooling down it's good for another go...it's just iffy as to how far it'll go...

Yesterday, ALL the places had to be hayed...Leslie was at work...none of the boys were here (Josh came in last night, so he'll help today) and the only tractor on this side of town (other than the Deutz that's broken down with a clutch waiting on it) is ..yes...the little John Deere. Not knowing what it's going to do or how far I'll get , I get on it , start 'ur up and take out across my field to the back of the place, and through the woods about a half mile to come out in an open field where we still have hay sitting from the last cutting. Keep in mind that the trail through the woods used to be an old pulpwood trail from when they cut some trees years ago before we bought it..we've kept it ridden( Arkansan speak for 'rode) down with the 4-wheeler and tractors (taking the shortcut instead of going by road) all these years. However, last year we had timber cut from that area and you can imagine the mess that's back there. The original road isn't there--it deviates here and there but you CAN get through..I rode the four-wheeler through there the day before just to make sure the path was wide enough and clear enough for the tractor.

As I come out of the woods, I can feel the vibration of the lift trying to take out...the steering is getting jerky, too--somewhat like a car that's very low of automatic transmission fluid--it hangs and there's no controlling it. I back up to a bale of hay and the tractor's doing a lot of moaning and groaning--protesting the job I've given it. I stick the fork in the hay, pull up the lift lever and it groans for about 30 seconds altogether but eventually the hay rises from the ground. I know that if anything happens I'm not going to get a second chance to get that hay moved back through the woods. Keep in mind--for my journey back through the woods--that I've got a winding, twisting path with sawed off stumps and branches lying across it...the whole 1/2 mile...I'm going slow and come to the run-off from the pond that's in the woods (always wondered why they put one THERE) ..the water has made it a ditch with a dirt buildup so you can imagine the rolling the tractor did while going through it...I almost lost that hay...

I manage --despite the jerky steering--not to hit any trees and manage to get back to the house. I drive up and through the gate and leave THAT bale of hay for the six bulls we have behind the house. Drive out and park by the trees...congratulating myself on actually managing to finish that job, I park the tractor and go back and put out a bucket of corn gluten for those bulls...spending the time mentally trying to figure out how I'm going to put out hay for Elroy & Co.( they DO insist on eating every day!) plus at least one bale for the 31 heifers across the highway.

I take the red truck (no, being red isn't important for you to remember, it's just the way I differentiate between the trucks) the two miles into town, turn down beside Sexton's (our one local grocery store) onto the Wildcat Road. Exactly one mile down that road is a double wide gate on the left where we have my favorite herd of black angus cows and three bulls. Naturally , since I'm by myself, the whole herd is going to be up by the road (they've got 200 acres!) and stretched along the fence, laying in twos and threes, the entire length...including the double gate. Ever tried getting out, unlocking a gate, opening it, getting back in the truck, driving through, jumping out to close the gate--all without a cow getting through to the road? Well, I lucked up, I guess..they merely stood watching until I drove through then followed the truck up to the corral. I get out, put out two 50 lb. bags of 3-1....stand around until most go into the corral to eat then jump in the truck and make a beeline for the back of the place (three pastures back) . I stop, get out and open the gate, go through, get on that Deutz and put out one bale of hay...let me tell you about this spot...

At the back is a fence running the width of the place...there are two corral panels making a gate..on the other side are our three hay fields..no cows allowed there as there's no fence at the back..just a railroad track and the woods...lots of woods..miles of woods...you simply don't want an animal getting through and disappearing into that...they'll either get on the track or get lost in the woods never to be seen again...

I get two bales out and and entering to get a third when I look up (I've been keeping a close eye on the hill) and here they come! Now, if you can get two or three bales out they'll go directly to them instead of coming to the gate so I figured I was safe...until I saw the two donkeys RUNNING straight for me! Thankfully, they get distracted and head for the hay, too...I manage to get the five bales out, shut the gate and congratulate myself on a job well done!

Okay, that's two places fed, two more to go for me...

I leave the truck at the back and drive the tractor up to the front, out the gate, close the gate and head for home..it's a cool drive into then out of town on that tractor....

