Skunk Summer Wedding Part 4

Unbelievable!  (First a suggestion...you really should read the previous
three posts before tackling this one.)

...but really, it is unbelievable!

Tonight, Aunt Jenny popped over to peruse the Mayberry Times Newpaper
to see who had been arrested and for what reason.  We chatted a bit, and
when she was ready to leave, I grabbed a flashlight to help her down the
steps.  Our outside light never works, so we have given up on trying to
make it do so.

We stepped out to the porch, and dog-gone it, I could tell that SOMETHING
had been on the porch because Debut's water dish had been sloshed and the
food dish was empty.  I forgot AGAIN to bring it in before dark.

Then when we got to the edge of the porch, we could see who the culprit was.
Just as I suspected, it was a skunk.  But not just one.  It was a whole writhing
mass of skunks.  Maybe 68 or 69.  It looked like that many, but was probably
6 or 7 in reality.  There was one big one and scads of little ones all moving
around.  I could not believe it.  I JUST COULD NOT.

We have been invaded.  Absolutely invaded.  Now what are we going to do?
In Baby Blues (the comic strip) the mom called a realtor and listed her house
because there was a snake in the garage.

I am contemplating a move to Canada or Thailand or somewhere...anywhere...
that skunks do not live.

Two weeks ago we had an appointment with a butcher in Ironton for
two cows.  There was weather moving into our area, and it was
quite cold.  Kent and I had moved the cows a few days before.
That required moving lots of cattle panels and rebuilding the pen
by the loading shoot. 

The day they were due at the butcher, Kent and Tyler had them
loaded and took off at sunrise.  They drove north and when they
had about an hour left to travel they hit ice.  They ended up stuck
on a two-lane road on one side of a hill and partly across both lanes.
The oncoming traffic could not see them until they topped the hill.
It was quite a dangerous situation. 

In God's providence a deputy showed up soon and was able to put
her car at the top of the hill with lights on to warn the oncoming
18 wheelers and cars.

Then with careful maneuvering the guys were able to turn the truck
and trailer around and head back home.

We then made an appointment with a butcher that is closer to home. 
That appointment was today.  Finally the two cows are gone.  Kent
will have a lot less work now.  Feeding out cows is exhausting!

But, we'll forget all the hard work when the hamburgers and steaks
are sizzling on the grill!  And we'll do it all again. 

This is the reason that the blog has been on hold for a few weeks.

We had to get this nose ring out and this is a crazy cow.   He would
not be caught by any of our usual methods.

So, all of our time and energy has gone into building this....we had to
catch that cow, even if it meant spending a month building a pen and
loading ramp.

So that we could get the cow penned up and remove the nose ring.

Happy to report that it worked.  We built the pen and loading chute that
we should have built 20 years ago.

Well, Kent and Tyler built it, with help from Joel when he could make
time.

I did some major sweating over the design though, and helped a bit
here and there.  Oh, and Papa sawed some of the lumber for us.

Last year's October was a halcyon period for Kent and me.  This October
was tedious.  Now to enjoy November.

Fernnook Farm has been bursting with life lately.
















The new calves: PeDunk, Jogi, and Jughead.










































The triplets. Their names are Tickle, Trickle, and Nickel.
Don't even ask. I can't tell them apart, but the rest of
the family can. They are all nannies. If one had been a
male it would have been named Pickle. Apparently Pickle is
masculine, but Nickel is feminine. That is why I am not
asked to name the animals. I don't quite understand the
finer etiquette of such things.

Joel's Chinese ducks, Ping and Pong, keep coming to visit.
They will walk all the way down Joel's lane to the gravel,
turn left and walk down the gravel to our driveway, then
they hang another left and come duckily waddling up the drive.

It's hilarious.

Yesterday as we were driving down the gravel we met them on
the road. Kent said, "The road is dangerous; they should cut
through the field."

I asked him, "Do you want me to tell them that?"

It started with Sister Tandy picking a small bowlful of
cherries and pitting them and asking me to make a pie.
There really wasn't enough for a pie, but I said I'd do
my best. Then G'ma Opal sent down a bag of cherries
pitted, sugared and frozen. Now, with the combo, there
was enough for one small pie.

A day or so later Aunt Jenny and Cousin Mary came by with
a bowlful of cherries they had picked. So I pitted them
and stuck them in the freezer. Good. Now there was enough
for two small pies/cobblers.

Then Tyler heard that Aunt Jenny's tree still had cherries,
so he went, he picked, and he came home, over the course of
two days, with about 8 gallons of cherries.

I am thankful for a 10 year old girl who is a super cherry
pitter, else I'd have thrown about 4 gallons of cherries
out.

Now we have two batches of jelly, 8-10 bags of frozen cherries
for smoothies/shakes and 8 or so bags of cherries in the freezer
waiting to be made into pies/cobblers.

Won't we be grateful in the deeps of January for some June
Cherries to brighten our dreary days!

