Outside Work

The kids and I have finally been able to do some outside work. This new crew of vet students doesn't eat near as much as our last crew so my job is much easier. Dallie and I got to go feed yesterday while the boys helped Jason dig out an auto gate. (For Piglet's sake, don't mind the peach jam on his face - he and Dallie haven't learned to use a napkin yet.)

Jason "supervising" while the interns dug. A backhoe would really be nice for this job.

Her (Kache's) sweatshirt says it all: "PLAY IN THE DIRT".

More Spring Weather

On our way home from town the other day, the kids and I spotted these two cows laying on a hillside. Jason's pickup wasn't parked too far away and since it was pouring, we thought he was sitting in his pickup watching these two calve.


We found out later that Jason and his crew were waiting out the downpour and lightning in a horse trailer nearby (good place to be - a metal trailer) and that these two cows had been struck by lightning. Kache wrote about it in his school journal.

Friday's entry:

His picture cracks me up. You can see the lightning striking them and then he drew steam coming off their bodies.

Saturday's entry after I took the kids out to see the cows (you can thank me for refraining from posting any closeups of the bloated bodies):

The radio in Jason's pickup is no longer working either, so we wonder if it got struck too since it was kind of close to the cows. I'm just glad the trailer-full of vet students didn't get struck.

Like My Dress?

Dallie got a new dress and she just had to show it off to the cats.

"See kitty? Pretty dress."

Ryder Meets the Mud Puddle

When the boys went outside today I warned them to stay away from the mud puddles (mostly just to save myself from all the extra laundry a mud puddle creates). Ryder was riding his bike and got a little too close to the puddle and tipped over into it. I had a good laugh as I watched the whole scene from the living room window. I met him at the back door with the camera. What a nice mom I am!

Going to Work

Everytime Jason heads out for work, Dallie wants to go too. Today she wasn't even out of her pjs yet, but she was headed out the door.

Vet Students

Just a couple pictures of our first two weeks of calving. We had a good group of vet students. They worked hard and ate lots (I went through 38 lbs of hamburger the two weeks they were here). My kids loved having them to play with and talk to.

Doc and Ryder thumb wrestling.

Britt and Dallie.

Kache and Ryder walking on sore backs.

JD, Mark and Britt showing Ryder how to read the paper. Now when the ads come in the mail, Ryder takes them to the couch and reads through them.

We've mostly had warm sunny days this calving season, but we've also had a lot of thunderstorms roll through. We're just glad it isn't snow.

Kache got to help sort heavies. His job was to hold the cattle while Jason and a few others sorted a few off at a time. He's loving all the time he gets to ride and work cattle.

Ryder and Dallie playing the drums out at the sorting pens.

Rex. Funny dog. Curious cows.

The Escapee

If the front door ever gets opened, Dallie will escape out the screen door and usually head for the dog water. This time she managed to escape without her boots and got quite wet (with Ryder's help).

Make Yourself Comfortable

The boys were all set up and ready for a movie. Until Dallie showed up.

Three bears in the bed and the little one said, "Roll over. I'm crowded." So they all rolled over.

Good Kitty

This is the best cat ever. She didn't even scratch Dallie once.

Spring Storm

We had a good thunderstorm come through the other day and the inch of rain it dropped really made the grass green up. The boys had a good time riding their bikes through the mud puddles and Dallie escaped from the house without shoes to play in the puddles.

The storm also brought down some dead tree branches and knocked out our power for a couple of hours so I was cooking and feeding vet students in the dark again. At least this year the power outage was due to a thunderstorm and not a blizzard and the power was only out for a few hours instead of a day and a half (like last year).