A cow's life

Where's Little Darlin? There she is, hiding behind a tree in the front yard!

After milking one morning this week, Darlin refused to follow K7 to the corral, but instead she browsed the yard.

I helped him get her back with her baby Forsella.

And Heidi's baby girl. We currently keep both Mom's and babies in the corral to make it easier for milking. Darlin spends the night in the chicken paddock and is milked in the morning. After returning her to the corral, we move Heidi into the chicken paddock where she remains until K8 milks her by hand in late afternoon. I am paying K8 to train Heidi as a dairy cow. We hope to start using the milk machine on her in a week or two. 

It also helps both Moms to have their daughters in the corral which is next to the chicken paddock. We need to handle these little girls and get them used to humans. 

They are very curious animals and explored their new loafing shed.

"Forsella" is a beautiful calf. She is 3/4 Dexter and the rest Jersey with a tiny fraction of Milking Short Horn. She will make a great family dairy cow for someone.

Youth Temple trip

Here is our awesome church youth group. I couldn't ask for a finer group for my sons to associate with. Somebody tell Hannah to open her eyes!

Oh, to wear penny loafer's and loaf about in my loafing shed!

We finally finished the loafing shed. Here K6 and Marshall put on the metal roof.

K7 and K8 helped. The boys usually got a late start, so they worked until sun set.

Lots of family visited this week for Thanksgiving and the extra hands helped a lot. Son-in-law Ryan holds ladder for Marshall.

K8 thought it would be exciting to play commando and jump off the roof...

...into the bed of my truck. Wish I had caught a shot of him in mid air.

Frequently it was Marshall and K7 working while K6 was at McDonald's earning a paycheck. I paid my crew with a little money, free room and board, bullets when we shot after work, the entry fee to the Tulsa Wannamacher Gun Show, and a new knife. I figured the experience of building their first real structure was payment enough.

We separated the animal side (to the left) from the hay storage side (to the right) with a wooden wall.

We enclosed the hay storage portion with 5' tall wire panels with 2" by 4" openings which will allow us to lock the dogs in it if we ever need a temporary dog kennel. Here big brother K2 (in red) is enjoying a break from law school by helping Marshall with finishing touches.

Just as we were wrapping up, I heard geese flying over head. Two "V" shape formations headed south. Gorgeous sight!

Milk and memories

We got over a half gallon from milking Little Darlin this morning. After feeding some to the cats in the barn and filling a half gallon bottle, I still had some left.  

Usually I just pour it in a cup or glass and drink it, but today I remembered one of my souvenirs from my trip to Hong Kong in 1990. My half pint glass bottle from the Kowloon Dairy! Here is the front of bottle.

Here is the back of bottle with Chinese writing. There was a milk dispensing machine near the ferry landing where I would catch a ride from the island over to the mainland. I made frequent trips across the harbor, so naturally I bought lots of milk while coming and going - mostly chocolate milk of course, but occasionally white milk. I kept one bottle to preserve the good memories of an enjoyable voyage. My ship also stopped in Hawaii, Australia, Singapore, and Thailand that year.

Math question of the day - How many half pints go into a half gallon?

Country life

Utilized my brother-in-law's tractor to mow paddock #1 (you see in the background). I wanted to put the flock and herd in this paddock because they have eaten down paddocks #5 and 6. Will move them to #2 next week. I have been saving #3 and 4 while stock-piling grass for them to eat in December and January, so I hopefully won't have to buy and feed hay until late January.

Our veterinarian spotted this baby fox dead along the road this morning. She stopped to inspect it because she thought it was a baby cougar.

Why was I at the Vet clinic this morning? Because we decided to have Percy castrated and keep him as a pet. 

I thought they were giving him a shot to knock him out in order for them to operate on him. No, that's not how it happens...just grab a hold of the testicle and pull!

Ouch! Poor Percy. You can see one of his testicles lying near the knee of the petite, blond Vet student. Our vet, Dr Kim, is in the middle wearing a maroon sweat shirt and K7 is holding the head. K7 works at this clinic every Thursday as an unpaid intern. Okay, time to grab and pull once more. Ouch!

If this is acceptable procedure for my goat, why can't it become standard procedure (punishment) for certain criminals in our society as well. I believe crimes against women and children would be drastically reduced. 

Homemade lamb jerky

During last week's lamb processing, our mountain man friend suggested we make jerky, so S marinated a batch and used her dehydrator for the first time in a year.

We got 3 large bags! The first bag is a little too salty for her, but I like it. Next time I think we should add a little crushed red hot pepper...

Wanch Unscientific Presidential Poll results!

My very own vice-president hard at work on the Wanch. No time for politics, she is doing midwifery homework.

This poll generated more activity than any of our previous polls! Good! Here are the results in alphabetic order:

Herman Cain - 3 votes / 16% of votes
Newt Gingrich - 1 / 5%
Barrack Obama - 0 / 0%
Ron Paul - 7 / 38%
Rick Perry - 0 / 0%
Mitt Romney - 7 / 38%

What do the figures tell us? That my blog is followed by mostly conservatives, libertarians, and Mormons, and my poll results do not match the National polls. Appears that I have no ultra liberals, socialists, or communists openly following my blog at this time. Personally, I am still undecided between Cain, Gingrich and Romney. Others in my family lean toward Romney, Cain or Paul. No one in my immediate circle supports Obama, and those friends and relatives who did vote for him are now very disappointed - enough to vote differently next time.

