I can't believe we're at the end of May already. It has been very busy for me. I keep hoping things will slow down, but that isn't going to happen. It's going to be a very busy summer.
Earlier this week, we had a little adventure here at the Parkarosa. On Wednesday morning, after Sweet Hubby left for work, I was sitting in my chair knitting, with Zoey sleeping in my lap, when I noticed movement out the living room windows. There was a pure black calf trotting across the yard. It went around the back of the garage to behind the garden fence, then headed off into the woods. It was a bit disturbing. I'd not noticed any calves in my neighbors pastures, so it was a stranger to me. If I had known who owned it, I would have called them, but I didn't. So I hoped maybe someone missing a black calf would stop by sometime during the day. The calf hung around all day long, passing by the living room window every 2 hours or so.
In the evening, the owners came looking for him with a large group of people to help. They live more than a mile from us. That morning they had the calf and a few other cows in a trailer. They were driving by our house when the calf jumped out of the trailer. They saw it go down our driveway, but decided they should get the rest of the cows home first before another one jumped out. They wanted to know if we'd seen it, and which way it was going. We told them, and Sweet Hubby went out to help them look. We figured it was in the woods to the northeast of us. It was getting dark though, and after some searching, they gave up for the night not having found the calf. We decided to leave the gate open on the back yard on the chance it might, during the night, wander in and then we could close the gate and trap it.
Thursday morning I got up and that was the first thing I checked. It hadn't. I closed the gate so Zoey could run around for awhile. I went back into the house. Five minutes later the calf trotted by the living room window. Sweet Hubby and I both jumped up and ran out the door. The calf was standing behind the garden fence. Sweet Hubby went to open the gate near the calf, I went the other way, through another gate, hoping to keep the calf from taking off into the woods again. But I am slow, so it got a bit into the woods. I was determined to get this calf into the back yard so I headed in after it.
There I was, in my fuzzy purple bathrobe, trying to get this huge calf to go back toward the house, in hopes I could herd it into the back yard. I've never herded a cow before, so I really didn't know what I was doing. I kept yelling for Sweet Hubby to come help me (which he ignored) as I went toward the calf, then the calf would trot away, and I would change direction. Slowly, but surely, I managed to actually herd that calf right back to the gate and through it. Sweet Hubby closed the gate. It was caught! I herded a cow! All by myself. HURRAY!! I was so excited!
I ran back into the house and called the owners. They came down, licketysplit, with their trailer. Now they had to catch the thing. They tried laying a looped rope on the ground in hopes it would step in the loop and they could catch it by the leg first, but it was too smart for that. It ran around the backyard eluding us. Eventually it went into the corner beside the house which is a narrow area.
Aha! We could catch it there cuz it was a small space. I put myself into a position that would block the calf from getting out. They chased it into the fence and grabbed hold. It took some work to get a rope round it's neck because it was a big and feisty fellow who did not want to get caught. It bucked and ran and bucked. They got a rope around his neck. Despite the rope, though, no one could get a hold of it.
Then the rope got wrapped around a tree. Now was their chance!
It took 3 people, but they got it on the ground. They tied it's feet, and put a sweat shirt over it's head so it couldn't see what was going on. It calmed down after that.
The calf was a big boy. He was born 4 weeks ago and weighed close to 300 lbs already. Now we had another problem. How do you get a 300 pound calf all the way around the house, through the gate, and into the trailer? I got my gardening wagon because it can carry up to 500 pounds. Sweet hubby joined in to help, but 4 of them could not lift the calf into the wagon. It was too heavy. Then someone said "It's too bad we don't have a tractor." Sweet Hubby has a tractor.
He got the tractor and carefully put the bucket flat on the ground beside the calf. They gently rolled the calf into the bucket.
Then Sweet Hubby lifted the bucket and drove the tractor around the house, out the gate,
and to the trailer
where they gently rolled it into the trailer. Problem solved.
The whole incident made for a very exciting morning, and we got to meet some of our neighbors.
I haven't posted much this month. Mothers Day was nice. I slept in, puttered around the house, and took it easy. I was feeling very tired that weekend for some reason. In the afternoon we went to see the movie Guardians of the Galaxy 2, which I enjoyed very much. Ruth was home for the weekend too. It was a nice relaxing day for me. We didn't go out to dinner because I didn't feel like it.
My daughter Sarah gave me a wonderful Mothers Day present. She bought 2 plane tickets to Rhode Island so we can go visit her in June. I am so excited! We're going to spend a whole week with her and Frank.
One of the projects I got done this past week was the reupholstering of the deck furniture. I did the
bottom cushions last fall, if you'll remember. It's been bothering me a lot that I hadn't finished that project yet. I spent all day last Wednesday making a pattern for the back cushions and cutting out the pieces. and All day Friday I worked on sewing the new covers and installing them.
My daughter, Ruth, helped install them, which I greatly appreciate because it was a big job. We hand sewed the covers closed after pulling them over the cushions.
I love this fabric. I think it looks fabulous. It's a very good quality fabric, so it should last a few years.
It was such a relief getting this project done.
This last weekend the weather was wonderful. The sun was out and it got up into the 80's. I would have liked to have the windows and doors open, but the pine pollen is very thick right now. Thicker than usual because of the wet spring. Everything is coated in a layer of yellow and the air is full of it. I turned on the air conditioner for the first time this year.
On Saturday Ruth and I went to
Westwood Gardens Nursery and bought plants for the pots and boxes on the deck. We spent the afternoon planting them. I got Marigolds, Snapdragons, and Sweet William (also known as Dianthus) this year because I don't have to worry about moose and deer eating them. One of the benefits of the new backyard fence. Hurray! I also bought 3 beautiful flower baskets full of petunias and such. Ruth swept up the winter dirt and pine needles off the deck. Now the deck is ready for use. I'm ready for summer.
Live long and prosper.
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