Wussification

Hi everyone,
  How many of you have heard of Brad Stein?  Cora gave the boys Brad's DVD for their birthdays called, "Wussification."  If you have ever heard this DVD, you will know that Mr. Stein does NOT hold back with his opinions.  In my opinion, this makes him a real live hero in this day of "Political correctness."

It was great to hear feminism very firmly vilified and Christian manhood elevated to it's rightful place--at the head of the family.  Since that time, I've been listening to Brad's clips on You Tube and found this one tonight.

I'm currently working on getting a John Birch Society meeting set up in Bismarck for next week so these kinds of thoughts are very inspiring to me.  It is my prayer that you will listen to Mr. Stein and let his words seep into your heart.  Then go to JBS.org and learn about an organization that truly IS doing something to preserve our precious freedoms.

Oh for courage like this!

Dawn

Forver young

Guess who is focusing on being forever young today?  Yes, it IS my birthday but I am feeling so much younger having peeled off many of the layers that kept me bogged down in the past.

They had a party for me yesterday, seeing as Cora is working at the nursing home today, and the guys have much work that needs doing in the shop.  It was a lovely day for me, as it was the Sabbath, and we were all lazy together. 

In the morning, we showered and had our church.  We watched the 5th of a series on Preterism and it answered even more of the remaining questions that we had about the second coming of Christ to the Earth.  Our hymn sing was mostly Christmas songs so that was nice.  Even though we no longer observe Christmas in the ways that the world does, I still love the songs about Christ coming to Earth to be our Savior. 

After lunch, Cora directed me to the living room where I saw a pile of birthday presents waiting to be opened.  The first one was a bottle of wasabi paste to heat up my life--now THAT was a surprise.  Then Jacob gave me a cute little flashlight for my purse to light up my life.  It had 2 Samuel 22:29 inscribed which reads, "The Lord turns my darkness into light."  AMEN

Next there were 2 packages from Cora which proved to be enough snowmen place mats for us all plus a snowman table runner.  I was so excited as you can see in this photo.  ;)

Cora also gave me a set of lovely cutting boards.  Ours are in terrible shape and these are so lovely.  Has anyone seen cutting boards with pictures?  These gave me hope that Winter won't last forever. 

That's my exercise ball but everyone likes to use it for a chair, stool, or coffee table.  These 2 have always been very close which brings me great joy!  Perhaps you can see that large teddy bear near Cora and Andrew? 

Well, one year when they were very small and we were nearly penniless, God had me win him in the drawing in Bismarck.  We named him Trevor and that was the biggest present these 2 had ever seen.  Trevor has been leaned on; layed on; stepped on...... for 20 years and he was very dirty.  He's been in my closet for a few years now but last week I decided to see if I could get him cleaned up.  I was so pleased to see the improvement and he's back in the living room again.  Everyone is so glad to have him back with us again.

Here Jacob is bracing himself for the hug that I gave him.  He gave me the cutest kitchen timer in the world.  There's a pasture and barn on the base and this sweet Holstein on the top which you turn to set the clock.  There are even some daisies in the grass and a butter churn beside the cow.  It is SOOOO cute!

I received a variety of awesome DVDs for our family entertainment.  Because we all love THE GIFT OF THE MAGI, it came in a collection of 5 of O.Henry's short stories.

Last year we met Mrs. Miracle in the first Mrs. Miracle story and yesterday I received the second one.  Although I liked the actors better in the first one, this one touched on the plight of military families which was just awesome.  Mrs. Miracle seemed a little more pushy in this episode but then, I'm starting to realize, sometimes love DOES need a little push to get the ball rolling. 

 I received this lovely card from my mother-in-law on Friday when we were up in Mandan celebrating with them.  You can tell that my primary love language is WORDS OF AFFIRMATION as this card is worth tons more than the crisp $20 bill that was included.  Isn't it beautiful?

On the outside it reads, "Just for you, Daughter-in-law on your birthday and always."
On the inside it reads, "Having a daughter-in-law like you makes life a lot easier.  Thanks for being there so often, so willingly, so lovingly. Thanks for being you.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"  These words mean a lot to me today as I once again grieve an absent father.

 My children are incredible though.  I had been thinking of buying a skull and/or a skeleton.  In classes, the instructor often holds up the skull or the skeleton to point out which bone we're dealing with. 

