The New Cow

I spoke too soon. She made it here after all. And just in time. As they were pulling the trailer out to leave it started pouring sleet. Now tomorrow........in ice, snow and cold.....we have TWO cows to milk. Am I insane or what???? I think I'm the only one that is excited but I'm also not heading out to milk in the morning.

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening????

I wish we had an open sleigh for the horse to pull. Maybe one day. Mattie headed out today to take Bullseye for a ride before the big snow storm hits. I thought this was a pretty shot of her from the back window of the house.

The cow did not make it here today as we had trailer trouble. Maybe tomorrow but then we are suppose to have a horrible winter storm including some ice so I don't know when she will be here.

Feet are doing much better. I think by Christmas I will be moving around a lot more. I know we will have a white Christmas. I just hope any storms hold off so that the kids will all be here that day. I have a wonderful meal planned but different than the traditional turkey. I am doing a cranberry pork loin in the crock pot which is a recipe I got from a southern cookbook. Will also make my famous bourbon pecan mashed sweet potatoes. The only thing missing that day will be my extended family. One day we will have Christmas together again.

Winter in Nebraska

Didn't I just post an Autumn post? What a difference a few weeks make! I've never seen temperatures this cold this early in the year. We usually don't see subzero temps until January at the earliest and then only for a night or two. We have had highs in the single digits for several days. I took the above picture from my chair in the living room. I'm stuck sitting in this chair for another week as my feet heal. It's driving me crazy! The only time it pays off is when they head out to milk and it's -10 degrees....and that is the actual temperature. We are talking about -30s for the windchill.

We made a deal last night on a new milk cow. Bitsy will be here today, God willing. We are having another ice storm today so we are hoping to get her moved before that hits. She is carrying a calf which will be born in March. We will trade her new calf and Annabelle for her. So bottom line is that I will have 2 milk cows much earlier than I imagined. We will be breeding Britney again in the next few weeks and Hazel sometime in the spring. So life is moving forward here on Terra Benedicta, despite the frigid weather.

The chickens are busy, busy, busy. I get around 3 dozen eggs a day and sometimes even close to 4 dozen. There are 45 laying hens at last count. This has become a very important staple food for us and one of the biggest incomes in our little store.





Hazel, the nut........so, yes, we call her Hazelnut. This is Jeffrey's heiffer that we are daily having to chase back into the pasture. She is slowly settling down.

Jeffrey milking Britney on a cold morning with Annabelle tied in the other stall.