Now, I didn't do anything crazy today--unless you count riding almost to the very back of the leased property. That's rather interesting because I must stay alert--I never know if some nutty squirrel is going to spook Snip. He was rather interested in the dead cow...but I didn't let him dawdle too close or too long next to said corpse.

While back there, I noticed one of the cows was over on this chunk of land by herself. I got to looking at her and concluded that she was the cow that about two days ago I had said to myself, "She's fixing to have a calf." Meandering closer to her, I determined (a guess mainly) that she had had her calf. So, without trying to look like I was searching for it, I took Snip in several different directions around about. I had a feeling the calf was bedded down someplace to the west of where the cow was--blame that on how the cow was acting and where  she was looking--or better yet, when she started watching us closer. Anyway, I was headed west when I saw the calf off to my left. It is white, but other than that I can't tell you about it, being as it bedded down. I wrote it down in my little book (while trying to get Snip to stand still and stop nibbling on that palmetto.)

Anyway, I had a good, uneventful ride. The back-40 is slightly creepy sometimes...particularly when floating through the orange grove one hears Christmas songs played by something that sounds somewhat like a music box. I found another tree stand today too--only it's on the other side of the fence. There are at least three 2x4 constructed deer stands on the leased land. I also saw three raccoons scurring away from us. I don't know if Snip saw them or not, but I had stopped him because I was listening to the squirrels bark and chatter at us. Fortunately, I didn't run in to any dangerous critters. I did almost ride through a spider's web with the spider (a crab-spider) still in it though. I saw it just in time, backed Snip up, and went around the tree from the other side. :D

Snip finds the leased land just as fascinating as I do. He walks along (almost too quickly sometimes) with his ears pricked forward. Here I would like to interject and say that if he was not responding to commands fairly quickly, I would not be riding back there. As is, he is behaving quite well, stopping, turning, and backing without much more than slight pressure on the reins. Admittedly, stopping is his worst point.

I had fun...I just wish I didn't have to fight the bit into his mouth. He KNOWS how to take it and once it's in, he's calm as a cuke. I even think he's been enjoying the rides! He's just bound and determined to make me earn my ride by forcibly stuffing the bit between his teeth. Except for the bit, he's been being super good--mostly.

Oh well...I think God is using this to teach me patience...at least with this critter.

Yep. Honest. It really took longer to comb the mass of goatheads out of Snip's mane than it did to put the bit in his mouth. It took someplace on ten minutes, accompanied by some spinning, to get the metal in his mouth. I tell you, holding onto his ear like that really helps me stay with him. :D I just hope it isn't humanly possible to rip a horse's ear off...(because I would...)

All told, Snippy behaved pretty well today. I not only rode him, but I got a head count on the cows. Total 46 head (44 cows, 2 bulls).  I think there are 14 calves....there will be more on the ground soon.

I rode back on the leased land some. It's kind of weird, but I almost get the creeps back there. I don't quite understand it. Maybe it's partly because I know if Snip spooked and took off before I could get him under control--or bail out, I could get seriously ripped up by the trees. Anyway, it's just interesting.

This morning I ran into Byran's and got a roll of hay for my poor, poor little herd. They need some fattening up. Serious fattening up. I probably ought to get that little crooked mouthed calf off Snowflake. She's tiny still, but Snowflake doesn't need the extra drain on her. I have to make it a priority to feed them every day. Perhaps I ought to stick a note on my forehead...

I'm kind of hungry....so I think I'll go set the table...and then bug Savannah as to whether or not supper is done!

See ya!

Of course, everything that happens is ordained by God, so it's all providential timing. Sometimes though, it's just more obvious. Take this evening for instance. I had just fed Snip and on my way back to the house, I looked up and saw something black in the grass in the pasture. At first I thought it might be a cat, but that wasn't really a serious notion. Other than a crow (which I had just heard) I concluded it was either trash or a calf. About the same time I settled on that, this 'little bit' as Mr. Ricky would call it, got to its feet and started to wobble toward its mammy.

