Welcome to my new Grandson! :)

A week and a day ago my precious grandson TJ was born.  Isn't he a sweetheart?  :)

Things since then have been kind of crazy around here!  I didn't get blood drawn for preggo tests on the cows, I was extra tired from working and getting "labor updates".  Oh well, it'll get done sooner or later!

To complicate things, we have Ecoli in all our water.  It makes a chore time, a REAL chore time.  I was given an OK by a vet to not have to treat the cows' water (I did at first) but have been boiling water and filtering it for the other animals.  The dogs, turkeys and chickens drink the most.  I refuse to buy bottled water for them, when I already have a water source that just needs "doctored".
I'm nixing the super-filtering, as it just takes the calcium (lime) settlings out of the water.  (They'll be fine! ha) So now I'm using a hankie that is much, much faster.

I haven't been milking because it takes CLEAN water for an udder/teat wash, water for cleaning all my equipment, and it's ALOT more work to make sure no Ecoli water has gotten accidentally splashed on anything, or just out of habit rinsed off in the sink.  Sigh.  Fillet the foster calf will be fat and sassy by getting all the milk all the time!

We were going to butcher turkeys this weekend, but again, I'd have to bring in all "good" water--and tons of ice.  It makes a simple thing 100 times harder, and boiling/cooling enough water AND keeping it all "clean" would be tough.  Oh, we could do it, but....thankfully some friends of mine will take them and do the deed for us at their farm.  The longer we wait, the bigger they get!

I did some canning earlier in the week, and followed normal protocol, so I do feel confident that they are safe to eat.  But I won't let those jars out of the house until we eat some.  I did run out of canning jars.....it's amazing how much gets canned and how fast one goes through jars in the height of 'canning season'.  I will have to suck it up and buy more, because we have plenty more to can in due time.

Izzy the puppy is growing by leaps and bounds....I think every day she is bigger (just like the turkeys!) 
Kyle and his GF are ready for school, and Kyle has been working quite a bit while he's on Honor Guard duty.

Jared has paternity leave for now (which is awesome!) and is enjoying time being at home with Chandra and TJ.  I'm sure he's Mr. Go-fer for his wifey right now!  :)

It's Kyle's Birthday!

A Crop-duster flying over the house this morning (before 8 am) to get to the field just north of town.  The first photo is over the pasture, the second one is coming over the house.

Today my "baby" turns 20--where does the time go?!!  We had plans to go to the Omaha Zoo, but he has a funeral to attend (and be a part of) for one of his own.  :(  So the homemade chocolate cake and other "plans" have a rain-check!  Not sure if I woke him up when I texted him this morning....at least I waited until after 8!  ;)

Chandra is ready for baby boy Russell to come out into this world.  Her back hurts and her feet are swelling.  I feel for her!  So we all await for him to make his appearance into this world!
Pat and I hit a 'mother load' of garage sales the other day and got lots of sleepers and outfits for little baby boy Russell, and some nice blankets.  So another 'care package' is on it's way to NC! 

It's been cooler--thank goodness!  But some days the humidity is really high; but all we get is sprinkles instead of rain.  Oh, we've gotten some rain, but not like other places in the area.  We can always use more!  I mowed the yesterday, and it was sprinkling on and off--and of course the mower quit when I was almost done.  So I grabbed the "old" mower and finished--but it cuts higher, so it looks interesting!  At least it was in the backyard!  ;)

We lost a branch off one of the peach trees (the white-fleshed one of course--grrr), and had to prop up another branch so it doesn't break.  On the tree next to it; the peaches are ripe.  So I canned peaches and then some tomatoes that were ripe the other day; Pat made sweet relish the next day (we're getting low!)  So we will be busy canning as the produce/fruit comes ripe.  We have more cucumbers to deal with, and of course more tomatoes and peaches off of different trees (they are all ripening different, even though some are the same kind!) 
I just automatically pick up canning lids when I'm at the store--one can never have enough!  ;)   I noticed my lemon juice is getting low--something you don't notice until you're using lots of it, like at canning time!

Yesterday I noticed Daisy has vertical cuts on her back teats--Fillet (the foster calf) hadn't cut up her teats before now.  So I'm thinking:  "what changed?"  Then it dawned on me I saw Nessa  head-butt Fillet when she was nursing on her own free will out in the pasture.   I hate to separate anyone at this point because it makes so much more work for me.  But I probably will have to, just for Daisy's sake.  She certainly doesn't deserve to be torn up because of youngsters' antics!  Daisy is such a trooper--I can't say enough good things about her. 
I plan on drawing blood this weekend on both 'girls' and get Nessa's pregnancy confirmed, and see if Daisy is preggers or not.  (I'm hoping so, but I won't know for sure until I send blood in). 

Sherman the outside dog got neutered this week, so that deed is done. :)   He was glad to get home!  (It's hard to drive a stick-shift with a 30-pound dog trying to keep climbing in your lap!)  HA