Goodbye to Some Less Productive Animals

Yesterday afternoon, some neighbors finally came to pick up Babe and her baby, Einstein. We had "sold" them back in May, I think, but a deluge happened right around the pick-up time. And then the neighbors just didn't come back. We had a cloudburst right around the time they were going to pick-up yesterday, and I wondered just how many more months we would need to feed these animals for free (have I mentioned I'm a pessimist?).

Happily the rain clearly shortly and the loading went pretty smoothly and the refuse-to-fatten and pathetic-milker Babe and her runty son Einstein have left. Phil figured it wasn't worth the price to carry them until they reached butchering weight, and as much as I might wish for more grass-fed beef, I can see that down-sizing the herd while we grow more grass does make sense.

It was one of those decisions that felt like I'd be grumpy no matter what. I'd be grumpy paying for hay for a small amount of meat, or grumpy selling two animals for less than we paid for just the mother.

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Phil has spent a good deal of time the last few days making various arrangements. He'll need to dig a trench pretty soon, so he called for an electrical locate. We want to move the main electrical panel into the barn, where it will be better protected than the exposed plywood where it's been the last four years, so he's at least contacted the person who deals with the green boxes and such. We have a few friends coming down to work tomorrow, and he contacted them all, making sure they carpool or whatever. And more time spent calculating and measuring and figuring and planning. So he's been busy, but not busy in the building. Busy doing things ancillary to the building.

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I had a sad moment when the midwife called me yesterday to say that my iron levels have come up a bit, but remain low. So I took a bunch of vitamins today, wondering if maybe the issue isn't the iron so much as other vitamins and minerals not allowing the iron to uptake (too low in vitamin C, for example). But that is never a good idea. A handful of supplements, even if not on an empty stomach, is a bit much, so I have been queasy all day. Ugh. I wish it wasn't such a challenge to get that number up!

But we are, I think, ready now for the baby. I have all the needed birth supplies. Our new infant car seat arrived yesterday (our first infant car seat was a hand-me-down, and after all four boys used it, too, we threw it out before we moved). We easily found the box of infant things in our storage area today. Happily, the plastic appeared intact, and there were no mice nests or off-smells. So great after four years! So we have some clothes, some blankets, some disposable diapers (which I will use as long as we have to rely on the laundromat).

And I continue to outgrow maternity clothes. I have always felt like the last month of pregnancy, nothing fits except a circus tent. (It made me laugh when I watched the maternity version of What Not to Wear. They chose a first trimester woman, a second trimester, and a recently post-partum woman. I figured there is no hope for a third trimester woman besides just keeping the enormous belly covered.)

Around the farm, I continue to just wear camis, which keep me cool and make me feel okay about myself, as they cling to the belly all the way around and remind me that I actually do have a body, just with a major addition in the front. But camis aren't really modest or appropriate off the farm (not to mention that, as with all pregnancy clothes, they are now quite stained!). Oh, well. I have been thankful for the cami option so many days thus far, if I have to wear tents a few times from now on, I can deal with that.