Cora and Jacob gave me this set of 4 "Puzzles" to put together and then share with my clients.  So many times I have wished that I had a visual to show where in the body we're workings.  Now I do!!!

 This is a picture of Robert and Cora.  He must have been camera shy yesterday.

Today has been a wonderful day too although I didn't sleep in.  I got up planning to start my birthday with a BodyTalk session for myself.  I've been meaning to do this ever since I got home from Calgary and "Just haven't had the time."  TODAY IS THE DAY!  I still haven't done it yet, though, as there was a kitchen to clean up and lots of other things to do to return the house to normal after our wild and crazy party here yesterday.  ;)  It IS next on my agenda though.

Anyway, my day started with a phone call from my precious sister-in-the-Lord and heroine, Elizabeth Hanson.  She called to wish my a happy birthday which totally made my day.  Later in the morning I had a phone call from Robert's aunt who has been close to us since we lived in Bismarck.  She wished us all a Merry Christmas and me a happy birthday.  Then my brother, Russell, called for the same reason.  We talked almost an hour and it was so wonderful to have at least one family member who cares about me.  He really does and it means so much to me!

Then we had lunch; Cora went to work after we played a few piano duets; the guys headed out to the shop; and I am writing to all of you.  I must share with you about John now.  I met John in AnimaltalkMissoula this Summer and at Module 9 in Calgary a few weeks ago again.  In fact, John also wished me a happy birthday in an email this morning.  I checked my emails on my iPod first thing and found a birthday greeting from this new friend.

You know how Russell is my biological brother?  Well, I have brothers in the Lord too and they're just awesome.  Well, John is a BodyTalk brother--in other words, we speak the same language.  It is soooo nice to be able to talk to a man about family matrixes or cellular repair or active memories.............  We don't have any men BodyTalkers in North Dakota and I praise God that He gave me John as BodyTalk brother.  Actually I praise God for EVERYONE that He brings into my life and that includes YOU!

Well, it's my birthday and I'll do what I want to (how selfish, but then it only comes once a year) so I'm off to give myself that long awaited BodyTalk session.  Then I think I'll take a long soak in the whirlpool with the newly painted walls; fix us up some supper; and settle in with the guys to watch Irving Belin's WHITE CHRISTMAS which I also received for my birthday.  Oh, I forgot to say that the other movie I received for my birthday was FRIENDLY PERSUASION which was just awesome about a Quaker family.  What does thou think of this?

I WISH THEE A MERRY CHRISTMAS................

Dawn

Meet Sylvia

Hello everyone,

  Robert said to me once, "I think that you put natural healers up on a pedestal."  I was pretty surprised but, as I thought about it some more, I could see his point.  Of course, as I have grown more and more into what people call a healer, I see how ridiculous this was of me. 

  God put within us the ability to heal ourselves.  In BodyTalk, we call this the innate wisdom of the body.  In my desire to share Sylvia with you, I was led to this set of video clips from an interview that she did in Australia in 2006.

 Here Sylvia does an excellent job of explaining the innate wisdom of the body and how we can get ill even though we have this wonderful wisdom right inside of our bodies.  She also explains how a BodyTalk session gets the brain in touch with the body's innate wisdom.  Once the brain can see the problem, it can repair anything--even itself as I have experienced first hand. 

I hope that you'll enjoy the beautiful background as you take a quick trip to Australia and listen to Sylvia's wisdom.  By the way, BodyTalk was born in Australia in the mind of Dr. John Veltheim.  I am so very thankful that he shared it with all of us!

Enjoying life!

Dawn

To Calgary and Back

  Last week at this time I was talking to my family from Calgary, in Canada, via Andrew and my iPods.  I was a bit homesick, to be honest, but also wonderfully excited to be able to take Module 9 of the BodyTalk system.  Indeed, I was in very good hands as you will soon see.  I'll do my best to capture the delights of the trip and, seeing as it was ALL delightful, I am hoping that this post will delight you as well.

 I got up at 5:00 on Friday the 9th of December.  Actually I had slept very well with my BETAR sleep unit not yet packed.  As soon as the sleep was out of my eyes, I packed it in my suitcase as I knew better than try to sleep without it.  Being Robert went out and started the car for me, it was easy to grab an energy bar; my suitcase; check my purse for my passport and boarding passes, and head out into the frigid morning air.

