Thof's Dragon Trailer Premiere

There's no going back now, folks. We premiered the trailers for "Thof's Dragon" yesterday afternoon at the Fort Wallace museum prior to the screening of Ken Spurgeon's "Home on the Range" docu-drama.

 

Deb introduces both films under "Thof's Dragon" at the Fort Wallace Museum.

 

Shawn Bell, Ken Spurgeon, Deb Goodrich, Jayne Pearce, Brenda Tropf

It was a fantastic afternoon with a warm reception for our film. Here is the first trailer we would like to present! We will post two more as the week goes along.

Thanks to Deb Goodrich for having the vision, passion and tenacity to make this come to life! And thank you to our many actors, volunteers and contributors thus far that have helped to make this possible.

Without further ado, here is our vision for "Thof's Dragon."

Filming Thof's Dragon

If you would have told me even a year ago, that I would spend my day yesterday coordinating actors and filming for a full-length documentary...well, I would have hoped that you were right, but I certainly would have laughed at you.

I know I haven't blogged in forever, and there really is no excuse for it. I could say that it is hard to find time to do a blog these days because I have a very rambunctious one year old...but I find times for other things. And I could say that it is because it is hard to get free from that one year old to type something at length, especially when any moment I get out the laptop she comes over and starts banging on the keys. But, I solved that excuse tonight as I type this while she sits in her high chair and sucks down raisins. Yes, she literally sucks them down...no chewing. If you doubt me then I will show you one of her dirty diapers ;-)

So, here I am a still-considering myself a new mother, typing on my blog the day after I filmed anything bigger than I have ever done.

Excuse me for a second while I go back to the beginning of this grand journey.

The seeds for the film-making passion were planted in high school when we worked with a video editing program as part of my computer lit class. We only had the capabilities to really use still photos, but the possibility of using moving images to convey a message really struck a chord with me.

In college I took one video/radio class as a requirement. There was a class project assigned and it was fairly simple and straight forward. I took that simple assignment and turned it into probably 100 hours of planning, filming and editing a project to give to the seniors of the KSU women's basketball team. Wow. That was pretty cool to see that played after their final home game on the jumbo tron in Bramlage with just the seniors, their teammates and family watching. Still blows my mind that I was given so many opportunities to learn and do things I had only dreamed about during that project.

Fast forward several years to when I had knots in my stomach while purchasing my first-ever camcorder (it was a lot of money to spend on something that I felt was a want instead of a need). My younger cousins, Taylor and Cody, were the subject of most of my projects back then...but I think they prepared me for all the challenges of filming kids ;-) A few years later I was given the opportunity to teach a video editing class at the high school where I teach. We are now in the fourth year of having that class available.

Now, to yesterday's events. A lady named Deb Goodrich approached me about working with her on a full-length documentary about the Fort Wallace surgeon Theophilus Turner and the dinosaur he discovered. I was never really into learning history from a book, but last year while working on a project about the ghost town of Sheridan (that was located about 10 miles from where I have lived my whole life), a passion for the crazy history of this area came alive.

Deb already knew my father and aunt and has been involved in numerous things at the Fort Wallace Museum. She has also served as a historian and consultant on many documentaries as well as authoring several books and being a co-host for the television show "Around Kansas". She felt like the story of Turner was one that needed to be told. His discovery was hugely significant and kicked off the Fossil Wars in the United States. However, he died before he was every truly recognized for his contribution.

 I think Deb got the casting of Turner pretty spot on.

I was hesitant to say yes, but my heart knew it wanted to get involved. At the time, I was early into a pregnancy and was a bit worried about such a big project during a pregnancy...but I knew I still wanted to do it. Not too long after I agreed, I had a miscarriage and discovered in the final week of my first trimester that I had lost our baby. It was heartbreaking.

Despite the heartbreak, I knew I needed to move on and this project was the perfect thing to do it with. I started reading any and every bit of literature that would involve Turner. Man, oh man, did I learn a lot about our area during that time.

