If You Give a 4-H'er a Calf...

If you let your 4-H'er get a calf, they will fall in love with it.

If your 4-H'er falls in love with it, they'll want to spend lots of time with it.

If they want to spend lots of time with her, they'll get up at 5:55 am to go to feed her.

If they go to feed her, they'll want to brush her.

If they brush her, they'll think she needs a bath.

If she gets a bath once, they'll think she needs a bath every morning.

If they give her a bath, they'll want to blow dry her.

 

If you let them blow dry her, they will want a fan hung in the barn to keep her cool while they are at school.

If they get up to feed her to keep clean they will wear wind pants and a hoodie over school clothes.

If they wear clothes over their school clothes, you will have to pick them up at the barn because they won't come back to the house until they need to go to school.

If you pick them up at the barn, they will strip off the top layer of clothes as you drive them to school.

If they strip off the clothes, your truck will be full of clothes.

 

If  your truck is still full of clothes when he gets in after school, they will want to go back to the barn.

If they want to go back to the barn, you can make them do their homework before they visit the barn.  Homework will be done the fastest ever!

 

If they are more motivated to do their homework, they might reach their reading goal for the month before the last day of the month.

If they get their reading goal done before the last day of the month, you might let them show the calf at some shows.

If they make friends at the shows, they will want to go to more shows.

If they want to go to more shows, they will find there are other things to show other than cattle.

If they find there are other things to show, they will want another animal.

If they keep doing their homework, feeding and grooming the calf, you will let them them have a lamb and then you will find out what happens when you give a 4-H'er a lamb.

  

 

Dealing with Parents and Their Health

If you are a faithful follower of this blog, you know that I finished up my series 30 Days of Farm Mom Tips and then have been pretty quiet.  It’s not that I don’t have anything to say or show, it’s that the health issues with family have seemingly overtaken my life.  Over Thanksgiving, my father was having breathing issues and ended up spending a week in the hospital with 2 blood clots in his lung and pneumonia.   This is totally separate from my father in law with cancer. 

As I have said before, my parents have a separate farm, but we help each other when needed.  With my dad in the hospital, my mom needed help to do chores on mornings when it was 9 degrees, (even though she didn’t think she needed help).  My parents are the first to offer to help on our farm or with the kids, but the last to ask for help when they need it.

I don’t know about you, but when one of my loved ones is ill, I have a hard time concentrating and keeping on task with what needs to be done.  I have also been a wee bit short with some and maybe (as my friend Carrie says) snarky.  I am sorry if I offended you during my stressful weeks.  In our situation, we were short handed and stressed.

My dad is home doing better and helping with chores again.  I have learned much during the last few weeks about me, our parents, how we all deal with hard decisions and some interactions that will never change.

#1.       No matter how old you are…

No matter how successful you are in your job…

            No matter how proud your parents say they are of your intelligence and successes in life…

You are still their child and nothing will ever change that in their eyes and they can downplay the seriousness of a situation with the skill of an Emmy Award winning actor.

#2.       Your parents are the ones that teach you to do research, to question EVERYTHING, and to never take anything at face value, but when it is they who are questioned they don’t like it.  Your parents love to give medical advice to you, your friends, even to friends they don’t know, but when you offer a suggestion these may not be welcomed with the same openness as you take their information.  Refer to #1.

#3.        After talking with many friends there are 2 types of parents:

A.      The ones that don’t want you to worry and think you worry too much, so they try to tell you as little as possible.  (FYI Mom, I can now detect that tone of voice that says you aren’t telling me everything.)

B.      The ones that need you to know about every ailment and quite possibly think you should take off from work for every doctor appointment they have scheduled.

#4.       Sorry for the language on this one, but I have to quote my Grandpa directly, “It’s hell to get old.”  He told me this many times before he died.  I would like to add that it isn’t any fun to watch and suddenly realize that your parents are getting older as well.  The Farmer and I have had a double wammy of a reality check with our dad’s health issues and now that it has sunk in we are fine with it, but it took some time to get where we are today. 

#5.       Farmers and Ranchers are some of the toughest people on earth.  They have battled Mother Nature for years and if you think a little thing like a blood clot, cancer, or a heart attack is going to get them down you better think again.  These guys may not be in church every Sunday, but they have more faith than most congregations combined and probably have more talks with God on a daily basis than we will ever know about.

-A Kansas Farm Mom (and will always be a farmer/rancher's daughter)

Illness strikes the Farm Family Team

Most of my family doesn't like me to talk that much about them.  In fact, it's just not on here, they don't like everyone to know about their business, especially their health...it's...well...personal.

I would like to ask for your prayers (or kind thoughts if you don't believe in the power of prayer).

Cancer is attacking one of our family members.

When any illness strikes a family member it is tough, but when it attacks a farm family it can be especially hard.

He is not only a family member.  

He is a co-worker.  

He is a business partner.  

He is a mentor.  

He is an ear to bend.

He is a referee in family farming discussions.

He is a fall back baby sitter.  

He is part of the glue that holds us all together.

The next few months will be trying for all of us.  As most of you know, we are a true family farm.

If I get permission to give you more information, I will, but in the mean time please send us your prayers and respect the privacy of those involved.

I do believe in the power of prayer in situations like this.  Two little boys have certainly proved it to me and many others this past year.  If you haven't read the stories of Killian or Braden, please do.  These kids have looked death straight in the eye and said NOT TODAY.  They have heard what the doctors have said and said NOT THIS YEAR.  They are truly an inspiration to me as I follow their journey through life.  I truly believe the same will be said for our family member.

In case you missed it, this month is Movember.  Read Dairy Carrie's post about the Dairy Industry's effort to increase awareness to men's health issues and prostate cancer in particular.

As I was contemplating posting this, The Fight of My Life showed up in my Facebook news feed.  I am reminded that we all learn from everyone that comes into our lives and that we all need a reminder at one time or another to take our health seriously.

Take care of yourselves.  Take care of your loved ones and give them an extra hug for me.

- A Kansas Farm Mom