Don't worry, we're here for ya.............

Cows amaze me.  They are such funny, sometimes stupid, yet fascinating creatures.  And calving season seems to bring all of these different characteristics out in them.  Yesterday, we had a heifer that we were watching, because we knew she was very close to calving.  (if you are wondering how we knew, read how to tell when a cow is ready to calve in Ready, set, calve)  We were giving her 1 hour.  If she did not have it by then, we would bring her in to the corral to help.  So we went about doing other things, like assisting another cow and calf already in the corral and feeding the yearling heifers, but still keeping an eye on the heifer.  Well, I kept my eye on the heifer.  I carry with me a small set of binoculars so I can spy on the cows from far away.  (I tend to worry a little more then my Farmer does)  So, my Farmer is doing the chores, and I am trying not to constantly watch her, when all of a sudden, there rose such a clatter, I raised up my glasses to see what was the matter.  (sorry, kind of had fun with that)  And what do I see, but all of the cows running towards the heifer.    I started freaking out, yelling, somethings wrong, she's in trouble, we need to go check!!  My Farmer is saying, it's fine, don't panic.  Well, I convinced him to go check on her.  And, of course, he was right.  Nothing was wrong.  The heifer had had her calf.  But evidently when she seen the object move that had just came out of her, she let out one heck of a beller and it alerted all of the other cows to come check things out.  And they did.  All 90 some head of them!  And I'm sure when the older cows seen what was going on, they were like, "What is your problem!"  "I've delivered ton's of times."  "It's no big deal."  But what amazes me, is that they heard the heifer beller, knew that it had a sound of urgency and went to assist.  What also amazes me is us humans.  We left the heifer and calf alone so they could bond, (she was still very unsure of the calf).  An hour later we drove by with my in-laws and stopped to see how the animals were doing.  We sat there and watched as the new little calf slowly got up on all four hooves, a little wobbly, but he was standing.  Now, we have all seen this a thousand times.  But we all got so excited and cheered when he finally stood, it was really funny.  Crazy huh?  Four adults, clapping and cheering, yelling "yea, he's up!"  But I thought to myself, it doesn't matter how often you see God's wonders at work, it's important to always be amazed. 

Guest blogging, ya right.......

The other night my Farmer and I were at a meeting, and I so wish I had had a tape recorder.  There were a couple of other ranchers there and they started sharing stories.  I tried to remember them so I could come home and blog about them, figuring I'd have fresh blogs for a while.  But when I sat down to write them, it just wasn't the same coming from my mind.  That's when I figured that I needed to have a guest blog tab.  I could have the other ranchers write their stories and then I can share it thru my blog.  Great idea huh!?  And I guess here I am assuming that they would want me to blog about them.   But I'm pretty sure they would.  Cuz, everyone wants to be famous, right??  And by me blogging their story, we would be doing just that.  Cuz, as you know, I have made my Farmer famous, right??  Ya, I know, I'm thinking a little to highly of my blog.  But if I don't talk it up, who will, right??  So, I'm going to start working on my rancher friends to give me stories.  We'll see if they get as excited about being blogged about as my Farmer does.  And if that's the case, you won't see a guest blog tab........
And just for your information, if you are wondering why I called these guys ranchers and not farmers, it's because their ropes are coiled.......(read the difference between a farmer and a rancher) 
So, if any of you neighbors out there are reading this, write down your story, submit it to me and be my first guest blog.  This could be fun!  We'll even pick out an awesome name for ya..............

Calving season is upon us, once again........

It is officially calving season.  A little later than planned, guess it took the bulls a little longer to start working last summer once we let them out in the pasture with the cows.  (This is why I believe that food is actually number one on a males priority list)  (haha)  But it actually is working out nicely.  Two weeks ago it was colder than heck, this week it has warmed up, the snow is pretty much gone off the pasture, so we have dry ground for the cows to calve.  And that is sooo nice.  But it also means they have a lot more area to roam.  So instead of just taking a nice stroll out through the cows to check them, (usually there's still snow that keeps them confined)  we pretty much have to ride the atv around the whole pasture when we do our checks.  (Which we try to do about every 4 hours or so.)  And it was so nice yesterday, that we got the old Willey's Jeep out and drove it around checking the cows.  I totally LOVE using the Jeep.  The cows love it too!  They will follow it around and if we honk the horn, they come running thinking something's in trouble.  Gotta love it!!  And speaking of checking cows, it is now midnight, so time for my shift.  I am once again doing the midnight check.  I take this shift mostly because there is very seldom anything going on.  And I really love the nights.  As I was out checking things under the full moon the other night, I got to thinking.....do I like the nights under a full moon better or the nights with no moon and lots of stars better.  You can see so much more under a full moon, but I do believe I like it best during a dark night with the sky lit up with billions of stars.  What kind of night do you like best?
Well, until next time.....I'm still livin' the life........the farm life that is......

Things that make me Smile...

As I was driving my tractor the other day helping my Farmer feed the cows, the idea for this post popped in my head. (It might be silly, but what the heck) Let me try and paint you a picture of the moment.  It had been snowing all day and now it was raining, the wind was blowing, and we were feeding cows.  As I was watching my Farmer throw the hay off the wagon, being plastered with rain and blowing hay, I found myself smiling because I was dry in my nice comfy tractor cab.  I know, not very nice, but what can I say, it did make me smile.  I even waved at him when he looked up at me.  However, he did not wave back.  He just gave me a look, like what the hell is going through your head?!  I just smiled and started thinking about other things that make me smile.....(besides watching my farmer work).  Here are just a few things......


Seeing my boys
Christmas morning
New baby calves
Happy babies
Sunshiny warm days after a long winter
AND........
sitting in my heated tractor cab, as it is snowing and blowing, watching my Farmer throw hay off the wagon.
Yep, ya just gotta love the farm life............
What makes you smile?