I arrived at the airport around 7:30 to an empty terminal.  Just as I arrived, this awesome couple came who were such a blessing to me later on.  We went through security together which was easier than I had anticipated.  I wasn't sure when I would go through customs, so I had been nervous about that, but it didn't happen until I arrived in Calgary hours later.

We visited about our destinations and then I got something for breakfast.  I have learned that my digestive system takes being on airplanes better when there is something in it.  It was nice to relax for a bit and then I got the itch to take a walk.  Wouldn't you know it that when I was on the far side of the gate from where the Minneapolis jet would leave, I heard announced, "Would Dawn Bornemann please come to the Minneapolis desk." 

  That was a bit disconcerting but they only had to scan my passport because I hadn't been able to get the scanner to do it downstairs.  The couple who had adopted me said that sometimes it hadn't scanned theirs too.  Slowly the airport filled up and I was shocked to see one young man with SHORTS on as the temperature was 13 degrees BELOW zero when I had left home. 

  I also bought a small gift for my host and hostess from the airport shop in appreciation for letting me stay with them.  It was a refrigerator note pad with this guy sticking his tongue to a sign.  There was a thermometer with the state's "Motto" on the bottom.  It reads, 40 below, IT KEEPS OUT THE RIFF RAFF!  I'll tell you more about this later.  Maybe you can see BISMARCK and FARGO on the post.

The small jet was CRAMMED full of people and I sat with a young man named Tom who was a Captain in the National Guard.  Tom was telling me about flying into Iraq and how nothing can even compare to the "Excitement" of being in a plane that is dodging bullets and then suddenly drops out of the sky--BOOM.  Another interesting story he shared is what the Missouri looked like from the air this Spring when it was flooding and also about helping in Minot with that flooding situation.

That hour was quickly over and we found ourselves in the Minneapolis airport.  Here's a picture out the window of our jet.

I was so thankful for the awesome couple that I'd met, Neil and Beth, as we had to wait 20 minutes for them to bring a loading gate to our plane.  This left me about 45 minutes to find my plane for Calgary and I don't know my way around that monstrous building.  Their flight for Florida wasn't leaving until 3:00 so they took me over to my gate.  It had to be at least half a mile that we walked but it was fun to walk on the floor escalators (or whatever they're called) and it felt good to stretch my legs.

I was none to soon as, by the time I got to my gate, they were starting to board the first class passengers which I was not amongst.  I just had time to dig out my boarding pass when we could board and soon I was on my way to Calgary. 

This was a HUGE jet with only about 50 people so I had the whole row to myself.  I had fun looking out and watching the pilot control the ailerons.  It was super cool when he used the flaps to land.  This was a pleasant trip and I listened part of the time to my Chinese Energetics course that Andrew put on my iPod for me and slept the rest of the way.  I was surprised that I could relax enough to sleep but I told myself, "I sleep all the time in the car, when someone else is driving, so what's the difference?"

The landings usually make me the most nervous but I had great pilots the whole trip.  Everything was so smooth that it made me wonder why I have worried about this all of my life.  HMMMMMMMMM

Now, customs is certainly something I have never heard anyone even talk about, except Elizabeth.  One of her experiences was a little nerve racking, so that made me a bit nervous.  However the stewardess handed out the form on the plane that we needed to fill out to go through customs so I felt a bit prepared.

When we got off the plane, there were large arrows pointing towards customs which I followed along with the rest of the folks on that flight.  After going down and around and around and around and through and around, we came to a very large room. 



"My" customs officer was a man of Asian descent and was friendly enough when he asked me why I was in Canada.  I handed him the letter from Vilnis (the instructor's husband) and said, "I'm here to take a class."

I told him that I came from a farm but was not going to a farm.  There was a question on the form about coming from a farm and going to a farm. He asked in a concerned voice, "You have come from a farm?"  I told him again that, although I had come from my own farm, I was NOT going to a farm.  He smiled then and said something that I couldn't understand.  I smiled and said, "Pardon."  He spoke more slowly then and said, "NO WORRIES," and gestured for me to move on towards the baggage area.  That was when I realized that I had just been admitted into Canada and I thanked him.

A few moments later, I found myself warmly welcomed to Canada by an elderly gentleman who reminded me of someone from back home.  Vilnis had asked me to wait for him at the International gate, so I asked the gentleman if I was now at the International Gate.  He said, "Yes, maam, and you may find your ride over by those comfortable chairs." 

