A Weekend with the ...COWS!

Friday night Rick and I left the house for our traditional Friday outing by the way of the farm. This is when it all started. A black cow was "down" in the mud with a new calf already on the ground. We knew what was ahead of us. We went back home, put on our mud clothes, and called the local vet, Doc. Watson at Bing's Vet Clinic. The vet came and gave her an IV and several shots.

He told us we need to get her up two or three times a day and out of the mud if she was going to make it. She has milk fever. We then went and got the tractor, a chain, and a sling. I just knew that we were going to break her neck, but we didn't. We drug her through the mud and water to the highest point of the pasture where there was some dry ground.

 Four hours later - muddy and tired - we went home without getting her up. It was dark, and we could not get the sling under her. She was totally worn out from being drug through the mud. Many prayers went up during this time for some divine intervention.

Saturday morning at day break we started again. We did get the sling under her, and the tractor did lift her up - uneven. Her front legs   came up, but the back ones dangled under her. We let her rest, while we went and got the rest of the cows the hay. After lunch, I went to a funeral and Danny helped Rick. They did get her up on all fours and the baby calf nursed. I missed Rick falling out of the back of the truck holding the baby calf as Danny drove through the pasture and mud. This was the first time that we had hope that the cow might make it. The vet came by just to check on the situation. He is a really good guy. Again many prayers were prayed.

Sunday morning, with "an ox in our ditch," we started the process all over of trying to get her up. The first task was to get the sling under her again. I "Googled" last night all the different ways to get a "downed" cow up. One was to suffocate the cow by holding you hands over her nose so she can't breath. This was my method with prayers. Rick's method was to make her mad by hitting her with the sling and prayers. She did raise up one time and tried to get us. Did I mention that she still has had a lot of fight and spunk in her through all of this? We did not get the sling under her. So we tried again. By the grace of God, the second time she stood up. Woobly as can be; she was standing by herself - not hooked to a tractor. We took special care of her and her calf the next four hours. During this time we had another cow have a calf. We left for a birthday party, then came back to feed the cows again. She was still standing. Another calf was born. We went home for our weekly Sunday night dinner with the family. At dusk we went back to the farm, where we had the third calf born.

The real test was going to be Monday. On Monday with four trips to the farm between Rick and I, she was standing every time. I think she is going to be a success story, and we are not going to have to bottle-feed another calf.

Building for the Glory of God

Spring Break 2015 - Danny Miller, Debbie Miller, Rick and I took two days to go build with the Volunteer Builders for Christ from FBC Allen. We went to Turner Falls to the Falls Creek Baptist encampment. We were plumbers on this trip, and I use the "we" very loosely. I was the gopher, although I did learn some new plumbing skills. It was great to get to go back to the area that was so special with great memories for so many of our Gunter teens through many years. As Rick and I walked around, I prayed for the many lives that were touched at Falls Creek that God might retouch lives and rekindle a relationship with many of those teens.
Many changes have been done at the encampment since I was last there five or six years ago. However, the cabin that was so special to us looked the same. It was just missing our kids.

The Gunter Cabin at Fall Creek

Arizona

I wrote about the plane rides to and from Arizona already, but not the trip itself. So here I will outline our annual spring break trip to somewhere. This year we started in Phoenix and made a circle through out the state. Our path and activities included:

Camel Back Mountain

Phoenix - Downtown Phoenix, St Mary's Basilica, Heritage Square,  Chase Field, Andrew Lloyd Wright's house and college
Camel Back Mountain

Montezuma Castle

Montezuma Cliff Dwellings and well
Rock Spring Pies

Cross of the Holy Chapel

Sedona - city Trolley tour, Cross of the Holy Chapel, and a Pink Jeep tour to see the red rocks up-close-and-personal

The Grand Canyon

Flagstaff - Route 66 signs and 10 inches of snow
The Grand Canyon - where we froze to death
Williams - Route 66  and the Cruisin' 66 diner

Cruisin" Route 66 Diner

Prescott - old west town with turn of the century homes and Granite Prescott Dell
Back to Phoenix - Wrigley museum and a drive by of the Biltmore Hotel

