Sunday, October 31, 2010
Back in Texas
Such a fun trip to Florida. I miss having all those wonderful people in my daily life. Had a great time & now I have traded my shorts & flip flops for boots & jeans. Funny how easy it is to make the transition - I'm so at home in both places. I've always said to myself that if I ever lived in another state besides Texas that it would be Florida.
Charlie & I went exploring in the Kubota yesterday morning. Saw a huge flock of geese & two little doe munching their way through a mesquite grove. My heart is more at peace when I am here than any where else. If I could just get all of my Florida family to move here, it would all be complete!
Sunshine girl gone & cowgirl is back as we will be working cattle this week. It is more than past time to get some of these large calves off their mammas & give those ladies some peace & rest while they are brewing up their Spring calves. We also need to get all the commercial cattle inventoried & get the two steers off to market. Those little rascals escaped from us a few weeks ago. Guess they were the smart ones in the group!
Happy Halloween to all. Have fun tonight, eat all the candy you want & be safe.
Charlie & I went exploring in the Kubota yesterday morning. Saw a huge flock of geese & two little doe munching their way through a mesquite grove. My heart is more at peace when I am here than any where else. If I could just get all of my Florida family to move here, it would all be complete!
Sunshine girl gone & cowgirl is back as we will be working cattle this week. It is more than past time to get some of these large calves off their mammas & give those ladies some peace & rest while they are brewing up their Spring calves. We also need to get all the commercial cattle inventoried & get the two steers off to market. Those little rascals escaped from us a few weeks ago. Guess they were the smart ones in the group!
Happy Halloween to all. Have fun tonight, eat all the candy you want & be safe.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Another busy day.
Tackled cleaning out the left side dining room closet. I demolished more than one mouse condo - yippee! Those little vermin need to live outside where they are supposed to & not in our house! I couldn't face the right cabinet yet & since I'm still smelling Clorox, it will just have to wait until my return.
Baby Black Buck was running about this morning. Getting used to those springy little legs & chasing after momma. Too cute. Wish I could get a picture. Since they are prey animals, they are quite skittish & especially now with the wee one. Even with the x24 digital zoom on the fancy camera, there's no way it's gonna happen. I'll keep trying though. Maybe when baby gets a little older. It isn't even a week old at this point.
Lots of running about getting everything in order before I leave for Houston this evening. The Hunters should be home soon. From what I understand, they had a great time. Caught lots of red fish & shot their fair share of dove.
May not be able to blog too much over this next week & a half. We'll see if I can figure out the mobile blogging thing. Might be outside my realm of tech capacity.
Tackled cleaning out the left side dining room closet. I demolished more than one mouse condo - yippee! Those little vermin need to live outside where they are supposed to & not in our house! I couldn't face the right cabinet yet & since I'm still smelling Clorox, it will just have to wait until my return.
Baby Black Buck was running about this morning. Getting used to those springy little legs & chasing after momma. Too cute. Wish I could get a picture. Since they are prey animals, they are quite skittish & especially now with the wee one. Even with the x24 digital zoom on the fancy camera, there's no way it's gonna happen. I'll keep trying though. Maybe when baby gets a little older. It isn't even a week old at this point.
Lots of running about getting everything in order before I leave for Houston this evening. The Hunters should be home soon. From what I understand, they had a great time. Caught lots of red fish & shot their fair share of dove.
May not be able to blog too much over this next week & a half. We'll see if I can figure out the mobile blogging thing. Might be outside my realm of tech capacity.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Another lovely day on the ranch.
Saw a sweet little doe sprint across the yard this morning, helped get all the little steers in the trailer headed to auction, trimmed the grapevine, cleaned out the flower beds, shooed all the mommas bawling for their babies out of the trap pasture, helped get the tractor running again (3 days of mowing 4+ft tall goat weed will clog up the radiator screen!), fed the heifers & went out to dinner.
I did see little baby Black Buck. Was worried that it has gotten "got" by the mysterious whatever that has spirited away with all the other babies. Guess this momma is good at hiding that little one from the predators. Fingers crossed, this one will see adulthood.
Tomorrow - not sure. I might just not do any ranch stuff & give myself a pedicure! Of course, I'll probably end up cleaning out some closet & be up to my elbows in dust & mouse poop. Will have to see what mood strikes me in the morning - cleaning mood or pampering mood. Maybe both!! Uh, not at the same time - cleaning then pampering would be the logical order.
