*Farm Girl/Guy Problems*

So we are all still trying to get to know our girls and they are us... in western Oklahoma, they had very little people contact, but here, you know me - I want to be up in their faces all the time.  I want to get to KNOW them - they are our critters!

I get dumb stares:

And MissyBadCat aka Missbehavin' is not sure what to think about that critter...  She always goes where I go - like the dog; one is my right side kick and the other is my left side kick.  Chelsea, the dog, just wants to round 'em up and corner them.  Missbehavin', on the other hand, wants to be under them, near them and around them.  (I think she is scoping out out the milk content)... but she is finally accepting them, and they are her.


We are learning all the ropes of cattle farming. One thing we learned is that if you buy 22 bales of hay and put it all out in the pasture, the four cows are gonna eat a little - from all 22 bales!  When that happens, picking a bale up with a tractor is not an easy task:

*farm guy problems*

And it doesn't tie off too easy either:
 

 

But eventually it all works out and you get it there.  Cows are not very patient critters - they stand (in the way) at the ring waiting for the new food:

 

Or stare you down to make it happen faster:

Another thing we have learned is that freezing temperatures freezes water troughs and ponds.  We finally got this one broken up and inserted a water heater to thaw it out.  The girls are now happy to have water drink, not ice cubes, to munch on:

 

If you will notice, that ice is about 2" thick!  BRRR!  At the time this picture was taken, the pond hadn't yet frozen over - so they did have water.  It is now frozen.  We have to be sure the heater is working several times a day.  *farm girl problems*


One of the things we found we are supposed to check every day is the girls butts.  Yes, you read that right, butts.  Apparently, right before they give birth, their backsides get soft and you can see the birth canal widening and getting ready to birth.  So, every day, twice a day, we try to peek at the girl's backsides.  Some days it is easier said than done.  I think they know... you know... like us women know... we DON'T WANT OUR BACKSIDES being examined.  I was lucky here - they were racing away from the trailer - they were not up to any more rides!

So now you know some of what our lives are like with the new cattle farming.  So many things have changed this last year and continue to change.

We never know where our lives are going to lead us.  Years ago, we used to know what to expect; you know, kids had school, scouts, band and such. These days, it is just Steve and I, the farm and the critters.  We think we know what to expect, but things just keep changin', life keeps happenin' and ...

The world keeps on twirlin'.

So Many Changes...

Behind us, in front of us... so many changes!

Surprise!  I am back!

One of our changes:  We bought cattle!  Pregnant cattle to be exact.  Cows.  'Heifers' we are told.  And we bought 4.  Yes, just four, but we are ecstatic!  They are due to 'calve' the end of February.  Except (BIG) Bertha... 

Meet our new critters:  

Bertha, Lucy, Hazel and Maddi... in order here.  

The two black ones are full angus and they white faced are angus/hereford mix.  We LOVE having cattle!!  Steve is already talking about leasing more land and getting MORE CATTLE!  That makes my heart sing!  I love farm life.  :-)  It was where I was meant to be.


Here are a couple of the daddy's: 

Ok, so he is kinda proud of himself and took up the whole frame, but you get the idea... see the others in the background?  They are our 'cow-baby daddies'.  These are Gelbvieh/Red Angus BULLS.  Can't wait to see what they produce!



The not so good part of having cattle was hauling them here:

Yep, it was my job to clean that mess!  OH MY GOSH!  Was I glad my smeller is permanently broken!  Lol... but 

 I got 'er done and returned the trailer better than I found it - (Rule #1 in my book):

Steve is now talking about buying a bull to 'service' our cows.  We shall see what comes of that!  If he does, I think I will call the bull "Stud Muffin"! 


Now, let's talk about Bertha:

 

Did I say enough?

No?

Poor Bertha!  She is either further along than the other 3 or we are having one HUGE calf - or TWINS!

Can you imagine another 6 weeks of her growing?  OH!  And did I say I took this picture two weeks ago - so at that time, she had 8 more weeks of growing!  At this point, she can't move to me fast enough for me to take a picture, or shall I say I can't stand outside long enough to wait for her to move to me!  It is COLD outside!

POOR BERTHA;  HUGE AND COLD!

And this is what us new 'cattle farmers' are faced with:

And temps are dropping!

Brrr!

Poor 'cattle farmer wanna be's'!  

