Babe, previously known as Annie, comes home

Experience has taught us a few things about introducing a new cow into the herd.  
For instance, if you turn a new cow out into a pasture, one of the first things she will do is walk the fence looking for a way out.  With fences like ours, it would be very possible that she would find a way out and start looking for her herd, which in this case is twenty-five miles away.  Another reason for keeping her in the small pen:  If the horses see a new cow, they'll chase her mercilessly.  Once they can become accustomed to her presence across the fence, they'll behave themselves and accept her once she's turned loose.  
To prevent this from happening with Babe we had Cliff's brother unload her into the small pen behind the barn.  Cliff suggested we put Jody in with her so she could be getting used to one of our cows at a time.  

I wish I had been able to get a picture of what happened first:  Jody, being young and foolish, decided to get into a head-butting match with Babe.  You can imagine who won.  Cows have a pecking order, and a new cow always has to figure out where she belongs in the world of cow-pasture politics.  Once she firmly established that she was Jody's boss, they settled down and became friends.  They spent Babe's first night here together, and most of her first day.  
Yesterday afternoon I called Bonnie and Max up and let them into the pen.  Oh, poor Max.  Once again, I wish I had a picture, but by the time I got my camera it was over:  Babe actually got him in a corner and got him down on the ground, continuing to head-butt him.  No harm was done, and poor Max now knows where he stands in the herd.  I believe he is low man on the totem pole.  I don't have a picture of Babe and Max after the TKO, because I decided to put him in the stall so I could milk Bonnie this morning.  

A lot of times the oldest cow, the one that has been on the place the longest, is the boss cow, so I watched Babe and Bonnie with interest.  Well, Bonnie has been hauled to Phil's farm to visit the bull a couple of times, so this ain't her first rodeo.  She obviously knew she would lose any skirmish, so each time Babe-the-bully walked toward her, she scurried away.  It must have been a good psychological tactic, because within a half-hour the two were hanging out together just fine, and there had been no scuffle at all.  
So Babe is the new herd boss.  But why wouldn't she be?  She weighs at least twice as much as any of the others.  
By the way, Cliff's brother already had a perfectly good name for Babe:  Annie.  
However, Cliff's first favorite cow back in 1967 was a Polled Hereford named Babe, and I think he likes the idea of having another Babe.  Most cows do not know their names, so changing hers is no big deal.  
There are several little tricks Babe is going to have to learn in the next few days.  Here's hoping everything goes well.  

We bought a cow today

Having seen how much calves are bringing, and because we have plenty of pasture and hay, and because it's raining money around here lately... I made the decision that we should buy a cow.  Not a milk cow this time, though.  I suggested to Cliff that we should perhaps go to a few auctions and look for a bargain.  
Of course, that's a little "iffy".  You don't know where the animals come from or what problems they might have.  
So Cliff told his brother we might be looking for a cow, and he asked what sort of cow.  Cliff relayed the question, and I said, "Something that's already bred."  
Phil called back later and said he had a couple we could pick from.  

The one in front kept looking at me as though saying, "Take me home, please."  She's a heifer (in other words, has never had a calf), and was bred in December, so she would calve in September.  

This one has had a calf, and would have had a second one by now, but Phil got rid of the bull too soon.  She also was bred in December.  She spent a few months on our property when she was being weaned, so she'd be familiar with our place if she has a good memory.  Notice the young one in the background still looking at me as if saying, "Take me home with you!"  

This one... still staring at me....

Or the older one.  


Well, we chose the older one.  She's bigger, she's proved herself as a mother, and she's visited here before.   Meet Babe.  She'll be coming home next Monday.  

That's her on the left, back when she visited our place.

One less deer to tear up my electric fence

Grandson Arick got his deer yesterday evening.  It has a strange set of antlers:  three points on one side, five on the other.  So it doesn't make a perfect trophy.  Since Cliff is an experienced butcher, he went ahead and skinned it for him.  The butcher shop closed before they got it done, so they quartered it and put it in trash bags for Arick to put in his freezer overnight.  Silly boy left his deer tag at home, so it's a good thing the deer police weren't around, ready to pounce.

That was our evening's excitement.  It took Arick and Cliff forever to get the beast back to the house.  After being shot, the deer had jumped the fence and run along the railroad track behind our place, putting quite a bit of distance between himself and our property before he died.  So he had to be dragged quite a way through weeds and muck.  There's no way to get a vehicle into that area.  Once they got him on our property, the tractor bore the prize home.  

Thursday Cliff's older brother, Phil, came for a work-day.  Every once in awhile they get together at our place or Phil's and help one another with whatever needs doing.  Cliff had a disk in need of repair, so they fixed that.  After I fed them cheeseburgers and snickerdoodles, they went to the back of the place and got some wood up that Cliff will use to heat his shop this winter.  

The farmer who found Cliff's ad on Craigslist for the Oliver fenders came to pick them up that day.  Iris was curious about the dog in the back of his truck.  