I spent so many nights lying in bed trying to fall asleep but instead I was having images of shots I wanted to film running through my mind. This had become a passion project.

Now it is time to put up or shut up. I know I still have so much to learn and I am truly an amateur in terms of filming...but doggone it I want to try!

 It's always fun to try out different ways to get a shot!

I have spent weeks of grant writing and racking my brain for ways to raise money for this project. There are so many expenses involved with doing something on this scale. But I want to try. Yesterday was our first day of filming and it was so strange to have a lot of these people that I have known for a large portion of my life and respected so much looking at me and waiting for me to tell them what they needed to do. Everyone was so great and never once did they say, "Um...you want me to do what?"

We all froze our backsides off together and we all learned together as we started to make this story come to life. We just did some initial filming to do a short trailer to promote the film. This week will be a lot of going through footage and editing like mad. It will also be a lot of racking my mind again for ideas of how to raise money. If any of you have ever done grant writing before, you will understand that it is a lot like putting your heart out there and waiting to be either rejected or accepted without every really knowing the reason why. It is very humbling.

My family and friends have been incredibly supportive and it is so humbling to have that love and support. It makes me want to work that much harder to make sure this project succeeds. The response to the photos I posted on Facebook yesterday has been overwhelmingly positive and it has been fun to see the excitement behind them.

I am truly going to try to use my blog to keep you apprised of the latest on our documentary. We are hoping to premiere it in July for a big event at the Fort Wallace Museum.

Now, on to the shamelessly plugging my project. If any of you would want to donate, here is the link where you can do it online.
Resurrecting Thof's Dragon

Another way is to donate to the Fort Wallace Museum and tell them it is for our film. Or you can always talk to me directly with any questions. This is a non-profit venture, but like anything else, it has costs along the way to make it a reality.

(I really wish this clip had sound ;-)

Thanks for listening to my novel of a blog! Hope to get back on here on a more regular basis...but for now, my daughter has finished her pile of raisins, has dropped two spoons on the floor, has apple crisp all over her face and has successfully filled another diaper. Sigh...off to the glamorous life of a mother (which I wouldn't trade for the world!)

Annoying Guineas

Part of the fun of having a farm is having space to raise different types of animals. My husband LOVES guineas for some reason. He thinks they are one of the coolest birds ever. So, he fixed up a pen and bought a few. Even less actually survived the summer. They got out of the pen before they were really big enough and some bigger animals made a tasty snack out of them.

They are about the ugliest bird I have ever seen and my grandpa used to have some when we were kids. They would scare the living daylights out of me sometimes when I would ride my bike past where they were hiding. Take a listen to their noise and see if that wouldn't startle ya just a bit!

Giving the Bird

Ok, this is corny I know. But I am a teacher that hates to hear kids cuss and flipping people off drives me nuts. I think it is pointless and mindless and just shows that you could be using your brain a bit more than doing those things.

Anyway, even though I hate the actual action of "giving the bird," I have to admit that I have had fun being corny with my high schoolers about "giving them the bird" during this assignment ;-) Yes, that's teacher humor for you. Don't worry, I am no longer offended if you join my students and roll your eyes at my weak attempt at humor.

So here is my progress on the bird drawing I will be giving to an art show. The show benefits youngsters in Honduras and I think the proceeds are going towards buying them instruments.

 

I had to have a fellow teacher help me figure out how to do the background. I have to agree with her that green was the way to go.

 

After getting most of the background finished, I felt like the contrast of the colors against the background just didn't "pop" quite the way I wanted it to.

 

After I put black around the edges and faded it out, I really liked how it worked.

 

Here is the finished product after I finally remembered to add the little leaf 

on the bottom of the branch.

 

I have probably said it before, but I enjoy looking at the photos of the process of creating the artwork way more than I like looking at the photo of just the finished product. I think it gives you a lot of insight into how the mind of the artist works.