I continued to go toward the fence as I was going to see if I could get a gender ID on it (I didn't--it can be so hard to tell when they are newborn). As I went I heard the floater valve in the water trough hissing. For some reason I glanced that way. Then I looked again. Clearly, some of the jostling the cows do around the water trough had knocked it crooked. Water was pouring over the side as fast as the valve could pump it in. (Or faster.)

Being my own self, without hesitation, I plowed out there. I hopped over the puddle around the trough to a little space where I could actually land. I tried pulling the still nearly full trough. "Stupid. Of course you can't move it!" Hmmmm.....

Standing on my little 'dry' spot, I janked my boots and socks off, tossing them across the puddle (good shot that...the boots landed one on top of the other!) and hauled my jeans up to my knees so I could wade around in the mid-calf deep water. Over the next several minutes I tried various means of shifting the trough. At one point, I was standing on the edge with it tipped as far down as I could pawing the water out between my feet. I'm surprised I didn't get much wetter than I did with that operation. I found an old soda can in there, wedged in the 4 to 6 inch deep mud, as well as some other interesting trash I could have cut myself on. I ended up scooping many, many handfuls of mud out and throwing it, "Splash!" into the surrounding area.

After a while, I hollered at Savannah, who was on her way to the house after watering the garden, to please come and help me. I had managed to shift the thing ever so little, but I needed some help. So she came out and waded in after making some comment about, "This is how you get parasites." Gee, thanks a lot, sis! :D

She had the smart idea (okay so I had the idea, but I wasn't smart enough to carry it out) to bail out the trough. She went and picked up the coffee can I carry Snip's feed in and brought it out to me. I bailed the trough most of the way out and scooped out more mud. Then, the two of us moved the trough...I stuffed some more wood under the lower end and took the stick out of the floater valve (I'd jamed one in to keep the floater up so the water would quit running).

Job done, I collected by boots and socks, went to the hose and sprayed the exess mud off me. Walking back to the house, in a put on, bow-legged kind of walk, ending each step with something of kick (an attempt to lose some of the extra water), Savannah told me I looked fashionable--two tone pants! Ya...so what... :D

Anyway, because a calf was born today, I saw that the trough was spilling over...so I could fix it. God's providence is awesome...and sometimes humorous.

Remember me mentioning about a cow closed up in the pens yesterday? Well...once we talked to Daddy and Mama about it, the idea formulated itself that maybe someone was in the process of rustling said cow. Hmmm....not a very pleasant idea. (And yes, cows still do get rustled...just not like you see in the old Westerns.) Anyway, by the time I went to bed last night, I kind of had the heebee-jeebee's--that is, until I zonked out.

I spent most of my day at the computer (again!) and managed to get the AfterEffects compositions rendered and placed. Only the audio work remains. I'm tickled pink!

About 4-ish I headed out (Savannah and Granddaddy had gone to a doctor's appointment and weren't home yet) to take a peek at the pens and open the west gate. From there I meandered down the run towards the back 40. Half-way down, for some reason I decided to check and see if my .22 revolver was loaded. (It normally is.) I felt like kicking myself when I flipped open the cyclinder to find six empty holes staring back at me. Thing is, I didn't reload it last time I shot it because I was going to clean it the next day--but I never did get to that. (I think part of the reason is because the piece you put the patch through is broken--cheap plastic!) Anyway, so there I was tromping around with an empty gun. Not much good for self-defense of any sort unless you're close enough to use it as a bludgeon.

I kept going regardless and wandered back onto the leased land. As I moved along I got to sniffing...there was that repulsive, yet sweet smell I've learned to recognize right off the bat as something dead. Looking off to my right, I caught sight of a mound I didn't remember being there. I went over to investigate and sure enough, it was a dead cow. She was one of the few with horns. I was kind of surprised that it was that particular cow. I didn't think she was in that bad of shape. It's my opinion that she probably just laid down and didn't get back up. I also got to wondering if that panther I saw last Saturday had anything to do with it--at least the eating part. Savannah suggested later that maybe the cow was down and the panther finished her off. I don't know; what I do know is that we lost another cow. That makes two this year.

I fixed a small piece of the electric fence on my way back from looking at the gate leading from the orange grove to the 'back 4o'. There is absolutely no lock on that. So...anyone wanting to sneak on to Granddaddy's land would have no problem whatsoever doing so.

