"... so many kinds of yes."

"...sweet spring is your
time is my time is our
time for springtime is love time
and viva sweet love"
 ~e.e. Cummings~ 

All the creatures are busy with thoughts of the ancient and instinctive need to procreate. Some are busy looking for safe places to build nests and others have already been busy... and now, have something to show for their efforts. While blocking my one lane country road, taking pictures of this squirrel, a friend stopped to talk.

He said that there were calves in the field. He had taken some photos of them and I should stop and do the same. 

It was one of those wonderful, warm Spring days when Nature (ours anyway) was trying to show the world how beautiful it could be. Like a little girl, in her Easter dress and patent leather shoes, the day was shiny and perfect. 

As I said goodbye to my friend and continued up the road... there it was. 

Sweetness, perfection and too much cuteness...

This little guy almost made me want to hop the fence and play. But its mom gave me that " Don't even think about it." look, so I told her I only wanted to take a picture... and then ,I walked along the fence line looking for other photo opportunities. 

That's when I heard a very loud cow mooing. Not a very large cow... a very loud and noisy cow... and she was coming right toward me... almost running. Yes, a cow can run. This one was.

I realized that I was standing where they all usually get fed and I was pretty sure that she thought I had food.
Then she stopped... and looked at me.

She stared for quite a while, took a few steps toward me, then backed away.

"You're not Farmer Fred and you are not the lady who comes and feeds us either. You are an impostor!"
Don't tell me that animals don't convey their lack of language in a very clear way. This one knew that I was not the person in charge.
She bellowed again to the other cows ( "She's just another deadbeat photographer."), turned around...

And walked away. 

She knew that I didn't have vegetables, goodies or anything that she could eat. I wasn't worth her time.
***********************************

This afternoon I went for a hike. It's so beautiful out there that it seems like a insult to nature if you stay in the house.
I walked up the dirt road.

It was raining shooting stars.

And the buttercups were everywhere. Hiding in the dry winter grasses and...

reaching for the warm afternoon sunshine.

This is an amazing and beautiful Spring.

I will go find the poppies soon. I've been told that this weekend will be prime time to photograph the tulips and daffodils of Daffodil Hill.
I know the poppies are coming up all over the hills from here to the river.
Last weekend, we built a planter... a Topsy turvy pot planter.
My neighbor found this idea and she built one the week before last. I finally got the pots and, with the Prospector's help, we constructed the whole thing in a few hours.

The little frog said, "This is it? Where are the flowers, so I can hide from Carl and Cutter?"

So, yesterday I drove to Lowe's and bought some flowers. Now it's really done and we love it.
Frog is happy too.

He really didn't have to hide from the Corgi boys because they are more interested in lizards and gophers right now than a little concrete frog.
Hopefully, this project will save water and it surely will confused the gophers.
Carl and Cutter are on their lizard quest out here, so I need to put the little wire fence back up. I don't want them to mess around in the garden and tromp on everything. I think I have one answer that doesn't need any preparing. The turkey are back. We hear them echoing from hill to hill. They are being really crazy out there and come to the driveway looking for water and lady turkey to flirt with.
Carl starts barking at them and, then he comes up on the porch.

He acts very cool about it all, but when I get up to go into the house, he looks at me , as if to say, "Hey, mom, where are you going? You need to protect us from those crazy birds."

Cutter, on the other hand, just wants to go in the house and hide.

"Just let me in. I don't like those big birds at all."

So, Spring is here... and it's so achingly beautiful that I want to stay outside all the time, taking a camera and a sleeping bag with me and live off the land... stay out there all night and "wake with the morning light". 
"Oh, you can't do that, Farmlady. You're too old?" 
Who said that? Where does it say that  an old lady can't hike around BLM land and live under a bridge? She just needs some food, a change of clothes, a portable toilet, bottled water, her toothbrush and her pillow, her meds and a gun... Just a few simple necessities.
OK, I'm getting carried away. I'm not really thinking about sleeping out in the bush. I have a nice safe home to live in... and a husband to protect me and two BRAVE dogs to ward off wild turkeys. Besides, I would come home with embedded  ticks and a good case of poison oak... not to mention the mountain lions that might want to eat me for dinner. Around here you need to be aware of all the things that might make 'living under the bridge' a really lame idea.
But.... it's fun to think about.