Randomness... Fire Circle and Horse

With all those pallets of rocks we got last year, we have been continuously using them on our property.  

While Jeremy was here, we finally (almost) finished our fire circle.  It is outside our backdoor, near our patio.  We loving being able to take sticks, branches and trees that have fallen on the property and put in it.  I think it is 12 feet across - HUGE!  Large enough to handle our tree trash and family s'more cookouts when we all get together.   :-)

The reason I say 'almost' finished... see the bottom left hand corner topsy turvey?  

Yeah, it doesn't work for me.  We are going to have to work on it, but do you see how many rocks are in this fire circle?

 No one felt like getting it *right* that day.  We will do it another day.  I still like it, don't you?


Do you remember me telling you how big Steph's horse, Clyde, is?  My hubby is 6'2" and here he is working with Clyde.  Now you have something to compare this 'little' guy to.  Yes, he is huge!

And he is a love... He has a terrific, curious and fun personality.  And just look at his brown/blue eyes!

Steph and Todd are working on the last of the fence/gates on their property to bring their horses home.  They should be at their place in this next two weeks.  We are going to miss them, but we know they need to be near the girls.  Instead of being sad about them leaving and moving 2.5 miles away, we have something coming to take over their huge pasture here...

CATTLE!!  

Coming soon - in November!

And I think they will be 'expecting' when they come... which means babies in the spring!  How handy to have in-laws we can buy cattle from!

Always something fun to look forward to on the farm.  :-)


I just realized, my blogs are automatically e-mailed to some people who may not even be the least bit interested in it any more.  If you are not, can you let me know so I can quit boring you with my ramblings?  

Marcus Got A Quilt, Too!

I made both of the boys a lap quilt to use while watching tv.  I posted Aedan's a few days ago, now you get to see Marcus' quilt!  

These guys are growing so fast!  Marcus is 12 and Aedan is 9!!

I think they both loved their quilts.  I know Aedan's is a little kiddish for him, but he is only using it for watching tv.  I have big  plans for making quilts for their beds later.  We shall see what I come up with.

Later, gator!

Don't Panic Everyone!

I tried updating my blog and "tagging" the posts.  Somehow I tagged several hundred posts fine, but a few reposted somehow - from years ago even!  

We are not moving!

We do not have a nice, new little nest egg of money! 

And we do not have 5 new kittens dumped on our property again. 

Yet.

And the shop is quite full of crap, so that neat clean picture?  Yeah, forget that too!



But, I am glad at least ONE person reads my blog!

*waving*. Hi, Shari!



Now pardon me while I try to figure out what I did wrong...

You Just Know...

When you pray about things and ask for direction, you just know when God has given His blessings. 

When we were living in Singapore and things were so difficult for both Steve and I, I prayed for God to give us a direction in life - and to make it obvious because I am kinda dense that way.  God (and Steve's boss) sent us back to the states to wait in limbo for his next permanent assignment.  But it made me patiently wait for what His intentions were.  I continued to pray for what His will was and again, explained though He knew it, I would love for it to be very obvious that it was what He wanted us to do. 

In God's time, Steve got the job offer in Tulsa - where we have wanted to go back to since we moved away to Oklahoma 33 years ago!  The news came in exactly to the day 33 years AFTER we had been transferred to Louisiana.  How much more obvious could it be? 

Last week, I opened our bank statement to see we had a significant amount of money deposited into our checking account that we had no idea where it had come from.  Steve checked it out and found out it was a bonus for his work and more than he had ever thought he would get.  How much more obvious can it be?

Today we got some unexpected good news - a bit of more extra money we were not expecting.  Reimbursement for something we never expected to get back!  Again it will come in so handy with the moving process and not expected... not even a little bit!  How much more obvious can it be?

I have no doubt this is what God wants us to do.  So many things just falling into place, so many blessings being dumped in our laps - and it is obviously sent to us by Him.

Today while I was sitting in the camper, God sent me some visitors.  I have had mourning doves, Canadian geese, killdeer and starlings - all God's creatures.  I am not alone here - I am surrounded by His love and His blessings.

One Little, Two Little, Three Little...

Kitties, four little, five little... six little...

WHAT ARE PEOPLE THINKING??

I get so furious with people!  We live in the country - WAY off the main road, but we have to go up to the main road to check mail, etc.