First full meal

Well, today is an exciting day for all of us as we're heading up north 5 miles to bring the cattle herd home for Winter. It's such a beautiful day today and I praise God for this as it's a bear trying to move cattle against a strong wind. It was perfectly calm this morning but now a mild wind has picked up coming out of the North which will help drive them home for us. GOOD JOB, GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm back and here are some pictures of the cattle drive, which went very well by the way. Robert and Andrew took up their dirt bikes; Cora drove up the borrowed "Mule"; Jacob drove our pasture vehicle which we call, "The Ram;" and I took the van up there. Here the guys are making the final plans. Being we had no communication between us once the men took off with the dirt bikes, everyone had to know where to be and what to do beforehand. Two big questions were in all of our minds. First, will they go through the water patches in the section line and second, will they stay out of the neighbor's corn fields.

Robert and Andrew went up on their dirt bikes as there are places up ahead where no vehicle can get through. It took about an hour to round them all together and get them headed in the right direction. Cora and Jacob played games in the van while I did a quick BodyTalk session on the herd to help them be nice and calm for their 5 mile journey home. Here they come!!!

My job was to keep them slowed down so that they don't get spread out so far. I wanted to get a picture of the herd following me so I took this shot out of my left hand mirror. It turned out better than I thought it would. :)

This girl was headed home no matter what. Every time I slowed down to keep the pace more relaxed, she came running up beside the van, so we had a little talk. :) You can see that she was tired already as she was drooling. A lot of the cows, and most of the calves, had worked up a mouth full of saliva from their exertions before we got them home. It was perfect weather, though, as I've seen it a lot worse on warmer days.

This was my view out the left window, when Miss Curious wasn't in the way. Cora's job was to ride the ditches with the Ranger to keep the cows out of the cornfields. She did a great job.

This was my view out of the right rear window. Isn't it wonderful to see the fields all plucked of their crops and ready to go to bed for Winter? How I wish that our sunflowers were off............

We brought the cows in the back way so that they didn't mess up the yard. My job was to get far enough ahead of the herd and block the road so that they would cut into our alfalfa field which led to the Winter pasture. I was glad that Andrew came up with his dirt bike to help me as it seemed that the leaders were intent on running down to Kintyre. I was also glad that the Lord sent a van to block the road for us when I had to go into the field to keep them from running through the shelter belt and into the yard. With all of the snow and rain we've had lately has left the yard VERY mushy. A whole herd of cattle running through the yard would leave ruts all over the place. ): Thankfully the dirt bikes can maneuver around easily and the cattle are used to them so all went fairly well. This is a picture of Jacob just after the last of the critters headed into the pasture. Good job Jacob--it sure is nice to have 5 drivers now!!!

Just after I headed into the alfalfa field to keep them from running through the shelter belt, I noticed that our dog, Millie, was out on the road. Now Millie may be a good cattle dog some day but she just doesn't get it yet. I could see her running towards the tail end of the herd yet coming down the road. What a disaster THAT would be so I quickly got out of the van and yelled as load as I could. Millie came running at break neck speed and jumped into the open van door quick as a wink. I didn't have the time just then to notice that her feet were all muddy so, yes, I have a big mess to clean up in the van now. OH MILLIE!!!!!!!!!!!! She does mean well, it's just that she's sooooooo hyper. Still, I'm glad that she came when I called her and she is pretty cute, wouldn't you say?

Here they're back at home. There was quite a bit of bellering as they looked for their calves and they snooped around the old home place. You can see here what became of the big, square bales that the guys made out of flax for our shoot. They piled them up here to make a shelter for the cattle on both sides. This means that, no matter which way the wind is blowing this Winter, the bales will give the cattle a warm wall to lay behind. I recall from our shoot, that it made a big difference when we could be out of the wind. Robert named it the "Great Wall of Kintyre!" :)

The herd was bellering so loud that the guys took them a couple of bales right away. I truly think that I have never seen the cattle looking so good coming off of pasture. They look so nice and plump and the calves look good too--now for a price. I'll tell you, it's an act of faith to keep farming every year. We do know that God wants us here, though, so we press on and He provides. It's so wonderful walking hand in hand with God raising high-quality food with which He feeds the world and we feed and shelter our family. :) What an awesome partnership!!!

Well, that was today but I am aching to write about yesterday. I have so much to tell you about how the Lord blessed me in an incredible way. Still, I don't want to rush over that subject so I guess I'll leave that for another post. For now, it is enough to know that the cattle are home for the Winter. The family is down playing another Foosball tournament; I just finished exercising; and my heart is at peace.

The third Master Cleanse was a phenomenal success on the emotional level and I lost 13 pounds. Cora will share of her weight loss success, I am sure, but I can tell that she's lost a lot of weight. I think that she'll be the prettiest Maid of Honor ever but, as she would say, "Sure Mom, I know that you really feel that way but then, you're biased." I guess I am. :)

Later,

Dawn

PS. Silly me, I forgot to write about my first full meal in 17 days. Well, I had a bowl of tropical fruit with about a 1 1/2 tablespoons of coconut oil in. Then I had 1 1/2 pancakes with peanut butter and apple butter on top. Last, I had a piece of apple crisp. I felt so stuffed--it was wonderful to be able to eat with my family again.