Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.

Winston Churchill

The cow hasn't calved yet. I think she's waiting for this afternoon. It's supposed to be a glorious day today.... sunny and in the low 50's. Awesome for February 16th. So Mike will get to check her and tag the calf while I drive the steers to the stock yard.
It is a wonderful feeling knowing that someone else who knows what they're doing will be checking cows. After so many tears of IH pretending he knew something about cattle and ignoring all problems until they became fatal (that way he didn't have to do anything) it's a major relief. Ex-IH still pretends to be a livestock expert, which is laughable. But his present s1ut/mother of a wife knows nothing about livestock either, so unlike me, she can't help him look competent. I advised him on livestock for all his papers and talks, so he'd make few (I couldn't stop him once he started talking) mistakes on behaviour, handling, breeding, genetics or other similar topics.

that's YEARS, not TEARS. Or maybe I got it right the first time.

So #17 has earned a forever place at Heidi's retirement home for cows, right?

Yep. She'll live out her years here.

Where is everyone?

Hello, Everyone! Finally things have slowed down (a bit), though not as much as I'd like. I hope to get back to more frequent posts.

First of all, I'm sorry I missed your birthday, Heidi! I hope you had an enjoyable day!

Congratulations on your first calf of the year, and how exciting that it's a red bull calf sired by Duke! That sounds like a really great birthday surprise! How nice that he has the good qualities of Duke and Rede!

Were your night vision goggles a birthday present to yourself, Heidi? They sound like a really good investment!

Cyn, I can understand not wanting to do a cruise again! I'm certainly thinking the coronavirus is going to take a toll on the entire cruise industry. I can't imagine what it must be like being quarantined on a ship. NOT fun for the passengers - or for the workers!

Cyn, I'm glad to hear that rain has returned, new green growth is being seen, and catch basins are filling! It can be hard going very long without the sun, though. (Earlier this month, our area set a new record for no sight of the sun for a couple of weeks, I think.)

Heidi, I'm glad the critter eating the cat food wasn't a skunk - and also relieved that DOrA's 'visiting family' had been raccoons, rather than skunks!

What a great TOPP from Winston Churchill! Thanks, Heidi!

DOrA, thanks for sharing the link about Pink and her agility competition! She's quite a dog!

I liked your post about former IH, Heidi! Sure seems like he found the perfect partner for himself, someone as incompetent as he is.

DOrA, I like your name for 'Heidi's retirement home for cows.'

I'm running on empty and about to head to bed.

Thinking of Everyone and sending a large supply of {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, healing energy, positive thoughts, , and prayers for nothing but good for Everyone! Take care and stay safe!

Morning all!
Two years have come and gone and Col is still waiting on a lens which help give him some sight in his eye. No satisfaction from the hospital waiting list but, maybe light at the end of the tunnel - Workcover has given him permission to go private. He has an appointment on Feb 26 with his regular hospital Opthalmologist but at his private practice and hopefully a date can be set asap.
Fingers crossed.

Thought I'd get rid of my heart avatar and chose one of our dog Jewel when she was a puppy. She's now almost 13 and still thinks she's a Rottweiler! Pity help anyone who she sees as a threat, crazy little thing she is. She bales up snakes and they leave!!

Nice to see Julie and CynB again. I wish Suzy would return and fill us (or me) in on her ordeal with the fire.

Cow #79 has changed her mind. Her bag has gone down a bit, and it now looks like she might be a week away. It looks like the rest of the calf crop will be sired by Mike's bull. So any heifers I keep will not be Duke daughters and can be bred to Laird.

Hmm. I thought my internet was down yesterday when I tried to post. Now, I see that there have been no new posts since I first tried to get here yesterday. Maybe it was the website, and not my internet.

Hooray! That posted, so I guess I'm good to go.

Hi, Everyone! I hope Everyone is well!

Heidi, I hope you are not overdoing, but are protecting your back!

Not much happening here. I had my first cello lesson since January today. My teacher is letting me spend time in my lesson on music for string orchestra. I think it will be a big help! I'm also trying to learn how to choose good fingerings for music that requires moving left-hand fingers to various different positions on the fingerboard. My teacher tells me she didn't learn to select fingerings until she was in college (maybe even graduate school). My guess is that she had been playing cello for at least 15 years by then. I don't think I can wait that long to learn how to do it. I think I started cello lessons about 7 or 8 years ago.

It has been a long day, and I'm about to head to bed. I've been thinking of all of our fellow Sudokuaholics, including those we haven't heard from in quite a while. Sending positive thoughts, healing energy, prayers, , and warm {{{{{HUGS}}}}}! Take care, Everyone!

Just saw this posted on Facebook by MizT. It says it was posted 18 hours ago:

'I am in the hospital had to spend the night in the emergency room holding facility no beds in the main hospital my pulse rate went High my blood pressure went High. No known cause. Now, I see more tests in my future.'

If I see more tomorrow, I'll share.

