Oreo had her Calf!!!

WARNING-Graphic Pictures!

Jeff had a feeling she would have her calf tonight. He went down to milk and later came back in to tell me she was starting to have the calf-so I got 2 jackets on and went down to the lot to watch!

Feet first-Good sign! This is her first calf-so we wanted to be close if she needed any help. She is half Dexter/half Hereford, so a little on the small side.

She started having a little trouble and not progressing, so Jeff got in the lot with her and helped just a bit.....

And out she came!

Clean up time-YUCK!!!

Mom and calf seem to be doing fine. Sure glad she waited until tonight-it's a good bit warmer than it has been the last few days-it was 23 degrees this morning-but up to low 50's now and low 70s tomorrow. We missed the last 2 days of school because of ice-3 Bad weather days in less than a week-almost unheard of here!

We have snow!

It may not seem like much to most folks up north, but to us in East Texas-this is a BIG deal! No school-I heard one of the banks in town is closed as well! The girls are telling me that we only have ice at the house though :(

Rascal wasn't sure what all this white stuff was...

View from in front of the camper

The Cub is covered in snow

Jeff and Rascal's footprints on the way to the barn-snow is a couple of inches deep!

Build up in a part of the gully

Icicles on Sally's side. We are on calf watch as well-Oreo is due anytime now and is staying away from the rest of the cows-sure hope she holds off until at least tomorrow-Temps are supposed to be close to 60-Texas weather-gotta love it!

Chickens are not too sure about this white stuff either-lol-but can can be lured out of the coop with fresh feed!

It is so beautiful outside! Snow changes the appearance of the landscape so drastically! It's like God washes everything sparkling white! Just like He does us if we only ask! We so seldom get snow-usually ice-but the ice is under the snow and our temps here will most likely not get above freezing all day-so it might stay all day before melting. They closed school today-so looks like I'll get some time to work on the income taxes-yuck-but it needs to get done. I'm normally just waiting on W-2's to come in by this time-but I haven't gotten all the receipts together yet-I'm running behind as usual!

Stay warm and safe out there!

Fresh Beef in the Freezer!!

We decided to go ahead and butcher the last of the Dexter's we had. Cocoa had become a little aggressive and seemed to know how to use those sharp, little horns. She also seemed to be having trouble carrying a calf-she'd been bred twice that we knew of and no calf. So with the extremely cold weather we had on Monday-Jeff went ahead and put her down. It was so cold-he just skinned her out and left the carcass hanging high in a tree outside of the camper overnight. 

It was frozen stiff when we got up on Tuesday morning and Jeff spent the day cutting it up into manageable pieces that would fit into the ice chests.

He got it ground up on Wednesday.

And I helped him package it up when I got home from work. This isn't all of it!

Jeff got all the steaks packaged on Thursday. We had burgers for supper on Wednesday-they were delicious! But the steaks he grilled for us and Sheila and Alfred last night were AWESOME!! So tender and full of flavor. And so healthy!

I don't have all the totals yet-so I'll get them posted as soon as I figure them out. We are just thankful to God for giving us a freezer full of healthy meat and the knowledge to process it ourselves. 

Our crazy Texas weather is at it again! It was 15 degrees when I was on my way to work on Tuesday morning and will be in the 70's tomorrow-go figure! Just hope this doesn't make everyone sick....

Broccoli....and Peyton

Some of the broccoli we planted in the fall

And the heads I cut-Ended up putting 3 pints in the freezer!

We took a trip down to Lake Jackson on the first. Got to spend a little time with Randy and family!

Something tickled Peyton!

Was having trouble downloading my pics-guess this one decided to post twice?

They said he really liked opening his presents-especially the paper!

Well-my vacation is up-I go back to work on Monday. And it's supposed  to get really cold-down in the teens for us! Gonna get busy wrapping pipes in a little bit! Oreo is due to have her first calf any day now-she'll probably have it during the coldest night! Just hope this one makes it-it was a big blow to lose Sugar's little bull calf! Jeff has all but decided to put the last dexter in the freezer-so that maybe his job when the temps drop next week!