Picture of the Damage

This is what I look like after Elsie kicks me while trying to milk her. It's hard to be bold and just do what needs to be done while looking at her hind leg just waiting to push me out of the way. The 2nd time she even managed to push the bucket out of my hand (I was holding it because I knew she wasn't going to hold still)and got me wet. Now I'll have to wash the jeans again just so they don't smell like sour milk tomorrow!

She held still long enough for me to place the bucket on the ground and use both hands to get less than a pint of milk. She didn't kick, but I still poured the milk into the other container before starting back up. This seems like it might be her trigger to start fussing, but I don't want to lose what milk I've managed to get either.

A friend told me to really lean into her while milking and it will make her feel off balance if she tries to lift her leg. It works, but not the whole time I'm out there. It's how I end up looking like this picture. She actually scraped my skin this time. I banged the back of my head jumping up to yell at her. I was also told to make a scene and let her know who's in charge. I'm not sure my scene conveyed that, but I did it anyway! I pulled her feed box out of her reach, told her if she won't let me milk I won't let her eat! I wonder if she understands me?

On the bright side-Jasper was mooing and jumping trying to get the chickens to play with him. It was cute to watch! Didn't have the camera though...

The Cow Plan

I read this story about 10 days before Elsie was due. It sounds so simplistic in its approach that it makes me think, "why aren't more people doing this?" As soon as we can build a seprate pen for Jasper, we'll probably do the same thing.

How To Have Your Milk & Drink It Too

I hope this doesn't happen here...

When you're from the country ~ you look at things a little differently...


A Mississippi rancher got into his pickup truck, drove to a neighboring ranch and knocked at the door.

A young boy, about 9 years old, opened the door.
"Is your Dad home?" the rancher asked.
"No sir, he isn't," the boy replied. "He went into town."

"Well," said the rancher, "Is your Mother here?"

"No sir, she's not here either. She went into town with Pa."

"How about your brother, Howard? Is he here?"

"No sir, He went with Mom and Pa."

The rancher stood there for a few minutes, shifting from one foot to the other and mumbling to himself.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" the boy asked politely. "I know where all the tools are, if you want to borrow one. Or maybe I could take a message for Pa."

"Well," said the rancher uncomfortably, "I really wanted to talk to your Dad. It's about your brother Howard getting my daughter, Suzie, pregnant."'

The boy considered for a moment. "You would have to talk to Pa about that," he finally conceded. "If it helps you any, I know that Pa charges $500 for the bull and $50 for the hog, but I really don't know how much he gets for Howard."

Thanks to my Aunt Susan for sending this...

Kelly vs Elsie

OK, I can't remember if we started milking her on Monday or Tuesday, but things have gotten gradually better until today. I learned yesterday that leaning into her helps keep her from kicking so I decided I'd start out that way today and just be ready to move quickly if I saw her lift her foot.

We were doing well-I was using two hands with the bucket on the ground and she wasn't stomping or kicking. She started to move a little so I grabbed the bucket just in time to keep her from stepping in it. Whew, close call. I poured off what was in the bucket (learned that from somewhere) and started again. She wasn't going for it this time. Rocking back and forth, lifting her foot when I'd get close to her teats. I persisted. She stomped hard, I smacked her on the flank. I told her she better be nice because I'M THE ONE THAT BRINGS THE FOOD! I tried again, was doing fairly well again...then she got me. Hard. Across the abdomen and one of my legs. My guts still kinda hurt, but since I can't remember which leg she hit it must not have hurt much. I smacked her harder and told her we could buy a freezer. I put the bucket back and went at it again. Not because I wanted or needed the milk-she got her hoof into the bucket that time and it was now contaminated-but because I wasn't going to let her win the mental battle. She wasn't going to let me back in though.

I needed to return a magazine and movie to the library that was closing soon, so I called it a day and gave the milk to the chickens. Ornery cow!

