April 25, 2018
The decision to keep my newly freshened cows separated and
close to the milking parlor has always worked out well for me and prevents a
lot of stress on my part. My Jersey
girls seem to know the routine and don’t mind being in for a few days. Keeping them close gives me opportunity to
check on them frequently as well as keeps them eager to come in to be
milked. When left out in the field with
a newborn calf, they often don’t want to leave the calf to come in for the
first few days but keeping them together, close, means most often the momma cow
will simply walk right in knowing her baby is close by and safe. Keeping them in the shelters (within a
holding area with access to outdoors as well) for a few days also keeps the babies safe from
any type of predator and from accidentally slipping under a fence and getting
separated from momma during the critical first few days of life. And finally, if the cow ends up having milk
fever, it means I can care for them more conveniently than out in the field
somewhere. I have several older cows now
that have been around long enough to have reoccurring issues with milk fever
and we can just expect it. Promise is
one of those cows. Last year, she went
down after calving and it took about a week to get her back on her feet
again. I was prepared mentally to deal
with it this year and had all my supplies on hand, which is pretty much a first
for me. I usually have what I need or
know where I can get it, but don’t have it gathered up and ready. I have a feeling when we move to Laurel Fork,
it will be impossible to get a bovine experienced vet that will respond in a
timely manner to an emergency and I have begun to prepare myself for that
fact. I use to watch Pops, Mike’s dad, treat
my cows for milk fever. I loved that
man. Never did he tell me he was too
busy when I needed him and on more than one occasion his expertise as a retired
dairy farmer saved one of my animals.
Mike had watched his dad treat the cows for Milk Fever all his life but
didn’t have the confidence to administer the fluids needed intravenously until
we started having situations where we couldn’t get a vet out fast enough and he
tried it due to my desperation. With
Promise having a history of Milk Fever, I watched her fervently on Monday. I could see her from the kitchen window and
she appeared to be ok. I didn’t want to
drag the Little Girls out every few minutes to check on her. We did go out once because I wanted to show
them the calf. Both girls were so cute
when they saw the baby. Rory reached out
with her arms and wiggled her fingers in a motion that said “come to me baby
calf” as she laughed softly. Analia kept
exclaiming, “Awww…..she’s so cute, Tita.
She’s so cute.” Promise seemed
fine and we went back to play in the yard a few minutes before going
inside. I asked Gabino to come home right
after he got off work at 6 knowing I needed to milk Promise. I wasn’t wanting to have to take both girls
out with me to try to milk and I knew Mike was going to be tied up at his mom’s
place until late as he was planting garden, putting fertilizer on the fields,
feeding cattle, and selling hay to our “regulars”. I’m so glad that I had Gab come straight home
for when I made it outside around 7 pm, I found Promise looking a little shaky. Her ears were not completely down but she
looked slightly unsteady on her feet and when I touched her ears, they were
cold. These are signs of milk fever, a
condition that occurs when a newly freshened cow becomes low on calcium and
their body starts shutting down on them.
Many times one does not see the condition until the cow is out flat on
her side. If it progresses to that
point, it is not unusual for the cow to not be able to get up on her own for a
while and sometimes, the cow even dies.
Catching Promise in the early stages gave us opportunity to act quickly
and keep her from having complications.
We started with a tube of Calcium paste but she reacted with drama as a
Jersey will often do and flopped herself out on her side. At this point, Mike took a rope attached to
the halter we had put on her and tied it to her rear feet, wrapping it around
her ankles. This position keeps the cow
from rising and exposes the vein for the needle to be inserted to start the
process of administering the fluids.
Promise didn’t fight us much even though she was still alert. We administered two bottles of fluid and
finished giving her the calcium paste orally.
She was being stubborn and didn’t want to get up when we finished but
Mike got her up pretty quickly and she did fine. I ended up not milking her on Monday evening
due to her low calcium levels. Tuesday,
I watched her carefully but she seemed to be doing well. Her appetite had returned and she was happy
to eat all the hay I gave her. She came
willingly into the parlor and rather than hook up the milking machine, I just milked
her by hand. I didn’t want to take too
much milk out of her udder because of her calcium issues. I took about half a gallon of colostrum from
all four teats. It appeared the calf had
sucked from all four quarters, although I can’t be certain. A lot of calves when they are younger will
pick a favorite teat and stick with that one, moving on to two teats when they
get big enough to need more milk. This
leaves the other quarters prone to mastitis unless the farmer is milking the
cow daily. Since I want to share milk
with the calf and not push for production as well as be able to reach a point,
due to our frequent trips back and forth to Laurel Fork right now, where I can
leave the cow to do all my milking for me and separate the calf for a few hours
before I take milk for our personal use, it is better if the calf is nursing
all four quarters. Promise was perfect
in the stanchion. I wouldn’t expect
anything any different. (Unlike Princess
who has always had attitude until she gets back into the routine.) I took the colostrum into the house and put
it in baggies in the freezer, labeling it clearly to differentiate it from the
human breast milk in the freezer for the human baby. I proceeded to keep a close eye on Promise
and had Mike check her once again before bed time assuring me that all was
well.
