Kelleys Dairy had busy 4-30-08
We went to Harris Hillcrest Farms to help Ronnie brand last years calves. I took this video of Glinda handling the branding iron. We were using the "Freeze Brand" method which consists of keeping the irons immersed in liquid nitrogen for at least five minutes between each use. First one has to clip all the hair from the area and then pour 99% isopropyl alcohol on the spot and briskly rub it in. Then the brands are applied one at a time. The first number is the year the animal was born, thus you see a seven has already been put on the animal and then the last two numbers are the individual animals id #. It was an all day job as there were many to brand. We stopped only for a brief lunch.
After we got done and thought we would be able to leave Ronnie wanted me to change the blades on his riding mower and then he wanted to give us some strawberry plants as his bed needed thinned. We were running late to get back home but we quickly helped him dig up a bunch of plants and then headed home. We figured we would get them planted after a late milking.
While we were milking we received a call from Glinda's sister, Mary and invited out to her place as Clarence was grilling. I left Glinda to finish up the last two cows and clean up and hurried to the spot we had chosen for the strawberries and started tilling the soil. I was beginning transplanting when she arrived. She helped me get the plants laid out and then went inside to get cleaned up. We now have 100 strawberry plants in a new bed. I hope they do well.
Then we headed to Dawson. Glinda's two brothers Donnie and Lonnie and their wives were there, and Lonnie's granddaughter Chloe. We visited for a bit and then like all gatherings of Mayfields we got a pitch game started. Lonnie and I were "we'uns" and Clarence and Donnie were "those". You can tell from the scoresheets below that Lonnie and I won the first two games and then things went downhill and Clarence and Donnie took the final three.
Glinda and I got back home around 10:30 p.m. and we were dragging but back up at 4:00 a.m. to begin again.
You can tell that I have the pages reversed but the games are numbered in between the scores.
Cheerily
IJK