The ice is gone...the heat wave is on!

"What are you looking at?.......yes......I'm beautiful...So?"
Pepper has become quite the D I V A! She is now posing quite beautifully for pictures! LOL What a crazy bird she has become! Not only does she follow me around the barn....she loves to sit on my shoulder....and inspect every little thing that goes on...it must meet her approval. Since she has began laying...her little crop just appeared one morning.....over night..how does THAT happen? My little girl is growing up! She is laying every other day....I reckon she feels too important to lay every day. Who knows what my little poultry is thinking! But this sure is a great picture isnt it?
The ice storm is passed...we got our electricity last Saturday...but still no phone service, and they told me yesterday they have no idea when we would get that back...so still no Internet. But at least we have warm water! That first shower was the best one I'd had in 37 years!!
We went from single digit temps to 66 degrees! Kentucky weather is the most crazy and unpredictable of anywhere! Last year in Feb a tornado ripped through our farm, and through town, tearing up a path of snapped telephone and power line poles, ripped the roof off the high school, and several homes in its path were obliterated..several farms and a dairy were all but demolished....things have just now been rebuilt....and this happens. We were lucky last Feb...the tornado touched down in the back corner of our farm, but didnt get very destructive until it hopped over and began its terrible path on a neighbors farm...and it continued for several miles through E-town. So we dodged the bullet, and again we have been spared from too much loss. No animals were harmed and all fared well with this ice storm.
So its over, today is 66 and rainy (sorry Amy I think we stole your rain!). There is no telling what summer will bring. The last two years we have suffered a very bad drought.....we are praying this year will be the break we need!
The first possible day for a calf to come has gone and passed (8th) and still no little ones. Cattle havent been checked today though so maybe in all the rain and wind we got last night there are some little ones huddled up to their mommas today! Cows always choose the worse weather to calve in.
Norm and I ran into a neighbor at the mill where we went to pick up some horse feed yesterday, he has goats....but he didnt know of anyone around that I could talk to about getting some dairy's...then his wife called and offered us the Kentucky goat registry....YEA I'm getting somewhere! So we'll go pick that up this week.
I didnt get the chance to ride this weekend, but the kids and I did clean the entire barn out! My arms hurt soooooo bad Sat night I wanted to saw them off! Calves are WAY messier than horses...in fact 3 days after the calf's stall was cleaned its just as mucky and nasty as before! I was too sore and tired to ride....but Leah and I groomed the boys....Jack is a muddy stinky mess....King is polished and handsome! Leah wanted to bathe him so badly......I told her the next rain we get will clean him off for us....I was right, his white is white again this morning!
Jack was pretty skittish...he hasnt been worked with since the ice storm, so for 2 weeks nothing has been done with him. Leah went over some more desensitizing all over....we took the boys out to the yard for a little field trip. Wanted to see how he acted out of his element. He was very jumpy and nervous, but king just munched on grass and Jack took the lead and calmed down. He was jumpy again when leah was rubbing him with the lead rope, placing it on his back and rear and legs...so i did that to King so Jack would see the rope wouldnt hurt him...after that no problem. It sure helps to have a more experienced horse to show the little guys how to act and what not to be afraid of! He did pull away from Leah when going back to the barn....she couldnt hold on the rope was burning her hands....for a moment he turned toward the drive and thought about taking off...but we kept walking with King to the barn, and little bit followed. Whew.....disaster averted. So since his little temper tantrum we had to keep him out and tied and led around. even though we were done.....we had to keep working with him. When Norm and I get a chance we are going to repeat the whole thing over....he wont pull from Norms grasp! LOL
Norm told me the thing I've been waiting a full year to hear!!! I can KEEP my big pet calf OLIVER for another year or two, until he gets too dangerous due to his size....I'm determined that WONT happen.
I'm going to use him to teach doug to show in 4-H.....he's the perfect guinea pig, he is so gentle it unreal. It will help Doug get over any fear he may have of a bigger calf since he will be around him as he grows. I'll need to first halter break him, teach to lead, and Leah and I have plans to ...get this.....and I'm serious...RIDING a cow! LOL Yes....thats what I said! She and I were reading in my nephews cattle mag and it had a full story on riding cattle, out west its done alot in parades. The article said they are easier to break than a horse.....LOL dont laugh yet...wait until we can or cant do it first!
Okay I'm gonna run...Norm is here, I've got a Dr apt at one.....so I'm gonna hop off and check my shops and bank account! Hope all is well with everyone and I hope to be by to visit with you guys!