"Run, Jerky, Run"

The cows are recovered from their trauma Friday.  The Vet said that Jerseys often lay down and sulk; that's exactly what they did. Even Saturday morning, jerky was still laying down. My 9-year-old daughters were worried about him, laying down while we milked with blood stains on his legs, but as soon as we opened the gate and said, "jerky, it's your turn," he was on his feet and hurrying over.  The girls visited the steers several times so they had some attention.  By evening jerky was his normal bouncy self and by Sunday his fur was clean.

Sunday morning our 19-year-old son was over for breakfast.  In telling the story about the Vet visit and the multiple snips to jerky's back area, my 13-year-old daughter said, "and jerky was being all dramatic and flopping on the ground."  My son's eyes popped open and he said, "what!  It sounds like he took it pretty good!"  My husband and son kept on about it and we laughed so hard we couldn't breath.

This morning the Vet came back.  Christina's tuberculosis test was negative, so we sent in our paperwork for a raw milk permit.  Jerky got his immunizations.  Today was faster and less traumatic, although as soon as we walked in the door, Christina got up and started walking away, calling her calf.  We figured she was saying, "run, jerky, run!"

Christina also also got a shot to put her into heat. When the Vet did that internal exam on Friday, she could tell that Christina had already gone into heat, which means we missed it.  This shot will bring on heat on again.  We'll watch much closer this time.  We'll also put beefy in with her.  The Vet said the best indicator is that the steer will mount her and she won't walk away.  Some cows moo a bunch, but she obviously didn't.  The shot will bring on heat in three to four days.  Today we'll put beefy in with her and start watching closely on Thursday.  She left another shot that we can use if we need to. 

Today the sky is clear, sunlight fills our southern-facing rooms.  My in-laws, who built this house in 1973, did a perfect job with the overhangs for passive solar.  In late June, at the summer solstice, no sun makes it in at all, but now in winter time, these rooms fill with sunlight and warm up two to three degrees.

We typically get long lasting inversions in the winter.  The sky will be overcast for weeks, haze will last all day, and the already dark time of year is darker.  But this year we haven't had a single inversion.  These sunny January days feel like a gift from God, warming the house and lightening my spirits.  Sunlight is so omnipresent that it's easy to forget its source.  Today God peeked at us from behind the rays of sunlight.