Helping in the pasture

Yesterday Daisy came out to the pasture with me to help with the branch cleanup and tending of the smoldering tree stumps.

Keeping watch at the branch cleanup site.

Side trip to the river

Enough posing... let's go.

Chillin' on a snow day

The day it snowed earlier this week Daisy stayed in the house with me.  For once she (he) allowed me to take her picture.

Dang!  Snow already???!!!!

Are you taking another photo of me?

On high on hay bales

The other day I disturbed Daisy's nap when I had to get another large hay bale for the cattle.  Yesterday Daisy was again on this bale before she came down to supervise me in the planting of the three evergreen trees. Today I took the hay bale Daisy was laying on in the photos and put it in a feeder for the calves to eat from.  Not sure how Daisy gets up and down from the top of these bales.

Bonfires

Back in early October when I was burning some of the rotting tree stumps Daisy came along on two different nights and helped me.  Daisy went here and there checking stuff out as I prepared and started the fires.  Once the fires were underway we sat down and watched the fires.

Daisy laid in my lap as I sat in a wheelbarrow.

Daisy is waiting for me to pack up the tools so we can go home.

It's a boy

I was shocked this morning.  Since Sunday Daisy has been under the weather and not her normal self.  Low energy and lots of sleeping.   So I took Daisy to see a veterinarian.

The vet told me Daisy is a male cat.

What???!!!!!!

She showed me where her (his) testicles used to be.  They were removed so completely that no one - including three prior visits to other vets - noticed Daisy is a male.  I was told Daisy was a female by Jan, whom I got Daisy from.  Maybe I should have had a suspicion as Jan's current cat is named, Myrtle May, and is a male cat.  He got the name when Jan thought the cat was a female.  With Jan's cat, who has been neutered, one can see a bump where his testicles were located.  No bump on Daisy.

I'm in shock.  Here I thought Daisy was a strong, independent, bad-ass female, and here she is a male.

I'm still going to call her (him) Daisy.  And mostly likely will use the feminine pronouns for a while as I thought Daisy was a female for five and three quarter years.


The vet found Daisy had two abscesses on her right ear.  One outside and the other inside.  Most likely from another cat's bite.  The vet cut and drained the abscesses and gave her an anti-biotic shot.  She also got a deworming pill as Daisy spends most of her time outside.  Because she had a 103 fever no further shots, like distemper.  We go back in two weeks for those.  They also did blood work and checked her kidney.   Everything is normal.  Her protein level is a bit high, but that most likely is due to the fever. And Daisy is missing a tooth.

While not there yet, Daisy is getting back to her normal self.


This morning before the vet visit I found Daisy sitting on a pile of logs.  I had to climb up there to get her as she had no interest in moving.

Daisy's ear after the vet visit.

Playing with twine

The last few days Daisy has been playing with twine from small hay bales I had fed the injured cow and two calves.

Here is a 45 second video of Daisy playing with the twine until she hears a loud car passing by on the road.

https://youtu.be/2H5Oa7wzcqI

Helping with the irrigation pump

This morning when I had to go out to find the reset button and reset the electricity to restart the irrigation pump, Daisy decided to come with me.  As the morning was getting warm already, halfway there she decided to take a break.

After waiting for a little bit I ended up carrying Daisy the rest of the way to the irrigation shed.  Daisy doesn't like to be carried as she is an independent female.  She did tolerate it today until I got close to the shed.  The closer I got to the shed the more I heard low growls and rumblings until she started to squirm to get down.

Heading back home after successfully restarting the irrigation pump.

Waiting

This morning Daisy insisted I get out of bed and come outside and get to work.   Earlier she woke me up at 8 am to come inside the house to eat her breakfast.  Then she went back outside.  I was tired and was sleeping at 9:40 am when she meowed outside my bedroom window.  I got up and let her in the house; but instead of eating some more she meowed at me until I got up out of bed.

Here she is waiting in the mudroom sink for me finishing eating and to come outside with her.

Once I went outside Daisy was happy.

Daisy and cattle in the yard

Now that Blogger has a fix to their email forwarding problem... let's see if it works for Daisy's blog.

It didn't work for me.... let's try this again.  (Sorry if you got this post twice.)


Back the end of May when I had let the cattle into the yard, the calves again were fascinated by Daisy.

Even last year's heifer was very interested with Daisy.  Daisy had to take a swipe at the heifer's nose to get her to stop sniffing Daisy.

Once the cattle ate the grass down and left the yard, one afternoon Daisy insisted I sit and relax and "smell the roses" with her.

Not conquering the world

I know how he feels. But that's ok.  Daisy is worth it.

