Sept.21, ’09- I see the bear/deer star formation in the sky. It’s 46 degrees and a heavy dew.  A light fog floats above our cornfields. The bats are rampant in the lower barn as I feed sheep. I trod down the lane.  Shuffle, shuffle world-it’s me!! I smash alfalfa and delight in the Killdeer calls. The Sandhill Cranes fly over me and I wave. On First Pond I spot a muskrat . Pilleated Woodpeckers meet the morning. Sweet serenity  to see the girls are sleeping in the pasture. Many ducks fly over and bank away from me. I go down the lane back to the Lower  Farm. Off  to my right, I spot 2 fox. They are @ the edge of the woods. One hopped into the tall weeds, the other just sat and watched me walk.   The eagles flew over and there’s a spider web that sways in the breeze.  And so life goes, as the river flows. Coming out of the dark, floating in a well built ark. I’m the richest woman on earth, a daily journey of re-birth.        Tom here-I retrieved the call from the answering machine that the farmer had 2 cows down with milkfever. I blasted with the vet van and made my way to the farm. I arrive and one of my favorite hired hands is there. “Hola” ,I greet him with and I see concern and worry in his eyes. On the way to the calving, he points to the milk fever cow that’s been down since yesterday. She is easy to pick out-lying with her head back-sadness in her eyes. He tells me he has treated her again an hour ago. I re-assure him I will look @ her shortly. We entered the fresh cow pen- a wet, wobbly newborn calf lays in the cornstalks, waiting for momma to lick him off. The hired hand suggested I look @ the other milk fever first-she was hauled out with a loader tractor to an outside shed. I proceed to the shed and encounter the farmer trying to start a 4020 John Deere tractor. He is successful in starting his tractor. We have a mini-van race to the cow-he wins-it is important to him.
We arrive @ the shed-2 cows await. The milkfever cow is standing, eating hay-happy with life.The second animal is a heifer laying flat out. She had a 120 lb. calf 2 days ago. She can’t sit up. Average size for calves is around 90 lbs. I take her temperature and check her teat quarters for possible mastitis. She has a uterus infection already and bi-lateral paralysis. (Paralyzed on both back legs) The farmer wants quick resolution and asks if he should just shoot her. I know this game and that he wants me to say no and I assure him there’s hope. I kneel by her head and look into her eyes. I see so much life in them and I assure the farmer she’ll be OK. I am now back @ the first milkfever cow and give the hired hand instructions on how to care for her. We are conversing as we approach the downer cow. The cow lunges, gets to her feet and tries her sore legs. She walks away as we approach.

Tom and Sue