Checking Calves

We went to check calves with The Rancher.

We drove out into the field.  

The one where the wolves were.

The best way to check calves, if you are a wee Ranchkin anyway, is by crowding into the passenger seat and hanging your head out the window like a dog.  No matter how cold it is.

That gives you the best view of the herd, too.

This is what Rancher looks like when checking the herd:

I think Rancher said that 25 calves have been born so far this year.  There are about 327 heads and 327 tails out there in the pasture.

There are a lot more to come, too - only like 250.

There are still a lot of cows large with child.

One of the first calves to be born this year, maybe the very first one, was a struggler.  Weston found it and it was practically frozen. 

He put it in the back of the suburban and turned the heat on full blast.  He kept it in there for like 3 hours or so (he kept checking on it), and by then the little thing was okay; that saved it's life.

These little calves are so cute to watch jump and play all around.

It is awfully hard to get a still picture when driving through that bumpy, muddy field. 

We were out there when the sun dropped.

The sky started turning pretty colors and everything started looking all silhouette-y against it.

I really like when that happens.

I also like when the moon is full.  Or 96% even.

Our rancher daddy dropped us off at the end of the driveway so that we could walk the rest of the way home; it was so nice out.

We danced a jig.

And were amazed when an airplane flew over us.  That doesn't happen every day month.

Plus it was cool because we could tell that the sun was still shining on it, even though it wasn't shining on us anymore.

Why must they always walk right through the puddle?

These 3 power poles on the hill always make me think of crosses and Jesus Christ's crucifixion.  They have become sort of special to me in that way.  A little reminder every time I look at them (I can see them from my bedroom and my bathroom even). 

Before we headed in (but after Jiles fell on a frozen puddle down by the creek and hit his head), we checked the eggs (there were 20 - we hadn't gotten them for a few days), and locked up the chickens.  We are down to 8 chickens: 1 rooster and 7 hens.  2 hens got picked off a couple of weeks ago when we neglected to lock them up for the night.  Weston thinks it was a raccoon.  

It is 10:35 and I am in bed typing this.  I keep asking Weston questions (he is trying to go to sleep) of things I am writing (how many cows, etc.).  When I wrote that about the chickens, I realized that they weren't locked up.  He just went out there and is locking them up.  

What a responsible chicken keeper. :)

I love this picture of Spencer, who was fresh out of the hen house with his treasury of eggs:

You gotta love the country life.