Bossy and Beauty.

God answers prayer. It's amazing sometimes how fast. We found out on Tuesday that the bull that we borrowed last fall to breed Bindy was a dud. He had only two calves out of Jim's whole herd of about 60 cows!! So there was no calf. Which explains Bindy's behavior. She did not want to dry up and when we made her she just about stopped eating all together. We were sure that there was a calf but there never was. Which just shows how much we are still learning. Her bagging up we are attributing to being stressed at Mikes and relaxing here. Anyway. Our neighbor with the bull, Jim, brought some of his cows to auction yesterday and stopped in on his way home to pick up Bindy to take her to his place and the bull. She has been a bit of a brat lately and we were quite happy to see her go!! Papa went with him to take the halter and rope home and to check out this cow that Jim got last spring. Jim was telling him it was really tame and possibly had some Holstein in it because of it's size (She is very tall and big boned for a Angus). So the kids and I waited. Papa had not seemed excited about this cow at all and was only going to 'be neighborly' and because Jim was so insistent (thank you Jim) so I had no great hopes. I was sitting on the couch snapping beans when I heard something. Thinking Papa was home I went to look and here he is with a funny look on his face. Then I heard Jim drive up still pulling the trailer. Papa's still not saying anything just watching Jim back down the driveway. So I yelled SO?? Then he laughed and said. SHE"S TWICE AS TAME AS BINDY!!! WAHOOOOO. I called the kids and grabbed the camera and we stood by the window and watched them unload them. Yes. Them. As they were getting ready I asked the kids what they thought was in there. Well. E was SURE it was a horse. The boys didn't know and didn't want to guess. So I tried to give them a hint and said that it was something that mooooo-d. Well E pipes up. Horses don't say MOOO... they say NEIGH!!! I tried several times but she was convinced it was a horse. At this point the boys changed their minds and figured it was a bull. Bindy had not been gone more then a hour and I'm not sure they even noticed she was missing. Even when the big, but rather skinny, all black cow walked out E still thought it was a horse. If it had been it would have been the ugliest horse ever! And then here comes this little black calf. A heifer calf. OH then the noise level hit a whole new level inside. E is screaming about 2 horses. A big one and a little one. L is telling me that 'yup she's a milker.. I can see the milk mom. She looks like she has lots of milk in those things.' J is super excited that there is a 'new calf to watch too. A new cow and a new calf to watch too.' Over and over till I just blocked him out. And little R is standing, barely able to see out the window, screaming ARRR HHHHHHARRHHHh at very near the top of her lungs. I looked down at them all and just laughed. They were SO EXCITED!!! And I was too. But because the window was open and the cow was right there and in a new spot I did my best to shush them. The noise level went down a little bit but the cow never even noticed them at all. She love all that nice green grass that Bindy has been turning her nose up at. Papa figures Bindy will be very happy to have it when she gets back as Jim's pastures are all dried up. That very morning before breakfast the kids and I had prayed and asked God to help us to know what to do with the cow situation. We didn't ask for a new cow that night but that's what we got. They are not ours. We did not buy them but the cow has a bad hip and Jim was going to bring her to the auction unless she works out for us. Jim called her Bossy and so I named the calf Beauty for the one little white dot she has on her cheek. A little white beauty mark on a all black calf. Bossy is about a 100 years old and looks it. Jim says she's probably too old to breed back which is why he's getting rid of her. This from a man who has the oldest cows of anyone we know. Her bag is nice and large and she looks like she'll give a lot more then she is now. Papa and I went out after Jim left and took a closer look at her. Papa milked her in the corral at Jim's and I was SHOCKED when she came over and sniffed me and asked for a pat. She has a ENORMOUS head which none of our halters will fit on. She came over to me twice just for a pat and I told Papa "I could get used to this." Bindy is very offish with people. We're giving them a day to settle and Papa's going to try milking tomorrow morning. She's quite leery of chickens and chases them as much as she can with her bad hip. Beauty is also quite tame and about 6 weeks old. Young enough to tame some yet. If she'll not let us milk then Jim will take her to the auction in 2 weeks. Another wonderful thing about Bossy and Beauty is Beauty!! Papa and I have a back up if we can't milk. Oh and E didn't seem to have any disappointment over the cow and yes she now realizes it's a cow and not a horse. When I told Papa what had all gone on.. he laughed and said. "I guess we are going to have to get that girl a horse yet!!" I wonder if I can get it in writing?? :)

Fathers Day!!

The kids and I had a lot of fun getting ready for Fathers Day this year. We baked Papa these mini apple pies (and YES!! I did forget the flour inside but you should try making pies with kids sometime!!! They were still GOOD!!!) and each of the kids got to pick Papa out a card at the $$ Store and decorate them with stickers and drawings when we got home. Even R got to color on an envelope :) They did a great job!!

And yes I know this is really late. I thought I had posted this already but I was waiting for a better connection to put the pictures up too and it got a bit forgotten!! Sorry.

Fish

Well we headed down to the pond the other day with the camera and the kids. The kids loved the wild strawberries that grow well there and I took a bunch of pictures of my fish. Boy have they grown!! When I put them in they were only about 2 inches and I think, it's hard to tell, that they've doubled in size. 13 survived!! On the way back to the house the kids got a ride in our portable waterer for Bindy. Bindy had been by the pond but Papa had already moved her back closer to the house. So we put them all in and Papa pushed them up to the house.