Can't believe it. Cinderella?
Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.
I saw this link on another blog, and thought it would be interesting to see if I was a 'good 1930s housewife'. Turns out, I'm not.
 | 21 As a 1930s wife, I am |
We lost our steer yesterday. First we just lost it, and then WE really lost it, and finally we REALLY lost it.
Explain:
Syrup, the steer of the Funny Farm, decided to role play the cow jumping over the moon. He lept the fence and galloped around the empty yard a bit. Funny, and BIL & I tried to round him back up into the yard. Syrup didn't agree and plowed through our neighbor's fence. Through their RV gate and out into the street. That's when we lost him.
Ran around the neighborhood a bit, tracking him down. Thankfully, SIL a few streets away had spotted Syrup and was able to direct us. 115*, BTW. 2PM. No clouds.
I jumped in SIL's truck (SIL #2 of 3 that were in the neighborhood) and we drove after him. At the end of the road, expecting to turn left to where he was last spotted, I happened to look straight ahead and saw a brownish/ black mass, bounding through the acres and acres of alfalfa.
After about a mile and a half, part running/ part driving, we (with the help of a farm Jose who was working the field) managed to run him down and have him 'cornered' in a triangle of the 3 of us. Just me, SIL, and Jose.....still 115*......2:45ish...
We all got a chance to play rodeo clown, getting tossed and plowed and mowed. Finally, we got a rope around him and waited for our friend to bring his trailer.
3:15ish....in the trailer, on the way back home. BIL managed to back SIL's van into the irrigation ditch, where it was high-centered and stayed there until later....
Syrup was home, and we turned him into the pen. He walked around in a circle, layed down with a couple desperate 'moooooo's.....and died!
Today, I feel like I was hit by a car. Maybe a truck. I'm pretty beat up, and so is poor SIL, who took a couple plows (and was drug as she hung onto the rope)....Mostly, I am TO'd that we now have to pay $250 to have the carcass removed, after loosing all that beef. ($500 inital investment, plus feed since we've had him....). At this point, though, I am just glad we are all ok, and that when I really needed help, I had oodles of family nearby and a friend who dropped everything at a moment's notice to take part in the excitement. ;)
In the end, as I was whining about my injuries, DH pointed out, 'Well, you won!' (vs. the steer). Yeah, we sure showed him. Dang fly-covered lump in the pen......The cow's gone Home.
My garden lays in ruins. Between the oven-roasting heat and the sneaky chickens and the curious bunnies all that remains is:
2 pumpkin vines, struggling and about half shriveled,
3 yellow/brown tomato plants with 9 wrinkley yellow-orange tomatoes,
1 zombie squash plant, with a lone 1 1/2" squash, about to give up,
and about a baker's dozen 6" tall sunflowers, which were packaged and sold under the impression that they were 'enormous' with 'edible seeds'.
I had about 8 cucumbers that were looking quite promising 1 week ago, but alas....the cottontails found them before I could pick them. Of course, they didn't finish them off. Oh, no, they had to only munch through the center-- the most tender moist part and leave the rest. Pancake enjoyed a mid-day snack of the remains.
Next year, I will be asking our neighbor what seeds he plants that gives such gorgeous sunflowers. His are at least 8 feet tall, with 12" heads. Did I mention mine are 6"? Yes, I did....
Once again, for a couple months of the year I wonder why it is we live where we do? It's SO hot. Stepping outside after about 9AM is just unpleasant. At least it only lasts a few months, and while it's so hot, there are fewer flies.
I will need to start looking around for a buck to borrow. Sometimes there's a waiting list, and I want to be sure to be on it. ;) Can't be without milk!
Because I have been so busy lately, and the goats have been giving much less milk at a time, I am only milking in the morning. Still about a gallon from both...
Heat again.
Cucumbers are taking off, with little baby ones here and there. Lots of blossoms.
Pumpkins blossomed.
The Faith Squash produced a fairly large squash. Dinner tonight! I might try Ratatouille, and we'll watch the movie. ;) That is, if I'm feeling like cooking (which I haven't been).
Not sure why....but the last two days I have gotten about a gallon/ day from the Girls, vs. the almost 2 gallons/ day of previous weeks. The feed has changed slightly, but I can't believe it would make such a drastic difference. Mostly, it's Belle who's dropped and she was my Gallon Girl. Now, she's at about a quart! Hmmm.....the heat? The slight feed change? Maybe they just know their babies are gone and they are protesting. ;)