I had tried to start supper before going out with the cows
on Monday evening, but by the time I got back in the house and got it finished
up, it was after nine. Gabino had fallen
asleep in the chair as had Analia and everyone who remained awake was pretty
tired and irritable. It had been a long
day. I was feeling a lot of stress about
my grandmother, who had taken a serious fall on Sunday evening and had been
taken to the emergency room. The doctors
determined that she was going to need a metal plate put in her ankle where she
had broken it in several places. She had
to wait most of the day Monday before they took her to surgery. When she got back from surgery she was very
distraught and disoriented. The nurses
called my brother, who had been with her the night before as well as all day on
Monday to see if he could get her to calm down.
She was insisting that someone had taken her away from the hospital and
she didn’t know where she was. I called
her around 10 pm and tried to get her to calm down but she just kept saying
that I didn’t understand and that she was in a horrible situation. I assured her that the nurses were taking
good care of her and tried to get her to rest.
I talked to her nurse a good bit before hanging up the phone and called
again first thing Tuesday morning. A
different nurse was on duty and said that grandma had screamed most of the
night. She had been trying to get out of bed and to take her IV’s out. Jimmy went down first thing Tuesday morning
to sit with her and she began to feel better about the situation and became
more aware that she was indeed in the hospital.
The doctor came in and talked to them and said that Nan was going to
have to stay off her foot for six weeks, would need therapy during that time to
keep her from losing muscle in her leg, and then after six weeks would need additional
therapy as she started getting back on her feet. He said the were moving her to a nursing home
for two months so that she can get the care and the help she needs. We were fortunate to get her accepted at the
nursing home where a cousin of mine works and the home is a lot nicer than the
one that is closer to her home in Summerville.
She may even get a private room.
Grandma was comfortable with the plan to get her help and when asked
what her goals were, she said she wanted to be able to walk again,
unassisted. The representative from the
nursing home asked her about using a cane or walker and Nan told her that she
had never used one before and was going to try to get well enough that she
didn’t need to use one when she got out.
Nan had a much better day and after my brother left, my cousin who stays
with Nan four days a week came and sat with her. When I called Nan last night, she was
mentally aware of where she was and why and was very positive about going to
the nursing home and receiving rehabilitation.
Jimmy and I have plans to install some handicap railing at the house,
work on the back steps to make them safer, remove any tripping hazards (like
throw rugs) from her home and make it as safe as possible before she
returns. We have been working with the
VA about some funding for her care and I am hoping at some point in the future we
can get the assistance needed to get an additional person in to help look after
her so that we can keep her at home as long as possible. She has made it clear time and again that she
wants to be at her home and we hope that we can grant her wishes as long as we
can keep her in a safe environment.
Because of the nature of the injury, adult protective services is on
board with us and I am thankful for that.
I know a lot of people feel threatened by their involvement but their
commitment to grandma’s safety gives us more leverage with her to insist that
she follow the programs designed to keep her safe. I wrote a blog post last year encouraging
folks in ways they could tactfully assist the elderly. Having had a really bad experience with some
people who thought they were helping my grandmother but ended up making things
more difficult, creating a situation where secretive actions actually delayed intervention
by the family, I felt some things needed to be said. In that post, I suggested that if anyone felt
an elderly person was being neglected, abused, or needed additional assistance
that wouldn’t be proper for outsiders to provide, and they were unable or
uncomfortable talking to the family, then they should contact adult protective
services. I stand by that even more
after this incident with grandma. It
takes community to properly care for our elderly and we are blessed beyond
measure that we have a supportive community of folks who care about Nan when so
many elderly people do not have such.
Monday was extremely stressful as I worried about Nan and fretted that I
could not hit the road and be with her at this time. With Alissa so close to finishing up her degree,
cows calving, and all we have going on in Staunton, I need to be able to stay
in Virginia. Tuesday, with Nan feeling
better and understanding more about what was happening to her and with a plan
in place for her best possible care, I began to feel a sense of peace and even
a relief that she will be well monitored for the next two months. I also feel relief that we can step in and do
some things at the house without her there feeling like we are taking over and
stepping on her toes. By the time she
gets home, it will be done, and there can be no arguing about it.
