Tonight was my first night on night watch for this calving season. I always take the midnight check. My Farmer offers to let me have the 3 a.m. check. Really!?!? Crawling out of a nice warm bed at 3:00 in the morning, to go ride through the cows, on a 4-wheeler, with the temperature usually being less then 20 degrees, I have a slight problem with. Now the midnight check I can do, because its easier for me to stay up late, which is something my Farmer can't do. Now if I do happen to fall asleep before the clock strikes 12, I do seem to have issues. (like not getting up and going) (whoops). The hardest part for me is leaving the nice warm house and stepping out into the cold dark night. And the 1/2 mile ride over to the cows is a little chilly does not help. (unless I breakdown and drive the pickup over. It's way cozier that way. But more of a pain)
But once I get out into the cows, its all good. The cold night air becomes brisk solitude. It's such an amazing awakening to the soul. I will shut off my 4-wheeler and just sit out in the middle of the cows and just listen. To what? I'm not sure. Its really hard to explain. But its awesome.
Well, I do actually listen for certain things. Believe it or not, you can listen to the cows moo to their babies and tell if one is a new born. Its pretty cool. Some times I will hear an owl in the distance and sometimes the coyotes. Now, they do freak me out a little. When I hear them, my checking the cows becomes a little more......shall we say....hurried. Especially when I catch a glimpse of their glowing eyes with my flashlight. That happened one night, when I was brave, and was walking through the cows. All I can say is, now I ride. Always.
Tonight the stars were not shining. But if they are tomorrow night, it will be a whole new experience. Cuz the bright shining stars adds a whole new element to the night watch. And that, my friends, is Livin' the life, the Farm Life that is......
1 comment:
For some reason, your feed just popped into my email! Love reading about your calving stories. I'm Lana, from Walking the Off-Beaten Path, and my blog has gone under a name change due to some things not working "behind the scenes" in blogger. It's now Lana's Life. We just finished calving on March 1 with a little heifer named Becky, after my mom since it was born on her birthday. My husband gets a kick out of naming her after his mother-in-law so he can say<"Come Becky, Let's get going!" He's 6'3' and my 75-year-old mom is 4'9 1/2" so it is kind of cute because she is small and "walks at her own speed (read pokey)
We were in sunny Florida for spring break last week and came home to rain, then cold temps, then about 4 inches of snow! Time to load up the plane and go back in my opinion! It all melted in a day, and now we are having thunderstorms! Indiana weather is wicked crazy in teh spring months or weeks.
Time to make sure the girls get on the bus! Have a warmer day!
~Lana
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