Babies on the Farm

We've got cows! We've had them for a couple months and they are finally weaned, out of the barn and up in the cow pasture. They did very well on milk replacer/goat milk combo, out growing our friends cows that were only on milk replacer . He's also got experience raising cows and we have none, we were even warned that cows were finicky and don't be surprised if they get sick and die. Well, they are healthy and strong and doing very well. They are going for the freezer come fall. If you think we're cruel, you come take care of them for a week, and you'll be quite ready to help them get there too. Cows are stupid, I hate cows, and if we do this again next year they will be outside the barn in calf hutches, they are very stinky & dirty.

They even pick their nose.

Amelia

Ella

Lilly & Andrew

And we have Bees.

Filmore Glen

We went to Filmore Glen for some hiking, socializing, and picnicking. Here's some pictures from our afternoon there.

Swimming Hole (it will be when they slide the steel plates into the dam.

Stairway

Abandoned Cemetery

This cemetery has dates back to the revolutionary war and civil war. We went around reading the inscriptions on the stones. Here are some of our favourite ones.

My Children dear
Assemble here
A Mothers grave to see
Not long ago
I dwelt with you
And soon you'll dwell with me

Depart my friends
Dry up your tears
I must lie here till Christ
appears


My day is out
My race is run
My work in Christ
Completely done

How peaceful is the closing scene
Where virtue yields her breath
How sweetly beams the smile serene
Upon the check of death

Happy Birthday Andrew

And here is the chronicle of the saga of buying a birthday present....

I asked him last week what he wanted for his birthday and all I got was "a shotgun". I didn't plan on getting him a gun, I figured I could find something else that he's mentioned in the past. Then the next night I was at work and got a call from my neighbour that there was a fox chasing our chickens, her husband had taken a shot, but missed him. That night when I counted chickens we were missing SEVEN!!! The shotgun started looking like a really good idea.

I started doing research, asking all my co-workers that I knew hunted for some suggestions on guns, I talked to my neighbour, I even had someone volunteer to go shopping with me. I started out at Bass Pro, it was between two guns, the Mossberg 535 or the Remington 870. I liked the Remington a lot better, but not that much better in the price difference they were asking. I started the process of getting the Mossberg, then they wouldn't sell it to me because of my greencard and I didn't have 90 days worth of utility bills with me (I have since found out that they were reading the law wrong and it is only for non-immigrants, those that are here on visas, not permanent residents). Of course they didn't figure all this out until I had spent an hour there. I went back to work and complained to some people, who suggested a local gun shop (about 20 minutes away). I called them, the guy said he had both of the guns I was looking at, for significantly cheaper, and said they're open Friday 9-6. So Friday morning I head over there right for 9 o'clock, except the guy was wrong, they don't open until 10, and they don't have their hours posted, I just figured it out when no one had shown up by 9:15. I head in to work and figure I will have to go out there between lunch and a client. I get there that afternoon and they have the Mossberg 500 and the Remington 870, but not in the combination that I want. One has a bird barrel but no slug barrel, the other has a rifle bore instead of smooth, one has a slug and a scope but not with wood stocks, lets see, what other gun lingo can I throw around that I've learned in the past week...

I ended up giving up. I know who has what for how much, now he can decide what he wants. I know nothing about guns and didn't want to make the wrong decision on something that he'll have the rest of his life.



This afternoon I told him what I was getting him and the attempts I had made to get it. He's very excited about going shopping this week :)

Run for the Roses

One of my favourite sporting events of the year, the Kentucky Derby, the first Saturday in May. Big Brown swept the field with a five lengths win, he just might be the likeliest (and most realistic) Triple Crown hopeful that we've seen in years. And the filly 8 Belles actually came in second, with a couple lengths lead over Denis of Cork, being ridden by last years derby winning jockey, Borel. But the excitement was quickly dashed. Big Brown spooked and his jockey came off on his feet and hopped back on, it was a little odd, they're usually spooky before a race, not afterwards. But then the camera panned to what he had spooked at, 8 Belles was on the ground and not getting up. For those of you that know horses, this is NOT normal, horses don't just go down and stay down, especially in the 150,000 crowd that was there. She lifted her head and looked at the growing crowd around her. The view was quickly blocked by an equine ambulance pulling up and the camera trying to find some celebration to pan to. When they went back to her, there was two equine ambulances, one on either side of her. Not good I thought, they're trying to block the cameras and the crowd. I was hopeful that MAYBE, by some miracle they were not putting her down right there on the track.

I found out later the trainer and owner were celebrating as they made their way down to the track and didn't know what happened until a jockey rode over and told them that she was down and they were going to euthanize her. She was the first horse to die on the track at the Kentucky Derby in the 134 consecutive years it has been run.

We later found out that she broke both her ankles and seismoid bone. She was a beautiful dark filly and I'm very sad that she is gone, I would have loved to see what she could have done.

I'm going to keep my preaching to a minimum, but this is what happens when you ride yearlings and two year old (even 3 year olds). Horses aren't fully grown until they are 5, they have bones in their back that do not fuse until then. This is why these horses are retired so early, they're broken down. Maybe I'm a hypocrite for saying the industry is wrong but then watching the big races. I don't know what the answer is, maybe rounding up the age for all the races so that the derby is for 4 year olds, make everything a year later for everyone, than they would be at least 2 when the are started.