The Ultimate Valentine's Day Experience

Red roses..candlelit dinner...music...Valentine's Day! The most romantic day of the year...there are so many ways to spend that special day with that special someone. Let me count the ways...

Well, I'll tell you one...

I simply can't start my day without a shower, people. Even if I've had one the night before. So I was in the middle of a warm shower when the phone rings. It's a guy from Okolona who bought four donkeys from us a few weeks ago--he's wanting four more and he'll be there in one hour.

We get the donkeys up, the guy comes and gets his and Leslie and I start talking about a woman who called three days earlier. She lives in Burn (I'm sure I'm not spelling that right but I swear I've never seen a city sign with the name on it!). She'd called wanting a couple of donkeys but didn't want to come look at them-just load up a couple and bring to her. Leslie told her he'd load up four so she could have a choice. She's 13 miles away, no way to haul them, AND seventy-seven years old. So, naturally...we'll take them to her. He calls to make sure and she says sure, bring them on.

We get there and she has a kennel where she raises Yorkies, Maltese and Collies. We admire her setup there in the country and it comes up that she has quite a few acres surrounding her house that she's wanting to put the donkeys on to go with three others she bought near Christmas.

Naturally, we are thinking about leasing it from her since the guy who'd had it leased just sold his cows. Nothing would do but that we drive around and look at the property. She has a pond that is spring-fed and we go down to look at it. Eventually, she looks at the donkeys in the trailer and says she'll take all four. Yippee! (That's NINE donkeys I've sold since yesterday morning!).

Anyway, we spent a quite enjoyable couple of hours in the company of this delightful elderly lady. We get home and it's about 2:30. Leslie asks (since someone had reminded him that it was Valentine's Day) if I want to go eat and where. I say either Golden Corral or the Western Sizzlin in Arkadelphia. He decides on Golden Corral but stipulates that afterwards we'll come home by way of Lewisville and watch the horse sale. Sorry folks, but I've never been hungry enough to endure a couple or so hours on a hard bench at a horse sale. I say as much and he decides we'll go to Arkadelphia and after eating we'll swing by Atwoods for something he needs.

We decide-since it's so late-that we'll fix a 'little something' before we go feed. I can't stomach cold sandwiches in the winter so while he's on the phone with someone I start hamburgers.:-) Don't know about you guys but after eating a hamburger and fried okra (left over from last night) I simply can't eat a huge meal! So I'm figuring the meal, at least, is out.

We have two places we need to put out hay and feed. We're at the first one and can't find one of the heifers that's supposed to calve. My side's been hurting off and on all day so I elect to sit in the truck and wait while Leslie takes the tractor and goes to look for "#4". He's gone a while but returns only to say that she's laying up behind the rent house, stretched out, trying to have the baby. The calf isn't showing yet and he's not sure if she's only been in labor today or if she started yesterday. Unfortunately, we didn't check on them yesterday so there's really no way of knowing. If she just started labor today she might have the calf by the time we come back. If she started yesterday, she could be dead by the time we get back.

We go load up the trailer and take it on over to the second place. Nothing wrong over there. We DO have a brand new calf but she's up with her mother along with the other cows so no worries there. It takes awhile to put out the hay and haul the feed to the different troughs.

We head on home and drop the trailer, grab a bucket with ropes, gloves and a comealong. Head over and Leslie and his sidekick-after adding diesel to the nearly empty tractor-get on and head up the hill with all the necessary life-saving equipment(including two lights since the tractor doesn't have any) only to find the cow standing along with the calf. Wonderful! It's always a great day when we don't have to pull a calf.:-)

We get home-again-to find it's nearly eight pm. The day is pretty much gone and it feels to me that it's nearly midnight. It's been SUCH a long day!

You know, when you've been married over thirty years you don't have to feel all that guilty when a special day falls through and things just don't work out right. We didn't have that special meal or a movie but dang it all--we got rid of nine donkeys!!!

Do Animals Actually Sing?

Yesterday Leslie and I go over to check on a few heifers having their calves. We see one is off by herself and in the process of having hers. Leslie thinks she may be having problems so we drive on down for a closer look.

There's another heifer who's noticed that '11' is in trouble. She moseys on down to stand beside her, apparently lending moral support. If cows could hold hands I imagine this one would have offered hers to the laboring mom.

There are three jennies in that pasture who have also noticed the commotion and come over to investigate. They stand around in a tight threesome at the heifer's hind feet watching the action as it plays out.

