Had to...

 

Had to take my camera and go back down, just had to!

 

Unbelievably Majestic Creatures!

 

Hopefully it's a pair, they didn't fight each other over the carcass.

 

They didn't like my diesel so off one went.

 

One flew away to sit on the irrigation about 1/2 mi. away.

Hard to see but it's on the top left.

Eagle

I have no pictures because 

I'm driving when he s there but...

A bald eagle has been eating a deer carcass within a half mile of my house.

He is so majestic when he takes off and soars which he does as soon as I get close.

Go figure with my diesal thrumming !

He ran off the buzzards but they took chunks with them.

I'm glad to see the eagles back in our area in force .

Now if I could find his nest I'd be happy.

Ummmm

Life is rolling along...

 

* still going to gym (without a trainer now) at least 4-5days a week

no loss of weight, grrrr but still trying

 

*layers going thru a molt so no eggs but ordered 10 new RI chicks and

15 meat birds, they have been here 2 weeks now

 

*cooking more fall comfort foods in the crockpot

 

*freezing but refusing to turn on the heat yet

 

*last game of LN's jv field hockey season, 11W- 1tie- 1L so not bad girls

 

*had vet come out for calf that we banded but sack was not falling off completely and infection set in

while she was here she offered to dehorn another calf last , bloody massacre

both healing now but it was a nasty weekend working on them

 

*need to pick up the ewes from the breeder, they are marked with no new activity as of Sept 29th

 

*reading tons sometimes more than I should but better than other things to be addicted to

 

*had DE MIWW contest, LN headed to Nationals in SC in late Jan

 

*seriously bored with this post, ho-hum

 

Night All

Change of Plans

So in the spirit of NOT losing my temper I went with the flow....

Friday LN and I were to leave for PA for a soccer tournament.

My motel cancellation policy ended at noon on Friday. 

They emailed us that the tournament was cancelled at 12:06. 

Seriously people?

So I could lose my temper or go with the flow.

Me and my kid chose flow!

We went anyhow and goofed off .

We toured a cavern, shopped and ate.

LN got to see the scenery of where I spent my teenage years.

Here is some of the foolishness...

Enjoy...

This was the sitting area inside the women's restroom. She sat there for 20 min. watching ladies react to her.

Catch-up ....

A rainy, windy day in Delaware.

Perfect for a cup of tea and catching-up on blog readings.

I need to purge my list.

Some I began to follow are not my style anymore.

Most are too commercial and I am not interested.

I believe I followed them for a specific post and should have investigated a bit 1st.

The "hurricane/tropical storm" has dropped out temps into the 50's.

It's bringing rain that we badly needed and soft enough to soak in.

A few places on the shore, about half hour away are flooding as the tide rolls in but these are regular occurrences for these spots.

All and all it's just been rainy.

LN has had her practices cancelled 2x this week from the rain and I fully expect the same today.

Tomorrow after her practice me and her leave for PA for a weekend soccer tournament.

Hopefully it is a dry one Sat and Sun.

Cold and windy I can deal but rainy makes for dangerous field conditions.

I prefer my kid healthy.

She plays hard and likes to play in the rain because others go soft and she can be a beast to them.

It's a LN thing.

You have to understand my "Tough Sports Chick" is a softy off the field.

She runs crying if any animal shows or sounds in pain even from birthing.

We know she won't hold goats for dehorning because it hurts her more than the kids.

Being the youngest of 5 with a 10 yr gap between her and next oldest  she's had to tough up to compete physically because the other 4 are brutes and never cut her any slack.

 Mentally she is a sweetheart though.

I always have to laugh when another parent or opponent comments on her "meaness".

She's just my kid.

Time for more tea..... 

Dang I am good

I made 

Sausage, Butternut squash and pasta with Brown Butter Sauce

Yum

Dang I am good

I love, love, love Fall !

We are under a tornado watch but...

It's raining so ...

Yeah

A Win

LN's travel soccer team finally won a game.

She's been working on sending her goal and penalty kicks further and higher.

This means she comes off the ground after the team and looks like a deranged ballerina or a flyer.

It's working so that is all that matters.

 

 

After the game and feeding the "monster" brunch we hurried off to 4-H to finish our litter barrel.

LN's theme for our club barrel is...

Get Sweet, Be Neat with 4-H

Each ice cream cone contains a project name and either a clover or 4-H.

I hope the judges understand how much time it took.

Me and LN spend 5 hrs just this weekend finishing it up and a few hrs before getting everyone started

on the basic outlines.

LN did the details and generally cleaned up the messier areas.

I did wonder if some of the kids helping flunked kindergarten as they don't stay in the lines at all.

 

It is Hades Hot here.

Indian summer be damned!

The tropical storm running up the east coast should blow cooler air through on Tuesday.

I'm so ready.

I wish it would bring rain as well.

It is a dust bowl here, every time the cows take a step dust flies.

I figured after our wet spring and summer this would happen.

I should be going to Sam's Club for bigger food run but I don't wanna!

So I think I'll catch up on my favorite blogs instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Screaming of the ....

The screaming of the calves and Mamas enters it's 3rd day.

We have 2 500+ lb calves from our show cattle.

Last Monday we banded the boys.

This time we tried something new.

Generally we have hauled them to our friend who is a vet and he's cut them on the trailer.

Then last year or so we've flipped them over like you see at a calf roping event.

Sometimes we tie 3 legs together but other times I just hold the calf down while S bands them.

S sprained his ankle a month ago.

Let's just say he's a little less tough than I am but he's also 13 yrs. older and that's a story left unsaid.

Anyway he didn't want to throw the calves down this year.

I walked them into a small chute we have leftover from our team roping arena days.

As I held the tail straight up S knelt down and banded them.

WTH that was so much less stressful on both ends.

Simplify whenever possible, it works wonders.

The 2nd calf which is LN's steer for next year (fingers crossed) was challenging for a different reason.

 

He, Pinky, is a tank at 535# and thick and stocky.

 

Apparently his sack was "full" so S didn't have much maneuvering room to move everything down into the bander and then take the bander off leaving the band behind in place.

 

He struggled for a few minutes but it worked.Ron was easier to do.

He weighed in at 508# at 6 wks younger than Pinky.

 

 

 

He'll be sold after weaning is complete.

He'll make a good 1st steer for someone as he's gentle and friendly and broke.

LN is only showing 1 at a time so off he'll go.

So anyway after that long explanation, I left them for a week with their Moms after banding to reduce the stress.

Monday we weaned them completely.

OMG do they scream.

 

Ron and his Momma, Diamond are the worst.

They are now squeaking and getting hoarser as the day moves on.

When I weaned them I took them out of their sight of each other.

The calves went into the steer pen in back of the barn.

Today after mowing their outside pen electric fence line to beef up the volts I turned them out of the barn to exercise.

The screaming started again with them now seeing each other from afar across several fences/pens.

I know it needs done but dang my ears hate it every year.

 

My tough girl, LN actually cries because she feels so bad for them.

If only her opponents on the pitch knew how sensitive she was.

 

Crazy weather too here.

It's dry and now getting hot again with high 80*s predicted again.

Hello Fall please show up again!

 

 

I wish I was there !

Someday , someday, someday....