Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Country Gal by Vanita Blundell July16, 2008

This week we have had some sadness as we have lost another good friend, Bonnie Frazier. Bonnie and I have worked together for several years at the church. Together, we co-chaired the funeral dinners. Bonnie was much better at fixing just the right amount of food. She rarely had an over abundance of leftovers. We have served many meals together and I will certainly miss her.
Joe Spence is in the hospital getting some heart work done- We are hoping that he gets back in the swing of things soon. His garden is starting to take off and he needs to be able to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He has some onions that weigh over two pounds each. Way to go, Joe!
One thing about the lifestyle I have chosen to lead is that I am never bored. This past week proved to be no different. We finally got some of our cattle moved to where they should have been 2 months ago- but with Jims work and all kinds of other events we felt we had to do, the cattle work got put off. Working with the cattle is one thing that Jennifer does not miss being included. When we did cattle work she was the one who kept the home fires burning and the house intact. Jeff helped us out when he could. Friday, we got the ol’ girls in and paired up and hauled to the appropriate pasture. We did not get completely done so we kept them penned and continued to pair up on Saturday. Jeff and Chelsea came out and helped us. It was either the weather or keeping them penned up had made a few of the girls really cranky. Jim had taken a load to pasture while Jeff and I stayed to pair up a few more. We located a pair and by the time we got her and her calf in the loading pen she was not entirely happy. But, of course, when the pair went in the loading pen another cow which did not have a calf with her went in the pen also. I thought, ‘no problem, we will just sort her off and that will be that’. WRONG. We started to get the unmated cow out and she would not budge. The paired cow about ran over me to get out. About the time I thought I had the odd one to the gate she would just stand there and look at me while the other was wanting out of the pen, desperately. I saw that the mother cow was almost to the point of getting nasty- but I thought if I could just get the other one out, then I could leave everyone alone. Jeff saw that I was having some difficulty and got in the pen to help me out, I told him to watch Momma as she might ‘get’ him. He did not seem too concerned until we started to move them around. There are times when you wonder how someone might react in a certain situation. I always thought that when push comes to shove my family would protect me. Well…. I found that when a cow is blowing snot and makes a run, my son, who I spent hours in labor and gave him life, will actually crawl over the top of me to save his own skin and leave his poor, old, fat, defenseless mother to save herself. The cow did not make any contact - but she did make a believer out of us- We decided that maybe we ought to let her cool down a little and see what Jim could do with her. At least, we did get the job done, maybe not in the most efficient way but life will go on.

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