Better Day!

I haven't been doing very well for a couple of weeks now. I suddenly have developed problems with my blood pressure and it has been high enough to make me feel unwell and even scare me a bit...... well, honestly, it has scared me a lot.  I have had other issues as well and it seems that I may have abruptly jumped off into the change of life. I am not going in to the gory details but after a few trips to see my local physicians assistant, adding a couple of new medications and then changing them around, I think that I may be on the mend. Basically, I have to get serious about losing this last 45 pounds and I have to just let some things in my life go..... I worry about things that I can't change or fix and that has to stop.  

Today has been a better day. I have spent a big portion of it in my garden. I had started some lettuce in flats just to see if the seed was still viable. I transplanted all of that, planted some new lettuce seed and even got carried away and planted four long rows of green beans. I have my whole garden plotted out on graph paper and almost immediately ignored the plan and did something else! I did have sense enough to make a copy of the plan and when I made the changes, I replotted it on the sheet....... it is sprinkling rain right now and I just remembered that I left the sheet out in the garden...... Luckily, the copy is still lying on the printer!

Now for the VERY BEST NEWS! Exactly three weeks ago, I bred Holly. Guess what!!!????!!! She is NOT back in heat today and shows no indication of coming in. I am cautiously celebrating...... there are plenty of things that could happen over the next few weeks but as of right now---- I think that she is bred. I used a purebred Jersey bull but the best part is that it was what is known as "sexed semen". There is a better than 90% chance that my beloved Holly will have a heifer calf! 

With a little luck, I will be able to get Noelle bred, too. She is not cycling regularly. She has slicked off and her coat is a lovely golden tan color but she is still having trouble gaining weight. I have decided to stop milking her and dry her off. I don't want to do this abruptly so we are not bringing her in to eat in the evenings. I normally only milk her in the mornings and now I just don't milk her out completely. This will cause her to stop producing as much milk and I hope to have her dry by the first of May. If this works, then we will not be taking her to the county fair in July. That is not all bad. We already have plenty to do there and it is usually just miserably hot. One less animal/project to worry about will be a blessing. 

Seth is working on repairing the horse fence and we are hoping to get those renegades back out in the pasture tomorrow. They have grazed off every single blade of grass in the barn lot and it looks more like a golf course than a pasture. I have finally gotten the barn kitchen clean enough to work safely in. My plans for this weekend are to build my working tables and finish washing it down so that I can begin painting. I may be a bit ambitious on this project but it has taken waaay too long already. I need that work space to handle all of this milk. My house kitchen is just not able to accommodate all my projects!

I'll close with this picture of part of my herd heading out to graze in the morning after milking. I love how eager they are to get to the wooded area.......

And stop at the pond for a drink as I am heading back to the house......