Spring certainly not my favourite season

I have heard so many people say how much they love spring. Well, I do not. For me, it is the worst season.
It is the only time that I wish I didn’t have cows. It is wet, ugly, and muddy. You cannot keep anything dry, including yourself.
You put out dry hay and straw—and it only lasts a short time. Most of us have some kind of small shelter for our calves so they can get in out of the weather and stay dry, but one of mine was flooded out earlier this week (the water hasn’t been able to find a path out of the yard yet).
Plus, I have a dog that lives in the house and the dog tracks on my floor for the next month will be disgusting.
And how about that wind? That’s another thing I can do without. I have a calf that, for some reason, seems to bloat in the wind so needless to say, she was back in the barn yesterday.
My barn is just as full as it was when in was minus-40 as I hate to put the young calves out in these conditions (at least when it is cold, it is dry!)
I checked the weather forecast and it looks pretty miserable for the rest of the week, so I guess I can’t count on being done with shovelling manure yet (but I might get my income tax done!)
• • •
The nieces have gone back to town. It was a fun but very busy week.
Maddie and I spent pretty much the entire day every day in the barn or barnyard. Marlee, on the other hand, ended up being pretty much shut-in with Grandma and Grandpa because she was battling a cold and she is too “yittle” (as Maddie says it) to do what we were doing.
Maddie ended up becoming best friends with a calf—#2 Darma. She would sit beside her and pet her, remove any hay or straw that was on her, check her feet and tail, and tell her, “You’re adorable, Darma.”
The part she liked the best was Darma following her when I finally convinced her we should go and check on the others.
We would walk out to the barn numerous times in a day (we had to go back to the house because we also potty-trained Ms. Madison this week), and every time we would walk back to the barn, she would tell me, “You sure got yots [lots, but the l’s don’t always work] cows, Auntie Kimmie!”
I want to take her to one of my friends who actually has “yots” of cows just to see what she has to say.
Maddie also was able to witness another new calf being born. I had asked her if she wanted to go and watch and yes she did–and it was the only time she moved quickly this week as she rushed to get her pants on (I think I might have nicknamed her “Speedo”).
As we were going in the barn, she asked, “Do we have to be very quiet?” I said, “Ya, a little bit quiet.”
She was sitting on her milk crate and, of course, this cow was taking her own sweet time. The water bag was hanging from the cow, and she quietly asked, “Auntie Kimmie, what is that?” I replied it was the water bag that protects the calf inside the cow.
“Oh,” she said. “Can I eat my cookies and watch?” Right then I knew she had a stronger stomach than her dad–he once fainted when he saw his own blood.
On Maddie’s last day at the farm, we had to do a quick errand in Emo (at least, as quick as it can be when getting her in and out of that darn car seat). We finished our errand, but she thought we maybe should go to the grocery store, as well (the kids’ shopping carts at Cloverleaf are a huge attraction).
We got a few things and I buckled her back in. As I was backing out of the parking lot, I could tell she looked pretty sleepy.
“Auntie Kimmie, doing chores sure makes you tired,” she said.
We were only gone a few miles before she was passed out. Chores, along with not making her have an afternoon nap all week, had caught up to my helper.
It might take me all this week to get caught up on my work, but it was great week with “yots” of questions and fun. She told me she had so much fun and she was excited because she now had two best friends: “Karma” (my dog) and “Darma” (the calf!)
Oh, by the way, I’m not done baby-sitting. Now I have “Kloee,” my mom and dad’s dog, and she is a handful!
• • •
You may remember me talking about my friends from Dryden in a recent article. They are busy calving now, and it sounds like they are considering putting a sign at the end of their driveway that reads: “Please do not drink the water!”
It seems they’re running a very fertile place. They only have calved out 16 of their cows but have had five sets of twins!
They had friends over for supper, who then went home and had two sets of twins (calves, that is!)
My friends, themselves, are raising their own little nearly nine-month-old twins, so it must be the water.