New Life Old Farmers

It is time for Agnes to go to the ‘prom’. As John Boy is too young to be weaned, he’ll get to go as well. It reminds me a bit of the scene in Sweet Home Alabama.

“You’ve got a baby! In a bar!”

‘Oh, this one’s on the tit, I can take it anywhere.’

Plan 1…

There are 5 cows in the field and we need to load just 2 of them. I put 3 bananas in my pocket and go out to lure my cows into the loading shoot planning on making the whole process as easy as dropping bread crumbs to chickens. I walk up to my cow, she happily eats the first banana out of my hand, then turns around and takes the entire herd off in the wrong direction.

Plan 2…

My Loving Spouse drives the ‘bike’ and chases the herd around the field, pushing them where we want them to go…almost.

The day is gray and cold and the darn white cows end up where we need the black cows to be.

Agnes finally gives in and decides to load into the trailer and all 4 other cows follow her in. Great,….except we only want to take 2 of the 5 off to the Prom. Using the rest of the ‘cow treats’ we break for breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast…all the Lizzys in Cluckingham Palace are laying eggs like nobody’s business. Got to love how they all want to lay in the same box.

Back to cows…

Captain Jim comes over to help sort his 3 cattle out of our trailer. We work like a well oiled (when your old you’ve got to be clever, because there is no brawn) team.

We deliver Agnes and John Boy to the Prom, they’re home away from home for the next 2 months. Hopefully when they return the grass here will be green and growing and Agnes will be bred.

Yoo-hoo…we’re here!

May you and your herd be blessed.

Bess is here. She’s up and she’s running and she’s going to be a-mazing. My Loving Spouse said, “Your naming it Bessie?”

“Excuse me, her name is Bess.” Kind of like bless, but without the “L”.

It was a good thing we had a 3 day weekend. It took one day to pick it up. ‘Bring a truck’ they said.

The company Headquarters is located in Salt Lake City and we were told, YouTube would be out friend. We watched 2 older gals we called Molly and Betty put it together in 29 minutes.

It took us most of day two to set it up with frequent referrals to ‘Molly and Betty’.

All 5 boxes were very heavy. When getting out the machine, they said open both ends of the box and then slide it out. I stopped for a minute and then used my head. My noggin is an exceptional pushing tool…

All the materials are extremely well made. Seriously, the Allen Wrenches alone will put Ikea to shame.

My Loving Spouse kept saying, “I am so impressed with the quality of these materials. Hand me another screw.”

In case you’re still wondering, Bess is a long arm quilter! My Loving Spouse has been pushing for me to have this machine for years. I mostly didn’t really listen to him, because they are very big and quite an investment.

If it is hard to do nice things for yourself, it is a true blessing to be married to someone, who takes joy from making sure you do.

Day three and we’re ready to tackle the machine itself…and a few more videos. We now refer to the Handi Quilter Video teacher as the ‘Handi Quilter Queen’, hmmm, yep, we’ve referred to her a lot.

In preparation for Bess, I’d made a small dog quilt for Gunner. I’m sure he won’t mind my practicing on his ‘camping’ quilt.

Broken threads, tension trouble, leveling table issues, nuts, bolts…and I can’t wait to keep getting better and more creative and above all…share it with my friends.

….and I am blessed…

to have this tool, and the opportunity to grow this side of my quilting, but most of all to have My Loving Spouse who encourages and applauds my creative endeavors, yes, I am blessed indeed.

We love our dog. Almost all of our neighbors have dogs. Dogs are sort of like spouses. You may like your neighbor’s dog, but you’d never marry that breed. Occasionally, you (me) don’t even like your neighbor’s dog, so you’re glad that as a ‘neighbor’, they’re 1/4 mile away. One of the ‘neighbors’ has heelers. Unfortunately, they are aggressive cattle dogs looking for something to herd.

Friday afternoon they found a ‘herd’. The herd they found was mine. My cows had been ‘wintering’ across the street with a few friends, helping to trim Captain Jim’s hay field. The heelers aggressively pushed the herd into a corner of the field snapping at them. The cattle backed into the fence, putting stress on the gate, which backed up to the highway. Luckily, the gate held as cars stopped to help the cattle being pushed by the dogs.