April 26, 2018
The past couple weeks have been more stressful than any we
have had in a good while. In many ways,
I have isolated myself from outside stress over the past year, content to live
in a “small” world of our making. Being
someone who feels deeply the pain of others and someone who would love to be
able to “right the wrongs” of the world, I finally reached a point where I just
reached the point where I needed to isolate myself for a while after
experiencing some things that really tore at my heart in 2016 -2017. My intentional “tuning out” of much of what
is taking place in the world on a national and global level, my nine-month
hiatus from Facebook, and my streamlining my focus on those friends that are
closest to me and building on those relationships as well as the relationship I
have with my family has given me time for my heart to heal. We know that things can change in a moment
and we can go from feeling a peaceful, centered life to stress and chaos so
quickly. This past week feels like that
for me but I am thankful that in spite of the stress, I can see so many good
things that have taken place.
This week we are needed in Staunton but we felt that we had
to drive to Laurel Fork to take care of some things there and just make it a
brief trip this week. We managed to get
away around 2 pm on Wednesday. I was
feeling accomplished as I answered messages, made phone calls, and took care of
some business enroute. Early on we began
seeing signs about a wreck and the fact that Interstate 81 was completely shut
down in the southbound lanes. Traffic
was thick and kept getting worse but Mike thought he could get one more exit
and then get off 81 onto a secondary road to get around the accident. Unfortunately, he waited one exit too many
and we ended up at a standstill. We
heard something and Mike said, “What was that.”
I said, “I don’t know but it came from our car.” Then we heard it again and about the same
time smoke started coming from under the hood.
We both looked at the temperature gauge on the care and it was
buried. I was quickly and frantically
telling him he needed to get off the road and turn the car off at the same time
he was trying to get off the road and turn the car off. Multiple semi-trucks were on the side of the
road and we had to squeeze between a couple of them. To our left, on the interstate, the vehicles
just sat there, maybe inching forward just a bit from time to time. Mike said, “Now what are we going to
do?” To which I responded, “I don’t know
but we can’t go anywhere anyway so I guess we sit here and let the car cool
down.” Every few minutes Mike would say,
“Now what are we going to do.” I would
respond, “I don’t know. Just sit here, I
guess.” After about 15 minutes of this
we decided we better try to formulate some sort of plan. We could see the exit up above and although
it wasn’t far, there was no way we could reach it. The Interstate was blocked with traffic that
wasn’t moving and we were hemmed in by the cars on the Interstate and
sandwiched between two semis. If we
could manage to get out and around the semi we still couldn’t use the roadside
to approach the exit because there were more semis in front of us along the
route. Mike and I discussed the fact
that if we called a tow truck, it wouldn’t even be able to get to us and the
fact that the traffic wasn’t going to clear for hours. The thought of sitting there for hours just
about did me in. I had been so stressed
all week and just wanted to get to Laurel Fork and my quiet home and destress
for 48 hours before heading back to the rat race in Staunton. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. Instead, I tried to think of a logical
solution. Mike mentioned the place that
worked on our car after we hit the deer.
It wasn’t too far away from where we were but by now, we were within an
hour of closing time and we had no clue how we could get our car to them. Mike said, “Call them.” I wanted to snap at him and say, “You call
them!” because I had no clue what to do once I got them on the phone. They couldn’t help us get the car off the
side of the interstate and I doubted they would fit us in even if we were able
to get the car to them. And what was I
supposed to say, “Hey, I’m stuck on the interstate and need you to fix my car
but there’s no way I can get my car to you or you can get to my car.” I didn’t snap at Mike even though I was
really unhappy about being put in the position to call them. When I called and talked to Kevin, he was
super nice and said if we could find a way to get the car to him, he would see
what he could do. We knew the fans were
not running and this was why the car was overheating. He suggested if we could get the car cooled
down and then keep it moving, it would probably make it. So, now we had a plan, but we were not sure
how to implement the plan. The car
cooled, the traffic was moving slowly, so we crossed our fingers, said a prayer
and got back on the interstate. We moved
a few feet and then everyone stopped.
The car started heating up and I started telling Mike to turn off the
car but he was already doing that. Then,
a we sat there in the unmoving traffic, a semi came creeping up beside us along
the right side, blocking us from being able to get off the road. This is when I started freaking and saying
“No, no, no. Don’t park there. We can’t get off the interstate now.” So there we sat completely blocked in. As we sat and I stewed, a DOT truck came up
behind us and started going from truck to truck and telling the drivers sitting
along side of the road that they needed to merge back into the traffic and get
off the side of the road and leave it open for emergency vehicles. I stopped the DOT personnel and told him of
our difficulties so that he would know why we were getting off the road when
the opportunity to do so arose. He was
nice and told us that there had been two people killed and two with life
threatening injuries in an accident earlier that had caused the back up. He wished us luck. I thought the truck beside us might try to
get back on to the interstate and that would give us opportunity to move over
to the side of the road and make a run for the nearest exit which was within
site. However, after DOT left, the
driver simply went back to whatever he had been doing before DOT arrived. We sate there long enough that the car cooled
back down. Finally, the traffic started
moving again and we slowly inched toward the exit. I wish I could say that our struggles ended
there but they didn’t. At this point, it
looked like we would barely make it to the repair shop before they closed and
that was only if we could navigate the congestion on the side roads. I called Kevin back at the repair shop and
explained the situation. He said to just
keep him updated and if we weren’t going to make it, call him back and he would
wait for us. We weren’t sure how to get
to the shop from the exit and when I entered the address into my phone, I was
shown a series of turns on a lot of side roads.
