The cow came home

Yesterday my cownapped cow was brought back home. Of course it was a mixture of a flat out runaway cow (her being in heat and well, there was that cute bull in the next pasture..) and her just deciding to hang out with her own kind for a while, then the herd just decided she was theirs. The kindly farmer next door just said to let her stay for a while and he'd be bringing her back when he rotated his herd to greener pastures.

Keeping true to his word he loaded her into his big trailer and brought her right to the house. I can only imagine how he got that stubborn cow in there... Her head lifted in recognition as soon as she heard my voice and she easily left the trailer, going right to the old food trough. She hadn't forgotten where THAT was! Darla had been off who knows where but then she showed up running across the pasture...from the direction of where Bambi had been staying! That would be like her to go looking for her cow. Darla was always with me when I had to bottle feed her and back when we had our own herd of 20 something cows she eventually was let out with the rest of the herd. Then I would find Darla out at the back of the property, always sitting nearby Bambi. Guess she's always thought herself as the other momma or at least a best buddy.

But when Bambi came home she was mad!! Whether it was from being taken from her new found friends, or rudely loaded and hauled in a trailer, I'm not sure. But when Darla ran up to nibble and groom her cow as she's always done, Bambi pushed her away. Charging at her is more like it. Darla learned quickly things were different. She stayed on the other side of me keeping me between them. Bambi still lets me pet her but she's not as nuzzley as she used to be. And Darla acts like her feelings are hurt.

It will be a little bit of a process to de-program a brainwashed cow but that's what we're going to have to do. Bambi will stay penned up at the barn for a little while. At least a couple of weeks maybe 3 to be sure. By then the fences will be fixed better and maybe she'll have settled down a bit. I've been blogging about her since she was a baby way back when Y360 had its day. (Sure wish I had some of those pictures posted back then..) Being without her the last month or so has been like losing a child. (I know..she's a cow but she's really not "just a cow!")

Anyway, it's all good now. She's home! It will be some time before I can tell if she's pregnant but if she is her baby will be named Thumper. And Cassie and Randall will be coming home on Sunday!! Yay! Randall has decided to join the Special Forces training so we'll hear more about that when he gets here. Cassie is in limbo in Pensacola, Fl, waiting for her classes to start. She'll be looking at months of school so is very excited to come home. We all are.

It's going to be a nice homecoming Christmas! Hope everyone has a wonderful one too!

:)

December

This past week the weather has been so very cold. A couple of mornings dipped down to 9 and 10 degrees F. (32 is freezing) Had to remind myself all the little details of such cold weather...

Made sure the well house was in order (freezing pipes are a real pain), make sure the chickens light was plugged in all is well (their faucet was not wrapped enough...faucet didn't drip...it froze..lost one churkin...I'm a bad farmer..), load up on firewood (got a future pharmacist for that).. Things were taken care of, more or less.

Ozzie ventured out onto the frozen pond. Sharon, as usual, a little too prissy to get her feet wet. You should've seen the lacy icicle patterns on the grass. It was beautiful.

Last week I went out to see Bambi. The herd she's been cownapped by followed me all the way back to my property, deftly maneuvering between me and Bambi. They seemed to stampede at times...on my heels. If I ran...they ran. So I tried to stop running, but really wanted to.. Got to the fence and finally got Bambi over where I could pet her. She nuzzled my coat (the one I wore when I bottle fed her as a baby) and I could see the recognition. She seemed to want to follow me but the herd kept cutting her off. One cow even growled...I've never heard a cow make a growl noise.

These are a different breed of cows for sure. The owner of the herd must've put off moving the cows because of the weather but has assured me he'll be bringing her home. I'm off Monday and Tuesday so that and wood cutting is the next project.

A funeral Monday, woodcutting, Randall and Cassie both flying home on Sunday YAY!, the ex and his girlfriend visiting, this will be a busy December. And then there's work..

I'll be doing my best to keep preoccupied from it all. :)

Just a couple more...

12-03-09

Starry starry nights...

A nice day...and night

Sunday was spent getting winter ready, Christmas ready then pondering at the stars and moon in the evening. It was very nice.

Amber and Camaron came over and set up the tree. It took a little work trying to find it all after being tucked away all summer. We checked the well house to make sure all the right things were plugged in so it wouldn't freeze in next weeks early ice age to come. The lid is secure enough and ready.

