Monday, September 5, 2011

Blessings are being had today!

Sunday August 7,2011
   Blessings are being had today! This morning was so much cooler and cloudier that when we went to check cows on Sires and found them out moving around and acting like they were really enjoying the cooler weather. We didn't even bother taking them up to the pond so they could park themselves in the shade nearby. We had clouds come close and talk about it with the thunder but we didn't get any wet stuff.
    I think today's high was around 100* with below 30% humidity. With the clouds blocking some sun you could actually go out without feeling like your the piggy on the roasting stick of the campfire. No burning yourself when you touched the truck handle or anything else metal. No so exhausted you can barely move and function and you worry if you or the animals are going to make it. No having to put the wet towel on the dog when he starts panting fast and shallow. Who woulda thunk 100*F temps for a high and clouds would be such a break!
    I told hubby today that it is going to take just as long for the people and animals to recuperate from the stress of the extreme heat as the ground, trees and grass.
   It was nice that he could come in for a few hours and actually sleep and rest. He needed it. This kind of strain is so hard on folks not just physically but mentally. He was talking today about if the weather was changing to this kind of extreme like we have had with the -20 below and over 115* temps he just don't think he could handle it like this. If we had younger family members as was planned maybe it could be done but on our own like this and getting older and no family members interested in the life it would almost be impossible to deal with or worth the effort.
      Tonight I think I am going to have some kind of steak, mashed potatoes and some nice cold watermelon with tea and bread and butter. Sounds simple enough but I tell you what there have been times here lately I could barely swing a sandwich and a drink for us to eat!
      Nice to see the weather breaking up but boy oh boy we need a lot more a lot quicker.







Ranchmama
(blessed and know it)


Friday August 5,2011

Friday August 5,2011

This was a fairly easy day for me. Hubby had to do some running around to go get feed but it was nice not to have to go hassle the heat right after breakfast.

   After he got back with the feed and unloaded he had to step in and tell me we had a problem. Your alarm button inside instantly goes off.... He said we had a dead cow on Grandmas by the pond next to the road. We just fed everything the day before and checked everything good. Everyone was there and eating well. So I got in Ol' Blue and  we went down to the shop to get a log chain. Can't just leave the cow there. Not only is it embarrassing it is also drawing natures clean up crew to the watering hole where the cows need to hang out. Besides that the neighbors dog was there helping with the clean up and I promise you if we left it there they would be putting on the doggie perfume in a few days and that is not a good thing. WHEW! That can stink! We got over to Grandmas and was thanking goodness Heidi didn't go. Not only was it too hot since it was about 1p. she thinks smelly dead things are the next best thing to indoor plumbing. LOL Hubby got out and grabbed the chain almost dropping it instantly it was so hot. We took the cow off to a far pasture that is out of the way from everything and if the cleanup crew show up it shouldn't bother anything. That chain was amazingly hot every time he had to handle it. We got to looking at our sale list for this fall and sure enough she was on it. I have been wanting to get her moved from there for a long while now because I noticed she was loosing weight and being bumped out of the feeding line. It was just too hot to handle the cows. To hot and hard on us and to hot and stressful for the cows. You just can't win. It doesn't do any good trying to help something if you or them keel over from the heat. There is no good time when it is cooler. Early morning is almost 90 * late night last night was 99*F at 9:30. Hubby said sometime during the day it registered 115*F in the shade on our East porch. Like I said ........... any little weakness in this heat is  like  a major handicap no matter if you have 2 or 4 legs  out there.
   I feel terrible when something like this happens. Losing a animal that is your responsibility to make sure they have everything they need to be healthy,comfortable happy campers is our job. Period. Some things I can see having something die because stuff happens no matter what. Like the younger cow we lost on Wednesday. We did everything we could this spring and pulled her through anaplaz. We thought we did real good. Saved a cow. Then here comes this heat. She has a calf. Still weak evidently from the spring illness and because I didn't listen to the mama in me and we were all tired I didn't make sure we moved her to the house where we could watch her better. Still the only thing that "might" have saved her is a IV and A/C and usually if you have to go to that extreme they don't live anyway. We did more than a lot of people around here do and still she just wasn't meant to live. Kind of like some people we know , sometimes it just isn't gonna happen right.
    Well it is 11:30 a and we are in for a rest and some lunch. Hubby was in some kind of really weak and bad stomach shape this morning so since everything is done we are going to be lazy bums in the A/C for a while. 

   The last few days we have been using Homeopathic China to get us through the heat stress. I don't know what we would have done without it that is for sure. Good grief! When it is this bad and you have pulled all the tricks out of the hat we just had to try this. It isn't like we could get up and run races but at least we could actually recuoperate with using this Homeopathic remedy. 

