Now, Here Comes the Sun!!

For the first time in I don't know how long, I woke to the sun shining brightly. There were no clouds in the sky at all!!! We are praising God and are beginning to feel the warmth pouring down on us to melt this snow. Yesterday, we woke to a dead calf right outside the kitchen window. Poor thing was born in the night with the chilling winds. Next to that calf was another calf just born that morning and struggling to get up and move around - which I had a hard time myself with the fire for warmth. My children watched that other calf all day to make sure he stuck with momma and was moving and nursing. As much as I hated losing the other calf, I shared with John last night that the good from that loss was the desire it placed in our children to watch even more carefully on the other calves out there. Numerous times they would go search for the calf and felt satisfied when they saw it nursing or snuggling with mom. The desire to care for those less fortunate in any way is something you can't be taught from a book but have to learn through experience in one way or another. I hope yesterday planted one more seed for them.

Also, we are still baffled by the deaths of a couple of these calves and have come to the conclusion that the crows may have killed them. Apparently, after talking to some of the other "older" ranchers around here, the crows have been known to go right down and attack a calf and kill it. After a calf is doing well, often the mom will go looking for a little nutrition, and that's when they come in. So, now we're not only on calf patrol, we're on crow patrol. I always found those birds to be a little creepy (maybe it's a Poe thing, who knows), but now I may be finding a valid reason to dislike them. We'll keep you posted..........