Random

When we first began our relationship with the Little Princess, we expected to have her here four days a week, most weeks.  Her dad works construction, so we knew we probably wouldn't see her as much in the winter.  Turns out this is the Year of the Polar Vortex.  The only way we see the baby is to beg for her, one day a week.  We don't make any money, but we get paid in smiles and cuteness.  
When we first started watching her (in September, I think it was), I started a private blog so we could keep our happy memories, because babies grow so fast.  There are pictures and videos of some of her milestones.  Because we don't have her here often now, you will find us frequently going to her blog and watching all the videos, clear back to when she was two months old.  If you walk in on either of us while looking at pictures and videos of her, you will see us grinning like fools and even laughing out loud.  That baby is the best thing that's happened to us in a long, long time.  

My four-legged babies, Homer and Jethro, are thriving.  Both of them are already eating sweet feed; I always want them to eat hay and sweet feed as early as possible, because I want to wean them at five to six weeks of age, and they need to be eating a certain amount of grain before they are weaned.  That will be no problem with these boys.  The grandson was going to come over and help restrain them while Cliff dehorned them and castrated Jethro, but we were under the weather.  We need to get that done this weekend, because if they get too old, the dehorning paste won't work.  When I'm raising heifers, I always handle them to keep them gentle and friendly.  I'm not doing that with these boys.  The bull will be much safer if he isn't too much of a pet, and they both will be easier to move around and eventually load onto the trailer if they have a little healthy fear of us.  In warmer weather I put water out for the babies, even though they really don't need it at such a young age.  Since all water turns quickly to ice during this winter-that-won't-end, I'm putting warm water in their bottles and taking it to them around mid-day.  They think they're getting extra milk, so they're fine with it, and I know they are staying hydrated.  I paid $220 for the two boys, $110 each (yes, that IS a steep price for Jersey bull calves, but I have no other reliable place to get them) and I spent $225 on five bags of milk replacer to get them up to weaning age (six weeks).  So I have quite an investment in them already, and they are only two weeks old.  Upkeep gets much cheaper once they're weaned, though.  

In many past years, I have had my peas, lettuce, and other cool-weather crops planted by this time of year.  I'll be surprised if I get anything planted before the end of March, this year.  Oh well, spring WILL come eventually.  You know, with global warming and all, it's bound to show up.  

I have seen both sides of the global warming issue.  I'm sure there's some truth to it, because I saw with my own eyes how few glaciers are left in Glacier National Park.  However, the weather has always changed.  There were huge changes in weather patterns before there was ever a human walking the earth to take the blame for it.  So I'm just not so sure our selfishness is the only reason for global warming.  But I'm no scientist.    

Nothing will last forever.  Not even this globe on which we dwell.