Cooling their feet....

We shifted cattle around this past weekend. Rodney and Bella, the youngest of the bovine on the farm, are now in a larger pasture. I had gone by their water tank a few times since their move and notice it was always muddy around the tank, and the water in the tank was rather brown as well.

Yesterday, the mystery was solved. It seems that in this latest bout of hot weather, the two of them have taken to standing in the water tank to cool off. Of course, as they kick at the flies that are irritating them, they splash the water out of the tank, making for a muddy mess surrounding the tank. And people say they are nothing but a bunch of dumb animals. I think they are pretty smart to come up with that idea to stay a little cooler.

You might be married to a redneck....

If he uses the big cow show fan to cool down the house!!

Yes, you read that right. Last evening, when we all got home from our various "things", we realized how hot the house had gotten over the course of the day. Usually, we have a nice breeze blowing, and that makes evenings pleasant. Not so last night, it was hotter in the house than outside. We thought about kicking on the A/C, but after last months Consumers Energy bill, hubby is into conserving. I sarcastically said, "well, you could use the cow show fan to bring the cool air in and make the house more comfortable. I WAS JOKING!!! He took me up on it and the next thing I knew, here was a 36 inch green metal fan sitting in my hallway. I have to admit, it did work, but don't tell him I said so. It just doesn't match my decorating scheme!

It is hot again today. I closed up the windows and started the A/C before he got home and got anymore bright ideas.

Hello....Remember me????

That is what my garden is saying right now. We had been keeping up with the weeds and it looked great. I had even won a couple rounds with all the gourds that were taking over. But with the rains falling constantly for a couple weeks, the garden was too muddy to work in. That was all it took for the weeds to take over. Combine that with the sudden birth of about a million mosquito's and I haven't done much with it. All that is changing today. I am heading to the garden to begin the recovery mode. I know there are tomatoes beginning to turn red and I saw a couple of cukes that were just getting started. Won't be long before we will enjoy all the wonders of our garden.

I am gonna sleep 'til church on Monday!!

Yes, that was my answer to someone who asked me if I was tired this morning....and no, I wasn't being funny! Words no longer were flowing right from my brain to my mouth. We have been AWOL from the blog for quite sometime now. We returned from our tiring, but successful week at Dairy Days.

Suzanna, Kathryn and I headed off on Monday with the four heifers, all the feed and bedding they would need for a week and high hopes. Thomas stayed home with dad for an extra day so he could play one last softball game Monday night. We followed the neighbors and set up our home away from home for the week at Michigan State. The heifers got their baths and it was time for Quiz Bowl. Suzanna's team ended up with 1 win and 2 losses. It was off to the showers and bed, since showtime would come early Tuesday morning.

Up at 5am and off to the barn to fight for our spot in the wash racks. That is always interesting. There are only so many faucets in the two wash rooms. Of course, there are about 200 cattle in the barn and ALL need their baths. Patience pays off though and eventually you get a spot. Showmanship was up first and Suzanna did a great job and placed 7th. Each of her heifers had their chance in the ring, and before we knew it our part of the show was over. Suzanna had a pleasant surprise, as my folks came up to watch her show, and Thomas and daddy made it up for the show as well.

She had a terrible time settling down Tuesday night. Butterflies were zooming in her tummy as she anticipated participating in her first state 4-H Dairy judging contest. The kids judged 8 classes of dairy cattle and then had to give a set of oral reasons for why they placed a class the way they chose. It goes all morning and on into the afternoon. She came out relieved and confident that she had done a good job.

Thursday it was show time again. This time it was the All Michigan Holstein show. The three heifers had their moment in front of the judge again. Placing weren't great, but we sort of expected it to go that way. From there she competed in the Dairy Management Contest. The All Breed Showmanship contest was in the afternoon and Suzanna place 6th. She was really excited for herself and her good buddy, Hannah, who won the class. Thomas and Kathryn participated in the Peewee Dairy Showmanship class. Mike got there in time to see them show Bella and Sami. Next year they will be full-fledged 4-H'ers and they are anxious for that.

