Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Dad! I love you!


This song reminds me of my dad. Make sure you really listen to the words and the meaning. It's a really strong and powerful song.

Thursday Thoughts

Well, the boys survived Wild Horse Camp. Not so sure about Melanie. She looked pretty beat when she dropped them off last night! ;-) Both seemed to have had fun, though T was a bit dramatic about missing us. He told us that he cried himself to sleep the 2nd night. I asked him why he was crying and he said because he just wanted to come home, and the stupid pictures wouldn’t turn off. “What pictures?” I asked. “The pictures of my mom and dad that kept popping in my head.” Awww…. Anyway, he says he doesn’t think he wants to go back, but he’s got a whole year to forget about missing us, ( as well as maturing a whole year.) so I think he’ll be back. He has lots of stories to tell and made lots of new friends. He left his 4-H bag with all his stuff he made SOMEWHERE, so I hope we can track it down. He was really upset about it. He might have left his stuff all over camp, but he somehow made it home with someone elses camp shirt,a pair of someone’s socks and a towel I’ve never seen before. Nice.
J had lots of fun too, but this is his 3rd year of going, so he’s just a pro now. He really likes making new friends, and then seeing people he knows when he plays ball and stuff. I noticed when I was helping him unpack he’d packed 2 different types of deodorant as well as 2 types of cologne. Girls defiantly were on the mind this year.
D and I found ourselves childless for the first time in 11 years. We have been away from the boys, but it’s never been for fun. It’s been because someone has been in the hospital or something like that. And never ever for 3 days! We went out to eat for most of the meals and I was amazed at how clean my house stayed!! However, when they came home, leaving trails of suitcases and sleeping bags, and the laundry started piling up with wet and stinky clothes, and 2 different stories were coming out of 2 different mouths at the same time, I smiled and realized this is the life I prefer to have.

I was blessed with the most amazing gift this week. My Aunt Karen is moving to Texas and gave me the sideboard that’s been in the Burt family forever. I’ve seen this thing the entire time I was growing up and never dreamed it would be in my house someday!! I run my hands over the marble and think about how cool it would be if I could see the things it has seen over it’s time. I know it would have lots of stories to tell!! I need to find out a bit more history on it sometime. I don’t know who the one that bought it originally was or what year. We made sure it was signed on the back of the marble. Every time it’s moved it’s signed and dated.

Monday evening we went out for pizza with my cousin, Joy and her husband, Loren. I haven’t seen her since 1994, so it was nice to sit and catch up with her. Her mom and dad bought a house in Wilmore so I think she will be here a lot more. It was fun to sit and remember all things we had done as children.

We lost our other calf on Monday. It was not a surprise as we had watched her go down hill. We had gotten another dose of antibiotics, and kept in contact with the vet, but it didn’t help. The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that she had something wrong with her, whether it have been a birth defect or some sort of damage from a hard birth. Everyone seems really concerned we are going to give up. We are not. I am very sad/frustrated with the losses we’ve had, but given the condition these babies were in when we got them, it really isn’t a surprise. We’re still plugging away and D seems to already have a new plan. We still have Chewy, who is confused, I think. He thinks he’s either a large dog, or a small horse, but defiantly doesn’t know he’s a cow.

Bunnys, Gardens, and Bugs, OH MY!!

Wow! Life seems to be mostly happening in our car lately. We always seem to have somewhere to go or be.

We had a great weekend. Saturday we got up early and headed to Wichita to meet a breeder to get a couple of rabbits. His name is Bob and he’s from up by Kansas City. It’s hard to find a way to get to him and his rabbits are AWESOME so we jumped at this chance to meet him here, and also to go to a show just to see how it all happens. WOW—there were about 500 rabbits there. Rabbits being judged, rabbits for sale, rabbits cooked and ready to eat. There were small walkways is all. It was a maze of buns. I didn’t get to get over to the “rabbit restaurant” to see what they had. I was wanting to see how many different ways they had rabbit prepared!

Anyway, we came home with a Florida White named Bunny, and another Dwarf Hotot named Julia. The Florida is Tristen’s 4-H rabbit to use as his breeding project for next year. The dwarf is mine. I already have one—he placed really well with Bob at the national show and I’ve wanted to get a doe to breed him with, but Julia is only a couple months old so it will be a project for next spring I think. The original plan was I would show Jasper while the boys showed their rabbits, but then Jasper pulled his entire toenail off in his cage one day while he was spazzing out during feeding time. That’s a disqualification so his show career is now over, but he can pass on his awesomeness to his babies!!
It is so funny to listen to some of these people talk. I asked Bob how many rabbits he had. “Well, right now I have about 300, but I try to keep it around 150 or so.” Holy bat-balls! Can you imagine??