Coming out of town, when I get to the Jennings place I stop off, grab a bale of hay, go on down the highway, put it out for the 31 heifers I'd put out feed for earlier that morning. ( Think I might have left that part out). Drive the tractor home, make the same trip through the woods for the second time in one day, get a bale of hay , come back , go down Lover's Lane and put it out for Elroy & Co. Drive back and park...I'm done until later when we have to go across town..I congratulate myself on a job well done--all that's left was to feed across town then stop by the Wildcat Place on the way home and pick up the truck...now to get the Little John Deere's filter changed so I can take it BACK to the Wildcat Road tomorrow to put out more hay...

Anybody wanna go into the cow business

Mudslopes

(an older one)


Anyone else have thunderstorms? It rained a good deal during the night then came a good downpour along with storms until sometime after noon. We headed out to feed about an hour after the rains stopped. For some reason, today just wasn't a good day for feeding.:-)

Went across the highway where the heifers are. Drove down to the barn and put out the buckets of feed. Counted to make sure they were all there then headed back to the gate...only the tires on the truck refused to go up that slight incline..we're going to HAVE to put some better tires on that truck! We no longer have a tractor over there so the easy way wasn't available to us. Leslie decides he can drive her out so after slipping and sliding for a bit he tells me to get out and sit in the bed right above the right tire. I'm sitting there adding weight to it (how much extra weight he thought I was adding he can just keep to himself!). You had to really be there to appreciate the comedy of that slip 'n slide adventure. We went forwards, we went backwards. We went sideways and we went backwards in a spin trying to get a better traction only to spin the truck in a complete circle. Actually, it was kinda fun but we were running out of daylight and still had two more places to feed.

We covered up the feed still in the back just in case it rained--AND to keep the cows from reaching over and getting into it. Rolled up the windows and walked home. I'm hoping the cows haven't put too many dents in the truck when we go back in the morning to 'rescue' it.

Cut across the pasture by the rent house and up by the pond. The thunderstorms this morning filled the pond to overflowing and the water was swishing into the woods--where we had to go to get to the road that leads to the house. Thankfully, I had my Mucks on! Got another truck and headed to the Wildcat Road. I get on the tractor and put out some round bales while Leslie puts out the range meal in the bathtub (we have really hi-tech equipment). As I was coming out of the corral with the last bale Leslie comes up to the tractor and tells me to look for #52...she's about to have a baby. I go back and drop the bale then go from group to group looking for her..she's nowhere in the herd of cows. I start to head around the wooded area to the 'birthing room" (so named because most of the cows that give birth find that area to do it in). The tractor simply dies....Leslie calls me to see what's happening and I tell him the tractor quit. As I'm telling him that I'm trying to start it..it comes alive again. Dies on me once more on my way back down. Leslie stand on the fork in the back and we head back to the hay and cows--52's not there. We cut through the woods and get out in the open and the tractor dies again. It's one of those die, start, die, start things going on.:-) We see
52 at the back along with a calf at her side. I tell Leslie to hop back on and we'll head back while the gettin's good...she'll come in her own good time. We make it almost to the truck and it dies again. This time it won't start. Leslie says it's water in the oil. We had to leave it there and walk the rest of the way to the truck. Leslie's going to have to change the oil and clean the filter..it's time to trade in that John Deere!

I make a joke on the way across town ..something along the lines of..." We've had trouble everywhere we've fed so far...wonder what's gonna happen when we get across town? The storm blew the corral panels down and the cows got out? "

We get over there and everything looks okay. Cows are hungry and come up to the fence. I drive down to where the tractor is and tell Leslie I'll 'let' him go up on the hill and get the hay. Ever since his back messed up I've been doing most of the tractor driving to keep him from having to bounce on it..with the shot he's feeling better so didn't feel so bad getting him to do it this time. With all the rain we had we can't take the truck up. We'd been loading a bale in the back of the truck and then hauling one down by tractor..cutting our hauling trips in two. He heads off for a bale and I sit back to enjoy a little peace and quiet until he gets back. He comes back and dumps the bale to head up for another one..then wheels the tractor around and says it's about out of diesel ...it's already surging and we still have to drive through the corral and through the fence to put the bale out for the cows. Unfortunately, they had to make do with the one bale and a bag of range meal...we'll have to go back in the morning with more diesel to finish feeding them...

Poor Elroy and the Senior Ladies will just have to wait until tomorrow, too!

It has certainly been a LOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGG day!!!!!