Another Winter storm... and this suppose to be Spring!

Snow this morning.  Wind.  Then at 6 pm the cold air came rushing over the pass in the mountains.  The wind is howling now and some snow is flying.  Snow is predicted to be anywhere from 1 to 6 inches in the Valley by morning.  I want my global warming back!!!!!!    This weather is typical of mid February and Winter - not April and Spring!

I had a bale of regular hay and I put that bale out for the cattle so they can eat all they want, and I don't have to go outside for a few days to feed them.  Otherwise the cattle shelter in the corral and loafing shed to get out of the wind.  No new calves the past few days.  Sugar looks close.  I hope she doesn't give birth tonight.

Right now Daisy is outside.  She insisted on going outside a half hour ago.  Otherwise she was driving me crazy with her moaning and complaining about the weather.  Much of the afternoon she slept on my lap and then I fell asleep.

Here are some photos earlier of Daisy laying near the woodstove.

Day of new calf

Yesterday I briefly mentioned Daisy when talking about the new calf.  (http://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2018/03/calf-1-20s.html).    Here are photos of Daisy from yesterday.

Here is Daisy looking over at the new calf as she walks over to me after visiting the neighbor's place for the first time since it snowed last year.   Daisy is thinking...  "Oh, no.  Once again we have calves that like to chase cats."

Daisy checking out the new feeder setup for mice.

Since the mother cow was at the far end of the pasture Daisy decided to lay in the warm sun once she checked all around the hay bales for mice.

Cold temperatures

This morning we had a record low temperature of -16 degrees. It could have been worse... Polebridge north near the Canadian border had a low of -41 degrees.  The cattle are doing well and I try to give them a little extra hay each time I feed them.  I put out another bale of straw/old hay for the heifers and bad-leg cow and this time the cow laid down on it before eating much of it.

Daisy hasn't been going outside much, and when she does it is not for long.  She did insist on going outside this morning at 6 am and I had to stay awake 10 minutes for when she wanted to come back inside.  She then laid on the bed by my legs for warmth.

This evening she got a little cabin fever and was restless.  I decided to open the crawl space for her to explore and she was on it before I could get the cover open.  Later I went outside for a few minutes to check on the cattle's water trough.  Daisy came outside with me and immediately came back inside with me and went to lay by the wood stove.


The other morning Daisy was curled up tight in a ball on the back of the couch and sound asleep when I tried to take a photo of her.  She heard the camera start up.  That is why she is looking groggy and a little annoyed at me.

Checking the snow with me.

Valentine's Day from Daisy

Daisy has been spending her nights indoors the past month, but she was outside all night last night so she could find the perfect gift for me on Valentine's Day - a big fat dead mouse.  I found it on my front step this morning.  Then Daisy wanted to spend all day with me today trying to follow me everywhere.

She also 'got' me the following card with Donna's help...

Colder weather routine

With this recent colder weather Daisy has been spending more time inside.  Some sleeping, some looking outside, occasional moaning about the Winter weather.

Here she is sleeping (or trying to sleep until I interrupted her with my camera).

Two cats in the hayshed

This afternoon when I went to get more hay for the cattle I saw this:

Daisy was not happy that Calvin's cat was in the hayshed.  Daisy was guarding the only way in or out of the hayshed.

I had to open the gate so I could get some hay.  Calvin's cat headed back on the right.  I carried and put Daisy on the left hay bale.  She quickly went back along the left side of the bales.   I loaded hay into the pickup and drove out to give it to the cattle.  When I returned Daisy and Calvin's cat were as seen below.  Calvin's cat wasn't getting out of the hayshed without Daisy giving him a piece of her mind.

I left them; and Daisy came to the house over an hour later to eat supper.  After warming by the wood stove for a while she then went back outside.  Mostly likely to check on that cat.   A few months ago - before it snowed - I found Daisy and Calvin's cat in a stand-off just outside the hayshed.  Calvin's cat decided to leave as I approached and Daisy took advantage and pounced on him.  They were a tight rolling bar of fur as they fought.   Then Calvin's cat took off and ran across the fence to Curtis's place with Daisy in hot pursuit.  Daisy came back later no worse for wear.   Daisy does not take kindly to other animals invading her territory.

Tired of turkey

I am still eating leftover turkey from my New Year's cooking of one.  I still enjoy eating turkey every day.  Daisy... not so much.   Each evening when preparing my supper I would give Daisy a few small pieces of turkey as a treat, which she would eat.  The other night she walked over to her dish, looked at the turkey, looked at me, gave me a disgusted look and walked off.  Since then I am back to giving her a small amount of wet cat food as a treat.