Actually, We Have an Elizabeth

I woke at 4am, in the midst of a surprising dream in which Eugene Meltsner of Adventures in Odyssey had just discovered he was Superman and realized that he spoke only in Superman language. I was trying to make him a rice pudding in the RV, but everything was going wrong: I'd burned the rice in the microwave (as if I would ever use a microwave!) and the coconut milk had spoiled.

And then I was coughing violently in real life, trying to inhale but just hacking short little barks, out, out, out. I opted not to wake Phil, but propped myself upright, forcing myself to breathe in. Then I went and threw up a lot of stomach acid. I was too scared to go back to sleep, so I went and heated up some tuna noodle casserole.

I think I probably aspirated some stomach acid in my sleep (nothing like bad coconut milk in a dream to bring up the stomach acid). Should that happen again, I'll wake Phil. No more independent middle-of-the-night choke fests.

Isaiah and Phil made bread this morning. Then they went over to see the cows. Fern's baby had wandered under the wire, so Isaiah was able to get his hands on the baby. There were teats! So she's Elizabeth, not Einstein.

We continue to talk about destocking. Phil said that Fern should probably go: she is so smart that when she saw Phil coming with a lead, she danced away. Between her horns, her hooves, and her caginess, she will probably never be a milker.

And yet ... she's delivered twice without assistance, has a beautiful body conformation, comes from a wonderful bull. She's quite willing to go from paddock to paddock, and, without a leash in sight, she's happy to have Phil pat her. So maybe she becomes a cow-calf (and, thus, beef) producer. There are worse things.

Phil was able to get the tractor free of the mire very early this morning. He and Isaiah started pouring grout in the completed cells. Phil wasn't sure how he would do it alone: with the walls up about 12 feet, how would he get the grout from the mixer at the back of the tractor up to the top of the wall?

Enter Isaiah. Phil stood on a pallet on the tractor forks with buckets of grout. Isaiah lifted him up. Phil poured the grout in. There are about 28 cells to do, and Phil and Isaiah managed 10 in about a half day of work. Phil is hopeful that the two of them can finish in another day.

A productive day for Phil. And a happy day for me: the company I work for, Sonlight, announced some coming changes to the high school programs that have been eagerly anticipated for years. The rejoicing was very great, which makes me glad! So gratifying when my work is well received.