The Silent Calf...

About six weeks ago, a little heifer calf was born.  She was mostly black...my favorite...with a white heart on her forehead.

She started out drinking milk from a bottle, not without some difficulty.  She would start and stop...start and stop...milk dripping down her chin and all over my coveralls.  We thought maybe she was feeling a little under the weather so we gave her electrolytes and watched her closely.  When it was time to wean her to drink out of a bucket, she was also very stubborn.  V E R Y  S T U B B O R N ! !

None of those things are unusual.

Here she is...

It's not the greatest picture, but if you've ever tried to take a picture of a calf in a pen with another animal, you'd understand!  See the eyeballs over her right (our left) ear?  That crazy calf stands ready to attack anyone and anything that might give her some food.  Gotta click the shutter when you've got a chance, with that one in the pen!  :)

Anyway...what's different about this calf?

Not once...NOT ONCE...since she was born, have we ever heard her bawl!  Not for her Mom...not for food...not just because she could.  She's been completely silent for over six weeks now.  She doesn't like milk, either.  She munches on hay, drinks out of the water bowl and eats some grain.  She doesn't appear to be sick, but we can't quite figure her out.

It's kind of like a dog that never barks or a cat that never meows.  Have you ever heard of a silent calf?

Best Seat In the House...

The cats on our farm have a great life.

It was pretty chilly this morning...somewhere around 20 degrees, I think...and I found Jolyn curled up in the sun in the heifers' feed trough...

Best seat in the house on a chilly morning!

Temperature Swings...

Wow...what a difference one short week makes!

Last week the kids missed two days of school because of the snow.  They were thrilled to have time to spend time with friends...

...and do things like this...

This week so far we've had temps in the 40's and tomorrow is to reach near 60 degrees!  From -2 to 60 degrees in one week is quite a temperature swing!

With the rain we had today on top of the melting snow, we've got lots of mud, and lots of water running across the still frozen ground with no where to go.  It's messy, but SPRING is ALMOST here!

Random Five Friday...

It's been a while, but Nancy is back hosting Random Five Friday, so I thought I'd join up again...

1. Our snow yesterday ended up being more than they called for.  It was hard to measure, but ended up being around 8" or so.  It makes headaches, but it sure is pretty!  Jim spent most of yesterday on that tractor, opening the driveway...and opening it again...

2.  Next week we're to be in the 40's all week, so we expect lots of melting, and mud.

3.  We took Murphy to be bred last week, so hopefully we'll have a litter of sweet puppies around the beginning of May!  This would only be her second litter.  Last summer was a disappointment in that department, but we're hopeful this time around will have a happier ending...

4.  Six of Jenna's violin teacher's students participate in the Lancaster Youth Symphony Orchestra, and last Saturday was their winter concert.  They missed a handful of practices because of bad weather, but they were able to pull it together.  This is just a short clip of one of the songs.  It was just recorded on my camera, so the quality is less than stellar, but the real thing was a treat to listen to...

5.  Here's to spring in the not too distant future, and lots of playing in the grass and lazing in the sunshine...

Enjoy your weekend!

Snow Day...

After the cold February we had, we were thinking that maybe winter was almost over.  March has different ideas, though.

The kids woke to a snow day...the first one of the school year.  We've had numerous two hour delays, which are nice because the school day counts, and doesn't have to be made up at the end of the year, but this is the first day off.  It means more help in the barn for us...but somehow I don't think that was first and foremost in their minds!  :)  Hopefully there won't be any unwelcome surprises, and they'll have some time to relax and enjoy the day.

The snow started in the wee hours of the morning, and these pictures were taken right before breakfast...

The empty corner hutch...waiting for spring until we can turn the water on again and put some calves in there.  Jenna uses the empty hutches to store hay for the little calves that she carries water to...

The abandoned sand box.  I think this picture was my favorite...

Those old barn boots with perennials planted in them are soaking up the moisture, just waiting for spring.  It's amazing to me that the plants come back year after year, even when they're not buried deep underground!

It's snowing like crazy outside the window, and we'll see what it amounts to. It's a heavy, wet snow, and no fun to push.  The milk truck comes today, so Jim will be busy opening the driveway before he comes.  'Til it's all said and done, we're supposed to get 4" - 6".  We'll see!  I know that's peanuts compared to what some of you have seen this winter, but it's our first substantial snowfall.  After the bitter cold we had in February, I think I'd rather have this!

I'm linking today to Good Fences.  Click here to see more posts!