Onward to April

It snowed again last nite. The apricot and peach trees had blossoms on them but may not have fruit again this year because of the cold snaps. 

My sweet tooth flared up. I pulled out the sourdough starter and started feeding up a ‘Herman” starter. My regular starter (Sam) gets just flour and water, but when I want to make cinnamon rolls or biscuits, I take a portion and feed it equal amounts of flour, sugar and milk for 2 or 3 days. Everything here gets a name, btw. Even our truck. It makes me feel like I am surrounded by friends and family.

It was a happy, happy starter and when I made the rolls, they rose in just a few hours and I had to bake them that afternoon. Usually it is 8 hours for the first rise and over night for the second. Not so with this happy mixture!!! The difference seemed to come from measuring my flour and water in the first starter. Instead of just scooping equal volume of each, I weighed them. 5 oz of flour was a heaping full measuring cup while the 5 oz of water was barely more than half. It became absolutely giddy.

I also made 4 loaves of bread. It is so much easier now that I have the Bosch mixer and can make twice as much at one time as I did before, plus it is a lot faster.

I didn’t take a picture of the rolls, but I split the batch with the new neighbor. They have a cute little girl that giggles and waves at me. Makes me miss my grandkids even more, if that could be possible...but they will have fun together when the kids come to visit.

As there is a half beef coming and we lost one of our freezers and it is NOT in the budget to replace it, I'm canning more meat. A few batches of jerky is on the shelves and I canned up a lot of meatballs to use on sandwich rolls, in spaghetti or just to eat out of the jar. I use this recipe,  mix it up in the stand mixer, use a cookie scoop to put them on baking sheets but I only bake them about 15 min. then put them in sterilized canning jars, cover with hot spaghetti sauce and into the pressure canner for 75 min pts and 90 min qts. Keeps several quick meals on the shelf, and makes room in the freezer for other things.

I am thinking I will can the recipe for swedish meatballs as well, just to change things up and have more choices.

The volatile changes in weather have taken their toll on me and I have spent too many days unable to do much. The house became a dungeon and a filthy one at that. With company coming I was struggling to get things back in order when a neighbor, from the ranch down the road, showed up with her daughter to clean it! I was flabbergasted as they tore through the house cleaning, walls, ceiling fans, pictures, dusting, vacuuming, mopping...and all just to be a blessing. The next day the mom came back and washed windows. Ranch folk are the best and as far as all concerned, they are also part of our ranch family which we are so lucky to be a part of. As we were conversing, she told me that wolves are already in the neighborhood. I am desperately hoping to keep Bruno and Potamus safe without having to dispose of our flock. We’ll be using radio fencing around the big pasture and hoping that keeps them contained by day. However, the problem is, even if it keeps my dogs in, it won’t keep anything else out...so we also have to pray that the activity around the ranch headquarters here will keep wolves away during the day time, and I will have to lock the dogs and sheep up securely by night. Hopefully, we will know in a few weeks if the fence works or not. Otherwise, all the sheep will have to go, as I will not risk the lives of my big dogs, who would sacrifice themselves to protect them.

I had a couple of good days and really, really wanted to ride so I grabbed Mister, who turned up sore footed. Nephew who now works at the ranch down the road is going to try and fit him in for a trim, when he gets a chance. Next day I got up and limped out to the corral early before they turned all the horses back out and I was hoping I could catch Wimpy. He’s a wily old thing who loves to make me run around after him, between every other horse in the cavvy, to avoid being caught. This time though, I walked right up to him and he never moved. That seemed odd. I was feeling the effects of another barometer change already but hoped I could manage at least a short ride. As I brought him into the corral behind our house, I noticed he was keeping right up with me, which was also uncharacteristic of him, as he normally prefers to lug back at the end of the rope being slow and lazy for the most part. 

He had lost a great deal of weight since I’d seen him only 3 months earlier. He also had bite and kick marks on him, which was unusual as he always got along with everyone.

 Bringing him in with Mister, who, being a herd-bound turd was always excited to see Wimp, was another puzzling occurrence because Mister bowed up his neck and came at him like he was a total stranger. I began to wonder if it was really my horse. I looked at his distinctive snip (white marking on the muzzle) checked the two white saddle scars on his withers and the old barbed wire cuts on his hind leg. They were all the right ones, but I knew there was a horse that looked similar to him which is one of the boss’ horses. I became more and more fuzzy and confused and started second guessing myself. I actually posted before and after pictures of him asking people if it looked like the same horse to them. The loss of weight changed his angles dramatically and even Randyman said he didn’t think it was really Wimpy at all. Not that he would know, since he never rides and had hardly ever laid eyes on him. Since the horse had a bad looking coat, I wormed him and turned him loose again.

