What a day, what a week...

The boys ended up working Tuesday - Friday mornings this week for Mike Martin in Curryville. Monday we crammed in a week's worth of history and finished up Grammar for the week. They would get up each morning at 6 am, check the maternity ward of cows/heifers, grab some breakfast and be on their way by 6:30 or 6:45. Once at Mike's they had to feed grain, feed hay, tie calves, brush calves, blow calves and then turn them out and start over with the next bunch of calves. They would then drag back home about 12:30 or so and be READY for lunch. Chris had ag class each day so he'd head out for that after lunch. THUD. Thursday night when I got home I noticed it was hitting them hard. They were so tired because that didn't end their day. They still had to feed hay, do evening chores and keep up with their Bible study.

Chris had earned the right to go to the Farm Show in Kansas City with FFA this year. We had it down on the calendar that it was on Saturday. I was wrong. It was Friday. So Friday he went to KC with FFA and saw all the new toys and shiny equipment. Mike went with Jesse and I stayed home and did my best to do their work for the morning. Should I mention here that we are now doing around the clock checks on the maternity wards (yes, there are 2 of them - one for cows, one for heifers). I got home from work and told the boys to go on to bed about 9 pm. They were asleep in front of the Olympics anyway. I went out and checked cows a couple of times. Mike got home, checked them again and then we headed to bed....at 1:40 am. I took the 5 am check. It's normally 4 am but I wanted to stay up and fix the guys breakfast and get some stuff done. So, I pretty much slept from 2 to 5 am. I decided against doing my walking video today due to the number of times I've been out checking on cows and calves and the number of times I went up and down the stairs trying to catch up on laundry.

Tonight I had visions of dropping into bed at 9:30. And yet, here it is 11:21. Hmmm....you guessed it, someone decided tonight was the night to calve. And what a whopper of a calf it was. Chris checked her at 8:30 and she had her water bag out. We decided to give her 2 hours and see if she had it. I woke them back up at 10:15 and we began heading out. She barely had the feet out, so we ran her in the barn. The very same place we had kept her out of earlier tonight when she wanted in. Guess we should have listened to her. I came back up and got the Oxytocin (think Pitocin for women), the chains for the puller (forceps concept) and a bucket of warm water with disinfectant in it. The boys got her lassoed and tied off to a corner post in the pen. Chris worked hard at getting the chains double looped around the calf's legs. His feet were big. Our puller is several years old and has been used hard. It's in need of some repair and we probably should see to that tomorrow. It survived the pull and I was so impressed with the knowledge and patience the guys showed in pulling. It was their first solo pull where I just stood and held the rope. We have a nice steer prospect out of the deal that certainly wouldn't have survived had we waited for Mike to get home from work.

So now I'm sitting here typing. Should be sleeping because I'll be up at 4 checking again. But maybe, just maybe, I can go back to bed then and get some extra sleep. Ahhh, the joys of calving season.

Snow....

I love snow. It's so beautiful and calming. And, if it's cold enough to snow, the ground should be frozen! Even better in my opinion. As I type this at 4:30 am, it's a balmy 9 degrees outside. Yet another night to be thankful for our ground source heat pump. I have a goal for myself for this month. Beginning today, I'm going to walk a minimum of 1 mile a day. I got a video to walk along with so that when it's too cold or muddy or whatever outside, I can walk in the man cave. Feel free to check up on me. I'm a notorious slacker.

The mud, the cursed mud, has returned.....

Yes, I know it gets muddy at some point in Missouri every winter. Usually around this time or at least by February. It has been muddy for about a week now and our family has simply had enough. Our moods have turned as sour as the sickly calves stomaches. Our drugs for the calves arrived tonight and Jesse promptly treated them. He even made sure to change the needles between calves so as not to cross contaminate. The boy has surely been paying attention over the years to his vet science leader and his parents - thankfully! We finished up two chapters in his Ag Science class over the last two weeks. He knew it all and wondered why we had to cover it. I suggested it was a review. Then his brother decided to inform him that he'd have to review it next year in the public school ag class too. I'm guess he'll be an expert on beef production by the time he gets to college. Which is a good thing because he's chosen a career path......after much thought and concern he has decided he wants to be an animal embryologist. I'm doing some research as to what all he needs to do and study and he is quite excited about it. I looked at some microscopes the other night thinking it might be time to upgrade so he can do some better microscopic study. I guess I need to be saving my pennies from the library job to do that. I think it'll take roughtly 4 months of my salary to get one that's good enough. Ai yi yi. Guess I'll consider it an investment in our future embryo transfer program.

And we thought it was just the calves......

We had our first calf get sick today for this year. We knew it would be coming with the weather swing and the dreary, rainy day. We've decided to be more proactive this year. The boys managed to get a stool sample and take it to a friend of ours who works in the lab at the University. We're trying to make sure we're just battling the elements and not some devestating infection. We called the vet. We called the animal health supply guy. We'll have the right drugs tomorrow and know now what NOT to do. EVER. That we have done in the past. Whoops. So, I headed on to work knowing that all was handled on the farm and we would know soon what we're dealing with.

