Chats on the Farmhouse Porch

Maxine, MJ, and Djali

1.  When you were a child, what age did you think was old.

I guess forty was the age that people started seeming ancient.  That means I’m now beyond ancient.

wild mustard (I think)

2.  How often do you have dessert?

As a family of one, it’s hard for me to make anything for dessert because I would actually eat it all.  I try not to do much in the way of desserts unless we’re having a family get-together where I can share.

maple tree seeds

3.  What’s your favorite kind of exercise?

It won’t be a surprise that my favorite exercise is walking the hills in my pasture.  I can get quite a thorough workout doing that.

Millie

4.  Do you watch movies on TV, movies from a rental or the library, or movies online?

I don’t watch much in the way of movies.  If I do, it’s usually throwing in a DVD or old VHS tape, something I’ve seen a thousand times and can do something else at the same time.

hickory leaves budding

5.  Tell me something you remember about your grandmother’s/grandfather’s house.  I’m thinking of something you saw all of the time, like a picture, clock, statue, teapot, or some thing that was always there.

I remember the rocks.  My grandparents’ house had a rock exterior, made from stones on their farm in southern Missouri.

oak leaves budding

Be sure to visit Everyday Ruralty for more Chats.  Also linking to Tuesday Muse.  I’m also sharing my wordy post with Wordless Wednesday with Project Alicia, Live and Love Out Loud, Create With Joy and In the Moment With.

This Week’s Scavenger Hunt

The topics for this weeks scavenger hunt are:  vacation, food(s), sound, texture, and anything.

Vacation:  I don’t really get to vacation much with all the animals.  I do consider almost every trip to the pasture to be a nice mini-vacation spent with my friends, however.  I really do get to spend a lot of time in my favorite place in the world.

Top: Millie leading; Bottom: the rest of the herd

Food(s):  The pasture also provides a lot of food for the goats.

(SOOC) Vinnie, Cinnamon, Myson, Vixen, Jelly, and Muffin

Some of them like to eat on the run!  There’s grass and those delicious multiflora rose bushes!

(SOOC) Clockwise from top: 1.  Kizzy, Chip, Robbie, Victoria. 2.  Huey. 3.  Bud, Xena, Huey, Ximon, Robbie, and Myson.  4.  Reva.

Sound:  I love the sound of the birds when I’m walking back there.  The red-winged blackbirds are especially noisy.

Texture:  I was looking at this old stump with the lichens and shelf fungi and remains of bark.  It has a lot of interesting textures.

SOOC

While I was walking close to it, I scared one of the owlets.  I keep doing that, even though I don’t mean to.  I kind of like the texture of their feathers too.

Great Horned Owl

Anything:  Well, I saw the male oriole in the wild plum tree, but I’m trying to decide if the lower picture is his mate.  I couldn’t get close enough for a really good picture, but maybe someone can tell.

Updated: Top: Oriole; Bottom: Eastern Meadowlark

I’m also sharing Haley and Harley, my triplet girls that I have come to call Monster 1 and Monster 2 because they are such ornery characters.

(SOOC) Haley and Harley

I don’t know how long they were together trying to get cozy and cuddled up next to each other.

Linking to Scavenger Hunt Sunday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Bird d’Pot, and Mosaic Monday.

The Rescue

It’s hard to believe we’ve gone straight from extreme drought to too wet.  Our ground is saturated and we received another three inches in the early morning hours, and it’s still raining.  They issued a flash flood warning for my area this morning, and it wasn’t long before my nephew called to tell me I should take my camera to the creek running through his family’s pasture northeast of town.  He said it was already out of its banks and had crossed the state road.

It was still rising and close to crossing the county road.

SOOC

SOOC

SOOC

Then he said his uncle’s cattle had managed to be on the wrong side of the creek.  They were stranded between the rising creek and the fence with only a three-foot strip of land.  I suggested this might be a good time to cut the fence, and he said that’s what they were doing as we spoke.  Of course, they had to wade through waist deep water to get there.  I headed out the door.

By the time I arrived, I could see the cattle were on the other side of the fence.  I did go see if they needed any help moving them.  That’s when they said they were still trying to get one calf.

When they cut the fence, all the cattle came through except one calf.  She panicked and jumped into the water.  She crashed into the bridge and went under.

They scrambled to try and get rope to pull her out, thinking she was probably already dead.  They finally saw her surface downstream and pull herself back onto the strip of land.

In the meantime they other cattle had left the field and wandered away, so they had to bring them back.  That’s when I got there.  They were headed back to the calf to try and get her to safety.

SOOC

SOOC

He waded through the waist deep water again and very slowly brought her back to the hole in the fence.  She still didn’t know what to do, but she hollered for her mom.

SOOC

Mom was hollering encouragement back to her.  She was very concerned.

SOOC

The calf went past the opening, back towards the bridge.

SOOC

Another person started towards the calf from the other direction to turn her back to the opening.

SOOC

This time, she came through.  It still wasn’t easy getting back to mom.

SOOC

SOOC

SOOC

SOOC

Finally, they were all safe,  so they were moved to the other side of the creek.

They should be safe now, but with more rain in the forecast, they’ll keep a close eye on the pasture.  They’ll also keep a close eye on the calf, newly named Mikelle Phelps, to make sure she doesn’t develop pneumonia after her swim.

Sharing with SOOC Sunday, Homestead Barn Hop, Farmgirl Friday, and Farm Fun Friday.