Catching Up: November 21-30, 2008

11/30/2008 Sunday: Overcast with lots of mist nearly all day.

Diller, the Dexter bull calf, is getting to know that when I come by I feed him a little grain. He looked at me this morning and then looked at his grain feeder and then looked at me again. Who says animals don't get it? He sure does. He and his mom bellow occasionally at each other but seem to have settled down pretty much.

Chas and I put two more bales in the Hereford's feeder and one in the Dexter's.

Chas did some smoothing on the burn pile near the front gate. I also did some but the area still needs more work. I want it level!

We did the laundry today. I put out the new blue hand towels from Costco.

Dinner is going to be a pork roast which I'm going to cut in half and save some for stir fries with red potatoes and a Sweet Momma squash.

I started using Google Chrome a few days ago to do my Yahoo! email. It puts any downloaded content into a folder on C:\ called Downloads under my name.

Gad, it's hard to believe that it's the end of the month.

11/29/2008 Saturday: Mostly dry with occasional bouts of mist.

Last night Diller (the Dexter bull calf) and Emma, his mother bellowed at each other, but not horribly loudly. Every time I turned the light on in the bathroom Emma would let out a few bellows and her son would reply. Nothing that kept us awake, tho'. Things are settling down today. Not nearly as much bellowing.

I gave Diller a small amount of grain this morning to offset the fact that he isn't getting any milk. He also got grain at night. He's beginning to realize that I bring good things to eat. I told the guys I would be castrating the bull calf next weekend and that they would be helping me.

Three looks good. I've been pushing his head down so that the milk he's drinking will go to the proper stomach. I've also started introducing Three to grain. He keeps spitting it out but eventually he'll figure it out and will eat his grain after he gets his milk.

Since I couldn't sleep last night I spent some time reading my cow books. I learned that I should be castrating my bull calves at 90 days of age. They still have enough testosterone in them to keep them growing well for about a year. I guess they slow down some after that.

Enrique and Juan arrived at work today around 8am. This is a slow start for them). I had them help me put away the furniture that got moved out from under the deck. Then they began picking up branches first from the old burn pile that we no longer use and then from the north west pasture. They got that all completed. I asked Enrique to use the tractor to level the burn pile with the tractor but I think he forgot. That took the guys till around 11:20 am. They didn't level the burn pile but I asked Chas if he would do it.

After that they cut down a plum or apple tree that Chas had asked me to take down because it was diseased. The bucked up the wood for me and put the branches in the green barn brush pile. (It's getting huge).

I tossed apples from under one of the apple trees into the road pasture for the Herefords. They loved the apples. I also took several apples to the Dexters.

After that Enrique and Juan ate lunch (turkey sandwiches) they cut down the cascara tree that had the clematis growing on it. We folded that plant out of the way before cutting down the tree, bucking it up and putting the wood in the woodshed.

I had them take the rug that was outside lying on the ground and put it in the burn pile. I'll need to find some old carpeting that I can use for people to wipe their feet on before coming into the house to replace that rug.

Before they left they moved four bales of hay into the goat barn. This kind of thing makes my life a lot easier.

11/28/2008 Friday: Overcast and gloomy. No sun.

Three is still crow hopping around after he gets his milk. I'm still cutting back on his milk replacer and fluid but not by very much.

After I finished chores I saw that there were only three Dexters in the middle pen. One of them was the little bull calf. Heh, heh, I said to myself. Now I've got you. So, since one of the animals was the bull, I picked up my pitch fork, opened the gate, walked in closing the gate behind me, and walked slowly towards the two cows. They moved back into their regular pasture. The little bull is pretty stubborn. He just stood where he was even though he was only 12 feet from the gate. I closed the gate.

Now that I have him separated from the others I can now begin taming him. I filled the water bucket, but not the hay feeder since there was already some in there. I also tossed in several range cubes to get him used to coming to that container for treats. It's close to the gate.

I need to bring over a sack of Country Livestock from the green barn to feed him to begin luring him to me. It will likely only take a few days. He needs to be weaned, anyway.