Saw a sweet little doe sprint across the yard this morning, helped get all the little steers in the trailer headed to auction, trimmed the grapevine, cleaned out the flower beds, shooed all the mommas bawling for their babies out of the trap pasture, helped get the tractor running again (3 days of mowing 4+ft tall goat weed will clog up the radiator screen!), fed the heifers & went out to dinner.
I did see little baby Black Buck. Was worried that it has gotten "got" by the mysterious whatever that has spirited away with all the other babies. Guess this momma is good at hiding that little one from the predators. Fingers crossed, this one will see adulthood.
Tomorrow - not sure. I might just not do any ranch stuff & give myself a pedicure! Of course, I'll probably end up cleaning out some closet & be up to my elbows in dust & mouse poop. Will have to see what mood strikes me in the morning - cleaning mood or pampering mood. Maybe both!! Uh, not at the same time - cleaning then pampering would be the logical order.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Ahhhh, Sunday
No time for blogging!
After a long morning of sorting cattle on Friday, it was a mad dash to get to Houston before Charlie got home from work. It was good to be back in my other home. Sugar didn't have any problem taking up her regular post in the swivel chair & barely moved the rest of the night.
Saturday was busy with errands. I managed to pull an extraordinary graceful move & spilled coffee all over the contraption (the name bestowed upon my cell phone). The contraption is still working, but the speakers were on the fritz for a few hours. It is finally back in working order & all systems go again.
RSVPs are coming in for WBs birthday party so I guess I better get busy ordering a cake & taking care of some of the other smaller projects for the festivities.
Back to the ranch today. WB & Charlie are headed off to dove hunt & fish in S. Tx. Hope this trip is better than the last one. Anything is better than the experience last year in Mexico where one of the hunting parties was held up at gun point, robbed & roughed up. Thankfully, everyone made it home safely but that was the end of Rancho Acazar which has been in operation since the early 60s. Sad for many reasons, but mainly because there are a lot of people who depend on those hunters to supplement their income.
Starting on the flower beds tomorrow, meet the auction pick up guys, meeting the satellite cable guy to hook up the new TV, neighbors picking up their cattle & maybe a drive to Flatonia to pick up the auction check.
Back to Houston on Tuesday & then a rest from the blog again as I will be in FL for a week. I must have lost my mind when I scheduled this trip - too much to do right now to be goofing off with the girls in FL. I guess after a week of goofing, I'll have no excuse for not getting my other projects done!
After a long morning of sorting cattle on Friday, it was a mad dash to get to Houston before Charlie got home from work. It was good to be back in my other home. Sugar didn't have any problem taking up her regular post in the swivel chair & barely moved the rest of the night.
Saturday was busy with errands. I managed to pull an extraordinary graceful move & spilled coffee all over the contraption (the name bestowed upon my cell phone). The contraption is still working, but the speakers were on the fritz for a few hours. It is finally back in working order & all systems go again.
RSVPs are coming in for WBs birthday party so I guess I better get busy ordering a cake & taking care of some of the other smaller projects for the festivities.
Back to the ranch today. WB & Charlie are headed off to dove hunt & fish in S. Tx. Hope this trip is better than the last one. Anything is better than the experience last year in Mexico where one of the hunting parties was held up at gun point, robbed & roughed up. Thankfully, everyone made it home safely but that was the end of Rancho Acazar which has been in operation since the early 60s. Sad for many reasons, but mainly because there are a lot of people who depend on those hunters to supplement their income.
Starting on the flower beds tomorrow, meet the auction pick up guys, meeting the satellite cable guy to hook up the new TV, neighbors picking up their cattle & maybe a drive to Flatonia to pick up the auction check.
Back to Houston on Tuesday & then a rest from the blog again as I will be in FL for a week. I must have lost my mind when I scheduled this trip - too much to do right now to be goofing off with the girls in FL. I guess after a week of goofing, I'll have no excuse for not getting my other projects done!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Friday Eve Y'all
Took a cruise out back with WB this morning & we saw....
2 very healthy looking doe run across the road
8-9 ducks took off from the alligator pond (Daddy caught an alligator years
ago in one of the Frisch Auf gold course water hazards & let it go in this
pond as it is fed by Robinson's Creek - hence, alligator pond)
AND....
biggest news of the day is that we have a baby Black Buck!!
Saw the little one bouncing around behind momma this morning, but could not get a picture. Fingers crossed, this one will make it to adulthood. All the other babies mysteriously disappear. Not sure if it is a bobcat or a panther - yes, panther. I saw one scoot across the road in front of me the other day. If not a panther, it was world's largest house cat & I don't think it would enjoy Meow Mix for dinner!
