I'm motivated primarily by two things right now. First, I am going home to Tennessee at the end of May for our family BBQ and I'm damn sure not going to be mistaken for the hog that will be roasting on the fire pit. The other is my dear friend Brenda aka Buzzby has started a 17 day diet. Many times we participate in each others health initiatives so I thought I would get in on this one. It's nice to have someone to suffer with. Actually, I'm just not willing to be fat alone :) She is not doing the South Beach diet but it is somewhat similar.
Over the past few years whenever I feel the need to get back on track I return to the South Beach plan. I know the principals well enough that I don't need to follow it strictly, but it's very helpful to read a bit each day to reinforce my behavior. After only a few days my blood sugar returns to normal and I begin dropping weight. So here we go again. I'm not as fat as when I began my blog last May but I've really struggled this winter so measures must be taken! I've had great glucose readings for five days in a row, ranging from 85 to 95 but my weight is not moving yet. Still 158. It will though :) So here's a sampling of the right kind of food to eat...
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Lots and lots of veggies. This is steamed broccoli and cauliflower with bits of sundried tomatoes, goat cheese and slivered almonds. Yum! But you have to like veggies!
Tuna Salad made with lowfat plain yogurt rather than mayo.
Sliced ham and turkey with sundried tomato and pepper jack cheese wrapped in radicchio. Oh why is it sideways? Oh well... I'm tired of fooling with pics!
Oh boy! Now I must stop to relay this farm town adventure... while I catch my breath...Ok… I was watching out my office window and saw baby Daffy, Ginger's new calf walk under the electric fence. She couldn't get back through because of the hot wire. I went out to get Daffy back on the correct side of the fence with Mama. Not too big of a task since I went out armed with a nice warm Daffy bottle to drink. Good news! She is actually nursing from Ginger now. Only from the front though and I don’t know how much she’s getting. Her bag looks pretty deflated so I’m giving her a bottle twice a day to keep her going but not as much as she should be getting to see if she will go ahead get Ginger's milk going. Anyway… I finished feeding the bottle and gave they other cows hay, fed the chickens and dogs and then went back upstairs to get some work done. Dave was sitting in the living room and I heard him puzzling… How did they get out…? So I ran to the window and there was Ginger and baby Daffy grazing in the front yard. Oh man!!! When I went out to retrieve and feed the run away calf I had entered the cow shed through the gate . When I was finished with the bottle I just climbed back over the fence and forgot to shut the gate. By the time I got there one of the little yearlings was out too. I threw some hay in the feed trough and the little one came back in but Ginger wasn’t having any of it. And of course Dave is on crutches! Very fortunately I remember the secret weapon… bread! I ran to the freezer and got a loaf of bread and the big fat cow trotted right back in with little Daffy following behind her. Whew!!! Yay Neighbor Carol! She's the one who told us to bread train them... and most likely she is also the one I would have called to help me get them back in had the bread not worked :) So... saved by the bread! Hmmm... maybe I burned off 5 or 10 calories running around the yard after the cows. :)
Now when Carol reads the above account of the escaped cows she will be very confused as between the time I wrote the above adventure (yesterday) and late this afternoon... the cows escaped AGAIN and this time I did have to call her. This time it was not my fault. Looks like one of them got a little excited and busted through the gate. Stupid cows! I was able to get Ginger and Daffy back in but the little heifers were a bit more problematic. Carol and her mom "Granny" came to help round them up. I even had to chase one of them up the road. :( Grrr... and Dave supervised and helped herd them into the fence by riding around on the riding lawn mower. It was the best he could do with the crutches and all. We must have been quite a sight!
Before Dave's foot surgery on Monday he started my greenhouse/garden shed. Here he is laying the foundation...
And here is the floor nailed down...
And now I wait. He has two weeks of crutches time then two weeks in a walking cast... and then back to work :)Well... I bet you want to see how baby Daffy is doing right? Of course you do!
Here's baby Daffy and her mommy Ginger. They couldn't quite figure out the whole nursing plan at first and so we began bottle feeding her. Dave first and then I took over once I got home. Of course it's pretty easy to get attached when you are handling them and feeding them. Here's a link to a little video of my first feeding... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7V_wP5V6Fg
Dave told me I was going to spoil her rotten! But then... well, it was really rainy for a couple of days and she got all wet and I found her like this in the cow shed...
Yes! All covered up with a blanket. So who is the spoiler? Hmmmmm? And one more little video of Daffy trotting through the muck to the cow shed for her bottle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCDmTR4yawU
Daffy and mama finally figured it out and she is nursing quite well now. Ginger is being a super good mom. She is very good about letting us handle her calf which is awesome because Ginger is huge. I wouldn't want to be on her bad side! We are still anxiously waiting for Mumbo's baby to arrive. Oh yeah... our little mother hen is sitting on a batch of eggs too so baby chicks should arrive in a few weeks.
I guess that's about all the news from Diamond Dave's MicroRanch and Orchard for now. Like the name? I'm being optimistic for sure - I have yet to harvest the first piece of fruit from the young trees and grape vines... but it will come, then I'll be asking, my oh my, how's that pie?
Ciao!
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