I also remembered I'd forgotten to pick up the shovel and pitchfork from the lean to. Naturally the cows had knocked over the shovel so that it was covered with muck from the cows. I removed those and cleaned the shovel handle with some loose hay. I'd also forgotten to fasten the small gate which I did.

Myrtle was bellowing for her calf. She was outside; he was inside eating hay. She kept bellowing till I finally went back into the lean to and chased him out so that she could see him. He trotted over to be nursed. She was happy; so was he. Myrtle is such a pill.

I moved a sack of layena and a bag of cracked corn into the chicken coop. I need to put in a lot more shavings (2 bags) and take out the poopy messes under the perches. A wheelbarrow and pitchfork would probably get most of it.

Did some online research on EPDs (Expected Progeny Differences) and related topics since I'm interested in learning how buying a good bull will improve my herd.

Dinner was stir fries with leftover turkey and rice. It was terrific. We ate so many veggies we couldn't find room for dessert.

11/27/2008 Thursday: Overcast and gloomy. Short bursts of light rain.

Three has liquid poop. It's clear that I've been giving him too much milk replacer. I'll cut back a little bit on the milk replacer itself and some on the liquid.

I gave treats to the Herefords and to Emma. Peanut actually came up for a couple of treats but it's clear she's still not feeling 100%. I'll put alfalfa cubes in my pocket for a treat so that I can feed them to her to build up her strength.

I cooked the pumpkin pie first thing in the morning after doing chores. Then made a huge pot of dressing. I made it with bread cubes, chopped celery, chopped dried and reconstituted mushrooms, dried onions, craisins, and chicken broth. Not fancy but it should taste pretty good. I also added Winter Savory and Sage - two of my favorite spices.

Around 11am I went out and pulled up the rebar and polywire dividing the road pasture in half so that the cows could get out to graze on fresh, green grass. The expanded area will let them graze for about two days and then it will be eaten down to nothing but at least the cows will have more area to distribute their poop.

Then I took the tractor over to the barn and dug out quite a bit of the slimy stuff from the area around the collapsible feeder and scraped the barnyard to get rid of some of the muck. I also scraped some of the cow poop deposited around the barnyard. It might be easier to scrape it up and put it directly in the compost heap than to try to level it.

Before I had quite finished Chas called me to finish preparing lunch. That project had to wait till I got the turkey washed, dried inside and out and stuffed with dressing.

At evening chore time I let the Dexters into the middle paddock to graze. They seemed happy. The Herefords were certainly happy to get fresh graze.

I cut up the second head of celery and what I didn't use in the dressing I put into the drier along with the leftover loaf of bread.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious.

11/26/2008 Wednesday: Lovely day. Cold but sunny.

Chas and I put another bale of hay in the Dexter feeder. They were hungry.

Sherry came to clean. For some reason I didn't expect her till Friday. I had to scramble to get the kitchen picked up. I'd basically dumped most of the stuff we bought at Costco and on our Monday shopping trip on the table and on the counters.

I took a tumble just after finishing evening chores. I caught my toe on a molehill and went crashing to the ground. I didn't know till later but I scratched my chin enough to make it bleed. While I was lying on the ground taking stock - anything damaged? no - Lucky came and lay his head on my face. He was very sympathetic. I wasn't even moaning or carrying on like I usually do. I wasn't hurt because I was walking through the central "horses grave" that forms the turn around area for our circular driveway.

Chas cooked tonight: curried cauliflower over rice. Very tasty. I asked him to make it with cream of chicken instead of cream of mushroom soup.

11/25/2008 Tuesday: Overcast and it didn't freeze last night.

After chores I made oatmeal for breakfast. I use regular oats, not the quick-cooking oats. Delicious with raisins and fake brown sugar. Course the raisins were hard as bullets. I cooked them with the oatmeal to soften them up some.

Chas and I decided to go to Olympia to get our flu shots (which we did) and to do some shopping at Costco and at Top. Lastly we wanted to get lunch at Main Diner. After that we spent way too much money refilling our pantry with necessities from Costco. We even used our refund check.

Dinner was frozen berries with yogurt. We were too full from lunch.

