Selfies with Cows and Other Updates

It has been a spell since I last posted.  I don’t even know where to start in order to update you on the last several months.  Let’s make a list!

1.  Daisy Mae turned 15, completed driver’s ed, got her first job, cut her hair, and finished 9th grade.  Phew!

She has learned she is a fan of earning tips.

And we are fans of having her wait on us.  It is a win win situation.

2.  Handsome Dude turned 12.  He is full of middle school boy angst.  I didn’t know it was a thing.  But trust me.  IT IS A THING.

He is all sorts of sassy to me, then wants me to rub his head.

I can’t keep up with him.

He is a basketball superstar, and possibly a future track star as well.  We don’t know.  He is too moody for us to really figure anything out with.   And he wants to be just like his father in the farm and ranch department.

He bought a cow and named her Maisy.  She had a heifer calf.  That is how farmer people say “the cow had a baby girl.”  He then sold his calf/cow combo to his father.  He is also making money buying and selling pigs.  He finished 6th grade and will be entering 7th.

He is a good, hard worker.  He insists upon wearing  a nice, white, Nike shirt to his farming in.  I ask him not to.  He does it anyways. Story of my life.

He destroys it.  I fix it.  And that’s the power of Oxiclean.

Oh.  And he got braces.  ($$$)

3.  Little Dude turned 11.  He is still pretty nice and not yet too moody, yet he refuses to wear deodorant.  He is as tall as Handsome Dude and he weighs more.  He can eat more than anyone in the entire world.

Here’s a picture of  him out in the Back 40 completing a chore for his Pa.

He is a good basketball player and also wants to be just like his father in the farm and ranch department.  He, too, makes money buying and selling pigs.  He just finished 5th and is going into 6th grade.

Oh. And he got braces.  ($$$)

4.  Sweet Pea is still 16.   She got a more grown up job as a receptionist at a doctor’s office and is basically rolling in the money.

I kid!  I jest!

But she is earning good money for her age.  She is driving on her own now (GASP).  She is also doing dual credit along with high school so she can try to earn her 2 year Associates degree when she graduates from high school.  She hopes to  be a nurse practitioner.  Here she and I are before prom.

And just her:

She made it through basketball this year without any knee re-injury. Phew.

5. I turned 38 and David and I hit our 19 year anniversary.  David tells everyone I am 40 because he chooses to flirt with death.

6.  We have a huge deck now and just added a hot tub!

It is a delight.

Being out there under the stars at night is heaven.  I am a fan.

7.  I took the kids on a quick road trip for a family reunion.  Here are the Fab Four in the hotel hot tub:

8.  Sister Meagan came for a quick visit.

From left to right:  DM, Me, My Ma, Meagan.

9.  Daisy Mae, Sweet Pea, and Little Dude recreated a photo from 10 years ago this summer.

Here is  the  photo from 2009:

And from 2019:

Little Dude may have grown a bit.

10.  We have like a million cows now.

(Dutch Bro and Hershey)

Ok, not really.  But we have a lot.  Surprisingly, I enjoy my bovine friends.  I loathe pigs and am now pro-cow.   Who knew?!

Allow me to tell you all about them.

First all the sad bovine news:

We have lost a few of our friends.  Bessy and Tiny Tim died last fall, if you remember  those two.  Then we sold Felix.  Houdini died of THE BLOAT.  I didn’t know about THE BLOAT until Houdini the steer died of it.  Sad times.  Stupid Steve the Steer is now in a few peoples’ freezers.  Penelope the cow died when we were not at home.  We think she died having birthing complications.

Now the happy bovine news:

*We have a bull.  He is manly.  His name is Waylon.

*We have 7 cows and their calves.  Matilda (bull calf:  Rocky), Maisy (heifer calf:  Daisy), Mildred (LARGE cow, heifer calf:  Margie), Rosie (bull calf:  Dutch Bro), Babs (bull calf:  Jesse James), Seattle (bull calf,  unnamed.  I don’t know why.  We never got around to it.), and Hildy (deceased heifer calf, adopted calf Hershey).

So currently a total of 15.

Hildy’s heifer calf lived a couple months and died.  We don’t know why.  Farm life is hard.

David bought a bottle calf at an auction for $10.  Hildy adopted him after her calf died.  His name is Hershey.

David fenced our entire property so the cows have a lot more space to roam.

11.  I helped David castrate one of the bull calves, now a steer.  He might be my favorite calf.  His name is Dutch Bro.

In this picture from left to right-Rocky, Margie, and Dutch Bro.

But did you read that?!

I, Taylor Maliblahblah, helped her husband castrate a calf.

It did not make my list of top ten activities.

12.  I watched Babs give birth.

It DID make my list of top ten activities.

We knew that she was going to have a calf soon.  So about a week ago I began to stalk her.  And I really have no idea how to tell if a cow is about to calve.  So I did a lot of Googling and a lot of staring.

I did a lot of staring at her private lady areas.  I felt like a creep.  And I was seriously hopeful that she was ACTUALLY pregnant.  Because if she wasn’t, well then I was just completely invading her privacy.

Babs is a nice cow.  She lets me pet her.  The other cows are skiddish, but not Babs.

Look!  I even took a selfie with her!

I mean, seriously.

So, for many days I was on #cowbirthwatch2019.  Traipsing all about the property trying to find her and staring at her in disturbing ways.

And then-

my creepiness paid off!

Look!  Hooves!

I felt a great sense of relief knowing she was actually pregnant.

I was able to see the whole thing and even got the birth on video.

Babs chose to have him on a very brushy hillside in the back of our property.  During a heat wave.  Which was extremely convenient.

The boys and I were hauling water in for her because she was too far from the cow water tank.  We are nice to our bovine friends.

The calf, Jesse James, was too weak and wobbly to get up the hill over all the brush.

So a couple of days later, David helped us and we moved Babs and Jesse James to an unused pig pen so we could keep a better eye on them.

Handsome Dude drove the bobcat and Little Dude sat in the bobcat bucket with Jesse James.

David and I guided Babs and shoo’d away all other nosy cows who wanted to follow.

We were successful.

I shall leave you with a photo of Mildred.  Because everyone needs a photo of Mildred.

Happy Thursday!