A Busy Week

It must have been, if I hardly had time to write! Ask me what kept me so busy and I'm not sure I could give you a good answer. Learning to milk Elsie is taking up a little time. I checked today and was outside milking her for about an hour. There has to be a more effective way, and we're looking into a used milking machine. If my aching muscles have any say in the purchase, we'll be buying one! The odd position I find myself in to hold her still and get milk at the same time are showing up as dull aches. Right hand and wrist, right shoulder area and back, all of my lower back, and both knees. Not sure why, unless it's just from being kicked. Today she stepped on my shoe, missed my toes, thank God, but wouldn't move so I was kinda pinned there. The most milk I've managed to get is 2 quarts. I know there's more in there, but she gets to a point where she's not gonna cooperate any more. I did make a little progress today in that she let me use BOTH hands and I placed the bucket on the ground and she didn't kick it. That's GOT to be where the saying came from.

I learned that I can use that time to let the chickens have their COB (corn, oats, barley) mix. We don't want Elsie or Jasper eating any grain, and the goats will gobble it up before the chickens can get to it, so when I've got Elsie tied up for milking, the goats are tied up at their respective feed stands too. That leaves the chickens free to eat their COB. They were quite happy with that!

I haven't tried the cow milk yet. I have a little over a gallon in the fridge right now, but I use the oldest first and we're still on goat milk from 1-26. Started milking Elsie 1-27. If there's as much cream as it looks like, I'm going to make ice cream for Tony.

We had sunshine today-whoopie! The corral is drying out, except where the sun doesn't shine as much and of course that's where there's the most urine! I don't think I ever thought I'd be saying something like this, but the manure smell goes away shortly after reaching the ground, but the urine smell...it lingers. OK, I guess I'm learning what it takes to be a farmer!

A Two Word Blog

Milking machine.

Milking Elsie

What can I say? I was warned to start working with her early, but did I? No. There was always something more urgent. Or I didn't have an opportunity because my son used to be terrified of her and to even leave him in the car while I walked her on a lead rope was upsetting for him. I'll admit that after getting hit with her horns that I'm a bit shy about taking charge of her. Don't tell her that though. She needs to know that even though she outweighs me by 650 pounds that I'M IN CONTROL! But the milk is here and that's why we bought her, so it's time to get down to business and show her that weight or no, we'll be milking her on a regular basis. Or I will be. Tony was the one that had to sit down and risk being kicked today before she calmed down enough to just do it. I took over toward the end, but she still liked to stomp now and then. We probably both have bruises. No probably on my part-she got my left knee cap. I haven't checked the other areas she it yet, and Tony doesn't bruise easily, so he might be alright.

We didn't collect any of the milk for ourselves though. I tried washing her teats and she kept kicking. Tony started milking just to do it, and then I tried to do it with the bucket, which she promptly stepped in. From there he just let it squirt onto the ground. At then end we both managed to squirt some into a big pot that we let the chickens drink. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day and we'll actually get clean milk for us to try!

Video of the Raging Creek

Without knowing what this creek looks like on a normal basis, this video might not mean much. I could post that video but I don't think I'll be able to get that view until mid summer! I'll go ahead and post the still shots at the end.

Bottle Feeding Jasper

We moved all the farm animals just before sunset the night it was to flood. When we checked on them (at our other property) the goats were standing out in the rain and Elsie wasn't protecting Jasper from the elements, so we took all but Elsie back home. We didn't think the water would get to the goat pen and we kept Jasper in the house. He was a very good house guest, and we filmed him eating breakfast.

2010 Goals

I added a list in the right hand side bar of the things I want to learn to do or accomplish in 2010. As I complete an item I'll put the date in (parenthesis). It should be an evolving list, and I'll probably make a few posts explaining how I plan to do some of these things.

Like sewing-I want to learn by someone showing me, not by reading a book. That works for some things, but I just can't see myself figuring out the fine art of stitching by reading about it. I tried my local community college, no sewing classes. I posted an ad at craiglist and got 2 replies, but it was more expnesive than I anticipated.

Finally, I mentioned it to a friend and she reminded me that her sister in law is a fabulous seamstress and quilt maker and would probably be thrilled to teach me. Yay! Someone I already know that would not see it as drudgery to teach total novice to sew. I have yet to call her, as the idea came just days before the birth of our calf and the flooding rain and snow storms that passed thru last week. After catching up on what didn't get done last week, I'll call her.

