Sunday morning Maxim was not here so Garry had to hustle to get everything done- he accidentally chased the heifers out to the road too early - so he came in and yelled for me to go watch them until the rest of the herd got in front of our house. When I got there he went to start feeding the cows (a water bowl had run over and made a mess the night before of course- so he had extra cleanup first) after the boys went past with the herd and the heifers joined in, I went to the barn and helped feed silage with the wheelbarrow for a while - Garry had some problems with the second wheelbarrow (it had a flat tire) which he was using to move the heavier brewers grain so he took over with a few loads to go to the far side yet. I washed out the milk jugs to go to church in the trunk of the red mission Lada, and filled some buckets of water for the heifers, and we had time to shower before leaving for church.
When we got back home at 4 pm, Garry did not get the nap he was hoping for- a lady came who wanted to sell him some alfalfa- she told him he needed to feed the cows something green, so they had a nice talk about how to feed cows. At the same time someone came about breeding a cow- they drove and it wasn't in this village as Garry thought they said, and then they ran out of gas on the way back into Nikolipolia. He still needed to start feeding after five pm but managed without my help- although he told me that a handle broke off the better wheelbarrow so he had to try pumping up the tire on the other one with the hand pump. It may be time to buy a new wheelbarrow. I picked the green and yellow string beans so I could freeze them tonight.
Sunday evening Maxim was still gone (he came in -along with his brother Andrei-carrying a watermelon around dark) so I helped Garry get the heifers in from the herd as they passed the gate. No problems- everyone turned in at the gate led by the big black lost heifer from Friday.
Saturday we spent most of the day in Dnepro for the English Institute picnic, where we had a great turnout for games and food at the beach on the island. Garry found a close parking spot- look for the red mission Lada next to the stairs to the bridge!
Garry's baling helper Marina (in yellow)and Julia who came out to talk about the camp (VBS) which Garry is putting together for the week after this in the village church, came to the picnic with us, and Garry had to hurry back and got the cows fed with Victor's help - he had come out to move the manure pile out to the field. Garry had told the girls he would take them to the church in Zaporosia (it is Marina's home church) so they took off just after five, and I told Victor to go ahead home around six, I would easily get the heifers in by myself.
I went out at quarter to seven to the barn to set up for the heifers -close the chains across the aisles and doors and open the gate to the pen- first I had to catch a cow that had gotten loose, as the baby ducks (now half the size of momma duck) waddled past.
The biting flies are bothering both the cows and the milker ladies, as the cows stomp their feet to get rid of the flies and endanger the milk buckets (and ladies.)
So I sat by the road, talking with little Serosjka (he's 5)while waiting for the herd to get closer. He came over to show me his candy from the store(he nicely shared a piece with the little girl in the photo while coming up the street) I took a photo of the cows coming up the road, as I looked west into the sun (makes it hard to see them coming).
Just as the cows got to our gate in a fairly tight bunch, two cars drove through them, and only 7 of 9 turned in. I ran after the herd trying to tell the boys that we were missing two. I spotted one two houses up- but she ran into the yard there with another heifer as the guys tried to get her back she went in and out of several yards, and every time we got her headed in the right direction, she'd run back toward the group! I was wearing my too skinny plastic sandals, which kept falling off, while trying to chase her. Finally I ran back to get the seven into the barn, since I didn't know what kind of trouble they were getting in unsupervised. I closed six in the pen, tied up the heifer that gets tied up (she escapes when the rest beat her up- they were already chasing her.)
I headed out past the house, with a couple pieces of baler twine. when young Andrei came up on a motorscooter. First he asked where Garry was, and I told him Zaporosia. The he tried to tell me something and finally patted the back of the scooter for me to get on. I am sure you'd like to see a picture of me holding onto the bar behind me zipping down the street on the scooter behind him!
It turned out the one heifer that I had tried to chase back was tied to a cement telephone pole, an older lady was standing there with a rope tied around the heifer's horns- that's how cows around led here- a rope around the top of the their heads. I tied my string to the heifer's neck rope and started trying to drag her home. She was a little upset- she had knocked one of her small horns and was bleeding a bit. A couple of babushkas solved the problem, pulling a stick from a bush and whacking her on the rump to keep her moving up the street with me. She started to run when we got closer (or maybe because small Serosjka had taken over the hitting- after asking about the blood.) We got to the barn as Yana was setting up to milk, and she helped me get her in the pen.
Just as I got outside the barn, a man turned into the gate with young Andrei leading the second heifer- the same black one who had gone for a walk on Friday night. I went and opened the pen and he untied the rope he had around her head and I thanked them and went to get a shower.
It was not as easy as I had thought to get them in by myself- if it had only gone as well as tonight.........
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