Royalty in the Herd

The hay feeder we built last year we felt wasn’t quite doing its job.  Too much hay was falling out the bottom and being wasted.  Plus it was a tad too high for the younger calves to reach in.  Yesterday Rodi lowered the feeder closer to the ground and altered the bin a tad. 

Only problem is now a certain Prince Neptune thinks that it was built as his personal bed.  No more sleeping on the cold ground for him! 

 

There will be further alterations to this feeder… Neptune will no longer be able to claim it as his bed when we are finished with it.    He may have one more day of  the royal treatment since we are on our way to pick up 3 more cows in the morning.

Still a little too City and not nearly enough Country

So as I said before, our cow Molly had a claf this past Sunday.  My  visions of  bottle feeding this babe were just visions apparently.  Today I went out to the barn bottle in hand to have my bonding time with the Fatih (the calf).  The only thing I did was tick off  Molly and tire Faith out.  Molly was very patient with me as I followed Faith around the pasture trying to get close to her calf.  She kept an eye on me the entire time and I let her know I was aware she was watching.  Every now and then I would go over and let her smell the bottle to show her I meant no harm.  Then I would rub her in that spot she loves behind her ear, before trying a little longer to convince Faith to give the bottle a try.  I am sure I looked like a big goof out there, but then again I have never fed a farm animal from a bottle before (except at the zoo once and I am not sure that counts). 

Finally Faith went into the barn and into the side with the gate.  “WHOO HOO this is finally going to happen”  The kids who had been giving me passenger seat directions this entire time came bolting into the barn.  Allowing Faith to be at ease stressed out even more, I am sure.  Soon Molly came a callin’ too.  She was a tad miffed at me by now and was quite vocal about the whole ordeal.  She paced on one side of the barn while Faith darted from one side to the other trying to avoid me at all cost.

I finally managed to get Faith settled down a bit and even got the bottle to her mouth.  However she didn’t drink a darn drop.  Nope she wanted nothing to do with me or the bottle.  Feeling sorry for her and Molly I let her out the gate where she quickly latched onto her mamma and began to nurse… Go Figure.

*On a side note the kids are laughing because JJ got the whole thing on video and they want me to put it on  the internet.  NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!*

Who Says…….

Happy Cows are in California?……

  Jasper looks quite happy as he smiles for the camera.

  And Neptune sings of his easy life living on the East Coast.

 

Play Nice

This is something I often tell my kids. Now how do I get my bird to understand that?

Sunny hasn’t been the “good bird” lately. He is very opinionated and now that Rodi is home he is even more opinionated. I am not sure if he doesn’t like Rodi or if he feels threatened by him. What I do know is that he is driving the entire family insane.

Yesterday for instance, he was his cheerful little green self all day. He was talkative and played on his gym freely. Then Rodi came home. UGGGHHHHH, STOP THE SCREECHING! Darn Sunny keeps screaming and flapping his wings every 5 minutes. It has become very hard to convince Rodi that this isn’t typical Sunny behavior.

I am hoping to convince Sunny that he needs to be a “good bird” all the time or he may find himself in a new home. *sigh* I just wish they could get along. Rodi knows how much I wanted Sunny and how much I like having him around so he has been trying to keep the peace. Sunny on the other hand…. well I don’t think peace is part of his vocabulary.

Life with a Quaker in the house can be a real challenge at times. Add 4 kids and a not so loved adult male (not so loved by the bird) and apparently having a Quaker in the house can be a SUPER challenge most of the time.

Life WITH Rodi

It is taking a bit of time but I think we are all getting adjusted to life with Rodi amongst us again. 

I think the one who is having the hardest time adjusting is Sunny.  Rodi seems to think Sunny is a bit too loud at times.  Sunny wasn’t here before Rodi set sail this summer so they are still trying to get acquainted with each other.  This may take some time I have a feeling.

Moe won’t leave Rodi’ s side and every time that Rodi has to go somewhere Moe runs to me and says  “Dad on Boat”  I think he is very fearful that he is going to disappear all over again.

I had to laugh last night as we were driving down the interstate on our way home and Moe sounded off with his favorite Moe-made noise…. a siren!  He is very good at this imitation and has the volume of an actual siren at times.  Rodi didn’t know what to do.  He was trying not to laugh but was upset at the same time that Moe wouldn’t be a bit quieter.    There we were Rodi was trying to talk on the phone Nina was upset and crying about something, a DVD was playing to keep the kids quiet (worked well can’t ya tell) and Moe was playing police man.  It really was fun to show Rodi a bit of what he had been missing.

