Mayhem

Her name is Mayhem because within the first 24 hours of her life her mother lost her - twice! The first time we thought she had been lost forever. CJ (her mother) paced the pasture like a mad cow for hours, bellowing the whole time. Grandpa eventually came over to help me look and he had me looking for evidence a bear had carried the calf away! *sob* 

Thankfully, we found her a short while later sleeping under the lilac bush in the neighbors yard. She was afraid to cross back into our pasture because the fence was hot and she had to walk through water to get there. I'm sure she got a good shock on her first trip to the neighbors and this is likely why we had no problems with her going over there again!

The second time she was lost was later that night when her mother started bellowing again. You can hear the distress in their bellow and it breaks my heart. Kevin kept assuring me her mother would locate her, but eventually humored me by going out to take a look for her. We couldn't find any evidence of the calf. CJ didn't seem as worked up as she had been earlier in the day so we took this to mean she had an idea where her calf would be. It wasn't until nearly nine at night when Kevin went out to look again for the calf (at this point I was in bed crying and I think he just wanted to get me to stop) and found her nursing her mother in a back corner of the pasture!

What a little trouble maker she is! I wanted to name her Mayberry and then after all the shenanigans we thought Mayday might be more appropriate. However, it is only fair that Kevin should name this calf since I named the last one, and he settled on Mayhem. She has lived up to the name since. She is almost always ahead or behind the rest of the herd. She is always looking to get into trouble, especially with her cousin, Tbone (the bull calf born a few weeks after Mayhem). I love her. She is spunky and runs with her tail in the air and always seems to be looking for adventure. 

She is big and strong and will grow up to be a good mama, that is if she doesn't get into too much trouble before then!

The Good Life

There is something beautiful about these early summer Saturday evenings. We've worked hard all day, and I mean hard. I'm dirty, my back and hands hurt, I've proven myself stronger than I ever thought I was. I've worked, we've worked, together. There is something so satisfying about it all. I love that he has made me a hard worker.

The evening comes and the sun begins to set and pour in the windows, filling the house with light. It's different from the morning light, but beautiful all the same. The windows are open and the cool evening air fills the house. I can hear the birds singing while they hurry to get there dinner before the sun is gone. The cows come out to the back pasture and graze. The caves run and play. They look so happy to be free to jump and explore.

We'll have dinner while the sun sets and talk and laugh and rest.

Life feels settled, happy and full.

I'll take a million more of these days, please.

This has got to be the good life.