11/24/2008 Monday: Below 32 degrees F today. The hose was frozen.

We went into town to pay for the sheet metal for the roof of the potting shed (Pat M's project) then did our shopping at the feed and grocery stores. We hit Safeway for some groceries we can't get at Shop n Kart. It's hard for me to believe the Safeway prices. It's even harder for me to realize that Safeway has now become a high-end shopping event for us. Then we went to Shop n Kart where the prices are more reasonable. I guess the idea is to shop the sales whenever possible.

One of the Herefords is limping. I think it's Peanut. If it is it's because of all the muck in the barnyard.

Chas and I put two new bales of hay into the Hereford's feeder. We'll have to put another bale in with the Dexters tomorrow afternoon.

Fortunately the temperature went up to 40 degrees F so that I could put water in the ducks and goats and sheep waterers. Less pressure on me when they have water.

11/23/2008 Sunday: Wow, some sunshine today but it was cold all day.

We did laundry, visited with Sharyn and Sharyn's Charles (who now has a job and thus we don't see much of him), and were generally lazy today. I was going to do something but got side tracked by our morning visitors.

Three is doing well. He's awake and at the gate when he hears me coming. He wants his breakfast or dinner. And he wants it now!

I did a bit of napping in the afternoon.

Chas and I did the laundry today. We had a huge load of work pants, jackets and a new pair of overalls that needed their first wash.

Dinner was chicken breasts, squash from our garden and scalloped potatoes.

11/22/2008 Saturday: Overcast and bitter with the very occasional glimmer of sunshine.

Dena showed up to pick up her ladder and other painting supplies. Now all I have to do is to move the left-over paint into the tack room to keep it from freezing.

The vine maple mound and garden look really wonderful without all the buckets and garbage cans around in front of it. Makes a huge difference.

Tammy, Dena's sister, showed up after lunch with 3 boxes of Portobella mushrooms. I got 8 of those tasty mushrooms. I put the stems (well trimmed) with two of the mushrooms and sauteed them for dinner tonight to be served over rice. The others I chopped and put in the dryer at dinner time.

Enrique and Juan continued clearing out the undergrowth in the area by Hope Creek. Before they started the hard work I had them move 6 bales of hay into the green barn and stack the loose wood behind the woodshed. They also picked up the sheet of black plastic and all the boards that were lying around the woodshed and put the worthless ones in the brush pile and the others in the equipment shed. They did a lot of work today.

Did some additional searches on corrals after a nice email from Susie.

Dinner was leftover meatloaf, rice with mushrooms and beets from our garden. A too delicious dinner.

11/21/2008 Friday: It was 32 degrees F this morning when I went down to do chores, and overcast.

Charles helped me move a round bale into the Dexter's feeder. The cows were happy to get fed. Course they always act as if they're starving anyway. They have managed to trash the salt feeders I put in their used up protein block tub. I need to put another tub into the stall.

I fed Three (the new calf's name because he's MSB 03) only one quart since he seemed reluctant to finish off his milk last night. I gave him a good rub all over to stimulate his body. When I was done he gave a bunch of cow jumps (crow hops) all over his pen and then begged for more milk. I'll feed him a touch more this evening, maybe a quart and a quarter. He should be plenty hungry by then.

I like to see calves bouncing around. It tells me they're feeling good.

I sat and read this morning trying to reduce my pile of magazines. You know you have too many magazines when you have two overflowing record boxes still to read.

Around 10:30 am I went out and moved the garbage cans that had been moved in front of the Vine Maple bed over behind the well house. I also folded up Dena's tarp so that she could take it back the next time she comes over.

In the afternoon before chores I removed some additional buckets from in front of the Vine Maple bed. It looks way better there now. Even if it wasn't a lot of work, at least I did something today but sit around and get fat.

I also called Dena to ask her to come by and pick up her painting materials. She called me back later in the evening. Tammy will be bringing me some more Portobella mushrooms. That was very nice of her to think of me.

Enrique and Juan will be here tomorrow to work. I think I will have them work out in the pasture in the morning and behind the green barn in the afternoon.