Now we are heading into a new week and trying to prepare for JJ to turn 9 this coming Friday.  I told her she wasn’t allowed to have a birthday, she isn’t allowed to get older.  She didn’t think that was a great plan.  So I guess the cake will get made anyway.

Who’d a thunk it?

Who would have ever thought that I would someday look out my front window and instead of seeing sidewalks with neighborhood children roaming to and fro, I would see…….

NAPPING ZEBU!

It doesn’t seem odd to me most days to look outside and see this unusual animal looking back at me.  Today however, and I am not sure why, I looked outside and just began to giggle.  Here I am a mid-west city girl living on the coast raising 4 kids and ZEBU!  Not to mention a barn cat, 7 fish, and a Quaker parrot. 

Honestly I would have to say this was not something I would have ever imagined my life to include.  Odd as it is, I am glad we are where we are and have the chance to share the challenges and wonders of livestock with the kids. 

Yes Molly is still pregnant I wonder if she thinks that since she missed her due date in Octoner,  she has to wait until next October????  Poor thing, I really feel for her.

Pressing my luck

This morning I had to run to the next town over to meet a lady about a three level Bird gym she posted on craigslist.com.  I told her I would meet her as close to 9 as possible.   At 9:07 am I am just heading out the door with Rodi’s crew in tow, looking closer to a 10am meeting *sigh*.  As we pull out of the drive I notice that we are pretty low on gas.  I check the computer thingy and it estimates I can go 83 miles.  We’re good I will get gas on the way home.  So off we go even though in the back part of my head I know we should get gas first.

We head towards the bridge that leads towards the busy city life and the woman with the play gym for Sunny.  I pass by the gas station just as we are getting ready to venture onto the 5 mile long drawbridge thinking I should stop, but just thinking not actually stopping,  that would be sensible.

As we get about 1/2 mile out on the bridge I notice the wind is blowing a lot harder than I thought it was.  The van felt at times as if it was just going to blow right off the darn bridge.  While I was noticing this the kids were watching in amazement as a truck was losing its load.  The wind was picking up long pieces of something that resembled siding and blowing it all over the road and into the waters below.  I was now worried about the gas, the wind blowing the van around, and the other flying objects on the bridge.  This was not looking like a good way to start the day.

We safely made it past the truck and the flying debris only to find a huge log, or piece of some other poor vehicle, in the middle of our lane.  I couldn’t get over due to the traffic but I was able to slow down and try to go around it.  HA, not a chance, not this morning anyway.  The darn thing must have caught the edge of my tire or something because the next thing we heard was a loud THUD followed by cries of worry from the children.  I was worried too but I still had about 3 miles of bridge to travel and no where to pull over.  So on we went slowly and cautiously.

We made it to the other side of the bridge and things seemed to still be running okay so I went forward with my plan to meet the bird gym lady at the store she works at.  Figuring I could take a look see under the van when we got to the parking lot.  (Yes Rodi you can laugh at that, you know my looking means absolutely nothing).  When we came to our very first stop light I noticed the gas gauge was quite a bit lower than it was when we left.  I immediately check the estimated computer thingy (techy aren’t I *grin*) and it says 51 miles.  Remember when we left the house it said 83 miles, I had only travelled 8 miles so I was a bit worried about what may have happened on the bridge.  While I sat there I checked a few more times and each time the estimated distance became shorter and shorter.  Now the low fuel light was on.  (Are you shaking your head yet Rodi?)  I kept going and was going to pull over to a gas station but one child of mine who shall remain nameless was so worried he she they were in tears and so I figured we should just go to the store and then look at it and determine if we are in need of assistance or not.

We made it to the store and I looked under the van from all sides.  I am sure I looked fairly odd on my knees going from one side of the van to the other followed by my flock of children in the grocery store parking lot.  I am sure the store has it on their security cameras if any of you are wanting a good laugh.  Everything looked good…. meaning I didn’t see anything dripping from anywhere.  This made me and the children feel much better.

We walked into the store found the lady followed her back out truck to look at the bird gym.  It was great!  I couldn’t believe what a find this was.  Gotta love craigslist.com!  It is how I found Sunny in the first place.  We put it in our van and headed back down the road.  This time the gas gauge was still low but not as low.  So yep, you guessed it I checked my handy dandy estimator and now it said 63miles.  I decided to stop at a gas station on my way back to the bridge so we wouldn’t have to worry about running out of gas on the bridge. 

