It was a lovely morning. I had a chat with Colm to hear the plans for that day. I hadn’t seen the maiden heifers for over a week and Colm is feeding them daily.

He said he was concerned about one and that she may need the vet. He queried pneumonia. Anything amiss with the young girls and I’m on high alert. If there’s one, there might be more, I thought.

It was time for a thorough check. I borrowed the jeep from Tim and off I went to see the girls. I generally stay out of the jeep and don’t really like driving it. We live in hilly countryside. Colm has ground taken behind the local village in Kerrypike.

In certain fields, we can see the heifers grazing across the hill from home, even though they are about 2km away. We’ve them divided into two groups, according to weight. The lighter group, 23 in total, are getting meal and will stay on good grass, while the others are on grass and kale.

I drove up to the top of the hill to see them first. The animal Colm had identified seemed to have improved, but there were three others that I was concerned about. Their tails were a bit dirty and they were not as thrifty as they should be.

Further down the hill

I chatted to Colm on the phone. We agreed that they needed attention and decided to bring them home for close monitoring. I came back down the farm roadway.

I needed to go down a field passage by the side of the kale, dropping further down the hill. There’s a sharp corner at the bottom. I could feel Lady Jeep throwing her ‘bottom’ in the wrong direction. I was committed. It was too late to cop on that I should have walked this further leg. I managed to get across to a harder area where I turned.

I thought the worst was over. Get around the corner and Lady Jeep will climb up the hill. However, she had other ideas.

A hint of a corner and she was throwing her ‘bottom’ again. I had to stop. I reversed a foot or two and tried again. I searched my brain for inspiration. I could hear the various O’Leary men with words of wisdom. Don’t dig yourself in. Don’t spin the wheels.

I thought the worst was over. Get around the corner and Lady Jeep will climb up the hill. However, she had other ideas

I tried a bit of a lock to the side to get on clean grass – all the while trying to manage a huge deal of frustration and annoyance with myself. I had no option but to phone Tim and admit that I was stuck.

He was with Colm. “Where are you? Are you in four-wheel drive?

We haven’t been going down there in a while. We’ve been going in through Ormonds. I’ll come up with the tractor and pull you out,” said Tim. I sat there and waited. Both Tim and Colm arrived without the tractor. I was a little upset. “Don’t be upset,” said Colm, “sure I had to pull this fella out last week. I think I can get it out,” says Colm with a twinkle. He did some manoeuvring. Several attempts failed. The he got a minuscule amount of traction.

Tim put his shoulder to the back. I was afraid he’d hurt his back, so I joined in. Ever so slowly, Lady Jeep crept out of the greasy patch and Colm took her home. I had to swallow my pride. If there’s the slightest risk of getting stuck in the future, I’ll be walking.

Meanwhile, thank you all for your good wishes, thoughts, prayers and cards during the year.

Just knowing you are out there thinking about me means the world.

Happy New Year. May 2026 be kind to us all.