Update On My Nemesis

Todays events. Yep hes back!

So far....


he trys to avoid eye contact

He "back talks" me

and when I ask him what he thinks he is doing he just scratches his head

Egads! Is he turning into a teenager?

My Nemesis

My year long project of raising grass fed steers for the first time is still moving along. My tiny little steers have become big guys now!

For about a week one steer in particular has been having a grand ole time. He found a break in the fence and has been letting himself out each day for long strolls around folks yards

and generally having a good ole time until twilight when his herd mentality resurfaces and he is happy to have me open the gate to his pasture where all his "homies" await him

as he strolls through the gate he turns to give me one last glance over his shoulder as though saying

"same time tomorrow then?"

Of course this was never meant to be permanent, but he wasn't hurting anything and between the start of hay season, being behind on the spring planting because of the drought and the buying and transporting of a new herd bull this week, putting a board back up just kept getting put off. Heck, the worst that could happen is he would wander off the farm and bother someone - but he seemed pretty content to stick close by

until today that is...

I was just finishing a first cup of coffee when a truck pulled up at my door and a woman leaned out the window to tell me my cow was standing out on the main road.

So much for the idyllic little arrangement we had been having. Apparently I had one steer gone AWOL.

I called the dogs and jumped on my golf cart in hot pursuit of this contract breaking Hamburger on the Hoof !

By then he had crossed the main road and was standing on the other side. When he saw me he turned away and trotted off in to a meadow, where once he felt out of range he began to snack on the trespassed grass of a neighboring farmer.

The small figure in the distance is him - the dogs were quick in changing his mind and he came back out on the road again

Not having nine lives, he risked his one, by crossing the road once again with me playing traffic cop to help the crossing....fortunately there was no traffic, just one dense steer who couldn't seem to understand why a gate wasn't magically opening even though he could see the fence and the cows on the other side of it.

After turning right and then left and getting stopped by enormous spider webs and tree vines as thick as a mans arm, he decided to join the dogs and me on the road and we made an odd little parade back through the gates to the farm.

Whew! Safety.

Apparently he had other ideas....his taste of freedom had been heady and intoxicating.

He wanted nothing to do with his pasture.
He kicked up his heels in the garden and picked up a trash can and tossed it. All the while hearing the song "Born Free" playing loudly in his bovine brain.
He braved the barking dogs lowering his head in a threatening gesture, his pointed horns gleaming in the sun.

Creeping closer, I noticed an odd little look over his right eye.

"Whats this Mr Born Free" You got a souvenir from your time in the spidey woods?"

Well...its on your eye and not in it so you will be fine. While were just standing here, how about you show me where you keep getting out and even better yet, why dont you let your self IN the same way you get OUT???

Imagine my amazement when he said:

"Alrighty, follow me"..............

This smells about right....

are you watching?


and with that said?......

.

Lessons In Life

All horses deserve, at least once in their lives, to be loved by a little girl.
–Author Unknown


Riding lessons have started around these parts...

what you cannot see,

one amazingly good riding instructor standing off stage right giving gentle instruction

"Heels down, heads up girls. Thats it, very good!" the instructors voice conducts this orchestra...

When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk. He trots the air, the earth sings when he touches it.
William Shakespeare

IT'S TAKE YOUR DOG TO WORK DAY

Emmy is the doggie child of my heart so naturally she deserves this holiday.

It is not take your chicken to work day.....

that is another day entirely.

Its a chance for your dog to see what you do all day...

Look Emmy! Cows and fences, yippee!

Come on Emmers we are trying to show the blogging world how scintillating our life is. You are so not getting a doggie treat now. You hearing me?

sigh...............

Its ok I guess,

its hard for Emmy to deal with an uber mom with the aforementioned scintillating job.

Shes probably just shy and embarrassed.

I understand...

I read one time that Billy Joel's daughter didn't like for him to sing around her friends.

Kids are weird that way.

SUMMER BEGINS

"Summer solstice" : A major celestial event widely, and sometimes wildly, celebrated on earth. In the Northern Hemisphere, it represents the first day of summer – and we all know what that means.

This year summer solstice occurs on June 21 at 1:16 p.m. EDT. At that moment, the sun appears to have reached its northernmost extreme and seems to stand still in the sky. ("Solstice" comes from Latin words meaning "sun" and "to stand still.")
In our hemisphere, according to www.chiff.com, summer solstice results in the longest day and the shortest night of the year. In the Southern Hemisphere that happens in December.
In a happy-seeming combination, our first day of summer and the last day of school fall very close to each other. Happy kids foresee months of freedom and daylight, while adults know the first day of summer is actually the beginning of the end of summer because after June 21, the days start growing shorter as the hours of sunlight decrease.

Source

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_solstice

On this longest day of the year the sun hangs hot and heavy in the sky...

a gateway to...

baseball games

campfires, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows

favorite swimming spots

and all the treats of summer.

Climb Every Mountain

Normally we live in the land of flat.

Not this week though!

Do to a huge load of dolomite we had delivered.

To the average eye, this may look like a pile of fertilizer but to a child,

it is a mountain

a place to leap and slide

Dolomite has a very interesting texture. More like beach sand than dirt.*

* Dolomite is rock composed of mainly calciun and magnesium, ground to a fine sediment. Its primary purpose is to balance the ph of the soil for growth of crops.
It is harmless to all young and tender things....such as children....and plants.

Tomato, tomahto, Let's call the whole thing off

Somebody stop the tomato storm!

It is a Monday.

This is what I have staring me in the face.

I have made all the salsa one person can make. Everyone scatters when they see me coming with a bowl in my hands.

There will be another wave of fresh tomatoes ripening in a day or so.

Its time to fight fire with....

the freezer.

I used to stand over a boiling pan of water blanching tomatoes and fishing them out and then peeling them. Its the long hot frustrating way to do things.

And then I came up with a better system. Better because it involves less work!

First core the tomatoes

Place in a microwave safe bowl

cover with a paper towel and microwave 2 to 3 minutes per tomato depending on your microwave.

Let them stand covered and cool for 15 minutes or longer.

The skin separates and peels off easily using fingers or a fork.

This yields (from 4 tomatoes) approx a quart of lovely fresh tomatoes which will be great to have this winter.

I put mine in gallon freezer bags because that's what I had on hand.

I hung the bag of tomatoes from the shelf above using a container of ice Cream as a weight to hold it. I guess clothespins would work too. I let it hang suspended between the frozen blueberries and the Haagen Dazs for two hours because I was going for a log shaped roll for easy stacking instead of letting the tomatoes spread around in the bag.

So it was a laid back style of accomplishing. Micro, let stand till cool, bag, freeze...

but it left me free to do other things and at the end of the day I had that pile of tomatoes tucked away for winter.

It was easy enough that I think I can do this every other day till the tomatoes are gone.

We'll see!

HORSIN AROUND

My three favorite people have some favorites of their own these days...

of the equine variety!

As any good horse person will tell you, riding is the last and least part of having your own horse. The most important and first part is the care and training of your horse. Building a relationship of trust and respect.

So when the sun gets a little less relentless and the breeze kicks up a bit, its horse time!

Princess #1 has her horse "Lady"

Agent B has his horse "Indigo"

and the littlest Princess has her horse "Lightning"

so cute watching her 70 pound self tell "Lightnings" 1000 pound self

"back up Lightning!"

Everyone gets a good brushing

even a dog or two

Its all about learning the ropes

and building memories that will last a lifetime.