Bouffant Blonde

Little Guy has been really busy. He thought he'd get a break after he'd helped gather all the pecans. Nope. He'd barely settled in for a nap when Grandaddy announced it was time to plant rye. "What?" Little Guy couldn't believe his ears. Grandaddy got into his truck and headed for town. Little Guy laid in the sun and pretended he hadn't heard a word about work. Grandaddy soon came home and let down the truck's tailgate. Little Guy's eyes widened when he saw all those bags of rye seed. "We have to plant all that seed," Little Guy asked Grandaddy. "Yes, we do," he answered. "The cows will enjoy it this winter. They get tired of just eating hay." "But we don't have to do it all today," Little Guy said hopefully. "Actually, we need to," Grandaddy said. "It's supposed to rain this weekend. The seed needs rain to grow and we don't know when the next rain will be." Little Guy sighed....

Mama and Grandaddy were sorting pecans and Little Guy wanted to help. It looked easy enough. He watched then go through each bucket, get all the trash out, pick out the bad pecans and save all the good pecans. He could do that. Mama sat on a short stool and began picking out leaves and other such things. It was just Little Guy's height so he hurried over to help. Some of that stuff looked really bad. Little Guy didn't want to touch it. He decided maybe he'd wait and help sort the bad pecans from the good pecans. Mama showed him a bad pecan. It was kind of narrow at the end and she easily pushed it in. Little Guy smelled. Yuck! He sure wouldn't want to eat that. Into the trash pile it went. Grandaddy was perched on a high stool. Little Guy couldn't reach that high. Sunshine could but she was taking a nap. Grandaddy weighed the pecans with his hands. Little Guy was impressed. The puppy doctor always made Little Guy get on a scale and stand really, really still. Then ...

Little Guy really wanted to watch the football game Saturday. Mama loves football. So do Gran and Grandaddy. He didn't want to stay outside with Sunshine. He wanted to watch the game. Mama finally said okay. Little Guy hurried inside and sat down in front of the television. This was going to be so much fun! "Roll Tide," Mama said. "Roll Tide," Little Guy echoed. Little Guy watched the player run really fast toward the ball and he kicked it as hard as he could. The ball floated through the air until a player from the other team grabbed it and started running. Little Guy watched in excitement. He loved to run with the ball. It was fun. Suddenly, Mama started yelling. "Get him! Get him!" Little Guy frowned. He didn't like it when Mama yelled. He gulped and told himself it was all right. She wasn't yelling at him. Little Guy tried hard not to get yelled at. In fact, he hardly ever got yelled at anymore. Only when he was chasing the calves or when M...

Once upon a time Sunshine was just a baby. Mama used to carry her everywhere. Sunshine isn't a baby anymore. She's so big Mama can't even lift her. One day when Sunshine was a baby, she and Miss Lady Bug went with Grandaddy and Mama out to the barn. Sunshine wanted to be a big girl, so she walked all by herself. Grandaddy wanted to put out fresh hay for the cows. Mama's job was to guard the gate as Grandaddy used the tractor to move rolls of hay from the fenced enclosure to the pasture. Miss Lady Bug was the suspervisor. There were no cows around when the operation started. Then the cows heard the tractor. They rushed from the Big Pasture to the pasture by the barn. They wanted the fresh hay. The cows scared Sunshine. They were so big and she was really, really small. She was afraid they would step on her. Mama called Sunshine but she was too afraid to come to her. Mama couldn't leave her post in front of the gate because the cows would go in and create havoc among ...

Miss Lady Bug died today. She was really old but still going strong. Maybe a little slower, but still running things. Those cows jumped whenever she opened her mouth. She was definitely in charge. Yesterday something happened to her. Her neck wouldn't straighten up and her walk was more like a stagger. Grandaddy thought it was her ear. Mama said it was her neck. This morning she could barely move. And she didn't want her breakfast. Miss Lady Bug loved breakfast. Sunshine ate it all and Miss Lady Bug didn't even care. Little Guy was so worried. Grandaddy helped her get into the car. Sunshine and Little Guy helped too. They gave Miss Lady Bug kisses. Mama and Gran rushed her to the hospital. There was nothing the doctors could do. They said it might have been a stroke. Or maybe a brain tumor. She was just so old. They didn't believe there was any hope that Miss Lady Bug would ever get better. Mama and Gran came back home alone. Sunshine and Little Guy met them with eager ...

Little Guy was really, really upset. All the cows and the big bull Buddy had come around from the Big Pasture to the Small Pasture by the garden. They did that every day. Except today they forgot the baby. The new baby calf who is only eight days old. He fell asleep and nobody woke him up when they changed pastures for the night. The poor little fellow was crying for his mama. He ran up and down the fence, looking desperately for a hole to get through. Little Guy tried to show him the gate but the little calf was too big to fit under it. Little Guy was too short to reach the latch. The calf's mama stood against the fence in the Small Pasture. She ignored her baby's cries. Her gaze was focused on the house. Waiting. Little Guy knew what she wanted. Food. Grandaddy usually gave her an afternoon snack. But Grandaddy was gone to the Senior Citizen Halloween event at the civic center. Who was going to save the baby? Why was he mama ignoring him? Little Guy heard the back door open a...

Little Guy was so excited. A heifer had given birth to her first calf. Now she was a new mama and Little Guy had a new playmate. Oh, Boy!! Grandaddy had been keeping a close eye on the heifer. Then the neighbors called. In the pasture right next to their house, the heifer had laid down and was about to give birth. Grandaddy rushed out. He got there in time to see that mama and calf were fine. The neighbor was taking photos of the newborn with her camera phone. Then one of the other cows got jealous. She wanted attention too. So she came over and knocked the new mama and tried to take her calf. Grandaddy got really mad. He made the cow go away. The heifer was so scared. She got her new baby and away they went until they got to the fartherest corner of the pasture. Grandaddy tried to give the new mama some sweet feed. Cows always like sweet feed. She wanted no part of it or him. It hurt his feelings. He left the bucket with the feed anyway, climbed on his red buggy and went back to the h...