Sept. 27, 2014
My morning was anything but quiet. I woke up at 3:15am to the sounds of a child herding the cows. Before I recognized the voice, I was asleep again. Half an hour later I woke up again and knew it was time to get up.

As I walked through the darkness to the calf barn, I could hear Jaci coming from the direction of the parlor, hurrying to catch up to me. As we fed the calves together she talked the entire time. How can a child be so vocal at 4 in the morning? As we were finishing up the watering, Rob arrived with the announcement that a heifer calf was just born. Jaci went to help Rob prepare a clean pen then they headed for the maternity pens to get the calf. As soon as they left the barn, I missed her chatter.  They were soon back with the new calf, who was still wet and slimy. We got some old towels, so Jaci started rubbing her down while I went to get the cow's first milking. As I approached with the warm bottles of milk I could hear Jaci crooning to the baby calf. I stopped to watch. It reminded me of a new mother with her own new baby!  She kept up a monologue as she vigorously wiped off the calf. I handed her the bottle of milk and she offered it to the calf, who latched onto it right away. I wondered if the calf could feel the love that was being poured into it at that moment. Jaci would have snuggled down in the straw with the calf if her mother hadn't shown up to take her home. She very reluctantly went home, never realizing she had just made a memory that I will hold in my heart forever. 

May 13, 2014

There are days that you would love to remember, there are days that you would love to forget and then there are days that you wonder how you made it through with your sanity still intact. Tuesday was one of those days. Amanda had asked me the week before if I had anything planned, she and a friend wanted to float down the creek on an air mattress. At the time I had nothing planned, my day was completely empty of any appointments. I was to drop them off at point A then pick them up at point B. It would take them about two hours to float that far. I had a host of misgivings about this floating device. I was praying that it would rain. I just saw disaster looming.

Tuesday came with a few showers in the morning, but the girls weren't afraid of a little rain, they were going to get wet anyway. They had planned to head for the creek at 11:30. But I had forgotten about her adventure and scheduled Debbie and I for massage therapy at 9:30. Deb and her children would be coming back to my place so I told Amanda I should be back by 11:30. I didn't make it so she and her friend, also Amanda, took the little pick-up, and parked it at point A. Amanda called me to let me know they were in the water so Deb and I could get the pick-up.

When Deb and I got back to my house, it was lunch time so we all had lunch. We were still a little worried about the Amandas’, so I called her and she said they were fine, still floating! Then the phone rang. It was Emily, our niece; she needed a babysitter immediately for her little girl, Sage. Cory, her 4 year old developed an allergic reaction to something and needed to get to the Dr. right away.  Emily arrived carrying Sage and a bowl overflowing with bread dough.  I quickly got her dough into the pans and then realized I had a dilemma. We still hadn’t gotten the pickup, and I had an extra baby and bread dough to babysit. Debbie had an appt.with her little girl Jaymee at the school several miles from us at 2:30.  It was now 1:30. Rob walked in right then and said he was going to need the truck in half an hour. For some reason I had it in my head that Debbie’s apt was at 2:00. Amanda called and said they were ready to be picked up! I was to bring the pick up because their clothes and things were in it. Umm the pickup was still at point A, and there was nobody available to take me to get it. I knew the mattress wouldn’t fit in our car but it was my only option so I grabbed some towels and went to pick up the girls. They were very wet! At one point the air mattress hit a tree and their back pack fell off and started floating away so they had to swim for it. It was now 10 till 2 so I called Deb to tell her we were going to be late but she was very calm which I couldn’t understand. We had to let the air out of the mattress so we could stuff it in the car. We headed back to the farm so the Amandas’ could go get the pickup and I could babysit Debbie’s two little guys and Sage, and the bread dough. When I got into the house the bread was ready to bake, Emily wasn’t back yet so I stuck it in the oven. There is nothing worse than baking somebody else’s bread in your own oven. The smell was just too tempting! Debbie left for her appointment, the Amanda’s were back with the pickup, and Emily arrived back with Cory. As we were taking her bread out of the oven, we had a steady flow of people coming through the kitchen wanting to eat her bread. I’m not sure whose harebrained idea it was but I think it was Emily’s!! She offered to mix up a batch of bread, so there we were, 3pm in the afternoon making bread! After we got it all mixed up and back in the bowl raising she took her bread, that was left, (she did cut into one loaf for the starving people) gathered up her children, and went home. I had been having a time with Debbie’s little guy, Jude. He was going from one thing to another, getting into all kinds of trouble. Finally I stood him on the window sill so he could look out the window and watch the trucks and tractors go past. I totally forgot about him until Emily left and it got quiet. He was still standing on the window sill watching Dumpaw. Debbie arrived back from her appointment and gathered up her family and took them home. Peace settled over the house once more. Except I still had lunch dishes scattered all over the kitchen and bread still rising waiting to be baked.  At 9pm I took the last loaf of bread out of the oven. I was beyond tired, the massage of the morning was long gone and I was in desperate need of another one!!