This past Friday, July 9, was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A. If you went dressed in full cow attire (from head to toe) you received a free combo meal. If you wore a cow accessory such as a cow print hat, purse, vest etc. you received a free entrée. As you can see from the picture, we were dressed in full cow attire! Chick-fil-A provided ideas, as well as, costume pieces to print. The one part to our costume which is not visible in the picture are our tails. Our hooves (for those who did not have black shoes) were made from construction paper cut and taped around shoes. Although you can see a few spots on the front, there were more on the back.
At first, I thought that this was a lot of trouble to go to for a free meal. But, we had more fun doing it than I would have imagined. When we told the little ones what we planned, the were so excited they could no contain themselves. In fact, they were so excited they were mooing!
This has definitely been an exciting week around here with the flooding and now a new addition to the “family”! Buttercup, our family milk cow had a bull calf and thankfully, did it problem free. We knew she was close, in fact we thought she was overdue. In my zeal to keep our small house clutter free, I had thrown away last year’s calendar which had the dates of her heat cycle and the dates we took her to an Angus bull for mating! We were expecting a calf the first of June! But last year, the month after we had taken her to the bull, she broke out and found her way to a neighbors Angus bull! – she is such a social butterfly  So, when she did not deliver in June, we figured the neighbor’s bull was the father of the calf.
We could tell from her behavior that she was ready but since last year’s calving had taken quite a while, we went inside to eat supper. We have definitely relaxed – last year we were all outside in lawn chairs moving around the yard as Buttercup did, to watch her! We must have been quite a site! With such an attentive audience, no wonder it took her so long to calve!
While the kitchen was being cleaned up, our 10 yr old went outside to check on her and was the first to see “Brownie”. Thus named because he is a light brown color! He had the bone structure of an Angus rather than the jersey breed. As soon as he could stand and take a few steps, he was trying to follow us around like he was ready to play. Buttercup was not too thrilled about this but she sure liked all the praise we lauded upon her!
Last year, Buttercup had problems delivering the placenta. So, we planned to leave the calf on her for a few days hoping it would help in the delivery of the placenta. This time, however, she delivered it the same night. Since she delivered the placenta, Brownie was having trouble latching on, and Buttercup was frantic when taken in to be milked (even with John holding him at her head during milking) we decided to separate them the next day. This proved to be a wonderful move – Buttercup is calmer and now easy to milk.
After some work getting Brownie to suck, he now eagerly takes his milk bottle. He flicks his tail like a happy little puppy while he eats. Buttercup is doing well and is increasing in milk production. Last year when she freshened we were getting 8 gallons a day (4 in the morning and 4 in the evening). Although the break from milking was very nice, not having milk for over a month has made everyone excited about it again!
A wonderful book to read if you are interested in a milk cow is “Keeping a Family Cow” by Joann S. Grohman. This is my authority on cows and she warns owners to beware of letting the cow eat the placenta. Although it is suppose to be good for them, there is a chance of choking. This is exactly what happened with Buttercup. We thought she was going to die in front of our eyes! How would you do the Heimlich maneuver on a 900 + pound cow? Thankfully, she managed to save herself because I sure did no know what to do!
While periodic short rain/thunder storms (with hail) are normal here in west Texas, the days prior to July 4th were a very different story. In the period of one afternoon we received over 8 inches! Many places received 9, 12 and even 13 inches. While this type of rainfall was taken in stride when we lived near Mobile, Al, it is a totally different story here in west Texas. With only 3 inches of rain, many streets are flooded and deemed impassable so, you can imagine the road conditions with such large amounts of water just standing – because it does not run off very fast.
The pictures below are taken from the end of our driveway looking west. As you can see, the road is impassable.
At the intersection (just before the water begins at the bottom of the hill) you would turn right and go about a 1/2 mile to our vineyard. The road to the vineyard was washed out with deep gullies. Needless to say, we did not drive our 15 passenger van to the vineyard until the county graded it!
Country living is great – when it rains you get to stay home! With all the rain, we were unable to work in the vineyard and had a couple of days off! We had the unexpected pleasure of homemade chocolate chip cookies (recipe multiplied by 4 giving plenty to eat and still plenty to freeze!) and homemade doughnuts … We had to get back to the vineyard just to work off the extra weight we gained!
We don’t normally stack them so high but this is more space and platter efficient!
(They didn’t last long either!)
I posted a while ago about back problems which turned out to be a herniated disc. But for the past couple of weeks I have been knocked flat with a kidney infection! The infection snuck up on me while I was taking anti-inflammatory medication for my back, so it was a whopper of an infection! The recovery has been longer than I expected but then I guess for an instant gratification type of person, it always is!
The bright side to all this is….with nothing else to do but lie around, I listened to my children! Now, of course, I hear them on a daily basis but sometimes it takes a period of time in which I am completely removed from all of my projects/responsibilities/interests to really hear them. By this I mean, attitudes behind what is being said. Don’t get me wrong, our children are very loving and have good relationships amongst themselves. But, it is so easy for seeds of selfishness to take root. These seeds are often manifested in frustration, anger, unloving attitudes and disrespect of each other. These are “normal” human attitudes but recognized early for what they are (behavior unbecoming a Christian), they can be more easily taken care of. Otherwise, like weeds in a beautiful garden, they grow quickly and take over (bad habits, yet “normal” and expected behavior by today’s standards). That is where our parental responsibility comes in – watching over our family, proactively cultivating godliness and rooting out selfishness.
We have to be attentive not only to behavior, but also to the attitudes of our family’s hearts. It is so easy to dwell on the ”good” activities and let them take precedent over the most important job I have – being a mom. These last couple of weeks have helped me refocus my attention and evaluate the “good” activities vs. the “best” activities in which to spend my time.
I want to encourage each of you to take time this summer (when perhaps you have more time with your child/children) to really listen to them. Be attentive to what is going on with your family, not merely outwardly but heartwardly. Choose to spend your time on what is most important - the “best” use of your time – building Godly character in your family.
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About Me 
God has amazingly blessed me, Dina-Marie, with a wonderful husband and 10 beautiful children. Moving from our "secure" life in Alabama to the "exciting" life of starting a vineyard in west Texas has been challenging to say the least. I have had the opportunity to take a crash course in frugal living and become a real farm girl - complete with milk cow and chickens. I have learned the importance of health from the inside out, "traditional" cooking and cod liver oil!
I hope to encourage you to make the most of where you are and what you have. |
