Beautiful Sunny Morning Break

It’s a beautiful morning 
I’m sunning on the front porch a few minutes getting my vitamin D!
    I look out and see freshly mowed pasture and hay field all done. Cow’s enjoying the shade already at 10am. 
    Wild birds scarfing up the exposed bugs from me brush hogging 
    Best of all I have quite time without a hubby needing something!
    I might actually get the kitchen where you can see a square inch of clean counter !

I know some women complain about a dirty kitchen because the sink as maybe 2 dishes in it. No I'm not like that I swear to all that when I say 1" of clean counter would be nice I am serious! 

    4 out of 7 days I am picking up and delivering help. I don't get much done in the little time they are here. Then it's do what I can either do myself or help with outside in this crazy heat and humidity. Age does not help that at all. 

    By the time I get back in the house there is down time to recuperate and then try to feed hubby make what business calls or whatever needs to be done or maybe even do a little basic cleaning to keep things sanitary around here. It's pitiful some days!

     We are having a few rainy days this week and the hay man is coming to move 100 bales that are too far away from the house to transport on our little bitty hay trailer. So today I hope it has been a recovery day for me. Surely Friday will be better. Sometimes allergies, too busy or even me picking up on other peoples emotional or physical whatever's just knocks me for a loop!  I'm ready for a break from it all. After everything I have been doing housework is almost a vacation!

 Love ❤️

Ranchmama

Hogging With Wiley Coyote

    It's hay season again. We are having the hay baled for us but we have to move the hay. Down below the house we have about a 40 acre ? hay field. It only got about 90 round bales this year. That is 1/2 of what we got last year. They say it's because we had a cold April. I don't know but since we didn't get enough for the year we had them bale another place and got 94?? Bales. Still not enough hay so we are going to have them bale up some on another place we have. We hope to get at least 250 bales to get through winter and feed any we need to when weening or whatever.

   I was brush hogging the hay pen where we store some it at the house. The weeds and grass was 6 foot plus. We had about 25 bales left over from last year so couldn't just turn cows loose and let them graze it down. So here I was just brush hogging like crazy and when I got over close to the left over hay I must have made a coyote nervous. Kind of made me jump. All of a sudden from between the bales I had a coyote jump flat footed straight up over a bale and went running out to the now cut and baled field. It was really really funny..... I must have plumb scared the pee out of him because as soon as he quit running he hiked up is leg and just peed forever! I had the biggest giggle out of that. He kept walking across the field going from shade tree to shade tree since it was at least 100*F continuously looking back at me giving me the dirtiest go to !@@#$ look! You could just hear him cussing me from all the way down there as he walked and kept looking back at me. !@##$%^&!

       So the next day I was actually moving the hay bales and  had to move the ones that were left over out of the way so I could clean it up good. I noticed it was a little bumpy. 
       When I started to actually move the ones off the field and place them in the hay pen I kept falling into some really big holes! You know how a dog digs a hole in a damp spot trying to stay cool, well he had at least 4 big holes dug like that. I turn the tractor wheels a little to sharp in one and try to go somewhere it would rock the whole tractor like it could tip if I didn't stop. 
      When I told daughter about find him and scaring the pee diddle out of him she said I should shoot him. I said naaaa..... he's thinning out the mice and cleaning up any stray feed on the ground. 
     I tell you what..... after having to wrestle with those !@#$%^^@ holes I just about told hubby to take aim! I'm past the ruff stuff now. So I guess he is safe enough. I will just be happy with the idea that I messed up his house for a while LOL!
  Monday --- Finally got to finish up putting in the other 45 bales of hay this afternoon after picking up the help and delivering him back. I changed clothes and told hubby be ready to bring something in to eat. 
    I was on the last 3 bales in the field and going back to get another load. What do I see???... I see that same young male coyote wondering into the field. I kept coming with the tractor. He looked at me and walked then looked at me and thought about it. "Man she's still coming! She's getting closer! Forget it !!@#$% that woman just keeps on messing up my day! He took off back across the creek. LOL  
    I finished up all the hay in that field and hubby called the cows in to clean it up. You would think we hollard POOL PARTY ! They all came running and bucking and loving it all!

