Freedom

Not really free but the sheep got to come out of their pasture today. They are grazing some of the good grass and weeds on the other side of the fence. It is greener over there of course.

Much greener.

They hung out mostly by the trees.

They came all the way up the hill.

One of these things is not like the others.

Winter’s First Snow

Kentucky, like most of the country, has had very little snow this winter. We haven’t had any here until today. It was cold and windy as well as snowy. We didn’t get any accumulation to speak of. It was kind of nice to have a wintery day.

 

There are three calves still on milk. Since it’s hard to hold three buckets for three calves Lisa hung Bevis’ from the fence.

He was trying to get every drop.

  My glove must have looked like an udder. My coat is Holstein colored too. He looks cute and cuddly doesn’t he? Well, he’s cute.

I didn’t think I looked like a nurse cow.

While Bevis was chasing me around, Yogi was trying to get milk out of Harvey’s udder. Harvey is a bull. The neighbor cattle came to watch.

The hay in the middle of the roll must be tasty. It’s funny to see them with their heads jammed in the hole.

We were taking Heidi some hay and breaking the ice in her water tank.

The big bovines came to see if we had buckets.

It never got much above 25 all day. This was about 3 pm. The van is outside because of all the hay in the garage.

At the end of the day it was just a heavy dusting, nothing to measure.

New Year's Day cattle drive chapter two–The Arrival

Click Here to see Chapter One on Hayseed Happenings.

With a little coaxing Andy and Heather got the calves off the trailer and across the back yard. They stayed in the barnyard with Harvey all afternoon. We put them back in the stall for the night.

Heather was hooking up the halters.

As hard as they fought getting in the trailer at Andy’s you would think they would want to get back off.

 

I eventually got behind Bevis and poked him with a stick on his bony little butt and he walked across the yard.

Hay Convoy

Andy and Heather followed us over to Garrard County to pick up some rolls of hay. We got a good deal on them if we bought ten rolls. We got six on the first trip then Andy and I went down and got another four. It was the only hay around that was dry since it has been so rainy this year.

Mr. Lear loaded them with his old Ford loader.

The hay convoy ready for the trip back to Clark County.

Mr. Lear had one of these.

This is where we went on Copper Creek.

The garage acting as a hay barn again.

Nelson let us use his loader to move the rolls around.

Speedy didn’t care for all the company.

This one is going on the sheep rack. The other one goes up on the hill for the cattle.

Lisa has the llama stick and Heather was ready too.

  Lisa directed me into position.

It was tricky keeping the rack from sliding around. Nelson makes it look easy.

All ready for the animals to feast on. Nice clean dry hay.

Indifferently Appreciative Lenny

He’s a cat and he’s old. We don’t expect much from Lenny and he is eager to fulfill those expectations. Bill and Kathy were kind enough to send the dear kitty a gift of treats for Christmas. We thought it was very nice. Lenny seems to be warming up to the idea of eating a treat. He sort of noticed one today.

  Savory Salmon seems like just the thing to excite a cat. It even says right there …TREATS Cats Love!

That’s the treat in front of him. He touched it with a whisker and sneezed at it.

He had just sniffed it a second time here and his right eye is slightly opened. This is what makes me think he may actually eat one. Eventually. Maybe not this one.

He jumped on the other shelf (well, “jumped” might be stretching it) so I thought he might not be able to see it from way up there.

As you can see, look close, he turned his head toward it. That’s practically giddy for Lenny. He’s ready to pounce. A coiled spring of cold steel poised to strike.

He snuffled at it and went to bed. I left it on his other shelf in case he wants a midnight snack.

Merry Day After Christmas

We had a nice holiday yesterday. Cathryn and Brian were here for dinner. We had roast mutton, mashed potatoes and green beans. Hazelnut pie for dessert. Andy, Heather and Allen came over for a nice visit in the afternoon. Andy. Allen and I watched the Mythbuster marathon, Lisa and Heather did some animal stuff outside. Cathryn and Brian went out to find geocaches. On Saturday we went over to Andy’s to see Lynne and Jessica. Cathryn went for a pony ride on Bahloo.

It’s okay to love your horse.

Brian and Cathryn went in to see the bunnies.

We were watching them get the horses tacked up. I went over to see the new calves. It was dark in the barn so I didn’t take any new pictures.

It was a nice December day. Sunny and cool. about 40 degrees and light breeze. It was windy at our house, of course.

Allen works in New York, he came for the holidays.

Cathryn mounting her beast.

They tried to get Brian up on Phoenix.

Bahloo isn’t used to being ridden and there have been a lot of falls lately so they just ponied the horses around the field.

Allen rode on Phoenix. They didn’t sell the riding experience successfully to Brian.

Cathryn fell from Bahloo last time she was here, Andy fell off Phoenix and Lisa fell off Heidi three weeks ago and is still hurting. Yeah, I didn’t get on a horse either.

Lynne was keeping the horses out of her rose bushes.

Harvey

Andy and Heather brought Harvey over.

 

  Harvey is a Holstein bull.

Heather and Andy had him over at their place with the other two bull calves they picked up last week. They were hanging on to them while Lisa recovers from her horse fall. Harvey is closer to Morty’s size so he is better off here. Hopefully he will survive.

The llamas were annoyed by the commotion.