Our House (Part 2)

Hi!
I'm back from our short, yet informative, trip to a Purina meeting and a few farm visits.
One of the thing I love about my job is that the dairy industry is constantly evolving and there is always room for improvement and learning.

I like to learn.....now that I don't get graded for it.
Funny how that happens huh?

Anyway, Chuck went with me and I absolutely loved that:).
Our dairy is the only one he had ever been to, up til Monday and Tuesday, so it was really nice for him to see how it works elsewhere...and on a much larger scale!

He was great:).
Everyone thought he was the farmer and I was just the wife tagging along, which is more than fine with me.
It made for a lot of interesting looks when people found out what he did...
Oh! You're the police?!  How'd you get wrangled into this??

There were also some...
The police huh?  Well, one of your brethren almost got me on the way here....
Those stories are always interesting...

Long story short, we had a lovely trip and I was so glad to be back at work yesterday morning.

Now that I have caught you up on my life story, I believe I owe you the second part of the tour de mi casa...

I like to give the people what they want, therefore I bring you....

The laundry room!!!

If you will take a hard left there you will go up these stairs to the...

MAN CAVE!!!!

The man cave is outfitted with all of my furniture..

But really that's OK because I got the good closet.
(See how that works?)

There is also a Foosball table on the left and a fabulous surround sound for the tv wedon'thaveyet.
Baby steps.

If you will descend the cave-o-wonders you will come up on this room...

 The guest room, but most commonly referred to as "Chuck's changing room".
...I change in the garage...

If you find yourself needing to use the facilities,

 Then the guest bath will suit your needs.

The next stop is Caden's bedroom...

But really just his bed...I did a fantastic job photographing.

Here is another picture of his room and the ghost in the corner...

 She's harmless really.

On to the master!

The master bedroom is beside the family room.

 Ahhhhhh! Snake!
Just kidding.
It's my phone charger.
Had ya goin though, didn't I?

Another picture of the master...

We have a ghost in our room as well.

Last picture of the master.
Please ignore the cow on the top of my jewelry box with the 3D glasses on.
...and the guard dog holding the bedroom door open...

OK, so from where you're standing now, just turn around, open the door and...

 

 Boom!  Master bath.

My closet, to the right...

Don't judge, just love.

My sink to the right...here again ladies CHOOSE your battles.
The tub, that I have never been in...

..and from another view.
Please note Chuck's "boom box" on his sink....
We call him "Boom box Bobby".

Now that we have reached the end of the tour, and I feel like everyone has been in my house...I bid you farewell.

Have a wonderful day!

Love,
CowLady

P.s. Can you hit the light in my closet on your way out?  Thanks.

Our House (Part 1)

Is a very very very fine house!
...with NO pets:(.

Heyyyy!  Happy Monday to ya!
Did you have a nice weekend?
Go anywhere?
Do anything?
Do nothing and love it?

I had a lovely weekend.
Worked Saturday and half of Sunday, then Mr. CowLady's family came over and threw us a post-wedding/new home shower!

They went to so much trouble and I cannot even begin to tell them how much it meant to us:).
They are so much fun!

Anyway, since I had my house all spotless for the shin-dig I decided to take a few pictures and share them with you fine people.

This is fulfilling a request from a nice lady we will refer to as "Hammer"...youknowwhoyouare.

I have broken it up into 2 parts, this first post being the kitchen/dining areas/sunroom/entryway.

Please excuse the lack of furniture/things...I have a allergy to clutter.
Also excuse the quality of the photos...they were all taken with my phone.

Heeeerrre we go!

This is the entry to the house...there is an arch and columns on the right leading into the family room.
I really don't know what's in that closet...I forget it's there.
The light fixtures that came in the house are incredible!

This is from the entry looking into the family room.
There's Chuck!  Hey honey!!
Anyway, tall ceilings throughout and the see-thru fireplace.

 From the family room looking back to the entry.
Just call me Ansel Adams...photographer extraordinaire.

 To the right of the entry is the formal dining...and the garage through the windows...nice.

Occasionally I like to take a saucer of...an egg...and dine on the enormous table we have.
It's...cozy.

 Family room!

More family room!

Fireplace, and behind it is the sunroom as you can see from the inferno of light blasting from it.
 

Sunroom!
This is where I get my tan on...heh.

 

Informal dining area adjacent to kitchen and family room.

  

My room.....uh...I mean...the kitchen.

 More kitchen, cuz who can get enough of that???
Not me...not me.

I could really do a whole post about how much I love my kitchen, but I won't.
Youcanthankmelater.

 Hallway...I like that I turned the lights on for this one.

 Look who I found in the hall!
Hey guys!! Great wedding!!
What a lovely couple.

