Whew!

Yesterday morning, Alan came up early to put out the hay for the cow herd.  I saw him before he left, and he said all was fine.  "Oh, one of the heifers is calving... hoofs are showing, probably ought'a keep an eye on her."  Then he left.  So we did.... keep an eye on her, and she had the calf an hour or so later, and all was well.

When we went out for the afternoon check, we saw Ginny outside her cabin with her dog, Bitsy.  Betsy and she had conspired to get her out for a calf check on the Gator, so we decided this was the time.  So 88 year old Ginny and I in the seats, Betsy in the carry space behind, and Bitsy the Australian shepherd running behind, we drove the Gator up through the snow and mud through the pastures for a calf check.  Clearly, Ginny enjoyed the adventure!  Perhaps more astute observers would have observed the very dark cloud moving down to the south through the Paradise Valley.  We actually commented on it, but the weather "always" comes from the west and south, not the east and north.  Heh heh, not this time.  Just as we got back to the barn, the wind whipped up, howling, with blowing thick snow and ice pellets.  We had gotten back just in the nick o' time.  Then Betsy said, look who's here!  And peering out the barn door, we could see Matt arriving back from his conference.  Oh, you don't know; you can't even imagine, the relief we felt with the knowledgeable and experienced ranch manager back in town!!!  He was clearly relieved to be back in the valley after three days in Las Vegas, and pleased with the state he found things in.
We finished the day hosting 7 for a big lasagna dinner-  Ginny and Mallou and Dre, and Andrew, Hilary and their 5 and 3 year olds, Andrew and Elle.  Andrew and Hilary had had a long day, as they started the long drive from Twin Bridges, MT, where Andrew manages a herd of 900 cattle (with calving season about to begin!) and then received a cell phone call about a calf in trouble.  So they had to drive all the way back, turns out the outcome for the calf was not successful, then drive the route again.  The young children were road weary, as were the parents!  Dining room flowers cooperated- we may be cold and wintry up here, but at 6000 feet, the sun is strong and south facing rooms provide some nice solar energy!

And when the crowd left, and the dishes were done, let me tell you Betsy and Steve dropped into bed for an uninterrupted sleep of 11 hours or so.   This morning brings a call from Hilary about a conference at Chico Hot Springs this afternoon by Defenders of Wildlife for ranching in territory with many predators.  Do we have the energy?  Not yet decided.

And on Tuesday, we are considering a trip up to Bozeman.  Temple Grandin, an autistic woman known for incredible insights into managing animals, and also working with autistic children by working with animals, is speaking.  She is now a university professor, of livestock behavior and facility design at Colorado State and truly remarkable- so if we can get to the lecture, we will.

Calving today?  Don't know- someone else is in charge. Yippee!!