Thursday, June 16, 2011

Thankful for St. Anthony!

Meet Trooper a.k.a. Runaway!
I am so thankful for St. Anthony!  I am Catholic, and we have a patron saint that we pray to when we are searching for something that is lost....St. Anthony.  My grandmother taught me that if you lost something very dear, that you should continue your search but make sure to pray to St. Anthony to seek more help from God.  Today I needed St. Anthony. 
We had a VERY busy morning, as a result my usual schedule was a little off.  I was late to the calf barn to feed my babies.  Like always, I started feeding my "kids" only to find that my darling calf Trooper was missing from her hut!  Never fear, this happens from time to time.  When my calves get hungry waiting for me or if they just got fed and want more, they sometime jump right out of our huts, no matter how many twine strings I tie on the cross bars!  Nevertheless, Trooper was missing and it was lunch time!
Knowing that I was there to feed her, I would have expected to see Trooper come running out of the corner of grove (we have a wooded area where the calf huts are located for shade), BUT....Trooper never came for lunch.  Oh No!!!  What to do!  I stated searching frantically for her.  I looked in all of the logical places: in the grove, in the weeds, in the ditch, in the barn...no where to be found!  Oh no!!!!  What to do?!?!  I called Jonathan, he told me that it was no big deal, she'll show up, but I didn't know what to think.
Previous calves have runaway as far as the neighbors yard and Grandma's backyard.  So I searched everywhere, including the CRP (nature reserve/grassland) across the road.  Could someone have come in and snatched her???  We do live close to the road....but that would be crazy in the day light!  I talked to the rest of the family, to find out she was just around the barn an hour before I arrived.  She HAD to be around here!  BUT WHERE?!?!?!  I had to take a break, I was exhausted! 
Jonathan joined me in my search later on.  We decided to think outside the box, search in a larger area.  He took one side of the farm and I took the other.  I looked in the woods, behind the house, around the sheds and approaching the fields, when I got a call....
"I found her!" HE FOUND HER!!!!!  "Oh Thank God! Where in the world was she?!?!" "In the machine shed! Checking out the tractors!" "Oh that little stinker! I could just kiss her!"  We swiftly moved her back to her hut and fed her.  She was starving!  I love Trooper, but I am thinking she's up for a name change, something like "Runaway" seems more fitting.....

2 comments:

  1. Haha- great story. We've had that experience on the farm a few times, and more often than not they take their "escape" opportunity to just sniff around the farm. I'll be following your blog for more great farm stories! :)

    absolutelyagriculture.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rosie:
    thanks for the follow! Hope you enjoy our "random ramblings"!

    ReplyDelete

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