I’ll not lie, I was kind of ‘hot’.

Captain Jim and I met up Saturday morning to move the herd.

It was a relief to get up close to the cattle and see that they were all okay.

Clarice and her calf Noel, want to check me out as well.

Clarice comes in for a close up.

We quickly load the cattle. Captain Jim works the trailer and I push the cattle down the shoot. Agnes, the biggest and the oldest of the herd, leads the others right into the stock trailer. Loaded quickly like nobody’s business.

Captain Jim says, “Oh, yeah, we’re the beef whisperers.”

The Cattle drive begins….all the way across the street.

The herd is safer in our pasture as it is surrounded by field fencing which the dogs cannot get through.

Benny and Jett are still housed in the barn, while Benny recuperates, so they are safe as well, while we work out the heelers situation with the other neighbor.

I’m pretty grateful to have my cows home and the neighbors cows too…

Happy cows and happy me too.

My Loving Spouse loves to go out of town.

What if…

What if the states, the cities, the world doesn’t open up again as fast as we’d all like? At our age, we are not willing to ‘just be patient’. Late one Friday evening I said, “Let’s buy a small, cheap RV, so we can be self contained and get out of town.”

He said something like…”what?”

I was greeted early the next morning (Saturday, and did I say early) with the pictures he’d found on Craigslist. They went something like this…

“Ah, no.”

‘Why not?’

“I’m cannot drive something like that. Remember small? Cheap?”

‘You’d be able to drive it.’

“No. Definitely not what I had in mind.”

The research continued, we had very clear criteria.

Cheap, not creepy or stinky, a bed and a toilet….and NOT a project.

We looked at one under a tarp, whose pictures did not include same said tarp.

We looked at smallish big…

Then we threw out anything with a motor. After all, we already had a truck and we were looking for a not creepy, not stinky, bed and toilet. My Loving Spouse said that we’d get a better deal in the winter, than in the Spring and so the hunt continued.

We looked at lots and lots of pictures and the budget went up and down. Most of the listings did not meet all the criteria….but then, there was this one.

There is always good and bad on Craigslist and sometimes the ‘good’ is bad with better pictures. There was something different with this camper and it was this.

“Look at that Camper portable stand. Not only does the stand have wheels, but the owner built it especially for the camper, and he painted it. I think this Seller is a Dear John,” I said.

‘Oh, I think you’re right.’ He said, ‘ I’ve zoomed into every picture and the camper, though older is immaculate.’

“When you’re buying something used, you want to buy it from someone like Dear John”. (John is methodical about taking care of his Scamp trailer and is continually improving it after every trip.)

We went to look at the camper. It took us about 5 minutes to know that it was not creepy or stinky, had a bed and a toilet, a great little layout and at a great price. We didn’t even dicker on the price.

Come Spring weekends, we’ll feed the animals, throw the dog in the truck and get out of town.

Hope in this New Year and we are blessed.

I wanted to wish each and everyone of you who reads this blog a very Merry Christmas. Thank you for coming alongside me in our farm, family journey of life.

Isn’t it interesting how we usually remember the things that didn’t go ‘right’ from years past or is it just my family? 20 years ago with 3 school age kids, I was very tired and could not bring myself to go to the grocery store again and so when making the Christmas breakfast casserole that called for milk, which we were out of, I experimented with using flavored creamer. It did not go well. At least two of Team Offspring are making the breakfast casserole for their mornings and believe me, they will not forget to buy the milk and will probably say, “Remember the year Mom used creamer?”

We did about 90% of our shopping locally this year and managed to Bad British Word the other 10%.

