Showing posts with label MyLove. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MyLove. Show all posts

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Whew!

Well, we've been running at full speed around here! Our list from the last 3 days...

Farm Wife Friday, It was my turn. So this means that 2 girlfriends and their kids come to the house and clean, organize, clean, eat, paint, clean, and decorate!!! WOW!! Those girls can really work!! My living rooms are now partially decorated. Yes, I know that I've lived in this house for over a year... But, I have a fear of decorating, or hanging something wrong. So, I just don't do it. My last house was done by my Grandma, after she couldn't stand (a year of)bare walls.

I will even have pictures on my walls of MY family!! I have curtains (& they're hung!!)! And Abby brought a great desk that she CurbShopped. Crazy, 'cause its a great little antique desk. MamaP is fixing some pictures for me & putting them in a custom matted frame of our last name that I bought.

AMAZING!! (& Honey even liked the house, its more AMAZING!!!)

Then after the girls left, I got a phone call that I was late to take Freedom & Ultimate to be ultrasounded. So, we hooked & loaded & ran. It was only 7 miles away, but I detest being late. (nevermind, that Honey forgot to tell me about the appointment).

Saturday, we left the house at 8 after choring & set up a portable Corral at the pasture and drove all the cows to the corral. We sorted & hauled 3 loads of cows & 2 loads of calves home. Just Honey & I with all the munchkins in the truck. Then we did chores in the dark & had Squeak's 2nd birthday party.

Yup! Momma's sad! My little man is 2!!! No longer a baby!! As I type this he is running around the house chasing J.Cowgirl with a rope, while he is wearing nothing but a hat & diaper. TOOO CUTE! Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie, NIECE, & nephew came down & celebrated with us too. It was wonderful, even if we were sooo tired our eyelids were drooping.

Today, we rolled out of the house at 7 (after choring) and hauled 3 more loads home, then went to work feeding everything & watering. We sorted & weaned the calves & rolled out hay for 3 groups of cows. The calves are eating ok, & went to the hay right away. Winter has hit, so we have to check all the waterers & put in tank heaters in some tanks, & chores generally take twice as long.

But, I LOVE THIS LIFE!! It was a wonderfull weekend working side-by-side with my Honey and kids! Even though, we're all dog tired, it was great!!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Pasture Pictures

A week or so ago, we invited Diana to come take pictures while we moved cows. (She's designing a super fantastic website for us)

I didn't really tell her what to expect, other than, we were going to move cows.
When she was close, I asked her if she or her husband could drive a stick shift, & what type of vehicle they drove. Well, yes, her husband can drive a stick, & they brought the van. I told her we'd meet her in town & they could take the Jeep from there. Oh, but they could drive there she assured me. I apologised & explained that we would be driving through a mile of pasture before we even got to the place where we would ride to the cows.

So, her husband was excited that he would get to drive the Jeep (CJ-5 & he had one in High School). The followed us the 7 miles to the pasture & we explained (the basics) of what we were going to do & where they should drive & follow.


So Honey & I rode out about 100 acres with them following in the Jeep. We got them parked a little back from the eventual gate & we went to gather the cows. Honey went South & I went North. We grouped the cows from about a 130 acre piece. Great, we had a new calf. But Momma Cow wanted nothing to do with us putting the calf in the saddle with Honey. So she was a little slow moving with a still-wet calf. That's ok, we like to walk them if they're moving in the right direction.
Then the cows saw the Jeep! The headed straight for it. I didn't know if Diana & her husband would get nervous or upset. & Heaven forbid they honk the horn. We wouldn't get any pictures then, because they would have to go in front & lead the cows (honking) the rest of the way. But, I was able to get the cows off the Jeep and headed back towards the gate.
As usual with a group of cows once an old cow found the gate, she knew where she was going. Thank goodness, because we had added about 20 new cows, who didn't know the way.
We were able to keep the little calf going with his cow & eventually herded them to the gate. Honey hopped off his horse & tried to grab the little guy again & throw him in the saddle, but Momma-Cow wanted to eat his lunch rather than let him grab her calf. Koda jumped right in front of her without any nudging (Thank GOD for a great Cow-Horse!). So, the little guy got to wade across the creek on his own.
Below, you see the picture that I have always wanted. Us moving the cows up the hillside. The first time we moved cows up this hill, I thought it was BEAUTIFUL. And Diana captured it beautifully!
So, I hope you enjoyed our little cattle drive. I sure did! And once again THANK YOU DIANA for the beautiful pics. They will look great on our website (& on our wall)

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Dam Freegrazers!

Name that movie! - No offense to those that live in freegrazing states. But we don't; we live in IOWA. You are supposed to have fences. And you are supposed to CLOSE the gates to keep your cows in. AND it would help if you actually fed them and chopped ICE, so they would have water. Ahh, I feel a little better.

Apparently, we live in a freegrazing area of the county. NO ONE keeps their cows in their fences. And the latest and most frequent to our house, cattle visitors, are "owned" by our county assessor. He lives 1 mile north and 1 mile east. Down a Level B road. [A level B is basically a dirt road, that is maintained 2 times a year, wait then our main road to our house should be a Level B].

The cows have been out since 3 or so, and Honey did call to let him know. And, SO HELP ME, if those cows are on my hay pile when I go out at midnight to check heifers.... The dogs will get a workout and "I'll scatter them to the 4 winds" (can't help it, once I get on that movie, I can quote it all night). No really, Rosie has been so penned up (with the pups) she is itching to work, or just chase something!! She was begging me all night as I chored with those big blue/brown eyes and begging "pllllleeeeaaaaseeee, come ON, they're not in a pen, we gotta go get um! Ruf!" circle spin, run to the road circle spin! IF any of you have aussie's or working dogs, you get the idea.

