Charity in the Rain

Bethany dragged the placenta around for a second day. When I read that there is little a vet can do except give antibiotics, and that the connections between placenta and uterus will gradually break down up to eleven days later, I just dosed Bethany with homeopathy and prayed against infection. By the end of day, the main part had broken off, but a little bit still trails out. Poor girl.

A warm rain fell intermittently today. The moisture made some soil plugs come up more easily, but the mud made planting a bit miserable. I'm still enough of a city girl that mud all over my jeans distresses me, and I planted 72 bulbs and was done, feeling a bit of a martyr for planting at all. The plan now is to get through as many trees and bulbs as practical, then take some of the resting garden beds, plow long furrows, and drop the bulbs in for the winter. When needed in spring, they'll be ready. And it takes a good bit of the planting pressure off.

That little Charity is such a dear! At one point during a drizzle, I looked over to see both cows grazing hay under the tarp, dry and comfortable. Charity was no where in sight, so I climbed the fence and found her, alone, at the edge of the paddock. She was quite wet, but not shivering. Her ears were cold, but her mouth was warm (I later checked Bethany's ears, and they were cold, too). So I squatted there and just petted her.

When I walked away at last, she gave a very soft call—or maybe I imagined it—and stood up, facing away from her mother and shelter. I turned her around, one hand under her chin and the other hand on her rump, and guided her along until she was only a few yards from her mom. Then she mooed, and her mom came and fetched here, giving me the gimlet eye as if *I* had been the neglectful one!

Later, I couldn't resist, but hopped the fence again. Dry now, I rubbed her curly head and felt the nascent horn buds, yet well below the surface. She has soft, curly hair on her neck and sides, such a rich auburn color.

Isaiah, too, went out in the rain and had his fill of calf loving, something he has been longing for these past months. (You shouldn't touch bull babies, and that's all we've had since last September.)

Even with much time indoors, we had a fine day.