Daisy May waltzed into her stall tonight, leaving Augustus up by the bale of hay. He came wandering down just as I was letting her out, and came straight to me, looking for his milk. After the first bottle, he followed me up into the milk parlour, and then into the feed room ! where he was tripping over buckets and bumping into me as I refilled the bottle. Hmm. Maybe I should feed him in the mornings too. Also, perhaps it'd be better to bucket train him. Can't bite the milk in the bucket. But I've never trained a calf to the bucket for milk. I need to get a tag ready, and tag his ear tomorrow too. I haven't tagged any of our calves, but his name and date of birth will make it easier in future. I scapie tagged all the lambs this year, and their mums, so count myself as tag-experienced now :).
Think I may have mis-named Tux. She sounds like a creaky door, and she talks, a lot !! Have been mixing tinned cat food in with her milk, and today she even tasted from the newly opened tin. But as I have a cow in milk again, at least I don't have to buy milk for her anymore.
I have a cream separator ! An old DeLavel 15 from the 1940s. I think it is beautiful but am not sure it has all the parts, or that it even works. But I got it for $50, way down from the asking price of $175. I also found 2 pairs of tin snips, a great find as I keep losing ours. And a curved hand saw, which I've already used to cut the dead branch out of the weeping cherry tree as I couldn't get my chain saw started. Need to get Herbie to look at it for me, although my dad used it mid June but I don't know where to spray the engine start stuff to try get it started.
Hope to start cutting our 3rd cutting hay tomorrow. I can get the big tractor started when it won't turn over with they key, still haven't figured out what's wrong with it, well, not me, Herbie. My knowledge of engines is minimal, I'm 'Monkey See, Monkey Do' with those kind of things. The things without engines are easier for me to figure out.
Herbie paid me a great compliment today. I was out with the little tractor, digging the last 3 holes I think I need. Leaving the berry garden, I saw the tomato plants were leafless. Dammit, Tomato Horn Worms. So when I was in the veggie garden, got off to close the gate to the berry garden, and stopped and stomped on 13 huge Tomato Horn Worms. Bigger than my fingers ! I've never figured out where they come from. They're so huge, the chickens don't recognise them as food, also, maybe they taste bad, so I squish them. They're full of green slime. Backed the tractor between the barn and the truck and came inside and found Herbie was home. He chuckled, and when I asked what was funny, he said I amazed him. I had driven past the window on the tractor and he said he was amazed at how well I take care of the farm ! Thank you Herbie :).
Also saw a snake in the veggie garden, about the size of the one I rescued the other day. Made me smile. There was a frog in the milking parlour today too, and Herbie saw a bat in the house last week. He said he understood why I kept my bedroom door closed. I immediately went to the basement to see if the door into the tunnel had blown open, but it was closed. Don't know how long we had a bat in the house, or where it got in as I hadn't seen it flying around in the evenings. I searched for it but couldn't find it, but then saw a dead one next to the truck outside. Perhaps that was it ??
Electric fencing wasn't working, so I unplugged it and then walked it to find the problem. Quickly understood why the Scottish Highlands weren't standing in the pond recently. And why they were draining their water trough, and why the ducks and geese weren't in the water - the wire was broken and lying in the water. Probably broken by Gabriel. Also found it touching the wooden posts in 2 places, and the barbed wire along the side of that pasture, and caught by a growing creeper and weeds. All fixed, plug it back in, yay, a flashing red light. But I got a whole bunch of huge burdock burrs in my hair. A little trouble removing them, especially the last 2. And I already had to re-plait my hair today as it came undone while I was watering Maddies' Garden.
Sheila has lost her name tag, again. I put a new clip on it too as the previous 2 didn't hold up for long. I wonder what she does when she goes AWOL. Her belly was all scratched, she's covered in tiny burrs too. But I got their rabies shots done, all 4 dogs in the truck, and have sent off the paperwork for their license tags. Licensing Sheila here in Ionia County so that's going to be interesting getting it cancelled when she goes back home to Kent County.