That was  a great thought but there were no gas stations, well there was one but I would have had to do an illegal u-turn to get to it.  I was already pressing my luck and decided breaking the law probably wasn’t what I needed to do right then.  SO I asked the kids to say a quick prayer that we could make it back over the bridge where we could then stop at the station we passed just before getting onto the bridge the first time.  As we round the corner to get into the lane for the bridge I see JJ saying her prayers.  Then I look up to see traffic stopping and see the BRIDGE LIFT sign !!!!!!  Are you kidding me???  Nope.  At this point there was no turning back either, we were beyond the land of turn arounds.  We pulled up to our spot in the lane of cars waiting for the bridge to open up again to cars.  I turned the engine off just to be safe.

Finally 5 minutes later we were on our way again.  The wind was still bad but it was working with us and not against us this time.  We made it safely to the other side.  I didn’t even think twice about stopping to fill up as we approached the gas station on the other side of the bridge. 

If I had filled up with gas before we left town things would have been a lot easier, I wouldn’t have been behind the guy with things flying out of his truck and more than likely would not have been in the lane with what ever that thing was that thumped the underside of our van, and I wouldn’t have had to show my backside to so many un-expecting shoppers this morning.  But then it wouldn’t have been a typical day with the Rodi crew either.  Seems like we challenge ourselves here everyday.  I guess it just feels so necessary that if there isn’t a challenge we make one.  I am thinking we need to re-think that idea *grin*

This one is dedicated to Rodi and Mr. J.

Rodi and his co-worker Mr. J. are regular readers of my blog and especially like to read what they feel are the comical situations I find myself in.  See I think it is a way for them to find excuses to e-mail each other as Mr. J is here and Rodi as you know is not.  It’s not often when someone can e-mail a co-worker and say what a crazy wife the other guy has.  Rodi knows I am crazy, always have been.  I think that is why he loves me so much.  It’s fun to keep him guessing at how I will respond to a situation.

 Okay so on to the posting…..

Our day was pretty normal; we do have normal days every now and then.  We woke up, ate breakfast, picked up the house a bit and then started in on school.  Science was first today.  Bubba was THRILLED beyond belief because he was able to use his microscope.  I must say it was entertaining watching him discover cells today.  The microscope Rodi and I purchased for him wasn’t top notch by any means.  In fact it had been the only one in the store for months and even at clearance price it hadn’t sold.  The girl we bought it from acted as if she might get a prize for finally getting rid of it.  The neat thing about this microscope is that it connects to the computer.  That was great for today’s assignment.  Bubba had to label the parts of the cell and this program allowed him not only to view the cell on the computer screen, it also allowed him to snap a picture of it and then type labels etc… right there on the screen.  Some days I love technology. The assignment was followed by a quiz over the past few lessons.  Quizzes and tests make me more nervous than the kids.  I think it is because it somewhat reflects my ability to teach them.  Bubba received a 95% on his quiz today.  Whew, what a relief, for me*grin*.

JJ and Nina worked hard on their math and language arts assignments while I worked with Mr. Wizard and his handy microscope.

After lunch we headed to the Y for Bubba’s PE class.  There were 2 other kids there and he seemed to have a good time.  I think this will be a good class for him.  On our way out the door of the Y I realized that I had forgotten to grab the library books that were due today.  The library is right next door to the Y so I was not thrilled with myself right at that moment.  Off to the house again….just to turn around and come back.

When we arrived home from the Y I noticed all the zebu were in the back pasture by the barn.  We are trying to manage our pasture a bit and I waited all day for them to all be in the same area so I could fence off the front area and allow the grass some time to grow and green up a bit.  I told Rodi we are what they call grass farmers.  Not that funny grass mind you.  No, just the regular ol’ green stuff.  The good kind *smile*.    I told the kids we should take care of the cows and then grab the library books and go.

Bubba headed over to the fence to shut the gate.  I told the girls they could be a big help and entertain Moe while Bubs and I did the barn stuff.  Since we were going to be leaving again in a few minutes I just left all my things, including my keys in the van (can you see where this is going?) and headed to the barn.

