Carol, the dairy owner, walked through the door of the parlor, said her usual "Good Morning" and then stopped and said, "It's so good to have you back w/ us." Gratifying but I don't know what brought it on. Could be that today the hoofer was on-site so we were going to be busy. She gave me a list of 44 cows that had feet requiring attention. After milking a side (8 cows), I'd go up the stairs and check each ear tag number against my list. I marked the heads of the cows on the list w/ a brightly colored oily crayon. Before the cows could get back into the barn, Mike or the herdsman shuttled marked cows into a holding area for the hoofer. Alejandrina and I got into a system so we didn't miss any cows on the list. Mondays are also scrub day. After finishing w/ the milking, Alejandrina and I each grabbed a brush and pail and started cleaning the parlor. Marking cows took more out of me than I thought and I was feeling light headed by the time we had finished the first side. Fainting wasn't a good option. Fortunately, Mike had a few minutes open and decided to use them helping us scrub. After the parlor was bright & white again, I gave Alejandrina a lift home. She brought along an extra banana and blueberry mini muffin for me. I swear food never tasted so good! Maybe that's how Carol felt this morning.
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