Love
Ranchmama
( Still sore and with at least another 120 or so bales to move somewhere at 2 at a time)

What a busy day!

I started my day out at 6am today. Took a bit to get all loosened up. Did all the breathing meds and all.

   Had a little fun giving hubby a hard time. He was sleeping in the recliner when I went into the living room. He woke up just enough to chat when I asked him what was in today’s plans. He went over a few things and wanted to go back to sleep. I razzed him about not wanting to talk to me. He has a habit of waking me at midnight when I’m finally sleepy enough to go to sleep to talk about serious stuff we have never found a answer to before. I say can’t this wait? The he goes into how I never want to talk.Then he says crazy things when I tell him midnight isn’t the time to talk about big things! It’s time to sleep! So this morning I kept waking him up wanting to talk about the day. I complained and said what’s wrong with you?? You never want to talk!! Come on,wake up and talk to me! He totally ignores me! I told him that’s ok I’ll remember that an do it to you. I just walked away laughing! Finally got him!

      I got dressed and was out the door to pick up help by 7:30. Got back with them about 8a. Hubby was leaving for a doctors appointment. 

       They got done with a little job and wanted some hornets spray so they could get into a building. I asked who could run the fastest? They did some painting for me and 2 hours later I took them home 

     Coming back through Prague I stopped in the park and bought two bags of corn. $18 for 72 ears of corn. Usually hubby shucks and I clean and process but this time it was all I could do to get him to carry in the sacks. He just didn’t feel great and wasn’t going to. I drove us to the gas tank to fill up the truck, stopped so he could vacuum out the floors and check birds. 

    Got back to the house and it was way past lunch so I just skipped it and started shucking corn. It took a while. Made one heck of a mess! I got all kinds of sore. It was almost 4 or so when I finished.

   Made a round with hubby checking cows from the road. Came back and told hubby it’s a TV dinner night! 

     I know you’re supposed to blanch the corn before freezing but my fancy stove takes forever to boil water an I was way out of energy so just put them into ziplock bags an said done!! Some are short ears because they were too long to fit the bags. The rest were long. I saved 10 ears for super.  

     Hubby wants me to try a Mexican street corn recipe so that will be interesting. I finally gave up after supper when I carried the bags to the freezer. 

    Take a look! It made a royal mess. I still have to get the sticky off the table and floor.

 

 But look what beautiful corn I have to put in the freezer ! 

They said they didn't spray their corn thank goodness. Out of all these ears I didn't see one bug. I only had to trim just a few places also. I would love to know their secret to non buggy non sprayed corn!

Love

Ranchmama

Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake

This is the latest new recipe I have tried lately. It wasn't as pretty as theirs was in their picture but it sure was good !I have got to learn how to take good internet pics! As with pineapple upside down cake this was good also. Makes me wonder about using other toppers like pears, peaches, or even some kind of berries!
    The only thing I did different was after I poured it into the pan I added some chopped up apples to the top of the batter. I'm thinking now maybe it would have been better to mix some in with the batter but I was afraid they would all sink down. 
    It was a nice tasty easy cake to make. It was only one 8" round layer but that's ok it was a good size to try out. I can see how this would be good as a larger oblong cake to take somewhere or for more than 2 people. I would for sure double the amount of gooey part for the topping. It wasn't as caramely tasting as I thought it was going to be. I think maybe if I had added a little tiny bit of cream and cooked it just a tad instead of just melting like this calls for it would have a more caramel flavor maybe. 
    The cake it's self.... it isn't like one of those light and fluffy birthday cake types. It's a little heavier but amazingly light for this type of cake. Just moist enough but not like glue when you eat it. I might save this recipe just for a basic single layer cake like jiffy mix style to fix sometimes.
    It's fine eating at room temp but warming up and putting regular heavy cream or cool whip would be good also. 
 