 

 Hallway to Caden's lair.

 

 The loves of my life hangin out in the hall.

That wraps this segment up!
Stay tuned for part 2...the "bedroom" segment..where the "magic" happens!
Hehehehehehe...I kid.

But really, you should come over!

Headed on a couple of farm tours today...have a great day!!

Love,
CowLady

P.s. Hammer's my hero!!

Being Different

Sometimes when you're different, things can be hard.
Things that others find easy, can leave you quite scarred.

Maybe you're smaller, or slower, or need help more than some.
You could look different, or be quiet and your peers think you're dumb.

You grow up feeling like the underdog, always the last one picked.
You pray to be the same, hoping prayer will do the trick.

It seems like forever you plead, finally getting mad.
"Why can't I be the same? Why must I be so sad?"

He hears all of your whispers, and  He waits for the time.
After all the world cannot change on a dime!

What if everyone's prayers were answered right then?
Our lives would be a mess, just think of the sin!

It seems like you're in a dark place.
Your heart feels broken and you want to hide your face.

Time goes by, and each day it's still the same person in the mirror.
"Did I pray for the right things? Do I need to make it clearer?"

Eventually you stop trying to be like the others.
You embrace yourself, throwing off the covers!

"Why would I want to be someone I'm not?"
"I'm perfect just the way I am!  Different is hot!"

You sit down and realize that nothing you asked had been given.
Change happened from the inside, from your heart it was driven.

He taught you to love and accept yourself for who you are.
All of the years of trying to fit in had left no scar.

Be proud of being different, proud to be you.
His love is everlasting and it lives within you.


Love,
CowLady

Keys to Working on a Farm: Don't Proproginate

That's right.
That's not even a word, glad you are awake.

Chuck came up with that word months ago and it, along with Caden's "dramaticise" and "drugaholic", have stuck ever since.
The grammar apple doesn't fall far my friends.

However last week, Chuck did throw out "irregardless" which I didn't even know was a word.
It is!  (A bit redundant if you ask me.)

Anywho, since you are well on your way to knowing every gosh darned thing about farming I'm going to give you some advice...
No matter how long you have been at it, or how well you are doing, don't ever start thinking you know it all.
For real.
Don't proproginate.

When you start proproginating one day you're all like....

Pffft!  Why should I be in the sun all hot when there's thing cool tank o' wata all alone?

Then you start thinking you're somebody and this happens...

Crap.

Or one day your vet calls you...wait...wha?
Yep, you look at the incoming call and it's your vet calling YOU.
Well, it's about time he needed my help.

You answer and kinda smile because that's a sign that you have made it...then he starts with, "Your father called me.....".
Crap.

No 4 words in the English language could strike more fear in me.

A sure sign that you need to chill out is when anyone, no matter who they are or what they are driving, pulls down to the calf barn and you automatically think they want to buy calves.
Hey, I......
Nope.  I don't have any for sale.
But I....
I don't have any!
...I just needed to use the air tank....
Oh. Crap.

Proprogination.
Don't do it.

Love,
NonProproginatingCowLady

P.s. I wonder if proproginate is actually proproDginate?  Silent "d"?
P.p.s. Personally I think "clapter" should be a word...you know, like a bunch of people clapping?
Wait.
Nevermind.

Love at First Sight

I took this picture about 4 seconds after I pulled this calf..

..OK, maybe it was like 8 seconds, but who's counting?

Anyway, this momma had been pushing for a while out in the field and I finally got her to cooperate enough to come into the barn, and let me help.

She didn't really volunteer, but I have a way with persuasion you see...

Her calf was relatively easy to pull and she was 15 days early...those combined make for a pretty questionable calving.

He was allllll legs, and after I pulled him and drug him back a good distance from her, she turned without missing a beat and went to him.

Love at first sight.

99% of the time, this is how it happens.
They just know.

I came back to check on them and wouldn't you know it, there was another calf laying beside him.
She had twin bulls.

You think I would learn!!
After having twins and triplets, you think I would do an area check just to make sure everyone had been born.
You think wrong, my friends.
I am lucky she is a good mother.

Isn't it funny how they just know?
Cows, dogs, cats, horses...no matter what animal, much less species, they just know.

Now, I realize there are always exceptions to the rule, but I am not talking about them.
I'm talking about the love-without-end mothers and fathers.

As for me, I always figured I would get married one day, eventually someone would fall under my spell;).
The 'kids' part of the equation was the fuzzy part.

For me, I never had a firm grip on if I would have kids, much less how many I wanted.
I think this is because I was never with the right person.
It's hard to envision a year down the road, much less ten years if you haven't got tomorrow figured out.
Word?