Cliff had the fenders painted and secured on a pallet, ready to go.  (I'm seeing a smudge on this picture; I just recently replaced a camera that put a smudge on every picture.  I certainly hope this one is on the outside and will wipe off!)  

The farmer's friend drooled all over Cliff's 1855.  

This guy has three tractors for Cliff to paint, if he should ever decide to do that for extra cash.  He also has some Steiger tractors:  He said he'd be willing to teach Cliff how to operate them and turn him loose in the field.  Cliff saw those beasts; they are so big they dwarf the 1855.   
It's been an eventful couple of days, and the weekend is just getting started.  
Oh, we heard nothing from the man in Iowa, so I still have "my" tractor.  Cliff plans to paint it before long, and then the guy will be out of luck if he decides he wants it, unless he wants to pay a much higher price.  

Facebook alerts

Ms. Martyr commented that she found it strange we should find out about Cliff's brother's heart attack on Facebook, in this day of cell phones.  Actually if you know the time-line, it isn't so strange.  
Of course we would have eventually gotten a call from his wife or one of his kids after their whirlwind trip chasing the ambulance to a hospital forty miles away, followed by the emergency procedure to put the stints in place.  I'm sure they did contact all four of their kids by cell phone on the way to the hospital.  But what do you tell a man's siblings when you think your husband or father is dying, and what purpose would be served?  They were more interested in getting Phil through this alive than in making a bunch of phone calls.  
The message on Facebook was there as soon as Phil was in the ambulance, posted by a daughter-in-law who lives next door to them.  She simply asked for prayers for her father-in-law who was on the way to the hospital with chest pains.   
Cliff went to visit Phil yesterday, and he's doing great.  Good Lord willing, he'll be going home today.  
Phil said his energy level had been low for a couple of weeks; he'd practically had to force himself to get up and do anything.  
Now we know why.

Motivation

Cliff and I have really been needing some motivation to get us on the right track.  I've been planning, as I've said here, to get back to the heart-healthy cooking; seems like we've gotten so far off-track, and it isn't easy to get back on.  Eating, after all, is one of my favorite recreations, followed closely by cooking fried foods and baking pies and cookies.  
Motivation has perhaps come in a way I could have done without.  
Cliff's older brother, Phil, had a heart attack this morning; his daughter-in-law posted it on Facebook or I wouldn't have known yet.  He'd had open-heart surgery about ten years ago.  This morning the doctors found that one artery was 97% blocked.  They put in two stints at the bottom of his heart and he's doing OK, although they believe there is some damage.  I'm sure they'd appreciate prayers and positive thoughts on his behalf.   
I'm thankful Phil is doing well.  
Cliff is going to lose the extra weight, and so am I.  

That's Phil last summer, enjoying some of his many grandchildren.

Nice laid-back weekend

Cliff's brother Don (on the left) came from Kansas to pick up an old car he bought from brother Phil (on the right) yesterday. Daughter, granddaughter Natalie and I rode with Cliff to meet up with them so he could help load the car; yesterday was cold, as you probably surmised by the guys' clothing. Upon returning home, daughter turned our TV to her Nascar race, I made some chili, and we all had a pretty nice time just chilling out with our chili; Natalie and I even had a nice soak in the hot tub together at twilight.

Don spent the night, which gave me a good excuse to make biscuits and gravy this morning. Cliff loves it when somebody spends the night; it gives him a break from his usual healthy breakfast of oatmeal or cream-of-wheat.

Since Don's a mechanic by trade, Cliff had him look at our old pickup; he knew there was some sort of problem, he just wasn't sure what. They ended up replacing a bearing and the U-joint before Don headed home at noon.

Cliff sat down to watch the Chiefs game, but gave up in disgust before long. As usual. With the temperature up to fifty-five degrees, we put on our leathers and went for a motorcycle ride. It was a little too windy, but we enjoyed an hour-and-a-half ride anyhow.

Now it looks like we're settled in for the rest of the day, Cliff with a cup of hot chocolate and me sipping green tea. Life is good.

Wordless Wednesday: "This chair's too big!"

I'm back

Yes, I did have a successful Shutdown Day, thank you very much.


One of Cliff's aunts and her son were visiting Cliff's brother, so we went over for a brief visit, and ended up eating lunch there. Because it was a lovely day, we went for a motorcycle ride when we got home. Then I worked with Libby in the round pen; Cliff watched, and pointed out some things I was doing wrong.


No day is complete without a ride on Blue, so I spent an hour on back roads with him, and found adventure. Who'd expect to find a firetruck and a cop down on the river bottom where nobody lives? Actually, I was expecting it, since I met an ambulance on the way down.

Jessica was here later to tend to her mare, and she knew about the accident, since she and Adam ride four-wheelers in the river bottoms often, with their friends. She said the injured fellow wasn't too seriously hurt... perhaps broke a hand, and banged up his head some.