Thank you, Terry!

I won a pincushion from Terry at Terry's Treasures.  I haven't been blogging or reading very many blogs.  Terry always has fun projects and beautiful pictures.   She also makes quite a few pincushions.   I commented on her post and was a winner.  She sent me a lovely fabric/rickrack wrapped parcel!

So many goodies!!

The pincushion is made from one of her signature blocks.  I love those cute little button topped pins!!

Terry also sent me embroidery floss, quilty magnet and a lovely card (love butterflies!).  Thank you so much Terry!!  This win and bloggy thank you will get me back to blogging!!

I've been missing the blog world, but the real world seems to take up all my energy.  I won't try to catch you up on the last two months. 

As you can see from the header, we have been blessed with rain.  It is so wonderful to have the color green in our life again.  Last year's brown world was such a downer.  We are busy making hay for winter feeding now.  We fed every last bale and chopped corn stalk last winter.  We had to buy more of each to keep our cattle herd.   The rain means we will not have to sell our cattle.  They have all been vaccinated and are in summer pastures.  The grass is tall and lush.  The flies are plentiful too.  Every day I check water tanks and fences to make sure everyone has water for the hot days of July and are staying in their assigned pasture.  We are trying to control the fly problem with fly spray, back rubbers and fly control lick tubs.   Flies irritate cattle and also spread diseases.

Thank you so much to those who checked on me while I was offline.  DD #1 is healing and will not have to see the dermatologist for 3 months.  I had another steroid shot in my knee and shot of liquid too.  I made it through calving season and am doing exercise therapy now. 

I have more news to share, but will check in again soon. 

Mother's Day Gifts

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers, aunts, sisters and mothers to be--every special woman who cares for family in a loving way.    I'm having a lovely Mother's Day.  It is a gorgeous day outside.  DD 1 was home for 3 whole days of help and fun.  She brought me these lovely flowers.  Don't you just love Gerber Daisies?!  The roses are very, very pretty too.  She also treated me to a certificate for a pedicure and some wonderful soap and lotion.  Best of all I appreciate all her help and the laughing and talking that goes with it.  DD 2 is in Florida and I miss her so very, very much.  We had a nice visit by phone and Skype will be later.

I got another special present today.  This is "Baby"  and again.  Baby had her own baby early this morning.  We have been checking on her often, because we knew she was getting close.  I told DD 1 that "maybe she will have a Mother's Day baby for me".  She is a good momma and very protective.  I raised her well. 

No sewing.  Just calving and now some planting in the fields.  We haven't had any rain since the snow in April.  It is very dusty in the pasture.  I'm praying for rain.  We plant with "hope for the future". 

Here are a few more Mother's Day couples in honor of this special day.

 

Another newborn on Mother's Day and an excellent mom.

 

Look a likes.

 

More look a likes.

 

Lillian and Lily are continuing to be pampered with special care.  Lily brings sunshine daily to our lives.  Her sweet personality and cute antics have won our hearts.  She is so curious and playful.  She does put her ears back when she disapproves of us, but no spitting yet.  lol

I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day!  I was blessed with a great one.

Calving Season

The weather has turned nice with a heat wave and we all are enjoying the sunshine.  I thought I would share some of the other pictures I took during the last two weeks.  DD #1 was home for a couple days this week-end and helped us catch up on things and some sleep too.  :)

In labor in the "favorite" corner of the calving lot.

The corner was bedded with hay, but the snow is rapidly covering it up.  We let Mom lick off the new baby (bonding) and then they go to the warm dry barn.

The "old" long horn cow had a plain baby this year.  Each year she alternates--one year speckled like her, the next year a plain black one.  She is one of our tamest cows.  She comes to DH's cow call.

Just another "pretty" face. 

I'm sure there will be no sewing for a couple more weeks.  The snow is all melted and farming will begin very very soon.  Double duty will be on DH's schedule.  It is amazing how dusty it is in the pasture already.  The ground sucked the moisture right down.  Today I can actually see the beginning sprouts of green.  The trees are very late this year too.  None of the small retail greenhouses are filled in town yet.  It's a very late start for the growing season for everyone.