Spreading my wings...sort of

It is a little funny that I spend five days a week, eight hours a day, teaching art or art-related subjects to students at school. Yet, I can hardly ever find the time or energy to sit down and do artwork for myself.

I currently have high school students doing portraits of birds using oil pastels. I realized that I am teaching them how to do something that I've never really even worked a lot with myself. So, I decided to make my own piece of art. I'll keep you in the loop, but thought maybe it would be fun to share my progress with you.

 

This is the first step of getting things down on paper. I told my students this is probably the most important step. It involves a lot of looking at shapes and proportions.

 

Once they have the initial drawing done, then it is traced onto the thicker bristol paper. I did this so I could trace the lines very lightly since they will show through the oil pastels.

 

Since the pencil lines show, the trick is to disguise them with color changes at those locations. I'm going to see how it works out for me, but I'm lovIng the project so far. This is a media that is fairly new to me, but so far I love working with it!

I get excited when I get to work with color. Especially when it is trying to recreate or represent the beautiful colors that God paints everyday objects in our world. Having to sit and analyze how the colors blend and work together just fascinates me and allows me to be amazed by God's creation even more!

Practical Farm Kids

You might teach in a farming community if this is the snow boot of choice to wear to school.

Lost in Life

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. As the title explains, I have been simply lost in life.

Having a nearly four month old little farm girl keeps me busy. I love her beyond what words can explain. I have had plenty of moments where I have felt like posting, but life just got in the way. I will never apologize for spending more time with Baby Farmgirl though.

As most of you probably know, our school was also busy dealing with a tragedy in November. When you sign on to be a teacher, you know that you are signing up for helping kids deal with all sorts of emotional moments throughout their time in your classroom. Whether it is the loss of a grandparent, divorce of parents or simply the loss of a pet...you learn to say what needs to be said and give the student love and support. In other words, being a teacher has served to somewhat prepare me for being a parent.

One moment I NEVER felt I would deal with, however, was the death of a student in such a tragic situation. I won't go into too many details because there is already enough that has played out in the media, but we lost senior Luke Schemm while he was playing a fantastic football game.

I can't say that I knew him the best. He hadn't taken my class since he was in junior high. But in such a small school you talk to all kids on almost a daily basis just because you see them in the hallways every day.

The day that we arrived at the faculty meeting after hearing the heartbreaking news will forever stick in my mind. It was silent. If you have ever been to a faculty meeting at our school, it is usually full of laughter and teasing. But this day it was just silence. Silence shattered every few seconds by sobs or sniffles of the teachers that were dealing with grief in their own way, while trying to wrap their head around how they would help their own students deal with this very personal grief.

There is so much to take from that day. A lot of sorrow, but I will also remember how we weren't bound by legislation or rules about how to handle the situation. We dealt with it as it came. Whether that meant bowing our heads together and praying as a staff or if it meant praying with or hugging students as the moment required. I have often been so scared to "overstep" boundaries in terms of my faith while teaching. But on this day it was what we needed.

As the first bell rang for the day to begin, students filtered into the auditorium to be addressed by the superintendent. He talked to them as sobbing and sniffling once again filled the room. But as the grief overtook us, he called our attention to the fact that clergy and counselors from all over the area had come to help us through it. As we turned around to where he was pointing, I nearly started crying from what I saw. There was a line of people surrounding all of us in the seats. All of these people had come to help us. Whether they knew us or not, they had taken that time to devote to us. While I fought back the tears, one thought and scripture ran through my mind...

"A great cloud of witnesses.."

That is what God knew we needed. We didn't necessarily need them to talk to, but we needed to know that they were there if we needed them.  HE was there if we needed HIM...which we so desperately did. 

I guess I am talking about this now partly so you might understand a little bit more about the situation. More about what it means to be a teacher when you might be so quick to criticize them about low test scores or mistreating your child. More about what it means to be a believer and what it has helped us to get through in the past month.