At this show there were lots of booths set up outside and we walked around wandering for a bit. There were all kinds of homemade goat milk soaps, which I don’t know why, but I have this over whelming urge to make some of this someday. There was also lots of canned goods, home grown veggies, homemade breads, farm eggs, Emu eggs, flowers, plants, woodworking booths…it was so much fun!!

The garden is kicking butt. It thrills me to go out and look at it!! I have lots baby green tomatoes and we just harvested the lettuce. YUM!! The giant pumpkins are HUGE!! I can’t wait to see how big the guys can get these things! We are fighting potato bugs, and have Sevins to use on them, but D and I are not real fond of the thought of using chemicals or pesticides. We might just have to do it though. We’ve been paying the boys 5 cents for each one they pick off. D thinks he might have to lower the bounty though, as the boys are taking all his cash.
T had his very first broccoli harvest!! He had 2 very small stalks, but he said it was the best he ever ate. His cabbage is getting huge!! He doesn’t like cabbage, but its super fun to grow!

The boys headed out today for camp. It’s very quiet here!

Momma Brag!

Ok, so yes, while I do love both my kids exactly the same, sometimes I feel as though T gets shadowed out. So, this post is dedicated all to him and his accomplishments lately!!

Last night at 4-H, T gave his very first project talk ever. Those of you who know T and the struggles he has had with anxiety know what a HUGE accomplishment this was for him. His talk could not have been more than 30 seconds long, and we had to drag his rabbit there to show while he did his talk, but as he finished up his talk and was answering questions, just for a second I felt my eyes fill up with tears as I looked at him up there. He’s made progress this year with leaps and bounds. It’s been amazing to watch. I never EVER thought we’d get to the point where he would get up and talk like that. That is the reason he did not go out for 4H till this year…he was worried about the project talk.

He is also leaving Monday to go to Wild Horse Camp, which is 3 days. This doesn’t worry me much as Melanie is camp nurse, so I know if he has any problems he will find her. Though I don’t think he’s going to have any…it just makes his mom feel better.

He’s doing great at baseball. He got to play catcher last night at the game and again hit the ball every time he was up to bat. He still worries a bit about messing up, which is T’s biggest downfall…he worries to much about imperfection. He’s still figuring out which position does what, but he’s doing so great.

I think he’s awesome!

Busy Busy Busy

Summer is defiantly here, as well as the hectic busy summer schedules. Baseball practices, getting ready for the fair, and working in the garden…it just doesn’t seem to end at the moment.

Both boys are rockin at baseball! J’s game has improved a lot. He’s only struck out once so far this year, and until then had hit the ball every time he was up to bat. I don’t think he ever had a hit last year. T is doing well too. His very first game he caught 2 pop flys and hit the ball every time he batted. He did this all while wearing a pretty pink mitt…we got 5 minutes from Kinsley and he announced that he had forgotten his mitt, so he had to borrow one from the couch. He is still a little uncomfortable playing on the field, but is still learning the rules and where to throw the ball. He loves playing though.

Both boys have started thinking about what they are doing for our county fair. I think T is going to start his woodworking project this week. We always say we are going to start early, but never seem to get it done. However, this is a lot earlier than last year. I think J and D were working on J’s shelf up to the night before we had to take it to the school.

We had an exciting day last week…D and I got to hear our rooster, Jack, crow for the very first time. He’d been practicing and gearing up for it, but we just happened to be out there when he did it. It was pretty pathetic. Kind of reminded me of an adolescent boy whose voice has started to change, but he’s getting better. Now he does it over and over again till around 10am. I guess he’s gotta get the kinks worked out.

The calf project has been going for a bit over a week now with lots of ups and downs. We did lose one—Jersey—the one we thought was in the best of shape. I think he must have had sort of infection or bug. He had a bit of blood in his poop one day, so D and I talked about calling the vet, but the next day we didn’t see any trace, so we decided to hold off on calling. He died later that day. He had been eating all his bottles and was acting playful hours before he died, so it was a bit of a surprise he just died suddenly like that.
Paige is doing a lot better. She’s put on some weight and her coat has shined up a lot. We’ve finally got her sucking well and she’s eating all the milk we make for her. However, I’m not sure if she’s just dumb, or just a stubborn cow that’s been babied too much, but she will NOT get up to eat. She runs around chasing after her bottle and takes walks with us, after we get her up, but she just flat refuses to get on her own. She makes someone come over and lift her to her feet. I was worried that she was just too weak to get up, but after watching her chase D around the barn this morning to get her bottle, I’m not sure that’s the case. D wants to go out and show her the bottle and tease her a bit, and then leave if she doesn’t get up, then come back in an hour, to teach her a lesson, but we just got her eating good and that makes me nervous to mess with her eating schedule. I'm just not sure what's gonna happen with her.
Chewy is doing wonderful. He’s going to be a pain in the ass when he gets bigger. He already acts like a stubborn pig headed bull. He’s a lot of fun to walk on the lead rope as he’s just like a big ol’ dog. I love feeding him as he sucks his bottles down in less than a minute, with his eyes rolled back and foam dripping from his mouth…he’s in calf heaven during bottle time. He’s eating hay here and there and we just started him on creep feed.
It’s funny to see this little guy chewing on his cud like big bulls you see out the pastures.