Love
Ranchmama
Hope you enjoy if you try it!

 

 

 

Cake

https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/caramel-apple-upside-down-cake/

Bake at 350°F degrees for 35-40 minutes

Ingredients                                                            **** NOTES ****
Topping
    ¼ cup unsalted butter (60 grams)
    ½ cup light brown sugar (100 grams)
    ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
    2 lg apples (peel, cored, and thinly sliced)

Cake
    1 and ½ cups AP flour, spooned & leveled (190 grams)
    1 tsp. baking powder
    ¼ tsp. salt
    ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
    ½ cup unsalted butter, softened  (115 grams)
    ⅔ cup granulated sugar (130 grams)
    2 lg eggs, room temperature
    1 tsp. vanilla
    ½ cup milk (120 ml)

Instructions
    Spray a 9-inch cake pan well with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

To make the topping:
    Add butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon to pan over medium heat.
    Stir well until the mixture is completely melted and smooth.
    Remove from the heat
    Pour mixture into prepared cake pan evenly on the bottom.
    Arrange apple slices evenly on top. Set aside.

To make the cake:
    Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
    In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar until smooth.
    Slowly add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each one.
    Add vanilla and mix until fully combined.
    Alternate dry mix and milk into butter mix, starting and ending with flour.
    Pour the batter on top of the sliced apples.
    Bake, allow to cool for about 10 minutes before flipping onto large plate.

3 AM Surprise

    Tuesday morning 6/5/2018 at 3 am I woke up not able to breathe real good. I go into my little computer room / office / catch all to do room to get on the breathing machine. Hubby had snoozed off in the living room recliner I noticed as I walked in to do my medicine. I had just finished and thought I heard some strange sound outside. My room in located in the front of the house just off the front door. I kept hearing this strange low shuffling noise. I was thinking, "What the heck kind of animal did we have out there?" I have heard armadillos shuffling in the leaves and skunks before but not the noise this thing was making. I turned off the light in my room so I could step out to the front door and sneak over to turn the outside porch light on. This way I wasn't back lit and whatever it was couldn't see me maybe until I turned on the light outside.

    Well I looked out a little bit and didn't really see anything. Then I turned on the light..... WHOA ! There was some skinny tatted up man with brown hair in a pony tail suddenly at the front of the door! Well crapola ! He had both arms across his chest with each hand on a shoulder making a X. He was mumbling, and I do mean mumbling and chattering his teeth, he was saying something about the cold. His arms were wet from the elbow to his wrist like he was dipping them into the doggie pool we have just outside the door. Maybe he tripped into it but it didn't look like it.

     Hubby was still asleep in the chair, as I backed away from the still closed storm and regular doors, told him to get his gun there is somebody at the door! That is something we keep really handy now days since we don't move to quick. He reached over while he was sitting there to get it. I told him just stay there don't go outside. Call the sheriff ! I kept my eye on the door and when he dialed I talked to the dispatcher. I told him we had someone at the front door that had no business being there. My name , address and a description of the man as a white male, tattoos, brown hair, under 6 foot, thin. Told them we had a gun but we were not going out there. ( We had no clue if this was a honest problem or a decoy to distract with others out there or what. I wasn't about the open the door to check it out ) He said he had two deputies on the way and would stay on the phone with me. I gave him a description of the house and told him the porch light was on. Told him the man had to hop a steal gate and walk a city block to get to the house. Told him the gate was locked and I couldn't get too it to open it because he was in the way. I told him if we go out there I wasn't about the clean up the mess we would have, I figured I would let them take care of that. LOL He told me that's ok they would hop the gate. We chatted and I said where the hell are those damn floodlights I have been wanting when I need them? ! While I was talking to him the "critter" disappeared I told him but given his condition I'm sure he didn't go far.

    I stayed on the phone with him for 23 minutes and he would give me a update every now and then about where they were at on the way. As soon as I saw someone with a really good light ( Better than a mag light .. I need one of those! ) coming down the driveway  I told him they are here and we are putting our  gun down. (Didn't want them to think they had to watch out for us. It was still handy with plenty of flying debris to take care of things if needed.)