I liked kids, I mean I helped raise my younger siblings...Malinda and I being built-in babysitters...but my own?
Would I be good at it?
I decided to follow my path and not worry so much.

Then I met Chuck, a guy who made me smile all over myself, and suddenly we clinked together, like two rail cars joining.

The beauty of not "picking" the one you will love forever, is that you don't get to choose what comes with them.
You don't have the liberty of convenience.
It just is what it is, take it or leave it.

In my case there wasn't any doubt...there was no moment where I had to make a tough decision.
I just knew.
I knew that I loved his boy with all of the maternal instincts I already had.

Most of the time I tried to sort of sit back and blend when the 3 of us were together.
Mostly I wanted Caden to decide on his own, whether he liked me or not.
I was NOT going to force myself on him.

Luckily he accepted me, I think partly because he liked me, but mostly because he is a good boy and that's his personality.
He is all heart, though he tries to be a tough guy he is really a sweet boy.

The "step parent" is so commonly used, but what does it mean?
Is it like a substitute or stand-in?
I don't feel like either of those...maybe I am doing it wrong?

I rarely get on Caden, or even give my opinion since Chuck does such a good job as a father.
Not because I want to be his friend, but I guess because I wasn't the one there to see him 8 seconds after he was born:).
I joined 8 years later and I have some catching up to do.

The beauty of the step parent, is that you see it all from the outside.
You get the whole unbiased picture.

If you're like me, you take everything in and then analyze it later...cuzyou'recrazy.

After almost 3 years of analyzing I have decided that I have a lot of work to do.
If I can be successful at any one thing, I want it to be providing a place for him to call home.
Not just a few days out of the week.

I grew up in the same home, spending very nearly every single night in the same bed.
Everything I had was constant.

This...this sense of calmness is what I think step parents are supposed to provide.

Maybe I haven't been there from the beginning, but I will be there until the end.

Love,
StepMotherCowLady

This is Pretty Important

I don't mean to be all dramatic and stuff, but this is huge.
It's a big deal.
Life altering.
Game changing.
..that's all I got.

It's Dairy Month!
June is the once month out of the year dedicated to....DAIRY!!
Wooohoooo!

Is there a beef month?  I think not...butdon'tquoteme.
Poultry month?  Nope.
Turkey month?  Pffftttt!
Month de pork?  Nein.

So what do you do during Dairy month?
Well, you stock up on dairy products and eat ice cream.
Thatisall.

I'm glad we had this talk.

I kid.
But really, I'm not sure what you are supposed to do other than thank your neighborhood farmer.
I don't get many people who stop by to say "thanks", come to think of it.
There are lots of "you have a cow.....", "could you keep the dust/smell to a minimum?", and "I'm looking for a job" but no "thank you".

It's alright, we're not hiring anyway:).

Maybe this month each time you grab a gallon, or a pint or carton...smile and look to the sky and give a silent thanks.
He's the one who needs to hear it anyway.

I'm gonna try my best to keep doing what I'm doing, with or without any gratitude directed my way, so go ahead and make it a prayer for dairymen and women everywhere.
We need it.


Oh, and thank you for being you:).

Love,
CowLady

June Employee of the Month!!

Hey it's June 1st...can you believe it?!
Gosh, this year is halfway over...it has gone by so fast.

Looking forward to Father's Day and the 4th of July, right around the corner!
Isn't that somethin'?

Since it is the first day of the 6th month, we are giving top honors to a certain employee.
This little lady is always there for me, even when I don't realize it.

She greets me each day with a smile, and misses me when I am gone.

Our special June EOM accompanies me on all of my walks, and is right by my side when I am pulling a calf.
She is special, one of a kind, she is.....

 

Kirra!

Please give Kirra a round of applause for being the June Employee of the Month!!

About Kirra:
Breed:  Border Collie
Weight: 37 pounds
Age: 6 years
Nickname(s): Peepers, Curry(thanks to BossMan), Peewee(Beenie's fav) and Kirra-My-Deara.
Likes:  Going everywhere with me, eating things (like grains) she isn't supposed to, and herding other dogs while they are playing fetch.
Dislikes:  Her big sister Rowdy.

From the time I first met her, to the time I brought her home and she threw up corn, I knew she was my girl.

It has taken a long time, and a lot of different medications, but we have finally figured out that my buddy has a grain allergy.
Thanks to the new food she is on, she finally has hair and a constant smile!!!

Kirra is scary smart, and loves herding anything that will move.

People say dogs personalities mimic their owners, and I believe that to be true.
Rowdy has my fire and impatience, whereas Kirra is all heart...and appetite.

I love my girl.
Congratulations Peepers!!

Love,
YourMomTheCowLady