Peek in the Barn
Lady Astor is still being put to bed early – much to her disgust. 
She would prefer that only the dairy women and men peek at the next shot, as it is only a documentation shot but interesting if you are a watcher of cows. And you all are. Mercy, what an education you are getting (along with me I might add).
Yesterday Lady was obviously uncomfortable and often when a cow has some pain she will lick at herself. Unfortunately she was licking her back when I was standing with a camera in my hand. This udder though huge is not quite ready, the teats are not tight and shiny yet and no dripping milk. But close. This can all change in an hour. Very close.
The only other inhabitants of the big barn (other than the chickens I cannot catch) are the four little pigs. Last night it got cold again and they finally found their straw bed.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Oh I forgot the cats. The barn is full of sleeping cats in the day time. Here is our old Egoli. And of course the peacocks up on their palace but they were too busy staring at the cadet. 
I would be surprised if there is not some excitement on the farmy today.
I don’t know about your table but mine was such an eclectic mix yesterday I had to take a shot for you. I shifted nothing – this is exactly how it is. (None of the fertile eggs I bought at the bantam swap hatched by the way. Hope we have better luck with the peacock eggs that are going in today.)
Love celi
72 Comments on “Peek in the Barn”
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I just was talking with a friend on Saturday about belted Galloways. She’s quite fond of cows, and of that breed particularly. I don’t know why I’ve never thought to send her a link to your blog, but I’m going to remedy that in about one minute.
Yes. Let’s see what she thinks! I fav been thinking Wednesday so let’s see.
Her legs seem to be getting shorter
Poor Lady Astor – she’s looking very heavy.
…and those little pigs are very cute 😉
Hello Egoli 🙂 Public Holiday here today so everybody very laid back. My dining room table is also my dumping ground. I surely thought Lady A would have calved by now, that calf is going to be huge when it does come. Laura
Mercy don’t say that. A big calf would be a bad thing. She is not due yet remember.
was trieing to look back to see if she went full term last year? Hope the calf isn’t a big one for all your sakes. Laura
Ooh she’s big. Fingers crossed! Love your table shot…lovely light and colour.
bated breath.
Do you get your money back for the INfertile eggs?
My table is shambolic – it’s tax time. I’m just strugglig with a ranting picture poem on the subject which may go up later today.
I shall be glad to uncross all my bits for Lady any time soon
love,
ViV
Love the table photo. It’s a peek into your day. Lady A – she looks like she could pop any time. And those piggies – very cute, but i’m thinking of pork chops now!!! Oh to have a lovely pork chop and mashed potato dinner. Maybe I can slow down one day soon and cook a decent meal instead of the bowl o’ salad I have nightly……
Still playing the waiting game. Luckily I do not own cows or I would be in trouble with my prediction “skills”.
She looks ready to go, but definitely taking her time. We have to be patient. Plonkers are cute. My table is always the catch all. It would be nice to press a button and flip table over when needed. I think Lady Astor will have that calf soon. Must be uncomfortable. Fingers crossed.
Lovely piggies all round – including your little piggies on the table shot!!!
Christine
heh heh…. aww, you pinched my line. I was surprised to get to the last comment, so far, and find no one else mentioned those wee piggies…. lol And up on the pretty chair too! 🙂
If I recall you didn’t like that man you bought those eggs from. I guess that’s a good example of gut instinct. 😉 I hope the next batch of eggs works out better.
You are absolutely right – should have listened to my instincts and not wasted three weeks incubating them.. c
Lady A looks huge! Is your lilac out already? Have a great day. 😀
The Cadet brought them for me from her grandmothers garden – arent they lovely.. c
I’m so glad we women don’t have our backsides all swollen like poor Lady Astor… it would sure be hard to do any sitting… Love your table photo – very pretty and to think you didn’t even have to arrange it. My table right now has (and don’t laugh) lots of old cassette tapes spread all over ’cause I bought myself a $35 (plastic, it turns out) cassette player so I can ‘jam to the 80s’. And.. there’s a few random magazines, plus a cushion and some fabric ’cause I’m planning to cover the cushion. All that ‘crap’ would NOT make a pretty picture! Oh, and my laptop as well. ; o )
Those four little plonkers lined up and so snug to each other… they look like four little sausages all packaged up.
And poor Lady A; that poor girl looks ginormous. No wonder she’s acting like someone uncomfortable. I recall the last few days before delivery being most uncomfortable.
Your table does look rather ‘busy’, but it’s obvious that table does double, triple, and more, duty. I am green with envy over your lilacs! Our shrubs are finally beginning to pop tiny little leaves, but the lilacs are a couple of weeks off, at best.
Hope you have a lovely day too… and perhaps with a surprise for us later on? ~ Mame 🙂
Aww those plonkers are so darn cute!! Poor Lady, she looks quite uncomfortable!