The ranch kids were home from college and THEY would know. Sure enough, it was Wimpy after all. (Which I would have known for certain, had I not be 'fuzzy headed' as now he looks exactly like himself only with a bad coat and much thinner.) 

One of the boys kindly re-captured him for me as I was no longer able to get up early enough or walk far enough to get him. I figured I had better find out why he lost so much weight and if it was his teeth, I needed to attend to it. When I was finally able to go out to see him, he kept his distance. I set out a flake of hay and a little SR feed for him and backed away. It took him awhile to come close enough to eat it as he could see me through the crack in the gate. It relieved me to see him acting like his usual anti-social, ornery old self. He’s not in BAD shape or poor by any means, but has lost enough weight in a short time for it to be disturbing. If he was fit and had lost the weight from working it would be a good thing, but that isn't what has occurred. I wonder now, if it is just the drought and the manner in which the cavvy is being fed. He’s getting older and he has always eaten REALLY slow. He might just not be getting his share. I found no sharp points on his molars and when I give him supplement, nothing falls out of his mouth. I’m pretty confident he will be just fine and I will be riding the next good day I have.

I spent a day making more Whipped Tallow and another trying out some new wax tart fragrances. The house smells amazing. My niece will be here in a couple of days and is bringing up an order from the candle supply store, so I’ll have plenty to do to keep me out of trouble.

First thing on the list, however, is fencing. The dogs are my top priority, and part of that will be buying a stronger fence charger, then after that is all handled, a rototiller for the garden and getting Randyman to actually help me put up the fencing he promised oh so long ago, as the meatie chickens will be here in May.

EmmaLouMoo is due anytime and I am still hoping Sushimoo is pregnant, but still don't know for sure. I should have had the vet palpate her, but I was just not well while he was on the ranch. If she is, she won't calve until August and if she isn't…there won't be a bull around for awhile anyway.

Well, it's time to go do what I do. Have a great day/week/month and if you are looking for soap, candles or body butter, check out Ranch Rustics !

Petey's Most Awesome, Pretty Good Day

The freezers are full. In order to relieve some of the ‘congestion’ I grabbed the few chicken carcasses left from when I parted out meaties and tossed them in the stock pot, along with some onion, peppercorns, carrots, a couple ribs of celery, fresh from the garden thyme and parsley, a little rosemary and some garlic. I added a couple of necks and of course, the feet, which had been cleaned. Chicken feet make the best kind of stock because they are mostly cartilage and supply all the glucosamine and chondroitin you could want. I let it simmer all day and the smell is heavenly. Once it is done and everything has been pretty much leached into the broth, I let it cool down some, then strain it into another large stockpot. That goes to the walk in to chill, while I pick through the solids that remain, putting bones in one bag, the veggies in a bucket to throw on the compost and the meat into a bowl. I gleaned enough meat off of the 3 carcasses to make  Chinese Chicken Salad, with more than half a bowl left over. This is one of my favorite summer salads so I was tickled to have it readily accessible. The only things I don't always have on hand are fresh celery, bean sprouts and the chinese noodles, but I grabbed some last trip to town. The dry noodles will keep a pretty long time so I’ll be picking up extra next trip and I have ordered mung beans to make our own sprouts, as they don’t last long and often, I can’t find them in the stores I go to. Green onions are always available in my back yard, winter and summer. I always have dry celery on hand, but not fresh, so that is something that is always on the grocery list and I always make something that requires it when we get it home. Then whatever is left over, goes in the dehydrator for soups and stews later on.

Uncharacteristically, I awoke before dawn one morning and not from being in any pain. In fact, I felt like a million bucks, so I quietly snuck outside in the dark under what was left of the moon and headed to the back pasture. I’d heard Cletus barking so I figured something was out of place back there, although he was quiet again so whatever it had been, had already been handled. I snuk up to the alley fence and peeked over to see all the sheep had been huddled together out in the open at the top of the pasture. Both Maremmas were trotting toward them so apparently it had been an encounter of the sheeple-threatening kind. The pups suddenly became aware of me and seconds later I was met in the corral by 200+ lb of highly enthusiastic, wagging polar bodies. After establishing that our infatuation for each other had not dimmed, we watched the sun rise together. It was a wonderful beginning to the day.

