RUG HOOKING BLOG

About Me

My photo
I'm a mother of four grandmother of seven and great grandmother of three. I live with my husband in the house that we built with the help of my brothers and will have been married for 57 years this February.

Monday, August 25, 2014

LIFE IS FULL OF SURPRISES

I've been a poor blogger this Summer as you all know but I got a big surprise this morning when I was reading one of my followers blogs, Stephanie Faris,Tween Author.   I won a Quintet of Radiance Award. It really took me by surprise to be chosen amongst many of her followers.   My first reaction was this...Me ? No way... OMG. Really? Yes, that's me.  lol. To be chosen is special even though I usually decline all awards. This time however, I felt very honored and accepted the award. Thanks Stephanie and good luck with your new book.

Stephanie is a novelist and freelance writer and lives in Nashville with her husband.  She authored 30 Days of No Gossip and is available from Simon & Schuster's Aladin Mix  and 25 Roses which will be coming out in 2015.  Please visit her blog, you can order her book directly from her blog.


I tried to add this Award Button to my sidebar but was unsuccessful and I dragged it into a file and uploaded like a photo here on my blog.

Oh dear, now that I've accepted this award, I have to do the 26 words from A to Z  to describe me.

A-   accommodating  B-  Barefoot   C-  conscientious   D-  discerning  E-  ethical   F-  feeler
G-  generous              H-  honest       I-   idealistic           J-   just             K- Kind      L-  likeable
M-  married                N-  natural      O-  orderly             P-  prudent       Q-  quiet      R-  responsible
S-  survivor                 T-  truthful     U-  unique             V-  versatile      W-  wise      X-  xenophobic
Y-  youthful                 Z-  zealous

That was  a challenging rule.  I'll stop here. I'm surprised that I could find 26 words from A to Z to describe me.

  I used to share a lot of what happened in my every day experiences at home and on the farm. Things still happens and I don't want to bore you with what seems a normal day to me.

August is on it's way out and it just got here it seems. My daughter and her family came for a long visit and I had lots of fun with James and Daniel and I've been away from the computer more than usual. Those two little guys can keep a grandma hopping to exhaustion. Their mama was exhausted too, lol... James used my computer to view some educational videos in the evening.



James visiting my bigger heifer calves.


James and Daniel looking at a big cow. Daniel is keeping his distance


James and daniel watching a video on the DVD player.


I've made two batches of Lady Ashburnham pickles for the church fund raising auction again this August, got 2 new heifers calves and 2 huge bulls calves which needed to be pulled out.  Yesterday another  cow calf and my son pulled a dead heifer calf out.

 I've looked after a sick calf called Victoria and she is feeling much better today. When I went in to feed her she refused to get up. I took her temperature and it was 103 so I fed her a bottle of Calf-Lite with electrolyte. I took her temperature again at noon and it was 102 and again at 4:00pm and it was up to 104. My son Vaughan, gave her some antibiotics and she was feeling better in the morning.  She has been digging in the corner of her pen and sucking her own juices the dummy calf. No wonder she got sick.  She drank 2 bottles of milk this morning but this evening she wasn't too hungry again. She didn't even finished one bottle.

My son brought a sick cow for me to care for.  He thought that she had a displaced stomach as she refused to eat her grain and only gave a pint of milk at milking time and she looked very cathartic.

I said a healing prayer and asked Jesus to heal her.  I talked to her and  petted her and offered her half a scoop of grain and some hay and I got her water bowl running and she turned  her head and looked at me but stayed there starring aimlessly at the wall...

In the morning  I gave her a full scoop of grain, not expecting her to even touch it but she surprised me and ate it all so I offered her another scoop of grain and she ate that one as well. She ate her hay and drank water and peed and pooped.  I called my son Vaughan to come and milk her and he milked her and she gave almost 4  quarts of milk. She seemed to be responsive and even licked me when I was near her.  That was another  surprise.

Today I harvested the rest of my onions and put them in the gazebo to dry. I did a bit of weeding and came in the house to cool off with a cold beer my son in-law gave me  before he left and I looked like a hobo. I had just sat at the computer with my red sweaty face when the door bell rang. It was Father Laden at the door. He was our first priest in our new parish in the 1980s. What a surprise to see him at our door after so many years. He was visiting family in our area and dropped in to say hi. He lives in Ontario.

So yes, life is full of surprises.

Thanks for visiting. I love receiving your visits and comments. I'm running behind in visiting but I haven't forgotten you. I'll visit as soon as I can.

