Postponed items, 3” rain, the calf, mixed day

Mama did not go to Denton to shop yesterday because of the rain. It came in waves, quite heavy at times. No fun to drive in. Mama will make up for that lost time today. She is headed out later this morning to Sam’s, Kroger’s, the mall, etc., for as long as her knees will hold out. We did not get the pig Tuesday night either. That is being deferred until Friday evening. We have the option to go tonight, but with Nate, Cori and the kids coming over today -arriving sometime late this evening – we will spend the evening getting the final bedding items ready for their arrival. I am sure it will take some time to get things settled down when they do arrive, but having all the mattresses ready for them to eventually bed down will be a benefit when the time comes to settle in.

We got three inches of rain at the farm while other areas got far more than that. Praise the Lord! It was desperately needed. Some of the cracks in the ground have begun to close. The only drawback to heavy rains is the holes that Sam and Gemma dig fill with water and stay soft for several days causing them to find new places to dig holes to lie in. It is very frustrating. Our front yard looks like a bombed-out war zone. Random craters carved out of the yard. There is no need for then to dig into the ground. The ground is plenty cool on the surface, but they have developed a very bad habit of digging caverns in search of cooler ground. This Fall I will fill and level the yard so it will look reasonable nice for a few months until the digging begins again. I had to put an electric fence around my fig tree to keep them from digging around it – especially in the drought since it was one of the places they had access to that I continually watered. I de-energized that fence last night because of the grandkids coming to the farm. I was reminded to do so when I got stung by it closing the gate to the paddock. My arm tingled for several minutes after that shock because it went from my hip – where I contacted the wire - through my left arm where I was touching the metal fence. I would not want that to happen to happen to the grandkids. 

Since Mama and I have not seen her for several days, I went in search of our calf. A few days ago, I failed to close the walk through gate at the barn lot well house and she found her way through. I had to lead her back through that gate to show her the passage, but we left her access to the larger barn lot. It has plenty of grass for her, the pond for water and the barn for shelter. Our only concern is protecting the calf from coyotes. She is probably too big for them to fool with, but it is still a concern. Fortunately, she was right by the gate this morning, so I did not have to search for her. When I confirmed that she was alright I went about feeding the goats. As is my custom, I put feed in the little feeder we use for the calf in her shelter behind the shop before I walk into the boy goat area and discovered that she had eaten the feed we put out a couple days ago. The fact that the feed had been left for two days is what initially raised or concern about the calf. She even left us a little present of fresh cow manure as a thank you for the feed.

The kids were out of the barn this morning. They will venture farther and farther each day until they have gotten accustomed to the entire area they are in, but for now, they are staying close to shelter. I had flipped over a small rubber pan just outside the barn a couple days ago. We alternately use the pan for feed or water depending on the need so we keep it close the barn. The little ones found it and were playing king-of-the-hill. It was hilarious to watch. We are not certain, but it looks like Dolly will kid late next week. For a certainty, both Dolly and Lilly will kid before the end of this month. Hopefully, that will happen before or birthday bash on the 19th. That should give us eight kids to watch play. 

Today I will spend the afternoon at the office. There is a project I need to have done fairly quickly and I can only get it done on the company server. I have access to the server only at the office. I spent about six hours at the office Tuesday and made good progress on the project. I taught a class yesterday, but I did not spend any extra time in the office after the class was done. I will probably be able to get the project done in the fours or so hours I am planning to spend at the office this afternoon. With the holiday on Monday and Nate, Cori and the kids with us next week, I am planning to spend as much time as I can at home, with the exception of teaching an in-person class next Wednesday. 

We will see how eel that works out.