If you've been following the Strange Saga of Sycamore Leaves, you know the trees in the river bottom along the northern end of Globe Drive are not behaving as they should. Not at all.
When the river gets low, usually in the last couple of weeks of August, I watch for the first sign the Sycamores are getting ready to stop using water so heavily, as they begin to yellow a leaf here and there throughout the canopy above. This year, even though the leaves got a dusty shade of green, which usually indicates they're about to begin turning yellow, they never did. In fact, as recently as last Friday morning (the last time I went through there in the daylight) there were no bright yellow spots visible. None.
I was gone all weekend, so when I returned home last night, having been rained on most of the way south from Chico, I fully expected to see the ground littered with Sycamore leaves brought down by the wind and rain.
From the Upper Globe Bridge, and all across the river bottom, there was no carpet of dry leaves. But about half way, there was one single, lonesome, great big dry leaf. Just one. The roadway was absolutely clean. Wet, but clean.
Turning the corner and starting up out of the sand-flat, I pass under an Oak tree. That was an encouraging sign. The Oak had the good sense to shed a goodly number of leaves. The wind and rain spread them over the roadway. Now that was what I had expected back in the flat.
But not the Sycamores. Strange. What's with these stubborn Sycamores? Are they simply being difficult? Nothing like a stubborn Sycamore.
Now that we have received a couple of little showers (though the amount received yesterday only wet the bottom of my rain gauge and isn't measurable) will the Sycamores get in line with the rest of the well-behaved, season-respecting trees? Will they recognize it is indeed mid-October? We shall have to see.
I arrived in Chico about 5:30 Friday evening and was busily getting set up for the weekend conference I was there to attend when my bride called. Now I always enjoy hearing from her, but I was truly busy. I didn't really have time to engage in being a socially correct husband.
Well, in truth of course, I did. But I didn't want to TAKE the time.
But, it was one of THOSE calls. After being married 45 years ... I immediately recognized the signs ... I'm sharp. I took the time.
It seems one of our old cows had calved. Not just one calf, but actually two. We had twins. But there was a problem which made it one of THOSE calls.
One calf, a pretty black with white face, was quite healthy. The other, apparently a real anomaly, appeared to be a preemie. The only way that can happen, is if the cow is actually bred at two different times, conceiving both times, so that one fetus was full-term, the other not quite.
Obviously there wasn't a whole lot I could do from Chico, so she had to rely on neighbors and friends and figure it all out. I gave her a couple of suggestions, and and a phone number to call, returning to my business at hand. I left her to deal with the calving problems. And of course, she figured it out.
A neighbor is bottle-feeding the preemie, and we are going to try to get the calf onto the cow today. Not sure whether that will work or not, but we shall see. Plus, the front legs of this calf are not even uncurled yet, though the neighbor has been working on stretching the tendons. She has gotten the calf to stand, but only briefly. Time and warm milk will provide the strength to use them more and more. And the calf is taking the bottle willingly, so the sucking instinct is intact.
The old cow was licking the other baby this morning, spiffing it up for the day, which is a very good sign that she is "mothering" her offspring. The trick will be to get her to take BOTH calves. Not sure whether that can be done or not.
Sharon was very concerned about seeing what she termed a "pack of Coyote" around the house. She thought they might be a couple of females, each with a couple of big early-season pups. When I told Sharon they were probably coming around to clean up after-birth she was much relieved. She thought maybe they were after the calf. It's not impossible, but that's probably not the case.
It is really good to be home again. I left here at 7:30 Friday morning, and didn't get home until 7:15 last night, driving 345 miles each way. Sure encourages one to sleep well, though.
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