Lots o' Rain

Giz chewin' cud--his nose is dirty because he was playin' in the mud!

Monday we got 1/4" inch of rain, and the same Tuesday and again on Wednesday. Thursday it was sunny most of the day, then about 5 it poured and poured. We got around 1/2", but it seemed like more than that!

Obviously I made it over to Butchs'--it was good seeing him! The cows and calves looked good, and the 2-month old heifer sure is a cutie! I told David to keep her as a replacement, and he asked: "Why, 'cause you think she's cute?!" HA
This photo isn't the greatest of her:



Saturday I mowed the front lawn and half of the back yard. Pat got the tiller going and after about 5 feet of tilling, it made a loud noise and sparks flew out of the muffler. Ahhhh it's toast, the motor froze up. So for now it will sit until it's final fate is decided. Good thing the neighbors have a nice rear-tine tiller we can use! :)

Sunday Pat had clean up day at the Black Powder range and I puttered around cleaning up the yard, enjoying the weather.
Kyle was gone Friday and Saturday to All State band and then worked on Sunday.
Jared went fishing Friday and Saturday and managed to get sunburned. He said he slept "alot" on Sunday and took it easy.

The Pear Tree is blooming!

Spring is officially here! (early!)

The Rhubarb coming up and one of the Peach trees in bloom (already!)



Wow, the Asparagus, Rhubarb and Comfrey are all coming up. So are the mints, plantain, yarrow and just about everything else. The roses are getting leaves, and the Pear and Peach trees are blooming. I'm sure the Apple and Cherry trees won't be far behind!

I am still getting an average of 7 eggs a day--a couple of the neighbors have been blessed by eggs. I have to remember to keep some older ones back for us to make Deviled Eggs for Easter dinner!

The calves are growing by leaps and bounds--they all are getting taller and the steers wider. ;) Even though Nessa was 30 pounds at birth, I've doubted her 'small' stature--she'll be bigger than Dolly. (Ok, not that Dolly is a huge cow.....)

I planted some onions in the potato containers and we got 1/4" of rain yesterday. Since the cows are fenced off the 'pasture' for now, it's exploding. I'm excited to see all the different forbs (different plants) growing.

Since I had so much to do Friday and Monday (+ the rain) I re-arranged going to Butchs' for today. Now hopefully I won't forget the weigh tape and camera!

Electric Fence-6: Calves-O

Beautiful sunrise the other morning!


Wednesday I got alot accomplished. The electric fence is up and hot. Here is the tally of fence testing I witnessed as I went to work on the garden fence:

Dolly: O (I had 4 posts up and she just 'walked it' like I had it all up already!)
Nessa: 1
Whitey: 1
Blacky: 4
Ok, you'd of thought the black steer would of figured out the fence 'bites' after shock one or even two--or the third time. Noooooo, he'd go by it and test it (with is nose of course) and ended up doing it 4 times throughout the afternoon. (Slow learner I guess!) He'd sniff it, get shocked, beller "moooooo!" and run off bucking into the shed. (Like it was "homebase" or some kind of "safer" area!) Everyone was skittish at their PM feed, like anything that moved was going to 'get' them!

So the electric fence is up, and Pat put the T-posts in around the garden Monday and Tuesday for me while I was at work. I got the cattle panels placed, but not secured yet since we're not sure where we want the gate to go. The hard parts are more or less done--yippee!

I also deep-cleaned the cows' tank and took the heater out. I got it moved next to the fence and filled. I went to check for leaks and realized I'd only hand-tightened the plug, and of course it had a slow drip. Last time I had a slow drip, overnight it emptied itself. Aaaargh!!! I tried to reach through the fence and that didn't work. I even tried to use a socket--it'd fit but there was no room to turn it.
100 gallons of water is NOT light, but by this time I was awfully aggravated, so I managed to pull it away from the fence enough on one side to reach and get the plug tighter with my pliers. I'll put it back against the fence like I had it when the cows have emptied it about half way--a more manageable weight for me!

Monday I planted my potatoes and the two new cherry trees we bought last Friday. I was going to plant onions Tuesday but ran out of time before I had to go to work.
Pat got the oil changed in my truck Tuesday as well and helped the neighbor do some work on his truck Wednesday.

Kyle is almost done with speech, but band, show choir and golf will continue until school is out. Plus he has Marines PT, and he still has his Pizza Hut job, and he works one day a week back at a restaurant he used to work at.

Jared is looking at different trucks, is thinkin' of getting a different one. He doesn't have any 'news' for me.....so I figure no news is good news!!!

Friday I am going over to Butch's (big bro) house to help him figure out which cows/calves to sell for David (little bro) and Butch mentioned he needed some help with a tractor. I'm sure I'll be there all afternoon, but that's OK!! He's also got more gallon (pickle) jars saved back for me and some small containers saved so I can put salve in them when I make it. At least he's thinkin' of me! ;)

Oh, and the weather has been awesome.....so it helps lift the spirits while working on the outdoor projects. I managed to get a bit crispy-fried from the sun yesterday.
Let the Farmers' Tan begin!! :)

Busy Busy Busy!

Dolly is starting to shed her winter hair!

Lets see.....got Jared back down to KC so he could fly back to Bragg Sunday, he made it there safely. (Boy was the airport busy!) It was awfully windy and I fought the wind there and back. Of course it was worse coming back because I was headed more or less into it. And the dust! Lots of it in the air. I hadn't seen such a dusty/hazy sky in a long time.

As the photo shows, the bovines are starting to shed. I've heard the "spring birds" for a couple of weeks now, and the worms are active again! Spring is comin'!! Mooo-hooo!!

With all that I was motivated to rip out the old garden fence (we are putting in a better one). The old fence snapped back and whacked my face--I asked Jared if my eyebrows were bleeding. He looks at me funny, squints and says "Nope". Uh, huh--later when I got out of the shower I noticed a nice scrape just below one of my eyebrows almost on my eyelid. Looked kind of odd!!

I also re-did the chicken pen so it is much bigger. It is now set up for two pens if needed--I plan on splitting the flock into two, one with older hens (bigger eggs) with the bigger rooster and the smaller hens with the smaller rooster. I'll see how long THAT lasts.....but it's worth a try!
Oh, and Patrick informed me he pre-ordered 6 turkeys--yikes. Not sure if it's "his" project or mine....more than likely the latter!!

I have my six 'tater tubs' ready to go. (Dolly is eating out of an extra one, so you can see their size.) These are the mineral lick tubs (I don't use these) we got at an auction last year for $1. They come in handy for lots of things! Planters, tiller/mower motor covers, water tubs, feed tubs, kitty house (with a cat door cut out of it!).....you name it!

I also got the rhubarb 'supplemented' with some Walter (rabbit) poo and extra dirt on top of that. Pat helped me put boards around them (like a raised garden bed) with scrap wood. This way the area is marked so (certain) people aren't tromping on them or tilling them up!

Now all "we" have to do is put up the garden fence (used cattle panels someone sold me--so that's an "easy" fence job) and my big project: time to string up my electric fence again to get the bovines off the main pasture area. Otherwise I'll just have a dirt lot and no grass.....not a good thing!!

The calves are all growing, I'm really happy with how the steers are filling out. Nessa is holding her own and doing just fine since her de-horning. Dolly is still "Queen Bee" of everyone--she is definitely Boss Cow. (I say I'm just the Bossy Ol' Cow!!) HA

Jared and Kyle (and the front door Pat made!) ;)