Humidity and bawling calves

This is what I know this morning.  In the Christmas hymn “Away in a Manger” where it says, 

The cattle are lowing

The Baby awakes

But little Lord Jesus

No crying He makes… 

The baby didn't cry because his heart stopped beating for a second… like last night when a cow somehow got past the fences and got up next to the wall beside where I was sound asleep and let out a cry that lifted me at least a foot off the bed!  

The video below is what I hear each morning.  The cowboys load up food pellets that have minerals and stuff in them and go for a drive.  They make this sound and the cows all come a running!

The second video is on my walk this morning, about a 1/2 mile from my house (I'm across from the trailer in the distance).  Listen to the cattle!  Cattle + Full Moon = little sleep!  In spite of all of this I have enjoyed each new experience.

YEP.  It happened.  This morning at 6:29am, I asked my phone what the humidity was and got this back.  "What does that even mean?" Wes and I asked each other, puzzled.  Another google search told us that the air can't hold any more moisture... it isn't raining, but it means a bad hair day for sure.

Check out my salt shaker.  The salt is stuck at the bottom! (This morning I noticed that West Jordan was at 80%!) Time to add rice to the salt shaker!

However, the humidity isn't all that bad ... I haven't used chapstick, saline or eye drops since I got here, and my skin has never looked better! The grass is still green as green and there are creeks and lakes everywhere.  The only thing missing are the mountains.

Fall

Although the grass is still way green and temps are in the upper 90's, there are signs of Fall in the air.  But you don't want to stop an pick a bouquet (like one elder did) for your wife.  They were full of ticks!

Bugs

We have a regular exterminator, so we rarely ever see bugs inside our house.  But outside my backdoor I saw this! I put a quarter there for perspective.  Was that ugly brown bug devouring that large winged insect?  No.  Google lens explained that in was a cicada shedding it's skin!  Wow!

Cows

In July we shipped cows to the feed lots, and August means we get calves from Florida (about 9000 of them).  They come in daily by the semi full.  They are old enough (they don't even look like calves) to be separated.  But they aren't happy about it.  So they do a lot of bawling.  This is what is sounded like last night at bedtime (below).

When a new load of calves arrived, I watched a half dozen cows come running.  They ran alongside the semi trailer, looking up at the calves.  They are playful, intelligent, and highly social animals.  Research done by Krista McLennan of Northampton University indicates that cows do indeed have “best friends.”

After the calves arrived, Dale Richardson (one of the cowboys) moves slowly in their pen, trying to settle them and let them get used to him.  He takes one step forward, waits, then steps one back.  A few more steps forward slowly, pauses and then steps back. The ranch insists on kindness to the animals.  

FENCES:

The work on the fences continues day by day.  Beneath all that green grass is hard limestone, so they have to use the John Deer jack hammer to chop it out.  Afterwards the elders weld the pipe and finally it gets paint.  The rest of the elders (including Elder Himle) finished the barn up, with down spouts, etc. The ranch manager told us that he will take all the missionaries he can get, as they fix things up and make things much better.  He would like to "get one missionary per acre".  Some are serving 23 months, some 18 months, some 12 months and some (like us) six months.

Sister Massey shows just how high the grass is in places.  Isn't that crazy?  We received farm fresh eggs from the The Dale and Kellie Richardson (neighbors) this week.  The sister's made rice bags to give away, delivered quilts to Youth Protection Services and Birthright, worked at the produce truck, and in the library (taking photos of obituaries to upload to findagrave).

One of the cattle shoots wouldn't open (and we were getting calves) so Elder Himle and Elder DeLos Reyes helped Elder Johnson (our electrician) troubleshoot and repair the problem.

Elder Himle and Johnson were asked to install a washer and dryer this week.  It was going in one of the hunters houses.  Wes located plumbing lines, while Johnson fished electrical.  At the end of the day, two very tired and happy elders returned home satisfied.

Pawhuska Library

Sister Johnson and I are taping obituaries onto paper and then making copies to preserve the I information.  I have uploaded over 450 obituaries to FindAGrave to date.  I figured I didn't have any relatives out here, but after a prompting I looked one of them up in Family Search and discovered he was my 5th cousin!

Senior Center

I did a presentation at the Senior Citizens Center on the beautiful state of Utah this week.  It reminded me of the vastness and variety and beauty. of our state!!  They loved hearing about it.

INCOMING MISSIONARIES

We also got a new couple from Orem (The Dabbs).  On Monday we cleaned and scoured the place they were moving into.  Clean bath towels were placed in the freshly scrubbed bathroom, kitchen cabinets cleaned out, etc.  They arrived on Tuesday evening.

We all got together for dinner (a few nights) this week. 

It was my turn to submit what we have been doing to the Farmland Reserve Newsletter.  I added pictures and this also:

Ranch 1:1. And lo and behold the elders were commanded to fix the barns, for the elements had played havoc on them and there was much damage and the doors would no longer close and the rains did pour down upon the wood inside and it became rotten.

Ranch 1:2. And the elders reasoned among themselves saying, “We do not know how to build a barn, for there are no barns in the city from whence we came.”

Ranch 1:3. And the elders scratched their heads and their eyes did roll, but they spake amongst themselves saying, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded.” And they did repair the barn and the doors and the fences.

Ranch 1:4  And they were commanded to build fences, and to chop the ground and to weld.  And it was said throughout the land that never were fences constructed after such a fine manner.  And the burns on their arms did heal themselves quickly from the sparks of their torch.

Ranch 1:5. And the women did also toil and labor in the Sooner vineyard, each using the talents which God had given them.  And some did paint, or minister to others.  Some did create beautiful quilts which were pleasing to the eye.  Others did make rice bags.  Massive amounts of records and hundreds of obituaries went up to the cloud (FindAGrave and FamilySearch), that lives on both sides of the grave might be blessed.  

Ranch 1:6. And there was joy in the Kingdom of Sooner for the sisters and elders did pray for each others success daily and refrain from cussing.  And though they were wet and filthy and fatigued, they did diligently continue the work one day after the next.  And there was joy.

The END

IF you have read the far, you are probably exhausted now.  I will end with this, which my sister in law Barb has in her house.