By this point, things were getting thick on the side roads but we were
moving right along when suddenly in front of us a semi tried to make a right
hand turn onto a small road and couldn’t make the turn. Everyone had to stop. We sat and watched the driver pull the truck
forward, then back it up, then pull it forward and back it up. With each move the truck got into an even
worse predicament. I sat there with eyes
glued to the truck and saying out loud, “I don’t believe this. I don’t believe this. This is the craziest thing I have ever seen
in my life. How can this be
happening? He’s blocking two roads now
and no one can go anywhere or do anything about it.” I peeled my eyes away when I heard Mike say
“The car is heating up again.” So, Mike
turned the car off and we sat there.
Finally, after a few minutes we turned the car on, backed into the drive
to our right, turned around and headed in a different direction. The GPS on my phone rerouted and we began
turning on one road and then another.
Mike told me to call Kevin back.
When Kevin answered, I told him I couldn’t even begin to explain the
difficulty we were having getting to him.
He very kindly told me not to worry that he would wait as long as needed
and take care of us. Relieved, I
disconnected from the call and switched back to the GPS only to realize it was
taking us back around from the top side to the same spot where the semi-truck
was stuck in the road. I voiced my
concerns quickly and frantically because Mike was driving as fast as he could
on these side roads with traffic to try to keep the engine cooled. “Mike, we are headed right back to the same
spot where the truck is stuck in the road blocking traffic. I don’t know that we will be able to get
through.” Mike responded with something,
I’m not sure what but it wasn’t very positive and we came over a hill and there
sat the traffic backed up at the stop sign because they couldn’t get past the
semi to proceed. However, if we drove on
the opposite side of the road and passed the cars sitting at the stop sign and
made a left, we could keep going which is exactly what we did. We had taken ten minutes to circle around and
end up right back where we had been when the semi blocked the road but it had
been completely impossible to pass it from the other side. I breathed a sigh of relief as things began
to thin out and we were able to keep speed and the car stayed cool. Those few seconds of relief ended quickly
because we were coming up to a stop light and traffic was backed up in every
direction. Again, we sat and the car
started heating up. “Turn it off”, I
demanded. Poor Mike. I am glad he was patient with all my outbursts. It wasn’t like he didn’t know to turn the car
off. Turning the car off and on we made
it down to the light finally but merging onto the next street proved challenging
and the cars were backed up pretty much all the way to the next light. Thus, we made our way slowly and stressfully
the last three miles until we got to the repair shop. Kevin was there and took our car right back
to have a technician look at it. A lady
inside offered us bottled water and we sat and waited. It wasn’t too long, maybe 20 minutes and
Kevin returned telling Mike that a fuse had blown and they had replaced the
fuse and there would be no charge for the fuse or their time involved even
though they stayed after hours and waited on us to get to the shop. I told Kevin he got the award of the day for
being such a great guy and he smiled. I
was so incredibly thankful for this act of kindness on such a crazy and
stressful day. Had he not been so
gracious, we would have probably had to rent a car in order to finish our trip. Getting back on the road was less stressful
in that we didn’t have to worry about our car overheating but the traffic was
still heavy and driving was difficult.
Instead of getting back on Interstate 81 which was still a nightmare, we
took Highway 11 for a good many miles.
While better than 81, it was still very congested making for slow
travel. We finally got home to Laurel
Fork six hours after we had started our trip.
I was so very happy to pull into our driveway that I could have kissed
the dirt!
April 27, 2018
I think the stress of the previous days with worry over
grandma, watching the kids for long hours, dealing with a cow with the early
stages of milk fever, and then the horrible drive back to Laurel Fork left me
beyond exhausted and even though I had a good bit of sleep Wednesday night, I
woke up feeling still tired Thursday morning and really not wanting to do
anything but hide away from the world and rest for a few days. We are not going to get the luxury of “a few
days” on this trip because we actually have to head back to Staunton not quite
48 hours after arriving. I decided not
to push myself too hard. I had some
laundry to do, baked a pie, and made sourdough biscuits. I also assisted Mike for a couple hours with
building fence. Mid-day, I got a text
from my brother who had updates and some things we needed to discuss about
grandma’s care so I had to drive up the road about a mile and a half to where I
could get reliable cell phone service to take the call. I spent a good bit of time on the phone with
him and then made some additional phone calls before heading back to the
house.
