Life - Through The Eyes Of A Child!

This afternoon I was to pick up my 4 year old grand-daughter from school and then she would be spending the weekend with me. Well, what I am about to tell you happened on our way back to my house from the school, and this story will crack you up as well as make you think! Because through the eyes of a child, life looks soooo different!!

Let me tell ya, my grand-daughter is something else! She is 4 going on 40 I think. But she is the "Sunshine Of My Life" and always will be.

Anyway, To begin with....We live in Texas right? Well, as we are driving down the road on our way to my house from the school, she shouts loudly...."There's a kangaroo taking a nap over there. Turn around!" ERRRR, Now no matter how much I tried to convince her that kangaroo's aren't in this part of the world except in zoo's, she insisted that I turn around and go back, because now she thinks it might be sick or hurt and need our help!! So I turn around, go back and wait for her to tell me to stop wherever this kangaroo was napping, because I sure didn't know!!

Finally she shouts again saying, "Stop, there it is, there it is" Now I am really starting to look around trying to find some animal that might look like a kangaroo, but I am not finding any animal what so ever!! I pull up into this driveway of an old business and stop. She says, "I want to get out and you need to come with me Yetta." (Yetta is Yiddish for Grandmother so all the grandkids call me that....not because I'm Yiddish, but because they have so many other grandparents it was like....Grandma who? hahahhaa, so I wanted to make sure that whenever they were talking about me, everyone knew who they were talking about! hahahaha).

So we get out of the car and I am completely clueless as to which way we are suppose to be walking, so I start following her. ( I know, chickeny way out, but you know you would have done the same thing! hahaaha ).

She is walking very slowly, carefully, almost tiptoeing really. I ask her, "Why are you walking so slow?" She turned around and looked at me with this scowl on her face and said, "uhh Yetta, if it's napping we don't want to wake it up." Now I am trying sooooooo hard not to laugh by swallowing hard and I simply say back to her, "Oh, I didn't think of that. Good job! You are so smart! I am so proud of you!" Well she ate that up big time hahaha.

Ok, so I am still looking everywhere for some animal that might look like a kangaroo in the grass beside the road, which is a two lane road, can't see anything but grass, weeds, and paper....but I am still following her.

Finally she stops, turns around, looks at me and says, "shhhhhh there it is, but I don't think it is a kangaroo anymore." I said, "You don't? What do you think it is then?" Now again, I am doing everything in my power not to completely bust a gut here.....She looks at me all sad and pitiful like and says, "It ain't nothing but some ole junky tire that some idiot left here to make me think it was a kangaroo!!"

Ok....I bust out laughing now!! And she asks me, "Why are you laughing Yetta?" Uh oh, now what do I say? All kinds of thoughts are rolling around in my head looking for the perfect response to that when finally I say, "Well Cheyenne, I think you are right. Someone left that ole tire here, but not because they are an idiot, and not because they wanted you to think there was a kangaroo there! They left it there because they were too lazy to pick it up and throw it away."

So with the biggest smile on her face, she asks, "Can we pick it up and put it in our trash?" Now I know I am bios, and I know she is just too cute, but that just won my heart andI know I gave her one of those oh so proud looks, as I said, "You betcha sweetie, we can pick up that ole tire and put it in our trash, no problem!!"

So we did just that, but as we were putting it in the trash bin, she said, "I didn't want to see a dumb ole kangaroo anyway!" hahahahahahaa. She is a mess I tell ya, a funny...too grown mess! hahaahahhaa.

I just had to share this with you all....it was too good to keep all to myself!! Below is a couple of pictures of Cheyenne from early evening when she was helping feed the baby calf named 'Blind' Faith.

Baby Calf Has A Name....

I tell ya, it wasn't easy to make this decision with all the WONDERFUL suggestions everyone provided me!! And I do so appreciate each and every one of those suggestions!! But the name I have decided to be so fitting for the precious baby girl, was one I had thought of before asking for suggestions, but wasn't completely sold on either....I'm sure you all can kind of relate to that kind of indecisiveness, or maybe now....hahahahaha!


But tonight while I was driving to Ft. Worth in the dark with very little to do but think, I ran through the list of all the names submitted as well as those I had thought of and this one just fits her so well, that I had to chose it for her!! I am sure you all will agree, once you all know what the name is huh?? hahahaha


The name I picked is: "Blind Faith" but 'Faith' is what she will go by!! Hope you all will let me know what you think of that name, and I hope you aren't disappointed that your suggestions weren't picked....I will keep them for the next calf that is abandoned, but hopefully that one won't be blind!!


You all are such great people to give me all those excellent suggestions....and they all fit her very well, which made this so much more difficult than I had ever thought!!!!!!!


I will keep you all updated on her progress, as I plan on bridle training her when I return home in a week or so. She needs to learn how to listen and follow the voice she hears so she doesn't get lost on her way to and from the corral to the pasture and back. Because I do so want her to be able to go into the pasture and graze like she is suppose to and enjoy her life without always being penned up!! So I am really anxious to get started on training her, and I have 'faith' that she will do well!!


Many Thanks To You ALL!!!!


~God Bless~


So, Without further ado, Ladies & Gentlemen It is my great pleasure to introduce to you:
Miss 'Blind' Faith Martindale

Help Name My Baby Girl....

We have discovered that this beautiful baby girl has not only been abandoned by her Momma, but the poor little girl is also blind!! She was born on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009. (You can read her birthing story in an earlier post called: "Calf, Bulldozer, & Me....What do these things have in common?").

