HAPPY 79th BIRTHDAY PAPAW!!!

Momma Cow-still no calf!!

Yesterday was Jeff's Dad, Curtis', 79th birthday! I wasn't feeling well when I got in from work-so I didn't go up and see him-Jeff stopped in on his way home-like he does everyday-and spent some extra time with him!

Momma cow still hasn't had her calf. This picture of her was taken on Sunday and by Tuesday her udder seems about to burst! Just makes my hands hurt looking at her(having to milk by hand!). The bull calf is doing great-he is keeping Rainbow nursed down! We had to take the hen and bitties out of the chicken pen and put them in a cage. I went out to check on them and a couple of the hens were eating a bitty!!! I had to leave for work-so I just said a quick prayer that they'd still be some when I got home! Only 2 were missing-so we are down to 5. The sow came back in heat-so they are in together again since Monday. I wonder if the temps have anything to do with it? I know it affects the rabbits-I haven't bred any of them for months now. And we are only getting about 3 eggs a day right now!

Planning on leaving tomorrow afternoon for the beach! Tim & Candy are going in the morning and we'll leave when Jeff gets home from work. Momma cow will have her calf this weekend while we're gone-just wait and see!

Weekend's Over!

Well-it turned out to be an OK one-at least Mom is finally home! She got home on Saturday evening and is doing well. She did have some kind of spell last evening-but I think it is all the Meds-she's gonna check with her Primary Doc this morning and make sure she's not over-doing it with some of them!
We moved the cows across the road yesterday into the other pasture. There is some grass there and Jeff put the last of the old hay rolls in that pasture. He said they didn't even look at it-they were enjoying the grass. We had sat in the yard and watched them eat beside the garden again for awhile before walking them over. The calf was SO cute! He layed down and started chewing on the water hose like he was trying to nurse from it! And , of course, he quit doing it by the time I got back out there with my camera!
We have 7 bitties at last count. The hens came out of the nest when Jeff fed and 2 bitties followed. Jeff said there was such a fight and a few more eggs were pipping-that he caught them and put them back in the nest. Something will have to be done with them this afternoon. One of the turkeys managed to get out of the cage while we where out there and the rooster almost killed him before Jeff got in there to catch him-so that must be what happened to the missing one.
And it rained twice last night before we went to bed! The first was just a slight sprinkle but the second was a pretty good shower! We have a 30% chance today and 40% tomorrow!! Bring it on! And our Temps are finally dropping-Only mid 90's this week instead of 104 degrees! Looking foward to a weekend at the beach!! Have a great day!!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Hay Bales in the Field!!

Hay Baler at Work!!

3 bitties-1 is hiding-and their mom's!

Happy 4th to Everyone!!!

Ok-First things first-again! We haven't been home since Thursday-Mom did not get to come home-the Docs thought she was bleeding internally-thank God she wasn't-but she did have to have 2 units of blood on Thursday. She wasn't feeling well and her old friend Divaticulitus-I know I didn't spell it right-flaired up again-causing her a great deal of pain! But they have been treating her for it and Shorty has gone to the hospital to bring her home. So we decided to run home-Oh-we've been staying up there with Shorty since Thursday-and check on things here. And we found that the hens have hatched 3 bitties! They are SO cute popping out from underneath their moms! They are due to hatch on Monday and there are still quite a few eggs under them! Momma cow still hasn't had her calf yet-but the little bull calf-he still doesn't have a name-poor thing-is doing wonderful.

Jeff hauled hay almost ALL day yesterday-luckily the field is only about a mile or so from Mom's. It hasn't been cut in a few years and ended up with a total of 70 rolls of hay. Jeff brought 32 bales to Mom's and 2 to a friend of their's. They put 1 out to Shorty's cows and they had eaten over half of it by the next morning! It hasn't rained at their place in way over a month-it is SO dry up there!

We'll be heading back up to Coldspring shortly-we are planning to BBQ at Mom's this evening and Jeff has made up a batch of homemade yeast rolls for her-her favorite! Just gonna keep it real low key and see how things go from there. We have spent the last several years-at least 10 or more-at the beach for the 4th of July-so this will be quite a change for us. But it is OK-everybody is doing well!! Be safe and have a fun evening!!

Soft-Shell Egg

One of the hens layed this soft-shelled egg on Sunday. They look really cool-but we just give them to the hogs. The kids-and Ricky-were really facinated by it. We've been told that the hens lay one at the beginning-or end-of their laying cycles. And since none of my hens are new layers-? We have been blessed with MANY eggs so far this year!

