What’s Behind the Barn Door?

I headed to the barn this morning to milk Mocha. (I am milking her at scheduled later and later times of the day in an attempt to slowly move her to an evening-only milking so by next week she will be dry for a couple of months prior to her calf being born. We do “normal chores” in the morning, everything except milking Mocha. Then, I go out later to milk Mocha.)

Anyway, back to the story…You NEVER know what lies behind closed doors and today I couldn’t have guessed what I would find when I opened the door!

There was Mocha, all pregnant 950 pounds of her, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BARN…NOT IN HER STALL…happily munching on the stack of hay that Jeff had just unloaded from the hay wagon last night! She acted as if she was parking herself next to the smorgasbord at the neighborhood restaurant!

I exclaimed loudly, “Mocha! What are you doing?” She immediately turned toward me, and I could almost hear her say “Uh-oh! Now what do I do? I can’t hide! Where do I go?”

Eventually she got her big self turned around and with some encouragement from me, put herself back in her stall (because YOU don’t put a 950-pound pregnant cow ANYWHERE…you have to encourage HER to move herself!). Upon re-entering the stall, she immediately positioned herself in front of the water tank and DRANK, AND DRANK AND DRANK!

I shut her stall door and walked around the barn surveying the damage. I could see her footprints all over the floor. She had knocked off a stack of empty water bowls that were stacked on an upturned five-gallon bucket. She had evidently either stepped in the cat water bowl or had tried to drink from it with her BIG nose! I didn’t see anything disturbed in the stall where the meat chickens are, and for that I am thankful!

Then I began to survey the hay bales. Now, I’ll be honest…I don’t know what it looked like when Jeff left the barn this morning…but I suspect there had been nearly an entire bale of hay laying on the floor. It now looked like this:

When I went back into her stall, she had PLENTY of hay left in her bin which was EXACTLY THE SAME HAY she was feasting on “at the table”!

She is and always has been a DIVA. She know what she wants and she will get it if at all within her power to do so! And, the stall door being left un-shut and unsecured was just the opportunity she was looking for.

I again looked around the barn and realized that now the cats, who were virtually invisible when she was out in the middle…were now showing up and appeared to be quite traumatized!

However, not to worry…it doesn’t appear she ate anything she shouldn’t have eaten (except possibly to clean out any feed that might have been left in Jersey’s pan from the morning)…and nothing was destroyed or harmed. All order is once again restored in the barn (except for the mess she left on the floor)!

Cows are like children in many ways. They KNOW what they want. They will find a way to get what they want if left to their own devices. They are typically NOT remorseful! One huge difference, though, is that it is impossible for me to put her in time-out, or to make her do anything without convincing her there is no other option! And yes! I am still #CRAZYABOUTCOWS! She just gives me “that look” and because I love her, she knows I’ll forgive her and tell her how beautiful she is!

Hope this has given you a chuckle and a little insight into the unexpected things that can come from gates and stall doors, etc., being left open!! Glad I can laugh about it and thankful no permanent damage was done! After all, she’s a pregnant girl and she has CRAVINGS!

#dianeorrauthor

#penitpublications

#mynameismocha

Hey! What’s New (besides a new year)?

Hi everyone! Well, it’s 2021 and sometimes it feels like we’re living in the Twilight Zone. It’s hard to believe that January is over and February is beginning. I just wanted to take a quick minute to update you on what’s going on in my world.

MACBOOK PRO BITES THE DUST

Last fall, my 10-year-old MacBook Pro decided it was going to retire with no notice and it left me stranded, trying to figure out how to recover my data and how to get a computer I could use again. Although I am definitely an “Apple girl”, my husband who works on PCs for a living said he would suggest I look for a PC, so in case something happened to it, he could work on it. The idea made sense, even though I wasn’t happy at all to have to re-tool my brain to the PC way of doing things after using a Mac for 10 years.

Thankfully we found a refurbished one on eBay and got it for a good price. I also found a local recovery company who was able to recover most of my data. So, I have been trying to get use to this new computer and find the files I needed to work on. It hasn’t been fun, but I am slowly making progress.

This meant I had months I couldn’t work on books, calendars (that were planned for 2021 debut) and had no access to my farm documents during a very busy time. I had to let some things go, but it all worked out and eventually will get the calendars done and get back on track.

UPCOMING VIRTUAL AUTHOR VISIT

I am excited that this week I received confirmation that a virtual author visit is in the works for March for a school that I was scheduled to visit last year the very week that all the schools got shut down for COVID-19! Although it will be different and not quite as fun as being with the children in person, I will be thrilled to be able to answer some of their questions via video and hopefully read one or two of my books to them! I am thankful that they still want to do this with me!

FIRST BOOK IN NEW SERIES COMING SOON

I am happy to announce that the final edits to sketches for illustrations for the first book in my new “a Micah Book” series have been submitted. When the corrections have been made and I have approved the final sketches, the illustrator will add color and the manuscript will be off to the presses!

This book and coming series is very special to me as I wrote the first two books in this series when my almost twenty-year-old son was just two or three years old. Through the years, I have looked for illustrators and publishers, but until a couple of years ago when I first began writing and publishing the “de Good Life Farm” books, the whole idea seemed elusive.

The first book in this series takes the reader through a day in the life of “toddler” Micah with an catchy rhyming text . The illustrations will either be watercolor or colored pencil. I am eager for this first book to be published! Watch for news!

The second book in the series, Just the Right Size, is not a rhyming book but tells of the familiar plight of the toddler of being to small to do the things they desire to do. The illustrations will also be either watercolor or colored pencil.

THE TALES AND TAILS OF DE GOOD LIFE FARM

I have again begun working on the “history” book of de Good Life Farm called The Tales and Tails of de Good Life Farm. This book is very emotionally-charged to work on. As I allow the words to flow on the page, the memories of the events flood my mind. Because it is so emotional to write, I can’t work on it for long periods of time, but when it is finished, it will be a very special book!

It will include all the happenings and events, births and deaths, from the beginning of the farm until now. It will make you laugh and cry! There will also be an Appendix at the end of the book filled with photographs that will help to bring to life the events on the pages. Watch for it, hopefully is 2022!

BEAUTIFUL JERSEY FACES

And now, I will leave you with two precious faces…on the left is Mocha’s daughter, Elsie, and on the right, her brother, Herbie.

Elsie and Herbie, January 2021.

Have a great first week of February! If you haven’t taken advantage of the sale on the set of my first five de Good Life Farm books, and you are interested, be sure to check it out at www.penitpublications.com. Search my name, Diane Orr, and you will see the offer.

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