[Jacob-list] reference books

[Susan Nielsen]

On Fri, 18 Feb 2005, Betty Berlenbach wrote:

> I  did use the funny book once, though, in the middle of the night ...

Which reminds me of the night we were facing our first difficult
delivery. (Everybody has a story...) The ewe had been going for some
time, with no result. Richard had pulled a calf once, in his youth,
but he looked at the size of his hands that night and said, "Not me."
So I went and got the blue book, and reviewed the normals and the
horrors, and soaped up and re-read the normals and the horrors, got
on my knees and read the thing again, and then I said, "Shit, I know
my James Herriot.  I don't need this." Tossed the book aside, reached
in and found a nose, and my heart just soared. It was great. Arranged
the little hooves and out she came, sweet as a lesson in delivery.

Books are wonderful helps, but in the end, you just have to believe
what you are about to do. After the first time, it wouldn't be
frightening again. It might be difficult, but it wouldn't be
frightening. (Though we've not had another occasion to use our
Herriot learning.)

Susan
--
Susan Nielsen			| Beehive: If you build it,
snielsen at orednet.org		| they will comb.