I’m sure many of you just had a Will Ferrell image pop into your head when you read that title. That has been my last 3 days, beginning with Saturday morning. This is a lengthy post, but none of it is complete without the other details. Saturday was April 11th. To some that date is insignificant. But, just like any other day of the year, to someone, somewhere that date means a lot. This was the date that 4 years ago my sister-in-law and her husband lost their son, Gibson. So this day has had special meaning to our family for the last 4 years. I woke up Saturday and when I looked at Facebook, my memories popped up on my feed. It was a picture of a day that we honored Gibson. My sister-in-law, Karmen, and her family live in Leedey. It just so happened, not intentionally, that we played Leedey at Arapaho 1 year to the day after Gibson’s passing. So we honored him with the Leedey players and coaches before the game that day. They were gracious enough to do that with us. Their coach, Bryan Shoaf, also led a prayer while we were out there. So that popped up in my memories first thing that morning. That got my emotions rolling. I knew what day it was and I knew that it was always a tough day. But, that hit me a little earlier than I expected. I text Coach Shoaf that morning when I saw it and we talked about that day and many other things. It just brought back many memories. So, although the emotions that started the day were tough, it also made me think of special times with special people. It made me think about Karmen and Nate and their family and how strong they are. It made me think about how they have been such a great example to so many people during these last four years about how to handle tough times in their lives. Then, things took a drastically different turn from that point on.
Kristin was outside, actually talking to Karmen on the phone, just a little bit later. I went outside on the front porch with her. We noticed that there was a calf in the pasture just north of our house all by itself. We have about 3 acres there that are fenced off and have a set of corrals that we use to sort and load cattle. There was not another calf or cow in sight besides this calf that was just a few weeks old. So I went and shut the gates to keep it in there by itself, hoping that the mom would come up there at some point and we would know who it belonged to. I went back inside and got on with the rest of my day and Traber came in and said, “Channing and Dax made the calf go through the fence.” Come to find out, Channing had chased it around trying to get it to go to Dax so they could pet it. It went through the fence, out into the great wide open where there weren’t fences for the next half mile. The only things out there were trees and canyons and 60 other cows and calves, all the same age as this one and they all looked the same.
So Kristin, Traber, and I rushed out to the barn and got on the ranger and took off looking for it. The other two didn’t get to come on this adventure because they were in extreme trouble due to the fact that they chased the calf through the fence. They were confined to their beds for awhile after that. So we went down into the pasture and we luckily found this calf still wandering around by itself. We decided to push it to the others since it was on its way there anyway. We hoped that maybe it would find its mama and all would be good. But we couldn’t get that lucky. When it finally got to the others, it didn’t seem one bit interested in any of the other cows. There weren’t any cows looking for babies. We thought that was strange until we remembered that the day before, we had found a dead cow. This had to be its baby. There was a reason that it was all alone. It had been on its own for the last few days. At that point, and for the next 10-15 minutes, I felt sorry for this calf. But, that would soon change. The objective of this mission changed suddenly as well. We had to catch this calf and get it into the corral and it would become a bottle calf.