    I opened my main door (which has a big window in the middle that isn't exactly a safe thing with intruders) and lowered the storm door screen enough to hear the officer yell out .... stop right there! .... I will shoot!.... lay down on the ground! ..... They found him between our 2 trucks in front of the garage that is too small for extra long vehicles. I thought.... turns out they found him in the back seat of my extended cab pick up ! I have no clue how that happened, we really slipped up. Normally we have EVERYTHING locked up around here except old blue. Somehow we had neglected to lock it up the last time we used it. That is a rare thing and look what happened. 
    Once they had him cuffed and down on the ground I walked out staying out of sight because I didn't want him to see me. I found out when the officer was checking the back of the truck they found him in there. I was lucky he didn't urinate or defecate in my truck. They even checked the back end that has a roll up cover on it to make sure nobody was in it. I told the officer we didn't have any weapons in it for the man to get. We for sure tossed all the water bottles we had back there! LOL We got lucky on not having to disinfect the truck. 

  

 I listened to the officers ask him questions.

What's your name .. he knew that.
Are you hurt ? Where do you hurt? Moaning and groaning Did you have a accident ? He didn't know.  ( one of the officers went down the road to see if there was a wreck ) No wreck.
Is anybody with you? He got separated from his brother. When did you see your bother last? Shawnee What's your brothers name ? How did you get here ? I don't know.
     I mean this man DID NOT KNOW JACK ! He was still moaning and shivering and groaning curled up in a fetal position on the pavement. I never got real close but I wasn't as worried as before about his returning some day. He had no clue of anything at all !
      One of the officers drove around in his car to check the buildings out around the property for his bother or anyone else he didn't see any tracks in the dew or anyone around.
       Another officer came over to talk to me and said that he was drunk. He had a footprint in the middle of his back. They figured he had a drug deal go bad in Shawnee and someone beat the living daylights out of him and then dumped him like a dog in the middle of nowhere. I mean other than winding up on my doorstep literally you have to admit that is pretty damn funny ! That footprint in the middle of the back pretty much told it all. LOL
    Since he was in bad shape they called the ambulance. Even the Deputies couldn't believe how long it was taking to get them here. They said good thing it wasn't serious.
     The EMT's arrived, a man and a woman. They were all standing around him in a circle.
They asked about why he was curled up like that? Do you hurt anywhere? My back..... EMT raised up the shirt and said his back looked just fine. The other one ran her hand down the middle and the man moaned real big around the lower shoulder area.
One EMT lifted his arm looking for needle tracks.
They asked, ' What drugs are you on today?" he said none.
Ok what drugs did you do yesterday?? None Alright... get up... lets walk to the ambulance..... I can't You walked your way here you can walk to the ambulance. He didn't move. One of the Deputies told him you either go to the hospital or you go with us to jail Which one are you going to do? He suddenly sobered up and decided he could go to the ambulance. I don't remember seeing him walk to the ambulance.

     After he was gone and the deputies were still here I asked him why they didn't just help him up. He said, did you see him suddenly get alert and decide to go to the hospital? He has been in the system enough to know what would happen if he went to jail. We chatted a while and I said I guess you see this stuff all the time. He said it was getting bad everywhere, mainly break ins.  We talked about how bad people were getting. He said his job sure does harden you up to a lot of stuff. Both deputies were very nice, professional acting. I told him I was surprised they got there that fast. He said if it had been more serious they would have driven faster. Since everyone was gone I asked if Heidi Ho could come out and see them. He had made a comment when looking at her looking out the door about her wanting to come out and bite someone. I told them you just have to worry about that wicked tongue and tail beating them up! LOL  I like the cops to know she isn't going to hurt anyone. She came out and everyone loved on her and she was a happy camper.