I began cleaning out the barn, raking and scooping, oh what fun.  Bubba was filling the water tub with fresh water.  Nina was already on the swing trying to go higher and higher.  I glanced over and JJ was still by the van trying to get Moe to come out and play with her.  Apparently he wanted to play catch- me- if -you -can in the van.  I went back to my raking and scooping, joy of all joys.

“Mom?” JJ hesitantly asked

“Yep”

“You do have another way to get in the van right?”

“Huh?”

“Well ‘Moe’ locked the doors and your keys are still in there”

“Oh, yeah the spare keys are inside”

“No, I already looked they are not there”

All of the sudden I had a flashback and recalled putting the extra keys in my purse on Sunday as they had the Church keys on them and we were taking the truck to Church

So let me run this scene by you slowly….

Van is locked

No windows are open

Not just one set of keys but BOTH sets are inside

I have the truck keys

Ah but my purse with my ID’s , Credit Cards, and Cash (HA, that’s funny) are all inside the VAN.

I’m goin’ nowhere anytime soon.

At least Moe locked the door on his way out of the van and wasn’t trapped inside.

JJ is upset because I am upset.  I tell her I am upset mostly at me for leaving everything in the van in the first place.  Moe is upset because it is almost 4 and he hasn’t had a nap.  Bubba is upset, because he is 10, and he can be darn it!  Nina is oblivious to all of us and is oddly dancing to the radio and asking what’s for dinner?  Sunny who doesn’t like a lot of commotion in “his room” is sounding off like a fire alarm, only adding to the level of noise and my inability to think straight.

I head to my room, shut the door and pick up the phone. I called my friend T.R. in hopes that she would know a reasonably priced locksmith to come and help me in my situation. Her daughter P. (17) answers the phone and says that her mom can’t come to the phone because she is mowing the ditches.  I explain the situation to P. who then tells me to hold on.  Next thing I know I am talking to her older brother J. (19) the conversation goes….

J: “You’ve got keys locked inside a car”

Me: “yep, aren’t I lucky”

J: “I can get them out for you”

Me: “And how many pieces will my window be in at the end of this?”

J: “No, I won’t break the window. Really I can get you back in your van.”

Me: “Well if you think you can then that would be great”

J: “let me get directions from Mom and I will be right there.”

Not long after I hang up with him T.R. calls mortified that her son knows how to break into a car and even more upset that he has reportedly had to break into their jeep many times to get keys out.  I am just thankful for his skills….I think.

J arrives and within 10 minutes (he was being careful) I had my keys again.  Thank goodness for boys and their desire to not let mom and dad know they locked the keys in the car, again.  As long as he uses his skills for good, I think it is a great talent to have. *grin*

Happiness once again falls over “R” Little Farm and we go about the rest of the evening as if nothing ever happened. 

*turns out lights and heads to bed counting keys on the key hooks before turning off the last light.*

Whistle While you Work….(part 2)

The mowing and weeding…. well sort of.

Before I could start mowing I had to get the kids settled into something to keep them busy.  Bubba was going to be outside with me using the weed eater.  He loves being able to do the “guy” stuff for me while dad is away. 

Before I could find something for the girls to do the phone rang…

It was Rodi!!!!!! YEAH ME!  Everyone got to talk and Bubba loved it as they were able to talk football.  Rodi is a Michigan fan.  For those of you who don’t know they LOST.  It was hard to take for some *grin*

Once the phone was handed back to me I heard a beep (the other line), but this was Rodi.  There was no way I was taking the other call.

Before I could dial my voice mail to see who had called my neighbor was knocking at my door.

Me: Hi!

Neighbor: We were just driving by and noticed that Molly is all tangled up in some sort of wire.  We thought you should know.

Me: Oh no.  I’d better get the wire cutters and see if she will stand still for me.

Neighbor: Do you think you need us to stick around incase you need help.

Me: I think I’ll be okay, Molly is pretty approachable.  (in my head I am thinking…why would you leave me alone with a tangled mess on a preggo cow?!!!!)

I grab the wire cutters and head out to the field.  Sure enough she had both hind legs and one horn wrapped in electric fencing wire.  She let me approach her and I was able to slip the wire off her horn.  I had the kids pull up as much clover as they could so we could feed it to her.  That would get her to hold still so I could clip the wire back by her legs.  She would eat the clover but as soon as I would get back by her leg she would take off. 

In comes my neighbor’s hubby who approaches the situation a bit different….he grabs her horns!!!!!  I was thankful for the help but that only made her mad and she almost kicked me good.  His wife and I went back to the feed and distract mode.  I almost had the wire where I needed it to clip it and she kicked my hand and took off.  This time however she somehow got her legs loose from the wire.