After I thanked him I headed in the direction that he had pointed.  I didn't see anyone who looked like the picture that Vilnis had sent to me so I went to exploring and found this.........  It was a remarkable statue of a group of about 10 horses and it was just stunning.  I tried to find someone to take my picture in front of it, but everyone was in a hurry to get somewhere.



Then I found the comfortable chairs right in front of a row of Christmas trees.  Although we don't keep Christmas anymore, it sure does make the world bright and cheerful.  I decided to take my own picture in front of these lovely specimens.

I went back to studying CHINESE ENERGETICS for about an hour.  Then I called the number that Vilnis had given me and got Sylvia instead.  She said, "Are you by the horses?"  I said, "Yes" and then she added, "Just sit tight, Vilnis was a little bit late heading for the airport but he'll be there soon."

About 20 minutes later, Vilnis himself stood in front of me and welcomed me to Canada.  He had picked up John at a different gate and we were waiting for Joyce.  John I recognized at once as we had both taken, "BodyTalk for Animals" in Missoula this past Summer.

Soon Joyce's plane emptied out and I met her too.  We all headed for the grocery store.  I was so thankful to be able to buy the things that I needed to stay on the GAPS diet and soon I found myself in Sylvia's kitchen.  Here she is.

Vilnis and I had both bought a roasted chicken, which was tantalizing to us hungry travelers, so we cut them up.  We put our veggies together into a tasty salad and hungrily ate our first meal together.  Here is Vilnis in the red shirt; John by his laptop; and Joyce.  John and Joyce were fellow students of Sylvia's and Vilnis, as her manager, was an absolutely wonderful host. 

After we cleared away the remains of our supper, Sylvia took us downstairs to their incredible TV room.  WOW--you're talking fancy!  She offered us our choice of movies and then left to go to finish things up for class.  It was so warm and comfortable and I was very much at home with my fellow BodyTalkers. 

Early the next morning, we had our individual breakfasts and headed over to the hotel where our class would be held.  Isn't Sylvia beautiful?  It was a spacious room with the massage tables around the outside of the room and the class tables in the middle.  My only regret at that point was that I had forgotten to take along a box of my favorite tea but there were lots of others to choose from. 

There were 22 of us in the class--21 students and one fantastic instructor.  We had come from all over Canada; 2 from Colorado; myself from North Dakota; and one special woman from Texas.  It didn't take long for Gabi to worm her way into my heart as Robert would say. 

  Joyce, who had taken Module 9 before, sat in the second row to leave room up front for us newbies.  I sat beside John right up front center and I recorded the whole class.  The energies in the room were fantastic as many healers joined together to learn more to better help our clients. 

This is the lobby of the hotel.  I thought that the wood was so lovely.

On Saturday for lunch, many of us walked to a restaurant which was called Y2K.  The food was wonderful but it cost me $13 so the second day I packed a lunch of my leftover veggies and chicken which was great.  Many of my classmates had also packed lunches and some had picked up food nearby.  At any rate, we all found ourselves gathered together around these tables which is just below our classroom which you can see the doors too up above.  The group had pushed together about 6 tables and we were all of one accord as we shared ideas of how to better help others to regain their health.

This lovely fireplace was glowing warmly all throughout the class time,

and these cute snowmen greeted us as we came and went from the hotel.

John, Joyce, and I helped Vilnis and Sylvia to pack up their many massage tables, Sylvia's teaching materials; and the snack supplies.  It was less than an hour until we were down in the lobby with everything and loading it into their vehicles.  My Grandma Elizabeth used to say, "Many hands make light work," and she was right.

When we got back to the house that night after class was over, the bushes outside were covered with snow.  It had snowed all day and I was trying not to get nervous about our flights the next morning.  We had a wonderful supper together, though, and I relaxed.  Vilnis then helped me to print my boarding passes which really calmed me down so, after talking to my family, I watched a movie with everyone.  It ended at 1:00 AM and by that time, I was too tired to be nervous about customs, flights..

We all slept as long as possible and had our last meal together.  I asked Sylvia for a picture with her for the local newspaper and she complied.  Here we are in their lovely home in front of the steps I used to get to their "Sparest of spare rooms".  :)  It really was a lovely room filled with books but I was either too tired; in too much of a hurry; or talking to my family to get a picture of it.  Silly me.

After hugging Sylvia for about the 3rd time, we left with Vilnis who was once again our chauffeur.  I was so thankful for Joyce as she led me through the steps of going through customs the other way around.  There is a big table where everyone fills out the form for passing through borders and I just had to ask John if he was over the $10,000 limit.  He said, and I chuckle as I recall it, "UM, I'll have to check."

