Favorite time of a Perfect Day

just when you spend the money....

You know your going to find them!!

Goat Pen....and Tess....she's a good dog.....most of the time!!!

Rain..Thunder..Wind Shears of 59 mph and...then

I had an apppointment to be at this morning. 9 AM Sharp they said! I was taking a steer to the locker for processing. I had the pickup parked in the alley run by the pens to load him last night, then it rained and rained. I stressed most the night about getting the pickup stuck trying to get up on the road with the steer loaded. Its hard enough taking one of them you raise...but to delay it was going to bother me all the more.

So I head out this morning at 6:30 and it is just before dawn light. I check on Pearl, my fainter I have been waiting and waiting to kid.. Yup...she did it..all by herself but had them sorta scattered in two spots. So gathered the little fat munchkins up and put them back together and made her comfy. Then on to the cattle to sort the steer.

I got to the yard and found one of the Heifers who I also have been waiting and waiting to calf was down and straining hard. I saw a very very swollen head and one foot out, tongue was so huge and swollen also...I just knew I hadn't gotten there fast enough and it was dead.

I hurried back to the house and grabbed chains and pulled out the phone and called Son and Neighbor while I was kicking myself all the way back to her about not being there soon enough.

I just kept telling myself, it happens, it will happen sometime and you can't do anything about it. It is the way it goes sometimes even though I really try hard to watch everything.

I was by myself yet and attached the chains and felt around for the other foot and finally finding it and pulled it forward enough to get a better grip. I kept poking my finger ups his nose and in the mouth to test for life..but found none. I pulled a bit to see if I could do it and he seemed to move a bit. THATS when I saw a sign,,a sort of a gurgle,,and then my adrenaline kicked in. When I was telling my Dad this morning about pulling this one by myself...he just laughed and said "If you could pull it by hand with chains, then she would of eventually had it". I said he UNDERESTIMATES the strength of a determined frantic woman. I DID IT!! And I was ready to do mouth to mouth when he rattled some deep breathes. And more and pretty soon...he was jumping when I stuck the straw in his nose. Just then Son and Neighbor showed up as I am patting myself on the back and just beaming that I didn't lose one!

We loaded the steer and I headed to the locker shortly, but was back home after a couple hours. First thing I did was check the baby calf- (another Bull calf)- and find him dry and his Momma standing waiting for him to nurse. I made short work of it and got a quart of Cholosterum milk I had saved from one of the other Cows. Since that tongue was so swollen and his head was swelled like a basketball, I wasn't going to let him have such a tough go of eating, so fed him a bottle...just to get the taste of Momma milk. He LIKE IT...ALOT!! By noon I was back to work at the office and since it is April 14th, I had a mountain of stuff to tackle (tax firm office). Well..it is now 4:49 in the afternoon and I can finally settle down and do a recap.

The only photo I took was one of him getting his first taste of good Milk, but notice the swelled head..Poor Baby. He'll get some extra attention for me not getting there fast enough. I am just soo Glad he made it. It sure had my adrenaline pumping and with that I tackled my day with a ton of energy. I needed it!!

New again!

I have been relying on my neighbor and HIS trailer for all my hauling of the animals this last year...but now it's time for me to figure it out. So I took my Saturday to tackle the stock trailer I own that has been sitting unattended this last year and a half. I fumbled around and managed to finally air up the 3 flat tires and then dragged her out of the weedy patch she has been resting at for too long. I drove to town and had the tires repaired. Then bought a gallon of paint and some new wiring for the lights (so hopefully Son can help me with that) and went home and started painting. I didn't think a little paint would be such a huge improvement, but she almost looks better than the first day we purchased it some 7 years ago. Next, the floor is being replaced...just not sure if I can do that one totally on my own, but it doesn't look all that hard!? At least...I think I can start it, and then call for backup..right Sharon??

Gregs Birthday

Today was my best friends Birthday......I miss him.

This photo was taken several years ago but it definitely shows the full life we had together. Greg was an instant father when he married me and gained 4 children all at once. He became a Very Good Father at that. Even before we had a son together, he took on the roll as Dad so easily and took so much pride in all my kids achievements. For 20 years now people would never know they weren't actually his kids. He loved them all and became so very proud of them. I know it was his greatest achievement and one he was extremely proud of!

Farmers Market here I come!

I need to make an attempt to get ahead of making Goat Milk soap in order to take some to the Farmers Market downtown this summer. It was something I wanted to do last summer, but time got away from me.

Friday, was my first soap batch I have made in a while. That was a green swirl mica with the fragrance of grapefruit and earth musk. It's a light scent but I am afraid I like the grapefruit scent alot and need to experiment with some other fragrance oils.

Monday I made a Purple swirl with the scents of Tea Tree oil and Sweetgrass. This one is very nice and reminds me of eucalyptus. Soothing scent and not too strong.

Tonites batch was an Apricot swirl but I did not have any grapeseed oil so substituted sweet almond oil. I need to note that this oil combination had a pearl shimmer when mixing and am anxious to see how it feels to bathe with. Very luxurious looking and smoother texture than the others at trace. The fragrance used in this soap was Energy and Soapy Clean. Smells like Irish Spring to me, but its always a little strong at first and by the 4th week these soaps cure to a nice mild scent.

I will try to make several more batches this week. I have some new mica colorings coming in a couple of days and although I will stick with the swirl technique it seems those are the first ones people grab. Seems that pretty sells!!

No Fooling...I am REALLY this cute in Person!

SMILE!!