     They had me fill out a incident report about what all happened. They needed my drivers license and SS number for some reason. Kind of bugs me but whatever. They were going to file breaking and entering charges on the man. I don't know why they didn't get him for trespassing also.  By the time everyone was gone it was 5 am and there was NO WAY I could go back to sleep. NOPE ! Just wasn't going to happen I didn't sleep all day with everything we had to do. Now when it gets night time I can't help but be leery. I just have to remember how many nights that nothing happened. Even though many years ago 20+ years there was a time when my in laws were living here and didn't lock the gate. A car load of men tried to bust in the front door. My older than us now father in law opened the garage door with is 410 ( like that would do anything but tickle someone ) and chased them off some how.  WW2 vet still had it even then! LOL Just his choice of weapons stunk. 

       

     After everyone was gone I told hubby I thought we did pretty good really. I didn't open ANY doors. I stayed calm and called the sheriff. Hubby had a weapon handy to take care of things if needed. I was clear enough thinking to know that he could have "friends" out there with him. I asked hubby what could we do to improve in the future. He said shoot him. I said but what if they have others outside with him. Shoot them as they come in the door. 

     The next morning I had to take a tire to town to be repaired. I have been hunting with the guys enough to know what to look for.. As I went out I checked the middle and side of the road and didn't see any tracks like foot prints or dragging feet. The road was dry and pretty hard packed so I didn't expect much on that.  I looked at the tall grass along the road and didn't see any walking paths or where someone just was pushed out in the grass pressing it down. I checked the other side coming back from town. Nothing like he just fell out of the sky.      

 

       I have been thinking.... since we have windows in the front door like stained glass but clear folks can see straight through to the recliner because of the lamp beside the chair. I need to go outside after dark and just see how much a person can really see out there. We may have to change the lighting up. I also see that the trucks sure do create a blind spot more than I thought. Some kind of outdoor lighting around the yard that shows everything is needed. Something we can see out but we can control so if we want to sneak out they can't see us. There are driveway alarms we could put people high so critters wouldn't trigger them. Most people would say get a outside dog for a alarm but honestly I hate to leave a dog in the elements. Heidi Ho was sound asleep in the back bedroom.  Heck I was just a few feet away and just barely heard anything. I just happened to be wired in a way I notice odd noises. If I had been asleep I wouldn't have heard anything. It wasn't like he was knocking or banging anything around. Hubby always goes out the door armed. He will for sure be more alert now. LOL If he had opened the garage door to someone in the truck I don't know what would have happened.
Love Ranchmama ( Thinking about safety more. Your never prepared for everything )

Saturday Work With the Help

       Today I start finishing up the work I have hired a 16 year old to do. We are going around the fences and limb lopping off young cedar trees and anything hanging over the fence I can't drive by with a tractor. I almost have all the outside fences done on the Sires place. We have it started on our home place but I will finish the outside fences when we get done with the other places. 
    My method of doing it is I go to all the places and clear out any new growth along the outside fences first. I like to be able to drive around all the fences on the inside so we can repair and do whatever is needed. 
    Once I get the outside fences done on all the properties I start working on the inside cross fences one place at a time. 
   If I don't get this kind of thing done we will lose our fences to overgrowth really quick in just a matter of a few years. You can't afford to clean out and replace fences every few years with a bull dozer for sure so much better to do this. 
    I am trying to get as much done as I can before we get to hot so we can avoid snakes and ticks to some degree. I sure as heck don't want to get someone hurt while doing it!
    I will take the fence bucket with us in case we see some fence clips that need to be put on or whatever while out.
     I hope I can get a pipe dug out that popped up in one of the pasture roads that isn't being used for drainage any more. I have been after hubby about it for over a year because we have to go around it when driving. I am afraid we are going to hit it with a tire and get a flat. He argues with me but I'll be darned if I'm going to let the chance to fix it go by now that I have some help! 
    If we get done in time and the guy still has energy  I'm going to put him to work picking up rocks south of the barn. It's a place where the cows are a lot and where they have eroded the ground and exposed them. Just perfect for hubby to trip over out there when he is putting feed out. 
    We have a pipe H for the fence the cows walk by constantly hugging the fence. Cows do that a lot about hugging fence corners. It is also eroding and I'm going to have him fill up the hole there so maybe they won't walk there so much and if nothing else it will keep the dirt from eroding and weakening the fence. 
    I love having help! I can supervise and get things done I have been bugging hubby about that he doesn't think is important.! 
    It is surprising how tiring it is to supervise someone for 5 hours or more! Wears you out even though your not doing a lot of anything but watching and instructing. 
    I'm going to be worn out when I get back into the house but I have been gathering ingredients together the last few trips to town to make me a Lemon Blueberry Cake for my birthday. Hubby said that isn't his kind of cake I told him too bad! It's my birthday and I am going to make something I have been wanting to try for a while now. Naturally it is a complicated from scratch cake somewhat so I can actually make it in stages and put together on a different day. The saddest part is I don't have anyone to share it with! When you don't have family around it's hard to enjoy cooking. Hubby has such stupid picky taste buds and doesn't like so many things I swear it has ruined my ability to cook good! So I figure I will get to try a piece or 2 of cake and give the rest to the helper. 