Farm Update:

We can't find Samantha (Sam). She is the littlest of the
three triplets. Hattie and I divided up the field and
tramped all over it. Later Hattie took Max, Joel's German
Shepherd, to look again. Probably a coyote or bobcat got
her.

Newsflash Update:

It was not White Ears, but rather it was Curly Horns that had
the kid.

Thought you'd want to know.

Newsflash:

Kent just popped in from feeding the critters and he
said, "Hattie, one of the goats just had her kid."

Hattie jumped up and asked, "Which one?"

"White ears."

Hattie ran to me with hands in a praying position and
pleading in her eyes, "Please, Mom!"

"Sigh. Okay. Put on something warm."

Language Arts will just have to wait, some things are
just too exciting to fight.

The majority of the men folk left this morning for the Reality
Check Conference in Chattanooga, TN. Some friends went with
them and they all met here at 6:00 am for a breakfast send off.

I made them bacon, sausage, biscuits, scrambled eggs, and
gravy.

But while they're gone I get to take over the outside chores.
That is always fun, or funny, depending on your point of view.
First, I get to load the wood box. That's not so bad. In fact,
I often do it just for the exercise, but over the last few weeks
the boys have been doing it for me.

More fun by far is feeding and watering the cows. The mamas and
the goats are not too hard. I just have to open the gate to give
them access to the hay, and then after about 40 minutes I have
to shove them back through the gate and into their own section of
the field. A can of feed will help me to shove them through.
Kent reminded me that our hay has to last a long time and if I
leave the cows, by accident, with hay access all day IT WILL NOT
BE A GOOD THING.

But, the most fun of all is taking care of the bull. He is not
really mean, but he is big and he wants to get right up in one's
face. So his hay I just drop over the fence, and then at some
point when he is way off and his attention is elsewhere, I am
to climb the fence, pour out a can of feed, bang the post so he
knows it's there and then slosh through the mud as fast as
possible and get over the fence before he arrives.

I'd show pictures, but the guys took the camera with them to
the conference. However I do have a picture that will work,
now that I think about it. You can find it here.

In case you are wondering how G'ma Opal,
Fernnook Farm, and Mayberry are all doing I do
apologize for the sparse updates. Being in a
travel mode this year is making it hard to keep
up with writing about the adventures of everyday
life.

But here is a quick overview.

1. G'ma Opal is well. She beat Hattie at Rummy
big time yesterday. She is still gloating over
her pile of birthday cards from her #97 birthday
party. I haven't gotten an update on the mouse
situation lately, but I know the Japanese beetles
are driving her batty (as they are me).

2. The farm is doing okay. We are hurting for hay
this year and sold several of the cows. We are
hoping to limp by 'till spring if possible without
selling the few we have left.

Our billy was suffering with foot problems, and though
we'd tried some home remedies, the problem wasn't
clearing up. So, we broke down and hit the vet's
office for some antibiotics that we don't normally keep
on hand and gave him all kinds of shots and foot
treatments. Yesterday, the head farmer told me
that Zac (the billy) was doing a lot better.

3. Mayberry is still there and as fun and funny as
ever. It is nearly deer season (gun season) and
life literally stops in Mayberry for deer season.
The kids get out of school for an entire week, everyone
plans their vacation for this time. It is really
rather amazing that you can even buy gas or groceries
during this week. Entire families go out and hunt.
It is definitely THE SOCIAL EVENT of the year.

But...we are going to miss the biggest chunk of deer
season this year because my niece is getting married
in Orlando this Saturday. So, we're off again, at
least as many of us as can get off are off. Some have
to stay and work. Poor Joel!

The view of the front yard of Fernnook Farm these days.





























The reason my front yard is decorated with cows these days is
because of the following.

AUGUST LO HIGH PRECIP
1 69.5 96.8 0.05
2 70.3 98.3 0.4
3 71.0 98.3 0
4 71.2 98.7 0
5 72.9 95.8 0
6 72.7 99.5 0
7 74.4 98.7 0
8 73.0 101.5 0
9 73.0 103.5 0
10 72.6 104.5 0
11 72.0 103.6 0
12 71.5 106.0 0
13 74.9 107.5 0
14 72.0 105.8 0
15 72.9 106.7 0
16 72.4 104.1 0
17 72.7 99.6 0
18 73.6 100.5 0
19 71.3 97.8 0
20 77.4 86.7 0
21 72.3 100.3 0
22 73.4 102.2 0
23 71.5 102.3 0

There is nothing to eat in the fields. We tried to lead
this set of cows to my Dad's property, and finally one day
this week Kent did get them to follow him there, but when
we looked out the front door 20 minutes later they were
turning back into our yard from the gravel. I guess they
felt out of their element back on the old homeplace.

Kent is feeding hay and grain, but they are still finding
bits to nibble here and there in our yard.

By the way, we've not mowed since the beginning of July.

OH, and a big Thank You to Uncle Jim for the weather updates!
He tells me the average high for August is 100.8 and the average
low is 72.5. Mighty hot for SE MO weather.

