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Morning Glory Gazette

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Rick & Sherry O'Mara

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May 14, 2003

Well the last few days have been tiring on us. As reported last week we had baby ducks hatched. We were so proud to have 10 of them. Lately a few of them have disappeared. (many outside sources have been blamed, catfish, male mallards etc...) Last night we were down to just three baby ducks.

As Sherry was doing dishes she watched the mother duck try to drown one of them. If Phillip had not gotten out to the pond in time I am convinced we would have only had two baby ducks. We then spent the next hour getting the other two little ducks out of the pond and rounding them up with a butterfly net. I just hope the neighbors were not watching. It just baffles me how a mother can nourish a little life like that and then end it in a blink of an eye. Where as the male species will just leave.

The little ducks have come in to the big house to live. They do not know what to make of the change. This morning I found all three of them swimming in their water bowl. We are using a dog bowl to give them water so you know that is not much room for all three of them.

I think they are sad not to be outside and living in the pond. But they are alive and they have brothers and sisters that are not. We had to take the above actions as I do not think we could have afforded the legal fees to get that female mallard acquitted the murder charges on the insane defense. Here on the farm the foreman is the judge and the word is final.

Today we are getting some much needed relief in weather. It is raining here. This spring it has been so very dry. I hope we get a few inches of rain out of this.

Also last night we did some vet work. On Friday I went to the sale barn and brought home a couple of calves. I bought a heifer by the head and think I got a good deal on her. I then bought a Bull calf that weighed some 350 lbs. After the sale I went out there and did some brain surgery on it. It is now a steer. I tell people that I am beginning to feel my age. I cut that calf by myself.

Now it is not easy to hold and cut 350 lb calf by yourself. Well any ways last night that steer had some discharge around the eye so Phillip and I went out and roped it. Phillip roped it as I could not seem to throw a loop to save my life. I then went up and bulldogged it and laid it down. I tried to get Phillip to hold it on the ground and he did.

He held it until I gave it a shot. Then he turned it loose. Some how I was having flash backs doing the same thing to my father some 25 years earlier. I now know why it did not make him very happy either. So we went to spend the next hour trying to get that calf again and giving it a shot.

Our Vet work did not end there. On Sunday Sherry wanted me to get that walking challenged turkey of ours. I did and she examined the legs. She is a nurse you know. She was trying to figure out how to splint the legs so it would be able to have braces and walk better. I begged her to stop as I just know if that bird starts walking better then the disability checks will stop coming in. All that work on writing that grant would have gone to waste.

We went and saw the Nusz's this weekend. It is wonderful to be able to spend the mother day celebration with them. Sherry dug up the flower bed with her mother's help and then went over to her sister's place and did the same thing. So I guess we will be starting a lot of flowers soon that we did not have before.

My brother in- law and family is coming doing down at the end of the month. Last night I got an e-mail asking what he could bring. I tried to tell him that we have food for all. We enjoy company and the fish are biting. But if your hands are city soft then bring your work gloves and we have plenty of bib overalls for all. We have many sizes on hand.

If you doubt that then bring your own work clothes and we will wash them for you at the end of the day. So we invite all to come and visit.

From the fields of the Morning Glory Farm
Sherry and Rick O'Mara