All of WB's b-day party invites are now in the mail. Now, all I have to do is plan the rest of the party! ACK!!! Did a little more cleaning by organizing the bottom kitchen cabinets & under the sink. Where does all that stuff come from? Do cleaning agents breed under there & make more??? Needless to say, it will be a long time before we have to buy any cleaning products.
Got to use the cutting torch & a ginormous ball peen hammer to fix the squeeze chute. That was super fun! Maybe this winter, WB will teach me how to weld. Not only a useful skill, but you get to wear those cool hats.
WB & I got all the commercial cattle trapped up around the pen as we are going to sort off some of the large steer calves to go to auction on Monday. These handsome devils will be appearing on your plate soon. Man they look delicious!!! Yep, I'm a carnivore & proud of it y'all. Will hopefully have some good pictures of all those yummy little guys to show you.
2 very healthy looking doe run across the road
8-9 ducks took off from the alligator pond (Daddy caught an alligator years
ago in one of the Frisch Auf gold course water hazards & let it go in this
pond as it is fed by Robinson's Creek - hence, alligator pond)
AND....
biggest news of the day is that we have a baby Black Buck!!
Saw the little one bouncing around behind momma this morning, but could not get a picture. Fingers crossed, this one will make it to adulthood. All the other babies mysteriously disappear. Not sure if it is a bobcat or a panther - yes, panther. I saw one scoot across the road in front of me the other day. If not a panther, it was world's largest house cat & I don't think it would enjoy Meow Mix for dinner!
All of WB's b-day party invites are now in the mail. Now, all I have to do is plan the rest of the party! ACK!!! Did a little more cleaning by organizing the bottom kitchen cabinets & under the sink. Where does all that stuff come from? Do cleaning agents breed under there & make more??? Needless to say, it will be a long time before we have to buy any cleaning products.
Got to use the cutting torch & a ginormous ball peen hammer to fix the squeeze chute. That was super fun! Maybe this winter, WB will teach me how to weld. Not only a useful skill, but you get to wear those cool hats.
WB & I got all the commercial cattle trapped up around the pen as we are going to sort off some of the large steer calves to go to auction on Monday. These handsome devils will be appearing on your plate soon. Man they look delicious!!! Yep, I'm a carnivore & proud of it y'all. Will hopefully have some good pictures of all those yummy little guys to show you.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Clorox Overdose
WB & I took off this morning to boldly go where no one has gone in a really long time. I had to hop out of the Kubota a few times to make sure we weren't going to go head first off the edge of a giant gully or just to make sure we could get through to where we wanted to go. Lots of fun except for all the freakin' spiders. I like them because they get all the bugs & bugs really don't like me. For some odd reason, they love to hurl their little bug bodies directly into my eyes. For that reason & that reason alone, I have made peace with the spider. They are the mortal enemy of all bugs, but they still creep me out. Anyway - bug phobias aside, we had a fun ride around out back.
That done, I could no longer ignore my cleaning project & proceeded to permeate the house with the smell of Clorox. Mom would have been so happy!! If Clorox was a perfume, then that was her signature scent. Now, the sun room window seat & drawers are clean & ready to be used for something other than mouse condos. Those danged mice never pay their dues & don't ever show up at the "Night out with the Neighbors" party. When they do show up, they always bring some odd half-eaten stale food - yuck!! Probably aren't good hand washers either.
Can't decide if I want to tackle the dining room cabinets or more closets tomorrow. Probably neither as I have a ton & a half of invitation envelopes to address for Daddy's birthday party. Maybe I'll tackle a small project once all the invitations are done - we'll see how it goes. Friday is commercial cattle working day. Will have some good pictures to share then.
That done, I could no longer ignore my cleaning project & proceeded to permeate the house with the smell of Clorox. Mom would have been so happy!! If Clorox was a perfume, then that was her signature scent. Now, the sun room window seat & drawers are clean & ready to be used for something other than mouse condos. Those danged mice never pay their dues & don't ever show up at the "Night out with the Neighbors" party. When they do show up, they always bring some odd half-eaten stale food - yuck!! Probably aren't good hand washers either.
Can't decide if I want to tackle the dining room cabinets or more closets tomorrow. Probably neither as I have a ton & a half of invitation envelopes to address for Daddy's birthday party. Maybe I'll tackle a small project once all the invitations are done - we'll see how it goes. Friday is commercial cattle working day. Will have some good pictures to share then.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Crazy Cleaning
The only actual ranch work that got done today was feeding the heifers in the nursery their dinner. Other than that, I was a whirling dervish of cleaning & organizing today. You can actually sit on the window seat in the sun room! All of the cattle, chronograph & surveying equipment along with SASS stuff & a plethora of magazines all got squirreled away into their new homes. WB seemed pleased with the new locations for all of his goodies.