I returned to the house via the runway and attempted to count the cows. I counted them I don't know how many times and most often came up with 43. That's bulls and cows, not counting calves or that heifer I was going to wean. However, I'm not going to put that down as a solid number until I get a better on-horse-back count. That's my job for Monday.

Speaking of horses, I went out this morning at around 8:45 (pretty normal) to feed Snip. I was fixing to do my usual whistling, when I heard a noise. Looking up, I saw that rascal horse of mine in the yard. He was standing by the pumps. He had apparently JUMPED the fence! Brat child...Anyhow, I hope the expirence was uncomfortable enough that he will not repeat it. (He got cut up some.) If I catch him in the act, I'm going to whomp him good. I had my breakfast sitting there getting cold when I peeked out at him and saw him nibbling that the fence. I charged out there and gave him a nose to nose scolding. After I went in, he walked away from the fence. I think he knew I was mad at him--but I couldn't tell you how much of my tirade he understood. He isn't stupid, but neither is he logical.

See, I have a total uninteresting life, don't I? ;)

I'll start at the beginning of the day (minus all the dishes and such like). I buried my nose in the computer screen this morning building AfterEffects compositions like a pro. (Heh!)

I had half a dozen done before lunch. More importantly, I learned how to use Photoshop a little better! I cropped two flags out of the pictures from Ocklawaha and shrunk them up and a made a lower third out of them. (If you don't know, a lower third is the title bar thingy you see in documentaries, for instance. You know, the bar that says "So-in-so, author of such-in-such". :D) I had to go back and add that into the compositions I had already made. I plowed through and I think I have all the ones I want. I figured out that I'm going to have to mess with the color of the text...but I'll take care of that tomorrow. I also have to do quite a bit of work with the audio. I have to raise the volume level on the main audio track--I'll have to go back into Soundbooth to do that. I'm going to see about removing some wind noise from another audio track (Commander G's speech) in Premiere Pro. One of my contacts on Google+ gave me some tips on how to do that...Google+ is kind of cool like that. Need help? Just post that you do and someone might just show up and help you! :)

At some point after lunch, while I was busy working on AE compositions with WCPE playing in my ears, the two ladies from Granddaddy's church who stop by fairly regularly, dropped in. The one asked if we'd play a bit for them so Savannah played a couple things on the piano, I hauled out the cello, and then gave a piece on my guitar (one of my new favorites--Riding a Raid). That was all the more musical I was today. (Not counting the singing I did while doing dishes and riding Snip.)

Moving on, around 3:30ish, I went out to ride Snip. As usual, it took a few minutes to land the bit between Snip's roving lips and between his teeth. Once that was done, the rascal was calm as a cucumber. I brushed him and combed the mass of goat-heads and other stickery things out of his mane. While working on his forelock, he started nibbling on the front of my shirt. I think he was eating the goat-heads stuck on it, but all the same I shoved him off several times--I didn't really want to get nipped.

I saddled him up and hopped on. Then off we went! At a walk. ;) I did trot him and even slow loped him later on after we'd been going for a bit. I didn't get any hint of a buck out of him today, for which I was glad. He did get rather impatient to get moving while I sat on his back and peeled myself an orange I picked off one of the old trees in the pasture. It wasn't 100% 'ready' but it sure tasted good anyway! I ate it on the move. I was tired of having to get on to Snip about his pawing.

Other intersting things of the afternoon...he spooked a little bit as we sat next to the hanger. This very tall weed was rubbing against the hanger making noise and that startled him. I made him walk back that way a bit--training thing, you know. (The same reason I whirl

