Leap Day!

Today is Leap Day, that day that only comes every four years during Leap Year.  I've seen various pictures around the web that show animals leaping or people leaping and it made me think of days gone by here on our little farm.  

Mike raised several calves by feeding them from a bottle and growing them to feeder weight and then, with a heavy heart, sold them to be fed out for beef.  It would always take him weeks or a month to build up his courage to take the calves off to the sale barn toward their new life because he had grown so attached to them, making them a part of his heart.

The calf shown above was one who had a wonderful 'personality' and we often laughed at him.  He LOVED to eat and when we would go to the barn and give a shout for the calves to come for their daily feeding of grain, this calf would come running, leaping, and bounding with all the exuberance of a child in a candy store.

That year, like this one, we had lots of rain and LOTS of mud.  So, these photos show the calf leaping through the mud to come into the barn for his grain.

I hope you embrace today with the same excitement and that it has the same satisfying opportunities that the grain feeding did for this calf.

Happy Leap Day!

Fixin' Fence

We've had a couple of weeks with rough winds.  This made for some downed limbs.  This made for some need of fence repairs.  My dad hasn't been as full of vim and vinegar lately as we have enjoyed in the past, so we assembled a Saturday Fence Fixin' team yesterday.

My brother-in-law, Dwayne, neices, Megan and Madalyn, and Megan's fiancee, Adam trekked the hour drive and got a jump on the fence fixin'.  Mike and I gathered up some extra supplies and made our 20 minute trek to the farm.  Bryan and his family had come for a visit.  So, Bryan joined us a bit later.

Once the team was assembled, we made a collaborative effort to get as much done as possible using the daylight hours.  Dwayne made quick work of some downed trees by cutting them up to get them off the fence.  Megan, Adam, and Madalyn stacked most of the cut pieces in the back of Mike's truck.  Mike began gathering up the broken and rusted pieces of barbed wire.  I picked up the loose branches and made a brush pile.  Even though the temperature was a bit on the cool side, I think we all worked up a sweat.  We were so busy that there were very few photos made.

Here is a shot of most of the crew in action with Mamaw checking us out.

Dwayne, Adam, Megan, and Madalyn had one little calf-lot shored up when Mike and I made the scene.  We simply moved down the fence securing it. If there was broken, rusty, dangling wire, we took it up.

Madalyn and Dwayne securing some strands of wire to a T-post.

Bryan joined us, wearing some of Papaw's coveralls.  Then, he and Adam became the primary post drivers.

Adam and Bryan teaming up.

Madalyn and Dwayne teaming up.

Turns were taken to attach the clips securing the barbed wire strands to the posts.  Sometimes an established tree served as a post and the wire was secured with steeples.

Bryan swinging a hammer.

Adam swinging a hammer.

We would work as teams stretching wire from one tree to another and securing it.

The guys would drive a couple of posts to provide more stability.

We would add clips and steeples to attach the wire to the posts and trees.

Mike would shift a bucket from tree to post and camp out a minute or two to add clips.  The crew in the photo above shows Madalyn with the can of steeples and fence clips she sorted and made ready to hand to her Uncle Mike to make the process move along smoothly.  Megan was headed to the truck for another metal T-post.

Dwayne heads for the green bucket.

The green bucket served as the anchor for each section of work.  It held the stretcher, steeples, clips, pliers, etc.  We kept the spool of wire for patching nearby and the water jug with cups was stationed there as well.  As we moved down the fence, these all-important items moved along with us.

When we were about 2/3 the way through the project, Mamaw, Lillie, Lydia, Jessica, Harris, and his puppy came to check on our progress.  The photo above shows our crew working along the fence-line in full force.

Harris and Lydia

These little fellows brought a ray of sunshine and a smile to all our faces!  They thought they were big stuff in the bed of Papaw's pickup truck, too.

Harris noticed that we all had gloves on and thought he needed some, too.  An extra pair of gloves were slipped on him like a pair of mittens and his little paws were a wee bit warmer.

After a few minutes of inspection, they headed off to run an errand.

Lillie and Lydia feeling like big stuff riding through the pasture in the bed of the truck.

Mike inspecting a couple of strands of wire to decide  if we needed to add or replace some.

Looks like an important conference going on there on the right!

At one point, Adam mentioned that Ford Motor Company would be proud and should be there filming a commercial.  There were these three trucks and then, Papaw's was on the other side of the camera.

This one was piled with extra fence posts, bits of wire, cut wood, and more.

Our work seemed to pass inspection and I feel sure that what we got done was an improvement and will hold calves in the different pastures...at least till the next heavy wind blows through.

Afternoons

I've taken to riding along with The Mister when he does his afternoon chores.

His friends come to greet him with eager anticipation.

He just plops down on a bucket and they come over to him for a little individual attention.

Then, they line up at the feed trough and dig in to dinner.

Sometimes they have to come back for a little more TLC.

Then, they just chow down till their bellies are full.

Then, go on their merry way living the life of a country critter.  And The Mister rides into the sunset with the girl.

I Call Him George

We have a barn full of calves.

Let me rephrase that...

Mike has a barn full of calves.

He has retired from 'public work' and is farming - well, raising calves up to be feeder steers.  He seems so much less stressed and easy going...most days.

Of course, that doesn't count those days when one or more of those bottle-babies is sick...

Or the nights when he and I are trekking out at one or two o'clock in the morning to feed one of those calves a bottle or give him medicine so he won't become dehydrated as a result of his sickness.

Or the morning after those treks.

It doesn't count those days when the temperatures are plunging and the ice and snow is falling and the wind is blowing that frozen, iciness into the barn on top of the calves.

It doesn't count those days when the temperature never rises above freezing and the water buckets have to be set near the milk room heater to thaw because the water has frozen into a solid chunk in the bucket.

On those days, he is stressed.  Really stressed.  Stressed to he max!

I sometimes go to the barn to visit all the fellows.  I will give them a rub on he head or pet their noses.

The grandchildren and I were instructed not to name them after Blacky and Spot went On To Greener Pastures.  So, for the most part, I have refrained.  However, there is one calf who wears a name.

When he came here to live, Mike and his cousin didn't like the looks of him so much.  They thought he was too white.  They thought his head was too big.

I simply gave him a rub and a pat and said I thought he was a good calf and called him George Washington.  After all, he did have a big old white head like George Washington.

Later, when he was settled in and acclimated, they didn't really like him because he was so aggressive and practically knocked them down with his eagerness to drink his bottle.

I still gave him a rub and a pat and repeated that I thought he was a good calf and called him George.

He has progressed to the point that he is in a group pen.  The group he is with are fellows who are a bit older than him but he and his big old white George Washington head fit right in with them.

I still think he is a good calf and love it that he will come over to the gate when I walk over to the pen and say, "What about it George?"

He will lift his big old white head up to my hand and let me give him a rub and a pat.