EmmaLouMoo has been out back with the bull and about a dozen cows for the past several weeks. SushiMoo has been isolated as she is too young to breed, and we were using the opportunity of her being lonely to get her to bond with us and become a bit more social. She was able to come and go from the corrals and out to the horse pasture as she pleased. Unfortunately, she found a way thru the fences and was loose out with the rest. I was able to capture Wimpy and saddle him (something I had not been able to do in months) and rode down to bring all the cows up from the bottom of the pasture and separate Em and Sushi out into the corral. They tried to pull a sneaky by racing back around the octopus tree and trying to double back on me while we were caught up in the wet, mucky ground, but Wimpy was a good boy and we managed to head them off and accomplish our objective. It made me a very happy camper.

A couple of days later Sushi came in heat which was a relief because #1 she for sure didn’t get bred over night and #2 it means she can go back out there for a couple of weeks until she is due to come in again, at which time I will bring her up and separate her again until her heat is over and turn her loose again. It makes her a much happier little cow.

The Red Rangers are STILL not ready to butcher. We definitely won’t be buying anymore of them as they don’t hold a candle to the cornishX as far as being economical and quick to finish. I know a lot of folks like them because they are hardier, but as we’ve not had problems with the CX, we’ll happily stick with them. 

When I had gone to visit Wimpy and Mister, Thomas followed me into the big corral and waited at the gate. When I returned, he wouldn’t let me pass. The next thing I knew, he began attacking me. He was running at me and jumping up, flapping his wings and kicking at me with his feet. I was using a foot to kick him back each time but he continued. I finally hollered for Bruno, who rescued me by body blocking Thomas and keeping him from getting too close to me. The heavy socialization and bonding I did with the Maremmas, once again paid off. It looks like Thomas might grace our Thanksgiving table, after all. He’s happily residing beneath the raspberry bushes with the Rangers for now.

It’s been unusually hot this summer and the garden has suffered for it. The flowers and hidden veggies have been making a valiant effort to survive and compete with the weeds.

I love sneaking stuff like cabbage and squash into the flower gardens

Hopefully, next year I will be more successful in my battle with weeds and dirt. For now, I'll just settle for what we have and plan on starting more perennials next spring to fill in the spots that need it.

Going out with Randyman to feed the other night, Cletus roared and took off out of the corral toward the orchard. He was upset because THIS guy and his co hort were parked in the trees. Apparently, Cletapotamus has not forgotten that they killed a bunch of his meaties and he was unable to stop them.

As for the rest, he's been fairly vigilant so I've got no worries.

Yesterday I pulled the stockpot out of the walk in, skimmed the fat off the top and canned  2 gallons of chicken broth as well as 7 qts of mixed veggies-carrots, potatoes, corn, peas and butter beans. The plan is to be able to grab a jar of veggies and a jar of chicken I have canned, dump them in a pie crust with some gravy and have a quick chicken pot pie. I tested the theory last night and it was a GOOD plan!! I think I will can more veggies and perhaps a couple different mixes with mushrooms and such as this would be good for sheperds pie, beef pot pies and some other stuff too. It's been a pretty good week for me and I'm looking forward to August!

 Hope you are too.

Stirred Up

Every now and then God stirs things up in my life, reminding me to be grateful. Today was one such day.

Due to my Ra, I have not been able to lay down for several weeks so have had to sleep sitting in a chair. Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, THAT became so uncomfortable I couldn’t stand it, so I headed to the bedroom and was actually able to sleep an hour or so laying down! Mostly because of fatigue, but the pain wasn’t nearly as severe as it has been, so that was the first thing on my thankful list.

Randyman got up at 5 a.m., to load 300 bales of hay on a truck to bring home for the critters this winter. It’s been very hot lately and there was no one to help him. He did it anyway, then came home and unloaded it. It took him 13 hours. He did it because that’s the kind of guy he is. So I also have him to be thankful for...which I am everyday, because it is a total blessing to be married to him.

