Life on the Farm

I just thought that I would add a small anecdote of what life has been like here on the farm! For me it has been like stepping back into the past, although it has changed, primarily because my parents no longer live here, and well, I guess I have changed. :) Kevin has really been doing a good job of adapting to his new environment, he has been pitching in with weed whacking, harvesting, feeding the animals, etc. despite the fact that his allergies are really kicking in. :( One of the most common occurrences on the farm is that at some time or another, animals escape their pen. Most recently it was one of our newborn calves. My aunt is raising some cattle to sell, and one of the cows recently gave birth. The new calf is super cute, small, black and furry. There has been some problems in the past keeping the baby calves alive through adulthood, for various reasons so everyone has been really keeping an eye on this little guy. The other night Lawrence (my cousin) came in to inform us that the calf was not in the pen with his mother. My Uncle Dan and Kevin had brought the cows in from a grazing field earlier that day, and sometime between the time they were out in the field, and the time they were put in the field, the calf disappeared. We all set out to look for the calf far and wide. It was evening, so the mosquitos were out with a vengeance. We searched for two hours, scouring out on the highway, on the other side of the creek, and far into our neighbor's land. All the time we were wondering how a small, wobbly legged newborn calf could possibly make it this far. The mother was in her pen mooing away, but we heard no response from the baby. Finally, with the last rays of the sinking sun we were ready to admit defeat, when Kevin looks out into the field where the cows were earlier in the day and says, "Is that the calf?" Sure enough, it was! The calf had been in the field the whole time, a field which we passed by numerous times, each time somehow failing to see him! Earlier in the day when Dan and Kevin brought the cows in they missed the fact that the calf had stayed behind. They were deep in conversation (with Kevin, what a surprise!) and just assumed that the calf would not have strayed far from it's mother. (Wrong assumption!) Anyhow, the evening turned out happily, minus the millions of mosquito bites we all had to show as battle wounds! :)