Old Christmas lights were taken down and new ones put up. I went with a red, white and blue theme with two kids in the military now. I need to find some toy sailors to go with the toy army guys I already had. Looks like this will be a serious sibling rivalry, army v. navy. Maybe there'll be a way to work in Ambers OSU ornaments with this. Orange clashes a little with red,white and blue though. Something will be figured out.

Then the full moon is out. What a beautiful night for looking at the stars, the moon and being wish ready for shooting stars. The nights are getting crisper, Christmas isn't far away, really. Cassie will be home on the 20th. Randall will most likely stay in California so we'll miss him but he'll still be with family.

Reflecting lights... these two pictures tie in together that way. Reflections, projections...It's all about light.

My Baby Graduates

Two months of hard work came down to this moment. Wearing a new sailors cap instead of the standard recruit cap they'd worn the last two months, she wears her uniform well and proud, and rightly so.

The roar of the crowd was deafening when the divisions marched in. Family and friends of over 500 graduating recruits filled the place all anxiously awaiting a glimpse of the new sailors. They stood at attention throughout, gazing straight ahead. From a distance I kept thinking I'd spotted her only to find, no that wasn't her. She was in the back the whole time, her height keeping her with the rest of the taller ones. And I swear she got taller while she was gone.

And she shrunk too. When they announced the beginning of "Liberty Weekend" the crowd poured from the stands mingling into the ocean of new sailors. She found us right away and I got to hug her for the first time since she left! A big hug, lifting her clean of the ground! She said she lost 4 pounds (which she didn't need to lose) but she's solid muscle now! You can see by her smile she was just beaming! So were me and Jason, her fiance. We got to have her all to ourselves for the day until she had to be back in barracks, like Cinderella's magic spell would would crumble at the stroke of 8:00.

4 letters and 2 phone calls had not been enough to really find out how she's been these last two months so now we got to hear stories. How the first couple of days, the first couple of weeks really were the hardest. Her picture on the military ID card shows her miserable, white faced, dark circles under her eyes. She said when they did the TB test that week she prayed she'd come up positive so she could be sent home. When the disappointment of a negative test sank in, she resolved to just get on with it one day at a time.

She found strength within her she NEVER would've known had she not done this. It was so hard for her but she said it eventually got easier, almost fun after getting to know the fellow recruits. All the exercising!! And waking up before dawn everyday (which she had never done consistently in all her 20 years!) The endless rules of which the slightest slip up resulted push-ups or some sort of torture. She has always been tough though.

One story she told me was the division had messed up on a lot of things one day. Their group leader made them all line up and told them to close their eyes and picture all their loved ones and how happy they felt about them. Then he said picture them all gone because of some stupid action because they didn't do something right. It was harsh but he got through to them about how important their actions actually are, no room for carelessness. Cassie said all the recruits were in tears except her. She closed her eyes and blocked out everything he said and focused on sweet tea! She pictured how good it would taste, how much she missed it, how she would feel when she got to drink it again... And she was so proud that she didn't cry and let him get to her.

I'm just amazed at how strong she is to have done all this. She kept going, watched 10 people not make it but she kept on with it! And so far from home not being able to call just anytime.

I had to leave Saturday but had the day to just hang out at the motel. Jason stayed with her the rest of the weekend. She was so funny when we drove off from base! She hadn't been in a car since she got there and forgot what it felt like! Today she is flying off to Pensacola, Florida to get on with the schooling part. 5 more months there of "Aviation Avionics". She should be able to come home for Christmas though.

By the time she gets done Jason will be headed into boot camp himself. He's enlisted full time, she is reserves, so somewhere they were going to fit in a wedding before he leaves. Then they will be stationed somewhere else.

So many changes. I'm so proud of her though!!

Natural Resources

Yet another series of pictures from a walk. Fall has transitioned quickly and few trees still have leaves on them. There's quite the array of fungus among us. The mushrooms on this tree lined up its side like fairy steps for gentle and light feet to climb to the top. Several of the willow trees looked like this in the bottom of an old washed out pond that used to be the favorite fishing hole for people to sneak onto. The progress of bringing giant power line towers across the property relocated banks and the pond has been empty for years now. But the willow trees are still there telling of a time when the water never left and very large bass and catfish grew for generations. The pond is still on the old county maps though.