Another update from MizT,
'Quick up date. I now have a regular room with my own bathroom I don't have to walk down the hall and a backless a gown to go. I am at the moment capital n capital P capital O 4 test perhaps they cannot find out why they're holding me an perhaps my cardiologist did it in case perhaps she has something in mind. They did get my blood pressure down last night.' and another in answer to a question 'they say this is not A-fib'
Not abundantly clear but it seems they are still trying to find what is wrong. I hope they get it sorted. I think the NPO is 'Nil by Mouth' and that she was 'dictating' to her tablet.

Thanks for the updates, Julie and CynB. I'm worried sick about her. I've been thinking a lot about her and have tried repeatedly to call her, but I haven't been able to get thru'.

NPO 4 is a test for phosphorous - if too low can be very problematic. Good diet is usually enough to keep these levels up. Hope you are on the med MizT

MizT was a nurse. I'm surprised she did not know that. She must be REALLY sick.

Just a very quick hello and good night!

Sending healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}. positive thoughts, prayers, and

Just tagged another bull calf. He was a pain in the a$$ to catch, since he had already dried off when I spotted him, and had learned to run alongside mom. He will be turned into a steer. He's SO different in personality to Laird, who still enjoys being petted every day.

In case anybody was wondering how I catch a calf like that, I have a leg catch on an extendable 10 foot pole. If I can get within 10 feet of the calf, I can grab it by a back leg, then flank it to get it down on the ground where I can check the gender, then pop in an ear tag. I prefer getting to the calf when it's still wet and hasn't learned to walk yet. They're walking alongside mom within half an hour of birth. Unfortunately, I can't do that all the time since I have to sleep.

Heidi, What with dogs, cats, birds, alpacas, horses and cows (what did I leave out?), I wonder when you find time to sleep anyway...

I have a few fish, too. But right now the cows are keeping me the busiest. I'm walking the 12 acre calving pasture 4 times a day and examining every cow for signs of being close to labor, and checking baby calves for any possible health problems. And Laird is STILL letting me pet him every day. He's going to be a very gentle bull.

Thanks for the calf update and explanation, Heidi! I'm guessing this calving season is a bit easier for you since your recent weight loss. You mentioned needing to walk the 12-Acre calving pasture 4 times a day! Is the new calf a son of Duke or Mike's bull? (With the major difference in personality, I'm guessing he's from Mike's bull.)

DOrA, I agree with you, It's hard to imagine how Heidi can find the time to do everything she does each day! I think she accomplishes far more than I do in a day, and I feel very busy.

Heidi, I'm SO glad Laird is turning out to be a wonderful young and gentle bull! Seems like he will be a great replacement for Duke!

Just found a new post from MizT (posted 3 minutes ago, currently 10:00 p.m. Central U.S. time):

'I am home. A bit of an update follows.
Well, we know what it is not, no blocked arteries. No idea what it is
Seems as if it still could be A fib. Thursday 3 am, when I was up for my morning potty break, the monitors caught a 6 second episode of a fib. I have an appointment to return to see the cardiologist soon to talk about what we do next. I also have a an appointment with my primary care physician I think that one is even earlier we still are looking 4 calls. I am feeling better heart rate is not as high blood pressure is not as high we would still like to get both of them down a little bit and try to find out why I keep having these little bumps with Afib I am feeling better now.'

Mike's #79 cow should be calving today, if I read her right. She's acting strange, has a heavy discharge, has bagged up again AND the other cows are acting protective of her. A flock of black vultures showed up to clean up the afterbirth from yesterday's calf, landed near #79, and all of the rest of the cows stampeded and attacked the vultures! It was cool to watch. Black vultures can be very cangerous around calving. They're known to kill newborn calves and attack the cow when she lays down in hard labor. They go for her eyes first, and then once she's blind, kill the calf and sometimes the cow. They're the only native raptor that it's legal to shoot.

MizT posted this 18 hours ago:
I am home. A bit of an update follows.
Well, we know what it is not, no blocked arteries. No idea what it is
Seems as if it still could be A fib. Thursday 3 am, when I was up for my morning potty break, the monitors caught a 6 second episode of a fib. I have an appointment to return to see the cardiologist soon to talk about what we do next. I also have a an appointment with my primary care physician I think that one is even earlier we still are looking 4 calls. I am feeling better heart rate is not as high blood pressure is not as high we would still like to get both of them down a little bit and try to find out why I keep having these little bumps with Afib I am feeling better now.

Heidi, I always knew that vultures were predatory but that's a horrible image of them blinding an animal and killing it and it's baby. I'm glad they are not a protected species. I am against the slaughter of animals but not them. They sound horrible. I know it's probably's natural selection in the wild, but your cattle are not in the wild. Vultures are obviously the murderers in the animal world so deserve no sympathy.
(Rant over!)

