Sunday Night Highlights 1.24.16

Weekend Adventures:

• My grandparents left yesterday morning, and it was sad because we don't get to see them often, but I'm glad they got to spend a couple of days with us, especially to see Wacey!
• Bert and Wacey did stuff at the barn while I ran to town for a baby-free hour to get dog food since our canine army eats way more than I remember to get ever. I listened to the first few episodes of "The Longest Shortest Time" podcast and LOVED it, especially the third episode.
• When I got home, Wacey and I soaked up the warm weather (it was almost sixty degrees!!!) and played with the dog pack outside for an hour. It was great, the dogs got out SO MUCH energy, I got the rest of my steps in, and Wacey discovered leaves so it was a win-win for everyone.
• This morning, I whipped up a double batch of blueberry muffins because we need some in our lives, and Bert's parents are visiting this afternoon!

Agriculture: 

• When a cow has twins, if one is a bull and one is a heifer, the heifer is sterile more than 90% of the time. These heifers are call freemartins. 
• The average body temperature of a cow is 101.5 degrees,
• Beef calves stay with their mothers until they are weaned in the fall. They'll drink milk until they're ready to eat grass, and then they'll add grass into the mix little by little. By the time they're weaned in the fall, they are ready to live entirely on grass and hay. And cow cake. They loooooove cow cake.  

On the Ranch:

• So far, Bert's had about a hundred calves, and we've had a few calves born on the other camps, too. Helllloooo busy busy.
• When calving season arrives on the ranch, that's pretty much the extent of what goes one. Feed cows, calve cows, mess with baby cows, wash, rinse, repeat, and hope for good weather. 

On the Home Front:

• Last week we did a lot of working on calving in the book (me), working on calving at the barn (Bert), and chewing on model calves at home (Wacey). Nothing too exciting, but you know, some weeks, that's okay.
• My glory moment last week: taxes are filed! I don't mind doing them (hellooooo refund), but it's still a pain in the rear, so I made myself do them the day we got our W-2s in the mail. Done and done!
• My aunt and uncle came down to have dinner with us and my grandparents and momma Friday night, and it was so fun. We had some farm-raised pork chops and they were excellent. My aunt Sue is a profesh photographer, and she loaned me one of her lenses for my Nikon--a telephoto heyyyyyy! Can't wait to play with it and see how ah-mazing it is! (Edited to add: snapped some shots yesterday and I'm in love. See below.)