The nearly frozen calf

One of the best things about the arrival of Spring on the farm was the birth of baby animals!  Of course, "Spring" in Alberta was a mix of temperatures, from subzero freezing cold to balmy chinook-y days.  If you were a baby calf, it would be so much nicer to be born on a balmy day.

Every day, Daddy would report to the children the calf count.  This cow had a heifer, that cow had a baby bull, the small cow who was having trouble as a first-timer had a heifer after Dad had to call the vet to help pull her.

Mostly, Daddy pulled the calves himself, if the cow needed help. That meant his whole arm (covered with a long-sleeved shirt, of course) would be all bloody from reaching inside the cow to help the calf to come out the right way. If Daddy came in the house looking like that, you knew that it had not been an easy birth.

When a storm would blow in, and the temperature would dip low, Daddy would go out to the pasture and check on all the cows with the new calves, because sometimes it would just get too cold for the poor babies.  He might move a couple of moms and babies into the barn for warmth.

One particularly cold spring night when Daddy went out to check the calves, he found a brand new heifer, umbilical cord still attached, who was freezing faster than her poor agitated mother could lick her off.

So he picked her up, and carried her to the house. He had to ring the doorbell with his elbow because his arms were full of calf.

Mommy said, "Who could that be at this time of night? I didn't even hear a car drive into the yard." She did not think it might be Daddy, because he was out checking the livestock and besides, he would not ring the doorbell!

Mommy went to the door, with Arwen and Marnie close behind, ready to peak around mommy's skirts at whoever might be at the door. They were all surprised to see daddy with that baby heifer in his arms.

"Quick!" Daddy said. "Run some cool water in the bathtub. She is almost frozen to death, but I think we might be able to save her."

Mommy ran down the hall to the bathroom. The children could hear the water running as they knelt beside the calf where Daddy had laid her gently on the rag rug.  She was so cute! And so cold. Her eyes were closed and she didn't move at all.

When Mommy called out "Okay!" Daddy picked the baby calf up and carried her gently to the bathroom, and laid her in the tepid water.

"Why is the water so cold?" Marnie asked. She would not want to take a bath in such cold water.

"Well, warmer water might feel better to you, Marnie, but this calf is frozen, and we need to unthaw her gradually. If we put her in water that is too hot, the change in temperature might be harmful to her.  This water is not very warm, but it is warmer than she is right now. I am going to watch her, and gradually make the water warmer," Daddy explained.

Mommy tried to get the girls to go to bed--it was past bedtime--but who can sleep when a baby calf is unthawing in the bathtub just around the corner from your bedroom? Not Marnie or Arwen! They kept going and peeking at what was happening in the bathroom.

Just as Marnie was finally drifting off to sleep, a scrabbling sound came from the bathroom. Marnie and Arwen looked at each other with wide eyes, and jumped out of bed. They ran into the bathroom, and what a funny sight! The calf was not only awake, she was trying to stand up! Have you ever seen a little heifer calf trying to stand up in a shiny white slippery porcelain tub full of coolish/warmish water? Marnie and Arwen laughed to see such a thing!

Mommy and Daddy were so happy! The calf was saved! It was still too cold to take her outside, but they dried her with a couple of big bath towels, and Daddy went to put her in the utility room for the rest of the night.

"Doesn't she want her mommy?" the children asked.

"I have put her mother in the barn," Daddy said, "and I will take the calf to her first thing in the morning. I think this calf needs a couple more hours of warmth--and that's all the time there is until morning and school for you girls. So...back to bed!"

Marnie and Arwen happily trooped back to bed, ready to snuggle down for a long winter's nap filled with dreams of a baby calf brought back to life from the brink of death in their very own bathtub.

Welcome Spring!

A long winter can be kind of fun

With snowballs and snowmen to build--

But school being cancelled a ton,

With that I am not really thrilled.

So welcome to Spring that is sprung,

With flowers and insects to see!

No snowflakes to melt on my tongue,

No frost on the lawn or the tree.

Just glorious, glorious green

As the lawn and the bushes awake.

And colorful flowers can be seen

When their buds open up with a shake.

Spring is for soccer and fun!

Spring is for play in the park!

Spring is a good time to run!

Spring, I’m so glad you have come!

Obey your mom!

Do you know what this is? It is a wringer washer.

In Marnie's house, the wringer washer sat in the utility room beside the great big, deep laundry tub. The laundry tub was like a big overgrown kitchen sink, with hot and cold water taps.