gotta go, help will be here soon

Love
Ranchmama
   

One L of a Week !@#!#

I guess you can say the week started off like the classic Monday on the 16th. I was trying to show and supervise some 16 yo boys on how to do things in the birdhouse. They do good but I was trying to iron out some stuff. I have never been able to go into the birdhouse because it makes me sick. I have been lately trying to give hubby a helping hand. I always cover my mouth and nose even if I don't have a mask handy. I haven't been staying in there but maybe 10 minutes or so but this day I had to be a little longer. I was watching and seeing why there was such a big mess in the feed room. So there was a lot of watching the way he did things. I figured it out and showed him how to sweep up between batches of feed so it wouldn't get all over the feed room floor and also waste a lot of feed money. I had been having some breathing issues the last few days and croaky sounding but doing all the magic tricks I knew to fix it. Before I was done in there with him I had to step outside. I was having a problem breathing and it was hitting hard and fast. I struggled to make it the few feet to the truck. I turned on the A/C full speed to get me some air. I sat real still while trying to drive to the house. I used my inhaler several times. When I pulled up in front of the garage I honked madly for hubby to come out. I just couldn't hardly move! I told him to open the front door because it was quicker and shorter distance to my breathing machine. I had to take a few steps and stop to try to breathe. There was no O2. I felt like I was going to pass out. I made it into the house and hubby was there trying to get me anything I wanted. I had him get my clothes so I could maybe look decent and barely got those on. I told him to get me the pulse ox and a water pill. The pulse Ox said 85. No wonder I felt like I was dying! I told him we were going to the ER. I took my machine with me to use in the car if needed. I did my Advair since it was time. I mean I did everything.I could, I think we were there by 3:30?? I remembered some homeopathic asthma meds on the way and took them. That finally did help relax some stuff so I could function just sitting there.  We were out by 6:30 or so with antibiotics and steroid scripts. They gave me meds to get me through till the morning. That helped a bunch. Naturally my water pills kick in and every time I had to find a bathroom my O2 would drop down again to 87 or so. It was really rough. I need to get some kind of portable small O2 canister for emergencies like that. The hospital is too far away in Shawnee. Nothing closer will take BCBS insurance. 
    Tuesday --- It was go get the meds in town while hubby took care of the man that was coming to till up 2 plots that were 20x20 in 2 different places. He didn't want to deal with someone but I wasn't going to be out in the pollen after the night before. 
     Here I went through cancer surgery and the flue season and thankfully missed that and then the oak pollen kicks my butt into the ER ! 
    I have a government contract for 5 years to plant and maintain a wild flower plot. I had shown hubby where I wanted both of them. A few days before I had shown a man where to put them also. He could get it done a lot quicker with his tractor attachment than we could with what we had. The man was reeking of booze. One of those with a bottle in the hand at all times but functioning what appears to be fine. 
    As I was going to town I stopped on the road and I could see where the man was putting the garden plot. I called hubby and told him that didn't look right . I told him I wanted it more away from the fence like I showed him. Oh he's going to do it a lot bigger than what you wanted. It will be fine. I went on to town. 
  Wednesday --- We made a trip to OKC. I was still not breathing great but I could function and walk without being in a mess. 
  Thursday was a feed cow day so after breakfast I got ready to go with hubby and feed the cows. On one of the places we noticed a cow down by the creek. We drove over and it looked like one of Nikki's cows had died trying to have a calf. It was a strange place for her to be for sure. She was a old cow probably since it was on one of the places with the oldest cows.  While I was in the area I wanted to go see the garden plots that were done and plant the 1/2 pound of Government approved wildflower seeds since it was going to rain on Friday or Saturday. Figured it would be perfect timing. 
    Well low and the H@#$ I have definitely proven that one woman is a L of a lot smarter that ANY 2 MEN ANY DAY !!!!
     I look at the garden plot I stopped on the road and told hubby it wasn't right and it sure as L wasn't! I couldn't believe my eyes! After me showing the tractor man, then showing hubby, then stopping on the road and calling him to tell him it wasn't right ...... it was no fricking way it was anywhere near where I said I wanted it! 
    Hubby couldn't see what the big deal was! I told him I wanted it in that spot so we could drive around it will all the hay equipment or brush hog so it didn't take over the field. He said you can still do that ! I told him what the heck is wrong with you???? I didn't have a choice and planted the flowers anyway. 
   We get done there and go to feed cows in another 160. I want to go plant the other flower garden that was tilled up in a hay field where the government wanted it. So we open the gate go up there and guess what...... They did it damn again!!!!!  Hubby said the man said this is where you wanted it! I told hubby I thought you and I talked about it and I showed you where I wanted it! Well it is over in that area where you said you wanted it! I flat out told him L no it isn't! I said here in the middle of everything! You put it way the heck over there! He said well that's close enough what's wrong with that??!! I had to point out where I originally said to put it there was sunshine from all angles and I could brush hog around it with plenty of room. Where you guys put it There are huge cedar trees on the west and east side of them blocking the morning and afternoon sun!