Mom is supposed to be coming home from the hospital this morning. HEH!! She finally got in a room yesterday afternoon. They got her a phone in the CCU room-she could only call out-and she called me at work. She sounded SO good! I know she can't wait to get home this morning! I work from 7-9:00am this morning-then I'll go up to their house and see what I can get ready. Aunt Linda went up yesterday and cleaned what she could.

I don't think we'll go to the beach this weekend-anyway that's the plan right now. The hay cutters finally showed up at Shorty's yesterday-they NEVER showed last year! So looks like we're gonna be hauling hay this weekend! But that is DEFINITELY a good thing! We have already bought 10 rolls @ $50 a piece because we were afraid they wouldn't show up again and we'd be scrambling for hay again this winter. At one point, we had to pay $80 a roll last winter! YUCK!!

Guess I better go-gotta get ready for 2 hours at work this morning! Have a good one!

We Got Some RAIN!! Happy July 1st!!

Jeff picking tomatoes in the garden.

One of the sunflowers-Can you see the bumblebee?

It RAINED!!! And , boy, did it! We got 3-yes 3, inches yesterday! Of course, it was too much-too fast-but it looks so much better here already!

Mom is still in the hospital. She was supposed to be moved out of the CCU yesterday into a managed care room-but there weren't any available. Hopefully they moved her during the night and she'll get to come home today. I only work 2 hours tomorrow-so I'll either go to the hospital when I get off at 9:00-or go to her house and get things ready for her to come home.

And the calf is finally nursing on his own! YEAH!! What a relief! The 2 turkeys are doing well. I weaned 1 pen of bunnies-only a litter of 2. We have 2 more litters that were born a day apart-1 is almost ready to wean-3 of them, the other one had 10 ! She has 7 left and there is a huge difference in the sizes of the 2 different ones. But is just SO hot out there on them! We expected Momma Cow to have her calf overnight-but it hasn't arrived yet! hehe Jeff put a roll of hay out for them-maybe they'll give the grass a little chance to catch up with the rain. Have a great day!!

Busy!

Baby turkeys!!

Jordan and Kaytlynn with the new calf.

Well-first things first! Mom is doing better-even thought she still is in CCU. While we were visiting her on Saturday-they rushed her into the Cath Lab and put a balloon in. She only had 30% usage of the bottom of her heart-the previous blockage had not changed. They slowly begain weaning her off the pump yesterday-if she did OK she should get to come home today. She has to remove ALL the stress in her life-I don't know how that's goin' to happen-she's always been a worry wort and worries about EVERYTHING! Jeff and I went up to their house after work last night and I worked on getting the Frig cleaned out and some of her pantry. Aunt Linda is going up today or later and work on cleaning up the house some for them.

The calf has been having trouble nursing. Jeff put Rainbow in the stall Sunday morning and made the calf nurse-he doesn't have a name yet-guess that shows how busy we've been! We still aren't sure if he nurses on his own during the day or not-since we haven't been home to watch yet. But he is NOT aggresive at all or just not hungry enough yet-but with all this heat-we worry he'll dehydrate. We bought 4 baby turkey's on our way home from the Hospital on Sunday-1 disapearred and 1 died. They are a month old-so I thought they'd be a little easier to raise-maybe not!

I took some really pretty pics of the sunflowers in the garden-but my Internet is SO slow-I'll wait to post them til another time-Oh-and we got a little rain yesterday!!!!YEAH!!! Have a little bit better chance this afternoon. I don't remember a time when its been this dry in June!

Chances are I'll work this whole week-other than Friday. We are getting a little backed up in the office. We are planning a long weekend at the beach-starting Thursday evening-as long as things are OK with Mom. Can't wait!!! Have a great day!

We've got a CALF!!

Not a good picture-I'll get better ones later! He doesn't have a name yet, either!

He was born around 6:30 last night! Rainbow put herself into the barn-so we watched her pretty closely. We came into the house and I went back out about 30 minutes later and she already had him. He is so shiny black with curls on his head! SO cute!! I'll get better pics later-they didn't come out good in the barn!

Shorty is on his way over this morning-Mom is in the hospital in Conroe. She had a slight heartattack yesterday-and the Doc is saying she will have to have by-pass surgury! We're going to the hospital shortly and see what's going on!!! I really don't have any details yet-gotta find out what's goin' on with my MOM!! Her last heart check-up was fine-so this really doesn't make any since!

Gotta go get ready-will post more info when I get it! Keep her in your prayers! Have a great day and stay COOL!!