First Calf

One of the cows had their calf the day after Thanksgiving. We were all over at the Homestead Fair that day and got a message from Neighbor telling us. It is a cute little bull calf and is staying pretty close to his mama, No. 5, Nellie. The other four mamas are due to calf in the next few weeks.

Christmas Parade

We went into town the other evening for the Christmas parade and stayed for the tree lighting. 

The parade was disappointing with only a couple of floats escorted by two police cars with sirens and lights. Had to laugh at that.

The local Chamber of Commerce hosted a chili and cornbread supper in the alumni building. Several groups from the community had set up tables to advertise their services. A Santa was also holding court for a few children brave enough to sit on his lap.

Finally around 7 pm, the mayor plugged in the lights of the tree sitting in the middle of the intersection, along with the lights in the park.

Three Nieces

It happened that three of our nieces recently had baby boys. So I've been knitting again. I decided to use the same little vest pattern but with different yarns.

The gray color scheme went to England.

The first blue color scheme went to Montana.

And the second blue set went to Washington.

Goodbye Daisy Goodbye

It has taken me a week to muster up the courage to write this post.

Our sweet dog Daisy died two days before Thanksgiving.

It all came on very suddenly and took us all by surprise. Saturday she seemed fine, running around chasing things in the woods. On Sunday evening she was different, walking slowly and breathing heavily. By Monday, we could tell something was really wrong. She was lethargic and not eating or drinking anything, coughing and labored breathing. Tuesday we took her to the vet and he said it was her heart. He could hear a murmur and thought one of the valves had torn. There was fluid on her lungs. He said she was showing signs of distress and might not live more than a day or two. We could have done x-rays and run tests to determine the exact cause and used medications to possibly prolong her life for a few months.

We made the hard decision - that so many other dog owners have made - to put her to sleep. The vet actually used the word euthanasia (ending life in order to relieve pain and suffering). I was surprised that the procedure only took a few seconds as she just drifted off. We brought her limp body home and we buried her under the tree in front of the house.

We will miss Daisy in the coming days. She was always happy to see us come home and did her happy dance for us. She loved to be outside, on guard, watching, protecting, chasing. She also loved being inside, quietly watching over us or waiting for a few crumbs to hit the floor. She was such a big part of our life here and will be hard to ever replace.

Although she was ever present in the background and a constant companion, she only features a few times on this blog.

When we moved and she rode shotgun with me in the moving van: Phase 3

The time she saved the day by herding up the chickens who had been scared deep into the woods: Nine

The day we kidnapped a deer fawn: Deer Fawn

When I gave her a haircut: Buzz Cut

Protecting me when a stray horse came up to the house: Another Horse

Daisy

January 22, 2005 - November 25, 2014

New Eggs

Finally, most of my chickens are laying eggs now. It's still not as many as I would like, considering we have 19 layers out there. We are getting 6-8 eggs a day, in varying colors. One day we had a larger than normal one which ended up being a double yoke.

Cotton Harvest Festival

I'm just now getting around to posting a few photos of the festival that happened several weeks ago. This year we decided we'd participate in the morning fun run. I could only manage the 1K walk, while the rest of the family made a strong showing in the 5K walk/run. We were amused that we all got medals for being the best in our age category. Obviously, there were lots of age categories and lots of medals given out.

The festival celebrates the local cotton harvest.

I'd guess about 100 people turned up for the morning fun run.

For $20 you can enter the race and get a t-shirt.

The runners were stretching.

Since I was walking, I was at the back of the pack.

My finishing time was just a few minutes before the 5K run winner.

Yes, we were all winners in our categories!

We still don't completely understand the tractor pull, but it was fun to watch.

There was a new Big Tex inflatable.

This pickup was my favorite of the old cars on display.

There were many choices for fried food.

We went back in the evening to ride the Ferris Wheel.

Friday Night Lights

We decided to go to all the home high school football games this year. It wasn't that hard because there were only five home games. We even managed to go to one nearby away game.

We tried to sit roughly in the same spot each time (except for the away game), around the 50 yard line, mid way up the bleachers.

Here are a few photos.

August 29

September 5

September 12

October 10

October 17

October 31