Leslie sneaks up in front of the jennies and behind the heifer and places a plastic hay string around the calf's leg.Giving a gentle tug the calf plops to the ground and lays there. I see the ear twitching so know it's alive as Leslie is moving it's head around trying to get a response out of it.

The other cow and the three jennies all gather closer and give the calf a good sniff. All of a sudden the three jennies start belting out what sounded like a yeehawing rendition of "Happy Birthday To YOU!". All three of them are going full blast with the noise...there must have been more stanzas in that song than I remembered 'cause they simply didn't appear as if they were thinking of winding down any...

Leslie runs the jennies off since their 'song' has brought the mom up and she's not recovered yet. We leave the two alone so that mom will lick the calf dry and get it started in it's brand new world.

The jennies are up on the hill, finally played out and probably gearing up for the next birth....

I think that's one of the times I really wish I'd had a video camera with me...to catch those donkeys standing by the calf and apparently welcoming her into the world...do animals actually sing? Well, these did!

Donkeys Are Expensive!

"Just how expensive are they?" you might ask....well, I'll give you an example.

A few weeks ago Leslie and I decided we needed to rid ourselves of some of the donkeys we have scattered around the various pastures. We had three jacks in with some cows in one particular place and they were more trouble than they were worth. We decide we'll take them to the sale barn in Texarkana...so....

In order to sell any horse or donkey through a sale barn, one must have a Coggins test done on them. This is a simple blood test and costs 20 bucks. We have to get that done first so decide we'll load them up one Saturday, take them to the vet's for the tests, and then haul them to the sale the following Saturday..."The best laid plans of mice and men..."

The weather hadn't been cooperating and the rain had seemingly become a permanent situation--making the pastures so muddy that I refused to take my truck down in there to the corral. We take Toby's old 1995 Ford F 150. Our cows are simply TOO tame and will walk around sticking their nasty little tongues all over a vehicle, leaving smears ...I didn't want to have to clean my good truck up so we hauled the trailer over using the old Ford.

We go over fairly early to gather the donkeys up and luck would have it that NONE of them wanted to load into the trailer. Have you ever tried to make a donkey go somewhere it didn't want to go? I'll bet you didn't succeed easily, if at all.

We get them into the corral and then run them through the shute. The one in the front balks at loading even though he's loaded several times before. His legs are cement and his head is stone...no turning that head towards the trailer and the legs refused to move. He must have transferred his mood to the other two because they were just as much trouble...what I wouldn't have given for a nice electric cattle prod...

Using sheer muscle and grit we managed to push, prod and shove the contrary things in and take off for the vet's in the next town.

Since we're using one of the old farm trucks we go 67 highway instead of the interstate...the truck won't go terribly fast so we'd have been a danger to everyone on the freeway. On the way Leslie mentions the cruise control. I ask if it still works. Apparently it does as he sets it to cruise 55 miles an hour. Deciding that's too fast for that particular truck, he stomps on the gas to disable the cruise control and it tries to die on us. Out of idle curiosity I ask him if he knows that you tap the brakes not stomp on the gas. Too late...we pull over onto the shoulder of the road where it promptly dies. Magical Fingers Leslie gets it started again and off we go. We make it to the vets where we have a very long wait. It's nearly lunchtime by the time we get the donkeys tested and we're on our way back home. The vet bill is $60....half a day's gone.

Heading out towards home we take the interstate...bad idea.....

About two or three miles from our exit the truck coughs, sputters and gives up the ghost. We taxi over to the shoulder as far as we can. It's lost oil pressure and the engine is blown. I wasn't driving and someone-not to mention Leslie's name--should have known not to continue driving once the vehicle loses oil pressure. There's no getting it going again. I call my brother-in-law and he comes to get us. By the time he gets there we've unhooked the trailer and pushed the truck up a bit. When Jim pulls up we just hook onto the trailer and take the donkeys back to the pasture where we got them. Good riddance for the time being.

We then go to Jim's to get a really heavy duty come-along. We go to my house and get my truck and our flatbed trailer. Heading back to the interstate I pull onto the ramp headed back towards Hope...a couple miles down the road there's one of those "Official Use Only" drives across the median. I figure I'm officially aggravated enough to qualify.

I pull across it and sit waiting for traffic to pass coming from the other direction. For some reason the drivers are all giving me wary looks as they pass.

I'm having to wait for the traffic to clear enough to go down about 30 or so feet and make a huge U-turn in order to pull in front of our poor old broken down truck sitting off to the side. I have to say this is the first and hopefully the last U-turn I ever make on a freeway-especially with a 16-foot trailer in tow.