We then ventured back to the house to get the 4-wheeler. That way we would have two forms of transportation down there and basically two forms of causing chaos. I did in fact let the other two get up and accompany us during this next episode of shenanigans. I’m not sure if it was because I wasn’t mad at them anymore, or the fact that I wanted them to see what they had caused. While at the barn, I grabbed my rope. Now, to say that I am a NFR quality calf roper would be a slight overstatement. But my grandpa did teach me how to rope when I was a kid and I have had to rope a couple over the last few years. I also practice on my kids sometimes. We line up next to each other and they take off and I take off after them and see if I can rope them. They love the thrill of trying to outrun me and I get to harness my skills. It’s the best of both worlds. So if it comes down to it, it can be done. It’s just not something I do on a regular basis. So we went back down to where all the calves and cows were. We figured out which one it was and got it separated from the rest of the crew. At the very beginning right after we got it separated, the rope was in the ranger. Kristin grabbed it and took off. I didn’t exactly communicate my plan to her prior to this. As you can guess, we had differing ideas of what might work. This was really the only time all day that we had a disagreement, which is impressive to anyone that has done anything with a spouse involving cattle and knows the struggle. She got mad at what I said after that and dropped the rope and left it on the ground and got back in the ranger. I didn’t have a horse so roping from that wasn’t an option. I was on the 4-wheeler, so catching up to the calf was not a problem. But, pushing the throttle with my right hand while roping with the same hand was. So I had to figure something else out. The calf ended up going down into the creek so I followed her in there on foot. I got one real legitimate chance to rope her, and it hit her head, but didn’t get all the way around her neck. So there went that chance. But, I stayed on her trail. While you picture this, I also need to throw in there that this all happened quickly that morning. Because of that, I had on shorts and a hoodie, muck boots, and a fishing hat. Those were the first items available to grab. As I continued to chase this elusive animal on foot through the trees and creeks I came to the realization that this wasn’t going to work. This calf was smart. It wouldn’t let me get close enough to rope it, which I’m not sure was really a concern she had. It also wouldn’t go out in the open. It stayed in the brush and trees making me dodge things constantly. So I stopped and told Kristin, who had been on this foot chase a lot of the time with me, that we needed to let it go for just a little bit and then give it one more good effort. If this didn’t work, we would let her (and us) rest for the rest of the day. She hadn’t eaten in two or three days because of her mom dying so I didn’t want to run her to death. I, on the other hand, had eaten the last two days. I had eaten a little too much as a matter of fact. So that was of a concern as well.
So I got back on the 4-wheeler and Kristin was in the ranger with the kids. The calf had went back to the rest of the cows and calves. It went into a mess of plum thickets for a rest when we met up with it again. I told Kristin we would flush it out of there and try one more time. If we didn’t get her that time, we were done. I was wearing down by this time myself. We were over two hours into this ordeal. We got her out of there and she took off. I hopped off the 4-wheeler and gave it one more try with the rope. Same thing, hit her head but didn’t go all the way over. Then I realized, although I was tired and slowing down, she had slowed down more. I could finally catch her on foot I thought, even in my muck boots. I got close enough to her and took her down like a steer wrestler. Going back to that earlier NFR comment, even though I got her, I don’t think I had quite as good of technique as a real steer wrestler. But, we got her loaded up and taken to the corral. We had us a bottle calf. Channing named it Poppy, from Trolls. So we went and fixed Poppy a bottle and that was the beginning of raising a bottle calf.
We got up yesterday to one of the best days of the year. The day our Savior, Jesus Christ was raised from the grave. It was Easter Sunday and our Church had a drive in service. It was so great to get to see everyone and wave at them. We stayed in our vehicles, but it was still great to see everyone. Our youth minister led singing and our preacher preached from a trailer that lifted them a few feet to make them a little more visible. We had an FM transmitter so their voices came through on the radio. It was just so great for everyone’s emotions and souls to get to worship together again in person, although a little different than normal. Then Sunday night we had our weekly Zoom meeting with our small group. We were on there for over an hour. It was such a great time with them too. It was just a great day that lifted spirits. It was just what we all needed. We know that God was smiling down on His children all day. We also know that satan was furious because he could see that he wasn’t winning. It was just a great day. Here is a picture of our best family Easter pic and our drive in Church crowd!