• November 28 a Christmas sweatshirt was purchased as a surprise for My Girl…it still hasn’t shown up
• November 30 a one of a kind mechanical item was purchased for Number Three Son…it still hasn’t shown up
• December 14 I ordered the perfect little something for My Loving Spouse’s wanderlust….yep, no sign of it.
• I missed the size when ordering our Christmas cards. They needed to be 4×6, but are 3×5 and will require magnifying glasses to read them.
• I created a special set of note cards for My BGF and the “Thinking of You” was printed on the wrong page
• We were excited to get AAA for My Other Girl and Number Five for Christmas. The gift option did not include a date of delivery, so AAA sent it already…a bit early.

Especially, this year we are more aware of how little control we have. Our family gathered the digital way to rejoice in a gender reveal Zoom style.

My Other Girl and Number Five Son are expecting June 17, 2021. This has not been an easy road. We rejoice with hope for each day of health this little one achieves, so excited to have someone new to love.

My Loving Spouse and I got to go to church last Sunday. The Pastor’s message was one of “Hope” and so that is where I will do my best to ‘sit’.

Living in Hope in the Light of the World, our mistakes included…and we are blessed.

Merry Christmas to you all,

(credit Gnome Mug Rug)

Our alpaca update or “how I became a Veterinarian assistant”.

Over the weekend, we were able to get some aspirin into Benny. Sunday evening was the first time we saw him moving around a bit more like his old self since he broke his leg 5 days earlier.

Monday afternoon a farm call is scheduled with our Vet to replace Benny’s cast. I scoot home from work early, in order to ‘upgrade’ to Vet Assistant, because of I have those special body parts (bendable knees).

We get the old cast off with great relief. There is no abrasion and no compound to the fracture. I hold the leg out steadily as our Vet wraps a new cast up Benny’s leg. This time the cast goes over his ‘elbow’ and at an angle, to help keep it in place and make sure gravity does not help it slide off.

Our Vet is much more hopeful of Benny doing well from this point. He leaves the patient in the ever capable hands of his new Assistant.

Benny takes a long time to wake up from going ‘under’. We wait with him in the cold barn, which gives us time to sign his cast.

We’re feeling grateful and relieved that Benny’s broken leg is not worse. Had the fracture become compound, we’d have had to put him down. Benny is a sweet comical animal, that relies on us to keep him safe.

When he finally wakes up, it gets ‘even better’. Benny is quickly more stable and instead of dragging his bad leg as he had over the weekend, he now ‘limps’ on it as he moves through the barn. Way to go Benny Boy, way to go.

…and we are blessed, Benny too.

Benny and Jett have continued to provide us great amusement and joy. Part camel, part cow, part ‘poodle’, completely quirky, curious and socially awkward. We tried to make them the star of our Christmas card, yep, that didn’t go well.

Every day I go to work and come home. As for most people who actually get to go to work during Covid, that is the norm. Except for last Tuesday….I was getting a haircut, which was greatly needed. During said haircut, I connected with My Loving Spouse. He needed me home! Now! As in immediately.

He was sure Benny had broken his leg. It was dark. Alpacas don’t like to be touched and they don’t like to be separated. Oh, and I was ‘mid haircut’…the perfect storm. Can you come? Could I come? Ahhhh, no… Mid-hair cut means my bad hair was currently worse and if I left…worse was going to be ‘worser.’

The second phone call informed me that our neighbor was able to help and I was to meet up with all alpacas and husband at the Vet. I encourage hair cutter to cut quicker, but ah…. nicely please.

More times than I would have ever liked, I have been at the mercy of Pediatricians and Vets who stay after hours until all their sick patients have been seen. The love for their patients is a gift to any of us who need them.

Alpacas are very quiet animals. They make a small humming noise very rarely, so to hear our Benny Boy crying out in pain, broke our hearts.

X-rays, leg clipping and a fiberglass cast. Gorilla tape on the bottom to keep the dirt out. Vet tape on the top to keep the cast on this animal who doesn’t understand at all.

We wait for Benny to come around and make a plan to return home and keep him (and Jett) safe and dry. The Vet tells us that animals and casts do not always do well.

We get Benny back into the trailer where Jett is relieved to see him, making humming noises to his ‘herd’. The boys spend the night in the extra horse stall in the barn where they are safe and dry.