So that's my plan for now-even though my to do list seems to be overflowing and at times overwhelming, if I don't have some sort of agenda, it just won't happen. The next two "out of the ordinary" priority tasks are to establish a milking routine with Elsie and then get my baby chicks ordered/build their outdoor run. Maybe I could clone myself...

I was right-MORE adventure!

I haven't had my laptop on since I turned it off at midnight last night. We went to bed shortly after, exhausted. At 1:22AM there was a loud knock on our side door-which is in our bedroom-and the announcement, "Marshall's Office!" Tony jumped out of bed and asked him to go to the front door. "Creek's rising!" Um, duh? OK that's not what Tony said but we really wondered why they felt the need to make that announcement. Apparently he had gone into the meander land and seen that our goats were in the pasture. Tony thanked him and we went out to see this creek-turned-raging-river. It had indeed risen-half way into the corral, but the goats were snug and dry in their shelter. We stood outside to watch it for a while. Do you know how loud several thousand cubic feet of water per second rushing by you sounds? Loud. I tried to sleep-we knew that was the crest of it, but still...

We were right, that was the end of the high water level. It's still really full and flowing rapidly but it's back within the confines of it's western shore, which is where our property starts. I took pictures and video and when I've had rest and think I can properly upload them I will!

Jasper took about 8 ounces of leftover cow milk that we reheated for him, then we took him back to Elsie where he promptly latched on and continued suckling. She mostly let him. I just got the latest from the weather service and the flood warnings have been cancelled. Maybe we can consider bringing her back today so we can better watch them.

Thanks to all who have been praying for us! God DOES answer prayers!

I don't think the adventure is over yet!

Can I go to sleep now? We were up til about 2 last night planning what to do with our herd if/when the creek rises, and gathering supplies. I thought I'd be able to sleep in but was up at my normal time. I thought today would be uneventful-just housecleaning and packing a suitcase in case we need to leave. Tony had fed the animals before I got up and the report was all were happy and fairly dry. Good. I won't have to go outside until about noon.
He planned to go to work. He left but returned shortly after with a few things we might need here and the trailer to load the riding mower on before the ground gets too soggy. That was my first trip outside. Since I was there I went ahead and did the noon feeding and tried to make some drainage ditches in the critter corral. We also thought it would be a good time to make sure Jasper was suckling and getting enough to eat. He seemed to get a bit, but not a lot, and restraining Elsie was no picnic!
Tony really felt he needed to get to work so we stopped the outdoor chores and came in. Both of us changed into dry clothes and he left. Then the call came. He locked his keys in the car-must have hit the button with his knee when he changed out of his boots. While that was happening I learned that I needed to do more to get Jasper eating. We bought a calf nipple bottle and tried the whole thing again. Got some milk from Elsie (it really should have been video taped) but Jasper wouldn't suckle. Called the woman we bought her from.
Back to the feed store for a large syringe. Got Elsie tied up a new way-with front leg restrained so she won't kick with her back legs. I was told we needed to get a quart into Jasper ASAP. With a syringe that holds two ounces?? We got 8 ounces in that way and he started to get up, so we draped a jacket over him and let him go to Elsie since she was still restrained. Oh yeah, did I mention we're under evacuation watch because of all the rain? Got the papers Weds and we're to be ready to leave if they come back.
In the second round of trying to restrain Elsie, she started to look odd so we called the vet. We've never met this vet and he was helping someone throw sandbags around their house but he'd be here soon. While we were waiting is when Jasper started suckling, but I felt the cost of the visit was worth my peace of mind. He checked mama and baby and pronounced both in good health, but suggested we get her out of the low lying pasture ASAP. Old timer that was here for the flood of '93 and saw how high this creek was...since we don't own a stock trailer and have to rely on others for help we decided to move her at that point instead of waiting until the middle of the night and NEEDING to do it NOW.
We took the goats too, but they weren't happy about it. The only shelter at the other place is a large awning-no walls. We went back to check them around 10 and they were on the opposite end of the property waiting for us to come back. We loaded them and Jasper in the truck and brought them back home. I hope Elsie isn't over there bellowing for her calf. She didn't make any noise when Tony carried him off and didn't try to follow, so hopefully she's OK being separated.
We gave Jasper some milk we'd set aside in the fridge (warmed of course) and he happily fell asleep on the living room floor. We'll take him back at sunrise and see if Elsie will let him suckle while we figure out the best way to put up temporary walls. In the rain. And wind. Yes, we live in AZ and are sissies with the weather!
I know we each had 3 pairs of pants and hooded jackets get soaked today. They've been dried and are ready for what tomorrow brings. Maybe if I plan to be busy it'll be peaceful and quiet! I'll let ya know!

