We made a run over to the other house to pick up our phone charger later yesterday evening, I asked Hubby to take me for a drive around the pasture. I had been so busy since the new fences started going up that I had yet to see the progress. We jumped into the truck and went for a short afternoon drive. In the process, we were looking at calves and Momma’s when we noticed that the newest Momma had a bad case of mastitis. It is uncertain whether or not that the calf is actually getting much milk, it is doubtful but as of last night, he was physically strong, skipping around and looked healthy. This is a good Momma cow, she is in no way neglecting her baby other than her own physical discomfort. So I called Mid-Kid, she knows about as much about ranching as any of us and got her advice. She told me she has seen this before, although she was uncertain how bad this case was and could not compare this with what she had dealt with before due to being 1000 miles away, but if the calf is getting any milk at all, it might resolve itself.
The answer of course is to milk out the utter…but these are not dairy cows. You just do not say, “Okay ole gal, we are going to the milking barn…” First of all, a new Momma cow can be a force to be reckoned if you are not careful, and this one also had “an Aunt” standing guard with her. They have to first be trapped and then gotten into the squeeze chute and then milked. That might have been simple enough except the “pens and chute” are in serious need of repair, or should we say rebuilding. So last evening right before dark, Hubby was trying to get the chute into place which did not work out as planned and by that time it was getting dark. Since neither cow nor calf seemed in distress, we came on home praying that the problem would resolve itself.
Animals in general can be fairly resilient. In a society that runs to the doctor for every banged toe and sniffle, it is amazing to watch an old cow limp around for days on a what you know is a rattlesnake bite, just hoping that it does not put her down and then after a couple of weeks see her fully recovered. Or we once had a chicken with a horribly swollen crop, she got special treatment for a week but the issue with her crop did not resolve itself so we put her out with the other birds expecting her die in a few days; instead she lived another year and was the most selfish and nasty bird, so much we were glad to be done with her.
So seeing to this cow and calf is the first order of business today.
Number 3 and I got most of the house painted last Saturday. She did the ceiling in the living, dining, and family rooms. What a blessing. Using the roller on the handle did not hurt her wrist and she didn’t have much trouble with the neck muscles until last night when she started to really feel them.
I have three more spaces to paint and we will be done on the inside; the two bathrooms and the kitchen. Well, actually four spaces because the master bath has that big closet but overall, it is a limited space and once I get them cleaned up a bit, the job should go quickly. The one bathroom I painted two years ago and so that one will be very easy, just a quick refresher coat. There is still some shelving to be moved out of the closet and the kitchen…so I have a bit of work there to get accomplished first, but I believe that for the most part, I can get it all accomplished today.
The following is photos of the last painting session. Please excuse the dark spot in the photos, my camera has recently developed a spot in the lens, and for the time being, I have no time to think about shopping for a new one.
I also found that an old long sleeve shirt does a fine job of covering my hair...much better than a bandana--it doesn't slip off near as easily. I kind of like the look too, it reminds me of some of those 1940's turbans!