I Can Relate to This Story

Beryl the Heifer relaxing in the Blacklocks's living room 

in their Australian Home.

Photo by CBS Interactive Inc. 

Okay.  This is my kind of story.  A rancher in Australia returned to her wilderness home after running a few errands to find an unexpected visitor in her home.  Beryl a heifer (young female cow) was resting in her living room with her two house dogs. The rancher, Sally Blacklock said the heifer had been orphaned at two days old.  She bottle fed the baby and had become pretty much a pet, loving belly rubs and scratches behind her ears.

It seems Beryl grew up in and out of the house along side the two dogs, until she got too big to stay inside, at which time she was banished to the great outdoors.  Ms. Blacklock said, "She's extremely cheeky, so if we leave a door open she quickly tries to get inside." Blacklock stated even though she is weaned, she knows exactly which drawer the Blacklocks keep the calf milk formula in so when she gets in the house she goes straight there.  "Apart from that, she has wonderful manners," Blacklock said.

Beryl likes to go for walks, go on picnics and ride shotgun in the car when the family goes to town.

Having bottle fed a baby bull to maturity, this story really hits home.  I can definitely relate to it.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Politics at its Worst

It is that time of year when seasons are changing, temperatures are rising and once every four years the presidential campaigns are heating up like the temperatures outside. I don't share my political views with folks so don't expect to see that here. Nope, I am not going to bore anyone with my views on this or that candidate. Here is the closest thing you are going to read from me as a political viewpoint. If the GOPs and the Dems would expend as much of their effort talking about how they can change, or think they can change this country to make it a better place for the average citizen and spend less time insulting one another, fighting amongst themselves about political strategies, less time attacking each other and more time telling us why they are the best candidate and how they are going to strengthen our nation, then this whole process would work better. 

My father use to say we should put those people who are arguing about nothing, back-biting, bragging about their own accomplishments which no one else seems to want to mention, in a room, and give each of them a blivet and let 'em have a good old fashion free for all. Let the two who come out the cleanest, battle it out in the polls in November to see who wins. H

What is a blivet you ask? For those of you who may not know, my father explained it this way: a blivet is a 50 pound burlap sack, stuffed with 100 pounds of horse manure. That seems to be what most of them are shoveling our way now...a sack of manure so let's let them fight it out with an overstuffed sack of it.

I have been listening to their pitches for what seems like an eternity now. They haven't shown me much. What I want to hear is what they are going to do to make my life better and to make the lives of other people like me better. What happened to decorum, kindness, politeness and treating others as we would have them treat ouselves? I know what has happened. We have sunk to a nation of sound bites. We express ourselves in 140 +or- character unpunctuated spurts of gobbledygook. The media is no better.

It is time that our politicians should stand their ground on their principles and compromise on the details of how we can accomplish our goals.  Not every issue is based on principles. Now days most issues that are important to politicians are those that somehow surface from the whims of pollsters who can manipulate their questions to get the most bang from the publicity their results may or may not e politicians, rather than embracing substance, are drawn into this little game of grabbing headlines. We don't find statesmen much in Washington anymore. Nope, we find puppets to this issue or that issue or this cause or that cause. 

We all should be depressed by what we see in this election cycle. Are you better off than you were a few years ago? Do you really think any of this litter of candidates have a roadmap or a plan to improve your life? I sincerely hope that the winner of this presidential race can make this country a better place for ALL of us, but I doubt that is going to happen.

Photos of New Pups and a few other things.

PUPPY UPDATE: A couple of weeks ago I promised I would post a photo of our new corgi pups.  I took the photo and never posted it so, here it is. At that stage in their lives, they look more like tiny seal pups, shiny and slick than corgi pups.

I am proud to say they are all healthy and strong and growing rapidly.They are actually beginning to walk and sit up on their own.

The second photo is of Captain.  He is going to be staying with us.  Logan, our oldest son claimed him when Captain was about three days old.  If you look at the first photo, Captain is the one with his rear side facing us.

As you can see in the second photo, they are taking on their Corgi characteristics.  Their bodies are getting longer and their legs aren't. Their ears are growing larger, but they are still too young for their ears to start standing.  We chose not to dock their tails since we are not going to register them.  Usually their tails are docked to about an inch long.  We just didn't want to put them through that.

A FEW OTHER THINGS

Garden-- We have planted our little bed garden  Believe or not, we will eat fresh veggies out of it all summer.  There are tomato plants, cantaloupe, squash, sweet and banana peppers, okra, beans, basil, and a few other things, all in about 125 square feet.  When it gets a little prettier and grows some, I will include photos of it.

Lawn-- Last September our relatively new lawn mower broke down.  It was not the mower, it was operator error.  I finally order the part, took the tractor apart and replaced the part.  It is just like new and yesterday Holden and I whipped the yard and surrounding area into shape.  We don't look like we live in  jungle anymore.  There is always more to do and we will be busy with it all summer and fall.