I wish I could say that things were peaceful as always at
our place in Laurel Fork but that wasn’t the case. There is a curve with a bank to one side that
is close to the road on one side of it just past our house. On the other side of the road is where two
streams come together on our property forming Roades Creek which runs into
Laurel Fork Creek. The state decided to
widen the road just a little bit right there by taking down some of that
bank. At 7 am the private contractors
arrived and not long after, DOT showed up.
The heavy equipment they brought to do the job was extremely loud in
this holler. The loader type piece of
equipment was huge with a bucket on one end, but they soon dropped the bucket
and resorted to some sort of piece that attached where the bucket would be that
would drill down into the rocky bank and bust of the stone as they pulled down
the dirt. I knew I would cry if I
thought about it. They had already cut
down some trees and now they were pounding and pulling away the dirt, changing
the landscape and breaking my silence. I
just had to put it out of my mind. The
flag man spent all day standing at the end of our driveway directing
traffic. Being the introvert that I am
and feeling especially reclusive, I refused to even walk to the mail box
because I didn’t want to have to speak to anyone. They worked until after 5 pm. Mike and I were behind our house working on
fence and the silence was enveloping once they left. Earlier in the day, above the noise of all
the equipment, I could hear “our” pair of geese across the road at the pond
screaming at the top of their lungs. I
totally understood the instinct to scream disapproval at the disturbance to
“our” little utopia. “My” turkeys hid
all day from the racket and I never saw a deer.
Even the birds at the feeders seemed scarce. My entertainment for the day came from a
Barred Rock hen that had escaped from the flock. All day long she scratched in the yard,
talking sweetly to us but when we would get within arm’s length of catching
her, she would step a little faster and get away. Talk, talk, talk….she spoke her feathered
language and calmly engaged us as we built fence, watching us with
interest. We spoke back in soothing
tones and laughed at her antics. She
would walk away for a while and we wouldn’t know where she went exactly and
then she would circle back around checking on us. As dusk came, we didn’t see her and thought perhaps
she had roosted on some low branches where we could catch her or maybe that she
had gone inside the barn. However, she
had decided to go into the “basement” of the 1950’s chicken house and roost on
top of the wood we had stacked there to dry out for next winter. Mike picked her up with no problem and she
sat calmly in his arms while he stroked her and talked to her. As soon as we put her in the house with the
rest of the birds, she ran to the nesting boxes and started fluffing up the
straw to lay an egg. I laughed and told
Mike that I guess she held it in all day waiting until she could lay it in a
familiar setting.
(Resumed writing at 5 pm)
And here we are back on Interstate 81 and the traffic again
is horrendous. My stomach is in
knots. I have been feeling a tightness
in it since yesterday and made an emergency trip to the bathroom before we left
home. It’s probably nothing but nerves
as I have been on edge all week and have not had enough time to really calm
down before we head back north. I
finally told Mike that was going to look at my computer screen and write rather
than watch us slam on the brakes and stop inches from the car in front of us
time and time again. The traffic is
worse this week than I have seen it in the past year that we have been driving
the roads weekly. I am thankful that
soon we won’t have to do this as much.
I cleaned the chicken house out today, cleaned the waterers
and feeders, cleaned the floor, we repaired a couple of screens that were torn
and I talked to the hens and told them I would be back in a few days. They responded with pleasant noises happy
with the treats I had brought them from the kitchen. We eat all the leftovers we can and then the
chickens get the rest. They are thrilled
with the scraps. I cleaned all the bird
feeders and refilled them as well. I had
hung a hummingbird feeder and I am hoping they find it before we get back next
week. I did see my first hummingbird for
the year (in the mountains) today. He
had found the “Fire Bush” (as my grandma calls it) and was sucking nectar from
the red flowers. I am always so thrilled
to see the hummingbirds with their fast wings and beautiful colors. While I was working outside a technician from
Century Link (the telephone company) stopped by. I had put in a request for a visit due to a
line that went down in our yard well over a month ago in one of the
storms. He said that he had put in for a
work order to be issued about three weeks ago regarding that line and he still
did not have permission to repair it.
Welcome to rural Virginia. I have
to smile. I am learning. If you don’t do it yourself, it just won’t
get done. One way or another the line
will be off our lawn eventually.
Speaking of getting things done, the contractor who was supposed to put
our barn roof on back in January and who we contacted multiple times with no
commitment from him as to if the job would be completed and when called today
to say he was ready to put the roof on the barn. Mike politely told him that it had been so long
and he wasn’t sure if the job was going to get done, so we had found someone
else. The man told him he had done the
right thing. I think he was relieved he
didn’t have to do it. Mike said as soon
as we got it done, someone would call back and say they were ready to
help. I laughed because he was
right.