For some strange reason (providence), I decided to go up the trap to the pens. I am SO glad I did. There was a cow shut in there! How she got shut up I don't know. I had left that east gate open after working cows last time...with the chain hanging on the north fence (where it gets closed). Anyway, that gate was chained shut. There is no possible way, even had the wind been honking, for that chain to wrap itself around the gate and hook itself. Someone had to have shut that cow in there. I know it wasn't me or Savannah, and it certainly wasn't Granddaddy! I dismounted from Snip, rather worried about this cow. She poked her nose out to me and I briefly scratched her nose. It was damp and she didn't seem to be in distress (fortunately). Her eyes were normal (this is one of the more docile/friendly of Granddaddy's herd) and the only thing I noticed negative about her was that she seemed rather sunken about the hips. (Could partially have been the angle she was standing at.) Anyway, I got the gate open and chained it that way. The cow went out and immediately started eating not to far away from Snip (who by the way I had tied to the fence--as soon as I started to turn away he went to start nibbling at the reins...stinker.) She stayed in the run until after we'd left then went to join her 'people' on the south side of the pasture. I don't know if she got anything to drink or not, but I do know that she hadn't had any water in the pens. So....if I find another cow closed into the pens, I'm going to be one furious girl. I was pretty irritated as it was--I wonder, was this some brat kid's idea of a practical joke? Just think, if I hadn't decided to go riding today and on a wild hair go all the way up the run to the pens, that poor cow might have died from thirst!

I finished my ride...nobody got hurt and Snip behaved himself like a gentleman almost the whole time. When we came in it was time for supper--for both of us. As I was coming in, I looked back and that crazy animal had his foot in the sink that serves as his feed bowl....

Minus the myserious cow episode, I had a really good, fairly productive day. How was yours?

I didn't have the time to write yesterday...because I really DID have a busy day.  I forget exactly where it started, but early on I was attempting to pin the hem of Savannah's ball dress up. She got light headed and nausous standing on the chair, so I didn't get finished. I had gotten about three quarters of it pinned up so she was able to finish pinning it later once she got to feeling better.

I went out to put the runway fence back up in a couple places and ended up having to run a bull calf back into the trap. The biggest black one. I also saw what I believe was a panther! It was running across the 'back 40'...definitely wasn't a dog and it was too big for a bobcat...and it had a long tail.

Then I made lunch--let's see we had chicken, squash, and green beans. That's exactly the same thing we had for supper too--only Savannah had put the Navy beans on sometime in the afternoon, so we had them too. I'm glad Savannah had warmed supper up because I wasn't available to do it.

Sometime in the afternoon I went down to check the mail and whistled to Snip. He came over to the fence (I think he is starting to get the idea that when I whistle it means "come here") and then we both headed back up the drive-way. It's kind of funny, I'll trot with him a little bit then he'll run off and leave me, stop and look back at me like, "Well, are you coming?"

I tossed the mail (sale ads basically) on the washer, hopped back into the garage and snatched up my lead rope, lounging rope (which is FULL of goat-heads--blah!), and whip. By now, Snip was standing there staring at his feed bucket (sink)--at 2:00 in the afternoon!! "No way I'm going to feed you this early in the day!" 

I got the lounge rope tied on his halter and drug him out. (Actually, he came out very easily.) We started to work and he started to crow hop (I just learned that term--it's very appropriate). Part of the reason was because he had a horse fly on him and part of it was just that he was being frisky. I'm glad to say that he has not tried to run off on me the few times I've lounged him recently.

Once I was done lounging him, I brushed that mass of goat-heads out of his forelock (and got few down the front of my shirt in the process. Then I put him away and ignored his sop-eyed request for his supper. :)

Around 3:30 or so, the W brother's showed up to help me work the cows. Tommy was the gate man, and Ricky and I each drove our respective trucks. Ricky didn't feel the greatest (not that he complained or anything), because he'd just had a tooth pulled. I learned (the hard way, like usual) how to push cows better with a pick-up. I usually am on foot or in the back of the truck just hollering.

Once we got the animal's in the pens, we--well, mostly Tommy and Ricky--just separated most of the cows and calves; without putting them in the hopper. Then we parted out the big calves from the little calves. We had seven total...only six went to market (four bulls and two heifers); I kept the white heifer and will be weaning her. Right now she is out in the pens. I have to go feed her and Snip here momentarily.

