Good morning.
I am late popping in this morning. Last night in the hour when I usually load pictures and briefly sketch out the chat about the day, I had company. Which was lovely. Allison said that as she went off to bed, at a reasonable hour, she should have wagged her finger and said, It’s past miss c’s bedtime you know. Our John was long gone.
By the way the Honey Mead is heavenly.
My friend and I were listening to the darkening night and my mind wandered, as it does sometimes – okay often. He had been talking about solitude and how it helps you drop back into your own body and you can see who you were and how far you have come. I had been thinking about a post by TimeThief. She had been discussing what she had given up to blog. Her article ended with the question, what did you give up to be a blogger. This question has been slowly revolving through my mind since then and as my friend talked more and the fire flies winked on and of, shooting like drunken baby stars about the bean field, I thought to myself. This. This is what I do so little of now. Drinking wine with Friends. Sitting with still hands and a wandering mind.
Though I have to add that really the lack of company here is as much about being a shy busy immigrant in the mid west and living in a culture where people do not wander in and out having a cup of tea or a bite, at the drop of a hat. Or meeting for a coffee downtown. Dropping in for a Diet Pepsi (which I do not drink anyway) is just not the same. Making friends is hard when you do not have a job or go to school. Thank goodness I have you! And my wonderful Farm Stay Girls. In fact blogging has created friendships for me. Do you feel that too?
Daisy has had a setback. She stood on her teat again and ripped all the stitches out reopening the great gash in her teat. My vet said he could stitch it all back up again, but she will more than likely to do this again. Plus the edges are healing already. Plus she has mastitis in that quarter now too.
So here is the plan for Paisley Daisy now. I am to spray the area with a product called Vetericyn two or three times a day to keep it clean and healing. There will be a terrible scar now that it is not stitched, her teat presently looks like a wedge has been taken out of it and consequently is sticking out at an angle. But I can still milk her and it is flowing. I am to cut down on her groceries. She will eat a lower protein diet now to lessen her milk production. Very soon we will go down to Once a Day Milking (OAD). Her udder will not be as big and full. Then once she is mastitis-free in all quarters and settled into an OAD routine with less milk. I will dry her up. Soon. Really soon. The milk season will come to an abrupt halt. We have to shrink that udder to minimise the risk of further damage and quit milking her at all.
The next decision about her will depend on whether she is pregnant. Then I will consult with her vets. It may be that she can no longer be a milk cow or a nurse cow.
Once again I am trying to think what I am learning from this other than the obvious things like caring for an badly damaged udder and how I should have a comprehensive organised up to date first aid bag. Life goes on? Is that the lesson?
I feel better now that I have a plan.
In a year that is seriously financially challenged anyway with two of my sons marrying in NZ within months of each other bless them, and Mama must be there, I am going to have to find a new milk cow with a lovely tight udder for next spring and she will cost Thousands. However there you are. Life is all about challenges. Sorrows. Failures and Successes. Challenges.
This morning Daisy is maintaining the status quo. That is good.
I hope you all have a good day
Your friend on the farmy
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
50 responses to “Sunday Morning”
Your next assignment is to design a brassiere for Miss Daisy.
I know what you mean about finding friends in the blogging world. Some of my favorite people are here, and so are their cows and sheep and pigs and chooks…
We, too, live in semi isolation. Being a solitary person by nature, I do not have a problem being by myself as I have many self sufficient irons in the fire. I do enjoy visiting with you every morning. I feel as though we have becomes friends, Celi…..sort of like pen pals of years ago. I am so sorry about Daisy. She must be in pain now, too. That has got to hurt!
So sorry to read about Daisy’s re-injuries. I was just thinking yesterday that you were doing wonderfully at keeping her from developing an infection and keeping the teat canal open. I still think you are doing wonderfully, Daisy needs to work on her gracefulness though. You can get “bras” for cows. I know Nasco sells them online, they are called udder supports. You order based on the size of your cow. Probably wouldn’t be a good idea to fit her with one until the teat heals as I would think the friction of the material rubbing could interfere with healing.
I too miss the get togethers with neighbors and family that were prevalent when I was a kid. My mother became irritated at the time lost to visiting that we could be working as she grew older and we stopped going to others’ homes and inviting them to ours. When we first married we lived in the midst of my husband’s family and there were frequent gatherings. We ended up moving away for jobs and older family passed on. The younger (older than us) family members did not seem to care about get togethers even if we were willing to do the travelling. Having lived here in town for most of the child raising years, visiting isn’t common once you get past the play date years. Maybe it will start again now that we are going into the college years.
Lets see if I can get my name back. If not I (Jeanne) posted above. Old computer got zapped by lightning and thisis the first I have posted using the new one. I do read every day.
What did I give up to for blogging? Isolation. Hello, fellow shy immigrant. I married and moved 1300km away from the nearest family and my only friends in this country. My husband is wonderful, but he’s not here when he’s working. Blogging has been a lifeline, a boon, a connection, and I have made many, many friends. I’m quite contented with my own company much of the time, but every human needs to exchange ideas, reach out to other people and connect. I don’t feel that I’ve given up anything significant in exchange for that connection.