   I was so so so furious! I could not believe he actually did that too me. I couldn't get out in the crud if I wanted to breathe. So I counted on him to do it for me. You would think that between 1 1/2 men (the other guy was a drunk ) they could figure it out. I was so mad I could cry! I would have but it would have just made me sick and couldn't breathe. Anyone that knows me around here knows I don't get mad. So that is just how bad this whole thing was. I boil just thinking about it. I didn't say much for the rest of the day and night I was so mad. I didn't dare. I would have said a lot of not nice things. 
Friday was a semi normal day. I actually got to stay in the house and get a few things done I have been trying to do all week in the kitchen. 
Saturday - I don't remember what was going on much other than we finally got some much needed rain. We decided to go skip breakfast and just feed cows before it started raining. We finished up and we were making a round on the road to check some other cows and noticed a big heifer up by the road fence trying to have a calf. I mean right up against the fence! They don't usually do such weird things. We looked from the road and she had to feet out pretty good. We didn't know to leave her there or try to walk her into the coral into the head catcher. It was raining and everyone had been doing good having calves so we decided to eat breakfast and then check her. 
    After breakfast we went in the pasture and thought maybe if we give it a little tug she will just pop it right out. We got the rope from behind the seat and hubby placed the loop around it's feet. He doesn't have the strength he used to so I was putting all my weight into the rope and pulling with all I got. Even with contractions we weren't getting anywhere. We could see the nose now so it would probably be ok but his tongue was starting to swell a little. We backed up the truck to the rope and I gently drove and we pulled the calve out that way.
    All the time this is going on we are in a cold dark dreary rain. What a heck of a time. The calves tongue was pinking up and all but he was just laying there. No telling how long she may have been trying to have that baby. We just left her alone  to do her job. 
Sunday -- After breakfast hubby went to check on the calf to see if it was still alive. It was he said, just barely. He couldn't get it to stand up and lock his legs in. The cow was being good and doing her job the calf just couldn't. I told him I would try to get some milk down it if he wanted me to. He said it never works like that they always die. I told him I would do whatever he wanted me to. I tried to get it to drink out in the pasture but it wouldn't suck. It was sooo cold and soooo wet. The poor thing wasn't going to make it for sure like that. We loaded it up in the truck took it too the shop and put a heater on it to warm it up and dry it off. I opened it's mouth and drizzled some warm milk down it and had to watch to see if it swallowed before trying again. It was too cold and weak to sit up or do anything. It would bite my fingers but never suck. After a while it tried to sit up but couldn't unless we propped it up. He would even bawl a little bit. 
    All this time I am on a little stool, bent over more than my back hips and legs want to and about to die! Ouchie for sure. 
    Took a 2 hr rest went back to try it again and this time I couldn't even get him to blink. Tried rubbing him to get him to respond. He was breathing just barely and died in a few minutes. The really sad part is the cow is at the fence looking for him an walking around the pasture at the last 2 places she saw him. We hauled it back to her to see it was dead so she would know but she didn't understand and went the other way. We dropped the calf off deeper in the pasture so maybe she will find it and know what happened. Cows morn when they lose a calf. That is why we were trying to show her. 
    We saved the cow. She will be a good mama. The baby was a bull and his head was shaped a little rounder and bigger. We got the head out then the hips were hard to get out. 
    After all this I told hubby lets make a round. I like to check things from the road and it relaxes me sometimes after a tough day. We get in old blue and make a round. D!@@# if we didn't see a cow laying down on Grandma's in a new field we just opened for them to graze in. We went on around to the other places and said if she is still down when we come back we can check her. All the cows thought we were going to feed them so they came out of that field. We could see then that the one cow was still down. This is the place where we had the old cow we had to help up a couple of times. We went home and hubby got in the tractor to check her since the truck would get stuck after the rains. I reminded him she may just need help getting up. He called and said no she was dead and he moved her away from the road and other cows.  At least she passed away in a nice new green field of grass. 
    That's what happens sometimes. The weather turns from warm to cold and rainy and anything with a weakness out there gets thinned out. After a day like the last two we had we were lucky it wasn't us because we really have to struggle to do those physical things now days. 
    It's been doing good the last few years on heifers I guess it was just time to have a bad spell with cows. Sometimes no matter how hard you try stuff just happens. I did learn something. I used to think a calf was just too weak but I think this one was o2 deprived and had some brain damage and couldn't suck or stand.

