Household Pets In July

It's been a beautiful summer, a blessed relief after a frigid winter and a dry springtime. The dogs enjoy their time out in their yard but are always eager to come back in:

The kitchen doggie beds and floor pillows are, as always, the most popular spot in the house. Here, Clover and Rocky shared a fleecy dog bed:

Clover, Fergus and Daphne posed on their ramp so I could take this picture:

Fergus, in the living room:

And Seamus in the living room. He's so big that he takes up quite a sizable portion of the floor:

Little Jack by the rocking chairs, keeping an eye on me:

Jack, Daphne and Fergus watched me when I was at the computer:

Georgette spends most of her time atop the upstairs cat tree by the angel on the wall. That makes two angels:

I keep baby gates in a number of places, but especially at the foot of the stairs. That means that I have a welcoming committee whenever I descend the stairs:

Daphne, Clover and Fergus:

An afternoon nap:

And Seamus, on the floor by the bed. I still divide the room with baby gates. As I learned a long time ago, if I give them too much room, they think it's OK to pee over on the unused half of the room:

The Process Of Artificial Insemination In Cows

Violet, Gracie, Amy and Jasmine had all freshened this season and had calves at their sides - but I hadn't seen any of them come back into heat. One morning, though, I saw Amy in heat. I called the Artificial Insemination man who said he'd be out about 1:30. About 1:00, I called the cows in for grain but gave Amy an extra big helping so that she was still in the barn after all the others had gone. I closed the door and latched it:

Amy was a little concerned, but not panicky. If her calf had begun calling for her, she might have gotten frantic, but that never happened:

Amy looked around, begged for more grain, and looked out the windows for possible escape routes:

She eventually walked right down the squeeze chute and stuck her head in through the head-lock gate, so I fastened her in there:

We waited an hour, but the A.I. man never arrived. Amy was calm as long as I stood there and talked to her. Eventually I let her out of the squeeze chute but not out of the barn:

When the technician arrived, I put Amy back into the squeeze chute and head-lock gate:

The A.I. man got a tube (called a "straw") of semen out of the liquid nitrogen tank. He put his (gloved!) left hand into her rectum:

And then, inserted the straw of semen into her vagina:

Clearly, Amy did not mind the procedure. She'd have balked if she had:

It was all over in a minute or less, and Amy should now be carrying a calf for the next 285 days or so, sired by one of the best Red Poll bulls in the country: