Where do personal stories come from but our lives! Well since mine looks like a whirlwind that went through a farmers market it has a lot of interesting daily happenings. Some get a little carried away and become stories I can share. This weeks adventures in building a mini of our church as a parade float became good material as we worked down to the last second to get the thing finished enough to take into the parade. – like drawing on the front windows while we sat in the line up at the start of the parade. SQUEAK! that was a tight deadline.
Then we had the thunderstorms that took the power just as I was emailing a last piece of a proposal to Timpanagos Storytelling Festival AHHHHH! As Charlie Brown says. It was a long time until it was back and that last email percolated through space to Utah and left the feeling of great relief with me. Today’s forcast is for thunderstorms…great so I got here early to write a little before the barn and then I won’t miss it so much!
The cows are on their way to summer pastures now, which is great for them, they get the 60 day vacation. On the other hand I now drive by stop the car and try to count them and make sure they are all there. Other family members have added counting cows to the daily regimen as well. If one is sick or calves early she wont be in the group and a search party will ensue and traipse through the tall wet grass seeking an answer. The field nearest my house has a rainbow in it. Not over it, but the colors of the cows and patterns are so varied its a living, cud chewing rainbow. There are a couple of the doe eyed brown Jerseys, quite a few Holsteins in their stark black and white patterns, there is a red Holstein a personal favorite, they have red heads show up about as often as we human families do. Then there are a couple of Dutch Belted, they are a rare breed, only 1000 purebreds left in the world and these girls are 50% or 75%. Either way they are giant walking Oreo’s. Not the Belted beef breed, but a dairy version originally from Holland. Holy Cow!
Counting the days now to the end of the school year. My sons release from text books and teachers to herald in a full time place in the hay fields and loft of the barn. My schedule shifts to summer mode as well and hoping to gain a little time spent on school things that can be converted to home things. The barn needs cleaning and sweeping out of the webs, the house needs cleaning, well that can wait, cause the gardens need weeding too. I have several stories Im working on that I want to finish and some music to learn and some craft projects to finish and…well you get it my list is as long as yours and summer is beckoning.
The pictue is of a cow calf we used to have but wanted to show you the red Dutch Belted and her mother who was a purebred. Their names were Linda and Beth.