This room was very similar to the customs room entering Canada.  Vilnis had said that there are 3 cities large enough in Canada to have American customs agents right at the airport and one of them is Calgary.  Did I mention that 1.2 MILLION people live in Calgary which is MORE THAN THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA! 

These customs agents were also in bullet-proof cubicles which amazed me.  Who would want to shoot at them?  There were only a few questions here that I answered to their satisfaction and then the officer smiled at me and said, "Welcome home."  Those words were so wonderful although I knew that I still was 1,600 miles from home.  Still, it was so nice to be able to put customs behind me.

Joyce and I found our gates, with just a little help from an airport official.  Joyce seemed surprised that he was willing to help me find mine but I seem to have a way of looking pathetic at just the right moment.  Perhaps it's because I really AM terrified at those moments?

After that, I realized that my breakfast had been very skimpy and that I wouldn't get anything to eat until 4:00 if I didn't grab some lunch there.  Joyce sat with me until her flight was ready to board.  She was such a wonderful "Mother" figure for me and I rejoiced that the Lord had provided her for me.

After I saw her off, I headed over to my gate and saw the most enormous Christmas tree that I have ever seen.  I mean it's diameter had to have been at least 15 feet and it towered up at least 20 feet.  I headed over to my gate to let them know that I was there and commented about the tree to the gate attendant.  He said that there are 2 of them that size in the Calgary airport and that it takes 4 days to put them up.  I then quickly went back to take a picture of it and returned to my gate just as boarding had begun.

The takeoff was great and soon I saw this out of my window.  This flight was just glorious as the Rockies towered along the edges of Calgary and the sun shone warmly on my face.  "My goodness, your world is a lovely place," I contentedly prayed.

This photo can't begin to capture that glorious moment, but those are the clouds.  AAAAH

I arrived safely in the Minneapolis airport and asked for directions.  The woman said in broken English, "You go down that hallway; take a left; take a right at .......... then take the tram to............  then ..........  then make a left at.................  My head was spinning.

OR you can catch a ride most of the way in that golf cart over there.  "How much does that cost?" I asked. 

"Nothing," she replied, and I was off.  I would have to spend a LOT of time there before I would ever know my way around.  However, my driver knew and he got me within about 2 city blocks of my gate and the rest was no problem.  PRAISE THE LORD.

I was early this time so I called home and got the grocery list from Cora.  I called Robert to tell him that I was doing fine and I called Elizabeth but learned that she had just made a "Quick trip to Canada." 

I was relaxing a bit when this lady came and sat beside me.  Now who do you think she reminded me of?  Yes, she talked and moved her head just like you, Kimberly!  I learned that the man in her life is named, "Robert" and then we talked like old friends. 

I was so happy when we got off the plane at Bismarck, that her Robert had come with his parents to pick her up as she had told me that she had a 4 hour drive home yet that night.  I really came to quickly enjoy this lady named Faith.

When I got back to my car, I needed to add a little air to my tire and then it was out the toll booth.  After picking up those groceries, I was on my way home.  The trip was over in a blink as I relived all of the wonderful times together up in Calgary with other BodyTalkers who are at my level. 

  Cora was at work but the guys greeted me warmly and helped me carry all of my trip things and the groceries into the house.  As I ate my supper, I told the guys all about my trip and I kept getting sleepier and sleepier.  Soon I could hardly keep my eyes open anymore, which I'm sorry to say, was a bit of a disappointment to Cora when she returned just as I was heading to bed.

HOWEVER, the following morning I was able to see her "Project" that she told me that she was working on when I was sitting in the Minneapolis airport.  If you follow her blog, you already know how the wonderful girl painted my wretchedly ugly hydrotherapy room.  Here are some pictures of the remarkable transformation. 

She even washed the curtains,

and bought a new rug,

and painted the trim around the window.  What a remarkable daughter I have!!!

Here she is!

On closer inspection, I saw that she had hung these lovely little stars all around the house.  There's 2 by the stove,



 3 by my herbs, and 3 on the mantel.  It's amazing how something so little can brighten the spirits.

 This marvelous idea is so simple that it's embarrassing that I didn't think of it sooner.  Instead of the table sitting there with everything scattered all over the world, she set it up providing another layer for our grains and veggies.  Pretty cool, Cora!