I’ve been in thinking, in general, about some of the books I
read as a teenager that influenced my life so much. A book I had not given much thought since my
early high school days is On Walden Pond by Hendry David Thoreau. I remember just devouring that book and even
at such a young age feeling the desire to isolate myself from the world and
have the chance to absorb my natural surroundings. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to
live in Alaska and that I wanted to try my hand at homesteading. I was able to experience many of the things I
dreamed of experiencing although I never quite took it to the level I thought I
would. At one point, my ex husband and I
had bought some property that was only accessible by boat in the summer and
snow machine in the winter. We talked
about building a cabin and living there.
While it had always been a dream of mine to completely isolate myself
from society and try my hand at living entirely off the land, I got cold feet
when it came down to it. I had two very
small children and while I might have done it if the decision involved only
adults, I could not bring myself to take my children into a situation where I
didn’t have immediate access to medical help if I needed it. I do wish that I had been able to follow
those dreams but I am not sorry at all for the decision I made to not take my
children into the Alaskan wilderness alone.
Thoreau himself was not that far from civilization. In fact, he could easily walk back to town
any time he so desired, so maybe Laurel Fork is my “Walden Pond”, a place to be close to nature, not isolated
but further from the bustle, and time of personal reflection. It has been that for me this past year.
10 pm
We made it back to Staunton and as is often the case, Mike
just hurries to unload the car and then rushes down to the other farm. This evening he had steers to pen up so that
he can get them loaded and to the processor early in the morning. I held Rory for a few minutes and looked at
books with her when I first go home and then I headed outside to check on the
cows. Promise had calved this past
Sunday and Shar calved on Thursday. I
had not seen Shar’s calf yet except in the pictures that Gabino had sent to
me. Analia asked me if she could help me
milk and I told her she could if she would listen very carefully to me. She brought her hearing protection (she hates
loud noises) and I had her stay outside the gate until I had each cow securely
in the stanchion. Then, I let Analia
come in and watch me milk. She started
doing this last year some and really enjoyed it. She couldn’t wait for me to start milking
again this season. After milking, I had
a good bit of clean up in the holding area where we were keeping the two momma
cows and their calves. With a lot of
rain the previous night things were pretty messy. I shoveled manure, gave the cows more hay,
and refreshed their loose minerals. The
calves were content and happy lying in the shelter, both of them getting sleepy
as night fell. The moon was big and
bright in the sky as the sun went down and Analia having gone back to the
house, I took a walk through the pasture to check on the other cows. When they saw me, they all came running. They got their heads scratched and I checked
out their udders trying to determine who would be the next to calve. Actually, it didn’t look like any of them
were close. I am guessing the are still
several weeks away. If I had to guess, I
would say Princess will be the next one to calve. She might be slightly uddering up at this
point.
I saved some of the colostrum and labeled it for the
freezer. The rest, I put in gallon jars
to clabber and I will take it to Laurel Fork for my chickens.
April 29, 2018
Yesterday began with the jolt of another mini crisis. I was sleeping soundly and my phone
rang. I knew immediately it as Mike and
that there was something wrong with the cows.
I stumbled across the room where the phone was on the charger, answered
with a hello that was both frantic and sleepy and heard Mike say, “Get the
stuff together and get down here.”
Promise had milk fever and was actually out on her side on the ground
this time, in almost the same spot as she went down last year when she
calved. The difference being, we found
her sooner and her head wasn’t thrown through the board fence, a fact which had
almost killed her last year. I quickly
began running some hot water while I got dressed so that the CMPK would be body
temperature when we administered it. I
quickly gathered up the tubing, needle, threw my clothes on and grabbed what we
needed. When I got there, Mike had her
head tied back so the vein was exposed.
One must secure the cow in such a manner to keep her from
thrashing. Milk fever leaves an animal
unable to control their muscles and they do a lot of “flopping” around when you
are trying to take care of them in this condition. Tying them in this manner makes it safe for
the cow and the farmer. She was more
dehydrated and in a worse predicament than the other day when we treated
her. Mike was worried he wouldn’t be
able to find a vein. It was a little
more difficult for him but he did get it without too long of a delay and we put
two bottles of CMPK in the vein and administered a tube of calcium orally. The ordeal had made Mike late to get his
steers to the processor, but I was glad he was there to help me
immediately. The longer one waits, the
harder it is to get the cow back on their feet again. Sometimes, when we call a vet, it can take
hours for them to get there and quick response is key. She did not get right up and I stayed outside
with her so I could be close and make sure she didn’t get herself in a bad
position. It is important they remain
sitting up and not flop out on their sides which they tend to do. I put some saw dust around her to give her
some traction as well as dry up the moisture around her. Then I went close by to work on cleaning out
the horse shelter while I kept an eye on her.
