This morning we will start the Cow-Cow Boogie. (Go down to my playlist and choose the first song, to set the mood) According the information I've been given, it's going to be a full day of easing cows and calves to pastures closer to the house and the corral at the Jacobson place. Unlike this photo, we'll be on 4-wheelers all day and roaring around checking coullees and hills. It's supposed to be a glorious day, for November, in Montana! The little weather box says in the mid-60's....not quite swimsuit weather, although Maggie would challenge that idea.
The cinnamon and caramel rolls are baked and tucked in the freezer for tomorrow. (If I didn't freeze them, I'd eat them, little piece by little piece, until nothing would be left but a pile of cinnamon smelling crumbs in the tinfoil.) Maggie wants to come out to the shop, where we serve the coffee and pastries and preside over the party. This would be her first Bovine Court, and I'm not sure PopPops is ready for that particular occasion. It's really difficult to bring royalty and all the frou-frou that goes with it, to the common man, but she keeps trying. (Angus is more like me, and will be sampling the wares.)
I'm preparing myself for two days of being wrong.
I stand in the wrong place. I open the wrong gates. I move the cows wrong. I ask the wrong questions. I wear the wrong color. I show up at the wrong time, and I leave at the wrong time.
I'm the only XX chromosome combination in the corral, and apparently that Y chromosome helps the men communicate wordlessly. I am at a distinct disadvantage. Women LIVE on verbal communication! Men are sight people, and there are subtle signals they give one another...apparently by the twitch of one eyebrow hair...that all the other guys understand and act upon. I totally miss those signals. Except, of course, the throwing down of the sorting paddle. I get that. It indicates that I'm wrong.
The prayers of this house have been that everyone is safe, the calves weigh more than anticipated, the old corrals hold together, all the crew shows up, the sort is easy, the weather holds and that the heifers we're weaning are placid and healthy. Quite a lot of things have to mesh to make it a success!
The Chronicles will be publishing Crazy Mary's Q & A tomorrow, but I'm going to try the auto-publish. It's anyone's guess when it will actually appear on the blog!