Well, was it worth it?  ABSOLUTELY!  As I recall, every session that I did last week had at least one matrix issue involved in it.  I just did a session for Cora that had 2 and it is so exciting to see how the shifts are much larger when group dynamics are taken into account.

As mentioned, I have a new friend named Gabi, since class.  We worked on each other a week ago and WOW--the results have been awesome.  Her marriage is better already and she formed an energetic bond from my father to me and one to me from my father.  I have never felt this before in my entire life and I am eager to see what will come of it!

It seemed like the whole class was geared to encouraging me to consider having a relationship with my father should he ever decide that he wants one.  The session that John did on me was geared at helping me with men too, so I am excited about the healing that came my way during class!  God is so incredible to bring people together who can help each other in ways that nobody else can at JUST THE RIGHT TIME!

Speaking of time, I need to go do another session, but I thank each one of you who read through this entire narrative.  I pray that you were blessed in some way to seek your healing in the areas that God leads you to--even BodyTalk if that holds the answers that you are seeking at this time.

Have a great week everybody!

Love always,

Dawn 

HOME

I'm safely home and I'm sooooooooo excited about what I learned to help people and I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo very, very tired having traveled over 1,600 miles today.

Pictures to follow soon,

Dawn

Rising expectations

Well, I finally decided  to share with you all and I'm so glad--thanks for the nudge, Tamera!  You see, I've been dreaming of taking Module 9 for 4 1/2 years now.  Ever since my illness began, when Elizabeth would do matrixes, I dreamed of being able to help people like she was helping me and my family.  Now the Lord has worked it out for me to take the class and I am so excited!!!!!!!!!

What is a matrix?  Well, to my understanding, it's a group of people who have an energetic link to each other.  For instance, I am a part of the Harvey and Erdie Delzer matrix as these are the people that I grew up with.  I'm also a part of the Earl and Marly Bornemann matrix as that is the family that I married into.  Also, I am a part of the Robert and Dawn Bornemann matrix as that is the family that I have helped to mold and shape. I am also part of the matrix of the IBA; Sabbath keepers; home schoolers; goat owners; organic farmers; John Birchers; Sweet Adelines............................

What's so cool about Module 9, as I understand it, is that when I help my client on the table and a matrix that they belong to comes up, EVERYONE IN THAT MATRIX RECEIVES HELP FOR THE PROBLEM!  Is that cool or what?

Anyway, this is the first time that I'll be flying alone and fear has woken me up a few times but always the Lord is there.  It is also the first class that I will take where I don't know any of the other students.  I simply cannot imagine taking a class without Elizabeth in it!

So the thoughts of traveling alone, kept me too fearful to post about my upcoming solitary trip.  I had pretty much decided to keep the trip to myself until my safe return.  However, when I needed another paint roller this morning, the Lord sent me over to my neighbor's house.  Tamera encouraged me to share my needs with you and so I am--once again.

 Please pray for safety on the journey.  Please pray that I can stay on the GAPS diet while away from home as it takes some doing.  Please pray that my mind will be able to absorb all of the information.  Please pray that I will be a wonderful houseguest in the home to which I have been invited to stay.  Please pray that I'll forget all of the problems and have the time of my life being with other BodyTalkers who are in business working with the public--not too many of them around here you know.  :)

To all of this Cora said, "You make friends easily, Mom," and I smiled.  How silly of me to ponder the negative possabilites of this glorious opportunity.  On the other hand, this is all easy to say while sitting here in the safety of my own home.  It's quite another when the plane takes off and I fly quickly away from my beloved family and home. 

Well, I decided to see if You Tube has any pictures of airplanes for this post.  When I found this wonderful video, I started to get excited--a little bit.  But really, the flying machines that man have made ARE truly awesome.  I hope that you enjoy these pictures as much as I did.  Soon I'll be in one of these big birds, but one step at a time.  Now it's time to make supper.........................

Love to all,

Dawn

Feeling silly

I found myself feeling silly recently.  You see, on the morning we worked the cattle, I had asked Elizabeth to send some Reiki.  Three years ago, I had gotten knocked down by a large calf that day and I was sore for weeks afterwards.  Since then I have always felt better when folks are praying, and/or sending positive energy, to us on cattle working day.