On laundry day, Marnie's mom would sort all the clothes by color into piles on the floor of the utility room. And then she would begin with washing the whites, then light colors, darker colors, dark colors, and end with the rugs from the floors.  Because Marnie's dad had to haul water to fill the cistern that furnished their house with running water, the Conway family always needed to be careful with water. So Mommy would use the same wash water over and over again.

The clothes got washed in the big wringer washer, then the clothes were put through the wringer, which would squeeze all the water out of them back into the washer. The damp, flattened clothes would go into the rinse water in the big laundry tub, and Marnie was allowed to swish the clothes around in the tub to help get the soap out of them. Then, they went back through the wringer one more time, and were either put in the dryer or hung out on the clothesline to dry, depending on the season of the year.

It was the late spring during the year that Marnie was five. All the other kids were at school, and Daddy was out working in the fields.  It was laundry day, so as usual, Marnie was on a stool so that she could reach the clothes in the laundry tub to help with the rinsing. Mommy was standing by the wringer washer, putting the clothes through to the tub.

Marnie would get impatient for the clothes to come through, but Mommy was always watchful. "Marnie, don't get your fingers too close to the wringers. They can pull your arm through," she warned.

And then the phone rang. Mommy said, "I am just going to answer the phone, Marnie. Just keep rinsing the clothes. I will be right back." She turned off the wringers and went into the kitchen.

But Marnie wondered how it would feel to put something through those wringers! And she was a big girl, five years old, so she thought she would just help Mommy, and keep on wringing out clothes.  She moved her stool over so she could look down into the washer. There she saw all kinds of wet clothes...and what was that? It looked like a doll's hat.

Marnie reached into the washer and pulled the wet material up so she could see it better.  It WAS a doll's hat--it was one of her own doll's hats!  It was so little, Mommy wouldn't even notice if Marnie put it through the wringer...

And so Marnie flipped the wringer switch to the on position, and put that little doll's hat through.  The wringers grabbed the hat so strongly--more strongly than Marnie had imagined!

And it would have been just fine, if only Marnie had remembered to let go of the doll's hat...but she didn't. Her fingers were still holding it, and before she even realized what was happening, her whole arm was going between the wringers and they were pressing her arm really hard. It only stopped when Marnie's arm was caught up past her elbow, up to her armpit. And then the machine made quite a bit of noise whining about that, and Mommy came running.

It all happened so fast! Just a half a second of hanging onto the hat, and a second or two later, Marnie was pulled all awkwardly through the wringers of the washing machine, with her arm on one side and the rest of her on the other side.

Mommy was not happy about his development. Marnie was not happy either.  Getting your arm backed out of the wringer at a slow speed is much less comfortable than having it zip through the front way at a fast speed.

Mommy called the doctor's office to find out how to treat Marnie's arm and then she wrapped it up in a sling. And Marnie couldn't help with the laundry any more that day. She was sad. She felt bad about disobeying mommy.

To make matters worse, that night after school, that VERY NIGHT, there was a prairie fire! Marnie knew all about prairie fires from reading the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but she had never seen one, but here, just outside the window was a prairie fire rushing right towards their house!

Daddy rushed in from the fields and starting getting a pump ready to pump water out of the cistern, and to divert water from the canal. Brian, Collette and Arwen all got to help, but Marnie had to sit and watch out the window because her arm was in a sling.

Mommy got on the phone and called everyone on the party line. Soon, neighbors' cars were arriving from all over the Big Bend and parking in the yard. People were wetting towels and beating at the flames of the prairie fire. It was so exciting!

And there was Marnie, sitting on the kitchen counter looking out the window. That was not exciting at all.

So Marnie jumped down, took off her sling, and went outside, too. She grabbed a wet towel and ran towards some little flames that a neighbor was beating.  Marnie slapped at the fire once, twice, but then OWIE!  Her arm hurt so bad. She started to cry. She snuck back to the house and tried to put the sling back on properly, and then she climbed on the stool to get back on the kitchen counter so she could watch the excitement from a safe place.

What did Marnie learn from this? Obey your mom! If she tells you to leave the wringer washer alone, leave it alone. If she tells you that you can't help fight a prairie fire because of your messed-up, wrung-out arm, listen to her. You are no help fighting a fire with only one good arm, at least if you are five years old and only have one good arm.

Marnie was sad. If only she had KNOWN there was going to be a prairie fire tonight, then she wouldn't have messed with the washer this morning!!

A Spring Poem

Why do you like Spring?
Does it make you sing?
Does it make you smile
To play outside awhile?

Do you like to see
Birds up in the tree?
Do you like to hear
Chirping in your ear?

Do you like to spy
Insects flying by?
Do you like to see
Flowers, and a bee?

I know I like Spring!
It does make me sing!
Can you see me smile?
I’m outside awhile!