Leslie is sitting by the door giving me step-by-step directions since he apparently thinks I only just learned to drive and actually need his input.

"You want me to drive?" he asks as I'm sitting there waiting for traffic to clear.

"No."

"Go down this way (he points in the opposite direction of the truck) and make a turn. Wait until this next car gets past." I'm wondering what his IQ level is to think that I'd go in any other direction or to think I'd NOT wait on the car...geez!

"You sure you don't want me to do it?"

"What I want you to do is sit there quietly and let me concentrate on my driving."

Finally, Jim tells him to leave me alone so I can concentrate. Good old family--always there when you need 'em to back you up.

I finally make the turn, pull up in front and back up a ways so that the truck is directly behind the trailer. Jim and Leslie spend about 35 or so minutes (believe me, seemed like 35 HOURS with the traffic whizzing by!) chaining then pulling that truck up onto the trailer a foot or so at a time. I have to get in to keep the tires straight as it's a VERY tight fit. Finally we've got it on and secured. Now, off to home...

We call a guy who does engines at his home and he says to bring it over the next day. Next day we haul it over and he helps us get it off the trailer. It's going to cost around $1500 to rebuild that engine! That's not including the labor.

So far the donkeys have cost us plenty. Though you have to admit, they didn't ASK us to haul them over for tests--they'd have been perfectly happy staying in the pasture.

Next Saturday Josh is home and he, Leslie and I go by the vet's for the papers and off we go to Texarkana to finally get rid of those troublesome donkeys (who, btw, loaded quite nicely this time). It's a 35 minute drive and this was right before the gas started going down...more expense...

We get over to the sale barn and unload the donkeys and give the guy the papers. Leslie decides he wants to go inside to watch the horses sell. We walk in and watch the sale for a bit. Some really nice horses came through but now that they can't be sold for glue, the prices have really dropped. Leslie asked me if we had enough for him to buy a couple..I should have asked God's forgiveness for the fib I told him. We simply didn't need any more animals...

We are standing along the wall watching the horses sell for around $175 each--I mean really pretty, registered quarterhorses! It's shameful that they bring so little and the market is so poor.

Then the donkeys start coming through...some are selling low at around $30...wow! The prices have really dropped on them. Some got po'd because no one would bid high enough to suit the seller. Then ours come through...can you believe it? Two dollars...no, that's not a misprint...A bid of two dollars for each one. I almost po'd them but then decided we'd be well rid of them if we had to give them away...it cost a $10 fee to sell an animal through the barn...and we received $6...

Add all that up...I can't bring myself to do it..

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A True Christmas Story ~~

Don't you just LOVE those soft, feel-good stories about Christmas? Sitting around the fireplace with a hot cup of cocoa visiting with family and friends and telling all those passed-down family stories. I'm wondering if my family will remember this one in the years to come?

We were very blessed to have all our kids here for Christmas Day. Aaron had come in earlier in the week and Toby, Paige and Josh came in Christmas Eve.I'd made a couple of forays into the larger town to do some shopping the week before. I picked up a gift for a friend who lives down the road in the next small town. She has always been a part of my boys' Christmas...she'd brought them candy and popcorn every Christmas since they were in preschool.Being the oldest is 26 now and the youngest 22, I think she deserves a gift in return.After everyone FINALLY woke up and GOT up, Josh started the day off with a prayer then we opened what few gifts we'd gotten one another--we'd cut WAY down on the commercial aspect of Christmas. Our Christmas is all about being together and enjoying one another's company. My sister and her husband cameover for the usual large, stuff-til-you-can't-cram-another-morsel-into-your-mouth meal then we had to go put out round bales of hay in a couple different places. We took Josh with us and left the other kids there so that we wouldn't miss our friend who usually comes sometime on Christmas afternoon.