Should be an interesting election year.

Okay, enough about politics for this month. Time to get ready for Thanksgiving, turkey dinners, football, family, cold weather, Black Friday sales, deer hunting, road trips, final exams...or whatever else you do this time of year!

Special Veteran's Day at the Wanch!

An American bald eagle visited this afternoon. K8 said it was because of Veteran's Day. Everybody was excited and ran for a camera. I had mine in my pocket, but I really need a better zoom lens. 

These pictures really don't do justice to what we saw. The eagle appeared much closer to us than pics indicate. 

It's white head and tail were very clearly seen. K7 and I thought we heard an eagle's screech a half hour earlier than we saw it. Very distinctive sound.

Any day I see a bald eagle over my house is a great day!

Busy Friday

While in town to buy more lumber to finish the loafing shed, 12 year-old K8 said, "Hey, my first pimple!" I had to record this historical moment. Does this mean that he is officially a teenager?

Once the weather started to warm-up, I had the boys outside to finish framing our new loafing shed. They have done the majority of the work, and I think they have done a good job for their first real construction project. The cows and sheep will love it during an ice storm and never complain.

K8 inspected the roof frame and declared it ready for the metal covering.

The first piece of metal goes on roof, and then the battery in drill died! Time to wrap up for the day.

K8 was assigned to collect all the cow dung inside the corral and dump it in the garden compost bins, and then pull all the string off the three old bales of hay on right hand side of photo. Here is his definition of "wrap up for the day". He works until he gets distracted by something fun...

And my last errand of day. Give K6 a ride home from __________________(fill in the blank from one of these 4 choices): (a) the burger factory; (b) McDonald's University; (c) the real world; or (d) the grease trap.

Home for some fresh lamb stew!

Busy Thursday

I spent time preparing for the ground breaking ceremony for our new church building. I rounded up the shovels and painted them gold, then bought the poster board for the artist's drawing of church, picked up K7 from his weekly internship at local vet clinic, then dropped off the 4 Boy Scouts in charge of parking lot, then, then, then...

...then Uncle Jess and Aunt Nancy arrived. They took us to Pizza Hut for salad and pizza. Stayed up late chatting.

Fall butchering day

Wednesday, we butchered two young rams that hadn't been castrated last Spring. I have kept them with the cows (and separate from the ewes) all year, so it was time to put them in the freezer, because I like putting the sheep flock with the cow herd during winter. I shot the first ram, and K7 shot the second.

K8 rigged the block and tackle pulley.

We invited our mountain man friend over to teach the boys how to butcher.

K6's strength came in handy for both capturing the rams and then hoisting them up.

This photo should have come first because the boys actually sharpened their knifes before we went out to start the process.

Each boy gained valuable experience on how to take meat from "pasture to plate".

The temperature was in the 40's when we started, so we worked in the barn and locked the dogs outside.

Most folks de-boned the meat at the counter while K6 wrapped and labelled packages on the dining table. We had fried lamb steak for lunch. Yummy! The dogs got plenty of fresh scraps afterwards. We will be putting "Stewie", the big castrated young ram, in the freezer during Thanksgiving week, and then a cow on 29 November.

Where does America shop...especially late at night?

You guessed it - Wal-Mart! Five miles from the Wanch, open 24 hours, and carries all the essentials. We frequently stop in late at night after I pick-up K6 from work at the nearby McDonalds restaurant. Very convenient, but...

...I have mixed emotions about Wal-Mart, McDonald's, and American industry. Maybe you do as well?

I seem to vaguely remember long ago when Wal-Mart prided itself on selling American made products...now most items are foreign made. Very sad statement on America's loss of manufacturing capability.

What happened?

I blame both the Government for meddling in labor and tax laws (not to mention tinkering with education and social fabric), and corporate leaders (and stock holders) for choosing profit over national pride. Our Nation is rapidly losing our craftsmanship skills, our jobs, and our manufacturing might to 3rd world countries with corrupt governments, cheap labor, poor sanitation, no taxes, and no environmental controls. That is my view.

We need to regain our abilities and strengths by rediscovering the right balance between Capitalism and Free Enterprise versus Government interference. Communism and Socialism are not the answer.

I am sure many of you have some opinions of your own...but who is correct? WE THE PEOPLE had best figure it out and then get back on the same wave length together before America loses its greatness and becomes a 3rd world nation.

Yes, my Wanch blog occasionally gets hijacked by my political musings. Please bear with me patiently as I love America. Having travelled around the world and studied history, government, and geography, I am convinced it is the greatest country on the planet. As the brilliant negro (his preferred choice of words) radio commentator Ken Hamblin used to say, "If you don't like America, pick a better country!"

Let me ponder that...

K6 prefers to sleep, eat, and play video games. Dad prefers work getting done on the Wanch. When given an assignment, K6 moves in slow motion and thinks about something else. Here he stands and ponders...something.

But he will eventually get the job completed...especially if Dad follows up.

Had a little rain this week, which means very little out-door work getting done.