A Field Full of Horses Part 2

This is an addition to the story below, " A Field Full of Horses". We found that the horses must have been too excited about being out to do much damage to the hay. The hay was on a 39 acre piece of property on the road directly behind us. We found the hay intact but it needed moving..Leslie and Joshua took the truck and trailer over there and I met them with the tractor that I'd taken through the woods from the house..did I mention it was raining off and on?



I handed the tractor over to Joshua and he loaded the trailer with hay. When it was loaded they proceeded to pull out onto the road and take the hay to the heifers across the highway. I took the tractor, grabbed a bale of hay onto the fork and made my way back through the woods to put it out for Elroy & Co. down Lover's Lane. I got all the way through the woods ...almost. Unfortunately, I lost the bale of hay about 50 yards inside the woods in a curve around some trees. Had to go back in forward then as I'm staring at the hay trying to figure out what to do, the sky opens up. The rain inside the woods is more muted because of the trees stopping it's decent but it's still soaking me. I got off and pushed and prodded trying to turn that bale of hay over but even without all the rain that's soaked into it, it'd be too heavy ..all I managed to accomplish there was to get hay all over me...wet hay. There's a cable and hook wrapped around the front of the tractor on a bar Leslie welded on years ago. I get off and unwrap the cable. I don't know what it's made of but if that material starts shredding it's like glass...I've always been wary of using it. However, Leslie and Josh are way across the road stuck inside the pasture where they took the hay so they are no help. They call me to bring the tractor to pull them out but when I tell them I've lost the hay AND that it turned up on it's end (making it impossible to re-fork it) they decide to just unhook the trailer..I'm stuck looking at a bale of hay sitting on it's end in the woods..not doing Elroy & Co. any good and definitely blocking the 'road'. I wrap the unruly cable around the hay, get back on the tractor, back it up along the path, and it flips itself over..yea!!! I get off and it's a job and a half to unhook that cable that's gotten itself pulled tight..just happens it's in just the right spot (on the side) and not UNDER the bale..that has happened before.:-) Digging among the torn up hay trying to feel for the cable, I unhook it, rewrap the cable , all the while getting more and more soaked . Unfortunately, all that shaking of the hay--both when it dropped off the fork and when I tipped it over--left the strings broken and several layers flopped here and there. As I rehook the hay and start going back down the trail I leave about a fourth of it behind...but at least I got enough to feed the cows for the day. I meant to go back with the trailer behind the 4-wheeler and get the extra so it wouldn't go to waste but the day just got longer after that....

A Field Full of Horses

Over the last year or so I'd been jotting down a few 'episodes' that would happen. Most of them not newsworthy and not even well-written because it was usually something I'd talk about in one of my newsgroups that day..which meant not the best format/diction/paragraphing/typing, but something I'd like to remember later. IF--and that's a big 'IF'--I don't have anything for the day to write about then chances are I'll stick one of the older stories in here...one never knows when the computer will crash, taking everything you've done along with it(some of us never learn the definition of "back up"). When I'm old and gray and can't string two words together maybe my kids will appreciate having them..they'll be saying, " I remember when this happened", or "I remember when you could actually understand what Mom was saying" :-) Below is one such story...



Leslie went in to work this morning at 3am and got home just a bit after 11am. He walks in and asks me," Did you see all the horses in the pasture?" As I'm rushing past him to the door to get a look-see for myself he informs me that they shot off towards the back of the place and disappeared.



I fix a nice breakfast/lunch and we're sitting there eating. Leslie is trying to find the cell phone number of a guy who has horses/mules/donkeys on the road behind us as he's always got some getting out. While he's thumbing through numbers I catch a glimpse of the horses out the kitchen window. They are running full-force towards the fence that keeps our calves in. I run to the back door to get a better view. Opening the door I see ten horse of different colors running back full-tilt across our very wet pasture. An eleventh horse with a rider is runnning right along behind them, herding them around the grove of trees and out of sight. So far, we've not seen any more of them so hopefully they've been put back up. No telling how long they were out so the chances of our hay back there being still in round form are slim. I'm headed out in a bit (in the rain) to take one of the tractors back there to meet Leslie and Josh with the truck and trailer..I'll see how much damage they've done to the two pasture and the hay. I had to walk out a bit ago and move my truck and there are hoof prints all in my driveway...and it's hard packed. No telling what damage they did to the softer pasture after all that rain we had.