The old pear tree is fully loaded (but no cows to clean up the bounty) but it strategically places to get little or no water in the summer making the pears too small and bitter to do anything with. Maybe next year a water system can be thought up.

The turtle shell was in a gully making its way to the mossy pond. I'm getting quite a collection of those, some very large but most are average. I have been crafty enough in the past to make rattles out of some like the Native Americans did, but mine seem to lack something. Maybe too small amount of Cherokee in my blood. But there is some so I can proudly brag.

The cardinals are migrating back slowly, their bright red feathers replacing the red leaves that were so short lived. The intense color stands out brilliantly against the now bare trees. A Canadian Snow goose was back at the pond. A pair and their offspring come back every year so hopefully they made it through last year alright. Last week I saw 4 mallards on one pond, the 4 domesticated ducks on the other pond, and a grey heron hanging out also. The domesticated ducks are completely intimidated by the heron, going into a quacking flurry every time it gracefully goes into flight. But the heron seems completely unperturbed by anything except me when I try to get close enough for a picture.

I wish I knew if the mushrooms were edible. Only a seasoned local would know for sure and i'm not sure that I would trust my liver to an old timer with bad eyes or early onset of Alzheimers to take a chance. But a fresh pan of saute'd mushrooms would be very nice..

Well, off to work (again). Next week is the trip to see Cassie graduate and I've managed to take a whole week off. A little time off before and some recouperation time after the trip will be nice. It should be a nice week.

Have a wonderful day!

Home on the range

Today is day off number two. The weather is again sunny, warming up and too nice to believe it's November. The sunset was from earlier this week but getting almost typical in the evenings. Ozzie the cat was playing and showing off in the old antique claw foot tub that serves a a water trough (when there's cows to pen up in the corral.)

Bambi is still off visiting her new friends. Joe said he'd load her up and bring her home next month when he rotates his own cows out to greener pastures. By then we'll have a baby calf on the way to look forward to and maybe Bambi will have had a good long visit with other cows. It's a good thing for her, being alone for so long with only a dog for company can't be healthy. I do miss my baby though.

And I will get to see my other baby one week from today! Yay! I'll be flying to Chicago and seeing Cassie graduate from Navy boot camp! It will be very exciting and so good to see her again. Her letters are sounding lighter and she seems much happier as the day draws near. Besides, from there she's off to Florida for schooling in Aviation Avionics. Hopefully it will be a good direction for future jobs but the being away from home part will be hard. For now I'm just looking forward to seeing her.

Amber and I are doing fine. She keeps things up and helps me so much. With working so much it's nice to have her help me tie up loose ends that I miss. She's always there to remind of things that need to be done and usually knows the best way to go about it. I'm so glad she moved back home.

Randall's been fairly quiet. I'm going with the "no news is good news" theory. At least he's not overseas. He and his wife are heading to my moms for Thanksgiving and I'm sure she'll take plenty of pictures.

Well, enough being lazy. Think I'll get out for a walk now that it's warmed up. Maybe even go see the cow...

Have a great day!

A nice walk

Got some awesome pictures on my walk yesterday. It was quiet and nice to get out on my day off and the weather couldn't have been better. There are three ponds on the property and this one has a layer of tiny little mossy like leaves on top. It was very nice catching the setting sun leaving shadows on everything. The full moon was rising to the east and maybe I'll get a few more posted before heading back to work. Days off are never long enough! Hope everyone has a great day!

Walk in the woods

Yesterday after work I decided it was time to get out and check on Bambi who is still visiting the neighbors herd. It's been very empty around here not seeing her stand by the fence mooing for "cow candy" (alfalfa pellets), or finding Darla nuzzling and grooming her at odd times of the day. So Darla and I went on a quest to go visit our baby.

The couldn't have been better for a walk. Warm and sunny, all the signs of Fall coming with a hint of summer not wanting to let go. Darla jumped and ran as soon as I said, "Let's go find Bambi!" Amazing how those words get her nose set to the ground, immediately looking for Bambi's scent as she leads the way. She needs no direction from me, already on the path to the fence that leads to Joe Flowers' place. She's in heaven when she goes walking with me. Right off spooking off a deer near the closest pond that ran too fast for me to get my camera out. The deer tracks show how busy they are, instinctively knowing this is a somewhat "safe" zone now that deer hunting season has started.