Around noon today, I ventured out to the corral for no particular reason. I saw Sushi trotting down the alleyway toward the dry corrals by herself. I thought that was really odd and couldn’t think of any reason Emma wouldn’t be with her. I hollered at Randyman who was unloading hay and he just shrugged his shoulders. I figured, well, she will come looking for her around feeding time, surely. She’s been really good about coming home at night.

The boss had headed to town and his truck broke down about 2 hours away. He called Randyman to come and help him, as Randy is the ranch mechanic and jack of all trades. I was home alone to feed the calves, goats, sheep and horses and milk again knowing Randyman wouldn’t make it home for hours and hours, likely after 10 at night.

I went out to feed early as I was concerned about EmmaLouMoo. She still wasn’t there. I decided to go find her in the big pasture she is in, which has some pretty rough terrain. I drove the 4 wheeler all over, through ditches and dry streams full of big rocks, and over hill and dale. I spent over an hour, with no Emma to be seen or heard. I went back and decided to take Cletus with me. He went sniffing and searching and we looked through all the willows and places that had not been accessible on a 4-wheeler. NO Emma. I got back on my quad and headed towards the old abandoned milkbarn. The field is level there and you could easily see a cow if she was out there. The grass on that side is about 3 1/2 ft tall, and not very edible, plus the ground is real boggy. I headed up there anyway, but I was worried about getting mired down in the mud and just as I was about to turn around and head back, I saw her...

Her little face was peeking up  just below ground level. Her eyes were wide and expressive with both hope and terror. There is a long, deep trench, only the width of a back hoe bucket. It had been dug down deep until it seeped water, with some poplar tree branches set in last winter, in hopes they would root. They didn’t. But the trench filled with sucky mud. She was mired down almost to the top of her back. Her bag, her hips, her brisket were all sunk deep and she was unable to get out. I grabbed my lead-rope that I had brought with me and attached it to her halter. I thanked God I had left her halter on her. I hitched the rope around my hips and leaned into it, pulling and screaming for Emma to try and get out. It took awhile but with a lot of my pulling and her struggling she managed to get  traction from the steady pressure on her head and she got out. She staggered forward and I watched with trepidation to see how serious her injuries were. Her entire bag, belly, hips, tail and brisket were black with mud. She was weak and it looked like she hadn’t eaten or taken water all day, so she must have fallen in early that morning. That would explain why Sushi looked like she had not eaten by noon. Had Sushi fallen in with her, she would have drowned as the mud was much deeper than she is tall.

I unhooked Em and went back to check on Sushi, knowing Emma would be worried about her. Sushi had left the corrals again to look for her mama. Unusual, but she was clearly hungry and afraid. Cletus and I went all around the pasture and the willows again looking for her, while Em made her way to the dry corral. I hoped they had met up and would be there so I could tend to Emma’s needs. As I drove up the lane, Em was heading back, in a panic. Sushi was not there. Emma was frantic and panting hard, moving as fast as she was able, in her weakened condition, out to the pasture to look for her lost baby. I followed her and watched sadly, as she croaked out her call. She had lost her voice. I assume she’d been crying for help most of the day and I had not heard her. She looked so pitiful. She stood in the midst of short grass under a tree because she couldn’t make it any further and her mournful cry was repeated over and over. I had turned off the quad and sat on it in the upper alley, waiting to see what would happen.My heart was breaking for her as the prayers of my heart continued winging their way to heaven. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something red off to the left where the alley turned and went down the hill. I glimpsed Sushi as she dove into the weeds. She had gone down there and hidden herself in the deep brush and grass. Emma was so weak, her voice couldn’t carry far enough for Sushi to hear her. I ran and grabbed Emma and had to DRAG her back towards the alley and corral. 

My poor little cow acted heartbroken believing we had given up the search. I could only imagine how she felt. I sent Cletus down the alley and he found Sushi and followed her back up in the manner of a good LGD, without coercion, just encouragement. Em was still distraught, but Cletus and Sushi followed us all the way to Em’s corral. I tied Em up, washed the worst of the mud off with a hose and Sushi went to nursing, making up for the many meals she had missed throughout the day. When her belly was full and round and her little face was black and muddy from bumping the bag where I had not been able to get Em completely clean, I took Em to her hay feeder and left her there to fill up on the good alfalfa which Randyman had just brought home that day.

I took care of the other animals, fed leppies, locked the sheep in and got the goats milked and as I was bringing the last goat out, I could see Em’s sweet little muddy face looking through the window. I let her in and she quietly took her place in the stanchion. She didn’t seem much the worse for wear. I used up rag after rag cleaning her bag, and milked her out. 

