The Water Gods are still angry, Easter Twins and a tired bull.

I should know by now not to take something for granted, such as there will always be water when I turn on the faucet. Friday we ran water all day, Bruce was spraying and I was washing clothes. Saturday afternoon I was working around the greenhouse and turned on the hydrant only to discover there was no water coming out. I went to the lower hydrant to turn it on, it surely will work, it was running on Friday. It burped and farted a couple of times and then just blew some air out of the hose.

I knew what to do, go find Bruce and dump the problem in his lap. He was planting corn and I caught him on the end of the field so he took the Honda to the pasture where the well is located and came back with the news that the meter was blank. As in no numbers, as in not working and to call our electric coop. 

"Well," I said, "better now than 6:30 tomorrow morning when I'm getting ready for church." Little did I know those words would come back to bite me. It wasn't long before an employee of Iowa Lakes showed up in his big truck and set to work to find the problem. His partner in crime came a little later and together they replaced the transformer and there was water once again.

I thanked them profusely for interrupting their Saturday afternoon and repeated, "Better now than at 6:30 tomorrow morning when I'm getting ready for church!"

I will never learn.

I was on the kitchen committee and had to be at the church to put the egg bakes in at 7 AM. I set my alarm for 6, did chores and ran water in the tub to shave my legs so I could wear my Easter dress. I stripped down, shut the faucet off, getting ready to step in the tub when I heard 'PSSSSSSSST', coming from under the sink. 

"My," I thought, "What could THAT be?"

I opened the door under my sink and hot water shot out and across the floor! I fumbled around looking for the shut off that WAS NEVER PUT IN!!!!! I knew Bruce was ready to go to the farm for chores so I ran screaming down stairs, buck neked, "Bruce! BRUCE!! BRRUUUCCCEEE!!! SHUT THE WATER OFF!!!"

To his credit, he didn't ask any questions, he ran to the basement and shut the water off and by the time I got back to the bathroom, the spray had stopped. I pulled towels out of the closet and spread all over the floor to stop the damage. Bruce made a cursory inspection and found the plastic pipe broke and blew apart and thought he could find a plug in the plumbing stuff at the home place.

My first call was to another committee member, asking them to go up and start the egg bakes. My second call was to my neighbor, Jo, who is an early riser and I asked if I could come take a shower. She didn't hesitate or ask any questions, just said, "Yes!"

Ya gotta love her!

I did have the presence of mind to pull on some clothes, I didn't want to subject her to that sight at 6:30 in the morning. Grabbed a towel and shampoo and went to get cleaned up. My morning exploits made for great conversation in the church kitchen and we all agreed that it could have been worse, much worse. Supposed the pipe blew after we left the bathroom for church and ran for the three hours we were gone? What a mess it would have been and it makes me shudder at the thought.

Instead we got off easy and just have to do a repair on the pipe to restore hot water to the sinks. And inspect the rest of the pipe. And install SHUT OFFS!!!

Bruce and I were invited to his sister, Janet's house to enjoy a lovely Easter dinner with their entire family. The kids had a quick Easter egg hunt before the Rolli family had to leave for their home in Rochester and the Feltman's went home for an afternoon nap. That sounded wonderful, I could hardly wait to hit the couch myself.

But a surprise awaited us in the form of a set of twins that had just been born while we were gone. The little boy knew just what he wanted and soon found that Mama could provide it. The little girl was a little slower....

....she knew what she wanted but wasn't quite sure where to find it. First she nosed around her brother while he was nursing and smacking his lips. Then she tried the front of the cow, maybe the nourishment was here?

Calves tire quickly without food and she soon ran out of gas so I went home to prepare a bottle of colostrum to tide her over until she found the real deal. Powdered colostrum is sticky and smelly but to calves it is the manna from heaven. The cow was not happy with my interference and no assurances on my part that I was just helping her out, appeased her. I had some help from the twin, he created a diversion and his mother ran around trying to keep track of him. You mother of twins, knows what she is going through. I used the gate to keep her from trying to kill me and offered the little girl the bottle, she took one sip and didn't let go until it was empty. The food sparked new interest in the cow and when I left, she was nosing around the bag but finally her full tummy made her sleepy and she and her brother took naps.

When we went over to do chores, Bruce caught me in my Easter finery....

....I guess that will teach me to leave the camera in the tractor.

And then there is the big bull.....

....I have no idea, you will have to ask him!