Baby On Board!!!

Daisy is pregnant!

The vet came by yesterday morning to preg test her for the third time ~ attempts one and two via artificial insemination didn’t take and when the second try came up empty, I brought Sir Baby home and let nature handle it. It was getting too expensive and too late in the year to risk another unsuccessful go. (Daisy and Sir Baby are NOT related. She is his adopted mom. Just don’t think about it in human terms!)

After Daisy’s first round with AI, I called the vet and asked, quite seriously, “can I just buy a pregnancy test and hold it under her pee?” It’s a method that would make no sense for ranchers who run hundreds of cows that aren’t pets like Daisy, but it would be ideal for me! Oh, the laughter that came through the phone. No, a pregnancy stick just won’t work on a cow.

Instead, to determine if a cow is pregnant, the vet pays a visit at least 40 days after conception (or hope of conception). He puts on a long long long plastic glove that reaches all the way up to his shoulder. Then he sticks his hand…. oh, there’s no dainty way to describe this. He sticks his hand into her butt, scoops out any poop that might be in the way, and then reaches his whole arm in. From there, he can feel the uterus and can determine if the cow is pregnant and how far along she is. We’re going to have a May baby!

The last time the vet was here to preg test Daisy, he whipped out plastic gloves in a bright flourish ~ they were hot pink and he handed one to me. I immediately put it on. Neon pink plastic slid all the way up my arm, with the excess length forming a ruffle around my shoulder. Mike was with us at the corrals and he looked at me incredulously and said, “Are you gonna try it??”
“No,” I said, “it’s an accessory.”
“Ah,” Mike said, “like Lady Gaga.”

Summer 2010

Yesterday, I went to court. I was there for the sentencing of the man who spent this summer stalking me.

It began in June, became very intense throughout July, and, the first weekend of August, he was arrested at the motel in Ten Sleep. He had a loaded .44 Magnum with him. For those who don’t know guns, a .44 Magnum is a pistol that will stop a 1,000 pound grizzly bear.

He’s been in the county jail since then, held on a bond that was too high for him to post. Today, he is being released. He was found guilty of stalking, given the maximum sentence of six months in jail, but with “time served” deducted from the sentence and the rest waived on terms of probation, he is being released today.

When I woke up this morning, I felt sad, depressed, and disillusioned by the court’s decision. Those feelings quickly morphed into anger. I am not scared.
I am ANGRY.

The sentencing drove home a point with which I have become more and more intimate over the summer: when it comes right down to it, there is only one person who can keep you safe. And that is you. The only person who can keep me safe is me.

This is why I found such a profound connection in Lisbeth Salander - she is an example of what I have been learning and living and becoming. I’m not promoting breaking the law in the ways that she did, but I am promoting her underlying truth: The System failed her and she learned to be self reliant. And she excelled at it.

This is also why I will be writing more about this in the coming weeks - though this man found me and became obsessed with me through my websites, attacks on women happen every day, and the vast majority are women who have “normal” lives and no “public” persona.

Also, I’m not pregnant. If I had a penny for every person who emailed me this summer asking if I was pregnant, I’d probably be able to afford a ranch. New policy: All personal questions must be accompanyed by a penny! {just kidding} But, to those of you who sensed something major was happening and assumed I was pregnant, let it be known that I am not pregnant, nor was I at any point this summer (praise the IUD!). This is what was going on.

Next post in this series is HERE

My Baby

Sir Baby.

I am so in love with this bull.

He has remained gentle and sweet and so very dear, even when he was in with the heifers and everyone said he would turn mean for a spell, he never did. He always came to me when I would visit him, and lean against me ever so gently as I leaned against him.

He’s huge. He’s huge for a yearling and he still has a year or two of growing yet to do. His hooves are heavy and strong and jet black; his shoulders are massive, rippling with muscle; his legs are solid and stocky; his hair is thick and curly…. he belongs on the cover of a romance novel.

I get so filled with pride when I look at him, at how he’s grown into such a perfect expression of what he’s meant to be.

I’m so glad he’s home again.

Paper Route

Ahoy! Thanks for being patient with the Daily Coyote ~ a server in New York perished hard and fast on Monday and my site was eaten. Temporarily. It should be up any minute now, once the tech guys work their magic.

IN THE MEANTIME, it’s time for you to meet my sis!

My darling little sister has started a blog and it’s wonderful,
if I do say so myself.
(I do.)
Go visit her at
www.paperroutedesigns.com
and say hi!
She’s been working in secret for a while,
so plan to get swept away for at least an hour.

{ image courtesy of paper route designs }