Hello sunshine!

I just love to wake up to sunshine, although that doesn't happen now, as Fall wains into Winter. It's almost after 7 am before we detect daylight now*sigh* I have never understood the theory behind the time change and when it "Falls" back next month, it only makes it later in the morning before daylight shows itself. I, personally would rather have it daylight earlier in the day, rather than staying light later into the evening. When we were milking ( and hope to be again by the end of April, beginning of May) we milked and did chores in the dark morning and night, that gets old really quick. Okay Cortney and I sat down yesterday morning and calculated up Addy's due date. When we hauled her over to the Bull, I thought the people would pay a bit closer attention to when they'd mated, but however they didn't and the only bit of info I finally dragged out of them was that they'd seen Abe mounting her on the 25th. So.... If we go off the date I had down for her heat cycle her due date would be around April 24-26, if I go off the info they shared it would be May4-6th. We'll be watching her close anyway, so with just a few days in between the dates we should be okay. I'm just looking forward to an easy birth, a healthy calf and the added bonus of milk! We've been dry for over a year now. For me it's not such a big deal,because I only use the cream in tea or coffee. I'm not much of a milk drinker, but..... I really miss fresh yogurt, cottage cheese, butter and a few other soft cheeses we make. Poor Mo, a week and a half ago, had a swollen sheath. We ended up hauling him to the vet the following morning. I knew it wasn't due to his sheath being dirty, as my Mom had cleaned it just a few weeks earlier. I checked to see if he had a stone, sawdust or something causing the irritation the afternoon we noticed the swelling, and found nothing, he was clean. The the next morning the vet found a tiny nick on the outside of his sheath, and it was infected. She administered antibiotics IM and then also sent us home with a sulfur antibiotic powder to be mixed with some grain and fed twice daily. The vet also shared that the swelling would take time to come down but to keep an eye on it. He finished his sulfur powder a week ago and things were looking good,some swelling was still there, but no heat and it was decreasing. Last night I checked it and he was sore, not wanting me to touch, although there is no heat and the swelling has not increased. I'll be making a call to the vet to see where we need to go with his treatment from here. Poor fella, that isn't a good place to have swelling and tenderness. Not much else going on around here, still working on apples, I'm sick of them but know what a blessing they'll be this winter. We also will be trying to get some of the flowerbeds areas semi cleaned up. I don't want to totally clean them as they might get damaged during the winter, but the hollyhock stems, sun chokes stems( need to harvest some tubers), gladiolas( need to be dug and stored in the cellar), irises, thinned and replant the ones thinned elsewhere and window boxes and other pots cleaned out and put in the garage. I tend to leave the wildflower dead stalks and pods until Spring, as a sort of mulch, and then shake off the seeds and clean the beds out thoroughly. I admit I'm a lazy flower gardener, I'd rather put my efforts into our produce gardens, but still love the flowers and range of colors and styles. I better get the call into the vet and hang some clothes, on the line while the sun is shining. Blessing for your day.