On a brighter note--they were definitely a pretty sight...the small herd running across the field with every color imaginable..there were sorrels, paints, dunes and grays. Makes me ALMOST wish we still had some of them...until I think of the headache they can be...

The Swept Away Calf

Yesterday Leslie went to check on a few heifers that were having their first calves. We had four already but there were a few more that were due. He came back saying he'd found #64 and she'd had a calf but that it was so tiny he didn't know if it was going to make it through the night.

Today we had thunderstorm warnings out all day and it rained constantly, only letting up around 4:00 or so. I had to run to town and on the way I went by to see how things looked as I so often do when making a run into the town--just in case.

We've had our share of rain over the last couple of months...it's nothing but muddy and before it can begin to dry out here comes the rains again. The ditches were full with rushing water and the ponds have overflowed, spreading out its bodies of water over a good portion of the pastures. Where we have the heifers, the pasture is divided into three parts with the dividing area being a deep wash that cuts through the entire thing in a roundabout way. You know what I mean...not exactly a creek but when there's been plenty of rain it fills up like a rushing creek--any other time the cows can just walk down from one part of the pasture and up into the next part. Today they had topped with water to the point nothing could get across--water was level with the ground meaning that there was somewhere around three or four feet of water in areas with a few areas with even more.

When Leslie got home from work we went over to put out some hay for them. Another cow had her calf down on the other side of the ditch/wash/creek while all the others had managed to get on the side where we came in at some time before the water rose so high. We went down on the tractor and tried to figure out how to get the calf across. The mom could simply walk through it as the water had receded somewhat but it was still traveling at a fast pace through the ditch and would have been too much for the calf.

We decide that I'll make my way across and make the mom move away from the water ...I was trying to find a place to cross where the water wouldn't get above my boots. I finally make my way across and what does the mom do? She wanders over and goes on down into the creek. Thankfully, it's at a crossing where the water isn't so high and the calf is right behind her. Unfortunately, it's too steep for the calf to make it up after it gets across. It kept getting hung up on the roots that were exposed. The mom was already up and standing there watching us and the calf. I walk across and make it to the calf. Lifting him up I hold him up high enough that Leslie--who's still on that side--can lift it the rest of the way. Without any thank-you's whatsoever, they mosey their way on up to join the rest of the herd who's eating on the hay we put out.

We head home and while I go feed and water the walkabout donkey, Leslie gets the 4-wheeler out and says he's headed back to see if he can find #64's calf. She--64--had been up with the other cows eating so Leslie kinda figured the calf hadn't been strong enough and had died. Nonetheless, we headed out to go find it. We go in down the highway through a different gap on the side that the cow and calf had been on. We're driving over to where she'd had the calf the day before and can't find any sign of it. We more or less expected to see it lying stretched out dead. We get to thinking that maybe #64 decided to join the others and led the calf across that rolling water. If she did, then chances are it got caught up and swept downstream. If that happened then we should find it down at the edge of the property where there's a fence down in the ditch separating our property from the neighbor's. I'm sure you've seen them...a ditch or low area with a lowhanging panel of some sort to stop the cows from walking through the ditch onto the neighboring land.

We drive the 4-wheeler down to the edge of the property and almost timidly approach the edge of the ditch, expecting to see the little calf's body caught up on the fence. Nothing was there. Looking at the divider, Leslie says," If it DID get swept down here it would have been carried right on through, wouldn't it?" There were some wide areas in the divider.

We decide to go on up to higher ground just on the off-chance that the mom moved the baby up there. We start to take off and I catch a movement out of the corner of my eye. I glance over across the fence into the woods on the neighbor's property about 30 or 40 yards in...there she is! She's risen, stumbles and lays back down against a tree trunk. At least she's alive. Apparently, she'd been swept up by the water while trying to cross , carried downstream, washed past the divider and made her way up the bank somehow on the other side. I'm figuring that happened sometime early this morning. As it's almost 6:30 it's been without food all day and getting weaker by the moment.