Ranchmama
( Still trying to get caught up......... I'm getting there. )




 

Thursday August 4, 2011

Thursday August 4, 2011
   Ok we did the up at midnight gone by 3a and at the airport by 4a. We were back home by 7a. We were both really tired. He just laid across the bed and said to wake him up at 8. I tried but he slept a little bit longer until 8:30. Soon as he got up he loaded feed in the trucks checked the birds and we went to feed cows. Seems like everything went well. The baby calf that is now a orphan on Sires we watched hanging around with the herd. So ok we called the cows up to take them up to the hay meadow pond to get a drink. Slowly but surely they actually crossed the dry creek and the baby calf followed them wanting to stay with the herd. That is a good thing. It even crossed the creek with a calf buddy so it was doing good until we got the the hay meadow gate and he decided he couldn't go in there and had to stay in the old shade tree place. That is ok. him and his buddy just enjoyed the shade trees. We figure he will be ok now. We still might have to show them the pond every morning but that is better than having to hand water and feed a cow 3 times a day!
    We got home and he did some more work while I cooled off in the house. Later hubby wanted me to help him with getting the rope back up on his flag pole. No problem. All I had to do is sit in the A/C tractor and lift him up slowly but surely on the front end loader until he could reach it. Short legs climbing into those big cab tractors is a challenge but I made it.! LOL He drove the tractor back and I took old blue and picked him up.
    We finally got in for some lunch and we both just sat down and went WHEW! Sometimes  you just can't even WHEW! enough to feel good no matter how many times you do it! LOL Someone called and I had to run into town and take care of some stuff and before I got back Hubby had check the birds and then leave and go see his dad in the Nursing home. Supper was left over meat some good mashed potatoes and all the goodies that go with it.


Ranchmama
(Yes I know it is late posting but hey......... I'm made that way sometimes! LOL)




 

Wednesday Aug. 3, 2011

Wednesday Aug. 3, 2011
fairly easy day in some ways.
still hot as all get out.
Hubby had to get out and going to catch birds to deliver to a man in OKC. One hour away but it tears up at least 3 there and back with everything that has to be done. If you have to stop anywhere even more time. I held down the homestead since it was so hot and not only dangerous if the car broke down but someone has to be here for those just in case something happens times.
   Our Sam the Dozer man came and finished up the Olympic size pond on the Sire's place. Looks great! Really deep!! I will try to get pics of it all soon. Don't know why I didn't get one so you could see the difference with the before pics. Now we need a gully washer to come in and fill it up. He also fixed one of the holes we have been battling all spring and winter when it rained. Now it is not only filled in but fixed to be drained properly. I told hubby we still need a load of gravel on it because all that is now is a pretty soon to be really deep mud hole! GRUMBLE GRUMBLE is all I got out of that. He brought the big Cat dozer over to the house and worked on the little pond at the barn. Once again no before pics. Sorry. He made it about 2 or 3 times bigger and way the heck deeper. The only problem is that the gate going between pasture and barn pen is now way to close to the edge of the pond. I told hubby when we take that fence out we are going to have to do something way different because it isn't safe when it gets wet or icy somebody is going to just slide right off whether it be truck or tractor we can't afford that kind of mess.
    I felt bad because we couldn't check the sick cow and the now moved calf until about 3 p. instead of the 3x's of day we were doing.  As we expected the cow was dead and the darn calf was still beside it's dead mama. Sure is exasperating all the way around. We worked hard not only to save the cow but the get the calf excepted by another mama in the herd when we took it up to the cows on the hill by the other pond. So this time we left the calf there with mama and went around the road to the other side and opened the hay field gate and once again called them down to the now huge dry pond and the corral to see if they would take the baby back with them.
    Here it is close to 120* (on the car temp.) and we are trying to get cows to follow us. We got lucky and some clouds moved over enough they didn't mind getting out of the shade. They followed us to the creek bed and Hubby got out and walked them across to the woods where the dead cow and now orphaned calf was. Soon as they got close enough he came out of the woods and mixed with them. I noticed one cow booted him away but there were others there watching over him. We will keep track of him the next few days to see if he is sucking another cow. If not well...... we just have to figure something else out. I am now on the look out for a huge dog crate for something like a great dane to put a baby calf in if we ever need to move one like this again. This one we had to let hubby get by the hind leg then carry it and hold in the back of the truck while I drove them around to the other cows. If we had a crate like that it would have been easier on him and even if one of us had to do it by ourselves it would have made it possible. There are just some things it ain't good to try and use a big ol' gooseneck trailer for.
    Now the cows know where the new to them pond is with good water. They have only found it once on their own after taking them up to it about 4 mornings in a row. I just hope they will continue to stay up there in the heat of the day. We noticed the cows and bull have been acting better with the better water supply.
      Dozer man pulled out today with the Olympic pond and the kiddy pool pond down at the barn done now. He worked 39.5 hrs  $95 a hour that was a $3750.00 total bill. It all started out as we have $1500 we can turn loose of and we should be able to get it done for that. W-R-O-N-G !!! W-R-O-N-G !!! W-R-O-N-G !!! We had no clue I guess! LOL Oh it is all done rite now. It is deep like it should be and the big pond is a life saver when it gets full. It also really increased the value of the property. We just moaned and groaned expecting a $5000 dollar bill the way it was taking so long and it was so big.  We'll get over it and enjoy the improvement. I told hubby we really need to try to do that to each place once a year if we can. All the ponds need cleaning out and enlarging not only for the cows but you never know if you need it for the house or something sometime.
    We wrapped up the day with some pork steaks and shells mac and cheese with grapes for dessert I was lucky to even whip that out. After going out in the heat and doing anything, even just riding around in a unairconditioned truck I am just worthless. No matter how much water you drink or come in and cool off it just doesn't undo the heat damage. Your still weak, tired, can't think, don't give a flip for a lot of stuff and just get it all done good enough to just get it done.
    Well got to go.
    We have a weird night. Have some people in Florida that want some hand feeding size cockatiels shipped to them. Hubby is going to "try" to nap and then go out about 11p and get them ready for shipping. We will leave about 2:30 to be at the airport by 4 am. I am used to weird sleeping hours but will see how it goes. Still going to be in the 80* range though.

Ranchmama