Whew!  That was quite the interesting experience.  I took all the wire out of the field and went looking for its original location.  I never found where it came from and it is still a mystery.

I finally got the girls settled into an activity with Moe and headed outside with Moe so we could start on the rest of the yard work.

Ahhh but the weed eater is out of gas.  No problem I know were the gas is for that  (I think).   I fill up the tank and off Bubba goes.  You can tell he is happy to be helping.  I stroll back to JD (John Deere) and start him up.  I am off and really loving that it isn’t blistering hot out today.  I make about 5 passes on the ditches and out of the corner of my eye I see Bubba approaching with no weed eater in his hands.  Ummm this can’t be good.

“Mom, I’m done.  It backfired and then started smoking”

Rodi if you are reading this…..where exactly was the gas for the weedeater????  Maybe I used the wrong stuff.  Just remember you love me *grin, wink-wink*

“okay Bub go ahead and go in with the girls”

An hour and a half later and amazingly no screaming kids, I was finally done.

I came inside and began pre-heating the oven.  As I walked by the sliding glass door in the dining room I saw something by the barn I had never in my life seen before. Molly was standing there straining her head to the side and then charging into the barn.  The bulls quickly exited and then so did she.  She was still holding her head weird and would just break out into a full charge for no apparent reason.  What in the world was going on????

I look closer and wouldn’t you know it she had found MORE WIRE and this time it was choking her!!!!  The kids and I RAN to the field.  The kids were great and knew their place was on the outside of the fence, just to be safe.  Quickly they grabbed some of the fresh cut grass and began to feed Molly (and all the others) so that I could approach her.  Amazingly Molly stood still for me so that I could free her of this mess.  I think she knew her life depended on it.

I still do not know where the wire came from.  Maybe it was on a shelf in the barn and she knocked it off with her horns????  I really do not know and I have looked everywhere.  It was just crazy that this happened twice in one day to the same cow!

Back inside we ate dinner followed by showers and bed by 8pm.   So what did you do on Labor day?

~Note to Rodi….I may have killed the weed eater, but I saved the pregnant cow  *BIG SMILE*

Where the Zebu Roam

I have been requested by a few to post some recent pictures of our “little” herd. 

This morning the humidity was bearable so I decided to head out to the pasture with camera in hand.

          

   

For a while none of them noticed I was even there.  They were just happily munching on some newly green grass.  They have waited so long for that pasture to green up.  This summer has been VERY dry here.

Molly saw me first.  She actually started to run towards me.  I think she must have thought that I came with some sweet feed.  She was disappointed I am sure, but she kindly let me pet her nose and pat her growing belly a bit before wandering to a greener area.

Next the dynamo-duo of Neptune and Tonka saw me and quickly strutted their way across the Field to see what goodies I had brought with me.  These two are pretty timid and aren’t too fond of getting real close to the human types.  Today however they got right up to me and even let me pet them a time or two. 

Tonka is changing colors on us, when we first brought him home he was all red.  Now he is turning black and grey in some areas.  He is still smaller than the rest and in the Zebu world that is a good thing.

Neptune has known to be a bit friendlier than Tonka but this morning I would have to say they were equally as friendly.  Neptune is still trying to determine his place in the herd.  He knows that the king of the pasture is Jasper but he still likes to give him a challenge every now and then.  Molly is actually his biggest challenge in the field when it comes to fresh cut piles of grass.  Molly will knock and shove Neptune or Tonka pretty hard if she feels they are going to take her share of the pile ( which would be the whole thing *grin*).  She does leave Jasper alone though.

 Ahhh Jasper.  He knew I was there I am sure of it.  I am quite sure he knew the minute I approached the fence.  He kept his cool though and watched me as he munched away.  One by one he saw the others approach me and must have thought that something was up.  He started out slow in his approach but then his step quickened as he got closer.  He has a love hate relationship with us and I was hoping his quicker step was a loving one. *grin*  Turns out I was right.  He just wanted to sniff my hand (looking for feed I am sure) and then go about his business searching out the green stuff.

I finished up my photo shoot and then headed back to the barn.  Uggghhhh the barn.  Moe may be out of diapers soon but I will still be dealing with stinky stuff on a daily basis.  Good thing I have a long handle on that shovel *grin*