Leslie holds the barbed wire fence for me and I cross over and walk towards the calf. When I get close enough I say something to it and it jumps up and runs towards me...they won't usually do that. Apparently, her hunger was leading her. She runs to me but seems confused. I guess it dawned on her I wasn't her mom. I pick her up--she can't weigh more than 40 pounds. Carry her across and hand her to Leslie so I can get back across the fence. Now what? We're still on the wrong side of the ditch. Thankfully, we have the old trustworthy 4-wheeler. I wish I'd had a camera. I get on the 4-wheeler-backwards--and Leslie puts Norma Jean (yes, she needs a name and I just happened to have watched "Happy Feet" today) in my arms. I hold her while Leslie makes his way across the ditch. Surprisingly, she's stronger than you'd think and put up a bit of a fight several times along the way. We drive up to where the cows are surrounding the round bales of hay, munching away happily. We go from one bale to the other trying to find #64. We spot her and drive over fairly close. Have you ever handled a calf while the mother is there? Some of the mothers will fight you, some will be very wary ...I've never seen one that didn't seem to be bothered at all that you have her newborn baby on the back of a motorized contraption that sounds like a freight train in their otherwise mostly quiet world. She simply stood there eating. Leslie had to help me get up off the back as I couldn't make it on my own with the calf in my arms. Once I was up I walked over slowly--and placed the calf on the ground near her. She bent over, smelled it, licked it and went about her eating. The calf had a bit of trouble for a while trying to nurse. She was so weak. But finally, after leaving the mom a couple of times and trying out a different cow now and again(and getting knocked down for her efforts) she managed to get the hang of it and finally got some milk in her.

Unfortunately, the trip downstream and then having to pull itself up out of the ditch to land couldn't have helped her any. We don't know what the poor little thing went through. We'll know tomorrow whether her adventure was too much for her. But at least for tonight, she's with her mom and not a dinner for a hungry hog or coyote.

Not Your USUAL Leisure Sunday Night

There's nothing nicer on a Sunday evening than to get home from an afternoon of repairing fences to settle down for a quiet evening of general nothingness only to get a phone call from a neighbor asking if you're missing a donkey...


My neighbor lives about a quarter mile down the road. There's a pasture then a wooded area between us. Apparently, Dinky (that's the donkey that's out of favor at the moment) had gotten out of the lot we've had him in for the last four months and--smelling fresh grass along the way--decided to go exploring.


Leslie goes out to one of the trucks and grabs two spotlights. I throw on my gumboots (who knows what I'll have to walk through to get him home) , go to the old van we store feed in and grab a coffee can of range cubes.


We drive down to the neighbor's and shine the lights around her house. Thankfully, she knows we're on our way to look for the vagabond so she's not likely to come out shooting. We don't see him so we continue on down the road. We drive down a ways, don't see any sign of him so turn around and go back to the neighbor's. She comes out and tells us that her granddaughter drove up and saw him in the yard. She gets out of the truck and the donkey starts running towards her..that scares her back into her car. Actually, Dinky just loves being CLOSE. He's one of those that when you're walking, he's right behind you almost making you hurry. And there's no such thing as a sedate walk for him.


They have about a mile or so of pine trees behind their house. She says that he headed that way so we drive through the trees along this beautifully kept path, all the while calling him. We're driving along and have managed to travel quite a ways when finally I say, "Leslie, I don't think he'd come this far."



"Oh, I don't know.." he says just as we get to a place where there's a little creek. It's either drive over it or turn around. We decide on the latter. As Leslie turns his head to try and see a way to turn around, Dinky sticks his head in the window.:-)


Now for the fun part..how to get him home? He's not trained to lead. It's almost a mile to the house. It'd take too long to walk him back plus we'd probably lose his interest long before we made it that far. We get this bright idea that I'll sit on the tailgate with the range cubes and get him to follow us. Will that work? You betcha! Better than I liked!



I sit on the tailgate, call him over from where he's gotten interested in some grass and he eats a range cube out of my hand. Leslie takes off just as he's reaching for another one. He starts following us...Leslie speeds up. Dinky speeds up. Leslie speeds up. Dinky speeds up. Finally, I'm holding out a range cube and Dinky is in full gallop. His face is just inches from mine as we're speeding down that path. I actually feel his front legs hitting mine a time or two as he's running. We come out with the house in view, pass it along the driveway, and when we get to the road I'm yelling at Leslie," Speed up or he's going to jump up in here with me!"


