new life

well since i got to the farm, i've wanted to see one thing, more then anything else. some people may think its weird, but i really wanted to experience it. i wanted to see a calf being born. there would be days when i would get home from work, and marks dad would tell me, oh shoot if i knew you were home i would have got you over, we just had a calf. Or, i would show up to his house and sure enough he would just be coming out of the barn, after one was born. it seemed like i was never going to get to see it happen. then one days marks mom donna called the house telling me to get ready doug was on his way to pick me up. a calf was about to be born! so i jumped up and got my barn clothes on, and was waiting in the drive way, thumb up, ready for my drive over to the action. we got there and to my luck the calf still wasn't born. but it was starting, the little calf's hoof was sticking out... so we played the waiting game. unfortunately cows don't like being watched when this is about to happen, and will actually hold off the birth until they feel alone. so me and dougie sat off the the side out of her view and waited for her to lay down and start the process. once they hit a certain point they can't stop. so she layed down, and we waited, then we heard a splash, so we figured it was he water break. we waited another couple minutes, then went to look. unfortunately the splash we heard, was the calf being born... two feet away and i STILL miss it?! well now i am certain i am never going to see this happen. and am a little bummed out.

but the other night i got to give it another try. doug came over and i got ready and headed over. we waited in the distance again, but the old girl could still see doug, and would do nothing but stand there staring at him, so i ordered him out of the barn, i had a hiding spot, where she couldn't see me. so i stood waiting, and then she layed down, and i started to get excited and i was rea.... what the heck was that?! i look over and this rambunctious calf decided he was going to climb out of his pen. and was out into the walk way, so i started calling for doug to come help me, because he was a good size calf, and i couldn't lift him back into his pen. so doug came in and we got the little fella back where he needed to be, but unfortunately this commotion has got momma to be all stirred up again. so i send doug back out and i hide again. and it wasn't before long that she was laying down, and even less time before... i got to see the very thing i'd been waiting to see! it was so amazing! such a cool experience, and if you ever get the change to see it, take it!

the difference between stuck, and STUCK

as you all know, a few weeks ago, went into the ditch, and my wonderful boyfriend saved me, from being stuck. there was no way i was getting out, couldn't move forward, couldn't move backward. i even tried getting rid of the snow from around my car and tires, to no luck. i was stuck. but what i didn't know then is that stuck takes on many forms, and there is definitely a difference between, stuck, and STUCK.

if you live anywhere near me, you'll know its been raining like CRAZY lately. yuck! which makes things soggy. double yuck! and in a farmers world, it can be a great thing, or a very big hindrance. last week, it was a very big hindrance. there is a field over at marks dads house, that has always had a wet spot(or so i'm told, this is the first time i've seen it) and with all this rain, its just gotten really bad. so marks dad, doug, or as i call him, dougie, decided he wanted to tile the spot in the field. now don't you worry i'm gonna explain what it is, and if you already know, then your smarter then i was! tile is plastic pipe with little holes punched into it, that you bury under ground. the purpose is to take the water from the field and direct it away, so in this case its towards the ditch. over at marks he tiled his fields into the stream. they say it takes about 5 years from it to really start working, so that it creates little streams of water underground, to the rows of tile. now, dougie has wanted to tile this spot for a long time, but now finally has the time to do it. so the boys got started. the first row went in good. the second row on the other hand, needed a bit more help. and THIS is where i learned the difference between stuck and STUCK.

i was on my way to marks, when he called my cell phone and asked if i was close by, said they needed and extra hand for something. so i got to marks got dressed up in my overalls, rubber boots, which by the way are pink and black, with hearts and starts and cherries on them. if i'm going to work on the farm, i want to look good! and grabbed some work gloves, not knowing what i was going to help with, i jumped on the four wheeler and headed over to his dads place. jumping on the four wheeler is one of my favorite parts of the day! switching gears driving fast, drifting around the corners, i have a much fun as i can, even if its just a trip to around the corner.

when i pulled into the field, i noticed there were three tractors sitting there. then a long cable, and a chain. one tractor was at the fence row, it was hooked to 150ft of cable, then that was attached to another tractor, which was attached to the chain, which was attached to a third tractor. i was a bit puzzled at first, because there was only mark and dougie in the field, but three tractors, and then it hit me, they are going to make me drive one of them! what i feared, mark taught me once, but i had forgotten everything! but luckfully dougie taught me how to work the third tractor, the first one in the chain, the leader of the pack. now each tractor is different, and this one was nothing like the one i learned on. so the plan was i would pull the second tractor with dougie in it, and that would pull the last tractor with mark on it. and with a little nudge, we were of and running. the second row of tile in! since we felt like we were on a roll, we went in to do the third row, what we didn't know was all three tractors had to drive through the wettest part of the field. we pulled and pulled and sunk, and sunk, and spun our tires, and threw up mud, and dug ourselves deeper and deeper, until we managed to get all three tractors STUCK!