Have a fab day ❤
I know you prefer your Hereford gingers, but the plonkers are awfully cute. Poor Lady A, these last days of pregnancy are so miserable.
Is your Buddleia bush blooming? Mine is no where near that far along!
Lilacs from the The Cadets Grandma’s garden – the bad winter killed all my buddelia – I love their scent too.. c
I love them, too. Mine were meagre last year, so I’m hoping for better this summer.
Piggies! You know they have a soft place in my oinker heart ❤ XOXO – Bacon
Lovely pic of your table. And those little pigs are adorable!
I am so fond of your little piggy pics! Cannot wait to see Lady Astor’s calf!!!
Very, very close indeed. I would say within today or tomorrow, Friday at the latest!
Linda
I think she may go to Friday – there is still some crinkle in her teats.. c
Soon then, very soon!
Love the piggies…wonder if there’s a “pecking order” to who gets the nice warm inside places when they lie close together like that. Also love your little “piggies” in the table shot with the red toenail polish! Well done, girl, for finding time to keep the tootsies nice and fetching. Lady Astor reminds me of how I felt at the end of my last pregnancy…oh my.
Quite delightfully my daughter in law painted those toenails when we were at the snake house up from Melbourne. I am letting it grow off! Lazy! But I might invest in some nail polish and do it again – I quite like them red.. c
Celi’s table, Celi’s pretty toes, Celi’s lilacs, a sleepy squirm of little black piggies, and a poor cow with not quite enough space any more for the calf she’s carrying. Happy day! Up to see the Husband off to work, back to bed for hopefully a couple more hours of sleep, and then it’s time to trot along for results. I shall carry with me the image and remembered smell of the lilacs…
Pack all our love for your trot!! c
Yes, please do! Much love, Your Gayle
Back atcha, dear girl. xxx
I was getting worried here. You usually post early early, much earlier than 11.
I have a weird life. 4 days a week I have to get up at 1.30am to get the Husband off to start day shift at 3am. The next 4 days, I get to sleep in a little later because he’s on night shift. The 4 days after that he’s off, and we tend to try and catch up on lost sleep. It’s day shift right now, and I commented in the middle of the night. Now, several hours later, I’ve caught a bit more sleep and am just waiting, waiting, waiting for my appointment. After the Husband, the Fellowship will be the first to know…
Midday here and where you are: fingers and toes all crossed . . . hoping for answers which will give you peace!
News (good) in a separate comment at the bottom. You can safely unknot your digits! xx
Man, Lady Astor. No lady likes to have a shot of their behind, and what a behind it is! Best of luck!
Aww, such a shame about the eggs. I would love to exchange eggs with you! But I am not a big fan f bantams. No sir-ie.
I don’t have bantams either just layers and meat chickens. I do have a couple of pesky guinea fowl though!! c
I would swap eggs with you if you wanted some easter eggers. Are you NPIP? That makes swapping eggs so much easier. I get really worried about egg swaps because nobody ever is and I never participate.
Actually I have no idea what NPIP is? c
Oh, NPIP is the National Poultry Improvement Plan. This is (legally) the only way you are supposed to sell hatching eggs, especially across state lines. Basically you pay some $30 and a nice man (or woman) with a disposable plastic suit comes out and test a random selection of your bird flock for pullorum typhoid and avian flu. They take a few skin samples and do some small blood samples that determine if your birds carry these super-contagious diseases that could threaten the entirety of the USA chicken population.
You receive a little certificate that you can copy and distribute to people who buy live chickens or hatching eggs to prove that your chickens are healthy… In addition to making you in compliance with the legal requirements for shipping eggs across state lines.
The down(ish) side is that if your chickens test positive you may be required to destroy your flock. But honestly, these are some of the most devastating poultry diseases we could have in the USA and could kill not only your whole flock anyhow but also people. So the USDA tries to use NPIP registration to keep track of these diseases to keep them from spreading. Especially since most major contagious poultry disease outbreaks originate in back yard flocks.
I was entranced by your table shot and pored over it in great detail. However, it took me several backlooks to finally locate the “piggies” on the chair. It all had a “Where’s Waldo” effect on me. Much love, Your Gayle
Cecilia, I thought that piece on your table at 9:00 was a gun. Still don’t know what it could possibly be. Don’t know what the small grate thingy is either. I DO recognize the book though.
That is a set of alan keys for opening the pulsator from the milking machine which is also on the table. I think the grate you mean is the base of the incubator . The book is a recipe book of Basque recipes!.. c
I like the lilac on your table! Would like to have one, too. 😉
What a beautiful table.
Back for a visit… I have spent the last hour catching up on at least nine posts. After a morning in Eye casualty a couple of weeks ago, I imposed a temporary ban on blog reading. I am assured that all is well, but a rest did me no harm. Fingers crossed for lady A in the next few days. I will be back to follow her progress.
