Friday there was a little twinge...by yesterday it was a red hot poker stabbing my nether regions ( hip/butt) . I mucked out, carefully, anyone with back pain will remember the way you manage to go into contortions so you dont move the hurting bit!! Bending down from the knees instead of my back and sliding down the wall to pick up the rake, it wasn't a good morning. Cue phone call to Dave the chiropractor in Key Center. Built like an all in wrestler, talks like the mafia and hands of an angel, crawl in to see Dave and he always makes me feel better. He pummels pokes twists and crushes and I say "thank you and how much ?" Apparently I take care of my truck better than I take care of my body....he hasn't seen my truck !!! He said that I abuse my body and that it wasn't designed for the stuff I put it through......so I got home and went back to work ! I have promised to have a "tune up" every few months so I don't get so screwed up again. Thank you Terri and Pat for your comments, it's always nice to get feed back and to know that someone is out there sharing our life, thanks for your offer Terri, I know that Macki will really appreciate a few lessons on Destiny. I've got to go, abuse my body a bit more. ...it's always nice to get into Key Center for an hour off !!!Take care, M
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It's been several months since I first sat down to put into writing the daily trials tribulations and big and small victories down on the ranch. Looking back to April, much has happened, plenty of Ibuprofen Tylenol and the "occasional" glass (bottle) of wine ! We have had births deaths hatchings, success and the odd disaster. Each day we share our life with the animals in our care, watch nature unfold around us and thank God that we have had the opportunity to live our dream. Hardly a week goes by that we don't get some small (and sometimes not so small !) owees,( usually good for the swear jar, smile ! equally, hardly a week goes by that we haven't got some achievement to celebrate ! Life is a wonderful adventure that we share with each other and our community. Little Daisy Mae is doing great, she is a bouncing bundle of attitude, we let her out to play in the horse yard with little Lamb Chop and leave Bran (under protest !!) to babysit. It has been fun to watch the interaction with the animals. Yesterday Daisy met Tiger the ginger cat, who true to his character ( the self appointed farm supervisor)came down to check her out . Daisy stood several feet away, tail standing straight up and stretched her neck and soggy wet nose out to investigate...Tiger stood his ground for a few moments but when the calf put out her tongue he decided discretion was the better part of valour and he'd be a hero another day. Bran will sit and lick Daisy Mae who seems to enjoy the attention. Thats really cute till he cleans out under the tail, then comes back to love me up ! yuk. Destiny is lovely, she is quite the talker and has settled in well surrounded by sheep cows goats and chickens. Molly Moo, Daisy Mae's Mom has turned into quite the model family milk cow and we are delighted by the frothy rich creamy milk that she provides twice a day and we feed to a very impatient Daisy Mae. I have 5 eggs under a constantly broody chicken that should have been soup but she has always been a sweetie, hopefully we will have chicks on Sunday. Well, time to go, it's 7.30am time to get down to the barn, take care, M
I remember a time when I didn't have a hair out of place, makeup was where it was supposed to be and I was CLEAN !! Today I mucked out 3 stalls, handled 2 cows and a buck, loved up Lamb Chop and bottle fed Daisy Mae before we hauled a truck load of hay....in the rain ! I was possitively GROATY !!! It was a bad hair day, hair was a frizz ball, T shirt filthy, jeans coated with a combination of goat, sheep chicken and horse poo ( I was lucky, I got away without cow poo) and looking quite UNdelectable, I met another english lady....a very nice English lady,...a very clean English lady who, in very polite English tradition completely ignored my lack of English properness...but I couldn't. Ever had one of those moments when you wish you could do a rewind,..I did !!! Then I remembered that those horses would go into a clean stall tonight, Molly would give us a gallon of sweet creamy milk, Macho would remember that I had treated him to a peanut or three, Destiny would think that she is in horse heaven and bless him, poor ugly little Lamb chop thinks he is the most special little lamb in the world. You know what, sitting here thinking about it, ok, I was a real mess, dirty and dischevelled but what a great day, I met some lovely people, all the animals in our charge are safe and well tonight and I scrub up pretty well. Life's good on the farm but please God, try not to make me go frizzy ! So there we were, Molly situated in the squeeze shute, chomping on the smorgesbord ( spelling please ??? that I had created for her, me shovelling carrots into her everytime her soggy wet nose collided with my face and Greg working