Turkey Vultures are great birds to have around. They eat carrion only, so clean up carcasses to prevent the spread of disease. THEY are fully protected in the USA. Fortunately, the Turkey Vultures showed up here this afternoon to clean up afterbirth, and drove the Black Vultures away. The cows seem to know the difference between the 2 species and don't object to having the turkey vultures around. Up until about 15 years ago, black vultures were really rare, and posed no threat to livestock. Since then, they've had a population explosion and have become a nightmare to all livestock breeders in the central US.

Another quick post, as it's very late. Sending positive thoughts, healing energy, prayers, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and to Everyone!

Cow # 79 FINALLY had her calf. It's a very tall jet black bull calf. We think he's the first calf by Mike's black bull because his conformation does not look like Duke's calves. So we have 3 red bull calves, 1 black bull calf, 1 red heifer calf and 1 black heifer calf. Only Laird will be kept a bull. Only 2 of those calves are mine, both red bulls. The rest of the cows won't start calving for at least another week.

Hello and Good Night!

Sending healing energy, , positive thoughts, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and prayers for All!

It's late again tonight, so sending the same message and good wishes!

Nothing much going on here except for steady rain.

Different weather today. Instead of rain we're getting rain, sleet and snow together. Of course, one of Mike's Fall calves decided to go thru' the fence and get out on the road in this muck. It was a blast getting him back in. He's not at all cooperative.

Haven't been around for a while. DorA - did your brother make it home o.k.? My brother is finally out of hospital (for now anyway). Besides having his toe removed, cirrhosis, stents and iliac by-pass, he contracted staph infection and was in isolation for a few weeks (not good for the mental state). He now has 'giant cell arteritis' and has gone blind in one eye - PET scan yesterday to see if anything can be done. Hoping to see him this weekend if his blood tests are clear of the staph. I have no immunity so cannot see him again until then. How many cows to calve Heidi? Like the sound of the night vision gear - could have some fun with that. We seem to be in a weather turnaround and our lovely heat has gone and replaced by 20's degrees. Still haven't made it tothe beach yet - at least my family have been able to enjoy the van. No 1 son has just arrived in Bangkok from Seoul and is not well - waiting to hear what dr. says. He is sure it is just a head cold and asthma but i am very worried. No 2 son to Bali next week - cannot talk him out of it. He may regret it and have a 'holiday' at Christmas Island or Darwin on his way back. He has 2 cars not going at the front of our house now and has to move them before he leaves. The Delica, is his favourite - i am sure he has spent more keeping that van going than a new one would cost. Hubby off to Sydney again this weekend and i am thinking of flying to Canberra or Eden to meet him and take a few days to get back to Fern Tree Gully. It will depend on my blood test this a.m. - creatinine has spiked and may have biopsy on kidney next week. Won't be back again for a while so wish to say 'hi' to everyone and cheers.

Hi, Everyone!

Heidi, that's quite a mixture of weather! What a horrible day for one of Mike's calves to make an escape. I hope recapturing it didn't put too much stress on your back!

It's good to 'see' you here again, Midge! You certainly seem to have a lot going on! I'm glad your brother is out of the hospital, but sorry he has a number of medical issues! I hope the staph infection gets cleared up so you can visit him.

Midge, I hope your No. 1 son has correctly diagnosed himself with a head cold and asthma! Hoping No. 2 son's visit to Bali

Yesterday's rodeo with Mike's wayward calf did a serious number on my back, since I was struggling through deep mud a lot of the time. That calf and his mother (along with the other 2 Fall calves and their mothers) are now locked up inside a wooden fence that they can't escape from, until we decide where to put them. Mike wants to put the cows in with his bull to breed them back as soon as possible. I suspect that will be Saturday afternoon.

Midge Thanks for 'checking in'... Seems like if your brother didn't have bad luck, he wouldn't have any at all. Wishing the best for him.
My brother is home, and to the best of my knowledge, is symptom free. His wife remains, in China, with her family. Future plans unknown...
Heidi, you know 'good fences make good neighbors'. I get to slop around in wet, muddy areas but I don't have to chase livestock.
Time to go out and enjoy what is left of the sunshine. We've had a few nice days, but now it's due to start raining, again. Not a gully washer, just a slow steady soaker.
G'day ya-all

Heidi, glad #79's calf finally arrived!
Midge, sorry to hear that your brother is in such a bad state of health. Glad DorA's bro is home Must be the time for us to worry about our brothers. Mine has been in and out of hospital since New Years with a perforated bowel due to diverticulitis. He's 70 in August. He has to change his diet to eliminate seeds and roughage. His wife always controlled what he ate. Now he can eat mashed potatoes and milky desserts - he's loving that part and she can't say anything!

Midge, I hope both of your sons get home in good health with no stopovers at Christmas island.
In the last few years my daughter has travelled overseas 4 times. I'm so glad she has bought a house and settled down with her new partner and has no more travel plans in the near future.
This Corona virus is a worry.

Next post is over the page!