Hot and Cold

Tressa's Picture of Her Dad's Hat

 The Hot And Cold

We survived getting all the right presents to the right grandchildren for the January birthdays. I was blessed to have won a giveaway from a blog. Yes, they really happen and I won from http://www.skiptomylou.org/ and this wasn't the first time. I've won about three times, but this one was very large and I didn't even know why I entered because it was furniture for a child.

 I've never kept my prizes and have always passed-them-on to my family. Our Jane received a big chair/desk from the "give-away" and our grandson, a baseball card book. We were referred to the book by a long-time family member and if you know baseball cards, ya' probably have it.

Brown Tulle Looks Like My Pantyhose-Ewww!

J/K I Didn't Use My Pantyhose

How To Recycle Pantyhose URL On The Bottom of Card

Jake's Already In His Book

 It's been like everyone else in the country with the barometer going up and down constantly.

Super Old From My Grandfather-Broken!

We haven't had a real "East Wind" event. Maybe two dry winds so far in January. It's just been so cold. I never think in the warm Spring, that we've had some real frosty days and I'm tempted lately to buy  trees or flowers that won't make it like they used to, through our winter. It has rained just a little and there's been snow on the mountains, but I think we're heading for a drought again this year if the rain doesn't come. We just receive sprinkles and it's just enough to keep our mountains and fields full of green weeds.

I'm anxiously awaiting the birthing of our lambs. Our fluffy Anne Baby, is having a bunch this year and it's a bit scary. Our ewe is huge. I suppose it's because she isn't as tall as our White and she also has about three each year, but I wouldn't be surprised at five with this older ewe. We have a yearling and one lamb from her would be great. I could actually teach our youngest ewe how to accept her baby and allow the lamb to nurse. Honestly, tying the lamb to the fence with a rope around the girth and another around her rump and flank, works!

I always put vanilla or peanut butter or Vicks of the noses of the mothers and their lambs. I think it's habit because at least one of our dogs gets to the lambs and licks or nudges the babies. Dog/Wolf smell is sure to cause the new mother to give me another "bummer" lamb. I'd love that, but this year my goats are not due for another three months and there's no milk yet. Otherwise, it's great to have a chance to feed the baby lambs myself. Easier on me for the rest of their life. I'm their momma.

 It's almost lambing time and all it takes is a drastic barometer change in the weather and from there it starts one of the ewes to go in labor, if they're close to their date. I know it's a "wives tale" ... trust me -- I've had these sheep since 1989 and have kept track. Goats do the same and I can't even remember all the times I've had to rescue newborns from a fast moving rainstorm. I just knew and no wonder every farm had a barometer. Great prediction for weather change, wish our old one worked, so I wouldn't have to check on-line.

My Welding Gloves & I Was So Hot In The Cold-Hat Came-off

Nice Copper Ring! Yes!

This disbudding iron REALLY TURNS RED and the burn of the hair and flesh upset me a lot! It has to be done. This is the gross goat chore that has already ruined my desire for hotdogs for the rest of the year. I disbudded some Boer Goats over on the 4-H farm. It went really well. I didn't try to take off the big boy's horns, but I think we did about seven kids. The larger horns have these clippers that chop them off like cattle nippers and even our old-fashioned vet refused to try and do that procedure. He used a saw to take the horns off with a long, thin blade. But, he always did it after putting the goats to sleep and mean: really out! What a hard job to take care of the gaping hole left ater removing the horn. The horn is hollow and the sinus was opened-up. Yucky!

My 4-H (really mine) children and I would get really chewed-out for letting the horns get too big. Finally! All of this has sunk-in and no matter what's going on nothing will keep me from taking care of the horn treatment the first or second week, just babies. I have lots of grandchildren to remind me. They hold the new kids and rub their fingers across the top of their heads for emerging horns. The bucklings get horns a little earlier. Disbudding has been my all-time worse procrastination farm chore. Why do I do it? Punctured udders aren't fun to milk, broken horns caught in a fence let the goats die, and we've only had a couple that didn't want to kill us by using them as weapons, even bucks won't try and ram us if their horns are gone.

January was the beginning of my retraining for CERT. Easy to go because my Steve expects me to go even when I'm not actually enrolled in the class. I'm enrolled. There's no test at the end, but I do need to remember how to be safe and put out a fire with an extinguisher. I've been so enthusiastic this time because my daughter and grand daughter are enrolled and families from Church are participating. Steve makes it a fun time. I'm still learning and glad I have great gloves. It's only been more than a half a century for me to know gloves are important. I'm grateful I don't have to hit the fires with an extinguisher too often, I'm so afraid of fire. The drill included real fire and not the computer-controlled one. I think it's fake, yeah, it's fake. This fire at our station, for sure was not. A whole crew of firefighters watched as we took turns putting the fire out.

Steve Teaching and I'm Writing In A Big Book

What everyone doesn't know, is that my husband was injured after responding to a brush fire out at Balcom Canyon. He was neck-high in the brush and I actually told him I'd have to check him for ticks. January has been a chilly month so I'm grateful he didn't get any, but he fell quite a few feet when the bluff gave-way.

My Steve Waving At His Friend Taking Pics

Don't Really Know How Steep Until At The Top & Below Road Cars At The Bottom

Done!

January 18th was another Strike Team, but this time the fire was put-out. It's like Steve to hide his injuries, even from his first hernia from pulling hose back in the 80's. He's been off on light duty for this and will be for a few weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't involve his back somehow. He's not healing very fast. There's been lots of calls lately and some are very long. I think the "standing" in the street watching his sand-dam with the sewer flowing over, made him realize that he wasn't just sore from the previous days fire, he was really hurt.

Sewer Watch

Fires in the middle of January! It takes a couple a dry, windy days and a fire starts. This Balcom Canyon Fire could've taken the whole South Mountain if the wind had continued and because no one knows the weather pattern anymore the county fire department calls-out everyone and everyone presumes it will get worse. I've been looking on NOAA and the "Forecast Discussions" included the words "goofy" and "freaky." for our area this month.

Freezing In My House

One way or the other, we are hot and cold. The red-hot disbudding iron I use on the goats heads had me using welding gloves and I'm out there on the farm in my Canadian ear-flap, wool hat for the cold. A couple days later my husband's fighting a fire up the mountain. I'm freezing in my own house and I'm beginning to think I NEED to get forced-air heating with our propane. Of course, a whole-house fan for the summer. Oh my! Do I dare contemplate air-conditioning? Our unplanned escapes in the car seems the only way to be comfortable if it's hot or cold. It's comfortable if Steve and I don't fight over the temperature controls. Never mind about me, I take a blanket.

Just after Steve's fire we were coming home with a sick little grand daughter. My son's a firefighter, too. She saw the sky and startled she said, "Look Grandpa there's another fire!" I know it scared her, but it was our beautiful sunset. Grandpa said, "Sweetie, it just a pretty sunset like at the beach." Our mountains are always burning, but most times they're burning with a beautiful sundown.