I get the ‘immigrant’ quote! But I also think it is a different generation thing too. I was bought up in a town where it was normal to have people ‘pop in’ and my Mum always had cake or scones freshly made to go with that cup of tea, even though she worked full time. We also spent a lot of time with other members of the family, in fact I was kind of bought up with my boy cousins and was quite a tom boy myself because of it! Now it seems people are far too busy for the face to face time over tea/coffee/wine. Most communications are done through electronic means. Not that it is a bad thing – after all I would have never found you but for your blogging! Also being miles away from my family I can still keep in touch on a daily basis, even if we do it through Face Book some times!
I have thought about starting a blog myself, especially after your were gracious enough to allow me my 15 minutes on your blog. But i do try to limit my computer time so I can keep up with friends in a more personal way. Plus it seems through three quarters of the year, I am up to my knees in gardening, which I love.
Please keep doing what you are doing – you are a big help to a lot of us! But don’t forget to take time out as well for that glass (or several) of wine with a friend!
Wine and friends, solitude and quiet. They top my list of pleasures.
I started blogging a year ago , so I’m a newcomer. If I have given up anything for blogging it is reading books. What I like about blogging is the connection I have with different people from all over the world. Here I am in Germany away from my life and family in the States and I can connect with something of my own. I like that.
Honey Mead sounds great in the morning!
Oh dear Daisy. It so often happens with an injury, it becomes more vulnerable to further damage. Hopefully it was healed enough to cope, and mend further.
Interesting thought. What have I given up for blogging. Sleep, reading time, magazines and mainstream media. Nothing I miss, or can’t juggle if I need to: the benefit of being a hobby-suit-myself blogger. But I’ve gained so much: friends, perspectives, inspiration and information of all kinds from all kinds all over the world. When it happens though it our busy world it’s wonderful just hanging out with a mate in real time, even if it means staying up, missing sleep and then running late the next day.
Ow …. Miss Daisy’s injury made me cringe. Drat it all! Farming sure keeps one on their toes; always thinking, adjusting, improvising. Who knew we were such ballet dancers?!
I know, i should have gone into goats.. c
As my Dad always said, it will all come out in the wash. 🙂
What a blow, you rely so much on daisy to feed the farm, not to mention doing everything possible within your power to aid her recovery after the first injury. I am wondering if someone in your neighbourhood may be interested in loaning you a house cow for a while whilst you regroup and decide your next move. I dont need to tell you what a commitment having a house cow is and sometimes people want a break from it just for a while, to not have the commitment or to go away. Or there may be some older folk who would like a rest but still like a share of the milk. I dont know how common jersey cows are as house cows in the USA but it might be worth getiting intouch with that community in your area to find out. Anyway just thinking of options that give your farm the milk you need and an overseas trip or two:)
Your post this morning has really made me stare out of the window and think! For real and practical reasons I do not have my own blog but do wander quite at length visiting others. Love it!! It takes what I have least: time, as I still have to work at an age many are smelling the roses. Almost every Monday I tell myself off knowing how much ‘real’ stuff left in abeyance is waiting for me . . . . but the huge and varied knowledge from all over the world I have gained on so many subjects, the very many virtual friends who have become closer than local ones somehow do not allow to say ‘ ’tis been nice but goodbye for now’ as I did with Facebook some four years ago. The pleasure gained is simply too important for my mental, and hence physical, wellbeing . . . .
So sorry to hear about Daisy, perhaps she’s part horse? I swear they look for ways to hurt themselves! I do not blog and I live in a rural area. We are blessed with some good neighbors and we periodically get together for an hour or two, ‘chew the fat’, have a beer or two, maybe go out for a fish fry (perhaps a Wisconsin thing) or a pizza. Being retired with a husband who likes his fishing and hunting trips it’s a good thing I’m comfortable with myself and not really too social. As for challenges, I hear you, this summer we’ve had a couple of relatively large projects on the docket (why does major maintenance always come in twos and threes?) as well as my stepson’s wedding and now my poor little nigerian dwarf wether, Ralph, suffered a urinary blockage. My wonderful vet did all she could but sadly we had to help him go and I’m left with no goat and probably a rather large vet bill. So it goes, yes, challenges.
Oh no, so sorry to hear about Ralph. That was a blow. Losing an animal is always hard.. c
Poor Daisy and poor you. I know how much time and love you have put into that cow, and how she has rewarded you with gallons of milk. Farming is so tough.
As for blogging, I’ve pulled back on it this year as I realise I’ve got to watch that the virtual world doesn’t take energy from the real world. Of course I have lovely friends and connections from blogging, but I need to hang out with the friends I have here, take walks, and attend to my writing and selling my books as well. So I’m practising ‘blog restraint’ at present.