Thursday was our older cows’ preg test day. We finally wised up to separating the heifers and cows out into two days instead of one long, dusty, painful, tiring, loud, day. Everyone went up first thing but me and Lacee and Reagan. Megan had sent her kids to school, but Tess kept hers out for the day.
The girls helped me pack up last minute things and we headed up the mountain. About a mile up the mountain, throwing a long trail of powder dust behind us on the dirt road, it hit me that I had left the metal pot I was going to heat the soup in on my counter.
Argh!
I thought through my supplies… no, there wasn’t anything else I could use to heat up my potato soup.
Around we turned and we drove back down through our dust.
I run in… grab the pot and lid… and we head back up.
I start listing things out loud. Soup. Pot! Ladle. Plates. Bowls. Salads. Drinks. Chips. Desserts. Serving spoons. Wash basins. WASH WATER.
Good grief. I had plenty of water to drink, but no wash water.
I contemplated not turning around, but we’d barely gone a half a mile… back we go AGAIN. Is wash water that important? Ask the workers covered in corral dust and poop! Yes. I fill the water jug, grab a towel, and this time I told Lacee if we forgot anything else, we weren’t turning around again!
We arrived just as the workers were taking their morning break… maybe just a tad later than expected… but since we brought cold drinks and cookies… we were forgiven.
The Good Doctor provided entertainment for the children. They all had a prize inside!
Jaxon had jumped right into work… and was currently doing paperwork with his mom. We write down the date the vet tells us the cow will calve. It can be rather confusing… first you have to find the cow’s number on the multiple sheets of paper… repeating it in your head so you don’t get dyslexic with the numbers. Then the vet yells out, “28 April!” To record it, we write down 4-28. For me, it’s easy to get confused.
Jaxon did a pretty good job.
The little girls tucked themselves into a corner and broke out the horse collection.
Megan and Vernon worked the alley.
Neighbors and family worked the pens.
Tess and Johnny handled paperwork and the open pen.
Of course, the main guys in all the action…
Brandon, the Good Doctor, and Daniel.
I took plenty of video for a movie. In one instance, after asking the Good Doctor for a blow by blow of what he was actually doing to preg test the cows… the cow swished her poopy tail right across my camera and face. It was gross. My little camera had poop everywhere.
I walked up to Tess so she’d record it for posterity. After I wiped it off, it does seem to have a few more “dust” particles inside. Ugh. Any way you think CanonUSA would sponsor my blog and give me another little camera? The next video I took, Brandon was checking the teeth on an old cow, and I had a couple of spots of snot? spit? on the lens for a bit.
Ya gotta be tough if you’re going to work around here!
It also makes you appreciate wash water.
Find me here!
The real story is much better than what I envisioned. Involved much more yuck. Your poor little camera. I’m especially glad it didn’t involve hard contact with the ground!
Cna’t wait for this week’s ReRed!
That picture tells the real story. You all worked so hard, hope you get chance to rest awhile soon. How was the soup after your several trips back to the house????
It was very good… though the day was fairly nice and it wasn’t too cold this year. Last year we FROZE!
These pictures are great to show people what it take to keep this country fed. Keep em comin Carol. Thanks for all your hard work to keep us educated and entertained.
Thanks!