Breaking the Girl

Haltering Uma wasn't a very fun job. She fought and screamed in her cow way. Mama was agitated until I gave her some grain. After all the struggle, we were able to get the halter on.

With our oldest child on the other end of the rope, a game of tug of war began. Uma being the winner. It took my son and I pulling, and my husband pushing to get her to move. We pushed and pulled until she discovered that if she locked up one leg, she would fall over and we couldn't drag her.

Brat. After 40 minutes of pushing, pulling and flopping over, a neighbor came over. He has had some experience with halter training calves, but he was having as much luck as we were. But the extra pair of hands did help.

After some time, she got a little better about resisting the lead. By then we were exhausted. My arms and legs felt like lead. We took a break and tried to get her to take in a little water.

She still isn't halter broke, but we are getting there. We will start sooner on the new calf, when it is born, maybe that will make it a little easier. Luckily Uma's grudge against us didn't last long, and she still wants to play with us and lick us and, well, attempt to mount us.

Oversleeping Garden Questions

I overslept.

The exhaustion must have finally caught up with me. I don't like over sleeping, but I guess I needed it.

Today I have to do a little bit of running around. I plan on picking up some kid sized lassos for my boys. A gift for Easter. We actually celebrate Ostara, but as Easter is celebrated all around us, my family and my husband's, that we too have always had the tradition of Easter in our house. And it really bums me out that I had to go and purchase eggs for egg dying.

Was it you Maggie, that said before long I would have those cows eating out of my hand?

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I have been answering a lot of gardening questions via email lately. And no, I am not trying to discourage it, but if any one has anything they are wondering when it comes to gardening, now is the time to start asking. You can email me, or leave a comment here. I will try to get some gardening posts up this week.

I'm milking in the rain, just milking in the rain. . .

This morning was my first time milking during a thunderstorm. Mama was forced to wait outside of the barn while I took care of Edie.

It's not so bad, but it will be nice when the rain is warmer then it is.

We had a bbq for my husband's birthday on Sat. We had a good time, and it was nice to forget about work for a bit. However come 7pm I had to go milk the cows. Some teen boys from across the street were over and 2 of them had never seen anyone milk a cow. I said they could watch. One of the boys, very talkative, very urban, kept asking what it felt like. So after I was done with Mama I allowed them to come in a feel Edie's udder. The kid was giggling, until he realized that his expensive shoes where standing in cow manure. One of the boys had dealt with cows before, and decided to come on in to pet one. I will say that if I was 15, he would be the one I had a crush on. I asked the city boy if he was going to say he felt up a cow on spring break? The two other teens rolled with laughter. His uncle later informed me that he would be telling everyone about groping a cow. It was my turn to roll with laughter.

Friday evening my grandmother fell and broke her hip. She should be having surgery some time today. My mother isn't doing too well.

Yesterday my husband and I cuddled against the bitter wind and sat in front of a nice little camp fire. We brewed coffee, and burned our tongued as well as my chair.

Potato time.