Cows, Campfires, Clouds, and Kids

 Curious Herefords

It was a dark and stormy night. Actually, it was just a busy week. I've managed to lure you into this blog post with the Hereford cattle, but I must confess that today you'll mostly find photos of grandkid visits. I hope you don't mind. 

We were on the way to town when my daughter spied a little Holstein calf on the wrong side of the fence that kept the Herefords contained. We went to the nearby farm, only to find the owner puzzled as to how a Holstein calf had appeared. It's still a mystery, but the owner of the farm did get the hungry little bull calf to suck on her fingers, following her all the way home (about a city block in distance) to the farm where she would later surprise her husband with their newfound livestock. This was quite an exciting event for what had started out as a simple trip to town. So the latest theories are either that the bull calf wandered a few miles from the nearest Holstein farm (very unlikely) or that it fell off a truck that was taking it to the sales barn or to some other location (much more likely, in my opinion). Either way, it was pretty odd to see the poor little creature huddled against the barbed wire of the Hereford pasture.

(All photos were originally taken with my cell phone, which is why they look a little grainy and odd.)

Evening of the 16th

from the edge of the yard

On the evening of the16th we enjoyed a bonfire and absolutely wonderful skies. I have already posted some of those photos on Instagram, but for those of you who are not Instagrammers, I'm reposting them here. Spell check doesn't recognize 'Instagrammers' or 'reposting.' :-)

 Morning sky, September 16

from the front porch

 It was the perfect evening for a campfire!

Burning marshmallows

 Mr. Cranberry and

the littlest granddaughter

at the campfire

The marshmallow burner (and harmonica player)

in a pensive mood. (photo by his mom)

Oliver (whose parents insist upon calling him 'Ollie') :-)

He always finds my shoehorn or cane as soon as he arrives.

Here, it's the shoehorn, or through his eyes, a sword.

I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead. I see the oral surgeon on Thursday (NO FUN) and in downloading the version of AdobeReader that they insisted upon in order to fill out patient registration forms online, two other programs piggybacked onto my computer, neither of which I wanted. Not only that, but with the newly downloaded AdobeReader, it still said 'Page Not Found' when I tried to open their forms. I was so annoyed, for there was no way to opt out of anything. Ack! Now I have to enlist someone who knows something about computers to go through and get rid of those programs (and all the other non-essential programs that are running, causing my computer to run extremely slowly.) Oh well, it's high time for a good cleaning out anyway. Maybe our son or son-in-law can do this little project when they come for our early Thanksgiving in mid October. If I'm nice and bake apple pies?

Hope to see you Wednesday at Joyce's Hodgepodge!

***

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Backyard Chickens, Family, Cats, Cattle, Barns, Downton, and Democrats

Ah, look at those beautiful chickens!!!

Last week, as I mentioned in a previous post, we visited our son's family in south central Minnesota. It was snowy, blowy, and cold, but fortunately the roads were not snow-packed and slippery, as they so often are in the wintertime.

They live right in the center of a little town, and are allowed to have chickens in their backyard. So, they've built a pen and a coop and enjoy the company of these beautiful chickens. The goldish ones are Buff Orpingtons and the black and white ones are Wyandottes, I think. Our son has wanted chickens for a long time, and it's fun to see the whole family getting in on the project.

Upper left: Granddaughter, dressed for the Minnesota weather
Upper Middle: Chicken pen
Upper Right: Son, having gathered the moment's chicken production
Lower left: Chicken Run
Lower Middle: Nesting Box
Lower Right: Eggs waiting to be used at breakfast

Christmastime brought a new addition to their family - Bingley, the kitten. As you can see in the collage below, he gets plenty of attention. I also took a photo of their black cat, Peter, but all you can see are two green eyes.

That kitten sees everyone as a tree-climbing opportunity and it's quite a shock to suddenly find yourself being clawed by a cat as he scampers up your leg to get to your shoulders. (See granddaughter, lower right.)

Jazzie, a pretty good traveler

and glad to see the family

 Grandkids, all fans of Bingley

 A sweet morning moment with Grandpa

Bingley, on his best behavior

He's practiced that innocent look.

Peter, the older, more civilized cat

Barn in cold, flat, south central Minnesota

It was fun to spend time with the family, and I hope we can go back there soon!

Pink Barns on Highway 212

Remember this barn from a previous post?

Same farm. Same color. No idea why.
(photo taken in January of 2014)

Many horses

I hope they like pink.

Mr. C. and I have a pen out back (18' x 71', originally built as a dog pen on the rare occasion - like never - that we would go away for a day and leave the dogs in the pen. We tried it ONCE. The dogs were in the exact same spot when we returned as when we had left, which was right next to the gate. After that, we kept the dogs in the house and were never gone for a whole day or got a dog sitter.)  Anyway, it's the perfect spot for a chicken coop.

So how many of you have ever raised chickens? Got any good advice or tips of what to do and what not to do and maybe which chickens are your favorites?  I'd love to hear!  I have been waffling (seems appropriate, doesn't it, considering the egg-laying feature) on chickens for a few years now.

And I always love looking at the Murray McMurray chicken catalog, which just came a few days ago.

***

Downton Abbey or Democrats?

Did you watch the Democrat debate last night, or Downton Abbey? I couldn't imagine why they'd put it on at the same time as Downton Abbey (I bet it wasn't Sanders' or O'Malley's idea), but I watched Downton Abbey until it was over and then watched the remaining hour of the debate. 

Two questions:

1. There was so much about Downton Abbey that I loved last night. My favorite parts had to do with Edith and with Tom. Did you watch it? What did you think?

Sybbie and Tom

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2.  Why was Hillary Clinton given so much more air time than O'Malley and Sanders? Or did it just seem like it?  Did you watch it? What did you think?

USA TODAY

 

Linked to Judith's MOSAIC MONDAY

and TREASURE BOX TUESDAY 
and Stephanie's ROSES OF INSPIRATION

and Theresa's GOOD FENCES 

and Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

and Tom's BARN COLLECTIVE

 

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Have a great Monday, everyone!