Springish

   The beginnings of spring are apparent this week. The thaw has begun. Lots of water over the road this last week letting up as the temperatures got a little colder. This will work good if it is cold, warm,cold, warm

 So the girls went through the check list;
                                   Real longer days ( Sunshine not fake lights)
                                   Green visible
                                   Mama threatening Chicken Soup
                                   Yep time to start laying again!
(It was nice to cook breakfast with farm fresh eggs again not pale yellow store bought. Glad they got busy.)

                                   Fluff is my favorite little girl. She is the smallest of the flock with the biggest attitude. She is all about the business. When we picked up our chicks 2 years ago, there were 6 oddball chicks left. They asked if we would buy them, so of course we did. It has been fun seeing what they grew up to be as no one knew when we bought them.

 #25 has a heart on his forehead. So cute. He was born in Febuary of course.  

Martha

 After months of sleep lacking nights and severe exhausted state of mind, a successful depredation hunt. Even though they were being shot at they would not leave. I guess those rubber bullets demistified the fear they once had. It occured to me as we were disposing off the outer casing , that maybe they needed proof to really understand. So I named it Martha and set it on the fence. I explained "Look what happened when Martha ate Mamas hay!" Since I know they understand and read ( the only explanation why they come only during none shooting hours). As I did my bihourly check there they all were looking and talking about Martha. They left. Day 3 a power sleep night and still no damage this week. Oh the sweet sleep of success. I know my nights are numbered but for now. Yeah!!!  (There will be no pictures for this post due to the graphic nature)

One Legged Breed

       One day my daughter had a friend out to the ranch. He was standing outside watching the girls run around clucking. He says " Look at that poor chicken she only has one leg." Then he looked around and seen we had others. His face was a little red and he says " Oh, I didn't know it was a breed." Then as she puts that foot down and pulls up the other to get warm, his face was very red. :) :0  He looked at us and said you are never going to forget this are you? Nope. Thought I would share a little ranch humor with everyone

Cow In The House

    There are, on occasion, times when you have to allow the outdoors in. This little bull calf was so large his feet were curled. It was cold and I couldn't get his joints stretched. So in he came. The babies couldn't believe it. My bulldogs made short work of licking him and laying by him to warm him. We stretched his joints and rubbed him down, hoofs under the wood stove. When he stood it was several tries to get his balance without his feet curling. I just held his joints (hind ones) and the husband balanced his body. Then out to mama we went. My husband held the calf and had me milk mama a little to get him sucking. All is well. When we came back in my grandaughter said " Nana tell Papa no more cows in the house. He made a mess and now you have to clean it up!" Such a girlie girl sometimes. I told her why we did it she said we are very goofy. That may be how the world sees us. :) :) :)

OF COURSE IT WAS TODAY

    It's 20 below and the Red Cow that has been thinking about labor for 3 days has decided it is time. My assumption was, it is the convulsive shaking in this cold weather helping it along. (Probably not though, it's me shaking)

She is struggling, and after a long night of Elk (who were especially destructive last night) we are cold and wary. It is day break now, we can turn off our flashlights. She is pushing and grunting we see the 2 little feet that have been peeking out appear further then we see it is backwards. Great. It explains why she is struggling. (It's her 7th so quite unusual to struggle) We have been waiting with sheets, gloves and rope, in case we have to intervene. While waiting for Red , #8 White cow delivered hers fast and quiet. After all clean and dry, mama is ready to eat. We covered her baby with straw in this weather, as we are finishing Red delivers a huge red ball face calf. The husband lifts it from the hind and shakes to clear the lungs as it was backwards and things don't always clean out good that way. I clean out its mouth. We get a little of it dry then mama says back off. All is well. We will wait to tag and band the bull calves until they get time to get up. It is way to cold. I took pictures, they are a little blurry due to the camera (or me) keeps freezing . Time for a very warm cup of coffee.