I had to stop off at Walgreen's to pick up some contact solution for myself and Chris. Judging from the few spots left in the parking lot and the line of cars in both drive thru lanes, I'm guessing the weather hasn't affected just our cattle. It has been foggy here for over a week. Today the fog finally broke. And then it started raining. I guess it's wreaked as much havoc on the humans as it has the bovines. I'm thankful we're all healthy right now. One calf is treatable. We've not started having AI calves yet so that's one less concern. We have about 2 or 3 weeks before we'll have to start the round the clock checks. They not actually due to start until mid February but we all know how unpredictable babies and animals can be. Since we're dealing with baby animals it'll be that much more exciting.

I wish I had a picture for this post.....

but unfortunately, getting one would have likely ended up with me having a head injury. Mike needed some help yesterday getting up a cow who is due to calve soon. I went out on the tractor with him and Abby, our Aussie. Mike was in the driver's seat, Abby sat on the ledge behind him and I sat on one arm of the seat. Yeah, we're all about togetherness. Anyway, I hadn't realized just how deep the ruts have already gotten. You see, we got 2 inches of rain BEFORE it froze and snowed. The ground is still quite soft in spots. As we were driving along I was reminded of a trip to Worlds of Fun. I must've been about 12 or 13 when my parents took me and two friends to Worlds of Fun for a vacation one summer. There was a ride where you drove this miniture car around a track. The track had a rail in it so that you couldn't get too far off to one side or the other. That's exactly what the ruts are like in our pasture. You can't forge a new path, because the mud will keep you going where it wills. Mike did get out of the ruts at a low spot, but that's just the time that the tought of a serious head injury entered my mind. I wonder just whose idea the car at Worlds of Fun was? Could it be a former farm kid who had to help his dad one too many times?

Then today, I was happily cleaning the house and getting ready for a party the boys are having even as I type this. I was actually running a bit ahead of schedule when Mike came to the house. "Could I get your help for a second?" Sounds innocent enough, doesn't it? Yeah, well, let me warn you....it never is. He wanted to get a bull out of one pasture and put him in another. He also wanted to turn several cow calf pairs out with said bull. Still sounds easy enough, doesn't it? The cows aren't used to coming to the lot for corn. Thus, when Mike walked out to the pasture with a pail of corn, they just looked at him. One or two even turned and walked the opposite direction. They certainly weren't the brightest ones and so we felt the need to tell them so. We finally got everyone headed the right direction and through the first gate. We didn't think we'd have to close that gate. We were wrong. And we were wrong because of one little rebellious calf who decided he'd go the opposite direction of everyone else, then cry loudly because he couldn't find his mommy. Yes, I told the calf just how stupid he was too. We finally get tehm all in and that's when I realize what our biggest problem is going to be. Quite a few of the calves don't have tags. Without a tag, it's very hard to match momma to baby. LOVELY. We finally finished our work and I came back to the house. Just how long did this "second" last? I figured it out. It lasted 7200 seconds or 120 minutes or 2 hours. Hmm....who exactly needs to learn the lesson here? Is it that my husband has no sense of how long a second is or is it that I feel the need to drop whatever it is I'm doing and go off on these adventures with him? I'll let you decide.

The latest debate at our house....

I LOVE the view out our living room windows. I despise curtains. Thus, to this point, we've not had any curtains, much to the dismay of the rest of my family. So, I have finally come to a solution that should satisfy all of us. I just need the guys to build me a cornice board to hide the ugly hardware for the window treatments. And now to the latest debate. I took the paint swatch to the store with me and went through every curtain available. Keep in mind our living room (as is much of the rest of the house) is rather rustic feeling. I found a lovely rust color that plays off the cedar ceiling and trimwork and then I found a rather humdrum wheat color. You obviously know which way I'm leaning. I have hung both colors up for a vote tonight. I have a feeling hum drum is going to win out. Hmphf....We shall see.

I did something tonight I didn't want to....

a lady who used to be in my Sunday school class lost her little girl this week to complications from leukemia. Tonight was her visitation. I cannot begin to put into words how desperately I wish there were not the need for a visitation or funeral service for a sweet little 5 year old girl. My heart is literally broken for this family. I cannot imagine the pain this loss has caused them. And yet....

We know that Maddie is in Heaven now playing and singing with Jesus. No more chemo, no more hospital visits, no more painful sticks. How wonderful it must be for her.

I was reminded of two other funerals as I was waiting in the line to give her mom a hug. One was a flashback of just a couple of years ago to Mike's sister's funeral. I still miss Liz terribly at times. I still don't know what God's plan is there but I still trust that He has one and that it's a good one. He doesn't need my input to make a good plan. Trust me, He's reminded me of that more often than not. The other funeral took me back several more years to my freshman year in high school, 1986. A good friend of mine died from leukemia that spring. We had gone to school together from Kindergarten on. Our little community was rocked and left hurting. I didn't understand what Heather had done that God would punish her so. You see, I didn'thave a faith in Christ at that point and didn't realize that she wasn't being punished, but rewarded.

God certainly knows the number of our days. He also knows the good plans He has for those who love Him. I just pray He has easier plans for me.