What's Up, Doc?

It's a girl! It's a boy! Well, it's one or the other. Unlike most expectant mothers today, our cows won't know whether they will have male or female progeny this winter. But since they don't have to decorate a nursery or buy newborn clothing, I guess they'll just have to stay in suspense for a few months. And so will we.

On Tuesday, Dr. Dayul Dick came to the County Line to preg-check 39 cows we brought home from the Rattlesnake Creek pasture. Through a manual exam, Dr. Dick estimated the gestation of eacg fetus. He found four open cows (not pregnant), and Randy hauled those cattle to Pratt, where they'll go through the sale ring today.

While each cow was in the squeeze chute, Dr. Dick also gave several shots.

Like a flu shot or other preventative health measures are good for me, the shots we have the veterinarian give benefit the cows. Just like we gave recommended vaccinations to our own children, we believe it's important to give our cattle every medical advantage to have a healthy life.

An insulated cooler held the syringes filled with the vaccinations.

Dr. Dick gave each pregnant cow a booster shot to prevent blackleg, a highly fatal disease of the skeletal and heart muscle of cattle. We also give a combination shot that prevent leptospiriosis and BVD. Lepto is a bacterial infection that may cause abortion or stillbirth. BVD stands for Bovine Viral Diarrhea. Dr. Dick also gave a shot as a dewormer to control parasites like worms, lice and liver flukes.

We'll repeat this process with cows we bring home from other locations, like the Ninnescah Pasture.

While Dr. Dick took care of the "business end" of each cow, Randy felt in their mouths to check their teeth. This helps him find older cows. Dr. Dick's assistant recorded the eartag numbers of those older cows, and we will likely sell them when we wean the calves they are currently carrying.

Last week, the cows' babies born last February went to the sale barn. Though we usually keep the calves through the winter and feed them along with their moms, this is the second year we've sold them in the fall. Two years of drought conditions have changed standard operating procedure around here.

OB/GYN appointments may not be any female's favorite doctor visit. But they provide an important management tool on the County Line.

Hill Traffic Does Not Stop

Anyone who knows me knows I find beauty all around me in Kansas. God's creative handprint is on the sunrises, the sunsets, the ditches lined with sunflowers, the windmills, in the pastures dotted with wildflowers and in the wide open spaces. I love wheat from the time it pokes the first blades of green through the brown soil, when it's encased in winter white, and when the waves of gold dance in the Kansas wind.

It was a different kind of beauty in Morehead, Ky. My favorite spot was Eagle Lake, a picture postcard pretty place on the campus at Morehead State University, where Brent began his new job on Monday. That lake has got to be one great fringe benefit of being a student or being on staff there.

I would love to see it in the fall as the leaves begin turning and cast brilliant autumn colors on the smooth water's surface. I probably won't get to see it this fall, but maybe another year.

Morehead and Morehead State University are nestled in the foothills of the Daniel Boone National Forest. Yes, Kansas has its regions with peaks and valleys. It just doesn't happen to be where we live. Morehead was much greener than the drought-stricken Kansas we left behind.

Hills are part of the backdrop for the Morehead campus. I took this shot back toward campus, turning 180 degrees around from the lake.

In just a few weeks, the fall colors of the trees on the hills surrounding the football stadium will rival the action on the field, I suspect.

It was even pretty on a rainy, foggy morning.

Same goes for the baseball stadium and pretty much anywhere else on campus.

The hills also provided some signs we aren't used to in Stafford, America: "Hill Traffic Does Not Stop"was a sign near Brent's new home.

It wasn't exactly Lombard Street in San Francisco. But the street began in downtown Morehead and crested at the top of a hill, where there was a parking lot at one juncture and two stop signs flanking it.

Brent's backyard is mostly tree-covered hill, though there's enough room for a barbecue grill, which we put to use before the K-State vs. Miami game on Saturday. 

Brent was our chef, a nice change of pace

We were surprised by how narrow some of the streets were, especially in Brent's neighborhood. I was glad Randy was driving the Budget truck and not me. Meeting traffic was an adventure of narrow streets and hidden driveways. 

On Brent's street - The sign warns of a driveway that seems to go straight up a hill.

Next time we visit, we won't be hefting boxes and hanging picture frames, so we hope to explore more of the area. Maybe then we'll see more horse farms. It wasn't until we got to Lexington to fly back to Wichita that we saw horses grazing on the stereotypical bluegrass of Kentucky.

But there's no place like home either. Beauty: It's all around us - whether on the Kansas plains or the Kentucky hills.

Fly Like An Eagle

Practically from the time they arrive, our children begin the march toward independence. From the day they begin crawling away to explore a world outside Mommy's arms or they take their first tentative, shaky steps, they begin that pulling away process.

The first-day-of-school bus photo evolves until they are driving their own vehicle to school. All too soon, you are the one waving goodbye from the driveway as they head back to college or head back home after an all-too-short weekend.

This past week, it was a Budget Rent-A-Truck instead of a school bus. Brent no longer packs a K-State backpack, but instead a leather briefcase with space for a laptop.

He will add another school to his allegiance. Yesterday, he began his job as the Media and Marketing Coordinator for the Morehead (Ky.) State University Eagles. It's his first job after earning his master's degree in Sport and Entertainment Management from the University of South Carolina in May.

Brent's office will be in this building. Maybe we'll get to see it next time!

As Randy drove the Budget truck and I helped navigate from Columbia through the hills of Tennessee and Kentucky, the Steve Miller Band song, "Fly Like An Eagle" kept drifting through my head.


Brent is going to be an Eagle now, but it was this part that had me thinking:

"Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future."

Indeed it does.