My 14+ years in the window covering industry came in handy when I replaced one of the blinds in the sun room since it was badly damaged by a four-legged furry friend who will remain nameless, but whose initials are D-O-G! Next task will be to tackle all of the drawers under the window seat. Lord only knows what I will find in there, but have a feeling that gloves & lots of Clorox will be necessary to complete that cleaning job.
Laundry, laundry & more laundry done today. Capt Cindette will be happy to know that by draining the hot water heater of all its hot water has made the sulphur smell completely go away from this end of the house!!
Looking forward to another beautiful day on the ranch tomorrow. We'll see what it brings. Good stuff, I'm sure.
Nite nite all!! :-)
My 14+ years in the window covering industry came in handy when I replaced one of the blinds in the sun room since it was badly damaged by a four-legged furry friend who will remain nameless, but whose initials are D-O-G! Next task will be to tackle all of the drawers under the window seat. Lord only knows what I will find in there, but have a feeling that gloves & lots of Clorox will be necessary to complete that cleaning job.
Laundry, laundry & more laundry done today. Capt Cindette will be happy to know that by draining the hot water heater of all its hot water has made the sulphur smell completely go away from this end of the house!!
Looking forward to another beautiful day on the ranch tomorrow. We'll see what it brings. Good stuff, I'm sure.
Nite nite all!! :-)
Monday, October 11, 2010
Monday, Monday - la la, la, la la
OK - am totally dating myself with that song but what a great day it was. Saw Charlie off back to Houston first thing this morning, drove out back with WB where a tree fell on the fence & got Jack working on sawing up the tree & fixing the fence. Daddy is now packed & ready for his hunt & all his extra huting gear is neatly folded & put away in storage bins for next year. Since Fall was in the air, I couldn't help myself but to move some furniture around in one of the bedrooms, began the monumental job of organizing the hall closet & started cleaning off the window seat in one of the other bedrooms. Had as much of that elephant as I wanted to eat so, off to town to run errands. The usual errands being a trip to the feed store & grocery store. Got back just in time to change from my town clothes to ranch clothes again & help get the little stranger calf loaded up in her owner's trailer so that she could go home to her ponderosa.
Now, I'm pooped & ready to go to bed. Must stay up for at least another hour less I wake up at 4AM tomorrow morning!!!
Now, I'm pooped & ready to go to bed. Must stay up for at least another hour less I wake up at 4AM tomorrow morning!!!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
What a great week! We have lots to do this coming week too. More cattle work, getting WB ready for his dove hunt & just general work to be done.
Charlie had a grand time shredding the Black Buck pasture this morning while I was in the caboose with Daddy reloading .38 special ammo for the next SASS shoot. I just started to get a good feel for it when it was time to pack it in for lunch & watch the Texans embarrass themselves on the field with the Giants. So depressing I thought about napping. Instead, I cleared the dining room table so that it could actually be used as a dining room table! I don't think electric gate openers, giant wasp nests, red hawk feathers & shed snake skins are supposed to live on the dining room table. We may just have to eat dinner in there tonight.
Charlie had a grand time shredding the Black Buck pasture this morning while I was in the caboose with Daddy reloading .38 special ammo for the next SASS shoot. I just started to get a good feel for it when it was time to pack it in for lunch & watch the Texans embarrass themselves on the field with the Giants. So depressing I thought about napping. Instead, I cleared the dining room table so that it could actually be used as a dining room table! I don't think electric gate openers, giant wasp nests, red hawk feathers & shed snake skins are supposed to live on the dining room table. We may just have to eat dinner in there tonight.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Pride before the fall???
What a lovely day. Started with setting the gates up in the pastures to trap the 2nd Brahman herd to work tomorrow, filled the Black Buck feeder & set up the mineral feeder with new minerals in it for the 1st Brahman herd. About that time, my riding girls showed up & my boss gave me a pass to go with them. Rode Gameil, my first time ever to ride him -beautiful white gelding who has a charming disposition.
We were having a great ride until.....
Gameil decided he was done!! He ran up a hill bucking the whole way. Since I had just gotten back on him, my left foot was not in the stirrup. I was holding on as best I could but could tell it wouldn't be long before I hit the ground. So, I hit the ground on my own! In this case, it was fall before the pride. My left side is a little sore but nothing compared to my pride!!