Rabbits and squirrels deftly run out of her reach as we press on to the fence, the breeze blowing leaves out of the trees like random spirits floating by, landing on and all around me. Climbing through the barb wire fence with the skill of a seasoned country girl we make our way down the trail, past Mr. Flowers pond. Out alone I'm wondering why I didn't think to bring my gun in case I ran into renegade hunters prowling the woods, but I have Darla. But a pitt bull is intimidating enough even if she's a big baby.

We walked over the last hill and saw cows, no Bambi at first but then there she was. Contentedly grazing in the middle of the herd. I called Bambi and her head jerked up looking at me right away. Darla ran towards her but stayed back a bit sensing the nervousness of the herd. Bambi seemed to think a little, then walked over to me, the rest of the herd protectively around her. I stayed near a fence post (small cover in case the other cows decided to show some aggressiveness to intruders) and she came right up to me, nuzzling her head against me enjoying getting scratched, hugged and loved just like always. Being every bit of 500 lbs (and fatter it seems since she's been visiting) it seems so odd for such a big animal to act like such a loving and gentle baby as if she were still small enough for me to bottle feed. We spent a little time nuzzling like that then I tried calling her as I walked back to my own pasture. She watched me go, turning to look at the other cows (she is the one on the left of the cows, black with white markings on her face) then looking back at me. The other cows surrounded her and she rubbed her head almost lovingly against one of the momma cows, which also nuzzled her back.

I have heard of elephant herds "elepahant-napping" a calf from a nearby elephant herd, as well as that herd rallying together to "elephant-nap" it back. This seems to be a completely willing runaway that has been adopted eagerly by the herd. It's going to be a tricky one "cow-napping" her back. Re-programming might even be involved. Surely with Darla's help, we'll remind her of where she really lives. But for the time being I've no choice but to let her stay a little while. She'll be pregnant for sure when she does come home.

So, Darla and I reluctantly walked back home alone. Watched a hawk fly in circles above, made my way back over the barbed wire fence, looked closely at the changing leaves, deer, raccoon and rabbit tracks. I thought about how this Thanksgiving will be my first Thanksgiving without the kids. Amber has politely invited me to her boyfriends families' Thanksgiving dinner but I'm not sure yet. Most likely I will though. The hardest part of a mom's job is to let your babies go off and do their own thing. How else do they grow?

Bambi's last ditch effort to stay off the leash was to try and out swim the ducks. She would have won had I not stopped her. But the chase is so much fun!

Well, off to work again. Rain is coming tonight and the firewood needs to be stocked up before i go. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
Sandy

Updates

Well, until I get a little more comfortable with this place it might just look like random pictures floating around the page with no order whatsoever. That's okay, perhaps it will all fall together.

The last couple of weeks have been a little worrisome, waiting to hear from Cassie for the first time, which I did! Yay! First a letter then an unexpected phone call! The first couple of weeks were the hardest for her but she is past the hardest part with still a month to go until graduation. There was relief in her voice, hearing a voice from home was good medicine to keep her going. The harsh boot camp life was expected but living it so far from home is still a shock to the system. She said letters and pictures from home are what she needs and wants most right now. But the strength she's finding inside her right now, when she's young and strong, will be something she can draw on for any other hardship that comes her way for the rest of her life. I'm proud of her!

After all, there's much worse jobs one could have..like dressing up in a chicken suit! I salute the girl dressed up here! At least she's got a job and was a good sport letting me take her picture! A person doesn't see someone dressed up in a chicken suit every day!

The rest of the worries centered around Bambi. She decided to go right back to her new cow friends right away so old Roy Flowers is letting her hang out for a little while. More than likely she just needed to do what cows do and will settle down a bit when she gets pregnant. Today I'll go walking over there again, to make sure she hasn't forgotten her momma. If all else fails, Roy said he would load her on his trailer and bring her back. The corral at the barn can hold her for a few days until she forgets how to get back through that fence.

At least I got some nice walking done and a few pretty pictures. There was a misty rain falling and the caterpillar above is covered by droplets as well as this spider web here. The leaves are turning all sorts of golds and reds, probably won't last past tomorrows expected rain. Today will be almost warm and the sun will be out all day AND I have the weekend off! This weekend won't be wasted for sure!