Three People I Met on a Plane

There is a book called "Three People you Meet in Heaven." Well this week on our girls' trip to Arizona, I met three people on airplanes that have touched my life in different ways. We flew Southwest so we had no assigned seat, the first plane was going to be completely full, and we were not the first to board so we had to split up and choose seats somewhere on the plane. I chose the first seat available - which was between two men. We ended up having a two-hour unscheduled layover because of weather and not enough fuel. I had ample opportunity to get to know these gentlemen on either side of me, since they were both very talkative and I can usually come up with a few words of my own. The man on my left was a 35 year old that was mildly "special" going to see his grandparents in Tuscon. The man on the right was a very wealthy man that this was his first "commercial" flight in years, since he and his family usually traveled in the Lear jet. He was going to Phoenix to practice his golf game, because he was going to Augusta to play in a tournament with his PGA golf friend on Friday. Even though he could name drop with the best, he was extremely humble and polite to the two of us. By the time we got to our destination, I felt like I had two new good friends. The story on the way on home is different. We had to come home to Texas from Arizona by the way of California. Again we split up on the plane, and I chose the first seat available next to a window. I did have to crawl over an older women, but I did not pay much attention to her. I just wanted to get out of he aisle into a seat. I was getting settled in a few minutes later when a young girl about 12 was going to also crawl over the older lady, but she stopped the girl and told her "Oh no, go find somewhere else to sit. There are going to be 50 empty seats on this plane." I was appalled, speechless, and shocked! This entire scene disturbed me, and I replayed it many times in my head. I had a hard time concentrating on the book I was reading, and I did refuse this woman any of my words. The girl did end up in a good seat with very desirable people a few rows behind us. However, I was still disturbed by this the next morning. It was not until in Sunday School that I realized I was just as bad as at the elderly "Jewish" behaving woman. Someone made the remark about WWJD in a situation in our lesson, and I was convicted that I did so wrong by not getting up to give the girl my seat. I hope that I will be a better person for meeting these three people.

Snow Day 2

We got another snow day, because the sleet and ice from yesterday did not melt. So today I finished the backs to my two "block-of-the-month" quilts from last year, I cooked a mushroom-spinach quiche for lunch for myself, I worked on my Alaska Shutterfly book from our vacation last year while watching photography videos on my iPad, and I read the manual for Rick's flight simulator game for his airplane game. It is amazing how I feel the need to be productive on snow days. I am now watching the weather which has a chance of snow in the forecast for tonight. Could we have three snow days?

Snow Day

Although this is my second year to be retired from teaching, I still get excited about a SNOW DAY. Last night I watched the weather and the school closings with four of the grandchildren in anticipation. Even during the night when I would wake up, I would listen for sleet. I am excited for all my teacher friends and grandchildren that this affects.

I have great memories of snow days in my early teaching days. Daddy would usually bring Diana and her kids to my house so that we could put the 4 children together; and she and I could sew, cook, or do a craft together. The kids would watch some movie classics - Top Gun or Beetlejuice, play Nintendo, or make paper airplanes to sell. I am sure that there were games of sock baseball or basketball also going on - maybe even a game with a ceiling fan. For some reason, all the ceiling fans wobble in my house. Oh, those were the days!

I now get to choose everyday what I am going to do, but today is an extra special day. So what did I do differently? I cleaned my kitchen granite counter tops, cooked, did laundry, wrote this post, and watched photography videos. Sounds familiar to my daily routines - but it was different. It was a SNOW DAY.

Kennith Marlow Scoggins

Last Sunday would have been his 95th birthday. However his life was cut short due to his health. It is so hard to believe that he has been gone 25 years. My dad was a very special person to me,  just like most dads are to their daughters.

He loved life; and everyone who knew him has a Kenneth story, whether it is a hunting story, a cow story, or just about meeting him. He never met a stranger. This month I went to my ob-gyn doctor who told me the story about when he came to Sherman in 1973 or 1974 as a young new doctor. He came to Gunter with my mom's doctor to bird hunt with my dad and how that memory of meeting and hunting with my dad has stayed with him all these years.

I think of Daddy often because I am so involved in our cow business. Rick and I have been bottle feeding a calf since December 1, who I have named Rudy. Through the rain, mud, wind and cold I always think that Daddy is smiling at Rudy and me during feeding time.

I also got my first 4 wheel drive pickup truck this month. I drive the hay wagon on feeding days. I have been stuck numerous times in the mud, and Rick always has to come to my rescue on the tractor to shove me out of the mud. I know Daddy and Rick are shaking their heads at me knowing that I should not have driven the path that I did in the pasture. However, when I got stuck on Tuesday of this week, I just punched the little 4-wheel drive button and drove myself out of the mud. I had to laugh knowing that Daddy was smiling again.

I hope that he gets a few smiles from the things we do, to repay him for the joy and happiness that he gave this girl for the first 33 years of her life. Thanks Daddy for teaching me to enjoy the simple things in life and to live life fully each day. Thanks for the memories.