Spayed Today

hm...where to start.

I did chores this morning with no problems and then Jeff, Merle, Ross, and I met up at the shed where Merle and Jeff were working on the stock trailer. Appartently the reason that tire blew the other day was because the tailer brake was jammed on...hmmm makes sense now. There were actually parts and pieces of bolts in the brake- that can't be a good sign. We got the brake unstuck and then couldn't get them to work at all, but they hardly ever get used so we were in a much better situation than when we started. What a nice surprize right after you get it back from being serviced...

So, they got that fixed and ready to go. Jeff started in on the road grader to try to fix up all the ruts and washouts in the driveway so that the semis can get in tomorrow. Ross started taking the sweeps off the chizel and putting on chizels and then windrowed bottoms and ditches the rest of the day. Merle and I went down and loaded up the nine heifers that needed to go to Rushville to be spayed. I took off with them while Merle went out and strung salt and mineral (I think?)

I made it to Rushville about and hour and 45 minutes later with the heifers. Of course, like an idiot, I had trouble backing the tailer up to the gates and eventually got some help, but oh well life goes on- I just need to pull more often I guess. We unloaded the heifers and they got right to work. They had a nice tub chute and alley set up so everything worked really slick. This was the first time I had ever seen a heifer spayed and it was really interesting. He did it from the back (Merle normally has it done from the side but this time of year maggots and such are too much of and issue). I should have asked him more questions about it, but just what I saw was interesting. They cleaned everything up and after he went in with his handy dandy little instrument and cut, out came the ovary- sweet! So, that was a pretty cool first time thing- next time I'm gunna drill them with questions about it. The vet and his assistant were too busy trying to set me up with this guy who apparently didn't shower much- it was fairly hillarious. But, I got the girls loaded back up and we went home. Most of the way to and from Rushville the pickup did the same dumb thing with the steering. Some ty rod or bearing is wayyy off, you get up to speed and don't even have to hit a bump and the dumb thing starts to shake from side to side terribly until you slow way down and get it to quit. Then, you get back up to speed and hope it doesn't do it again..usually it does. Because of this, we will have to bring the pickup and probably the trailer too, back to Rapid sometime soon. When i got home I brought the lovely ladies out to a small pasture and dropped them off at the well, there they started their yearling lap around the pasture.

I unhooked the trailer and stopped in the yard where Ross and Jeff were eating. O, I almost forgot a good one. So, Ace was laying flat on his side and kinda grunting like maybe he had a belly ache. I decided to walk up to him and see what was up. His eyes were wide open and I walked up to him and stood right by him for like five seconds before he realized I was there and shot up fast than you could imagine. I scared the crap out of the poor horse- but it was pretty funny! So, I talked to Ross and Jeff and then met Merle on the hill and we headed in for dinner. It was a realy quick one, becuase he had insurance guys coming on rather short notice and we had just barely started eating when they showed up. He headed off with them and I met Jeff with his hydra swing at the auto gate and he helped me move the chisel out to the field. It sits pretty low, so the trip out was rather slow, but we made it and tried a round. We were worried about the weeds, but it seemed to tear up really nicely. Then, I hopped in with him and we picked up a couple bales and headed home to drop him off so I could have a pickup in the field. By the time I dropped him off and unloaded bales it was time to turn around and go back to the tractor. I was almost there when Merle called and said that he was on him way back and we should probably start haying. So, I went up and parked the tractor for an overnight stay and headed back home. We serviced and hayed all these little spots around the yard until my rake tractor finally gave up. I've been having trouble getting it into gear, but this time it was done. We couldn't get it to go forward no matter what we tried, so we shut it down to try to reset things and guess what- it stalled and wouldn't shift back to forward postition to start it again. So it died right there in the hay. There is something wrong in the steering column with the shuttle shift - I'm pretty sure about it.

By that time, it was time for chores. It took me forever to find half of the bottle calves that were hiding in trees tonight, but I got 'em. Then, it was time to shower for teh fireman's meeting. Boy was it an interesting one. I'm still getting crap about the smokey bear song and dance, and it didn't help that I spilled my drink all over the table with direct aim for Merle. Fire meetings are kinda cool because you get to meet so many people and be social before hand when wer're eating. I had a good time, and it's a great way to meet more people still. The meeting took what seemed like forever, but we finally got out of there. That puts me right here- ready for bed!