I'm so thankful to have my Savior with me everyday. And I'm so very thankful that Luke had him also. There is no way to explain how much that knowledge has helped during this time. Heck, Luke is getting to see Him face-to-face. Something I strive for everyday. If I can sum up this entry, it would be by saying this.

"Don't let this day be wasted. Tell others you love them. Pray to your Lord and Savior. Don't be afraid of what this world will say. It just isn't worth it."

Dad's "Sweet" Tooth

A tradition that has lasted at least four generations on our farm now is planting sweet potatoes. I think I've mentioned before that I don't even like to eat the things. But planting and harvesting them each year is something I have very fond memories of. As kids my grandpa would assign my sister and I jobs to help him with planting. We would either poke a hole in the ground with the stick so he had a hole to place the plant in, or we lugged a small cup of water to water the plant after he had placed it in the ground.

This summer, I was pregnant with my sweet Baby Farmgirl while I helped my dad plant them. However, I didn't get to help with the harvest because she was a little hungry. But she is the fourth generation in our family to help ;-)

But my dad is always quite proud and glad to share the bounty of his sweet potato crop. So here are some pictures of his crop this year.

We usually wait until after the first hard freeze to harvest the potatoes. But some pesky rats forced dad's hand this year. It is hard to know how big this potato would have been, but dad lost a big part of his crop to the rats. Dad doesn't remember ever having this problem before.

We should have some pretty healthy rats around our place. They sure did a number some of the potatoes.

I noticed something else different on the potatoes this year. I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture above, but the potatoes looked like they had veins running down the side of them. Weird.

 

This is my hand holding the largest potato. I think Dad said it weighed 2 1/4 pounds. 

That would be a meal in itself!

 

Some of them had some splits in them and you could also see the rat teeth marks on this one.

Dad also said the most potatoes he got off of one root was over 8 pounds. 

Seeing how big these guys are almost makes me want to eat a sweet potato...almost.

Weaning Preparation

It is the time of year that is typically very loud around our household. This is about the time every year when we wean the calves from their mothers. This usually requires sorting the calves from the cows and then putting the calves in a corral while their moms are in the pasture right next to it. And both those corrals and pasture are within two hundred feet or so of our house.It is loud because the cows and calves are always looking for each other and it involves a lot of mooing and bawling.

This year my husband wanted to try a slightly different approach after hearing that it had worked fairly well for a neighbor of ours.

These are what I call nose flaps. I'm not sure if that is the correct term, but it fairly accurately describes them.

They look sort of ridiculous, but they have a very smart function. After these are placed in their noses, they can remain with their mothers to reduce the stress of weaning. However, the placement of the flap actually prevents them from being able to drink from their mothers yet still be able to drink water and eat grass.

Weaning is always a stressful event no matter if it is humans or animals. Yet, it is a necessary event to take place. That's why ranchers are always looking for the least stressful manner in which to do it. Along with the nose flaps, we also give them a couple of shots meant to boost their immune system during this time. If you are like me, you know that the most stressful times in your life are when your body and immune system take the biggest hits. It is necessary to keep the calves in the best health possible to allow them to get through the process of weaning and also to keep them gaining weight and growing like they need to.

Now, in theory, the nose flaps seem ingenious. However we did figure out some drawbacks. For starters, they aren't the easiest things to put in.

Some of the calves also lost the nose flap almost immediately after being released from the chute. We just kicked them out into the smaller corral and kept them all there together until we were finished. This created a confined space with the calves bumping and rubbing up against each other and created many opportunities for the flaps to be knocked out. Those that lost the nose flap had to then be run back through the chute again. Lesson learned for next time.

Sitting on the sidelines while working cattle is never easy for me. So Baby Farmgirl and I headed outside for a bit to check out the action. As soon as I got her outside she seemed right at home with all the commotion of the gates and mooing cattle. It is hard to decide when it is ok for her to be outside (there is usually a lot of dirt in the air along with it usually being pretty warm days when we work with cattle), but we also want to give her as much exposure to our way of life as we can. It's never too early to start learn what our family loves to do.