I rode into the market with Ricky and Tommy...there were a few funny incidents on the way there: 1) on one turn, it looked very much to me (in the back seat) that Ricky was going to bump a car sitting at the light...I instinctively grabbed a hold of the back of Tommy's seat. Ricky looked behind him with a grin, "Did you think I was going to hit him?" On the way home, when we turned onto a different road, he made an illusion to that incident...
2) We saw a dog slung out of someone's golf cart. It really was funny. I don't remember what Tommy said, but it made it funnier--then when I mentioned that, "My cousin did that to me once. I threatened to beat him up if I did it again..." (I was kidding him really...we were both laughing like crazy things), we kept right on laughing.
3) The two red bull calves were comfortably sparring with each other as we roared down the road in Ricky's awesome Dodge diesel truck.

Once we got to market, Ricky had me talk to the man; so I learned that part of the deal too. I told him who the calves belonged to and how many we had. He handed me the pink slip with our selling number on it--#13. Sometime later today I'll have to take Granddaddy and go pick-up our check.

When I got home, I ran and fed the horse; poked food down myself and dashed through the shower. Then we girls headed off for the SCV meeting. To cut things short, I'll just say that we're now offically part of the Order of the Confederate Rose--which will meet at the same time and place as the SCV... :D (Each OCR chapter must be affiliated with an SCV camp.)

Now--I HAVE to go. See ya, later!

I have supper going in the kitchen...I wish that ol' HP laptop worked; that way I could cook, type, and watch 'Emergency!' all at once. :)

After getting the soup started this morning, I headed for town...first stop Beall's. I got some nice socks and some Christmas presents--it is getting to be that time of year you know.

From there I popped over to Bryan's. "I'd like to get a roll of hay; you think it will go in the back of my pick-up?" "Sure." And it did. They picked the hay up with a fork-lift and set it in the back of the truck. The suspension got visibly lower.... I got in the truck, then decided to strap the roll down. I'm actually glad I did because I felt safer like that. So I crawled around like a very non-limble creature and strapped it down.

I took the hay down the back-roads for the most part (I normally go down the non-main-highways anyway) and soon arrived at our place. Abe was in the east pasture and he watched me very carefully as I unlocked the gate. I pulled into the west side of the pasture, cut the netting off the hay, and rolled it off the back of the truck. That took a small amount of grunting; after all, that roll of hay weighs over twice as much as me. I attempted to push it over so it wasn't sitting on a rounded side, but just ended up snorting at my own foolishness. I was actually out of the pasture before Abe and his horns showed up.

I ransaked the honey house for trims that Savannah might find useful and then left--going BACK to town--this time to Smith's. I walk in there, lean on the counter, and told the lady I wanted 4 bags of pellets. "Oh, 20 or 14%." Oh boy. "I don't know what Daddy usually gets." This is where it gets funny. The owner's son, busy taking care of somebody else, with his back towards us says the following: "She gets 14."

I just laughed...then I laughed some more when I told the lady whose account to put it on and she basically said, "Duh! I should have know that....I can see the family resemblence now that you say that." I often have people know who I am because they know Granddaddy...it can be quite funny sometimes.

Then I had the following exchange with Drummer-dude out in the back while he loaded my pellets. "Wow. That's a big cat!" "Yeah, it is..." "I thought my uncle had a big cat, but that one is bigger!" "You been to Fenton's?" "Uh, no." "Well, in the shop they have this big orange cat with feet this size [holding his fingers up to describe a two-inch diameter cat's paw]." "Wow...Thanks!" (For loading the pellets.)

I came home for lunch....the rest of my day between then and trapping the cows is rather insignificant. I took pellets to our place after lunch and feed a few to my cows...I couldn't NOT after they had seen them and started being all excited.

Savannah and I trapped the cows for tomorrow's work. I shut all the gates after trolling out a bag of pellets. We have three cows outside of the trap, but since we're doing nothing but parting calves out tomorrow, it isn't a big deal. At the gate into the woods, I jumped out of the back of the truck and fell down. I had landed kind of funny on my right foot and so the whole leg just turned under me. It didn't hurt at all and was actually kind of funny.

Now, I'd better get that food on the table and Granddaddy fed!

One of the first things I figured out this morning was I had bought the wrong kinds of connectors...so, off I went to Wal-Mart after a Skype briefing with Daddy. Skype sure makes mechanic's lessons easier. I came home and connected wires...I didn't see a yellow wire on the truck, so I attached the yellow wire on the pig-tail to a light green wire. As I found out later that really was the wrong wire.

