IT'S A BOY!

Several hours old, Gold IS Where You Find It!

I began this post the day after Golden was born, 9-18, and am only getting back to finishing it on 10-16. Where does the time go....

Carol always told me I would come home one day to find a cria, and that's just the way it happened. I was coming down the last hill to home when a phone call congratulated me on having a beautiful baby on the ground. Hard to believe; after all the waiting, the hot summer, so many hosings, putting AC in the barn, and now our first baby at last, only a week and a half overdue.

Protective Tess, with Mother-Rev-looking on...

Words simply cannot explain the feelings of being a mother at last, something truly my own. All my life, I lived what I believed, adopting what I loved. That second chance person. But having Golden, something from beginning to end all my very own, if only a cria, truly a special moment.

Companionable dogs - Allie and Brinson's Kendall

Stunning--so handsome

After the calm of summer, everything seemed to happen at once in autumn. A week before Golden arrived, our beloved dog Julie was laid to rest on the farm. I wanted another dog quickly, so 800 miles later, Allie, our Black Lab puppy, traveled from the end of Virginia to her new home. And then Golden. Nothing like having a new dog and a new cria all at once.

Just when I thought the all-clear whistle could sound, Golden almost died on Day 3. Whether he simply overdid it, or had not thermo-regulated his body to the weather, I guess I will never know. but I can tell you that Carol never flew faster to the rescue with colostrum and a baby bottle and cria-sized nipple and the skill of knowing how to feed Golden against his wishes. My vet, Justin Cunfer, left a Sunday cattle sale to rush to the rescue, and together they saved the day, Golden's day and mine too.

Tess first to use the new waterer

Two days later, the Jug Waterer project was finally in works with a week old baby cria, on the two days temperatures hit 90 again. And the girls plus Golden had to live in the pasture while the paddock excavation and automatic waterer installation began. A week and a half later, we have a frost-free pump and a great waterer that won't freeze connected to the generator. 

It's all good

Life on the farm is ever changing; nothing will ever be finished, but rather a work in progress. And after all these years, I am living my dream. Things will get done, some sooner, some later. The rock garden we grow when we excavate--or it rains--is waiting for Michael and his crew. So is the painting, the sealer for fence tops, leaf collecting, and so many more things in time. Till then, it is what it is until it isn't...

A very special thank you, heartfelt, to Carol and Doug, and Justin and Katie, for coming, and for understanding.