Slight Detour: June Farm Life

Bill and I went on a UTV side-by-side trip to the woods yesterday.

"Searching for Bambi" happened to be on both of our minds after Bill had taken Bridie for their morning walk.

He came back, telling me that he thought a doe had given birth to her fawn in the woods not far across the fence from our hay field Ponderosa pine.

He saw the doe suddenly jump up in the grass near a wood pile. Instead of running away, she stood there as if it were important to be guarding her baby.

Bill added that Bridie did not see the deer, so she never reacted. Nonetheless, the two came back early from the woods.

We both quietly thought about having our own Bambi in the woods throughout morning.

Finally, after lunch we decided we would go to the area but would take great care not to disturb the baby.

I had my telephoto lens, so if there were a baby to be seen, I could take photos from a distance.

We drove to a spot a ways away from where Bill had seen the doe.

After parking, Bill started explaining some of the forestry work he has been so diligently doing ever since last September's hurricane-like blow down.

I was amazed to see just one big tree leaning off toward Nellie's when there had been at least half a dozen several months ago.

Slowly and methodically, Bill has taken the trees down, removed limbs, sawed logs, done some wood chopping and has removed a lot of bark.

His efforts are motivated by the fact that bark beetles and wood bearers go right to work infesting an area and destroying the trees.

So, Bill, the forester, has wasted no time trying to prevent an infestation in our woods.

It's a remarkable job, to say the least. Plus, I think he's in forester's heaven every time he takes equipment and his sidekick Bridie down to the woods.

Well, back to Bambi.

Let's just say Bambi was not to be found yesterday. We walked quietly from the 4-wheeler and searched the area where Bill had seen the doe earlier in the day.

The woods is a perfect place for does to hide their fawns because the lush, tall grass of June provides lots of good hiding spots.

No sign of Bambi, but we both knew his observation was based on assumption.

More than likely what will happen is that one of us may accidentally stumble upon one Bambi or maybe a couple in the next few weeks. If we do so, we'll leave that spot because we have had the summers of aggressive does.

We walked back to the 4-wheeler and Bill asked if I wanted to see Wes and Alicia's cow herd.

Sure, I said, and off we went, again through grass so tall, I was surprised when we arrived at the trail heading east through the far woods.

As we drove through, the cows came: two young steers and what looks like a big heifer. I was puzzled about the breed of the steers and surmised that the heifer may have some Ayrshire in her, along with some beef breed.

Very friendly cows, they were, with the young boys coming to the fence. I have a feeling they are very domesticated, based on those halters.

Twas a cute trio, and I enjoyed some time getting acquainted over the fence while Bill watched.

It was fun to get out on the 4-wheeler and enjoy a leisurely tour of our little farm. And, we may use future Bambi sightings as an excuse to do it again.

Earlier in the day, I played farmer girl and pulled out the tractor to scrape up some horse manure and push it into a pile.

While I was farming on the Kabota, Mr. and Mrs. Peacock came strutting through the barnyard, with no concerns for the old lady on the tractor.

They took their time passing through. Later, I saw them in the yard, then watched them scoot under a fence to one pasture and then to the second where the horses were grazing.

The horses could have cared less that peacocks had invaded their pasture space, and the peacocks certainly had no fear, slinking among the grazing horses through the tall grass.

These peacocks belong next door on our west side. They were apparently out making neighborhood visits, so everyone could post about missing peacocks on Facebook.

We've become accustomed to their summer visits, although when one family spent a little too much time one summer on top of our travel trailer next to the house, I wasn't thrilled.

I'll stick to animals in today's report cuz there's a great animal story in the video below which can serve as a grand finale.

One more story: the neighbors are likely to hear a few more cuss words flying through the air if the horses behave like they did last night while returning from their pasture.

The strategy is to offer a treat so they'll come to the gate from their pasture. Once I have them all in the lane, I shut the gate and follow them back to the electric fence gate which opens to their final walk to the barnyard.

All was going well last night until I came up behind them as they stood at the gate.

I saw that perverse look in Lily's eye and watched it for a split second before she wheeled into action, turning around and racing back with her head in the air down the lane with her two partners in crime right behind her.

That's when the bad words exploded. I had just finished the longest session of weed eating (yes, finally, we have one that works and that's another story).

Anyway, it was late in the day, I was tired and I did not want to chase horses up and down the lane.

They stood at the far end snipping off big bites of grass and obviously feeling full of themselves.

I think, however, they sensed (for some reason) that Mom was mad. Happily, they stood like statues and Lily was nice enough to let me walk up to her and throw the rope over her neck.

All went fine after that, but today I'll be employing a slightly different strategy, by catching Lily and not letting go until she walks through the barnyard gate.

Yup, it's definitely June farm life at its fullest---some good, some not. Overall, the day was loaded with a lot of great memories, 'cept for that Lily when her "beautiful flower" name had a temporary unsavory substitute.

Life on the farm. Ya gotta love it.

Happy Wednesday.