Sights and Sounds of Our Iowa April

Hello Folks!

April is half over and it’s as though Spring has not even arrived! We have had another large blanket of snow over the weekend and more is in the forcast! What’s going on??

So today I will give you a sampling of the sights and sounds of our SW Iowa country happenings.

Good morning to you! What a gorgeous way to start the day! Praise the Lord! Praise Him from all over this world!

I open the front door to take a peek of the may robins in the yard. The wreath was stuck to the storm door because of the cold temperatures this morning. Ahhhh, humbug!

We’ve had hundreds of robins in our yard since the weekend snow. I’m wondering if they couldn’t find their nests, or have been enjoying the seeds from the cedar trees since they can’t seem to find their dinners from the earth worms! Whatever the reason, we have never seen so many robins clustered together in our yard and in the field across the road. Their harmonic songs are delightful to hear, as we look out over our snowy landscape.

Oh I wish you could hear them all! They are so noisy today!

Maggie, Cali and I took a short walk to check up on the twins this morning.

Maggie, our first Golden Retriever, has been a God-send. (Never thought I’d say that!!) She’s smart, she’s kind and she even talks. As a retriever, she LOVES to play catch. She waits at the door if she hears a noise, to invite us out to play. Believe it or not, she actually lines up her toys and a block of wood on the sidewalk in anticipation for a game. She talks to us in a high whine and she always sits on our feet and leans against us. For someone who isn’t pet crazy, she’s been my all-time favorite. Maggie makes everyone smile.

Cali wanted to tag along this morning, too. She usually only follows Jenny around, but this morning she must have been bored and needed something to do. 🙂 I’ll admit, she is a pretty thing. Finicky…….but pretty.

I do wonder if my tulips and hyacinths will ever bloom. This is the second time they’ve been covered up by snow.

Oh, there they are. They were all having a nice rest in the sun when we got there. They all got on their feet to welcome us.

Pretty cute, huh?

We rarely get twins, but this season we’ve had several pairs.  The mother is calm and stands still for them to get their breakfast.

Above is a portion of our portable corral. He sets it up in a pasture to catch cattle to move or work on. In this case, he was setting up for the twins’ mama. I should have taken more photos. She circled around a few times, then she walked right into it. Good mama! We moved her, then to where her babies were getting some attention.

Those little cuties got off to a rough start. Mr. Farmer found them in a mud puddle shivering away. He took them to another farm where we have a calf warmer. It’s kind of like placing them in an incubator for a couple hours to warm up. Absolutely wonderful invention. It reminds me a little of a gas grill–you open up the lid, place them on the grate, and there’s a heating element under the grate with a little fan that sends the heat up to them. You close the lid and set the timer for a couple hours. Open the lid and they are ready to see their mama and find something to eat.

This warmer will actually hold two, three calves at a time.

Even though it is April, the blanket of snow has made for beautiful landscaping, once again.

Hope you have a “hay day!” 🙂

“I love my mama, even though she has breakfast all over her face.”

Have a great day, wherever you are. 🙂