Casserole Kindness

It seems that I have been oblivious to a lot of things during my life. After having Baby Farmgirl, I have figured out that I was clueless about the western Kansas etiquette after someone has a baby.

You see, this photo might look like a lowly ol' casserole dish. But it is so much more.

During those first sleep-deprived weeks, my husband and I were just struggling to get from day to day and learn the joys and tribulations that come with having a child. It was all I could do just to keep her fed, let along figure out meals for the adults in the household.

This is where the casserole dish comes into play. I'm not sure if this is a custom in other parts of the country or world, but I have to contend that I feel like it is something fairly unique to small communities. You see, when we were barely functioning, we had neighbors, friends, and family members showing up at our house with meals! It...was...AWESOME! My high school friend actually sent us home from the hospital with one meal and breakfast burritos in tow.

It is safe to say that my husband and I were very well fed. My mother filled in the gaps when we didn't have a meal already supplied and she would call us to tell us she would be bringing us a meal. And if she wasn't bringing us a meal, she was bringing us dessert (which in my husband's opinion is probably better).

You see, this casserole dish represents so much more than keeping us physically fed. It represents love, thoughtfulness, compassion and so many more things. We were being fed physically and spiritually. I am horrible at writing thank you notes. I always intend to and then the moment gets away from me and months later I still haven't managed to write any. Then I just hope that my countless thank yous to them while receiving the gift will suffice.

So, in case any of you reading this are the people that supplied meals or showered us with gifts for our dear Baby Farmgirl, please know that you are not forgotten. We love you all so much and can never thank you enough for all that you have done for us. I only hope that we may one day be able to repay the kindness that you all have shown us.

Oh, and days after we had been receiving all sorts of house guests, I realized this was the sight that greeted them as soon as they exited their vehicles to walk up our front sidewalk.

Nothing says "welcome to the farm" like the dogs leaving a strategically placed jaw bone from a deceased animal in their pathway. Nice.

Baby Rookies

As most of you already know, we have welcomed our own Baby Farmgirl. That will be how I refer to her on here and I probably won't really post many pictures just to be on the safe side.

I wanted to do this post as a letter to Baby Farmgirl about what we, her parents, have learned during her first few weeks of life.

Dear Baby Farmgirl,

The following are just a few things we have learned in the nearly 3 weeks we have known you.

#1. Our lives are no longer our own.

• It took us a bit to realize this, but it was confirmed for us before we left the hospital. When you spend over 6 hours waiting on a four-day-old baby to pee, it is a humbling experience. The lights they had you on for your jaundice ended up dehydrating your poor little body and you had to pee before they would allow us to leave the hospital. The best words in the world that day were the words your daddy yelled at around 8 o'clock that night. "The line turned blue!" You see, the awesome diapers they had on you had a little yellow stripe that turned blue if you peed. There was a lot of checking the line that day, and your dad and I (along with the nurse on duty) were ecstatic when it finally turned blue.

#2. Two baby rookies take a long time to change your diapers and change your clothes....and second guess themselves every step of the way.

• It was quite embarrassing to change your diaper for the first time at the hospital. Thankfully the nurses did not laugh at us and answered every ridiculous question I had. Your daddy stood there and told me how I should be doing it...but certainly didn't do it himself. We talk to you with excited voices the entire time we dress you. Things like, "Annnndddd, there we got the second arm!" This isn't really for your benefit. It is mostly to make ourselves feel good about the huge accomplishment we just achieved...and then you promptly spit-up or poop on whatever we just got you changed into.

#3. Your daddy can stand at the back end of a cow with no problem and used to ride bulls, but standing at the back end of you when you decide to release the contents of your stomach...well, he can fly out of the room pretty quick. 