I have adopted her and plan on doing some training with her so she can get out of the pen and be able to graze as she needs to just as soon as I possibly can. But in the meantime, the precious girl is in need of a name befitting her and I am having a difficult time coming up with one, so I put together this mini movie and am asking for any and all suggestions from everyone.

Put your suggestions in the comments and I will give them all consideration, and I will then let everyone know which one I picked for this beautiful, precious gift!!

Thank You All & God Bless!!

Camo Up for Coyote Hunting, If You Dare! =)

I was going to post this yesterday, but got so busy that time just got away from me. Sorry.

Thursday evening Jonathan, (my hubby) got home about 5:00, which is REAL early from him. Dan and I were standing outside feeding the cows when he got here, and I was telling Dan about this really big cat I had seen earlier in the day, when he walked up and listened in.(And I'm not talking about a "kitty cat").
Well, they both looked at me liked I had finally lost that last screw that was holding things together or something, but I knew what I had seen!!

Jonathan goes ahead in the house and "cammo's up". When he walked back out, he was in full disguise, from head to toe and including his face being covered with a piece of fabric that was attached to the hat. He looked like a walking tree. hahahahahaha.

He asked me where the baby was born, where the coyotes were, and then with much sarcasm, where the "big cat" was. I showed all the sites and watched him walk out into the pasture. Keeping an eye on the bull, so he wouldn't come up behind Jonathan and head butt him to the ground.

Jonathan heads to the area where the baby was born and kneels down in among some bushes. Well, momma cow had watched him walking over there and was making a beeline over to see what he was doing. Momma gets there, finds Jonathan in the bushes and begins mooing at him over and over again. My heart was completely breaking for her, because I knew she was so desperately searching for her baby. I had to go inside at that point because the tears were turning into waterfalls flowing down my cheeks. I had to tell myself that we 'had' to take that baby out of there or those coyotes would have gotten it, and momma probably would have killed it first. It wasn't easy to convince myself of that though after hearing her crying at Jonathan like she did.

A couple of hours go by and it was pitch black outside, when all of a sudden I heard a "BOOM" of a gun. I thought to myself, "He must have got one". About 20 minutes later he came walking through the door and I asked him, "I heard you take a shot, did ya get a coyote?" He looks at me, takes a deep breath as in disgust and says, "Nope, I didn't even see them!" Needless to say, I was more than a little shocked since I had heard a shot.
I said, "But I heard you shoot, or was that you?" He said, "Let me tell ya about that."

So he sits down in his recliner and begins, "I am so mad at myself, I could just spit!! I was sitting there in this bush using my dying rabbit call, and had just told myself how badly I suck at using it and was going to the house." He says, "I stood up and seen something move out the corner of my eye. I turned to see what it was, when all of a sudden it jumped about 5 ft to the left and scared the crap out of me." He continued with, "You know that "cat" you seen earlier?" Well, that's not a "big" cat, that's a "BIG ASS BOBCAT!!!!"

Of course by this time my eyes are as big as saucers and my mind is swirling with all sorts of possible scenarios. He took another deep breath and said, "That bobcat was almost slithering up behind me about 10 feet, looking for that dying rabbit it was hearing. When I stood up, I scared it almost as much as he scared me. But it was so close I could have thrown a rock at it. We were looking eye to eye almost." My mouth was hitting the floor with hearing this and I said, "Are you alright? Did it jump you? Are you bleeding?"
I could have asked even more questions, but Jonathan stopped me! He said, "NO, nothing like that happened." "When we finished 'sizing up' one another, I pulled my shotgun up and before I could get the scope to my eye that bobcat was on the run!" He said, "I took one shot, but it was behind the back legs....or even further" "But that is the BIGGEST Bobcat I have ever seen!!" He says.

Next thing I knew, Jonathan was on the phone, calling first one friend and then another telling them of his Bobcat encounter. I tell ya, some of the things he was telling them was so funny....now that I had already heard it and knew he was alright, of course!! But I thought I was going to wet myself when he was talking to his best friend and said it like this:

"I was sitting there cussing myself about not being able to call in anything with that dying rabbit call and was calling it a night. I went to stand up and seen something move on the left of me. I turn, seen it was a Big Ass Bobcat and next thing I knew I was screaming: SHITTTTTTTT, my heart went to my throat and shit rolled down my legs!!" hahahahahaha I so cracked up laughing!!

On the one hand I was laughing at his rendition of his experience, but on the other hand I was relieved that he seen the 'big cat' he didn't seem to believe me about earlier, but I didn't want it 'that' close to him. hahahaha

Update on the baby calf:

It took her a couple days and lots of us helping her, but she is now standing on her own...still shaky, but getting better at it every day. Her neck is now back to it's normal position, took lots of massaging and a crushed up Motrin in her milk. I know, some of you are thinking....'What, you gave Motrin to a calf?' Yeppers, sure enough did!! She was in pain and needed relief, wouldn't you want someone to give you relief?? That's what I thought!! It helped 100% get her relaxed enough so while massaging her neck she was able to move it more freely and 'feeeeeeel' better!!

Today we are going to put her momma in the squeeze shoot, bring baby over and see if she will nurse from momma. Maybe, just maybe we can get momma to accept her back and she can run and play in the pasture with the other babies and momma's. Wouldn't that be great? Although I would like to keep her as a pet, but we will see what God has in mind for this precious bundle and go from there!

Oh and Jonathan will take some pictures of baby today....and possibly of Phyllis, Baby, and myself in the bucket of the bulldozer as we bring baby back over here to momma. (guess I better go shower and get some make up on just in case huh??). hahahahahaha

I will keep you all updated on how it goes today with momma and baby, and will post those pictures as well. =)