Spring Renewal Continues

With the snow mostly gone and the ice likely to go out any day with the right wind, it is starting to feel more and more like spring.

This little guy makes it a sure thing.  He arrived sometime Friday night and while still a bit wobbly, is doing great. Now that he is finally here, I might actually be able to get Hannah, his mother, to stand still long enough to trim her hooves and brush the winter matted mess that is her coat.

We have yet to name him, but are seriously considering Matthew.  You can vote in the comments.

Some of you have asked how Karlie is doing.  She has become a very normal puppy with the exception of a few unreasonable fears that she may never get over.  Only time will tell.  She is definitely a happy dog now as opposed to the frightened timid little girl she was a couple months ago.  When we first got her, kicking the ball would have sent her to hide under the truck.  This video from a couple weeks ago when we still had snow illustrates that she is over that fear......thanks largely to Beulah.

Spring Renewal

Easter Sunday.  It is bright and sunny, but cold.  Real spring, although already here based on the calendar, seems miles and miles away.  As I am feeding round bales to the animals, I am thinking of Easters past.  The time my sister came home with her family and my niece and nephew skipped Easter services to watch a calf being born.  Sort of the ultimate renewal if you think about it and honestly, as fitting as any service for the day.  That was years ago, but still brings a smile to my face as I remember my sister thinking that the cow would be considerate enough to hurry things along so that the kids would not miss church.  She did not cooperate.  My dad and I laughed at my sister's frustration.

This year, with our slow spring, I am behind schedule.  Actually, I can't remember a time that I was not behind schedule.  Frost still in the ground is good for getting in the woods, but my roads get greasy as the temperature gets above freezing.  I can't even begin to think about plowing, let alone picking stone (the best crop I raise is stone).  I have fence to repair and several sections to rebuild and the frost is making it impossible to auger in the holes for the corner posts that I need to install.  I have hooves to trim and that always seems to be a struggle in the spring due to mud.  My draft horses will not want to go into the stock (a device that contains and supports them during trimming - with hooves like 5 gallon buckets, I need all the help I can get).  I have a bull calf that I need to catch and turn into a steer and although I don't blame the sassy little bastard for not working with me, I have never been good at roping! I have a well going in at my shop within the month and the frost is keeping my trenching activities curtailed.  I have equipment to repair and service in preparation for hay season, which will be upon me before I know it and the cold weather lulls one into thinking it is still long away. 

We are taking a year off from hogs this year because of too many other projects.  That will reduce the work load, but it seems that it did not add the available hours I expected. I had hoped to go wild turkey hunting this year, but it doesn't look like I will have the time.

I am getting too damned old for all this, but I can't seem to stop.  Spring is a time of hope and plans.  Plans that will never quite work out the way I expected, but work out just the same. If you ever have been involved in butchering chickens, Spring in our world seems to be the definition of "running around like a chicken with their head cut off."

Chesterton was both right and wrong when he said, "True contentment is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare."