A heart breaking story

As I'm writing this blog this morning I can't help but have tears rolling down my cheeks.  I can't stop myself from crying!  Those of you who know me know I don't cry much.  I'm a tough chick after all, and touch chicks don't cry!  But this is one of the few exceptions.

The past couple of days have been quite emotional for our little family.  If you haven't heard somewhere here in Texas there had been some really bad storms and rains last week.  It rained so much in such a short amount of time.  That's the worst rain storms we've experienced thus far for the years we've lived here in this area.  A lot of places have experienced severe flooding.  Our place has succumbed to this evil storm and horrible tragedy.

When the rain first started we didn't think it would get that bad.  We survived the past couple of bad storms we recently had.  And the water never came even close to our house.  But this time it was different.  We hardly got any break from the rain and it dumped so much water in a matter of a day or two.  We were inside our house watching the water rise and rise.  The water was rising very very fast. When we realized the water was getting too high for our animals hubby and I tried to move all of our animals to the highest ground on our property.  At that point the pasture was hubby's waist high deep in water (so almost to my chest). It wasn't an easy task moving ALL the animals but we managed to do it.  During this time trying to move the animals I went to put some stuff inside the already very flooded barn. And it's then I saw our smaller dog with her body and face down in the water.  At first I thought she just found something in the water and was trying to get it.  So I kicked her in the butt very gently and told her to get her head out of the water.  She didn't move!  My heart sank.  I kicked her in the butt again to confirm my suspicion...she did not move whatsoever!  I started yelling for my hubby "Fall is dead, hunny!  Fall is dead!", as I was grabbing the dog out of the water.  Oh, what a horrendous scene.  It was a very very sad scene.  As soon as my hubby heard me he came running and treading through the waist-high water to get to the barn where I was holding the dog.  In kind of a panic mode hubby grabbed the dog from me and started performing CPR on her as he was crying.  At that point I knew the dog was gone because her tongue already turned purple.  But hubby tried CPR a few more times but was unsuccessful in reviving it.  I don't see hubby cry very often but he was crying and mourning over his dog.  I didn't cry but I was very sad about what happened and the only thing I could do right then was to offer hubby a big big big hug.  Before we could finish mourning over the death of the dog we had to go back and get the rest of the animals out of the pasture so they don't drown.  Once all the animals were put on the highest ground we went inside and told the kids about their dog...they started bawling... I didn't cry (I'm a tough chick, you know) but it totally broke my heart to see my kids and hubby weeping like this.  And this is the kids' very first dog they loved her dearly.  Hubby also spent a lot of time training and playing with this dog he loved her.  The night after all this happened I had dreams about this whole incident and it wasn't a pleasant dream one should have.

After we went back inside from moving all the animals we didn't have time to rest. The water kept rising at a very fast pace so we started packing up a few things just in case we have to evacuate.  We also were busy trying to put as much sentimental and more valueale stuff on our beds and tables to give those things a better chance of surviving in case of flood.

The time finally came when we decided it was time to call for rescue.  But it took them hours before the rescuers could come get us.  First of all they were very very busy rescuing others that day plus it took them awhile to figure out how to get to us.  But help finally came!  The rescuers came just in time with their boat to save us!  When they showed up the water was just a few inches away from coming into our home.  After putting life jackets on everyone we started "walking" towards the boat.  We had to tread through the high water in our front yard to get to the boat.  It was really more like swimming then walking.  By the time I reached the boat my feet couldn't touch the ground the rescuer had to pick me up.  Everyone else in the family gradually all made it to the boat.  At that point we were all wet but happy to be rescued.  The kids were cold and traumatized a little.  But kids are resilient!  We were taken to the closest fire station and sat there and waited for our friends to come pick us up.  As of right now we are staying with our friends from church.  We are so grateful for them and for all that they've done for us!

We have also received a lot of love and help from our families, friends and people from our church!  It's amazing to see how fast people just jumped into action to help our family.  Just thinking about it gets me all teary eye every time.

Two days after we were rescued we still couldn't get back to our property to check on things because the water was still too high for any vehicles to get through and the current was still too strong and swift for boats to safely get close enough to our house, so hubby decided to rent a small plane to fly over our property.  The airplane couldn't get too low but from what he could see the water was almost all the way to the roof. And there was no signs of any of our animals.  I was not on the plane with him at the time but was staying put at our friends' house with the kiddos awaiting updates from hubby.  When hubby finally called he just started bawling.  Then I started bawling.  It's all his fault he made me cry!  It's a very emotional thing to see all the things you have worked sooo hard for just gone in a matter of a day!  Aside from all the financial investment we have put into this place it's all the hard work and time we have invested in this place we called our dream home that just went down the drain and in front of our eyes.  We have spent countless hours working as a family, cleaning up this place, fixing up this place, improving this place.  It's not perfect yet but it's 400 times better than it was before.  All these dreams and hopes and future projects we were dreaming about and planning were all dashed into pieces.  And also all the countless hours we have spent raising these animals and the hard work we have put into raising them but now they're dead.  That's what made us so sad.  I think we will eventually get over it but it will leave us with an emotional scar forever.

But despite this tragedy we just experienced we are sooo grateful to be alive!  So grateful for God's tender mercy on preserving our lives and blessing us with so many good people in our lives to bless and help us.  We're also grateful for the brave rescuers who risked their lives to save others.  We are counting our blessings.  We will rebuild but it will take a long time. I will try my best to continue to update this blog.  I will try to post pictures later.

The rotation

This morning we decided to put our cattle in a different pasture so we can rotate pastures.  Original plan was to get some cattle cubes (they really love those cattle cubes for their treat) put it in the bucket and just lure them all into the new pasture.  It would have been perfect if it all worked out as planned.  But if things go as easy and smooth as fairy tales this would not be the "comical" farm life, right?

We got a bucket with some cattle cubes in it.  We started shaking the bucket to get all the cattle to come close to the gate.  All the cows know by now when they hear the sound of cattle cubes shaking in the bucket that means they are getting a treat!

We were able to get all the cattle right by the gate with no problem.  We thought if we could lure the adult cattle into the new pasture then the calves will all follow the mama cows.  We were so wrong!  The calves were too scared to follow the mama cows into the pasture.  So we spent quite some time this morning trying to run after the calves and corral them and guide them to the other pasture.  As I mentioned before I'm way too out of shape at the moment to be running after those calves.  So hubby was running after them and trying to get them to run toward the gate.  That didn't work very well.  Then we tried putting a lead rope on them but they would never let us get close enough to do that.  So finally hubby was able to corner one of them and was able to scoop her up and pick her up.  But boy as soon as hubby picked that calf up the calf starting screaming and mooing.  Hubby kept yelling "open the gate!  Open the gate!"  As we watched the mama cow started charging toward hubby.  I've never seen hubby that scared in our entire married life!  Hahaha. And hubby ran so fast to the gate and threw the calf inside the new pasture and luckily beat the mama cow to the gate and avoided some possibly very serious injuries!  And lucky enough the other calf saw what was happening and kind of freaked out so he actually just crawled under one of the fences and into the new pasture.  So once again the calves are reunited with their mamas.

All cattle accounted for and happily settling in their new pasture with plenty to eat!

It's been a busy morning here on the farm.  After rotating pasture for the cattle we decided it's time to separate the donkeys as well.  See the donkeys that we have they are a 3 year-old mama donkey with her little boy who turned 1 not very long ago.  Usually you start weaning donkeys around 6-9 months.  But we were busy with other things so we procrastinated until now.  The longer you wait to wean them off of course the harder it is to do so.  So Jack has been trying to jump over and crawl under the fence.  He was crying and making noises and just really wanted to get to his mama.  But he's already 1!  He should not still be drinking milk from his mama!

We spent some time fixing up some of the fences this morning hopefully Jack won't be able to escape to the other pasture to be with his mama.

The wild one

Saturday morning we woke up and hubby saw a small herd of about 6 wild hogs in our pasture.  We have a bad hog problem here in Texas.  These hogs reproduce so fast and they are very destructive.  They root up everything and they can be very dangerous.  So hubby got his gun out and started shooting them.  He said he shot 3 of them but all of them but one got away.  So we captured and killed the one.  Afterwards hubby, with the help from one of our kids they skinned that sow and got some meat off of it.

At least she died happy.  She died with a smile knowing her
meat won't go to waste and that we will turn it into good
tasting egg rolls!

I know some of you might think we are bad parents for putting our kid through that trauma of killing and cutting up the hog.  But we think it was a very good learning experience/lesson for them.  We are teaching them that food/meat doesn't grow on the shelves of grocery stores.  I know this might be a shocker for some people, but I assure you food really doesn't grow on shelves!

Let's get started with the skinning process.

I'm actually very proud of my kid for not freaking or being grossed out and she actually got her hands dirty and was helping hubby take care of the hog.

What a great little helper!

Almost done skinning.

Now we will have a bunch of ground pork and I can make some egg rolls with it.  Yes I make some killer egg rolls with these completely free range organic ground pork!

Better than superman vs. batman

What's better than superman vs. batman or captain America vs. ironman?  It's dog vs. snake, of course!

This morning when I was out walking in the backyard with my little one I saw a snake.  It was a pretty good size snake.  I didn't know if it was a venomous one or not so I called for hubby.  Hubby came with a shovel and our snake killer dog.  I guess the shovel was just for showing we didn't even have to use it.  The dog jumped right into action.  He picked it up, flung it around, and the snake was dead. 

In fact, I think he probably killed that snake 3 times over!  After he killed the snake the first time he went back and picked up the snake and flung it around some more then he did it a few more times after that.  

The snake killer in action

Flinging it and twirling it around like it's a chew toy.

I might not like this dog all the time because he's kind of a naughty dog but I must admit he's getting a lot better about obeying us.  And boy, is he a natural born snake killer!

Yeah the snake got ripped in a few places

We don't think it's a venomous one... It has round eyes but it also has single scale.

I think it's safe to say this snake is dead.  Time of death: 5/11/2016 some time in the morning

It is almost 6 feet long

What a pleasant surprise!

This morning when we went to check on the cows my husband was counting all the cattle and he counted 7 and he thought he saw 2 little brown calves.  At first I thought he was crazy and that he was probably just mistaken a tree log as a calf or something.  As we walked up to the cows closer sure enough there were 2 brown calves walking around!  Oh my gosh the black cow must have given birth last night!!!  When we saw the new calf this morning he was already dry and on his feet walking around.  The new calf is also brown like Meatballs and he's also a boy.  We don't know what to name him yet.  We don't even have his mama named yet.

The black cow with her baby boy.  This was her second pregnancy.

From what we were told, typically mama cows like to give birth either during the night or during early morning for whatever reason.  So far it has been the case with our cows anyway.

Did you know that mama cows like to hide their newborn calves to protect them from any predators?  We didn't know that until the other day when we checked on our cows and Meatballs wasn't there!  We looked and looked everywhere but we could not find him!!!  He disappeared!  So we assumed he was either stolen or he got eaten by coyotes or something.  We really thought he was stolen because there were just no signs of struggle or no indication that anything attacked the calf and dragged him away.  But our friends who have experience with cows told us sometimes the mama cows would hide their babies to protect them.  Sure enough the next day when we checked on the cows Meatballs popped up from nowhere and he was back with his mama and the herd.

Meatballs with his mama. This morning when we checked 

on them Meatballs was so active running around and jumping 

around, just so full of energy and curiosity.  He was so cute!  

Too bad neither my husband or I had our phones on us to 

record that moment.  But it was just so cute to watch him play.

The baby is here! The baby is here!

This morning while walking the kids to the bus stop hubby heard some pretty unusual-sounding moo's.  He was suspecting one of the cows was giving birth.  So after the kids got on the bus hubby fed all the animals then checked on the cows as usual.  And then there it was a calf sitting in the pasture with the mama cow.  Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.  (Yes that's what we finally decided to name her.  It's a long name but very fitting) just "dropped" her meatball this morning!  Congratulations to this first-time mom.  She gave birth to a healthy baby boy (we think it's a boy).

                                          They are both trying to figure each other out.
                                          This first-time mom is still trying to figure out this
                                          motherhood thing.  

                                          They're getting there.  Warming up to each other gradually

                                          They finally got it!  Motherly instincts finally kicked
                                          in and she's licking and cleaning off her calf.  The
                                          baby finally got a hold of the teat and eating.

Mom and baby are both doing great!

The calf is sooo cute and when we went out to the pasture to see them the baby was still wet.  And there was steam coming off of the calf.

Awww

Cloudy With A Chance Of  Meatballs just gave birth and still 

has that stringy thing attached to her behind.

Isn't he cute?!  I can't decide if it's his umbilical cord or 

it's his boy part that's hanging down from his belly area. 

We are naming him Meatballs. 

Calf is hungry he's busy nursing

The polygamist cult

Cows are herd animal and they don't like being alone they like to be around their own kind.  We just got our 3rd pregnant cow today.

  The newest member of the herd, I'll call her Udder #3 for now.

So now we have a total of 5 cows, 1 bull, 1 steer, and 3 pregnant cows.  The bull and one of the cows are black, then we have one red one and 2 dun ones.  Some people swear up and down the black ones are the only pure Dexter cows.  There's no real scientific research to support that.  And some people believe the only pure dexters come in 3 colors, black, red, and dun.  I tend to believe the latter.  Any Dexter cows with different colors are probably not pure dexters.

All 5 cows accounted for.

Dexter, our bull will probably be very happy in just a few months after the cows all have their babies.  He will have no competition because Ribeye the steer has no balls so he can't breed and we will eventually use him for meat any way.  

Animals are not like human,  they will breed with every female cow in the herd, and they will breed with their own daughters and granddaughters.  Of course you don't want them to breed with their own offsprings too much.  Otherwise you'll see genetic problems with their offsprings.

They are just eating some cattle cubes off of hubby's hand.  We want our cows to be grass fed so the cattle cubes are just occasional treat

The more cow pies the merrier

Cow pies are so delicious and nutritious that's why we got more cows so we can get more of them.  In case you didn't sense the sarcasm here I'm just being sarcastic.  We are, however, getting more cow pies in the pasture because we just got another cow yesterday!  Yup, another pregnant cow.  Everyday we have been going out to the pasture to check on the cows to see if they have their babies yet...but no they haven't had their babies yet.  But don't worry, as soon as they have their babies I will post pictures on here.

So now we have a total of 4 heads of cows.  We don't know 

what to name the pregnant cows yet.  Udder 1 and Udder 2?  

One of my kids wants to name one of them Cloudy...😳 

I'm not quite sure about that name...but then why the heck not 

since they named their cats Scratchy, Stardust, Angel, and Midnight.

The new pregnant cow is the smaller black cow you see in 

the picture( the one looking at the camera and smiling for the picture).  

Dexter is the black one with a big fat head

On top of getting a new cow yesterday our friends gave us two Pygmy goats.  So now we have a total of 4 goats just roaming around in our front yard.  These goats we just got from our friends are really friendly and not skittish like our other ones.  They would even let you get close to them and pet them!  Needless to say my  kids are in love!  The Pygmy goats are simply just there to "mow" the yard and keeping the grass down or maybe for breeding.  They are even smaller than our mini Nubian goats.  

Meet Molly and Joey!  Is it me or goats just have some weird, crazing looking eyes?!

2+1=4

I meant to post this last week but I procrastinated...better late than never, right?

You might be scratching your head wondering why 2+1=4.  I'm here to explain why this mathematics equation is actually correct.

If you have been following this blog you already know we currently have one Dexter bull and a Dexter steer.  Last week we just got another Dexter and this time it's a cow. (Remember we had a whole lesson on different names we give cattle already).  This cow is actually a pregnant cow.  So even though we currently have 3 dexters on our farm we technical have 4.  And we will be getting 2 more pregnant cows in the next few weeks.

We are contemplating milking the cow after she has her calf.  We shall see.  We are excited to see the calf when it's finally here!

Dexter, the lady's man!  Already making friends with the new cow.
In this picture the cow has only been here for less than 3 hours.

A productive Saturday morning

We spent about an hour this morning picking dewberries.  We found some new spots on our property with lots of nice plump, juicy and ripe dewberries.

It was a very big bowlful of dewberries 

And a friend suggested making dewberry pancakes with buttermilk syrup with the dewberries we picked.  So that's exactly what we made for breakfast this morning.  I feel so accomplished already this morning!

I'm in heaven!

I just looked up a buttermilk syrup recipe online and found this one on allrecipes.com.  Allrecipes.com usually has pretty good recipe.  It's pretty good buttermilk syrup everyone loved it!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/59591/buttermilk-syrup/