May Day Kittens

Wow, its already May 1st! Where does the time go? The boys made it home from Madison on Friday night. No results on the web still, but the kids did get results yesterday in school. As a team they placed 19th out of approx. 60 teams, and Tyler placed 54th for individuals. A pretty good job for  our team of freshmen, they have 3 more years to work at it!

Saturday morning we had our weigh in for sheep and swine for Show-n-Sale. Here are a couple of pics.

On Saturday Tyler spent time chisel plowing, I took some pictures for his FFA projects. Our farm is in the background, this is one of a small number of our fields that are right at home. Most are 2-15 miles away.

Katie spent some time working with Honey, getting her used to new things and experiences. The bridge didn't faze her one bit.

Later Saturday I drove both kids to the other farm so they could weigh and lead their fair steers. Tyler is undecided yet between two of his, Katie has been decided since she saw hers. She has had a calf from the same cow at Beaver Brook Farm for 3 years now. Steve, Little Steve, and....well, Steve. I didn't get pics of Tyler's the one that he weighed was CRAZY! He was however, already over 1200 pounds! BIG! Great to see my kids work together to get them caught and weighed.

Monday we had concrete people here to tear out part of our freestall barn to make a new cleaning system. We had to chase the cows out of the barn, and around the end to the parlor. They were so excited, they ran and bucked and beat on each other. It was quite a process. This morning went better. Hopefully they get it done and fixed soon!

This morning I had help to do my chores, Emily came while Kylie and Maddi were at an appointment in Siren.

We also had babies overnight, Buttercup had 4 little ones, and in my barn where we can find them and have them tame and friendly for giving away.

Well, thats all for now. I'm off to take care of my babies!

April 26th, 2012

Started today off with Katie staying home this morning to feed calves so that I could help get cows ready for classifying. The classifier showed up early, so we didn't get to have any "ready". I did ask him if dairies of our size, (100 cows), usually have them prepped and pretty, or if our set-up is normal. He said no one has time anymore to clip and prep the cows, ours was normal.

When I got home Katie was showering, to go to school. 30 minutes later she didn't look so good, said she was dizzy, and felt warm to my touch. Temp was only 99, but normal for her and myself, is 97.7. She ended up staying home and slept half the day away.

Photo of our ornamental apple tree outside the house. This is an "odd" year, and only the one branch has lots of blossoms. On even years the rest of the tree is covered and this branch has only a few. Weird!

I gave Shorty a ride to town, so he could meet up with the rest of the FFA Dairy and Livestock Judging Teams to go to Madison for the State Competition. Wishing them the best of luck tomorrow!

Katie and I fed calves, fed Aisa, and watered the horses, here are some random pics...

 Hunter is always ready for an escaping calf!

Katie feeding the baby that I assisted with yesterday.

The barn cats, hanging around waiting for some food and love!

A random photo of Snickers curled up in the straw. However, when I uploaded it PSE wanted to know who was the face....The end of the calf dryer!

 We have decided on Kraft Mac n Cheese for supper, then I think bed sounds good....I get the WHOLE thing to myself tonight!

New Years Eve, 2011

Here I sit, at the computer. Tyler is playing Wii Football, Katie is in her room, and Garry is watering Aisa, who is in the back barn tonight, since it is snowing/raining. He is probably also helping Tom and Sunshine finish chores, since that is the kind of guy he is :)


Katie and I fed calves, and moved all the "off milk" calves to the newly emptied pen in my back barn. Yeah! That means tomorrow I have 22 less pails of water, and feed to carry!!


Chad, Tyler and Garry went ice fishing today, catching quite a few. Even two very large Northern. They cleaned them while Katie and I fed calves.




Looking back at 2011 I have to say it was a pretty good year! We had some down times, and plenty of controversy, but when you work so closely with another family you're bound to have some of that.

We had our dairy breakfast, a fantastic fair, and a super family vacation. We've spent time with great friends, and our wonderful families. Lots of ice fishing happened this year, and horseback riding. Hopefully even more of both for next year! Tyler and Garry both got to go bow hunting, Tyler got his first deer with the bow!

Here's to hoping that 2012 brings us lots of snow(for Tyler and that snowmobile), sunshine, and an adequate amount of rainfall! Lots of love, laughter, and time with family and friends!

As far as resolutions......... I have a few things that I am going to try to make more time for this year, and pay more attention to.

1. Create more! Hopefully everyday will have some creative time in it for me!

2. Move more! Try to be more active and more in shape.

3. Eat less! Been making a conscious effort to pay attention to what I'm eating.

4. Be more organized! Spend a little more time everyday trying to keep up with the day to day mess!

5. Spend more time with family and friends! Very important part of being a happy, healthy person!

Well, I think its off to bed for me, I'll see 2012 in the morning!

October 16th photo a day, nothing for the 15th :(

Its been an emotional couple of days here. I have a horse that is almost 30 years old, and her health has been failing since August. Then I brought Aisa, (shown above) in from pasture and found her to be blind. Alot of tears were shed, but the decision was made to have the vet out and put them both to sleep today.

However, in the days between then and now Aisa's eyesight has improved, so I was spared the double heartbreak, and only had to lose one of my best friends today. Tomorrows post will be about Betsy, whom we did have to have put down today. I will share her photo, that will be for the 17th, tomorrow also.

Todays photo wasn't taken by me, but by Katie. I wanted some last photos to show the relationship with Aisa. I have had Aisa since I was 15 or 16, and I just turned 38. Her health is good right now besides the eye trouble. We got ointment for her eyes to use for a few days, and they should be good again. I am happy to be able to have my friend around for a little while longer.

October 14th photo a day

Photo from the 14th, which was my birthday. Had 3 birthday presents waiting for me in the pasture, 2 heifers and a bull.

October 13th Photo a Day

Gorgeous sunset! Have to add the others I took too!

Follow up photos and eyeliner

This is yesterdays duct tape heifer, she is looking good this morning. I hurried up to check on her this morning and leave a chart with feeding directions for my sister in law. Shorty has an appointment this morning for a pain shot in his spine and I have to be his driver.

I took a couple of pictures of the calf from the 10th this morning to show you his cool eyes. Katie calls him the mad hatter, he looks like he is wearing a little hat on his head. He also looks like he has black eyeliner on. His eyelashes are white, except for a few in the middle on one side.

He sure is a cutie! I love my job!

Well, off to wake the kids and go look for new babies quick, then to the appointment.