What a mess

The last two days I have spent trying to sort through and clean up the mess caused when my parent's home was flooded. The Laub pond dam, dike, levy whatever you call it breached when the water level got high enough that water was flooding the playing field next to SCMS. I have never seen more than 3 or 4 feet of water behind that dam. Anyway, there was a large amount of water that came down upon the homes in Santa Clara, one of them being the home of my parents. We always wondered what we would do with all of the stuff in Mom's basement, however, hauling it out into a giant pile on the back lawn and throwing the majority of it into a dumpster was not one of the scenarios that we thought about. Mom and dad's home is situated in a spot that no one ever thought that it would be affected by a flood. The blessing that comes from it all is that, one, the basement is cleared out and two, dad is considering other options besides staying in the home with mom even though they can no longer take care of each other due to mom's decline in health.
I am grateful for all of the people who came to help. Many I know, some I do not, it doesn't matter, they came and helped. We live in such a wonderful community, watching the thousands of people converging on the area to help everyone dig out is just amazing.
Dealing with the aftermath has been taxing. I really didn't have a whole lot in mom's basement that was "mine", my sister had a lot of stuff, mom and dad had 43-44 years of stuff and there was a lot of stuff that came from my grandma's. Seeing all that was lost or destroyed was difficult. I feel for those who lost so much more. Some of the homes will have to be torn down. Few had flood insurance. Many are devastated. I always thought "It's just stuff". Now I know that the "stuff" has meaning and memories attached to it. Hardest for me was seeing Patti's room that has been mostly untouched since she was killed gutted and stripped clean, finding her stuff in the pile and seeing much of it unsalvagable. Hard is the only word that comes to mind to describe it.

Soccer Ref

I refereed my first 3 soccer games last Saturday. It was a blast! I am glad that they gave me the younger kids on the smaller fields to start, I am still sore today. I had the U9 girls who are playing with a keeper for the first time. I had to help them out with the new keeper position a little, they also were not used to goal or corner kicks and throw ins since they are done differently at the younger ages. Still it was a blast. Rachel was one of my ARs and Justine a girl I coached with Kyle was the other. The biggest problem that I has was that I wanted to coach them instead of be the referee.

Cow Chips: Jumping Cow

Sometime after we had the experience with the calf that liked to jump fences we encountered a cow that I named Jumping Cow. This cow was a little skittish and whenever you got too close to her she would go find a fence to jump over, usually causing a lot of damage and you guessed it, a lot of swearing. Most of the time when you have a cow like this they will settle down and not be as bad after a while. Not this cow, it seems that the more time that passed the worse she got, she got to the point that when you drove up to feed the cows she would start looking for a fence to jump over. Her calf was starting to learn the art of jumping as well so we promptly weaned the calf to get it away from its mother’s influence.

At one point this particular cow jumped one fence too many and got on my brother’s nerves for the last time, he called a local butcher and set up an appointment with the Jumping Cow. When I was a kid I remember more than one cow that we took to visit “Uncle Lewis” or Lewis Meats that local meat packing company that was near our home. Unfortunately Uncle Lewis has gone When the butcher went to shot this particular cow the first shot did not kill her. She almost jumped out of the corral before he could shoot her again. This time the cow did not learn to not jump fences and she ended up as hamburger in our freezers.

The thing that made me decide to include this story is what happened later. I was helping my wife make meat loaf for Sunday dinner and as she looked at me with my hands in the mixture of meat loaf I had a funny little smirk on my face. Of course she wanted to know what the smirk was about so I explained that I was enjoying making a meat loaf out of this miserable pain in the neck cow. I was also thinking about how good she was going to taste and the satisfaction that I was going to feel being able to eat her. It was a very good meat loaf and very satisfying. I made sure to let everyone who ate any part of that cow after that know it was “Jumping Cow”. Right now I wish we had another unruly cow since the meat in my freezer is not as plentiful and defiantly doesn’t taste as good as this particular cow did.

Cow Chips: Fence Jumping

In early January of 2010 we decided to work some calves. By work I mean ear mark, brand, vaccinate and a couple of other things that I will not mention. There were five calves that had been gathered in after we worked the majority of the calves, so on a Saturday dad, Allen and I decided to take care of these five. This turned into a bigger project than we bargained for.

We cut the calves out of the corral that they were in away from the mother cows and loaded them into our stock trailer. We then drove them across the feed lot and unloaded them into the pen where we have the branding chutes. After getting everything ready, I chased the first calf, a big bull calf, into the chute. This particular calf had been giving me some trouble over the past couple of weeks, he seemed to find a way out of the corral every night and I had to put him back into the corral every morning. I finally figured out to lock the gate to the hay stack so that I could at least contain him there instead of having to chase him all over the whole feed yard every morning. During this process I learned something about this particular calf that I should have remembered on this morning. He could jump. I watched him jump over the manger from the hay stack side one morning, something that I previously did not think possible. The reason I should have remembered this is because when I chased this calf into the chute, as he reached the squeeze chute he stuck his head out the top and then jumped over it.