Leslie takes the road from the driveway at full speed and off down the road we go with Dinky in hot pursuit of that range cube. We get a little way down the road and we lose the advantage of the nightlight that's in her yard by the road. It's getting darker and hard to see due to the trees on the side of the road. I can't see Dinky..he must have slowed down and gotten sidetracked. I turn my head and holler at Leslie," Slow down, I think we've lost him!" only to turn my head back around and immediately start yelling," Go! Go! Go! Go!" He's caught up with us and is about to take my fingers off , all the while galloping at full speed behind the speeding truck. It happened to cross my mind..What if Leslie-for some unfathomable reason--suddenly decided to stop? The horrific picture that brought to mind wasn't fit to ponder...I'd scare myself to death if I did.


We get to our driveway, Leslie turns in and Dinky keeps going straight! Well, only for a bit. He slows and decides to investigate the ditch on the other side...


I get off the tailgate, get him re-interested in the range cubes and he's again running along behind and then to the side of the truck--only to break away and head for the incline beside the driveway to the green grass that's cropped up out there the last week or so. It's the devil's own job to get him from there to inside the gate, but once we've convinced him it's for his own good (use your imagination, here) he's brought inside, albeit unwillingly, and placed inside a corral made of corral panels. And there he'll stay until I can find where he escaped through the fence. But that'll have to wait until tomorrow...for now, I'm just going to enjoy the rest of my Sunday night, and hope I don't get any more phone calls....

It's finally GONE!! ^5!!!

Well, we finally did it! I've threatened to do this for several years and just simply haven't done it...not that I haven't tried..just couldn't find anyone that would participate...but the other day I did...I sold Leslie's daddy's old '88 Crown Victoria car! Yes!!! Okay, so that's not much to you...but if you had to look at that eyesore every day out in your driveway you'd be pretty happy about it, too.

We (Bullock Clan) held an auction some time after Leslie's dad passed away. We took over several personal items we found in an old barn on our place to add to the numerous strange things being sold. And I do mean strange..I didn't know what some of them were...but I did recognize that old car...it was Howard's pride and joy...he kept a lot of his valuable papers in the glove compartment--and anything else he liked, in the back seat. Unfortunately for the family, that was one item that didn't sell...so instead of getting our money from the items we took over, we just swapped...we kept the car. My boys thought they were so cool driving that ugly thing...they'd come home from school, grab a bite to eat then head off to baseball practice...you could see them coming from around the big curve that's right before the baseball field...window rolled down, arm resting on the frame, the other's wrist drapped over the steering wheel with the rest of the body slouched back in that "I'm-so-cool-to-be-driving-this-fine-'hunkacar'" manner...driving slowly so all could see this beautiful L_O_N_G piece of machinery and get the full glorious picture. Personally, I thought it was singularly ugly, but then I just don't care for those big cars.

We've had all sorts of vehicles over the 30 years Leslie and I were married....one thing that saved us was that Leslie could work on just about anything that stopped working right..and he got plenty of chances! We've had those vehicles that used more oil than gas, those that had steering so loose that it was an adventure just to make it to where you were going....I've always heard it said that 'those new fangled vehicles don't run near as good as those old ones'...I believe it...I've had plenty of chances to find that out....some of those old things we've driven were simply works of art..literally....they were welded back together.

I would suggest that all parents teach their kids --while young--how to change a tire. My boys got lots of practice. We never owned a vehicle that had new tires..that would do damage to the totality of the 'old vintage' look. You know it'd simply not look right to have spanking new tires on a truck with rust spots..it would just ruin the authenticity.

As to tires and flats..I think all women should learn to change them, too. That's just spite coming from me, since I've been forced to change them...

We hadn't been married long when we were driving through Emmet (small town eight miles from here). We were in a Ford Currier which is the same as the Ford Rangers, today. One of the tires went flat, we pulled over and Leslie stood around while he made me change the tire. Said I needed to know how to do it. Hands were nasty by the time I got through but I had satisfaction in knowing that everyone who passed by had to have thought that I was with the sorriest man alive ...

Is this thing on?!?

Blogging seems to be THE thing, now. After having had several people send links to me for their blogs I decided I just might as well try this thing out for size. And what do you know? It works! I'm feeling very proud of myself for having actually managed something without having to ask someone else what to do...can I get an "Amen" on that? Yes, I hear you...we can all be proud of ourselves for having actually taken a step--albeit a small one--into the electronically induced stupored society we have found ourselves literally flung into. I'm going to see how long I can survive on my own...do they have a "Wild Wide Web Survivors" series on tv, yet?

Debbie