What a Difference A Year Makes

 I know, I know - it's been a while since I've blogged.  What can I say except that I've been busy.  We have had quite a bit of rain this summer & it is just glorious!  Last year, picture on left, I couldn't keep enough feed & hay out to keep my cows alive & healthy.  This year, picture on right, I can't shred & weed spray fast enough to give the grass more  growing room.  I'll take the shred & weed spray problems over the other any day!
 No calving year would be complete without a yard calf.  In fact, we built a little shed in the yard for any babies who need it.  This little guy is Rusty.  His mommy was making water instead of milk so he was slowly starving.  He's a greedy little piglet now & doing well.  His new yard friend, Missy, is teaching him the finer points of digging a good hole.  Missy is a temporary resident of ours as her mother is trying to sell her house in the city & Missy is quite the escape artist.  No escape attempts here as she knows she gets breakfast & dinner, a couch & bed to lounge upon & all the digging her paws can handle.  Plus a little rabbit chasing & playing with Rusty.
 This scared the liver out of me!  I had fed the horses late afternoon on a hot day.  The barn was actually cool & had a nice cross breeze blowing through - very lovely.  All the horses were a little sleepy, but Miss Estee took the cake on this one.  At first I thought she was dead then realized that she was just sound asleep.  So sound asleep that I couldn't get her to wake up!  I poked on her & talked to her & all she would do is give me the "15 more minutes" look with half closed eyes & put her head back down.  I can't blame her.  It was a perfect napping day.  She finally woke up & left the barn when she realized that she was alone in there.
 I just love this picture!  A friend took it with her phone right at dusk.  This is a very special tree for us as it is our burying tree.  All of our beloved pets are buried on the east side & Daddy installed a marker stone for Mom on the west side.  All that loss makes you think that tree would be a sad place, but I see it & smile at all the lovely memories I have of my Mom & all those silly dogs.  This picture is just perfect to me because it shows the beauty I see when ever I look at that single tree on top of the hill.

OK folks.  Enough fooling around.  I just need some daylight & back on the tractor I go to shred, shred, shred!!  Have a wonderful weekend.