The heavy rains and mud had made a mess in the shelter for our mini
horses and they manure was saturated and heavy to move. I once thought I would hire a young man to
help me move some of the manure and clean the shelters one spring. Being the type of person that I am, I never
ask anyone to do “the dirty work” without being willing to do it myself. I gave him a shovel and a pitch fork and had
one for myself. I literally worked twice
as fast as him, doing twice the work load.
When he complained that he couldn’t do a particular shelter because of
bees (he was allergic) I just told him to go home and I thanked him for his
time and paid him, never asking anyone to help me again. I am not fast and I am not that strong but as
long as I can do the work myself, I will continue to do it. Mike does help me with this task on occasion,
especially if things have gotten really built up over a long winter season, but
mostly I figure they are my cows and horses and I need to do the work.
Yesterday, I was wondering at the wisdom in this as I shoveled that heavy manure
mixed with mud that had washed in from the heavy rains but nothing makes me
feel more accomplished than seeing a clean shelter at the end of all the hard
work. And as a secondary benefit, I am
beginning to see my body respond to all the physical labor I have been doing in
the last month. I determined a while
back that I was done with bathroom scales, any type of diets, obsessing about
food or size and weight and that I would no longer measure my steps or count the
miles that I walk. I decided that those
things kept me from enjoying life to the fullest. There is something really satisfying however
in just getting out, working hard, and feeling stronger because of it. Before my gallbladder surgery, I was probably
in the best physical shape of my life, was able to work long hours, had a lot
of muscle, strength and endurance.
During the last year and a half since that surgery that has changed a
lot for me as I have not done a lot of the daily activities I have done for
years that kept me in such good shape.
Now as I walk the steep terrain in the mountains, help to build fence,
drag brush to the burn pile, carry in fire wood, muck the stalls, carry the
milk bucket with milk, and get back into some of the more strenuous, routine
activities I can feel my body responding….screaming at times that it would
rather go back to bed and read a book in front of the fireplace…..but getting
stronger and healthier with each day. A
natural response to hard work rather than trips to the gym or work out plan
implemented at home to try to force my body into a certain size or shape, I
feel really good about being this active again and building strength and
endurance that I had lost. There’s no
goal out in front of me for a certain size or weight or look. I simply want to be healthy.
After allowing Promise to rest for a while, I walked close
to her, looked in her face and said earnestly, “Get up Promise. Come on girl.” I was overjoyed when she stood up, just like
that! The longer a cow stays down after
having milk fever, the harder it is to get her up and often times it requires
lifting the cow with a tractor and hip lift.
My fear was that she would not be strong enough to rise but at the sound
of my voice, knowing what I wanted, she stood up. I began to praise her, got her some fresh
hay, and gave thanks for my blessings. I
continued to work outside, cleaning up after a winter spent on the road leaving
the care of the cows to Gab and Alissa.
Their schedules are so busy that I couldn’t expect them to do anything
other than feed and water the cows and see to their basic needs. A winter’s worth of neglect can be a
challenging task. We also had thought
that I would not be calving and milking here this year. I had originally intended to try to move the
cows either before they got close to calving or immediately afterwards. Since we are not ready for animals yet in
Laurel Fork, I have been working the last month to try to get things ready in
Staunton for the new calves. I am
thankful I had the calcium and dextrose on hand and a new needle. I am also glad that I had the milking machine
serviced. I walked a small field that we have closed off
yesterday picking up trash the wind had blown in and checking for spots the
calves could escape. That lot has always
been a problem with newborns because the fence is high and they slide under
it. Many times I have hunted frantically
for a calf that was lost in the woods only to find it hiding quietly from me
after a long search. The newborn
instinct is to lie quietly hidden so that they are safe from predators. That can make finding them difficult at
times. Not wanting to risk the same
scenario, I asked Mike if he would put electric netting on the inside of that
fence to keep the calves from slipping through.
He got that set up for me and I turned the momma cows out in that lot
for the first time since they calved. I
usually only keep them in the dry lot/shelter area for two or three days but
with Promise needing close supervision, I kept her in a while longer. Momma cows and calves were eager to be out on
the grass. The little calves found their
legs and ran as quickly as they could around the field. There’s a peace that comes over me at times
like this and a thankfulness that is hard to explain. After a dozen years of cows and calves, every
birth being celebrated, every loss being mourned, my heart and soul are
intertwined with the history of these beautiful creatures that I have been
blessed to manage. There have been
sleepless nights and long days I thought I would never get through. I have
probably stressed far too much and worked way to hard to keep them. Lord knows I’ve spent more money than I
should have, kept the old, barren, or milk fever prone cows too long. When I walk through the fields and see my
cows, I don’t just see the cows I currently own, but I also see their mothers,
and grandmothers in my memories.