Love
Ranchmama
(Tired, still aggravated, and hoping it all gets better now. )
  










 

Husbands and Lunches.... again!

Today’s lunch was typical.....

     We had to go to OKC today for birds. Stopped in Shawnee at Aldies since it was closer easier to maneuver in than Wally World. Picked up a $5 pizza for lunch amongst other things.

       I’ve been up since 5 am. We made a trip to the city and finally get home unload things and put pizza in the oven. 

       When it’s done I served hubby his in the recliner and go get mine to eat. Sitting there enjoying the new lunch choice he turned the tube to what I am currently binge watching. 

         Earlier coming into the house we had a jam trying to get into the door. He was in front opening the door I was loaded down trying to get through. I couldn’t get around him. He wouldn’t just go forward out of my way. No he had a one track mind. What he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it. Anything I was doing wasn’t even crossing his mind! 

       So here we are eating quietly enjoying the new treat and he starts talking about business! I growled at him telling him he was doing it again! How and when and what he wants to heck with anyone else! 

       He said well since your irritated anyway.... and started asking me to do some business stuff later. I told him he was like someone else we know... irritating as hell but I loved him anyway. 

       It was so funny,he said now that’s going over the line! That’s a little much!  He said, I’m going outside to check things and shut the gate. I said, great you mean I’m going to get rid of you for a little while! We wound up laughing as he walked out.

Love

Ranchmama