JB

25 comments:

  1. isn't that how it is - when you're hot, sweaty, drinking a brew, the priest stops in for a visit! :) i liked your choice of words. so glad the cow is responding! i hope she'll be good as new!
    loved your two little boys and the cows.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Never a dull moment in your life.
    Of course the priest would stop at such an inopportune time. Such is life.
    Hugs :)
    Lauren

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats on your award. The boys are growing up so fast. You can start to train them as farm hands soon. You need the help so you can get so,e relaxing time

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can't believe that Daniel is so big. I bet it so much fun coming to the farm. You are so kind to your cows. And such a hard worker. I love hearing about what you do. Did you offer him a beer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am so glad you got that award, you are all of those things and even more. I sat here and laughed about you being hot and sweaty and drinking a beer and the parish priest showing up. My goodness Julia, I can just see that so clearly in my mind.
    I realize you are one busy lady and it sound like there is a never a dull moment and I don't know why you think your life is boring. It isn't I love reading about your day to day life. It is full of life and I love life. I also love cow stories because pulling calves as odd as it sounds was always such a great feeling to accomplishment and then raising them to go to market. I miss that part of my life.
    Have a lovely evening and I hope a lovely week. I love seeing pictures of the boys too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You deserve an award! For blogging and all the hard work you do.
    Glad you could enjoy time with the little guys. bet theylove their visits with you.
    Hope all those cows get back to health so you don't have so much work to do.
    HUGS!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congrats on that award and also for filling in the alphabet so nicely and giving us glimpse into the "Julia" we all love! Your Grandkiddos are adorable and I can't believe how big Daniel is....time is flying! I love your farm stories and I do hope all the sick ones get better. You had me laughing however at the end...I kept imagining you with a red face, beer in hand, answering the door to a visiting Priest...I don't know why, but it made me laugh! Must be the once Catholic girl in me!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a nice award and 26 wonderful things about you! very nice indeed!

    WHAT fun are the g'baby boys! sooooo precious and look how grown up?! my goodness... James is a big boy and Daniel? he was just born! wow... time flits for sure...

    Always busy at your house .... love seeing pictures of your family and your calves ;)

    A hobo? hahahaa... I bet your Priest would have loved a beer!

    ReplyDelete
  9. congrats on your award! you are always so busy life is never dull for you. We are very warm here for now but the color is in the trees.
    Cathy

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello JB! You've had lots of fun! I like the idea of 30 days of no gossip. Yay for you, getting a nice award.

    ReplyDelete
  11. You keep up a mad pace, Julia! I don't know how you do it! Thank you for all your visits to my blog. I really wish we could chat over a cup of tea or coffee. xo

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yay! Thank you for doing the challenge. I got a kick out of "barefoot!"

    Those little boys are so cute, I can see why they would distract you from blogging. They're SO adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Congratulations Julia.You deserve this award and so much more.Your life is never boring.It is like a soap opera.We always want to know the... Days of your life.Yeah that would be a great title for a soap.You are like a reality show.We always tune in each day to know what you got to deal with daily.Very interesting life you have. About the priest ...such good timing on his part.I wonder if he would have taken a beer???God bless and take care,because I care for you sister.Love and (((HUGS)))

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've known you for more than 20 years and I don't believe for one second that you are xenophobic. You'd be the first one to offer dinner to a stranger. You'll have to find a new "x" word. Admittedly that is difficult in English. But the one you picked doesn't seem to fit you at all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ok Tired Adult, I threw in that word in good humour. There's no way to describe me with only one letter each of the alphabet and I told George that I used that word for humour. X was impossible to describe me. If you can find a better word starting with the letter X, I would appreciate it. lol... All in good humour of course.

      JB

      Delete
    2. How about xenial or xenodochial. Meaning you are kind and hospitable to guests or strangers.

      Delete
    3. Thanks Christine. I can see folks digging out their dictionaries, lol, looking under X. I like that.
      Hugs,
      Mom

      Delete
  15. Congratulations on your award. I loved today reading about the cows - I had to cross a field of them recently and always am nervous as they edge towards you slowly - only curious I know, and as a child I would lie down in a field and wait for them to come and investigate (a very slow process!) but in adulthood I have developed a slight fear of them! probably because I encountered a young bull a few years back who would not let me pass! Anyhow, you certainly have a way with cows and it's lovely to read about them being nursed - more please! Betty

    ReplyDelete
  16. James and Daniel look so cute! James is showing Daniel all he needs to know about the farm! What a great big Brother! So glad the sick cow is healed and happy again!

    ReplyDelete
  17. A heartfelt congrats on your award Julia!! Very very deserving indeed :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Between the farm, calves, grandkids and everything else you do, the award is well deserved!! I had to laugh...drinking a beer and the priest shows up!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Replies
    1. hahaha, how did you know. I've been so tired today that I had to lay down before lunch. It so hot that I decided not to weed and instead, I took my camera on a long walk down the fields and back. I have enough photos for another blog post or two.

      Hugs,
      Your Xhausted sister

      Delete
  20. Yeah for more photos. <3
    (((HUGS)))

    ReplyDelete
  21. So I'm just going to say it, those grandsons of yours are so stinking cute in their rubber farm boots, Oh my golly! How can you even stand it! I always feel so bad when a mama delivers a still born, even as animals they know and I'm sure morn. On the contrary - I'm happy that your sons sick cow got to feeling better! I just love your farm stories and pictures!


    Hugs!!
    Saimi

    ReplyDelete