A Busy Week

It has been a strange week. We had Benchmark testing which made for a very long day each and every day. I'm not very good at being quiet. Never have been. I have a callus on the top knuckle of my right hand middle finger. It's from writing "I will be quiet in class" over and over again during the 4th grade. I don't know that I got one full recess that entire year! Obviously, the writing of sentences was not an effective punishment for me.

Lucy Mercer, Great American Cat Wrangler, has transformed into Mommy of the year. I have been very worried about her and the new puppies. I am supplementing the runt with bottle feeding. He is so much smaller than the others, and I'm not sure that he will make it. But I'm not giving up. And neither is Lucy. She occasionally brings him to me. I think she knows that he is getting needed attention when I feed him.

I managed to watch two of my nieces play softball games this week. One plays for the Lady Bears and the other for the Lady Dogs. This weekend the Lady Bears hosted a tournament which the Lady Dogs won. Both nieces played great games, and I am so proud of them. My Lady Dogs niece is a senior this year, so I am especially glad that I got to watch her play.

After this game, I took Baby Jus and the two nephews to Star Daze where we met up with more family and friends. The wind was so COLD. But the kids had a great time. This is a great small town festival. Each year we look forward to this festival in April and the Pink Tomato Festival in June.

Why is everything so yummy at a carnival? I always get a funnel cake just as we are about to leave. I have discovered that eating it in the car and going home with powdered sugar everywhere is preferable to eating it in public and walking around all night with a white sugary coating. But this time I waited just a tad too late. When I went to order my sweet treat, the booth was closing. Guess I'll just have to double up at the Pink Tomato.

There were many unsuccessful attempts at winning a rabbit,

Twirling rides,

rides that spun high in the air,

and fun houses that were fun for those stumbling through as well as those watching from the outside.

I had planned to spend the weekend with the women in Lovey's family. Because I was worried to leave Lucy and the puppies, I canceled those plans. Lovey called Saturday morning and asked me to meet him at another barn. He and his brother had gotten up another group of cows for worming and shots.

It was an all-hands-on-deck sort of day. Joey and Hank worked the cows from the big pen to the small pens, Baby Jus helped to guide them through the shoot, ChanMan worked the gate, Liz prepared the shots and did the paperwork, and I helped Lovey with worming, shots, and fly stuff while they were in the headgate. It started out as one of those days where everything went wrong, and I was beginning to wonder if I would regret going to help out.

Liz and I were working on the same side of the gate in a little corner area. It seemed very protected most of the time. But every now and then a crazy cow came through, and we were looking for shortcuts out of suddenly-too-close-for-comfort corner area. After around 200 cows and calves, we were all tired and a little banged up.

It was not the Saturday that I had planned, but it was a good day. Working with family, finishing a job. and enjoying a beautiful spring day. I'm already looking forward to this next weekend and spending time with family in a different way. Everyone is coming here for Easter lunch. I think this Saturday, I'll call Lovey and asked him to come help me with a few jobs.