Benny and Jett roam the barn during the day. They have plenty to eat and drink. This helps us keep Benny’s cast clean and dry, and yet…as the Vet said, ‘Animals and casts don’t always do well.’

Tonight Benny’s heavy cast is coming off and he is in pain. We tape the cast up to his leg some more and listen to him cry. We don’t know if he will make it. We hate to have him hurting. Tomorrow we will call the Vet and tackle step two, whatever that is…

We want our Benny boy to make it, but not in pain…

and so we wait….and hope.

Where would we be without ‘hope’?

‘Hope’ in all times…keeps us blessed.

You might well know, that I love to read. I didn’t make my goal of 52 books this year, but…well, 2020 took a toll. I have read 39 to date, did I say that I love books? I get excited when I read a great book and enjoy sharing them with others. Here are some of my favorites this year.

Fiction

My second Lucy Foley read. If you love suspense, with well written believable characters you’ll not want to put it down. My first Lucy Foley, The Hunting Party, I would also recommend. Excellent!

Yes, there is a mystery. Obviously, by the title, there is family ‘drama’. Who’s the ‘bad’ guy here…family function/dysfunction. The ‘good’ guys learn and grow…and the mother-in-law????

One of the best written books I have ever read. The characters are true to life before and after a tragic plane wreck. I highly recommend it for you and buy one for a friend.

So far, I’ve bought 3 copies of this book, one each for THE Grand daughter, Mr. T and donated a copy to my library at school. Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code) surprised me to no end. Do yourself a delightful favor and click on the link above or darn it just click here. The free App that was developed with the book, the music and the animals…this is just one wonderful treat!

Non-Fiction

I learned so much about Pakistan history. Amazing family as they stood up to the Taliban in favor of education for girls. I listened to the book on Audible and I highly recommend ‘reading’ it this way.

In my effort this summer to read many different voices, I found ‘Don’t Burn This Book’. I also listened to it on Audible. Dave Rubin, a gay white man, professed ‘libertarian’ and part time comic. To understand different voices, we must be willing to hear their stories.

Children’s Classic

Not my first go around with this book. It is over 70 years old. My 3rd grade teacher read it to me and I have just finished reading it to four 3rd grade books much to their delight and my own. A classic is forever!! A wonderful read-a-loud and I treasured reading it to THE Grands as their first chapter book.

So, go or call your local bookstore and buy and give some of my favorite page turners….

and you will be blessed!

Yes, this is one of those stories, and no, I do not manage to burn anything down. The same cannot be said for everyone else.

It was early this year when spending time with my sisters, that my eye was drawn to a classic black cashmere scarf. They told me I ‘should’ buy it and I agreed. Scarves are good in Ellensburg and cashmere is not often found at the hardware store (where I buy my jeans). As shopping is a rarity, I was excited to score on a nice black vest to go with the scarf.

Weeks ago, I was one of the few invited to a fall, farm wedding. The setting was a beautiful old family barn. The weather was cold, but I knew exactly what would complete my outfit for the big day, my beautiful scarf.

Except….I couldn’t find it. I emptied drawers. I emptied the closet. I checked the mud room and the autos and then I did it again. My scarf was NO WHERE. I do not really loose things, so I was distressed. I mentioned it to My Loving Spouse and he mumbled some type of reply. (The wedding was wonderful.)

Yesterday as I left for work…..

What!! I texted My Loving Spouse. “You found it! Yippee!”

…..and then Someone confessed. Apparently last spring, this Someone went to fly his Powered Parachute and his neck was cold, so he ‘borrowed’ my scarf. Upon landing, the scarf came loose from his neck with the end meeting the exhaust, promptly burning or as Someone says scorching the bottom 12 inches of my lovely scarf. Apparently, Someone quickly got rid of the evidence.

The scarf was forgotten over the summer and it wasn’t until the wedding, that Someone remembered the ‘incident’ and quickly began scouring the internet for the replacement item.

Someone has been told, he is not to borrow any more of my clothes.

Happy Thanksgiving…

Not all of our turkeys will be cooked for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

and still, we are blessed.