The evening was the Awards Presentation. The kids finally find out how they did in the contests. To our shock, Suzanna received 25th place in Dairy judging and the team she was on was 1st place in the State!! All this in her first year to participate in the contest. And if that wasn't enough, she also placed 15th in the Dairy Management contest. All she could say was "wow"!

Today was the cow show, and pack-up day. Thomas had gone home with Mike last night, so we were a body short packing up, but still had everything done and were on the road by noon. Boy did home look good as we came up the driveway. The heifers were very content to be in their pasture this afternoon and slept most of the afternoon in the sun.

So I know I will sleep well tonight and should manage to wake up for church......on Sunday!!!

Three down, one to go....

We are AHEAD of schedule!!!! It is a scary place for me to be. Suzanna and I started clipping heifers yesterday. We decided to start with the toughest gal and go from there. Penny was up first and got her bath. While waiting for her to dry, Suzanna decided that Bella might as well get her bath too. By the time she was done washing her, Penny was dry enough to start clipping. She was a patient girl and Suzanna moved along quickly. She leaves the tricky stuff like heads, ears and legs for me. Kathryn did a little on Bella, Suzanna worked on her for a while then I did my thing. Before we knew it, we had two heifers done!

This afternoon was Sami's turn. Suzanna got her washed and then tied her up to dry. There has been a wonderful breeze all day, so she was dried off in no time. She is pretty cooperative and we had her finished quickly, as well.

So now all that is left is Fancy. We probably won't get to her for a day or two. I am headed to Trainer Mike's tomorrow and have to take mom for another procedure on Thursday. In the meantime, I have been working on my grocery list for next week, as well as packing the camper in my mind. I can only do it in my mind because the camper is at the repair shop. No A/C in the middle of July was not an acceptable option while gone next week. So once it is back home, I will be ready to pack.

VBS started tonight. The kids were excited, the adults were up for the challenge and we had a great first night.

Oh that cat stinks....

In the regular world, of which I am not typically a part of, dogs get stinky. Well, not mine. It is the cat. In my falling asleep mind last night, I thought I could smell a skunk. This morning, I was still catching faint skunk odors on the cool breeze. Butterscotch, who is mainly an indoor cat, had been outside last night and was happy to get back in when I let Emma out for her morning business. As he rubbed up against my leg, I caught a gigantic whiff of SKUNK!! It became apparent that Butterscotch had come in contact with a skunk. I don't think he took a direct hit, but he was definitely somewhere in the line of fire. Anyone know how long it takes to "wear off" the lovely odor of skunk??

We are in Dairy Days prep week. Our goal is to get one heifer a day clipped. Plus, we still have a lot of other stuff to take care of this week. Suzanna and I are off to the thrift store this morning to find white pants and shirts for showing. I would much rather find a bargain then have to pay full price for something that will be pretty dirty by the end of the day. The kids have their last ball game tonight, as well. Starting tomorrow night, the kids have four nights of VBS. Hubby is cutting more hay this morning. As you can tell, it is going to be a crazy week.

We have a winner....

Tonight, Storm, aka Knolltop's Heir She Is, debuted as a western pleasure show horse. She competed in 3 year old western pleasure at the Michigan All Morgan show in Detroit. I was my typical nervous self. She looked great, kept her cool and came away in first place. YEAH!!!! Hopefully I will be able to post a picture or two later this weekend.

Just when you think he has done it all....

Thomas does something new.

We went to the fairgrounds last evening to celebrate the 4th of July on the 3rd. I know, sounds mixed up, but it works for us. Since hubby is the electrician for the fairgrounds, he had been there for most of the afternoon getting lights up and running and making sure the vendors had power.

We took along our grill and made supper, watched people, listened to music by Phil Dirt and the Dozers and watched more people. The band concluded their concert with an A Capella rendition of the Star Spangled Banner that gave me chills. I love good harmony, and on that song, it was just about perfect. Finally it was dark enough for the fireworks to begin. Our spot was perfect, as we watched beautiful explosions of light over our heads.