After lunch, Savannah and I went over to our place to test it and bring the pop-up back. Everything worked except for the left turn light. When we got home, after a brief stop at Wal-Mart, I crawled back under and actually located the yellow wire this time. See, most of the wiring harness only contained four wires: black, brown, light green, and dark green. However, way over in the left, where some other thing are wired in, there is a yellow wire.

The following are pictures taken during my second and more sucessful attempt.

I enjoyed this job pretty well...I got to get greasy and make something work :)

However, right about now, I'm really feeling rather ticked off at myself. The cows were cut off from their water (or a lot of it) all day! I didn't open the gates into the trap and woods yesterday when I rotated them (maybe partly because I got the truck stuck in the mud and by the time we got it out I had forgotten), and I didn't do it today either when I noticed--TWICE--that the cows were meandering along thataway with a purpose. [Just glanced out the window--it looks like they may be headed that way again! Good.] It was when I had half a dozen come over the wire and run toward the water trough on this side that I realized how serious it was. (I thought they could get to the one in the run from the farthest north chunk of pasture.) Anyway, I immediately headed out--on foot (because the truck is still hooked to the pop-up)--in my knee length skirt through shin and knee-deep grass (serves me right that my legs got all itchy and bug bit)--and got those gates open. I was steaming in more than one fashion when I got back to the house. I deserve to be horse-whipped...I KNOW better than to not have water for my cows...particularly when I have even the slightest doubts. So, suffice to say, I am mad at myself because I was being lazy and/or otherwise occupied.

I'm hungry...that beef in the oven smells awful good.

Okay, so 'razy' isn't a word...but it suits. I started the day out, after briefly peeking at my e-mail and Google+ page, by demanding the "five-pounds" of keys from Savannah. She willingly handed them over to me and I headed out on the first part of my day. After, that is, I fed the critters.

I hopped in the pick-up and took off across the creek. I would have preped to mow, only I had a chiropractor's appointment at 3, so I wouldn't have had time to mow. As is, I decended upon the pole shed and located the trailer I was in search of--behind a couple slabs of sheetrock (which is molding by the way). I moved the sheetrock, glared at the screws holding the licence plate on, and headed off to unlock the barn. After poking around in there, only finding a flat head screwdriver (I needed a phillips), I suddenly slapped myself (figuratively). I should have started in the house!  I know where to find a screwdriver in there! Within minutes, I had a screwdriver safely between my fingers and after just a few more minutes, I had the licence plate removed and tossed in the truck. I returned the screwdriver to the house, talking to the cows at the same time. They were up bawling something crazy--the reason being last time I was over there I gave them pellets....

I took off for Smiths. I walked in an asked the owner's son about the electric fence boxes and he led me to them. I got a different kind that what usually is used...it was $3 cheaper and he said basically if it quits you just get another in exchange. I'm wondering if I shouldn't have gone with the old kind...at least I could test it with the PVC pile pole... I also got four more bags of mineral.

On my way home, I decided to swing by Wally-world and see about getting wiring for the truck. As I was standing there, I suddenly realized, "I should have looked at the connection on the pop-up!" Brilliant...I returned to our place, looked at the wiring, called Daddy, got some instructions, called Savannah to tell her I was going back to town, and then went to Auto-Zone. I had to get help there too...I was looking at wiring, but none of the trailer "piggy-tails". They were all the way in the back of the store! Obviously, I don't know how auto-parts stores are set-up :)

I came home and started putting mineral out. I decided on the spur of the moment to go ahead and attempt to rotate the cows. All went well, until I came back the second time to try to push the few remaining cows out. Great...I got my truck stuck in the beautiful loamy dirt under the oaks!! I spun and spun and thought I was going to get out and didn't. Then Savannah came out to tell me lunch was ready. We walked the last half dozen cows to the gate. Then we went in for lunch.

