Thursday Evening

It was supposed to be the storm of three decades. National News predicting 20+ tornadoes in our area. Hail the size of softballs had already been dropped to our west.

My husband arrived home. I told him we had a window slamming problem, as the roll out window in our master bathroom had managed to unhook itself, and the wind, the was gusting only to about 45mph, was lifting it and slamming it down. As he stood on his make shift pedestal, reattaching what had come undone, I asked him if we should be worried about the calf. I informed him of all the hail. He grumbled something at me, not really answering. I took that as a don't fret and went inside to make dinner before we lost power.

A few minutes past and my husband came flying into the house. The sky had already began to spit. Where is the calf? he asked in desperation. "She's with Edie." NO!. "Where's my boots!" I yelled at the kids. Someone had moved them, and I was feeling a little to desperate. I didn't take the time to pull on and tie my combat boots. Instead I slipped on a pair of winter hunting boots. Ones that hadn't seen shoelaces in years. I flew out the door as fast as the over sized shoes would allow me.

I ran straight out into the field, and there, behind the manure laid the calf. I tried to pick her up, yelling at my husband. Something is wrong with my wrists, and I was unable to grip her. My husband scooped her up, and for some reason I glanced behind me. A wall of water, a torrential down pour that obscure everything it covered was moving through our field. "RUN!" I screamed. My husband and I ran as fast as we could into the barn, a calf in his arms. We weren't fast enough, and we were wet through an' through before stepping foot into the barn. The wind was blowing so hard, that there was little place to hide in the barn. All the goats were huddled together, adult cows running around. "Gates open" I told my husband. "Windows open" he informed me.

We braved the rain, Edie running into the goat pen looking for her calf, calf in the other side of the barn, my husband ran to shut the back gate as I made my way to the house.

My boots were impeding my movements. I shed them at the front gate, scooped them up and ran barefoot as fast as I could to the house, only to find that my children had shut the house down. Shortly after I made it into the house, my husband followed. We grabbed towels, and changed clothing. My husband's head, where that cowboy hat sits, was the only thing dry.

We hunkered down, listen to the wind and the rain. "I asked you before the rain started about the calf." I think I remember you saying something "So the hail was something to worry about with her?" Yep, it would have been like chasing her around and hitting her with a hammer. We turned the news on, a tornado had popped up south of us. No hail emerged on our farm.

It turned out not to be the worst storm we had seen in 30 plus years. Only 4 tornadoes instead of over 20. But it was the hardest I have ran since high school track.

Thursday Mush

If you are interested, Wego Health has published an interview with me about my migraines. You can find the article here.

I am feeling rather stiff in the hands this morning. All that weeding is catching up to me. Typing seems to be a little time consuming.

I am thinking about some more How To posts. Since I realize that many of you come here looking for that. I have covered many many topics here, and try to write about them as I have accomplished them.

The boys and I will be building a goat playground. I am not sure when the angora's are due, but the kids will need something to do to keep them from getting too destructive. The adult pygmies need one as well. They love jumping on the cars, they need to stop that.

I must once again inform you how much my good neighbor rocks. My husband was out front last night when the good neighbor came flying by in his truck, slammed on the brakes, backed up into the drive, jumped out and handed my husband 10 pounds of ground beef. "This one is free. 80% lean, $1 a pound." and he was off. $1 a pound!?! Where on Earth do you find that kind of price, and 80% lean? oh my! And this was after I threatened to get my gun when I caught him snooping in my garden. It was all in play, and he was just seeing how my garden grew. Making sure I actually knew what I was talking about. ha!

Everything but the spinach is going great. The spinach came from local seed. Out of 1,000 seeds, 2 sprouted. Not good odds. So now I have to find a new source.

I keep forgetting to mention. I am part of the Great Sunflower Project. It is a program to help researchers with bees. They are unable to send out more seeds right now, but you can sign up for next year, or make a donation to the cause.

Have a Cigar

IT'S A GIRL!

Black Dexter born 6/04/08 to Edie of Isaiah Farms




Our other calf, Reece's Uma, can't seem to get enough of the new girl. I got Mama away, into the stanchion so I could go look without being shoved around by her. But Uma, she didn't follow. She wanted to see what this new calf was all about.

Now to come up with a name. Some of these cows have some great names. Like Edie's sire is named Lucifer's Tears. '08 is the year of the letter U. hmmm. . .

It's a big snake life for us. . .

I am so glad I am not afraid of snakes.

My youngest son found this in the potato patch. It took a lot of talk to convince him that we didn't need to keep it in the house, but that it would be good for the garden.

We have been very busy here. I actually was so exhausted yesterday, that I thought about giving in.

We pulled three stumps out of the fence line, doing wheelies on the tractor 4 times . We had to cut most of the root out with a pick ax, which I now have skills at. My husband let me drive the tractor, pulling stumps. Wheelies are scary on that thing.

We thought Edie had lost her mucus plug on Saturday, but still no calf.