Hope you have your eyes closed now then!! c
I had them closed all night and am now ready to rest them again. This gentle ladylike style of living was never part of my world! A new phase of change, but I WILL adjust!
You could put anything on that table with the lilacs and the assembly would look good. I have similar table, was kitchen table but was really too big for the space so now it’s a desk. The plonkers are cute but I have a real soft spot for ginger cats 🙂
Oh, love your lilac also – my favourite flower next to lilies in the valley. Quite a contrast to Lady Astor’s last heavy days on film!! Have had my own excitement this morning: a cold stove in the kitchen started loudly crackling and a horrible smell emanating a few hours back – thank God midweek and staff working hours, ’cause a huge mouse had crawled inside the works and there could have been a bad electric fire – all I would have needed at the moment! All well now, bar the house smelling foul 🙂 !!!
Oh that must smell awful – glad they could fix it!
Hey, Fellowship. I promised to tell y’all straight after the Husband, and I’m keeping the promise.
The news is: I’m NOT going to die any time soon. Well, not because of my back pain, anyway.
No metastases. No other bad stuff. Just a *f…..g painful* pinched nerve between L4 and L5, staring us right in the face on my bone and CT scans. Next steps are medication specifically for nerve pain, keep up the heat packs, and an MRI scheduled asap to take a really, really close look at whether I suffer and they take out their little knives and fix it, or whether I just suffer. The Kick Ass Boots can go back into the wardrobe. I want my fluffy slippers…. oh, and a hot water bottle 🙂 and a bar of chocolate.
Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you. To all of you, and Whoever is out there listening.
So glad I checked before filing and going onto ‘real’ life!! OK, you will have to find ways to cope – mine is also L4-5: hope your walking is not affected ’cause I’m fighting that at the moment > neuropathy . . . . but the bone is clear, glory hallelujah! I passed on the knives, Kate . . . heat, exercise, meditation, some painkillers . . . good luck and am jumping up and down for you 😀 !!! Well, kind;of . . .
Nah, it’s just giving me this extremely upright and rather aloof posture. Putting on my undies is a major (literal) pain. The heatpacks are an absolute godsend, the DeepHeat ones last for 8 hours! No chiro, on the doctor’s orders, but physio a must. Something new on the meds front, best taken at night. We shall see….
Mr Google has some very good sections on ‘Lyrica’ which may help you. I know a couple of people who take it – yes, sleepiness is one problem. I have actually learned to live with the pain, just block it out mentally, but every now and then take 2 Panadeines 4x a day for 2-3 days to ‘break the pain cycle – my best pain help comes from meditation: prefer Deepak Chopra’s beautifully modulated Indian voice: after 3/4 of an hour of total relaxation the relief is palpable and drugless!! To each their own.
I have yet to try it; tonight is my first dose. Drowsiness is one of my chief reasons for wishing to come off the oxycodone. My pain is often severe enough to produce tears, but the grey fog of drugs is worse. Panadeines sadly are about as much use as Smarties. My limber youth is coming back to haunt me, every joint that used to be free is now a source of pain. But as Celi would say: “Excellent” now how shall we deal with this…?
HooRay and loads of sympathy: hooray for diagnosis at last and sympathy for your pain, which I hope the drs can deal with. It’s amazing that you’ve kept going nonstop with all your creative achievements. Chocolate is essential for morale purposes.
love,
ViV
Chocolate already laid on! The relief is huge, I hadn’t realised what a mental burden I was carrying around. MRI will give lots and lots of detail of the problem area so a much clearer idea of what we’re dealing with and what sort of intervention if any is needed. So depressing to be on yet another drug, but she’s all in favour of me weaning myself off the oxycodones, so I shall continue my gradual detox.
I’m glad you are now able to relax a bit. I wish I could find some tolerable pain relief. Morphine-based meds are the pits and nothing else is offered other than paracetemol. Anti-inflammatories are a no no in conjunction with anti-coagulents.
They’ve given me something called Lyrica which is for neurological pain in low doses and for epilepsy in high doses, so it interferes in some way with erratic nerve firing. I’m told it may make me sleepy, so I’ll be starting it at night – a spot of unbroken sleep would be most welcome! I shall hold out against steroid shots till the end of time, but maybe a nerve block might become necessary in the fulness of time… Meanwhile, I’m alive, and likely to stay that way 🙂
Thank the Lord. I hope the new meds suit you.
If they let me sleep for longer than 3 hours before the pain wakes me, I’ll count it as a gain. I haven’t had a drink in years, so I won’t miss it on this new stuff either 🙂 I have a printout of the CT scan showing the problem. It really is quite enlightening…
I hope the new med is working out for you, Kate.
It’s helping, and now that I’m used to the side-effects, I’m allowed to increase the dose 🙂
Egoli is beautiful .. There is something special about a cat curled up snoozing