Learning Something New

Two things happened today that are related, but it wasn't my plan that they fall together this way. All thru the day I was thinking about all the new things I want and need to learn how to do, and thought a list of 2010 lessons would be good to start. I was thinking of how to make butter and cheese from all the fresh milk we should have; learning to sew, knit, and/or crochet; and various other things.

Yesterday I was at Costco and saw a Wahl hair cutting system for $20 and thought it was a good price to try cutting my husband and son's hair. Tony was excited to let me try and so tonight I cut his hair and our son's. I made a couple of mistakes, but nothing embarrassing for either one of them. We saved the cost of the unit already, so from this point forward we are money ahead!

So I learned to do something new, took a small chunk out of our expenses, and we spent the evening together. I'll have to put this on my list of skills acquired in 2010, even if I learned it before I made the list! ;-)

They're both quite handsome, if I may say so!

Sadness

My thoughts are too jumbled to explain why. I hope this gets resolved soon because I don't like being sad.

Hissing Chickens

You didn't know they hiss? Neither did I! In order to tell the story properly I'll have to back up to last Monday when we lost our last turkey. She was there at 330 or 4, but never made it to the hen house that night. Less than 48 hours later I heard a ruckus outside and got to the window just in time to see a coyote running down the road with a chicken in its mouth. That makes 9 birds we've lost in about as many months and I'm tired of feeding the coyotes!

We decided we can't let them roam free any longer (until last week we hadn't lost a bird since August, so we thought the trouble was over) so we decided to put them in with our "herd". Our herd consists of two milk goats and one of their whethered kids, and our Elsie cow. That means clipping their wings so they can't get out. And that means catching them. Or waiting til they roost in the hen house, which is what we opted to do. I wanted to be the one holding the bird while Tony clipped, so I went in to grab one. They were all on the furthest shelf and I had to reach over one perch to get to them and as I did I heard hissing. Yes, hissing! Turns out it was my jacket as it slid across the closer perch. Haha! My heart was beating faster thinking that these chickens KNEW what we were doing and had planned a revolt against us!

So Tony clipped one set and I did the other 3 because he could reach the perch better. It's really simple-assuming we did it right. We put them on the perch in the goat shelter and they seemed to be happy. They should be able to find plenty of bugs living in the cow patties, right?

Favorite Web Sites

I wish this were a post telling you about some of my favorite sites, and maybe I'll still do that, but I'm really wondering if anyone knows of an easy way to clean up my Favorites folder. I try to keep subfolders so that like items can be kept together, but sometimes I just can't think if a good subfolder and it gets saved to the general file. Once that happens it seems harder to find in the future. What's the point of having a Favorites folder if I can't find what I need? Today feels like a good time to sort thru them and move some to better places, but within Internet Explorer I can only move one item at a time and I really don't have the patience for that! I think I'll try a web search for a little file I can download to make this easier. I tried exporting the info and opening it in Word so I could move things around, but it didn't import back in properly.

I did a few searches looking for a tool to help me, but didn't find what I was looking for, so I just decided to work on it a little at a time. I just completed the folder named Farm & Animals. I'd been putting all kinds of stuff there and broke it into Garden and Homesteading. Guess I'll just keep plugging away!

Purrsy

Update (10/29/16).  First, when I look at the picture of him drinking goat milk, I'm reminded how small he was!  That's just a standard pie pan and his face is so little!  Second, he turned out to be a she.  Imagine my husband's embarrassment when we took "him" to the 24 hour emergency vet because he was bleeding...Third, he's no longer with us.  He disappeared into the wild, never to be seen again.  Fourth, she looked a lot like Mim.  