It is not unusual to have one or two get away while working the calves, and normally it is a matter of running them back into the pen and starting over. This time however things were different. This calf after jumping over the chute proceeded to jump over a fence into the horse pen. Again, this was not too big of a deal although it did cause a lot of swearing. We simply opened the gate between the pen we were working in and the horse corral and went to bring the calf back up and start over. This calf is a descendant of Houdini because he proceeded to find a hole in the fence and got into the hay stack. I went and headed him back around the hay stack toward the horse corral and he found another hole to get back into the corral where we wanted him. I went to grab a panel to plug up the first hole that he went out and Allen and dad started driving the calf and the three horses toward the pen where we need the calf to go. The horses were in front and the calf was starting to get a little bit crazy from being chased around so much; he ran up behind the horses, this is a big mistake. Never get behind a horse. Dad’s horse Clyde sensing something behind him kicked out and drilled the calf right between the eyes with a metal horse shoe. There was a resounding “crack” that sounded like a .22 caliber gun going off and the calf dropped in its tracks.

Dad, Allen and I had never seen anything like it, at first we thought that the calf had been killed. Dad and Allen proceeded to push on the calf’s ribs and abdomen to try and get it to breathe again. It took several minutes before the calf stopped twitching all over and started to breath. It was several more minutes before it tried to stand up, which it could not do at first. Finally we got it to its feet and got it to take a couple of shaky steps. We then proceeded to walk it up to the gate and put it back into the pen. We decided to let it stay there while we worked the other calves.

We proceeded to work the other four calves while the one that got kicked got its senses back. The next one went like it was supposed to. The one after that got through the squeeze chute and, you guessed it, jumped over a gate and got out. The one that we just worked followed the jumper over the gate. In late November we worked twenty-five or thirty calves without one jumping out, on this day three out of the five we were working jumped out. That is the way it goes sometimes. After working the two calves that did not jump the fence we decided to try and work the one that got kicked. The calf that got kicked had a cut and lump on its head and blood running out of both nostrils. As I looked at the calf I had a thought occur to me. If this calf had stayed where it was supposed to have been it would not be in the condition that it was in at this time. It is very easy to get into a bad situation, there are a lot of situations that do not seem bad at first, but can turn bad very quickly. For this calf, the situation turned bad in an instant.

We to can find ourselves in a situation that turns bad quickly. Many times we will get involved in something that seems innocent enough only to find ourselves some place we do not want to be. The lesson to learn is when to stop, take a look around and change course if need be. The calf did not change course, it did not know what would happen if it ran up behind a horse. It almost paid for the mistake with its life. The interesting thing is, he never jumped another fence after that. When a mistake is made the most important thing to do is, like the calf, learn from the mistake and never do it again.

7.16.13

I was thinking about this incident last week before I went to girls camp. I knew that I would have to talk to the girls after their testimony meeting and was thinking of stories that I could used to illustrate a point. This story came to mind; I was thinking about how the fences that this calf was jumping were placed there as a protection and not for the purpose of being a restriction. Many times I hear young people complain about the commandments restricting what they "can do". Many look at the commandments of God the way that a cow looks at a fence. As an obstacle keeping them from where they want to be. Fences are placed not only for the purpose of protecting areas from the cattle, but more importantly, for protecting the cattle. The fences in our feed lot protect the cattle from the busy road that runs by, all of the cars and trucks that are a danger to stray cattle. They protect them from hay stacks, that if they get into can cause them harm, a cow can and will eat to a point where they bloat, a condition that will kill them. The fences separate the cows from the horses, and sometimes from each other. A horse can cause sever injury and possibly death with a blow from a steel shod hove. Cows, and especially bulls can injure each other fighting over food water and territory (Bulls fight for mating rights) These fences are protection to the cattle and if respected will keep them safe from outside danger. The commandments are the same for us. If we heed the commandments we will be kept safe from the adversary, who has no power over us if we but simply obey the commandments. Oh how I would like to be able to make everyone understand this principle of the gospel. However, like Nephi, I sin in my wish. Forcing anyone to do or understand anything is Satan's plan. I hope to be able to use this story sometime to possibly help someone understand that the commandments are a protection and not a restriction. 

I read a talk by President Henry B. Eyring last night where he talks about his impression that these experiences are given to us by the Lord and that he expects us to learn from them, write them down, and share them. I hope that by writing about this and other experiences that I have had and will have that my posterity and others will be blessed. 

Cow Chips: Houdini

Shortly after turning the cows out into the St. George field I was made aware of a problem. I got a phone call about some cows that were out on the other side of the creek from our field. Knowing that I had built fences and being confident in those fences I came to the conclusion that the cows must belong to Shelby who actually had his cows in a field on the other side of the creek. I gave the caller the number of someone who could address the problem and thought that was the end of it. The next day I got a call from Kyle, Shelby’s son who explained that he had been down to take care of the cows and they had gone down a rip rap embankment into our field. (Rip rap is a very steep rock wall used to keep the river in its channel.) Thinking that what he just told me was impossible I went down to investigate. I walked the entire rip rap area; I had not built a fence in this area because I did not think that the cows could get past the rip rap. As I was walking along I could not see anywhere along the length of rip rap where there was evidence that a cow had been. Again, I thought that someone must be mistaken.