• I think it is a man thing. I have problems seeing you cry (it breaks my heart when the tears start) and have a hard time stomaching it when we have to suction out your nose, but when it comes to cleaning up the mess you leave behind on the towel during your sponge-bath, I guess I have the stronger stomach. I thought your daddy was kidding as he was gagging and running out of the room. Long story made short and a lot of laughter later...he wasn't kidding.

#4. Ronda Rousey is the top female fighter in the world at this time. But put her in a room with you in the middle of the night and she will fold like a weakling and beg for mercy.

• Your daddy and I still haven't figured out how 8 lbs. of sheer will can dominate two full-sized adults and render them useless.

#5. We have transitioned to the stage of never leaving the house without a diaper bag.

• We made that mistake once...and won't make it again. And now that I said that, we will probably forget it the next time we go somewhere.

#6. You are a miracle.

• From your fuzzy little ears to your beautiful little face, every last bit of you is a miracle and we are so blessed.

#7. You are worth it all.

• Before you were born, I was scared senseless to be a mom. I'm still scared, but now I understand why it is worth it. People kept telling me all the negatives of having a newborn and that only fueled my anxieties. But when I see your beautiful blue eyes staring at me, or when you snuggle up against me, or when your tiny little fingers tap ever-so-softly against my skin while you are eating, you steal my heart. And don't tell anybody this...but you have stolen your daddy's heart, too ;-)

I'm sure there are so many more things that I want to put on here, but here's the kicker....I'm sleep deprived and can only remember things so long.

For now we are enjoying the $30 purchase me made yesterday at Walmart. The cheap little bouncy chair is giving me the most relief since we had you. When I first placed you in it yesterday, you laid back, gave a little smirk and went right to sleep. Now, if we can only get that same reaction out of you at 1 in the morning when you are screaming at us that you don't want to go to sleep. One step at a time, Baby Rookies, one step at a time.

Love you so much,
Momma Farmgirl

P.S.
This is how your hair looks the majority of the time and we think it is adorable when it sticks up. I hope that you are still satisfied when it does this as you get older. This or a ponytail are about the only options your fashion-challenged momma will be able to handle ;-)

Cuteness Overload

Since I have been talking about them this summer, I figured it was probably about time to include a few more pics of the puppies that have taken over our farm this summer.

They are cute as can be and very enthusiastic to greet visitors!

 

It is hard for them to contain all of their wiggles, so a picture of all of them is very difficult to get. I got all but two in this picture. Yep, that's right, there are 10 of them!

 

Hey there cutie!

 

"C'mon guys, don't you wanna come out here and have fun with me?"

Being a pregnant Farmgirl

So, now that the baby is almost here, I'm going to write a few things that I might or might not have known about pregnancy before. And when you are a pregnant farmgirl, well, it just makes it that much more entertaining for some people. This is a bit long and I won't be the least bit offended if you don't read it. I added some pics from the internet to give some illustrations ;-)

#1. The references between you and pregnant farm animals are endless.
I have been known to make a few of these references myself in the past. But when you are surrounded by farmers in a farming community...well, farmers aren't exactly known for handling things in the classiest way sometimes. You have to learn to take it with a grain of salt when someone tells you, "You're starting to look like that ol' gray sway-backed mare!"

#2. You are suddenly not allowed to do things you have done for probably the last 30 years...and will immediately be allowed to do them again as soon as the baby is out of your body.
Suddenly I wasn't supposed to lift more than 20 pounds (and apparently a bowling ball is nearly that much although I swear it felt lighter). I probably also wasn't supposed to be crawling over fences (but that was the best way to get into the barn to see the puppies). I wasn't supposed to push around furniture (hey, they could have done it before I finally did).  I wasn't supposed to use the riding lawnmower either (but I asked the doctor and they said it was fine as long as it wasn't on the side of a huge hill where the mower would roll over.)

#3. When I DID want to use pregnancy as an excuse to get out of something, they weren't having it. 
You know, things like doing the dishes, carrying a huge laundry basket full of clothes, cooking a meal, cleaning up mouse poop, vacuuming, dusting, etc.

