Time to vote

I added the widget at the top of my sidebar with all the names suggested except two. Those two were "Meatloaf"... we have Meatloaf, our last steer, in the freezer now, so I didn't want another one; and Julia Elinor... Julia, no matter how much you want a calf named after you, and despite the fact that we have neutered the calf, he's still a BOY for heaven's sake.

Oh, and if you made more than one suggestion, I only used one.

Now get out and vote!

Oh, by the way, I fixed it so you can choose multiple answers, in case you can't quite make up your mind.

If we end up with one or more ties, we'll run another contest just with those. This one will be up for a week.

A fun and exciting day

Welcome to all you folks coming today from some forum called "AVR Freaks". Thanks to the Aussie guy who posted a link to my blog; some of you might want to leave a comment while you're here.

Peace and quiet reign in my neighborhood tonight. That's good news anytime.

Granddaughter Natalie and I observed an oriole at the hummingbird feeder today. Wow! I'm not sure I had ever seen an oriole anywhere, at any time.

I've been putting the pregnant heifer, Bonnie, in the stanchion at least once a day; she needs to know this routine so I can milk her after she has her calf. I give her feed, she sticks her head in, and I lock her in. She jumps when I first close the stanchion, but then she just goes back to eating like a pig.

This afternoon I was standing there watching her eat, and asked myself, "Can I still bump a calf in a pregnant cow?"

This wasn't necessary, by the way. Bonnie shows plenty of external signs that she is pregnant. But I was curious as to whether I'd retained my old cattle skills.

To "bump a calf" in a cow, you get on her right-hand side (the milking side). You make sort of fist and start hitting her down low on her belly with your knuckles. About the third bump, you'll usually feel the calf, if there's one there. I've actually been able to bump a calf in a cow when she was four months along. I may have Cliff help me do a video later, so you can see what I'm talking about.

As I said, there's no doubt Bonnie's pregnant. But still, when I felt that calf bouncing against my knuckles, it was the most awesome feeling!

Life is good.