After Mel posted her pics about her new water feature with the old fashioned water pump, my dad casually mentioned he had one I could have….out in the JUNK PILE!!!!! I couldn’t believe my dad would put something as AWESOME as that out in the JUNK pile! (I can see my mom rolling her eyes as she reads this, by the way!!) Anyway, we went and snagged that baby and I think I know where I am going to put it for now. D was suppose to work on it today, but came down with a bit of a stomach bug so I am not sure. I have had my eye out for one of these for a couple of years now and then I find out there was one at the farm, waiting on me, needing to be rescued from the junk pile! You never know where you might find a treasure!! Anyway, I have this old milking bucket with some plants in it that I think will look just perfect with it. I am excited and can’t wait for D to get it done so I can get it just right!!

BROWN COWS?!?

No, don’t adjust your screens. Those are defiantly NOT black and white cows in the pictures!! There is also one more than we had planned on! ACK!
We headed out Saturday for the big day to get our baby cows. We got there, and they bring out JERSEY CALVES. D called the guy we were buying them from—he was out working on something, somewhere, and told him we had come for HOLSTEINS and he wasn’t real happy about having to bring home JERSEY’S.(Later, D told me that he thought: Oh sh*t..Becky is going to FLIP when she sees a BROWN calf instead of a B/W one!! Hehe) Anyway, after a little talking, basically the man gave us a 3rd calf for free. I think it was just a misunderstanding—he had just sold the last of the Holstein calves. I would have taken the Jerseys anyway, as I was APPALLED by the condition these babies where in.
So, we made some frantic calls home to mom and dad and to our cow buddy, Trent, who met us in the driveway. One of these babies I didn’t even think would make it home she was in such bad shape. However, when Dad and Trent opened the trailer up, they assured us that though they needed a bit of TLC and some regular bottles, they seemed to be ok.
D and I are now getting up at 6am to head to the farm every morning to give the first feeding, and then the boys are helping us out with the evening feeding. It’s been very scary and challenging so far, but I am really enjoying it…now.
My dad made me laugh after I had calmed down a bit...”We did bucket calves because we HAD to….you went looking for them and PAID MONEY for them!” =-)
So, we now have:
Paige. She is the only heifer and the one I didn’t think would make the trip home. She’s probably 4 or 5 days old. She’s been slow to eat, but every time she eats she’s been eating a little bit more. She is a mess, but we are very slowly seeing improvements. She’s black/red with a white little tip on her tail.
Chewy. He’s the oldest. He’s on the skinny side too, but he’s been woofing down his bottles and chewing on some hay. He bounces around and chews on EVERYTHING!!
Jersey. He’s the baby at just a few days old. He had just arrived there so he seemed to be in better shape. All he cares about his is bottles and his naps at the moment.
D asked me on the way home if I was totally disappointed we didn’t come home with Holsteins. Nope. I wasn’t even that upset we were coming home with Jerseys. I was just upset because someone had not taken care of these guys.
Not real sure what we are going to do with them. (Except cut their nuts as soon as it’s time!! Jersey bulls have a reputation of getting nasty. The cows, however, are known for being sweet and gentle.) D tosses around different ideas every day on what we can do with them.
Funny T story: While they were loading up the babies, T was climbing on the trailer. He looks in at Paige, and said “YEAH, RIGHT!! THOSE GUYS SAID THEY HAD BEEN FEEDING THEM BOTTLES! LOOK AT SKINNY THEY ARE!” I turned around, and there was the guy. I wanted to die and give my kid a high five, all at the same time!!

So anyway, Jersey cows are most known for Elsie the Cow, the famous mascot of Borden Milk.. Her face appears on cans of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk. They are small milk cows with a high butterfat content in their milk.

And so begins another adventure at the Funny Farm!!

And the NEXT cows we bring home BETTER be black and white! =-)