“Life on the farm is kinda laid back” - NOT

I did end up taking most of the day off on Friday. We had a large contingent of people coming to the office that would arrive before any of the ladies that sit in the front get there and I wanted to make sure that they were able to get into the office without trouble. The secure door on the front of our building does not release until 7 a.m. so someone has to be in the office to open the door for early visitors. I got back to the farm about the time Mama and Victoria were going out to feed.

I did not get an awful lot done because I was not feeling very well but when I tried to lay down to rest I was not able to do that very well either. I did pick up the lumber to build the alcove I wanted to place in the garden to help guard the plants against the blistering heat and wind. It is not large, just eight feet square, but I hope it will help us in the garden this year.

Mama helped me get the pieces to the garden and I got them placed as I had planned – it looks pretty small in that large garden space. We have seeds that I could have safely planted in the area I prepared but I did not get that done. I was able to till a large patch for the potatoes and onions I hope to set out this week. We were waiting all day for the rains to come but they never did. Not much was predicted but we still hoped we would get something wet from the overcast skies.

On Saturday I covered the area outside the kitchen windows with dirt to level it out for future use. I am planning on potting the tomato plants we are going to get this weekend and put them in that area so I wanted it to look somewhat ready. I spent a good deal of time leveling out the dirt I put there with the tractor but a couple hours late you could not have told. Once the dogs and the chickens rearranged the fresh dirt it was quite a mess to look at.

By Saturday night I was feeling pretty bad. Victoria and I went out to do the evening feeding and get everything ready for Sunday. That was when we discovered Misty down and could not get her up. We called Wes Bowman but he was in Ft Worth and could not get to us for a couple hours. He called Tim Cleghorn and as soon as Tim got the call he headed our way. By the time Tim and Steve Schnell got to the farm it was nearly dark and we had been struggling with Misty for about an hour.

While Mama and I were greeting Tim and Steve and apprising them of the situation, Victoria walked into the calf lot with Misty in tow. We began to walk around in order to relieve her colic. Tim, Steve and Victoria took turns and continued to keep her moving for several hours. About the time I gave out Wes showed up and began doing his assessment – and it was not very good. It was after 10 pm when they hooked the stock trailer to our truck and loaded Misty for a late night visit to the vet.

The vet saw something no one else did. He asked Mama when Misty had gotten stung. When Mama showed surprise at the question he showed her a couple dozen sting marks on her rump and lower legs. He concluded that that was the cause of the colic and gave Misty a shot for pain to relieve the gas pains as well as the bee stings. They were all back at the farm by about 11:30.

Misty is doing well now but we have her cooped up in the barn lot so we can monitor her bowel movements and regulate her feed carefully – at least through today. I will have to go on the hunt to find the bee hive or wasp nest in her pasture in order to keep this from being repeated too soon.

With my allergy to such stings it will be and interesting hunt.