I now have to repair our lawn trailer so we can move things here and there around the yard.

WHERE WAS WINTER?

Spring didn't want to arrive but then again, neither did winter.  We never had temperatures lower than the mid 20s F in our area and we only had those three or four times.  Usually we burn about three or more cords of wood to heat our house.  This winter we only used a little more than one cord.

While it didn't get cold, we continued to have frosts until late March. While that is about normal, we don't expect it to stay too cool to plant our summer gardens if we don't have much of a winter.  Anyway, it is warm enough now and most all of the first round of gardening is in the ground and beginning to grow.  As I said, I will keep you posted on the gardens progress.  

Until next time...

Stop By Tomorrow for New Puppy Pictures

If Belle is willing, I will be photographing our new puppies tomorrow.  They are less than a week old but gaining weight by the day.  

Stop by the blog tomorrow and I may also drop a few pics of our new chicks into the blog.  They are almost four weeks old and getting fully feathered.  We bought Dominiques, Gold Laced Wyandenottes, Silver Laced Wyandenottes and Rhode Island Reds (though I don't think my Dominiques are Dominiqes and won't know until they are a little older). They are still 12 fine looking little hens.

I hope to see you tomorrow.

Your Legacy Could Be a Tree You Plant

Today is another beautiful spring day in the southern U.S. The rain that was threatening our area yesterday didn't materialize and today it is clear with temperatures in the mid 70s F. Everything is turning green and gardens are beginning to blossom all around us.

We have four new babies at our house.  Our youngest Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Belle, had puppies last Sunday morning. This was her first litter and we weren't sure how she would handle them.  She is an outstanding mom.  Unfortunately, there were two runts born with the four strong and healthy pups. We immediately noticed that they were having trouble nursing and began bottle feeding them.

Pembroke Welsh Corgi --Photo from Wikipedia

I bottle fed them every two hours and was not able to save either one of them.  The whole family fought for them and with them and they spent the little over one day they had on earth in loving warm hands.  They both left this world with full tummies and a family that had done everything it could to pull them through the hard hand life dealt them.  It is not ever easy to lose animals, no easier because the were never destined to make it, but it is a fact of life that not all puppies, kittens, foals, chicks,calves or any other baby are going to make it.  I feel better knowing we fought hard for them, though.

The Friendship Oak at The University of Southern Mississippi's
Gulf Coast Campus, Long Beach,, MS

On to a happier note.  I read this morning that the city of Gulfport, MS has a new campaign to plant live-oak trees throughout the coastal counties.  This is not unusual, since live-oaks some of the hardiest coastal trees one can find.  They live an extremely long time and are able to withstand extremely strong winds, excessive amounts of rain and pretty much anything else the climate can dish out to them except prolonged cold which they never get along the Gulf Coast.  It is not unusual that they are being planted as a tree of choice.  No, what is a bit unusual is that they are being started from acorns that grew on the ancient Friendship Oak from the Gulf Coast Campus of The University of Southern Mississippi.  This tree was a sapling when Christopher Columbus made his first trip to the new world and now its saplings are being planted all over the coast, so in 500 or 600 years from now, folks will be sitting in the shade of their giant limbs sipping a cool one and talking about way back then when these trees were planted.

Plant a tree and leave a living legacy.

Tonight will be busy around our house.  We will be manning the concession stand at the park and taking our youngest to soccer practice.  Then home for a late evening meal to celebrate our 17 year old's birthday.  After that we will find a little time to relax and enjoy family time before retiring for the evening.

Until next time...
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It Has Been Much Too Long

It has been entirely too long since my last post.  I have no excuses just a good solid reason.  I didn't have them time to write so I didn't. I needed to write for my own sanity, but I always have found something more important to do that sit down at my computer and tap out a few lines of words.

Writing is therapeutic to me.  I write when I feel the need to express myself, even if I am the only one that will ever read it.  Sitting down with my fingers on the keyboard relaxes me, it sets my mind at ease and helps me to unwind.  Over the next few weeks I will be trying to take the time to write in this journal.  I will attempt to provide updates into my everyday life and maybe along the way I will share something that is interesting, funny, useful or thought provoking.

Because of my "day job" I many times have to temper my words and avoid subjects all together.  You may see those subjects hidden in my writings but they, for the time being, cannot appear overtly in print. While this may be the case, I mostly write about everyday things.  I write about sunrises , sunsets and all the mundane things that occur during the day.  I very seldom broach subjects of international or even national interest.  My writing is about what is going on right here around me.  It is is about life, living and happiness.  

I have a lot to update about my family, our pets and farm animals and hopefully the garden that will be planted this weekend.

For now, I will be signing off, but you will be betting more reports for this country journal as time goes on.

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