The Winter That Stayed

You haven't seen much of me--nobody has.  I've been either in the pasture, the barn or sleeping.  Not always enough sleeping.  lol   This isn't the kind of weather I like to have baby calves in.  In fact we are calving a week later than last year, hoping to avoid cold weather.  It has been a very, very long two weeks of snow and wind and colder than average temperatures.  There has been a lot of hands on calving help needed to keep everyone dry and healthy.

Snow is not an ideal place to have a newborn.  When it does happen,  it's up to the rancher to swoop the baby up and take it to a warmer dryer place.  Sometimes Mom follows--sometimes she needs to be persuaded.

The calves that are a week old do better in the snow.  You can tell a healthy calf by his looks.   They have their ears up and usually enjoy morning play time--even in the snow.

It takes a lot of straw and shelter to keep all the older ones warm and dry too.  It's a busy job when the weather is crappy.  There are emergency trips to the vet with little ones that need extra help.  I tell DH: "we can't sleep with them too".  

More later...........................

Feline Friday

Stripes is enjoying the 65 degree day and waiting for supper to be served.

I'm linking up with Sarah, because I'm a cat lover too.

Spring?!

 It does not look like Spring in the calving lot.  It has melted some since I took this picture last week.  DH blew snow away from the fences into the trees.  We really haven't even been able to fix fence because there is too much snow.  I'm NOT complaining.  We need the moisture and a lot of this will melt and flow into the small dam for drinking water for the cows.  It was almost empty last fall.   Yesterday it was 65 degrees, so that got rid of some of the snow.

We had our first calf last week on 3/31.  He is a cutie with some white markings on his face.  He was deep in sleep and I didn't wake him.   His mom was hiding him out in the corn stalks.

 Don't ask me why you would want to kiss a llama.  Sometimes I wonder about my husband--lol.  Lily loves him and always wants to kiss him.  I'm not trusting enough to try it.

I made a Schlep bag today.  You can download the pattern here.  I bought it as a kit with free pattern at a quilt shop.  I didn't realize I could get the pattern online for free until I googled it.   I think this will make a handy travel bag.  I'm always taking along extra stuff.  I didn't put in any inside pockets or batting.   I think this would be a nice gift to make.

Lily Butterfly

We have named the new baby, Lily Butterfly.  She floats like a butterfly and her Mom's name is Lillian, so I came up with this name.  DH wanted to name her Butterfly, but he said that was too long of a name for calling her.

She really doesn't need to be called.  As soon as you come close,  she is there to greet us.  She's very curious and loves to put on a show for us.  She runs, jumps, bucks and kicks.  She moves too fast for me to even get a decent picture.  I've tried videoing, but she's too fast for my small camera.

She does stop to take a roll.  Llamas take baths by rolling in the dust.  We are having fun watching her.  I have a ring side seat in the house.  She brings a laugh to us many times a day.

It's been a cold week.  Peanut needed a warm spot after she came in from a morning outside. (sorry for the mess by the window).  I sure hope it warms up before the calves start coming.

I feel like I spent the week on the road.  I went to the dermatologist with DD 1.  She had two more biopsies for melanoma.  One of her last biopsies came back with a moderate/severe rating of turning into melanoma and they did additional tissue removal. We did stop at a couple quilt shops.   On Friday I took DH to the doctor after much persuasion.  He has had "junk" for a couple weeks and was starting to have more difficulty breathing.  They fixed him up with antibiotics and breathing treatments.  Last night it was time for some fun.  I went with my SIL and niece and their husbands to the Show Choir dinner theater that my great nephew was in.  It was totally awesome!  The show featured 60's and 70's music.  There were a lot of talented singers and dancers.   I miss going to high school events sometimes, other times staying home is very nice.

No sewing at all this week.  : (  I did find out DD 1 would like a new tote bag for work.  I also checked out her color and design preferences at the quilt shops.  It's time to make my daughters quilts this year.