When Elizabeth wrote back asking what, "Cattle working day" means, I felt silly.  Of course, people who have never done something cannot grasp the magnitude of tasks involved in it.  All I can say to you, Eli, is that it's like our free clinic day with hundreds of things to attend to, only a lot more dangerous in that the "Clients" all weigh between 500 to 1,200 pounds. 

I decided to do a detailed post on the subject for all of my readers who have never had the "Joy" of cattle working day.  Perhaps people avoid sharing the details of this day because some parts are rather gory, but these are the facts of life for ranchers.

The first thing to do is to tie up the dogs.  Some people have taken countless hours training their dogs to work well with cattle, but nobody here has had that much time.  Past experience with these 2 has taught us that they are MOST useful when they are tied up and not running around chasing cattle in all kinds of directions.  Of course, every time that I went to the house for something, these 2 would beg mercilessly to be let off, but I knew better.

 Well, in our main herd there were 161 large animals.  Some of these were bulls or slaughter animals but most of them were mamas.  We had 120 calves out of these, revealing our high death loss this Spring in all of the mud and slop. 

We ran all of the animals (except the ones in with Sally which we did at the end) into the corralling.  This means that about 300 animals were in an area the size of a large restaurant.  This means that they are in close and anxious as they do NOT like being cooped up. 

Jerome, the children, and I started sorting off the cows while Robert fed them out in the pasture.  The trick was to keep the calves in the corral while letting everyone else out.  Have I mentioned that these animals are large with the bulls (male breeding animals) being VERY large.  Which brings me to an important point for those who seriously know NOTHING about ranching.

Bulls are the daddies of the group and I believe that we have 7 of them.  These animals are bought from breeders who specialize in breeding up the animals to their maximum potential.   Bulls can cost anywhere for $1,000 to $30,000+. Cows are the breeding mothers.  Calves are the babies that were born this Spring to the cows.  Now, bulls that have been castrated (having had their testicles removed) are called Steers and they are kept for butchering whenever we get enough orders. 

So, being we were going to work the calves, everyone else had to be sorted off.  Usually the older animals know that they are to leave and, seeing as they were hungry, they headed for the open gate.  However, being the calves are used to walking beside mama all their life, they headed there too.  Our job was to encourage all of the older animals to leave while convincing the calves that they were to stay whether they liked it or not.  Did I mention that the calves are the most jumpy of them all--ready to kick at any provocation. 

I don't have any picture of the corral when all of the animals were inside of it because I was too busy staying alive just then to take pictures.  One has to have eyes on the back of your head, or loving family members, to keep body and soul together.  Once, Cora almost got it so I yelled at her to turn around and she saved herself from an unpleasant encounter with a small group of swirling hooves. 

In this picture, we finally had all of the cows, bulls, and steers removed from the pen and were ready to begin.  It was 10:30 AM and not very warm outside. 

 Cora is our bookkeeper so she got ready to take the records.  We need to know the ear tag number of each calf; it's sex; it's color; if it has horns; and anything unusual about it that needs to be remembered for the future when the calves will either be mamas or steers for the freezer.

 Robert's cousin, Jerome, loves to work cattle so he's become a permanent part of our crew.  He gave 2 shots on his side of the shoot while I gave 1 and a goodly dose of Eucalyptus oil down the spine of each calf.  These are shots that are approved under organic standards and are NOT implants or hormones.  We eat this beef and raise it under the very highest standards.

Now, I can hear someone asking, "But how do you give a shot?"  Well, there are 2 main types of shots--subcutaneous (which means under the skin usually in the neck) or in the muscle which is usually done in the rump.



  This is a look down the alley way through the shoot as we wait for another calf.

Here Robert went back to fetch the next, "Victim."  As you can see, we have a small corral within the big corral.  We put about 20 calves in there at a time so that we don't have to go running so far all the time.

Andrew's job is to catch the calf at just the right moment.  The calf comes running, or is being pushed by Robert, into the chute with a high degree of agitation.  Andrew slams the chute shut on the calf's neck and the action begins.

As soon as Andrew has the calf caught, he puts his hand over the calf's eyes.  This calms the calf down almost instantly.  Then Jerome gave one injection from his side; I gave my one injection; Jerome had picked up his other syringe while I was giving mine and he gave his second injection; and then I dropped between 10 to 30 drops of eucalyptus oil on the calf's spine depending on how chipper he was looking.  If they came in dragging a bit, they got more, and one even got some in his nose which really gets the healing energy flowing to the bloodstream fast.