Amber and I already got a good start yesterday getting out. We drove to Oklahoma City to a Greek Festival that was at the Greek Orthadox church. The dinner was excellant! Camaron (Amber's boyfriend) met us there and we ate, watched children do traditional Greek dancing, and resisted all the booths selling all sorts of things. Except for a a couple of cards and a nice chunk of feta cheese at one shop. It was fun and we left just as the getting off work crowd started pouring in.

Now it's time to get on with my weekend. I hope David's computer comes back to life soon. Computers really have their ways sometimes! It will all be good eventually though, no sense in sweating the small stuff. :) Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Sandy

"The Great Cow Caper" or "Romeo and Juliett Cows"

Well the last two days have been frightening worrying about my cow, Bambi. After a long last two weeks of working my first day off was a nice cup of coffee (and a cigarette) on the patio. That was yesterday morning and I found the main gate wide open, fresh tire tracks and no Bambi. But then again, no Bambi footy prints going out the gate either. The ground being soft from the ongoing drizzling rain would've had tell-tale signs of her roaming about if she did so.

There was also fresh tire tracks leaving the pasture (which the boys next door had come and gone a couple of days before, but surely they locked the gate behind them! They promised they had and Jason would have seen it open when he walked past it the day before!)

I immediately went out to look for Bambi, bringing Darla with me. She can usually find her right off when I tell her "Let's go find Bambi!" (That's her baby too!) Well, we walked and hiked and roamed the 80 acres, in the cold drizzling rain. Found fresh footprints (I mean hoofprints) and followed until the trail disappeared. Calling and calling..feet soaked, cold and wet, still no Bambi. I bottle fed her since her mom died a week after she was born. Her birthday is April 7, 2008, that's when I became her momma (Darla was Aunt Darla).

By the end of the day I had changed clothes 4 times, walked for miles, checked ravines, ponds, any muddy spot she could have gotten bogged down in, filed a "missing cow" report with the sheriff's department, called auction houses, checked for down fences all across these 80 acres. No sign of my baby. All I could think was that cattle rustlers got her. Oh yes! That's alive and thriving more than ever these days especially! A $500 cow (she's priceless by my standards!) would be worth the effort and it's easy to sell a cow with no proof of ownership!
When Jason got home he checked the fences again and found two places she could've gotten through. One was cut by hunters, the other place I've been meaning to fix better. Joe Flowers (shown above) very nice man that has fixed the fence in the past. I met up with him this morning and he said, "Oh yeah, your cow's just fine! She's with the herd and I fed her this morning." I started bawling finally knowing she was okay.
He took me on his "Gator" back to the herd, Darla running alongside us having a blast, and when I saw the herd there was Bambi just hanging out in the middle of them! I gave her a great big hug and scratching but she sure seemed to like being there more than seeing me. She and the herd did follow us back to the gate between our properties but when she realized she was alone again she mooed at them like you wouldn't believe! One of the mom's actually charged at me when I was trying to separate her from the herd! Guess they'd taken a liking to her!
All the roaming around I did, fighting mutant spiders through the woods, I saw three deer run off in the woods, a caterpillar surprisingly still out, cold freezing rain, really enjoyed myself actually...she was just where she wanted to be the whole time. She found company. She found her own kind and probably discovered she really wasn't a dog after all, or a people.

And, I suspect, she's discovered a boyfriend. And those can make an enormous difference on ones outlook on life.

Bambi walked home but, after eating her "candy" went back to the fence out there to look over the fence at what she's been missing all this time.

Now she knows what she's been missing and the future will never be the same.

Churkens

These long-necked lanky creatures are a cross breed of chickens and turkeys. They will lay awesome eggs and most likely will require a bigger pen when they grow up. For now they are third generation Gods... Hendini being "The Great One", young ducks being second, churkins (3rd), baby chicks (4th), and one other breed mixed in that almost looks like turtle doves... (that would be the last in the pecking order but it doesn't look like anyone is pecking out of domination so far.)

So now you've met the poultry class.

Egore was somewhere in the mix while being stuck in the cage in the shop. He was hunched over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame so I called him Egore. But when I let all the chicks into the Great Chicken Coop he has mingled in with the flock and either blended in or disappeared. Amber said, "Well, maybe he just stood up." Perhaps he was just claustrophobic and uncomfortable in a small cage and now feels free enough to stand up tall (like the big ducks) and stretched his wings, so to speak.

That's what I like to think anyway...

Young ducks

The new ducks, handmaids to the Great Hendini