Spring?!

Signs of spring are finally here.  We can see green grass here and there, my irises are coming up, the gophers are out, and we've had quite a warm up the past couple of days.  It was 60 degrees yesterday and almost 70 today.  That means the waterways have taken off.  Makes me wish I was a kid out floating toy boats.  I always loved to go tromping around this time of year through the slush and the water and float things through culverts.

Water over the road.  The culvert finally opened so it doesn't look like this today.

A couple of days ago M decided it was time to load up some cow-calf pairs and take them to a pasture near Richland.  We had the three in the barn, one pair in the corral and four in a pen that we were keeping an eye on because a couple of the calves appeared a little under the weather.  One of those pairs belongs to a friend so we didn't want to take them and kicked them out into the calving pasture.  M was sure we could fit eight in the trailer so we went out and brought another pair in.  We sorted the calves off and put them in a pen in the barn so we could load them first.  While M was backing the trailer up to the barn one of the cows stuck its head through the gate of the pen and managed to pull it open so the calves got out.  Then one of them spun around and hit the latch on the gate out of the barn and that gate came open and out they went.  Thankfully, they couldn't get out of that pen.  So, we got them all back in and started loading the calves.  The alleyway was full of snow so we were going to load through the barn.  We pretty much had to load each calf individually and then I had to try to hold them in the trailer while M pushed another one in.  We finally got them in and secured and M said "the calves are hard, but the cows will be easy".  Not so much.  They had too much room to maneuver and as one got in the trailer another was coming back out.  So, we went to plan B and decided to load them through the alleyway.  The ground is still a bit soft with some water puddles and as M was trying to get the trailer backed up to the alley the pickup slid into a mud hole and we had to pull it with another pickup to get it out.  Finally, he got backed up to the chute, and we started trying to load the cows again.  I was holding the gate of the trailer and counting the cows as they went by.  There were only five on and it didn't look like there was anymore room.  It was a very tight fit to get those eight big girls on there, but we finally did it.  It's kind of odd to not have any critters in the barn.  Every morning the first thing I did was go see how the babies were doing.

It feels good to save a life.  This girls was near death when we brought her in.

I always think it would be so much easier if we could just explain the plan, let them know they are going to a better place and ask for cooperation.  Yes, in a perfect world.

This morning we sorted out seven more pair and got them all loaded with no problems.  Yes!  We'll probably do the same tomorrow.  It'll be good to get as many to drier ground as we can.  The sickness seems to have run its course and all the babies are feeling spunky.  I may soon be able to remove the syringe that has had a permanent spot in  my coat pocket. In another pocket I've been carrying a tube of a probiotic paste.  One day someone asked if I was carrying a Jell-O shot.  Yeah, it's black and probably tastes like dirt.  Yum!

Yesterday we went to a bull sale.  It's been a lot of years since I had been to one.  M got the bull he really wanted but paid more than I thought he would.  It appears the price of bulls is up like everything else.  Bulls are not my favorite things in the world, and I always think there should be a better way.  We only need them for a few weeks but have to deal with them all year.  They've got quite the life.

With the nice weather thoughts are rapidly turning to farming.  J hasn't been able to get his drill out of storage yet but they have the sprayer out and a new (to us) drill on its way so they have lots of projects to work on to get ready to plant.  We were concerned about the break in seeding for the new baby, but it could be here before we even get started.

I finally left the insulated coveralls at home and it wasn't long before I ditched my coat and really felt like I could be out in shorts.  I'm ready to dig in the dirt and hope M gives me some time to do it.  Love, love, love spring!

I'll have flowers before long!!