magic on her milk taps.....when I had a great idea !!! Why pay $$$$$ for the milking machine ( which incidentally should have been here by now !!!) The milking machine works on the same principals as a vacuum cleaner, right ???? why not hitch her up to the suction hose ??? Needless to say,Greg the engineer was none too impressed but the whole concept made me smile ! Talking of making me smile,...my twin sister Annie called from England today, she loves the farm and we love her and her other half Malc coming over, its always a fun time when the English contingent "come home". Poor Greg is looking a bit worse for wear at the moment, 2 of our roosters made an escape bid from the raspberry patch..but it got worse....they made their escape bid into the blueberry patch. They made it very clear that they weren't happy about being caught and were even less happy about being incarcerated in a holding pen. I told Greg they were hopping mad, I warned him that he should just open the pen and release them...what did he do. ???..try to lift them out ! end result, two very vengeful roosters and Gregs handsome face looking like Scarface the pirate. Sometimes it's VERY hard not to say " I told you so ". ( but I love it !!!) Daisy Mae is doing really well, she loves her poppa ( Greg) which brings me to a new point, we bought heavy duty shears so we could clip little Lamb Chop, and then looking at Gregs hair, I wondered if they could be dual purpose,..... after second thoughts, I booked him in with our lovely neighbourly hairstylist and she's going to give our lovely pseudo Hillbilly a shearing. Alls good with the world. Take care, M
Anyone that just happens to call in on the ranch unexpectedly may well be surprised if they happen to hear Greg before they see him. No one that ever comes to visit could leave without understanding that we treat our animals with love and respect ....but even I have occasionaly had to make sure that I had heard right ! Wandering through the barn with a shovel under one arm,, a sweeping brush under the other and trying to drag the hosepipe and push the wheelbarrow at the same time as answer a query on my cell phone ( I multi function very well, smile)I happened to hear " so sweetcheeks are you going to make me a happy man this morning" loving coos and gentle sweet talk...rounding the corner there is Greg, canoodling with a doe eyed Molly the moo. Head huried under her seductively swishing tail and gently tweaking her engorged teats. Greg was milking ! This evening, with every critter on the ranch,( fur hair and feathers ) bleating bellowing, meowing, barking, neighing and clucking for dinner, I hear " hows my sweet beautiful lady today, you're getting flabby you know". Now, I don't have a jealous bone in my body...(well, maybe one or two) and I don't have an inflated ego, but a girl can only take so much ! Not sure whether to blush at the compliment or find the 2" by 4" ...I rounded the barn and there was Greg, brushing Ladys' ( momma Shire horse) ample rump ! ( ok, so he got away with that one !!)This evening we had the pleasure of a visit from Patty and her two delightful little charges. It is so much fun to watch the little ones with the animals, thanks for coming Patty, look forward to seeing you again soon. Oh well, time for bed, probably drop off to sleep counting sheep, goats, chickens , turkeys....... Take care, M
We had big plans for Sunday, our friend Thea Wescott was playing in the beer garden at O'Callaghans and we were going to play hookey from the farm and spend a few hours enjoying her bluegrass band. I guess by now you have noticed that invaraibly our plans are changed (...the best laid plans of mice and men.....). The barn was unusually quiet and suspicion led us to the cow stall. There was Molly the Dexter cow with a little wet pile stirring at her feet. We had to move quickly, Molly is to be our milk cow and her baby to join Lamb Chop and dolly as farm resident "pets". Little Daisy Mae was still new born and we were able to "steal" her and replace her with a towel which we had used to clean her up. Molly nudged the towel for a while, trying to stimulate her "baby" then turned and went for her grain. What has happened since then has been the most amazing, Molly has always been Gregs cow, Dolly mine. Molly would have nothing to do with me. This was a potential problem for the milking process as Greg would be busy with the back end....she had to tolerate me holding her. Molly has decided I'm an ok person and she was been an angel...so far ! Daisy Mae is flourishing, she is a beautiful dark brown with eye liner eyes and a bouncing ball of energy. Today will be her first day out in the world, we are going to put her out with Destiny who seems gentle and kind....we'll see. We are adding a photo and more photos are on Daisy Maes page . Hopefully Daisy will make her public debut at the open farm day in October. Time to go, Take care, M
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AuthorIts me, Maureen, (the Boss) Archives
March 2018
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