We find ourselves in the midst of not one but two
mysteries here on Fernnook Farm.

1. First, how does the bull keep getting into the
field with the cows? We know WHY he is doing it,
but the HOW has us baffled. There are no holes in
the fence, and there are no places where the fence
is bent low enough for the bull to jump it. Guess
we'll have to do some spying on the amorous old
fella.

2. What creature nightly climbs the Poplar tree,
knocks the hummingbird feeder to the ground, pulls
out the yellow flowers that cover the holes, and
drinks all the nectar?

My guess is a coon, but I'd love it to be a bear.
One of my unfulfilled lifelong dreams is to see a
bear in my yard or ambling along the tree line in the
back field. Whatever it is, we're going to set a
live trap out so we can nab it in the act!

Here, as promised, are the kids. When we got
out to take the pictures we were a bit surprised
to see that they are not twins, but rather they
are triplets.

Fun on the Farm

Life has been hopping here on the Farm lately. Monday
we loaded up a couple of cows, and Kent and Hattie
took them to the sale barn. They came home with one
replacement heifer. Next week we're going to try and
sell another two and buy a few more.

That will leave only the Big Bull to be sold. We have
to strategize very carefully to figure out how to get
big boy himself into the trailer and keep all of us
alive at the same time. We are just not set up with
all the pens and chutes that the larger farmers have.

You would think that living on these pastoral acres, as
we do, life would go along, well you know, pastorally.
It just doesn't. From the time the alarm goes off at
5:30am until 11:00 or 12:00 midnight it is rush and
work and fluster and frustration and, well I think you
get the picture. We just don't do a lot of sitting
on the porch in rocking chairs watching the cars drive
by. I wish we would. But there are moments when the
beauty of our surroundings and the wonder of the farm
hit hard. They make memories that last forever.

I had one of those moments yesterday. I was watering
the cows and decided to just stand there and watch the
water fill the troughs. Usually I run in and set the
timer and see how much I can accomplish in the few
minutes between switching the hose from one trough to
the next.

It had been a gorgeous day. One of those lovely 70
degree days that we always get once or twice in February.
The sky was mostly sunny, but clouds were moving in and
it began to lightning far away. Then it began to rain
and I just stepped under a pine tree to stay dry and
watched and listened to the falling rain. It was magical.

After I went in it started to rain in earnest and we had
a hail storm. It lasted for maybe 10 minutes and the
hail was the size of peas.















Then later after dinner there was a louder and longer hail
storm. This time the hail was almost as big as golf balls.
It was exciting!












































And even later, after I took my sister home, I got out of
the car and glory-be I heard music. At least it sounded like
music to me. Peepers. At last. And even with the windows
shut I could hear them. It was like rain in the desert. It
was like chocolate cake after a wonderful meal. It was like
seeing someone you loved after being separated for months.
It was glorious!

New From the Farm

I've not given an update in this arena for a bit.
There's not a whole lot happening that would be of
interest. Mainly we just ask the same two questions
on a daily basis.

1. Will there be enough hay to last the winter?

2. Did the hose freeze last night?

Oh, there is one more question.

3. How could it get more muddy than it is now?
I don't know how, but it always does.

Yesterday the guys, and Princess Daughter, loaded
our biggest hog, I mean cow, to take to the butcher.
We are all aquiver to get some fresh beef. It is
the best. I wish I could invite all of you to a
nice BBQ to try some.

Oscar got to help load her. I wish I had been here
to take pictures. It was definitely a new experience
for him.

The butcher asked us over the phone, ahead of time, to
estimate her weight. Kent said, "Oh, I think at least
1100 pounds." She weighed in at nearly 1600. This
particular butcher doesn't usually take cows that
large, but, since we had her there he went ahead and
kept her, however he did say, "That's the last time
I ask you to estimate the weight of a cow!"

News from the farm.

Ecclesiastes 3:1,2

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born,
And a time to die;

This past week we had the full circle of farm life. We
lost our beloved Fezzik, our Great Pyranees goat dog,
to bone cancer. He was a wonderful dog. He wasn't
a barker by nature and so at night, when his deep
bark would sometimes ring out, I'd feel very secure.
It would wake me from my sleep and I'd think, "There's
nothing to worry about." I knew that if there was a coyote
after the kids or a fox in the field Fezzik would take care
of the varmint.

One day we were sitting at the kitchen table and we saw
a dog jump over the fence into our field. Fezzik never even
barked, he just went bounding towards the intruder and
that foreign dog turned tail and jumped back over the
fence like a streak of lightning. We're going to miss our
gigantic fuzzball.

A few days after losing Fezzik, I came home to a bouncing
and excited Hattiegirl. Newborn twin goats were the
culprit of all the hooplah. She'd been out to hold them and
they were, "So sweet". Hattie is very patient with taming
down our goats and cows. They are her buddies.

So life goes on here on Fernnook Farm. Sorrow and joy are
intermingled at every turn.

Ecclesiastes 3:4

A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;