As I walked the Morehead State University campus on Saturday, I captured a mental picture of where my "baby" will be spending his time. I took a similar walk around the South Carolina campus when we moved him there in January 2011 after his graduation from K-State in December 2010.

The campus - and for that matter, the town - is nestled in the foothills of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rowan County, Kentucky. The 2012 edition of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S. News and World Report named MSU one of the top 25 public universities in the South. Randy and I have already added some blue and gold to our wardrobes.

The bell tower on campus is inscribed with the words Love, Service, Wisdom and Justice on each of its four sides.

Those are all virtues with which we'd like to send our children into the world to make their own way. It's an exciting time as a parent to watch your child fly like an Eagle - a Morehead State Eagle, in this case.

Tomorrow: More from our trip.

To Market, To Market

With apologies to Mother Goose and other nursery rhyme folk:

To market, to market
To sell our fine calves
The 2012 drought
Cuts weights in halves.

OK, now you know why I don't write poetry.

We loaded 39 calves from the Rattlesnake Creek pasture Tuesday and hauled them to the Pratt Livestock sale barn for today's sale. 

This is the second year we've sold calves in the fall because we don't have enough feed to carry them through the winter. Traditionally, we've fed the calves and their mamas until spring. With feed supplies low in this second year of drought, Randy again made the decision to sell.

We are even earlier this year taking the first of the calves to market. The Rattlesnake Pasture's grass was depleted, and the guys moved them home last Friday. In normal years, Randy and his cousin leave the cows and calves on grass there until November 1 or thereabouts.

Last year, we sold calves in mid-October. We still have grass available in some of our other pastures. Time - and the forecast - will determine how much longer they can remain on grass before joining these first ones at the sale barn.

The cows stayed behind. We'll feed them through the winter, and the cycle will begin again with the 2013 calf crop, set to arrive in late January and February. Let's hope some good moisture arrives, too.

This group of cattle is in a pasture south of our house. These curious creatures came to look me over while I was walking by Tuesday morning.

***

I'm taking a few days away from Kim's County Line. I truly appreciate my faithful readers and will have big news to share when next we meet.

K is for K-State By Kinley Marie

K is for ...

By Kinley Marie

K is for Kinley. It says so right on my bedroom wall.

But this weekend, my Mommy and Daddy took me to my first football game, where I learned that "K" also stands for the "Kansas" in Kansas State University. And I also learned something about a couple of other letters on my bedroom wall border - the "S" and the "U." Put them all together and they spell K-S-U! Add some more letters, and we can spell K-State!

I heard those letters a whole bunch of times on Saturday. They will be a piece of cake when I get to kindergarten. My Mommy helped me learn the K-S-U cheer.

Willie the Wildcat led us in the cheer. Poor Willie has to do pushups after every touchdown and every field goal. Even though I like jumping, I was glad I didn't have to do 51 pushups.Whew!

My Mommy and Daddy are old friends of Willie's. He helped them celebrate when they got engaged at the first football game in 2008.

They have been doing this kind of dance called the Wabash Cannonball for a long time, so my Daddy helped me learn it, too. This is at the beginning when we turn side to side.

Before the game, I sat on my purple blanket and made lots of great noises on the seats. But it got too crowded. I guess there are a whole lot of people who like this thing called K-State football. 

Getting held by Grandpa gave me the chance to learn another K-State tradition:  "Good for another Wildcat - First Down!" We practiced during halftime.

This place we visited is called Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

It could be my family stadium, too. Besides my Mommy and Daddy, my Grandma and Grandpa Fritzemeier were there.

So were my Grandma and Grandpa Ladd, but I didn't get over to see them at the game this time. (But they all stayed at my house, so I got to spend some quality time with everyone.)

From another K-State game

My Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Moore and a bunch of other family members were there, too. See? They could name it the Kinley Family Stadium. I already have the "K!"

There was a whole lot of cheering, so it was kind of loud. But I didn't mind.

I liked watching the band ...

 ... and keeping time to the music.

All the action on the field made me a bit hungry. Grandpa tried to feed me frozen yogurt. Mommy said no. I thought the purple popcorn looked good. But I had sweet potatoes instead.

It was all very exciting, but I just got tuckered out singing the K-State Fight Song and the alma mater with Grandma and doing the Wabash with Daddy. So I had to take a little "Cat" nap. (That's what little Wildcats do.)

I didn't stay asleep for long. I had more people watching to do and the Wildcats needed me to cheer them on.

But, about the time the moon was coming up over the stadium, my Mommy and Daddy decided we needed to go home.

So I missed the big fireworks show, but my Grandma stayed around. Maybe I'll get to stay for the whole game the next time.

The Wildcats gave me a 51-9 victory over the Missouri State Bears for my very first football game ever. Good job, Wildcats!

The End

Once in a Blue Moon

Blue moon setting, morning of September 1, 2012

A blue moon arrived on the same day that Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was laid to rest. 

When there is a second full moon within one calendar month, it's said to be a blue moon. This relatively rare event won't happen again until July 2015. The last time a blue moon occurred was December 2009. The moon remains its usual color, but the astronomical event is associated with the phrase "once in a blue moon."

Moon setting - August 31, 2012

In announcing his death, Armstrong's family requested that when people "see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

I remember staying up late to watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon, July 20, 1969. I would just have turned 12 years old.  

I went by the Zenith branch of the co-op to fill my car with gas and thought this looked like the grain spout was dropping the moon into the night sky. 

I also watched it as it seemed to climb the "ladder" of the elevator.

I think the moon was a little bit purple on the night of K-State's season opener vs. Missouri State.

It was September 1, but the moon still looked full to me. It was the first Wildcat football game for Kinley, a fifth generation Wildcat. (More on that later.)

I think of thee, alma mater.