“It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want—oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”
  ~Mark Twain~

Fred's Cows

Our son called this morning and said he was coming up here over night. We were delighted. I put some cloths on and went into town to get some supplies. Even when the kids are grown they like special  comfort foods. So I made a list and off I drove.
It rained all night and there were lots of downed branches on the road but nothing that I couldn't drive over or around. The storm was subsiding and it looked like I would make it down our country road to the highway without having to call The Prospector to come to my aid with his chain saw.
I went to the post office and then to the store. Then I headed back home.
As I past our neighbor's house near the highway I saw a new addition to the herd of cows that stay in the pasture across the road. I just had to stop and take some pictures. Look at this cutie with its mama.

I don't know much about cows so I don't know when this one was born but it's the newest and I hadn't seen it before.
Isn't it beautiful? Look at those sweet little legs.

A few years ago, when I was working at my last (and final) paid position, I came home and drove past my neighbor, his son, grandson, his wife and one of the local Ranchers all surrounding a young cow having her first calf. It seemed that the cow was having a hard time with the birth.
I stopped and asked if I could help. They all looked at me, in my work clothes, and then looked at each other and smiled. That did it.
I got out of the car, rolled up my sweater sleeves and said,  "What can I do?"
I guess they took this to be a serious question. They said I could help and showed me what to do. I got to pull the baby out with the help of the other woman and a come-a- long. The mom was too young and was having a difficult time of it. She kept wanting to sit down. This could not happen because the baby was halfway out and it would have broken the calf's legs. So the men kept her up, supporting her with boards and straps, and the other lady and I pulled on the calf. I never worked so hard in all my life. Finally the calf slipped out and landed on the ground. I was suppose to catch the calf so it didn't get hurt. I tried, but it was hard to hold on to a living thing that was bloody and slick as... you know the expression. I, more or less, got underneath the calf so it landed on my arms as it came out. Fred's wife was on the other side doing the same. What an experience it was. We finally got the calf on the ground without being harmed.
The heifer didn't want anything to do with the calf and so we had to "put them together", as Fred called it. Finally she got the message and within a few minutes the calf was up and feeding.
I've never been so excited in my life. You'd think I had given birth to the calf myself.
I drove on home that afternoon in a state of euphoria. When the Prospector saw me he thought I had an accident. I related the story and told him I wanted some cattle. He laughed.
Then, I went in and took a shower. I never wore that sweater again. What a gift it is to see an animal born. I will never forget this experience.
So this morning I stopped to take a few photos of the new addition to the herd and that memory came back.
I still recall the excitement. It was quite a wonderful thing and I knew then, that I would have made a good rancher. I know this could have ended differently. The calf could have died. That happens. I had watched a calf born dead in that same corral. It was very sad. But, the ones that survive make it all worth the effort.
I was standing at the fence thinking about all of this when one of the young black bulls came up to me. They usually walk away when I get that close, but they were all looking at me like I had brought lunch.

Then one of the cows came over to the fence.

He was making eye contact with me. He was very interested in what I was doing.

I thought he was going to smile. He was wet from the rain, dirty and  looking at me with such sincere attention that I started talking to him. " Hi, fella. Can I take your picture?" He was giving me the ol' sweet eye.
That's when he tried to eat my camera...

You've got to love this. These animals have the biggest tongues I have very seen.
He almost reached me. But, I surprised him first. I reached out and touched his nose.
Well, he didn't care for that.
He gave me a rather annoyed look.

As if to say, "You mean you don't have any food?" I was going to apologize but he turned away and that was the end of our close encounter.

Fred.... It's time to feed your cows.