LULU AND TOM BRADY

For those of you who do not know, LULU, is our English Bulldog. LULU is a typical female--beautiful, passive, loving, caring, patient, and FAT! I tell you this in preparation for a story that begins with an orphan calf. He was born a few months ago. Being a large newborn, his mother, who was a heifer (calf was her first) worked all night trying to have him and she was successful, but all her insides came out (very sad story). When we found the sad site the next morning, the calf was in the middle of the field crying. We brought him home and began feeding him a bottle. I've done this many, many times before and it is very time consuming. When a friend offered us his "nurse" cow--I was very excited! Good nurse cows are hard to come by. They are usually Holstein cows. We worked for days trying to get them to bond and they finally did. TOM has done so well with his new mother (MY grandson Caden named him after Tom Brady, the football player). He is fat and slick and growing so fast. He has continued to stay gentle and "calls" us over to visit with him regularly. He enjoys being scratched and patted and talked to. He is now eating feed with "the big cows".

Now, the story I began to tell you about LULU. LULU loves all the cows. We have a fenced in yard and she will sit very silently and still with her nose sticking through the fence hoping that one of the cows will come over and let her "KISS" them.

Tom was really leary for a long time, but now his eases over to her and leans down. She will lick him as long as he will stand there.


LULU doesn't just like Tom, she loves all the cows. Any one who in the patch next to the yard has the oportunitiy to be "cleaned and loved by LULU".

LULU was orginally one of two bulldogs that belonged to my son. When he left home, he took the male dog and left me LULU. Sid and I have enjoyed her so much. I realize that some people are not dog lovers and do not understand why the rest of us are. Dogs seem to pull a family together somehow. We have always had a pet and most times several. I always think when we lose them I will not get another, but somehow we always do. I think it is because we cannot stand the void in our lives.

Sid and I take LULU for rides in our MULE (a gas powered vehicle) every evening and sometimes morning (depending on work being done). She loves to ride although she cannot jump in or out (she tries). She will ride as long as you will let her. Last evening we saw, once again, a Doe and twin fawns in our South pasture. She has been there for weeks. We commented that we know there are people who would pay big bucks to be able to see and experience the things we see everyday. It is so much work to live on a ranch. But I wouldn't trade it---not one minute of it.