November 18th

I think I'll try to get some pics of the new calf today when I go check on the one cow that's not calved yet. She's pretty big, so it may be any day now, but then again, might be another week. I'm still getting used to predicting that. ;) She's a nice looking cow, big horns and nice body shape, but her face markings kind of look funny to me ~ white with red nose and red around her eyes a little. Her horns sure are nice, though! She's the last to calve except for our milk cow. We're not absolutely sure that Belle is bred, but we think she is. The man we got her from said he'd exposed her to a bull a couple weeks before and she's been running with Charlie for the past six months, so I'll bet she is. I've been trying to learn how to tell when they're in season, but I'm still unsure. Belle still hasn't started producing milk, though I've seen the bottle calf try to nurse a few times. I wish I knew how to help that happen. I've been reading and hearing that going through the motions of milking her (even if I don't get milk) will do it ~ being in the milking "parlour", washing with a warm rag, then milking, the whole shebang. I may start doing that soon.

We had company, more company and STILL more company yesterday! :) Kenny's nephew David and his wife Katina came over Sat. night and stayed 'til Sunday. It was a nice visit! After they went home, a friend of ours came over with his three grandchildren, ages 6 to 12. I got to give the "grand tour" ~ bottle calf, milk cow, goats, sheep, chickens, pigs, horses and Longhorns. They all loved the new calves and wanted to get out of the truck to pet them, so I had to explain about 900 pound protective mothers armed with pike poles on their heads. ;) As we were driving back to the house, the three horses took to running at top speed across the field right beside us! Seeing the two new formerly-skinny-but-now-looking-pretty-good ones racing our butterball mustang was an awesome sight! I heard three little gasps from the backseat so I HAD to stop the truck and turn the engine off to hear the hoofbeats and whinnies. Man, I love this life...

Kathy, I don't mean to laugh, but your goat story sure made me smile! Yep, that is DEFINITELY one to tell the grandchildren! I don't know about Longhorn color genetics much, but have come across some references to it online. It does interest me. I'm keeping photo records of the cows and what they drop and I might find that coming in handy for this once I find out more, but since I don't know these cow's lineages it might not be that handy. I think there are people who know the lineage of their Longhorns and enough about color genetics to make pretty good crosses with an aim in mind and they hit that mark fairly often. The man who sold the cows to me said he'd compiled the group over a few months from different people, so I really don't know for sure. I've been studying them these past months and think I know which cows came together and which came from other herds. I have some ideas I've put in my pipe and have been smoking on a while and one of them is being able to keep one of the bull calves intact to use as a herd sire. The chances of that are looking pretty good! :) After some ponderation and calf maturation, we just might do that very thing. :)!

Shoe! Lettuce! That reminds me that I need to plant some. I've been holding off 'til the freeze gets the peas that have taken over the garden. They're still so productive and pretty that I hate to pull them right now. My long ToDo list makes it easy to wait on the lettuce. But I just may have to try some of that Winter Marvel lettuce. It gets down below 20 degrees about once a year for one night, so that sounds like the perfect kind for my winter garden! :)

Ruth, don't you just love deer meat? We don't let many adults hunt out here so we can keep it for the kids, but every year another neice/nephew bring their son Marcus and he gets a deer or three. THEN they give us back jerky and sausage! Mmmm-MMM! I've got about ten pounds of sausage in the freezer right now (was twenty a couple weeks ago ;) and the jerky's just about gone. Yummy!

Mary! You're still top on mileage?! Awesome accomplishment for you! They check the heart rate of the horse after the race and will disqualify those miles if it's not good? That's cool! It sure sounds like everyone participating in these rides are doing it responsibly. :)!!

Jewel, buy a deer rifle ~ it's cheaper to hunt with than your car. ;) *Kidding* Seriously, I'm glad you missed that deer! Ooo, that could have been bad. The name "Jackyl" for a rock band rings a bell in my head, but I don't really remember them. I was in high school in the eighties when all those wild rock bands were coming out. I liked a few of them, but many were just too heavy for my taste. How are your eardrums today?

Lisa, are you using your DG time for fishing now that you have that be-yew-tee-ful boat? LOL! Kathleen ~ how's Stan doing? EvaMae ~ baked anything more yummy things? Bernie ~ have those lisanthus sprouted yet? I hope everyone else is doing well.