Get 'em While They're Young

      This blog title came to me while I was trying to eradicate some monster weeds.  If only I had gotten them when they were young, how much easier it would have been.  Getting a bottle calf is not only fun, but they are cute and look to you as a Mom.  Although, Stew often tries to nurse off of Babe. 


     With horses (and other animals), getting them at a young age seems better.  It is easier to teach and train them.  However, if you are a novice rider and trainer, it is best to get an older, well seasoned, experienced horse. 

      Look at these thistle in the round pen.  At least the horses ate most of the grass.
     As for human children, I don't even want to dwell on the atrocities of what is done to and with some of them, due to this same idea, but I feel it should be mentioned as well.


     Human Trafficking targets runaways and at-risk youth (even here in the US) by pimps and traffickers for exploitation in the commercial sex industry or different labor or services industries. Traffickers are skilled at manipulating child victims and maintaining control through a combination of deception, lies, feigned affection, threats, and violence.    In other countries...


children are used as soldiers because they are easier to condition and brainwash. They don't eat much food and have an underdeveloped sense of danger so are easier to send into the line of fire.  These abusive and destructive acts must be stopped.

     Child religious indoctrination  "Get them while they're young" is also the unspoken mission of churches all over.  Children are taught to be "believers".  Proverbs 22:6 - Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it.  I know some of you see this as brainwashing.  And I get that.  However, Christianity is based on a relationship with Christ.  As Christian children grow, they learn good morals and values and they learn about God.  When they understand and are ready, they can chose to have a relationship with Him, or not.  

     Monday I woke with an urgency to complete a project I had in mind since early spring.  I re-did my storage boxes on the back porch, replacing the marked up, beaten up, old ugly ones with plain white.  The need to complete this was brought on by Joe Sunday night, when he had loaded up all my carefully hoarded (from school) xerox boxes.  I switched them all out, feeling somewhat accomplished by 6:30 am. 





     It was a cool (and windy) day. Perfect for working outside.  I spent an hour weeding the garden since there were lots of new sprouts that had recently emerged.  I only accidentally pulled out a couple of pea plants.

     This seedy bird poo on a cucumber leaf is a new beginning of additional weed problems.  I moved some gravel to the garden path and re-piled our gravel pile to neaten it up and get it more out of the way.  I spent 2 1/2 hours mowing the back pasture, taking a break in the middle to work on laundry and the bean casserole for the night's Growth Group pot luck.  Our feed man called to let me know all three horses did not have any worms in their feces sample.  That was good to know.  We moved the grazing pen to the east side of the round pen, which was enjoyed by all three.

     Joe brought home 3/4's of Frankie in the old boxes, so the freezer is now full.  Frankie weighed in at 1360 lbs.








     Dan joined us for the Growth Group dinner.  Kelly grilled hamburgers (from Sir Loin that he and Shelly had bought last summer).  Once home, I took the dog for a walk since I felt the need because of my full belly and because I had skipped the morning walk.

     Tuesday morning I put the horses back in the new grazing spot around the round pen and let Stew out with Babe before heading on my walk with the dog.  Here he was curious about the ducks.
Ninety minutes
later I brought the horses back into the paddock, but had a tough time getting Stew back into his pen. 


     He was enjoying napping outside.  I wondered when he can just go out with Babe full time, and when he will be safe around the horses.

       Mid morning I took Roni over to Moraine View for another exploration ride.  I was trying to find the longest riding loop going through the fields and circling counter clockwise. I had to turn Roni around several times because some trail offshoots ended at a road.

     A few times I got Roni to gait slow and smooth for an extended period of time.  He is much less likely to take off at a canter when we are on a narrow curvy trail through the woods.  A long, straight-away, along an open field, is a diferent story.

     Once back at the camp ground, Roni was more concerned about the world around him than he was about grazing.  I sat and read, letting him cool down and nibble what he wanted.  Getting home at 2pm, Stew's bottle was an hour late.  He was glad to see me... well, to see the bottle.  I was starving for lunch also.  Then fatigue hit and I layed down to read, and nap.

     I went back outside and worked hard until time for Stew's next bottle (9pm).  I was raking up the clumps of hay left behind from the bailing last week.  I also collected uneaten and moldy hay that had been set aside.  I hauled it all out back by the tracks and burned it.

     The fire almost got away from me for a minute, when the under growth of dead, brown, dried grass caught fire.  Notice Beck's corn in the background.  They have been watering it from a big tank truck, but only the outter rows look this good.