Later Sunday evening we realized that our dog had gotten out of his pen somehow. He doesn’t like to go back in there, and most usually has to be picked up and put in there. He is a big Yellow Lab. He usually does a good job of staying around the house when we let him out. But, we went out and hollered for him and he wasn’t around. We kept yelling for him, and finally I heard him bark from a distance. We realized that he was up north of the house. By the calf pen. Where Poppy was. At the north end of that 3 acre fenced in area. So Kristin and I got in her vehicle and drove down there. Sure enough, he had gotten in the calf pen and didn’t know how to get out. He was running circles around Poppy and barking like crazy. We pulled up and I shined a flashlight in the pen and Poppy was looking at me like this dog has lost it’s mind. So we got Wrigley out of the calf pen and took him back to the house. We went from scared we had lost the dog, to being mad at the dog for making us go down there and get him when it was 30 degrees and 10:30 at night. Then we were amused at the scene of Wrigley running around Poppy barking all while Poppy looked as confused as we were as to why Wrigley was in her pen.
That brings us to this morning. Kristin and I got up and worked out like normal. That gave it time for the sun to come up so we could go feed Poppy. I’m still going to school each day to feed lunches and get a few other things done so I am still on somewhat of a schedule in the morning. So I had it timed perfectly to where we would go feed the calf and be done in time for my Bible study and get ready to go to school at the same time I do every day. Well, we got down to Poppy’s pen and I noticed that when it stood up it looked a little funny. It seemed a little wobbly. I thought maybe it was just cold. So I got to her and went to put the bottle in her mouth and realized that she wasn’t OK. It had poop in its mouth. It looked unstable and my first thought was it’s beginning to get the scours. If you have ever had a bottle calf, you know that isn’t good. I told Kristin we needed to load her up and get her to the Vet. Especially as cold as it was, it would have trouble keeping its temperature up if it was sick, and it needed some meds. So we go got my truck and brought it down to the pen. Kristin didn’t want to hold it, she wanted to drive. So I went into the pen and grabbed it and got in the front seat of the truck with it. What could go wrong from there, right? A lot!
Our Vet is only about 4 miles from our house so I didn’t think much about the trip. But, we got about a mile into it and I heard a slight explosion. Keep in mind that I’m in the passenger seat and the calf’s head is facing the drivers side and her rear is facing the passenger door. That slight explosion shot green sludge all down the side of the door and my arm. Luckily, due to the cold, I had on a jacket. Kristin was trying really hard to control her laughter, but that wasn’t working too well. There was a lot of laughter coming from over there. Although it was a little disgusting, it is just part of it. Then about a mile later, we figured out that her organs were still working well because here comes the pee. Yep, all down the side of the door. The silver lining in this was that it was a heifer and not a bull so it went on the door and not in my lap. The two made quite the mixture. The laughter was intensifying in the driver seat. Not so much from the passenger. We finally made it to the Vet and I got out and handed Poppy off to the Vet and they said they would call later and let us know what they found out. I turned to head back to the truck to see that the whole side of my passenger seat was covered in calf poop. My door panel was covered in the same thing. Except it had the pee mixed with it. Some of it was still on the door while some had ran down into the door pockets. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen from here. But, what I did realize was I was late for work by this point.
I have to give it up to my wife. Although I give her a hard time on here and also in real life, she’s really hard to beat. She cleaned up the passenger side of the truck while I went and took a shower and headed to work. She didn’t realize how many little cracks and seams were in a door. She worked for a long time before she finally got most of it out of all of those areas. I’m glad she did because I’m sure my cleaning wouldn’t have been as detailed and precise as hers. Last we heard from the Vet, they had given Poppy some meds and were going to keep her with the possibility of snow coming tomorrow to make sure she does OK. They think we caught it early and everything will be alright.
So you can see by this lengthy story how my emotions were on so many levels this weekend. I had everything from sadness and tears, to anger, to exhaustion, to confusion, to anger again, to relief, to joy, to concern, and probably many others. I’m not a real emotional person, but I’m exhausted. But, perhaps the most important thing that happened this weekend was that we got to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. We got to remember the fact that He died, was buried, and was raised from the dead to save us. We always remember that on Easter, but may we remember that all year long. May we remember how much He loves us and what He did for us all the time. Hopefully that will help us appreciate the fact that we have the wonderful opportunity to be children of God! Even when we are in a glass case of emotion, it doesn’t get any better than being a Child of God!