I thought about all the ways it could have been a different ending.

If Em had rolled over when she fell into the ditch, she would have drowned before we even knew she was missing. If she had been facing the opposite direction, I would never have been able to help her get out, plus it would have put her front end lower than her hips and she would have suffocated.  If Sushi had fallen in, she would not have survived. If Sushi had stayed with Em, I would not have gone looking, assuming she just didn’t feel full enough to come in for milking and she would have likely died in the night. Em could easily have been seriously injured, breaking her pelvis, or a hip, or leg, or even her back. Actually, the chances were greater for her to not have survived, than to have turned out the way it did.

My nephew lost his dog to parvo this week. I have been keeping the Maremmas in until I could booster them, to give them an extra measure of safety. With them being absent on patrol the past few nights, the coyotes have moved in close again.I could hear them right by the barbed wire pasture fence. If Sushi had remained out in the pasture alone at night, she would probably not have survived the night. I'd have found her ravaged and destroyed by predators instead.

I looked at  Em. She was happily lovin’ on Sushi. She seemed peaceful, content and grateful, perhaps even thanking her Creator and counting her blessings.

I know I sure am. 

Sometimes we have to be reminded of how things really could be, to maintain a grateful heart.

Goose Chase

It's finally gotten hot here. I can't let Em and Sushi stay in the pasture Em has been living in, because the leppie calves out there keep trying to sneak up and nurse on her. That's what killed DollyMoo, was everyone nursing on her and it threw her into ketosis. The horses have the enormous pasture to the South, but I'm a little worried about mornings when they come in for supplements, that Mister might get  food aggressive around Em, so I need to just keep them separated. The horses tend to stand by the water trough in the dry corral all day anyway, so I decided to kick Em and Sushi out during the day where she can graze and have lots of cool shade and grass to lay in, then fill her up with alfalfa at night when I milk and kick the horses out for the evening. That was the plan at least. You know what they say about making God laugh...just tell him your plans.

Em decided NOT to come in last nite. We went a-hunting, but my leg became so painful I couldn't get past the end of the lane so Randy and the Maremmas scouted around the pasture and came back alone with this information.
"She's not coming, she has already set up housekeeping in the willows."

Yup. She has a nice little clubhouse going out there in the shade that is just dandy. Every mama cow's dream. I figured she'd be in this morning, but nope.

Late this morning I decided to go see if she needed milking. I grabbed my camera and headed to her 'clubhouse'. Once i found her, I stuttered, "Wh...what did you do with Sushi??"

Emma was laying there all alone. I pulled on her halter and told her to take me to Sushi.
She obediently got to her feet, and headed out the backside of her clubhouse, through the willows. For the next 35 minutes, I hiked, crawled and drug myself through heavy brush, willows, down and up embankments, across creeks and over rocks.

 Em would go ahead about 20 ft and stop and see if I was still coming. I followed and followed, tripping, stumbling and crawling until we got to a fenced in corner and she stood looking out over the ranch. At that point, I looked at her bag, which was not overly tight, so clearly Sushi had nursed sometime in the past few hours. The Maremmas had only been in the house for a short time so I determined that Emma was messing with me, because nothing could have nabbed Sushi in the short time the dogs had been absent so I headed back to the house, grumbling and complaining. I finally made it back almost to Emma's clubhouse and a buck deer was sneaking across the pasture. It spotted me and began to speed up, then suddenly jumped to the side. I got suspicious so I headed over to the tall grass where it had deviated course. Sure enough, hiding in the tall grass like a good, obedient little bovine child was Sushi.

I knelt down and petted her and she remained absolutely still. I headed home leaving Emma back in the South 40 somewhere.

I took a painpill, cooled off a bit and headed back out to the pasture with the dogs in tow. Emma was under the apricot tree, munching on whatever she could reach. We headed across the pasture towards Sushi's hiding spot but Em ignored us and headed toward the corrals, hoping for handouts. She found the gate locked.

She finally turned around and headed our way. We were all surrounding Sushi, who had not moved, even with the dogs licking and sniffing her.

Em got within about 10 feet, looked around in the grass and acted as if she'd lost her. She moo'ed and Sushi jumped up and ran to her. She might not be able to remember where she left her baby, but she has her well trained!