The girls assisted me in coming to & getting my bearings again before I climbed back on Mr. G. The rest of the ride was rather uneventful.
Lots of fun & I am either too stubborn or too stupid as I will definitely ride him again.
Smaller group of cattle to work tomorrow. I'm the black leg shot person. Wish me luck as I understand it is very painful to humans to get that shot!! Dear Lord let my aim be true.
Now for some more Advil & off to bed. Too much to do tomorrow to be crippled from my antics today.
We were having a great ride until.....
Gameil decided he was done!! He ran up a hill bucking the whole way. Since I had just gotten back on him, my left foot was not in the stirrup. I was holding on as best I could but could tell it wouldn't be long before I hit the ground. So, I hit the ground on my own! In this case, it was fall before the pride. My left side is a little sore but nothing compared to my pride!!
The girls assisted me in coming to & getting my bearings again before I climbed back on Mr. G. The rest of the ride was rather uneventful.
Lots of fun & I am either too stubborn or too stupid as I will definitely ride him again.
Smaller group of cattle to work tomorrow. I'm the black leg shot person. Wish me luck as I understand it is very painful to humans to get that shot!! Dear Lord let my aim be true.
Now for some more Advil & off to bed. Too much to do tomorrow to be crippled from my antics today.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Good Morning
As far as first days go, yesterday was tops. We got almost all the cows worked in this first batch until one of the little bull calves decided he was stronger than the steel chute. Turns out he was because he bent the 1/2" rod that holds the gate latch together. Only 4 calves didn't get their ear tags, black leg shot & fly spray. Since we still need to pair up mommies & babies & then wean the older babies, we'll get them on the second go around.
Thursday we are working the other batch of Brahmans. Not sure when we work on the commercial cattle out back. Will have to ask the boss man about that.
Took a nice ride on Ms. Clovis in the evening. She wasn't too happy about it at first but behaved herself quite nicely. She's a mostly red paint pony & has a sweet disposition. She was a little skitish about the saddle & saddle blankets until she got to see & smell them. Daddy even let me use his dad's saddle. Kinda cool to be using my grandfather's saddle. I remember sitting in front of my dad on that saddle as a little bitty kiddo.
Today is a "go to town" day for horse feed & to get a replacement rod for the squeeze chute. I think some horseback riding friends are also coming out & I'll be taking a ride with them. Will have to check with the boss on that one though. He may have other plans for me.
Time to go make some coffee & get this day going.
Thursday we are working the other batch of Brahmans. Not sure when we work on the commercial cattle out back. Will have to ask the boss man about that.
Took a nice ride on Ms. Clovis in the evening. She wasn't too happy about it at first but behaved herself quite nicely. She's a mostly red paint pony & has a sweet disposition. She was a little skitish about the saddle & saddle blankets until she got to see & smell them. Daddy even let me use his dad's saddle. Kinda cool to be using my grandfather's saddle. I remember sitting in front of my dad on that saddle as a little bitty kiddo.
Today is a "go to town" day for horse feed & to get a replacement rod for the squeeze chute. I think some horseback riding friends are also coming out & I'll be taking a ride with them. Will have to check with the boss on that one though. He may have other plans for me.
Time to go make some coffee & get this day going.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Pictures of our work today. My job this afternoon is to match up babies to mommies. So far, so good today.Sunday, October 3, 2010
In The Beginning - Sunday, October 3, 2010
Tomorrow will be the beginning of my new career as Ranch Manager. Since I am expanding my already limited knowledge, I know I have lots to learn & look forward to my education. I was encouraged by friends to start this blog & since I'm a technophile, I just couldn't resist. I hope you all enjoy reading about my adventures as much as I will enjoy giving you something entertaining, hopefully!, to read.
We already have one adventure happening today. The water pipe to the apartment on the storage barn is leaking RO water all over the world. Valve is now shut off & we'll be calling the plummer in the morning.
The water thing is not rated high on the importance scale & so tomorrow will being with working cattle. Time to get the boys seperated from the girls. It has been a long time since I've spent a day in the cattle pens. It will be an interesting day, to say the least.
We already have one adventure happening today. The water pipe to the apartment on the storage barn is leaking RO water all over the world. Valve is now shut off & we'll be calling the plummer in the morning.
The water thing is not rated high on the importance scale & so tomorrow will being with working cattle. Time to get the boys seperated from the girls. It has been a long time since I've spent a day in the cattle pens. It will be an interesting day, to say the least.
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