Vacation is Over!

I was home from Daytona for a couple of weeks and then headed off to Phoenix for five days to visit my mom and sister.  Another sister and her husband and our cousin from Kentucky were there at that time as well so we had a mini reunion.  I’ve not have the opportunity to spend much time with my cousin so it was fun to hang out with her some and hear about her life.  We took in a Marc Cohn concert that I really enjoyed and one sister and I went to the NASCAR race because my husband said “it would be stupid for you not to go if you’re there while it’s on”.  Okay!  Sure wouldn’t want him to think I was stupid.  My guy blew a tire, wrecked and caught on fire so that was a bit disappointing, but still a fun day and great bonding time with my sister.  She’s going through a rough time so I’m glad I could be there for her.

It was hot there, though, and I was glad to be home where it’s a bit cooler.  I felt like I hadn’t caught up around my house since we got back from Daytona so the first day or so home I stayed at home and tried to get my house in order.  It smelled and looked a bit like a bachelor pad—ugh!  The night R had to play darts M and I were on cow duty so I went over with him to do a check.  We had started calving two weeks early and that was the first time I had even seen a calf this season.  Then I looked at the calving record book and counted to 30 and really felt like a slacker.  M’s comment didn’t help….”it’s like you went on vacation a month ago and haven’t come back”.  Ouch!

Hopefully, I redeemed myself last night.  Just before I was going to go to bed I checked the cow cams and saw that R had one in the pen.  I thought by the time I finished my bedtime routine she’d have progressed well, but she hadn’t.  I was willing her to hurry up so I could go to sleep knowing all was well, but I watched for an hour or more.  Finally, I called R to see if he thought he was going to have to pull the calf.  He said yes.  I asked if he wanted help.  He said sure since I was up.  Sometimes it’s nice to have an extra set of hands.  By the time I got there he already had her in the maternity pen and was putting the chains on.  I really didn’t have to do anything, but bonding with my son over a cow’s rear-end is priceless, really.  We took a walk through the rest of the heifers and I went home to bed.  M  was dead to the world and didn’t even know I was gone until I told him this morning.

Calving season always brings some interesting moments and some bad luck.  We’ve had a calf with a foot back that they didn’t get to soon enough and it died.  We also had a cow die for no apparent reason after calving several days earlier.  We have a cow that is just not healthy so we’re concerned about her calf and one that has hardly any milk.  We had one that wouldn’t take her calf for awhile so we had to get her in the head gate and tie her feet so the calf could nurse.  She snapped out of her funk quickly, thank goodness.  We’ve supplemented a few calves so I’ve gotten in on that.  Again I quote “it needs a mother’s touch”.  That translates to “you’re much more patient”.
Just as things dry up we seem to get some wet snow.  I had almost forgotten the fun of being in muck up to my knees but had to help M with gates when he was feeding the other day and came home a mess.  Didn’t help that I had to push Kade’s 4-wheeler out of a mud hole.

We’re having a little blast of wintry weather today with some rain and wet snow.  I’m hoping the roads have cleared a little because I have an appointment for a haircut and I really need one!