Random pix

It's been awhile since I put up a collection of random pix, so here you go.

In early February, a light dusting of snow covered a bench normally tucked on the porch.

Drippings from the barn roof also created mini-icicles on some cattle panels below.

Steamy breath on a frosty morning.

Lydia basking in some winter sunshine.

Matilda peeking at little Ninja, gavotting around the barn...

...and later, like Lydia, basking in the winter sunshine.

A crescent moon and planet.

And just for fun, the same photo with automatic color adjustment. I was actually impressed with how many stars showed up. Maybe I should try a little more night photography.

Early early dawn shadows of the house and barn, stretching westward.

Chickens basking in the winter sunshine.

Dramatic afternoon clouds.

Here's Sparky (black) along with her yearling calf Dusty (on the right) and this-year calf Lucy (on the left). What color calf will Sparky produce next?

A thin sheet of ice on the pond...

...and some fuzzing cattails.

Little Ninja enjoying some winter sunshine

Lydia in a remarkably cat-like pose, with her paws tucked underneath.

Very cute.

Ninja cuddles in the hay on a chilly morning.

Chuck still sneaks drinks from a patient Polly.

Dirty water tank.

Clean water tank. (That's a tank heater inside, to keep the water from freezing.)

Appreciative cows.

Sunrise.

I think the potatoes are trying to tell us something.

"It's spring! Plant us!"

Brit, resting.

Remember the phrase "the grass is always greener...?" Well apparently it also means the hay is always tastier on the other side of the feed box.

Sorry for all the Ninja shots, but he's so durn irresistible!

Breakfast!

Here's patient Sparky doing double-duty with this year's calf (Lucy) and last year's calf (Dusty).

Incoming snow flurry.

Just hanging around.

When the mud dried out, we put Shadow and Ninja down in the woods with the rest of the beasties so he could meet his herdmates.

Even dominant cows are very respectful of a baby's youth. Always nice to see.

I think I'll start keeping a "running tally" of random shots since I always seem to have some. These are from a few weeks ago when the weather was a bit cooler, and before Hector was born.

One man's junk....

Yesterday while chasing our recalcitrant calf Lucy off a neighbor's property, Don and I decided to walk the fenceline to see where she might be slipping through to the other side. This particular neighbor owns two parcels forming an L around us, so we walked along two sides of our property, looking for holes.

While doing so, we came across a large stash of old lumber and rolled up used field fencing, apparently abandoned. Since this neighbor has this parcel of property for sale, we decided to call and make an offer on the abandoned materials.

So Don called, and his offer was accepted immediately. To the neighbor, the abandoned materials were junk that he would just as soon get rid of before putting the parcel on the market. To us? Treasure untold.

Besides... with all that field fencing, we'll be able to reinforce our property boundaries and hopefully keep Lucy where she's supposed to be (an added benefit to our neighbor!).

So today we hitched a small wagon to the tractor and drove around to the access road between our two properties. (I rode in the wagon.)

Well, what do you know... there's Lucy again, grazing where she shouldn't be. Good thing no one around here minds her wanderings.

The access road is rough and rocky, but in good shape.

Don backed the little trailer up to the woodpile.

Here's some of the wood -- 2x6s about 15 feet long.

There were piles of plastic corrugated siding, as well as poles of all sorts -- some aluminum, some PVC, etc.

It's hard to determine how much field fencing there is -- but clearly enough for generous amounts of fencing.

There are stacks and stacks of miscellaneous boards, posts, and a couple of railroad ties. Sadly, much of the boards (and especially the railroad ties) are rotten beyond redemption.

The 15-foot 2x6s were far too long to put on the little trailer, so Don went home and got the truck as well, which has a wood rack on top. Then we began sorting. Many of the boards were too rotten to be salvaged, and literally fell apart or crumbled when we lifted them. We saw lots of carpenter ants in the rotten parts. The salvageable boards were very heavy from water -- we'll need to stack them properly with spacers, to dry, before they can be used.

We stacked the trash materials to one side for the time being (we'll remove it later and burn it). We loaded the salvageable boards onto the wood rack.

We loaded smaller boards, beams, and the plastic corrugated sheeting onto the small trailer.

Clearly this is someone's dismantled greenhouse from years past. The material is in superb shape -- no cracks, splits, holes, etc.

With the vehicles loaded, we retraced our path down the access road...

...and back up to the house, where we encountered a traffic jam, country-style. Move, Matilda!

Don later went down by himself, dragged one of the larger bales of field fencing out, and strapped it to the tractor bucket.

Another traffic jam. (In case you haven't noticed, we let Matilda, Amy, and Hector out into the driveway since it's too muddy in the woods for a newborn calf.)

It will take us a couple of weeks, working in our spare time, to remove all the abandoned materials from this pile. But what a treasure! We're grateful it's another man's junk.

Hector is much better!

What an answer to prayer! Little Hector is much better.

To be honest, we didn't hold much hope last night. Don and I went out for one last forced feeding late in the evening. He barely took four ounces and seemed listless.

This morning I opened the barn door and fully expected to see a dead calf. Instead Hector was on his feet. He gave me a saucy look, danced over to Amy, and began nursing vigorously. What a wonderful sight!

We were prepared for much worse. Yesterday when Don was in town, he picked up, among other things, a feeding tube. We were going to intubate this afternoon and get some milk into his belly.

Now clearly that won't be necessary. Hector is out of the woods. He's been doing happy little skippy-hops around the barn all morning, the sign of a healthy calf. Thank you for your prayers!

A funny little story: years ago, when one of my best friends from college had her first baby, her mother came up to stay with them for a couple of weeks to help out. Around 3 am, Kelly heard her baby cry, so she got out of bed to nurse him. As she was doing so, she started crying -- a combination of fatigue, hormones, and being overwhelmed.

Shortly after, Kelly's mom came into the room. Through her tears, Kelly asked, "Mom, what are you doing up at this hour?"

Her mom replied, "I didn't hear YOUR baby cry. I heard MY baby cry."

How does that relate to little Hector? Well all day yesterday, Matilda (Amy's mom) stood right outside the barn door and bellowed and bellowed and bellowed. She even tried to force the door open, so we had to reinforce it with a cinderblock.

Finally Don suggested we just let her in, since of course Matilda's wonderful with babies. She's been in the barn ever since. Not only did Matilda calm down, but so did Amy. The new mother was now in the presence of her own calm, experienced mother. I wonder if it's a coincidence that little Hector learned to nurse once Matilda was on the scene...?

Whatever the cure, we now have a healthy baby calf.