#4. I did kind of miss my feet.
I could still see my feet and reach my feet if I needed to. But the summer time is the one time I actually paint my toenails because I wear flip-flops all the time. The last time I was able to paint them was in May before high school graduation...and it involved a lot of grunting and shortness of breath. My husband refused to paint them for me, so I had naked toenails through the summer.

#5. No one tells you that now when your stomach growls, it sounds like it is in your chest. And that is simply because that is pretty much where it is now relocated.
I still can't get over hearing my stomach growl that close to my face. It is just a very weird thing to feel.

#6. Simply getting off the couch is now a very serious accomplishment that I think should be considered a new Olympic event.
I miss the days of not having to find a handhold on the couch to pull myself up with, or using my husband to push off of when I need to get up off of the couch. It isn't pretty folks. And it is a multiple-stage process.

#7. I really, really, really, really miss my jeans.
Spandex or elastic becomes a girl's best friends during pregnancy. You appreciate it much more when you really drag out wearing your regular jeans and pants until the last possible moment before switching to maternity clothing. Wearing the regular pants isn't the most pleasant thing in the world when you feel like your body is being cut into half every time you try to lean over an pick something up. However, wearing non-stop clothing with elastic around the waistband gets a bit tiresome. Especially when those pants stretch out while wearing them and you spend half the time pulling them back up.

#8. The pregnant body and all the awkwardness and uncomfortable things that go with it are an endless source of amusement for my husband and pretty much any man.
Enough said on this one. A man will just never fully be able to understand it.

#9. Going to the county fair while nearly 9 months pregnant means that you will never be able to walk from point A to point B without the following conversation.
Acquaintance: "Hey there! So you still haven't had the baby?"
Me: "Nope"
A: "How are you feeling?"
Me: "Fat" (It just got to where I didn't know what to say)
A: "Oh, you don't look fat. But I feel for you having to be pregnant during the hot summer."
Me: "Thanks"
A: "So have you had any contractions yet?"
Me: "Nope."
A: "When are you due?"
Me: "A week and a half."
A: "Well, next year you will have a little one with you at the fair."
Me: "Yep"
A: "Enjoy this year while you can."
Me: "Thanks."

Then I would walk about 10 steps and repeat the same conversation with someone else.

#10. When you go to a birthing class with your husband, you are already aware of some of the things that come along with pregnancy because of watching cows birth calves for years on end.
At one point the nurses teaching the class discussed that some people want to see the placenta after it has passed and they asked if I would want to do that. I quickly said, "Why would people do that? I'm a farmgirl, I've seen it plenty with cows...so I'm good!"

Well, if you made it to the end of this, CONGRATS! I hope it was at least a little on the entertaining side. Hopefully next time I make a post it will be with a little one napping soundly somewhere close to me.
 

Another Project Completed!

Today I put the finishing touches on the last painting project I have been updating you on. I just had to put another coat of white paint on in a few spots, finish the brown parts and then have dad cut off the top 10 inches of the board.

Here it is before the top 10 inches were cut off:

 During the project, I had quite a bit of company in the big shed. For one thing, the very first day I was in there, at least four or five mice went scurrying away from pretty much right under where my project was situated. I talked to dad and we got that situation remedied as much as we could. We relocated the project away from the seed bags and then he put out some mouse traps.

