I’ve been pretty busy. I’ve had a sub job almost every day for the last three weeks and it looks like it will keep up for awhile. It has been rough sometimes since most of my jobs are at the 6-8th level, but I found that actually telling them stories from Iraq or the movies helps keep them under control. I’ve been here so consistently, that I am actually getting to know them. That helps a lot.
But since this is not a blog about substitute teaching, (that blog would be called “Sub” does not mean subhuman) I will talk about the ranch.
The biggest news is that we are finally having calves. My intent was to upload a bunch of pictures, but it’s been so hectic that I haven’t gotten them all sorted out. We have about 6 now. The first one fell on the day of or right after the day that they were supposed to based on the cow management program. I’m impressed by that. Others have been coming pretty regularly. Yesterday, on the way home, Anna told me that there was a cow on the camp road. Actually, she said “road”. I had a mini-heart attack and then she told me that she meant the camp road. When I got home, I changed clothes and we got in the gator to look for her. Never found her, but I caught Rebel and led him back to the barn to saddle up. It felt good to ride as I hadn’t done it in awhile. I caught up with Anna in the Savanna and she gave me another mini-heart attack by saying that she saw a cow with stuff hanging out of her. I thought it may be a prolapsed uterus, but it was just her amniotic sack. She was about to give birth. It is possible that I worry too much. Anyway, we came up to her and me being on the horse and having the dogs with us made for a mess. There was another new calf and cow there and the dogs, who had been good up until now started barking at the calf. I knew how to handle this. If I could catch one of them in the act, they would not single out a calf ever again. (Maybe I’ll tell the story of the spinning dog on another occasion.) I began the chase with this objective in mind. It did not go well. With three dogs, I couldn’t catch one of them. We ended up chasing the poor cow and calf halfway across the Savanna. I actually got them off once by riding past and calling them. That was at first. Then I made the mistake of turning around and passing them again. That was when the rodeo really began. People talk about herding cats, but herding dogs is almost as tough. The old cow finally stopped when her calf tripped and fell to the ground. I dismounted, hoping to still catch a dog. I threw Anna the reins and I managed to catch Dixie, who was by the way, the least to blame. I shoved her head to the ground and began to scold her. I looked up just in time to see the cow take a run at me. I guess she had had enough and she figured that since she couldn’t catch a dog, she might have better luck with this fool on foot. I scrambled up into the gator and had to grab Rebel to lead him out of the way. Anna was on her own, I guess. In any event, the cow calmed down and the dogs were beat even if it wasn’t by me.
We tied them up in the back of the gator and went off to check on the cow that was about to calve. She was grazing happily and seemed actually a ways off from birth. We’ll have to check on her soon. As infuriating as the whole episode was, I have to take my hat off to my horse. I was reining him all over the place. Left, right, spin your back around. Not once, did I even think about what to do. It was like I had four legs. He never got excited and barely broke a sweat. He’s a good ol’ horse.
Coming soon will be some more pictures of calves, the story of the antler tire, and rat tractor. I appreciate those who have nagged me about the blog’s absence. Please keep it up. It is you who are keeping me writing. Thanks!
That is a great photo, thanks for sharing!
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