     I had let Stew back out with Babe.  He followed her out to the back pasture, which I had just opened up for them.  At one point I thought he had escaped because I couldn't find him.  When I took a closer look, there he was, in the shadow of Babe.




     But then I was worried she had squished him or he had been overcome by the heat.  So I got closer, and finally his head popped up.




     The bottle was a good way to lure him back into his pen. 

     Wednesday it was supposed to get up into the low 90's so, after my morning tea, I went out and watered everything well, weeding some as I went.  Young seedlings and new
                                                      transplants need a little extra TLC.

     Then I took Roni to Moraine View for more exploration riding.  I am starting to figure out all the loops to the south of the horse campground.

     Here we are, looking out on the meadow and the valley in the distance.  We also came across this harvester in a wheat field.






     Like yesterday, Roni did well and we enjoyed ourselves.  He got another sponge bath when back to the trailer, and then some eating time.  We saw this fire by the big elevator in LeRoy on our way home.  I wondered if they had the same burning difficulties I had had, only on a larger scale.  Putting out a fire when it first starts (is young) is easier than after it has gained momentum.

     Getting home at 2:30, I was done outside for the afternoon.  Courtney and I helped with stalls at Marj's and then I went in to LeRoy to get Joe at Hutch's where he had dropped off the Expedition.  We went to the pool for awhile and I swam 4 laps of the pool.  Last Friday I said I had swum 6 laps... well technically it was 6 lengths (3 laps which is up and back).

     Little Babe no longer has a cute little baby face.  But she is a sweet cow.  I have been turning the horses out in the paddock at night and putting Babe in the back pasture.  I keep the horses in the barn during the heat of the day and give Babe access to the corn crib and back pasture.  The horses get two hours, morning and night, in the grazing pen or now out in the back pasture. Stew gets about that much time to come out of his stall/pen and visit and explore.



     I enjoyed Thursday's sunrise, knowing it was going to bring some intensive heat.  The forcast was to hit 101 degrees.  There was a heat advisory starting at noon and it did get up to 102 degrees.



     The willow out back is doing well, but really needs a lot of water.  I watered everything and then worked outside until mid morning.  I didn't have any focus, motivation or energy the rest of the day, so puttered around on the computer, read and napped.  I took Joe to town to get the Expedition and some lumber.  We also went to the pool again.  I tried his two pair of goggles, but didn't like either... but managed to up my swimming to 8 laps.  That was all I was good for the rest of the evening.

     Friday morning I finished my usual two mile walk at 6am, but was already sweaty and the dog was really panting. I worked outside from 7am till noon... weeded part of the rock garden,
mowed, and sprayed weeds in the
driveway.  These before and after shots show how big some of the weeds had gotten.








  

 

     I think the weed below has pretty foliage and flowers, but it gets big and gangly and doesn't belong in the yard.

     Brother was underfoot as usual, and liked to hide in the Day Lilies and weeds and pop out at me or grab my hand with his claws.  Good thing I was wearing gloves.




   











     The ducks took to the picnic shelter for shade and water and Hercules was really panting from the heat too.

     Mid afternoon I started on a new trail out back by the railroad tracks.  First I drove the tractor through the brambles and brier with the front end loader down to hit rocks or logs while also mowing with the deck up as high as it would go.  I had to stop several times to pick
up and move logs and vines out of the way.  To the right is how the trail looked.  Then I started trimming branches along the edge of the woods and digging up little stumps from the little saplings I had mowed over.  I didn't get far because it was sweltering out.  I did re-mow the small cleared section with the mower on low, and below is what I had accomplished. 






     I had plans to get a bunch done inside the rest of the day, but the heat must have zapped all my energy.  I sat at my computer, read and napped. 





     Once Joe got home, I went out to water and check on hot animals.  We put up fans for the horses.  Joe did a little more work on the door frame.  It is almost square, but hard to tell because of the crooked barn and slanted ground.

     The horses and cows grazing late in the day.  I got a peacful, easy feeling.  Notice the nicely mowed back pasture?  It is too dry, but a bunch of the weeds and alfalfa were killed by the spraying.  It will be good grazing now.




     Stew and Babe are staying in the shadows, as we grilled some "Frankie" burgers for a late supper.

     After the usual walk, tea, Bible, Facebook and E-mails Saturday morning, I went out to putter around.
I have had to lead (drag) Stew back to his pen (through the gate behind him in this photo) each day when I bring the horses in. The first day I nearly chocked him, but have since re-figured out how the halter goes on him.