She KNEW they weren't supposed to be there and she just HAD to put them away. So, after an hour or so, I walked to the road and said "SKOOO" (that's her word to move the cows away, and bite if they aren't going). You would have thought that dog won the Lotto! She took off, barked for her pups (the 9 month olds) to get up here and took off. At this point, the freegrazing cows were 1/4 mile north of our land and headed towards us at a trot, 'cause I had been feeding our heavy cows. Well Rosie and the others turned em! She stopped them, turned them East (took a good direction from me after waiting to see which way I wanted them). She even called off pretty easily considering they were so far from me when she got them turned. She brought the pups back and was praised to high heaven!! She even tried to show her pups that my praise was a good thing. She danced on her hind legs and pranced and was SOOO excited! I wish everyone could love their jobs as much as Rosie and I do!

Still can't figure out whose nuts stink. It doesn't smell as bad, but there is a faint odor. So, tomarrow, I'll put them in the alleyway and check nuts to see if we need to re-band one, or doctor someone. Yes, I consider all my animals people. They all have their own personalities and feelings.

Today was a good day. Got off to a slightly rough start. Honey went out to hook up my truck to my pig trailer (so sweet!) and 2 mares were waiting in the yard for him. I hustled outside and we gently led them to the pen. One, wasn't a broke mare, but she was tame. The other was our one-eyed mare. As soon as Tasha could hear me, she turned her pretty little head and let me take her back to the pen. I knew the gate they had knocked over, and wired it up right this time.

Hauled my piggies, and arrived home after noon. Squeak still doesn't feel good, so we fussed and fretted till he passed out with me at 3. I snuck out of the house when the girls got home at four and started choring. While the waters were filling, I moved some more tin for my "real" round pen. The pen we made the other day is about 56' x 56', and looks like we will have it filled with cows/heifers for the next several months. So, I hope to build a 30' ROUND pen this weekend. I want it small for slow work with some colts.

Honey got home, and kids were still doing great, so we hooked up a new bale unroller on the tractor. (as soon as I figure out how to get them off my phone, you'll have pictures). I went out and honked the cows up. [Imagine a crazy lady in a painted up, dented up old crew cab pickup, driving out through the pasture honking her horn and calling "come baaaaassssss, um baaaassss"] I brought the cows up to the new hay and fed them a little corn. They love the taste, and were chasing me the last 60 acres! It was all I could do to keep from bouncing out of my seat, and staying infront of the cows, so I could cross the creekbed first! Honey drove the farm pick up to work and the seat was all "messed up". You have to remember he is 6'4" and I am 5' 0" and we keep our seats as opposite as you can make em, so it takes me a while to get the seat "right".

I came in the house, and to my suprise, he was cooking! AND, he had the girls picking up the house, squeak was getting fed, and there was no yelling or whining! WOW, what a man! He does supprise me sometimes, and it was wonderful for them to all help pickup the house since I had been so lacking today, with my pigs and a fussy one. AHH, I love my honey.

Seriously, has anyone guessed that movie yet??? It's my current favorite, and has been for a while.


One other odd tidbit, I just put Pomegranate & Mango Chipotle Sauce on one of our chairs. A pup has been chewing, and I didn't have any tabasco (must have used it on tales when the colts were chewing) and this sauce really heats up your mouth. But it is good, so I didn't waste the whole bottle.

Night y'all, I'm headed for a nap until my midnight night check, or Squeak's teeth hurting wakes him up, whichever comes first. I'll bet Squeak wakes me up at 10.

I'll have to figure something out and do a drawing for something fun, for all of you who guess at my movie lines.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Anti-Gell is supposed to NOT GEL

So, if y'all don't know, I drive a Diesel truck. The "good" truck is a Dodge 3500 Diesel Dually. The "farm" truck is a 99 F350. Both are Diesels.
IOWA IS COLD IN THE WINTER!! Duh.... it was -22 this AM.

So, last night we parked the Dodge in the barn, and pulled the Ford in (it was hooked to my 40 foot pig trailer). We dutifully plugged both trucks in. We had put Anti-Gel in both trucks. I had filled up the Ford in Osceola, with blended fuel, and still added anti-gel.

We got up this AM, and Beau volunteered to go start trucks, and chore. No go....My "white" truck (Ford) is cold blooded and wouldn't start. Jumped it, no start... MyLove, comes in to warm up. Did I mention the windchill? No, well it was like -40 or something crazy!! MyLove again asks, did you add Anti-gel?? Yes, I added some of the stuff in the headache rack. Ok, and out he goes with some Diesel911 (wonderful stuff to fix gelled up trucks).

He adds the 911 and VROOM, no really, it was more like PUT, put, PUT, PUUUUTTTT, DoIhaveToVrro o o mmmmmmmmMMMMM.

Did I mention that it was now past 8am. The bus had already picked up the kids and my honey was late for work (he is a good one)?

Called, my guys at the pig barn, and off I went. Hauled my baby pigs, and ran south to get some new haystabbers for my flatbed (don't ask, I bent 'em all up). Fed kids, and kept supper warm for a still choring honey.

Ooops, there is the frozen hunk now.....

So, back to the title. After we started the Ford, MyLove noticed the entire jug of Anti-gel on the flatbed of the Ford..... WAS GELLED! How crappy is that? Not going to buy that brand any more!! Beau had used a different brand (our usual) in the Dodge. Solution found, bad anti-gel!!

Going to return it to the store tomarrow, and ask them what is the point of adding Anti-gel, to the diesel, if the stuff will gell when it is pure?

How did y'all stay warm today??