Happy Birthday Alice - Twenty-one

Graduation with Jorg

Wedding with Dad

Alice with Emma

My youngest daughter, Alice, is twenty-one today. Although I had already passed my parental responsibilities on to her husband, Jimmy, two years ago this December, it is still a poignant moment to see one's children pass into formal adulthood. I'm not sure how significant a date it is these days as there is little that Alice has not been able to do before the "key of the door". Married and with her own little responsibility, Emma; taking college courses part-time and working; and making a home with her husband. Great responsibilities at a young age, and with so much of life still to come. My other four children, Alice's half siblings, two boys and two girls are well into adulthood, but I worry for their well being, especially in such troubled times. Of course I find it hard to imagine they can survive without constantly being told what to do, but they all seem to have made their niches in life. Alice, I am sure, will make hers as she, like me, adapts to her country of choice, by bringing to it a British perspective. If I was to give any advice (and I'm not sure I am all that qualified) it is that we pass this particular way only once, so make the most of opportunities, be true to oneself, and treat the world as you would wish to be treated yourself. The following is one of those Hallmark card type of sayings but has always appealed to me:

Dance like there's nobody watching

Love like you'll never get hurt

Sing like there's nobody listening

Live like it's heaven on earth

And speak from the heart to be heard.

Happy Birthday sweetheart, enjoy the day.

Happy Birthday, Girls!

Happy Birthday Annie, Happy Birthday Penny

Well, phew, we made it through three weeks without losing a calf, a mother, or much more of my hair! That was one steep learning curve, and I'm sure we aren't out of the woods, yet. But..... I now manage to milk the cows without the hysterics of the first week (from me, not the cows) having blocked as many holes in the bagpipes as I can to ensure concentration on one teat at a time.

Claw and Bagpipes

Does anyone else find all this talk of multi-tasking grossly overrated? My feeling is that doing one task well, before going on to the next one, is probably more efficient than ten all at the same time. No doubt the research is being done as I post, and my cognition friends will have the answer. Anyway back to the Birthday Girls. Their growing up is just amazing and they now attempt to drink from the trough - a good thing, as even with fans and shade the heat and humidity are taking their toll on all of us. Annie in particular, being bottle fed, was showing some signs of dehydration and we have switched to giving her milk in three meals rather than two. That has helped her a lot, and she and Penny have plenty of energy to skip around and play cow fights all over the arena.

This three weeks has probably been the longest in our lives, and without the patience and understanding of some experienced cow people, and our cow vet, plus a little humor, might just have been an animal or two, too far. What I can say, is that the next calves are going to get the benefit of this learning in spades, and we might even be able to sleep at night without worrying that we are making some serious mistake somewhere. We could alter the tag line to "Two Ex-Pregnant Cows - lots of experience! except that might viewed as a little bit of an exaggeration after only three weeks. So we'll leave it as it is!