     I use the halter and try to get him to follow me.  He is getting better, but now when he sees me approach him with the halter, he starts to run away. 












     The few weeds we have in the paddock are giant size.  I should have tackled them when they were young.  There is never an end to weeding.  Once Joe was up and out, I helped him with door assembly.  I held the panels while he got them fastened together.

     The instructions were referred to several times in an effort to figure out the assembling process.

     Getting it to sit square was part of the problem.

     The door may look done here, but it is not on its tracks yet, can not be opened and is just held by a few nails to the frame.  We had to stop so Joe could go play cards.  I ate an early lunch, and then headed out back to work on my new trail.



     I accomplished a lot in the three hours of labor I put in.  I re-ignited the burn pile with all the door packaging boxes and some old hay.  I then added tree limbs and bramble as I cut it down.  The grape vine ivy was especially thick in some places and I went "off trail" to pull it down from the woodland trees as well.  I had to watch out for poison ivy because there was plenty of it too. 



     I felt like I made a lot of head-way, but later when I walked the trail, I realized I only did 1/4 of it.  An approaching storm warned that I should pack up and prepare to head for cover.  The past two days we had been missed by the rain, so I wasn't in a big hurry.  As thunder and lighten and dark clouds moved in, I thought we might really get some rain.  I was basically done for the day, out of energy, but did one more pass to pick up sticks and trash as the down pour started.  Being 1/4 mile from the house, I took my time and soaked up the rain as it drenched my dirty, tired body.  I washed up with tecnue (a great poison ivy preventative) and by the time I was sweet and clean, the rain had stopped.  We didn't even get two tenths of an inch.  The total rainfall for June was 1.2 inches, pathetic. 

     I went back out to see the affects of the rain.  Stew was resting in his pen...




while Babe did the same in the corn crib. 



     The ducks were enjoying the puddles at all the building drip lines...  



as Hercules tried to figure out what all the excitement was about.


     I am not sure what all the poultry were eating, but they were really pecking away at the damp ground.







     Brother was hangin' out in the barn.  This is the wall between Zorro and Roni's stalls.






     I checked Roni's tail end and it is getting better.  He has lost some hair, but the skin seems to be healing now.  I am not sure what caused the irritation in the first place.



    
     Sunday was a relaxed morning of tea with Bible and Facebook, after my daily walk and morning feeding chores.  I recently bought this little white tea pot, that I love.  It is microwaveable ...so fast, and it brews two of my green mugs worth of tea.  So I can have my second cup right away, and not wait for it to brew.  I also use it to make ice tea.  Vey handy and cute.

     After Joe was finished with State Farm work, he started in on barn door work.  Installing a replacement door is tough enough, but when you are starting from scratch, and with a catywampus barn, it is down right difficult.  I felt like a surgeon's assistant... screw driver, check; sawsall, here ya go.  Plug in the drill; hand him the hammer; pick up the flying nail; hold the board; etc.  It reminds me of the many hours I helped (and learned from) my Dad.  I did give Joe some pointers and friendly suggestions here and there also.  It took over four hours to get the metal tacks installed, as seen above.

     It all had to be square, in line and parallel to work correctly.  And the door had to be hung at the right height to seal tightly against the frame and floor.  We had to notch out the first support beam so that the door panel could round the curve at the top as it went up.  We reinforced it with a 2X4, seen to the left.


     We also had to flip the light up onto the second support beam so that the door didn't hit it, seen in the photo to the right.  We may have an electrician move it to a better location when next we need other electrical help out here.  We finally gave it a rest for the day because we were low on energy, short on patience, and needed to buy hardware for the next step.

     So, we headed to the pool in LeRoy.  The hardware store didn't have what we needed, but the pool did.  Cool refreshing water and lounge chairs.  I didn't even swim laps because I was too tired.  We went into Cheeks bar and grill for a beer and burger for dinner.

    Back home I needed to get everything watered, including filling the stock tank.  Roni was quick to come get a drink while Stew remained resting in the shade.



     As I watered the garden, it must have made Stew nervous, because he got up. But Brother wasn't worried and got right in the way, seeing what I was doing.

     I like this picture that was posted on Facebook this week, taken by Lynzi Wildheart.  With it were the words...
"When wisdom is held as tender innocence, its potency is unspeakable".

     This just seemed like a good way to end this Blog.  We need to be wise in how we handle the tender, young, innocent children and all other creatures of God.