Purrsy is our youngest cat. We're not sure exactly how old he is because of how he came to be part of our family. It started last summer-one of our dogs was not faring well. She was 14 years old and had stopped eating. I tried giving her cooked rice, goat milk, anything to get her to eat. She wasn't interested-before you start feeling too sorry for me, I "married" this dog-they [her and her sister] are Tony's dogs. Anyway, it was time to do the deed. She couldn't stand up to go outside and we weren't about to diaper a dog! She lived a fun, full life and her time had come. That was July 21st.

July 22nd I was starting the car to take my son to preschool and heard a noise. It sounded like a meow, but could have also been a far off bird squawking. Upon further investigation I saw TINY kitten in our bushes.

Its kinda like a Where's Waldo picture-you have to look to see him. I got back into the car and took my son to preschool without mentioning what I saw. Called Tony on the way home and he already knew why I was calling. The kitten had been on the door step when he left for work at 530 that morning. He said we needed to find a home for him. He said he didn't want 3 cats. I didn't say anything.
I posted an ad on http://www.craigslist.com/ and called a few friends to find this little guy a home. In the mean time I gave him some goat milk. He had the LOUDEST purr I've ever heard, especially coming from such a small critter! I kept checking on him throughout the next couple of days. He was so small he'd be easy prey for a hawk or owl to come get him.
The mystery is how he got there in the first place. We live on a busy road, it'd be hard for him to not get hit by a car. I also think it's quite odd that he showed up the day after Jazmine's last day on earth.
Tony saw how much attention I was paying to the cat and said something to the affect that I was getting awfully close to a cat that I didn't plan to keep. I told him that was his plan, not mine! Shortly after that he realized he had made the decision to give him away without asking how I felt. When he saw how much I liked the kitten he said we could keep him. That's when we named him Purrsy. All you have to do is make eye contact with him and he starts purring!
He's really made a place for himself in our family. He terrorizes the older cats, who just hiss at him when they've had enough. He was afraid of Nala at first (the dog we still have) but now attacks her tail. He sleeps on the bed with us and likes to lay in our laps when we're typing. He's got really soft fur.
I guess he's about 7 months old. He had to be at least a month when he got here, even though he was so small. He started eating dry cat food right away. He doesn't bother the chickens, and as far as I know, they don't bother him!
He likes to hide under the end of my bed and attack my foot as I walk by. He thinks he's sneaky, I just think he's cute!

Update (10/29/16).  First, when I look at the picture of him drinking goat milk, I'm reminded how small he was!  That's just a standard pie pan and his face is so little!  Second, he turned out to be a she.  Imagine my husband's embarrassment when we took "him" to the 24 hour emergency vet because he was bleeding...Third, he's no longer with us.  He disappeared into the wild, never to be seen again.  Fourth, she looked a lot like Mim.

Randomness

I wrote this on Jan 6th and decided not to post it at that time. Doesnt say much, but I took the time to write it, might as well post it!

Today was interesting. Maybe. I'm trying to get up at 630 each morning so I have time to read my Bible and pray before the day really gets going. That's not easy for me to do. Monday I hit the snooze once and got up at 635. Tuesday I turned it off and got up at 7. Today it was 8. I might be better at getting up early if there was someone here to talk to (besides my 4 year old son), but then the purpose of getting up is to spend time alone with God. Tony is gone before 6 and I have offered several times to get up with him and see him off. We've tried it a few times and he's the one that ends up cancelling the plan after a couple of weeks. We've tried in the summer so we can exercise before it gets hot, and enjoy a nice sunrise. We've tried other times just so we can have a few moments together before the crazy day starts. I guess he's been doing it alone for too long to change it because it just doesn't work out.

OK, one rabbit hole down, several more to go. I slept in, got the animals fed and took son to preschool. Or maybe the animals didn't get fed until I got home because I remember starting my hot chocolate and then taking hay to the herd. Tried to get a fire going to warm the place up-yup did that before I took son to preschool. Opened Bible and read 2 Philipians. Tony came home after dental appointment. We talked for a bit before he headed back to the shop. Decided that dental insurance is not worth paying for! I need a crown-the cost is $900. We could get family insurance at $855 or so per year and they'll pay a percentage of the crown, but not much. I'd save $471 with insurance. Or spend $1400 to have insurance pay for $360 of the crown. Um, I think I'll just pay for the crown myself! BTW-that benefit wouldn't be available if I hadn't been on their plan for the last 3 years thru Tony's work. I'd have to pay insurance for 24 months before they'd kick in that $360 towards my crown. What a racket!!

