Puppy brain trapped in a dog body.
Month: January 2015
Hay Ya!
No hay today. The grass is growing just fine. We’ll hay tomorrow or the next day.
What a great year!
Hello Cold World
Beanies a-go-go. It is cold. The sun shines today.
We have new, yellow step-in posts that seem to be working well. The herd is fat on the hay and grass.
Writing on a tiny phone outside, you don’t bother getting the photos in the right order. Too many steps. But for your Condom location needs, Carrefour runs a fine service. But don’t count on them for fresh milk.
… “Location” means “rent.” They do rental vans in the city of Condom.
Hey! You There!
You weren’t, perchance, digging up my garden now?
Don’t blame it on the big guy.
You both learned this naughty trick from that old bitch, Chorale.
That’s it … chew each other and forget about my garden.
Vacation Loves Not Matter
Always great fun to watch well known movies with French subtitles. I believe the above is ” Summer fling, don’t mean a thing.” But translated, “Love vacation is irrelevant” or “unimportant.”
“Quelles nuits” is when John T does his falsetto “niiiiHIGH….T”
And when the gang “shoo-bop-bop”‘s … in French it is ” shoo-bop-bop.” They can totally do that. I seen it at Karaoke night in the village.
Hey!
Calf doing “hay” face. The calves, confused, wander about copying the herd. They put their nose to the ground as the herd munches on fresh grass. They munch the hay because that’s what everyone else seems to be doing. But the hay doesn’t go down as smoothly as mum’s milk. Then, they make this face.
Brent strategically lays the hay out so that each ball rolls downhill. Tomorrow’s morning bale will be a bit uphill. He can do it.
With all this warm sunshine and fresh grass and hay, the herd has been very calm. They do enjoy sunbathing.
We are expecting one more calf this month. After, the rest of the gang shall pop out in March and April.
Naughty Cows
Brent lays out hay for January. Perfect hay bales. The herd gets two bales a day with fresh grass. But last night, they pushed through the front, temporary fence. Could have been a calf or could have been a silly mistake. No matter, they had a great night of hay buffet, all-you-can eat. Ruffled bales of gastronomique proportions.
Brent rolled out some hay and we pushed them back down to their strip. They did this.
Sat down, ruminated, stood. Not much eating. Their stomachs were full.
We later rolled out another bale and moved them along.
They found room.
New calf this day. The mother’s name is “Heather” after my niece. We call her “Jumpy Heather” because she is a bit of a spaz … but then, so is my niece. But she is a fantastic mom. Funny enough, so is my niece. The calf is a strong boy, healthy and content.
Legion Of Boom, The Calves Are Coming
The kids and we have a huge list of ‘k’ names locked and loaded for the calves this year. In the last few days, we’ve had two calves and a few cows ready to go. A bit early, but we’re ready. With the names.
Until we realized that this year is an ‘l’ year. France skipped ‘k.’ Not many names in French that begin with ‘k’ we suppose.
So our brainstorm of ‘l’ names begin. Below, let me introduce you to Love Boat. A great looking girl from a new mom. Mom is very momish. You never know with first-time moms.
Legion of Boom is the boy above in the first photo. His mom has been there and done that. She cuddles him during the winter. OH and what a winter it’s been. The girls and I have been doing some much needed Spring cleaning.
We Were After Lamingtons
Gorgeous day today. T-shirt weather. Not really, but much warmer than the yesterdays past. Brent rolled out the first bale of hay. We had our first calf today. To get the herd munching and working the soil, Brent rolled a bale of hay out to keep them going.
Minty set out to make Lamingtons, A sponge, dipped in chocolate, covered in coconut. A dish that is very yummy. We made a proper sponge, but our proper sponge was ready for a roll instead of a dip.
So we made a chocolate creamy inner, sprinkled coconut and gave it a roll. Then, painted the log with more chocolate stuff and more sprinkled coconut. Result? Huge hit. Gone in three and a half minutes.
It’s a ‘k’ year. Our new calf is a girl and she was quite lively. Tagging her was spirited. 
I ran off to the shops to gather some nutrients for people and livestock. On return, Brent and the kids started a game night. The Settlers of Catan. I don’t know much about the game, but these two things came to mind.
- Brent has a lot of sheep
- They build cities
- Curious if they can build these cities on rock and roll
We Are Here
But we started the year here:
Lumi, our introduction to a shower of Golden cuddles.
Otto helped feed the bulls of 2014. Wookiee, Richter and Shaft. 
Here are the girls last year. 
And the gang a few days later. Z was in a Pink Goth phase.
One of the bulls having a scratch.
Lucy at a fencing match.
Brent herding the peep of Gascons. Or the peep of Gascons herding a curmudgeon of Brent.
A very wide cow. The herd eating hay on California T.
2014 was a wet year.
Otto tried Rugby. He seems to dig it.
But also found time to help his baby sis down from the hay bale.
The calves came a bit earlier than planned. Go Gremlin! Last year’s bull. The calves like to sleep on the other side of the fence for a little “me” time.
This is cow 12. She thinks beyond the temporary fence. 
This is Brent. He thinks that touching the electric fence hurts very much.
A bit of baseball. We had to quickly teach Otto the rules of baseball. He reads a lot of Peanuts.
Lucy in the outfield.
A bit of tractor work. Not much.
We caught a gray cat. We were going for a ragondin. Graycute was happy to be released and back by the fire.
Lumi grew a bit.
More calves. Lots of grass.
We lost a dear, old friend.
Put your tongue where your nostril is.
The burgers were great and well received.
Otto is almost ten.
We started doing #felfies. ( a farm selfie ).
Family came to visit.
Cows are moving well. They know the system.
A cow and some cabbage.
The burger festival was a hit.
More friends to help out.
A new addition to the Golden crew.
And another Golden athlete.
A close call, but the house did not burn down.
Lucy in Alaska.
We deliver meat to Bordeaux.
Otto turns our house into a virtual video game.
Lumi gets a kiss.
Otto turns his tongue blue.
We deliver meat to Toulouse and Narbonne.
The lucerne ( alfalfa ) has been working very well.
So, here we are. Where the shit hits the hose. Draining hoses at night. Moving the herd. Keeping the fire going. Getting ready for our next beef sale. Getting ready to go back to school, back to life and back to reality. Back to the here and now, yeah*.
Happy new year to you lot.
* Soul II Soul ref was for you, Brent.