The heifer calves (the females) were finished at this point unless they had horns.  Very few of our calves have horns but about 5 of them did.  Are you ready now?  You're not eating are you?

Well, there is a handy little device that you put over the horn of the calf to de-horn the animal.  It takes a lot of muscles, so this is Robert's job.  When the man squeezes down on the horn, while squeezing the de-horner together, it cuts into the calf's head and cuts the horn off.  Of course, there is blood so you need to put the worst smelling blood stop powder on the spot where the blood vessel was attached to the horn.  This is AWFUL smelling stuff and I did it once just to quit being such a coward.  After that, either Jerome or Andrew took the bottle from me when I went over there while Robert washed the hair and blood off of the de-horner. 

Now, for what I did behind the shoot.  When the calf is a bull calf, it must be banded to keep it from breeding.  We have always banded our bull calves in the Fall of the year so that they grow to their greatest potential as full males.  However, the day of reckoning comes when the banding must be done.

Well, Robert puts his hand through the bander and reaches down around the scrotum.  He slips the large band over the scrotum making certain that both of the testicles are down in the scrotum at the time.  Jacob held the tail up tight so that there is no pain while Robert checked that there were no hairs inside the band--OUCH. 

When Robert tightened the bander, it squeezed the band tightly around the scrotum.  There was usually a little flinch then but there is not much pain involved.  You can use this same tool to band fully grown bulls, so it's not as hard on an animal to be cut with a knife and have the testicles dug out with blood everywhere like we did when I was a girl.  We all prefer this much better.

Next Jacob handed Robert the tool to cut the band off with and that was done.  I went behind Robert at the back of the shoot to make sure that none of the animals in the holding pen were coming up behind him.  I caught them at it every so often so Robert was thankful to have someone watching his backside.

Some of the calves that were born up in the pasture also needed to have ear tags put into their ears so that we can match them to their mothers and determine who is the owner before we sell them.  This was either Cora or Jacob's job.

Lastly, Andrew opened the shoot and out jumped the calf.  This was one of Jacob's with the orange tag.  He moved too fast so that I couldn't get the Orange tag but I still thought that this was a cool picture.  As you can see, all 4 feet are off the ground as he exited the chute, so it is a bit of a rodeo.  YEEHAW!



Three calves were pretty little so we knew that we'd have to do something different.  The first one we took out of the chute but he proved to be more of a handful than we had thought.  The other 2 babies, we held in the chute and did their shots quickly and then pushed them out the front--no leaping with them.

Jerome, Andrew, and Jacob have worked together so many years that they just know what to do and the feeling of camaraderie is the only grand part of the day.

Some of the bigger bull calves, feel it quite a bit as that band begins cutting off the blood supply to the scrotum.  For as long as I can remember, one of my jobs was to walk amongst the herd and see that nobody was reacting to any of the meds in combination with the banding.  Of course, now that I'm a BodyTalker, I gave everyone cortices while they were in the shoot.  Some of these more miserable steers also got short BodyTalk sessions too.  Our animals really have got it good.  :)

Well, after we finished working on the main herd, we turned all of the calves out with their mothers.  Next, we brought in the group of about 30 animals who are in with our milk cow in the small pasture here by the farm.  These are young breeding stock for next year and several cows who had too young babies to make it up to the pasture this Spring.  This was the only time that I was really nervous.

I have no idea what got into them but they were snorting and bellering and even our calm, sweet Sally started pawing the dirt.  I decided to crawl into the trough and I started doing some relaxing breathing for them all.  I started the calming Reiki too and stayed real still hoping that nobody would notice me there. 

Finally they calmed down; we sorted them off; worked the few calves in the bunch; and turned everyone out of the corral.  It was a long day and I was very stiff and sore but we had only 2 minor accidents between us 6.

Just as things quieted down, I gazed up into the Heavens to praise my God who gave us such a lovely day at the end of November in North Dakota to work our calves.  I decided to take this picture as a tribute to Him who preserved one lovely day for us.  The very next day it started snowing and it's been MUCH colder since then, but we are rejoicing that the calves are all worked for the year.



Now, we've begun insulating the shop so the guys can work out there when it's colder still.  I'm needed out there at this very moment, but I wanted to take this time to pay tribute to God who has made us organic farmer/ranchers and to the incredible people that I live with.  Oh, what a wonderful life we have!!!

Here's to you, oh God, maker of Heaven and earth!

Dawn