They concluded and the crowd began to leave. We waited so that we could turn off lights and the kids played around on the grass. That's when life got interesting. Thomas found a glow stick necklace that someone had left behind and was twirling it around. He managed to hit himself in the eye, and the next thing I knew, my son had a glowing eye. His quick thinking daddy grabbed a bottle of water and began rinsing it out. That seemed to flush the "glow" out of it. Just then, the local EMT company went by on their golf cart. Hubby headed to them and explained what had happened. They decided they should rinse him out a bit more with sterile water, so Thomas got a ride on their golf cart back to the ambulance. The gal driving said "we'll go slow" and off they went....way faster than I could walk. Thankfully, one of our fair board members was driving around on the Turf Cruiser we are raffling off, so I thumbed a ride with him and caught up with Thomas. The EMT rinsed him out real good and checked his eye. There seemed to be no issue with his vision, so they sent us on our way with instructions to see our regular doctor if his vision got blurry.

We headed back across the fairgrounds, in search of daddy. We found him wrapping it up with the fair manager. Mr. Dow let Thomas know that he held the distinction of being the only person who needed the EMT's all night and gave him a high five. With that, we headed back to the truck and on our way home. Just one more adventure in our lives.

PS: His eye is just fine this morning, Thank you Lord!

Moody

We went out to work the heifers this morning and boy were they moody. Sami, who normally leads well enough to let Thomas handle her, had major attitude issues, even with me on the lead rope. Penny, the heifer who went to solitary confinement after her leading issues with hubby, had been much improved. So much so, that Suzanna had been leading her for the past week. Not today!! She is in the midst of her cycle and there was no telling her what to do! She got tied up in one place and left to think about her problems.

Then there was Bella. She has been pretty awful ever since she got dehorned a couple weeks ago. Can't say I blame her for being a bit suspicious of us humans, but dragging her from one end of the driveway to the other was getting a bit old. Well today, she led like a dream. Even Kathryn was leading her and setting her up.

The only dependable one in the lot was Fancy. And she had better behave, she has been doing this for a while now.

So next time up, who knows what we will get. Hopefully all four leading easy, making their way toward Dairy Days.

The cats go for a ride....

After a couple rather serious blogs, it is time to share some humor. Mom, Suzanna, Kathryn and I took three cats to the vet this morning. Our kitty, HopSing was due for her kitten boosters, and mom had one needing kitten boosters and the other his annual shots. Our cat went in the carrier without a gripe, and even sat on Kathryn's lap most of the way to the vets, purring and looking out the window.

In the meantime, moms younger cat, Spook, managed to scratch her on the way into the cat carrier and put a hole in her favorite shirt. The other cat, Squeak, wasn't doing much squeaking. He was hollering for all he was worth. Then before we were even out of the driveway, a certain smell began emanating from the cat carrier. See, Squeak's nerves get the best of him and he can't "hold it", shall we say. So at this point, we had Squeak shrieking and stinking, Spook sitting dazed, in a carrier on Suzanna's lap, and HopSing watching the world go by from her window.

Upon arrival at the vets, Squeak made sure the world knew we had arrived. He was the first up for examination, since he had messed himself. Once out of the box, he quieted down, was examined, got his shot and went back in the carrier. Spook was up next. He wasn't a bit of trouble, considering how awful he was on his way into the carrier. He got his shot and was tucked back into his box.

Now it was HopSing's turn. We were so proud of how good she was, no shrieking, no tearing holes in shirts. As I took her from Kathryn, all that changed. She began to heave....so I dropped her quickly to the floor. She proceeded to unload her entire breakfast. The vet looked at her and said, "now that is STRESS!!!!" From there she quickly got her exam and shot and happily went back in her carrier.

We paid our bills and got back to the car. Squeak serenaded us most of the way home. I don't know who was happier to be home, the cats or the humans. Thank goodness we only do this once a year!!!