I think I still heard a few mice today, but at least I had the dogs to keep the mice away...oh wait. This is about as motivated as our dogs get while in the shed. I think my dog did raise her head once when she heard a mouse. I promise they are alive. They really like laying on that cool concrete though. Mom and dad's dog isn't exactly the smartest one once in a while. It cracked me up the day that he moved from his previous spot to under the trailer, that was parked inside the shed...apparently it was cooler in the shade ;-)

 

Anyway, that might be it for big projects for a while. The biggest project of our lives is about start. This week is a when our baby is due! She will probably have a flair for the dramatic though and take her own sweet time making her entrance into the world ;-)

Necessary Vaccinations

I will get to the title subject in just a minute, but wanted to post a fun picture first. I met with my doctor yesterday and, now that I'm less than a week from my due date, her nurse gave me specific instructions to put my feet up and rest. It seems my dog received the same instructions :-)

 

I might not have done exactly what the nurse said, but I did make sure I did the least amount of work today that I could. We have had some calves in our herd getting sick and have actually lost one or two. That is somewhat rare for this time of year. There are a couple more now that are sick. Now, this is where I get fed up with the "Chipoltes" of this world. In their high and mighty view, animals that do not receive any vaccinations or anything of that nature are better for us to eat.

Well, in my rancher view, do I want to see a sick calf and just sit there and stare at it as it suffers and drags through the hot summer days to probably die later from something I could have helped prevent? I don't know about you, but the choice seems fairly obvious and any medications are out of their system LONG before they even approach the time to be sent to the market. Even if the calf would survive without any intervention, during the time it was sick it would drastically lose weight and muscle because of its inability to eat and digest the nutrients it needs to grow. A sickly calf is not a pretty sight and might also fall behind the herd and have to die all alone.

So, this morning we gathered the cattle into the corrals. In order to get them from one pasture to the other and not have them scatter and run through our yards and gardens, we like to implement what my dad refers to as the "Redneck corrals." 

 

They work pretty well and it is much easier to drive multiple vehicles into place than haul panels by hand and possibly take hours to get them set. 

Once we got the cows sorted from the calves, we ran the cows through and gave them a quick dose of fly spray. The flies this summer are horrendous. I would guess each cow carried at least 200-300 flies on its back. Can you imagine having those blood-sucking pests on you day in and day out and not having any way to get them off of you other than a tail that isn't long enough to reach them?

Next we ran the less experienced calves through the alley-way and chute. They had been through the alley only once before and their lack of experience definitely slowed down the process. Once they were each caught in the head gate, they received fly spray, a vaccination for respiratory illness and a shot of vitamins. 

 

As you can see, it takes a few people to make this run smoothly.

• My uncle in the back of the picture is the one that was responsible for pushing them through the alleyway.
• My cousin in the blue shirt then lifted the gate to let them into the chute area. 
• My little cousin in the orange shirt was in charge of placing the bar behind the back end of the calf so they couldn't back up. Since the calves are so much smaller than the cows, they have a lot more room to move around and get turned around or caught in odd little spaces. So the goal is to eliminate as many options as possible so they go for the option that is the easiest for them and for us. 
• My dad is the one running the head gate. As soon as the shoulders of the calf push it forward, it locks into place and ideally their head will be caught to help hold them somewhat still while we give them shots and whatever else needs to be done.
  
  
• My job was to sit there, be 9 months pregnant and write down the tag numbers of the calves that had been worked so we had an accurate count on how many had gone through.
  
  
  

My other job was to make things more enjoyable for the others ;-) I was pretty proud of myself for this next joke. Once in a while we had a calf decided that going through the chute backwards was a better option. I made the remark that these calves were called "tailgaters." I know, I know...you are laughing as hard as I was ;-)

My little cousin is the next young cowgirl to carry on our family tradition of hard work and spunky-ness. My dad was joking that he was going to catch her in the chute when she had to go in there really quick to retrieve her bar that had fallen down inside. She didn't miss a beat and said something like, "Well, the calves don't punch but I do!"

At some point, my little cousin and I might or might not have gotten distracted by some cute distractions that were in the barn right behind us. Just like there might or might now have been some tag numbers that got missed being written down during this time.

 

Anyway, we did get the job done. We ran 90 some head of cows and about 80 calves through the chute and back out to pasture before lunch. My mom is always the unsung hero on days we work cattle. She effortlessly puts together a meal that more than fills our bellies and tickles our taste buds. It is the best way to end a long morning!