SuperCow strikes again!

Seriously, folks. This is really getting old.

Yesterday evening, because he didn't want to haul hay, El Husbando decided that he'd pound in a few more stakes, and let the cows loose.

Bad bad idea. Before we went to bed, Annabelle (aka, SuperCow) had gotten out of the pasture and into the yard (remember, I just cleaned up the manure from previous adventures of SuperCow and her sidekick, Willie-Boy). So, now I have more manure to clean up in the yard. Okay, I can handle that. We've got a cart.

We got SuperCow back out of her SuperCostume, and back into the pasture. She's got a jump that an Olympic level figure skater would be proud of, btw.

So, we put them into the pasture, and El Husbando is content to leave them there while we go to town (we passed on the gun show, and went to the garage sale--lots of overpriced antiques--so we passed on buying anything there). We come home, 2 hours later. Willie (sidekick's mild-mannered every day normal persona) is still in the pasture. SuperCow, however, has donned her SuperCostume, and jumped the fence. Again. Only she also got out of the yard, and crossed the road. Sweet mercy, I'm glad it is Saturday (our neighbors with the busy home-based business aren't working on the weekends)...So we (the oldest three children and I walking, DH driving the van with the twins), carefully get her back to the pasture. She jumps the fence back in...and she reassumes her every day persona...Annabelle. The big brown eyed girl. She and Willie mosey on back over to the corral, on their own, where I locked them again. Because, as I informed El Husbando, I was *not* going to spend my day getting that cow out of the road time and again.

I will be hauling hay later.

The rains are still not here, but the sky has definitely covered over with clouds, and we're supposed to get "something" before midnight. The garden soil is still too soft to drive on, or otherwise work, so we're stuck. Again. Waiting for a long enough dry period, that we can work the soil...

Yes, we need to lighten up the clay with some sand. And a truck load really isn't that expensive. But a dump truck (which is what we need) would still get bogged down in the clay, trying to get to where the sand would be best placed. At least, best for those of us who would be hauling it cart load after cart load. LOL :-)

We're adding material as we can, to hopefully help with lightening things up, and getting better drainage as a result. But that takes time. We got here April 1, 2008. We've had two full garden seasons here, and that first year, was *just* ground breaking year. Whew. We added 5 tons of manure and bedding to the soil in what is now the house garden. And added more last year. And we're *still* working on it. Next year, we are contemplating just over-wintering the cows on the house garden so that they can fertilize it as they go, lol. Makes it a lot easier if one isn't having to haul the manure, and just having it put there in the first place!

But for now, we're still working a little bit at a time, hoping and praying we can get a few more things done every month, and trying to get a bit more experience under our belts...

SuperCow, however....she must be stopped. Now that we are sure where she is jumping, she *will* be stopped. It just takes time to get that fence taken care of...and unfortunately, we're in the midst of some serious desem and regular artisan bread making right now (up to our elbows, so to speak, lol).

I'll see if I cannot get some pictures of our brick oven set up taken when we actually do some baking in it today (last night I was a bit preoccupied with our guest arriving, etc, so no pics of the pizzas, sorry! :-( ).

Til later!