It just dawned on me, after only 4 days, that it's May! Sorry this is so late! Does anyone want this job? Anyone, anyone? Ah, well.

Stan's putting cows out for the first time today. hijinks galore. The funniest are, of course, the old ladies with their prissy little ankles and less than perfect udders kicking their heels up and running hellbent for leather in any available direction. Then they go taste the grass and take a snooze in the sun, poor dears.

Here's the garden yesterday morning. It changes by the hour

Frolicking cows always make me laugh.

Yeah, and have you noticed that the ones that tear around the most are the crips that cannot walk up to or into the barn without limping and acting like they are on their last legs??? Cavorting like calves.............

Great landscaping rocks, Kathleen. Were they gifts from a glacier or bulldozer? I enjoy watching the sunlight playing it's games on the hills and mountains around us. One show in the morning, a different one in the evening.

Yesterday I helped my neighbors give cows shots, and brand the last of the calves. All but one of the cow calf pairs are grazing at our place. That one exception is one that had a very difficult delivery. Cow is still not moving around as well as she should, and her calf is a bit gimpy too. They want to keep her close when the others go to pastures a couple of miles down the road, and later 6 miles in the other direction, so I offered our little orchard pasture which is sub irrigated, has water and shade, and would feed that pair for 2 or 3 months. All it needs is an electric fence on one side. Meanwhile she and her calf are in the corral until the stock trailer is available again. Right now it has a freezer in it.

Last week I also helped by market gardening neighbor with greenhouse work. Interesting stuff. I'll post the link where I put info and pictures. If you want to go hunting for it, go to Cubits.org find Blue Gardens Cubit, and the thread is Down on the Farm. I'm about to start thread #2 of that. It's about a lot of things that I do, so there is also a road trip in it. I had my lambing thread there and when I finished with lambing duties I started this more general one. There seems to be quite a bit of interest from people who have no clue about farm stuff.

Mary, the rocks are mostly sandstone from a little, swampy quarry back on the creek. We were a the edge of a landlocked ocean at one time in the far distant past. A couple may be bits donated by glaciers. We have a lot of rocks, used to kid that they were the first crop - rock picking - every year. Backbreaking stuff. I'll have to see if I can find the poem about it.

We have a few gimps out there, but not as many as some. Grandpa and Dad always bred with feet, legs and udders right up there with production and we carried that on here. Funny to think there is over 70 years of artificial breeding out there walking about.

Dad's yellow flowers are out ( dandelions ). He always thought it was nice of me to let them bloom. They do go well with the forget-me-nots as a nice contrast. There are, of course, more than I thought I had. Maybe I'll get a kid to help me pull them. I tried to do some weed-eating yesterday and ended up all shaky. Allergies and bronchitis again and it's the pits with all this good weather. No rain in sight until next weekend, most strange for us. I'll have to save the dandelion roots. I found a recipe for a magenta red dye made from them and want to give it a try.

Here's the link if anybody wants to look. http://cubits.org/bluegardens/...

Rocks, oh yes, we have several kinds here. Some apparently from an ancient volcano, others ? I found one last week with layers that apparently flowed together and cooled. Many different colors of rocks, some gray, some brownish, a lot of them red. All heavy! I could build a sizeable castle just with the ones on our property!

Kathleen your garden looks lovely in the early morning light.

I once lived in Massachusetts. There is a reason for all those scenic stone walls around the pastures and fields: everyone needs somewhere to put all the rocks.

Here there are none - well, almost none. Behind our property is the Brazos River and this section is called Rocky Falls. A geologist friend reacted to the label saying, "There are no rocks in this part of Texas!" I took him down onto the river banks so that he could see for himself. He reluctantly agreed that there were indeed rocks, "but they are a very poor quality of rock." (A fault line runs through the county and has caused then to surface.)

Ours appear to grow on a yearly basis.

In size or quantity - or, perhaps, quality?

all of the above. we could actually sell rocks to landscapers it we could make the right deal.

My youngest daughter's husband died yesterday from of probably pulmonary embolism. I will be scarce.

Kathleen I am so very sorry for your loss, deepest sympathy to you, your daughter and the rest of the family.

So very sorry for your loss.

Kathleen. That's such a shock for any family, and especially for younger folks. Is this the family that lives near you?

So sorry, Kathleen.
Love and prayers for all of you.

I am so sorry! What a tragic loss!

T&P to you and your family, Kathleen. So tragic at any age, but especially the "younger generation".

Thank you, all. Adam and Melissa moved up last May. Our older daughter has always lived here. Adam will be sorely missed.

At least Melissa is among family for support; still very, very sad.