After lunch, I had about 35 minutes before I had to come in and get cleaned up so I could go to my chiropractor appointment. First, I hooked up the new electric fence box and then headed out to try again to get the truck unstuck. I used a couple boards, but still couldn't get it out. Granddaddy came out and hollered at me to get the tractor. I told him I'd go get Savannah to help me (because I think he was going to try walking out there--with his balance he has no business walking through that rutted pasture--even with the walker), so he went back in. I got my ear-plugs (I won't run the tractor without them) and started the thing up. I didn't take the bush-hog off; the chains were long enough to go under it. We got the truck hooked up and in seconds the truck was free. Believe me, I don't think I'll be taking the truck through that particular area again anytime soon....

I put the tractor away and came in to shower. By that point I needed it. My arms were orange from the rust on the chains and I had some on my face. I also had dirt all over me...the dent in my chin was definitely more pronounced :D

Soon I was driving down the road headed for P. C. I arrived at the chiropractor's to find the office locked up and Dr. K.'s car not there--the note on the door said "@ lunch; will be back at 1:30". At this point it was practically 3:00.

While I was standing there wondering what to do, an older gentleman pulled up and got out of his car. I figured I might as well pass my observations on to him. So I walked over and we started talking. He thought I was 28. I told him my actual age and remarked that people always seem to think I'm either 18 or 25. Then he asked me a question..."Your young and your female...would you mind telling me what you think about the elections?" I think I grinned. I do know I rubbed my palms on my pants. Then I stated my views, "I don't really like either candidate, but I'm voting for Romney." His smile got wider and he said, "Thank-you."

I thought that was kind of neat.

Shortly thereafter, one of the ladies who works at the place showed up. So, both the old gentleman and I got our chiropractoring afterall :)

From there I bounced over to the health food store to get Savannah some more brewer's yeast (I HATE that stuff...); then I came home.

Now I'm ready for supper :)

There were at least eight calves in the yard yesterday morning. I was already planning on working on the fence, but those big and little calves happily munching in the yard was the clinching factor. Even though it was threatening rain, I betook myself out to fix the fence.

I started in the driveway, after running a calf back in and walking a cow in. Two wires were broken (one in two places) for about 16+ feet (bear in mind I don't judge distances like this very well...it was at least the area between two fence posts). During this time, I was within spitting distance of a couple of cows. Gorilla cow was one of them--I'm just glad I didn't notice that that black animal sitting there was her until I was almost done. Last couple of times I've come close to her she's gotten aggressive. Then Moon-bat strolled across from the north side of the runway (I must get that electric fence back running!!) and she stood there and watched me for a while. I kept an eye on her while pretending I didn't realize she was there. Anyway, I had no cow trouble; even though I had the two I'm the most scared of close enough to hurt me if they had charged me when my back was turned.

From there I moved to the fence around the yard. I got one portion of the fence around the foot-gate tightened before lunch. I was in need of water by the time I came in. I really wasn't all that hungry, though I was feeling exhausted. I got kind of bummed as I dug the first of two post holes, because I got tired before I got a foot in! I am WAY out of shape.

Anyhow, after my lunch coffee, I perked up and went back to work. I finished tightening and re-stringing wire around the yard. (Savannah tells me there's already another broken wire out there...oooo....them calves are going to LOVE it when I get the electric fence back up!) That was fun. I had to work around the almost 2 1/2 foot in diameter chunk of tree. At some point while I was out there, cutting wire and hammering staples in, the cats--all six of them--meandered over (some closer than others) to where I was working. I had to laugh at Nelly Gray tearing up the tree, fighting spanish moss, and being an all-around goofy fuzz ball. She's an ornery little stinker. I have to watch it any more when I go out in the morning, because she's been trying to sneak past me into the house. It's one of those, "oh, no you don't" things where I reach down, snatch her up, and tuck her under my arm while shutting the door with my foot.

About calves in the yard...I had this goofy idea of setting myself up a crows nest on the top of the barn and sitting up there with a BB gun to shoot them with. Only in my dreams...first off, I wouldn't know where to start in an attempt to build a crows nest on the roof, and second, it really wouldn't be that practical because I'd have to shoot through the tree! And thirdly, I'd have to spend my entire day out there :D (And fourthly...I never can seem to get that BB gun to work! I even know how it works :P)