And just like that…
…we’re back to dry meadows and snow covered hills.
Cow #10 had her calf a couple days after the storm last week so she timed the birth well, thankfully. They say we are in for another storm later today and tomorrow. We’ll see how many calves that brings us tonight.
Happy Tuesday, y’all! 🙂
A Wyoming Spring…
I posted this today on my Facebook page.
The start to spring here has been wonderful. Temps have been in the 60’s and we’ve been soaking up the sunshine.
But with the warning of a major storm coming, I knew darn well that calves would start popping out. Sure enough, I got one yesterday and that makes 7 of the little boogers in all so far.
The clouds started building by mid-afternoon.
It was storming in the sky by late afternoon. Then it started raining here at about 10pm.
And this is how it looked at 7 this morning. I barely made it down to the meadow.
The wind is blowing out of the north which is of course the direction I had to drive to get down to the meadow. I was blinking snow drops all morning.
The Gray horse turned a muddy brown. I couldn’t even recognize our own horse! Of course, my eyelids were cupping snow flakes so it’s understandable.
It took me an hour to find the girls. Visibility was about ZERO but I saw finally saw them in the middle of the meadow with their butts facing north. Yep, that’s them in the upper left of the above image.
That’s #10 on the far left. She should calve at any time. I’m watching her closely today and I pray she keeps that baby inside just a little longer.
I’m headed out again. I hope I don’t have to bring a calf inside by the fire. But if would be okay if I did. 😉
Red-winged Blackbirds at Dusk
These guys chirp, blirp and fly down the road with me down to the meadows. I know it’s because there is a nest somewhere close by but I like to thing they are just leading me in the right direction. 🙂
First Born
Our first calf arrived on Friday and he was born to a first time mother. When Patrick saw the heifer in labor that morning, he got her into the barn for privacy and so that we could assist her if she needed it. She labored for about 3 hours until we saw hooves. We gave her 30 more minutes to have it on her own and sure enough, after a long and loud moo/grunt/squeal, he entered our world. I went in a checked on her and she was laying upright and very tired. The calf was alive and just laid there quietly. It was obvious that she didn’t know what happened or even saw that she had a calf. I gave her some water and left her alone to rest. About 10 minutes went by and she stood up. When she turned around and saw this little slimy bundle, she started humming loudly and was licking him like crazy. She was immediately in love and so energetic and exited. This excitement and mothering doesn’t always happen, especially with heifers. But this lady loves her baby and is taking such good care of him. We are happy and relieved that this was a calm and happy birth. We have a few more heifers to calve out and several cows to calve. We’re just getting started and I pray this will be a smooth calving season. And so it begins…
PS: Our Winter Art Fair went well on Saturday. Just wish you could’ve been there. 🙂
Winter Art Fair
Our wonderful little gallery is putting on an art fair. We’ve never taken on anything this big before but we’re pretty excited. The wind here has been blowing 40mph with stronger gusts and it’s just been miserable. We’re inviting the community to come in out of the wind and surround themselves with colorful art, have lunch, do a little shopping, a little bidding, and learn more about the artists right here on their own turf!
So if you, my loyal blog readers, are interested in coming out and supporting us, you will be welcomed with open arms!! It takes about 3 days to travel to here by car from the eastern side of the U.S. More like two days drive from the Southwest I think. 🙂 Time for a road trip!
I took this image and had it printed on maple wood. I wasn’t sure what to expect and when I got it back from the lab, I wasn’t wowed like I had hoped to be. But a great friend and local frame-maker helped create a beautiful frame out of oak to surround this lovely image. I can’t wait to have it on display. It was pretty costly and I’m not sure if I’ll ever do it again. I’ll just have to see the feedback I get from folks when it’s out there upon judging eyes.
If you check out our Facebook page, you will get a glimpse of the many different mediums that will be on display. And that’s not even the half of it.
I hope to see ALL of you out here in Wonderful Wheatland Wyoming for a lovely weekend of art and entertainment.
Cheers!
Uprooted Magnolia 
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