The next day I got another phone call from a concerned resident about the cows being across the creek. Again I went to investigate to find nothing. I had Houdini cows that could escape their confines to the other side of the Santa Clara River. So far I could see where they had been snooping around in the dry weeds and dirt on the other side of the creek. This in itself baffled me, why would a cow leave the foliage of the creek bottom and a nice green hay field to graze in the desert. It was obvious that there were cows that had been in the area; I was still not convinced that they were our cows because I still could not find where they were getting out. This all changed the next day when I got a phone call from a very angry lady. The cows had decided that they didn’t like the desert; they didn’t like the creek or even the hay field but instead had been grazing in the yards of several of the homes in the Sunbrook subdivision. I arrived to find the cows still out, this was good, because when I chased them out of the yards they showed me where they were going over the rip rap. They had done significant damage to several yards and left their green calling card cow pies in yards, driveways and streets around the neighborhood.

After getting the cows back where they belong I was left to confront half a dozen angry residents who’s yards had been damaged by the cows. I was glad dad was with me for this, since in reality they are his cows. I found that a little bit of humor helps in a situation like this, these people wanted to know who was going to pay for the damage that was done to their yards. I quipped that I should be charging them for aeration and fertilizer. This helped soften them up until one of the home owners commented about seeing a cow outside her window at about 11 pm. Dad commented that the cows do their best work at night which made everyone laugh. After getting everyone calmed down by explaining that we would take care of the damage they decided that they would call the landscape company that takes care of all of the yards in the subdivision and get an estimate. This was a fortunate thing for me since the landscape company chose to just take care of it as part of their contract. It seems that they did not want other companies coming in and giving any estimates to repair the damage.

I learned several lessons from all of this. First, do not be too quick to jump to conclusions about what is going on. When all of this started I jumped to a conclusion about who owned the cows. Second, a little humor in a difficult situation goes a long way. The angry group of home owners calmed down a lot when I started joking with them about the yard care service that the cows had provided. Third, I learned to take a little bit of time when figuring out how to deal with a particular problem. In this instance, taking the time to try and get some estimates on repairs paid off, the company maintaining the yards did not want to take a chance of another company under bidding them on their yard care contract. This worked out well for me as well as the home owners. Last, I learned once again to never underestimate the cows. They seem to always be doing something that you would not think that they would be able to do.      

Cow Chips: King of the Manure Pile

I found that upon dumping a pile of manure in the Ivins field that the cows would climb up on top of it. Once there they would proceed to fight over who was on top of the pile. When I would bring another load of manure to add to the pile you would think that I was hauling in some of the most delicious hay. The cows would come over and wait for the manure to be dumped, they would examine the pile sniffing it closely, and then there was always one or two that would climb up on top of it to see if there was something better on the top. This would usually start a game of king, or in this case queen of the manure pile.

The cows never did figure out that when I showed up with a load of manure four or five times a day that it was always manure. They never did figure out that the truck and trailer that I was using to haul the manure was different than the truck that I used to haul the hay I used to feed them.  They would examine each load of manure as it was dumped, fighting over who got to be on top. Sometimes they would be lying on the top of the pile when I got to the field. It was an interesting thing to see. I never did figure out why they liked to be on top of a pile of crap. Since my observations about the manure pile I have noticed cows on top of manure piles at a dairy just south of Beaver. It seems to be a common practice among cows, if there is a manure pile, climb up on top of it. Maybe it gives them a better view of the surrounding area, whatever the reason it was always amusing to watch.

Cow Chips: Trails

One of the interesting things that happened after the cows in the Ivins field figured out the water situation was that trails appeared in the field. The half of the field nearest the water tank was fallow and had been disked before the cows were brought in. The other half of the field had Sudan Grass planted in it. After the cows had been in the field for a couple of weeks I noticed that they had made trails throughout the field. None of the trails formed any semblance of a straight line, all of them seemed to meander wherever and all over. Eventually they all lead to the water tank by the west fence. If you were to look at the field from an aerial point of view the trails would have looked like a broken glass type pattern.

I am not sure why the cows follow these trails; they would have cut out a lot of walking if they would walk in a straight line. I also am not sure how they started making the trails. My guess is that a cow would meander through the field grazing here or there, and knowing cows I am sure that there would be other cows that would have to follow to see what they were missing out on. After several cows had walked along in the same path it became visible enough that more cows would follow it. The cows would follow a path until it intersected with another path that was going more in the direction that the cow wanted to go. It would then follow that path until it intersected the next path and so on. All of the paths eventually lead to the outside fence or the water tank. There was one big path along the perimeter fence; I believe that each cow made this loop at least once daily. They have a tendency to do what they have done and what everyone else is doing. I have those same tenancies sometimes. There are times when it is just easier to follow the path than it is to make a new one. I wonder how much “wandering” I could have eliminated in my life if I would have just figured out my own path instead of following the one laid out in front of me.