We loaded the trailer and head over to one of the cow pastures. We have hay from one of the last fields we'd cut so the hay strings had to be cut off the hay--they weren't 'rotted' enough. I had gotten off the tractor and had started cutting away at the hay strings while Leslie and Josh did likewise further down. I was on the bale furtherest from the truck when I noticed out of the corner of my eye some small movement on the ground about thirty feet from me. I looked over and had a hard time deciphering what I was seeing. A small hog ( a piglet, really) had risen from the ground and looked like she was stretching. I hollered at Josh who had been hog-hunting a couple of times already and gotten one hog already, ' Josh! There's a hog!" Naturally,they had trouble believing me and had to come around to the other side of the hay they were working on to see for themselves. She stood up as if to say,"I dare you!" There was nothing for Josh to do but take in after her.It's a guy thing...He'd decided he'd catch her and take her home. What he thought he was going to do with her once he got her home, I don't know--he was headed back to seminary in a week or so and Mom had no intention of tending to a pig in his absence! Josh takes in after her and SHE charges HIM! After a bit of hustle and bustle she turns and runs, though it's a somewhat lop-sided and seemingly aimless path she was traveling. As a concerned mother with the health of her child at the top of her priority list I hollered at him while he was galloping towards her, "Josh, leave it alone...don't touch it! You'll get swine brucellosis!!!!" Do you think that fazed him? About the time I got it out of my mouth he tackled her....now what? He decided--since we still hadmore feeding in another spot to do--that he would put her in a horse trailer that sits over there by the corral and come back for her later. I really don't need to say anything about the smell emanating from him after gettingin the truck, do I?

We drop the hay trailer since it's dark already and head on over to another place. We put out a few bales of hay, dump a couple buckets of range meal in the trough for the heifers in the front patch and start to head home. Josh takes the tractor and goes looking for No. 92 who is supposed to be about due to calve. She's not with the rest of the heifers.We start off for the gate but get stuck so have to wait for him to get back. After he pushes us out with the tractor and we make it up to the gate by the road, Leslie asks him if he found the heifer. Yes, she's having her calf right now. Leslie decides we need to go find her again and probably pull the calf as he suspects she's having trouble with it.We find her on the other side of the rent house up on the hill. Well, I don't have to tell you about getting a halter on her, running her to the corner of the fence so as to get hold of her, tying a cable to the calf's legs and trying to pull...leaving out the graphics let's just say they were unsuccessful in pulling the calf that was already showing and must have been dead for a good part of the day.We call in reinforcements and have the kids at home bring another truck anda come-along..plus a couple of lights. In the meantime, Josh goes back down the road and gets the tractor. By the time the other kids make it over there they've pulled the dead calf and the cow looks like she's about to join her calf in cow heaven...she's spent and is lying on the ground unable to holdup her head. They slap her around a bit (yes, sounds mean but it's effective sometimes) and eventually she's got her head up but when we leave she's still lying there. It was iffy at that time whether she would make it or not. (I'll spill the beans here and make everyone feel better--yes, she's doing okay now.)

Aaron, Leslie and I get in one truck with my telling Leslie to keep his arms and hands on HIS side of the truck and DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!!!! The other three decide they will head over and get the pig and bring it home.We get to the edge of town headed home when Aaron's cell phone rings. Toby says that the clutch just went out on the truck they're driving...it crashed to the floor so he's pulled over by the railroad tracks. We turn around and go 'temp-fix it" so they can drive it. We have some empty tubs in the back of the truck and they decide that will do nicely to transport "Petunia" from pasture to home where she'll have a brand new large dog box to call her own.When Josh tried to get her she charges again but he manages to get her home and in the box. In the meantime, somewhere along the way, we discover that she's either been shot or been gored. There's a hole in her shoulder. That probably accounts for her being by herself instead of with the rest of the wild hogs. Toby goes and finds some nice, dry hay for the bottom of the box, Josh finds some scraps of food in the refrigerator and heats it up for her and they manage to put some water in for her. She's apparently not very appreciative of all the attention or the free food and water. Bless her heart...she's breathing heavily so you can imaging the outcome.

I look on the other side of the box on the picnic table on the back porch and what do I see? Wrapped gifts! We missed my friend!! For the second Christmas in a row!! (We'd had to go feed last Christmas afternoon,also..and missed her.) Well, I'd just gotten into the house when I saw that the light was blinking on the answering machine. It's my sister. "Debbie, that gift you had for Landen (one of her grandsons) isn't in the bag with the other two...give me a call when you get home." She has Christmas at her place Christmas night for her family after her kids spend Christmas Day with in-laws. I'm on the cell trying to call her when my two nieces walk in..they'd come over to get the gift. We stand outside discussing Petunia and one niece almost takes her home with her to add to her 'collection' of wild hogs but declines when she finds she's been injured. About 3:30 in the morning, Toby walks through where we are and says, "Well,the pig died." We are all devastated..you'd have thought she was a familypet of YEARS! :-)

Next day, Josh decides he'll cook her for the dogs...don't even let me get started on that adventure....but suffice to say that the glow of Rudolph's red nose was nothing compared to the glow coming from the pig pit..