We have had no more issues with Promise since we treated her
the second time for milk fever but I also have not milked her. I am simply letting her calf nurse at this
point. I brought her into the stanchion
this evening and stripped each quarter just a tiny bit to check for any signs
of mastitis. As long as her milk
continues to be mastitis free, I will just let her nurse her baby and not put
her under the stress of producing milk for the family. I have been milking Shar once a day. It has been years since she has been milked
on a regular basis, but I am hoping that we can get her clear of colostrum and
the blood from the broken capillaries in her udder (a very common occurrence
after freshening). I am so desperate for
some real milk and Shar has delicious milk.
April 30, 2018
I can’t believe another month is over and we are now well
into spring, although the weather has not cooperated completely. We are still getting some freezing temps at
night from time to time in the Valley and most definitely in the
mountains. Mike has planted some of the
garden. It feels strange to him to be
planting just for our immediate family but after taking a year off, I think he
is more resigned to the fact and even glad that we don’t have the extra work.
Of course, he will always miss growing produce in such large quantities and
selling it. He got such a joy out of
providing it to the public. I foresee
him “piddling” with some produce sales in the future when things settle down
but we will never be full scale again.
We have two healthy, heifer calves and I believe Promise
will be fine as long as I just let her be momma to her baby and don’t try to
milk her. Hopefully, we are past the
crisis with her, although I foresee the same scenario when Princess calves, so
we need to be ready to do this again.
I’m starting to actually get down to where I am working on
the “behind the scenes” packing of things that have been stored away. With each trip we make south, I take another
load after I have sorted and trashed, given away, or sold the items we don’t
need. It makes me feel good to
consolidate and organize things. I spent
several hours on Saturday sorting through the “smalls” as the antique dealers
refer to them. These are items that take
a good bit of time to price individually and typically don’t bring much money
at resale but will be picked up by people looking to spend just a few
dollars. I had boxes of “smalls” that I
had not taken the time to sort and price.
I had them stored in my milk kitchen and I was able to at least make a
path through the milk kitchen after Saturday’s work. We had found a good many vintage apple crates
and I took those to the Factory Antique Mall and used them for shelving. We had sold a rather large bench which left
some space I needed to fill. I worked at
both malls over the weekend spot checking and picking up where things had been
moved, putting a few new small items at both places.
Sunday was a family day.
It is rare we are in Staunton for the weekend and this weekend was
filled with family with the birthday party for our niece on Saturday and then
all of our immediate family taking advantage of Mikey and Marisa’s visit and
getting together for the afternoon. It’s
good to have everyone in one place.
Alissa is frantically trying to finish papers and get everything
complete on her Master’s before she graduates on Thursday. I think the Little Girls feel her stress and
the baby especially has been pretty fussy.
Analia had so much fun at the birthday party that she hid when it was
time to go and no one could find her, giving everyone a real scare. I had already left and didn’t find out about
it until later. I would have been have
been in panic mode had I been there.
Nate (Kristin’s husband) is working hard to learn the new things he
needs to know at his new job in Charlottesville and has a long commute. Gabino (Alissa’s husband) works hard at
Target, twelve hour days, over the weekend and on Monday. He has watched the girls every Wednesday
during the day while Alissa teaches at Blue Ridge. The twins, along with Analia are gearing up
for kindergarten in the fall. Hudson loves bugs and when outside like he was
over the weekend, spends a lot of his time off by himself hunting for bugs,
ants, and spiders. Ella is full of life,
talks “a mile a minute” and loves to color and write. We are all excited about the new baby that
will be here in August. Kristin looks
adorable as baby grows and expands her tummy.
She is one of those women who can pull of being pregnant and be as
beautiful as ever while doing it.
From Sunday to Sunday this past week has been a series of
stresses with my grandma’s injury, the traffic we had to maneuver on the
interstate, the mechanical problems with the car, and the multiple incidents of
milk fever with the cow but it has also provided opportunity for us to be
together more than usual as family as we make memories that our Little People
will carry with them into the future. I
sat holding Rory last night, who had been inconsolable for hours and rocked her
back and forth and sang “Bye O Baby, Baby bye.
Bye O Baby, Baby bye” to the tune of the old hymn “Rock of Ages”. I am sure it probably sounds quite strange to
someone who might happen upon us and hear me singing but it is what my Granny
Durham used to sing to the babies as she held them on her lap and rocked back
and forth. I have sung it so much to
Rory with memories of Granny in my mind’s eye that she knows it too. She sang along with me “Bye Baby. Bye Baby” is how she sings it, her little
voice rising in volume as we rocked. I held
tightly to my roots and my future as I heard my grandmother’s voice in my head
and my granddaughter’s voice in my ear, bringing together pieces of my life and
glimpse of the full circle.