Mother, Part 4 of 6

Mother. I did not arrive at this one through standard routes. 15 years with my ex and we never achieved pregnancy. We did all the medical interventions and it never worked. Test results said we were both healthy and there really wasn’t anything specific causing the infertility. Oh yeah? Looking back I think it was God. He knew what my ex would do and knew that if we had kids I would have “stayed for the sake of the kids”. Well, I don’t think that would have been the right thing to do. I am happier and more fulfilled now than I ever remember. I don’t think I was supposed to stay. I think I was to obey God and follow His timeline, hence the attempts at reconciliation, but I think He planned this life for me.
Tony has 3 kids that were 15, 17, and 20 when we got married. His son, the 17 year old had moved in with Tony about 6 months before the wedding, so I was an instant step mom, more in title than anything else. I knew better than to expect them to like and accept me, and especially to think that I’d have any kind of mothering role in their lives, so I didn’t push mothering. I was there, and I hope I provided a positive influence. It’s been 3 and a half years since we got married and I think they’re relaxing a bit around me, and vice versa. We had a nice visit from his oldest daughter recently and his son includes me in his mass text messages. All 3 have accepted friend invites on facebook. Progress, but not mom stuff.
10 months after we married, I looked into becoming foster parents. A few months later we started the classes and the day after we received certification our first child was placed with us. He’s been with us over two years now. There’s another series in itself! For all intents and purposes he’s ours, but the state doesn’t recognize that yet. He thinks he’s ours or that we’re his, whichever way you want to look at it. So yeah, I’m a mom, but that could change with the whims of the judge.

Will Tony and I use medical intervention? I don’t know. I have mixed feelings about it and would need to have them reconciled before going down that road. Foreign or domestic adoption? Perhaps. I think we’re waiting to see what happens with our current foster situation.

This is the dream unfulfilled. I go through seasons where I think this is a case of letting go of dime store pearls, but then I hear a teaching that says to never give up on your hopes and dreams. For now, I just take it a day at a time and take what God gives me!

Wife, Part 3 of 6

So now I’m also a wife. We chose traditional roles for our marriage. To me that means I stay home and run the house and he goes to work to earn the money that makes that happen. Does that mean he doesn’t help out at home, or I don’t offer advice and support for his work? No, it just means I’m in charge of the house and he’s in charge of the work. Ultimately, he is responsible for all of it, as the Bible states, but I am here to help and support. By taking care of all the household tasks I free him to focus on his work. When he’s free to focus on his work, he’s more efficient and has the energy at home to be a good husband.
What are all those tasks? What does a homemaker do? Especially if there are no children to care for...She cleans the house, does the laundry, prepares meals, pays bills, handles household tasks, plans events and activities, keeps the family calendar, buys the gifts, and makes sure the house is a home. The greatest responsibility is ensuring that her husband knows and feels that he is loved and respected. Let’s face it gals, our men are bombarded with negative messages all day long. Confronted with temptations. Met with resistance. Put in situations that cause him to question his value and worth. When we make the home a place he can’t wait to get to, we’ve given him a place to renew his strength to fight all those battles again the next day.
When those things happen all in one day I used to say that Suzy came for a visit. Who? Suzy Homemaker. She paid me a visit today! I’m getting better at taking care of a wider variety of activities each day, but I’ve got a long way to go. I’m learning to be more balanced so that more of those responsibilities are attended to on a regular basis. I recently made a daily and weekly checklist of the things I want to focus on and laminated it for my planner. I can mark things off as I finish, using a dry erase marker, and see my progress. The following week I can wipe it clean and start again. I think seeing what I’m accomplishing will motivate me to keep going. I’m sure you can identify with the feeling that the kitchen just can’t be dirty again-I just finished cleaning it!!