Country Gal by Vanita Blundell Feb. 5, 2008

Our family has lost another member. My Uncle Bob passed away this week. He was the youngest and the last of Dads brothers and sisters. Uncle Bob was always so kind and nice to his nieces and nephews and very witty. All of Dads family was unforgettable characters. Uncle Bob had all kinds of stories of Granddad White. He lived through many traumatic experiences with Granddad at the wheel. Since he was the youngest he spent more time with Granddad one on one. I think that during that time you could say that it built moral fiber.
Bob might be remembered as someone who never got in a real hurry. He took his time and whatever he was doing he did it right. He helped us build our house. He was very methodical in every thing that we wanted him to do. He would measure twice and cut once. Instead cutting a board twice and it still would be too short. We will miss him greatly, but he has so many other family members waiting for him in heaven.
Baby calves are hitting the ground fast and furious. I was lucky and had several babies when the weather was nice. I have a real problem being able to tell a dead calf from a frozen calf. There really is little difference they are both lifeless and stiff and cold, so you see my dilemma. Dad would bring in a stiff, frozen baby and it looked dead to me -but after putting it under the heat lamp it would thaw out and start moving and bawling. This is when I really miss Dad with all of his expertise.
With the weather aside baby calves have other nemesis besides. One being coyotes. I had one red white-face calf come in with his tail ate off. I am glad that those ornery critters quit at the tail- I am guessing that the mamma cow took care of business. The coyotes seem to be a real problem this year. They love to torment our dogs by coming to the yard fence and taunting them. Since I finally got the dogs successfully penned they can only growl and bark at the intruders. I glad that we do not have chickens or they would be at the house during the daytime as well, stealing their breakfast, lunch and dinner. They must be eating the rabbits, quail, and pheasants as we have not been seeing as many as we used to. I wished that they would spend more time catching gophers. We seem to have an abundance of the little mound makers. Just shows once again that I am not in control of the universe.