30th April

On Monday, we hung the cow that couldn't get up on a drip. And this time it really helped. In the afternoon, we stood her up with straps and a hip lifter, and then she was able to stand on her own after a while. And in the last few days, she has been getting up on her own once a day. In the afternoon, we repaired the roof of the stable because it was leaking in some places. It was fun :)
On Tuesday, Henry and I went boating on our lake. Luckily, we had a motorboat because the lake has become really huge. You can't imagine that they make hay there in the summer. (maybe 3-4 km long and 2m deep at the deepest points). In the evening, we visited some friends and had dinner there.
On Wednesday, I went riding again :D we let the cows with calves out on another pasture and looked for a calf that is most likely outside the fence. We had to ride through the river and it went up to the horses' bellies. But we still haven't found the calf. Now we can only hope that the mother cow doesn't bring her calf 'home' in the next few days because the calf would drown in the river. Because the cow often comes back to eat and hides her calf somewhere on the other side.
Later, a few cattle escaped and we were too lazy to get the horses out again, so we caught them with the quad. I learned something important during that: when riding with someone who is trying to catch cows, you have to sit properly and not just half sideways on the seat. Oh, that was not good... Full throttle, full brake, sharp turns over hills and bumps....I almost fell off a few times and Henry didn't even stop for a moment so that I could sit properly. Now I know how dogs feel when they have to ride in the back. On Thursday, among many other things, we made a new hitch for the big wooden trailer and I got to drill holes in metal plates. We did a lot more on all the days. But I can't write it all down here. Sometimes it's really unbelievable when you think about all the things you did in one day. On Friday, some friends wanted to come over to go boating on the lake with us. But then they started to transfer the motor from one boat to another and by the time they finished, it was already dark and cold, so we didn't go boating anymore. Instead, Aileen, Linsey and I went shopping in Nimpo Lake in the little store (but we only bought beer and vodka iced tea) and then visited other friends.
And this afternoon, the school here performed The Lion King and we went there. I have never seen a school like this before: we had to drive through the countryside for an hour and then there was a big beautiful house in the middle of the forest. And that was the school where 30 children go (from grades 1-6 or something?). And just now, a cow gave birth to twins. One was very weak and we had to bring it into the house. I sat on the back of the quad and held the calf :). At the beginning, the calf was lying flat on the ground and shaking a lot. We gave her medicine and fed her milk through a tube, and after just one hour, she was walking around on her own and drank 2.5 liters of milk. :)
And since this week, we have milk again, which is super cool. Before, we only had vegetables and meat 3 times a day and no sweets, and now we have pudding every day :D And the cow even produces more milk than we can eat pudding. But I haven't had time to make ice cream yet :(

And the weather is really weird here. Sometimes it's briefly very warm and sunny, and 5 minutes later, there's a hailstorm and it's freezing cold or it's snowing. And it's muddy here. One day, I walked through a puddle and my rubber boot filled with water. And sometimes you just walk along a path and suddenly there's a big hole that the whole rubber boot gets stuck in, and it's really difficult to get out on your own.

And this week, the very first green grass has started to grow a bit. And I have seen many squirrels. And now that the squirrels have woken up from hibernation, it means that the bears are waking up too. But I haven't seen any yet.... but I have seen deer, elk, and so many bald eagles... they are flying around here all the time.