Queen of the Hill

This is Honey the Donkey. She was playing queen of the hill. I think either she won or she was the only one playing! Too funny though to drive out to the pasture & see this image this morning. Honey was braying her brains out too!
So busy today that I can't even think about all the stuff I did today. I do remember being an electrician of sorts, horsing around with the horses, running into town & feeding the calves this evening. Other than that....I'm blank! I think I'm still tired from our busy weekend.
Speaking of...the weekend was very fun. Charlie, WB & I went to the shoot in Upton on Saturday & had a great time. I tried out some different rifles & carbines belonging to a friend as WB is looking at a different rifle/carbine for me. Most likely a carbine because I don't need the long barrel of a rifle. Since a carbine is shorter, it is better suited for a woman's frame. Gorgeous day & had a literal & figurative blast!
Weather was a little spotty Sunday morning, but we took the gamble & hit the big pay day! It ended up being a beautiful morning to ride horses. Ruby did really well - no kicking & she only pinned her ears back when she couldn't see Steele. Since he can be a real toot, I don't blame her for not liking it when he was out of eye sight! I'm getting more comfortable on her & feel like I'll really have full confidence on her fairly soon.

These two guys here are Trooper & Charlie. We are looking at Trooper to adopt as Charlie's noble steed. He, Trooper not Charlie, is a retired competition jumper, but also a retired HPD (Houston Police Department) officer. Sweet guy just stood there while I petted him, checked his hooves & messed with his muzzle. Of course I had to give him a few treats as a reward. He hasn't been under saddle in 4 years. I'm hoping that all will work out that we get to keep him, but we do not want, nor do we need, another horse that just eats & poops! Keeping fingers crossed.
Tomorrow. Hmmm. I think I'm going to go the Scarlet O'Hara route on tomorrow & think about it tomorrow.

Just Lovely

No more new calves, but the ones we have are too cute. Little Slash over here was catching some morning sunshine yesterday. A few of his friends joined him a little later. I tried to get a picture of the calf pile, but the crazy donkeys kept getting in the way or trying to bite me or stealing my gloves or taking my calf calendar or...you get the picture, they were being a total nuisance! I'm making sure there is plenty of mineral out so that if we do have more calves next week with the new cold front, there won't be any problems. Really don't want another vet house call because the momma can't expel the afterbirth properly. Mineral helps them do that & is way cheaper than the vet coming to visit!
Sugar is enjoying life on the ranch. She has plenty of yard to roam around in & spends most days chillaxing in her day bed. She must get her 20 hours of sleep less she be grumpy although she's usually grumpy anyway. I guess I would be if I were that old. She's 16. If I were 112, I'd be grumpy too!

I have been working working working in the horse barn these days. I built some blanket drying racks yesterday & plan to install them today. We had near disaster yesterday when 3 horses piled up in 1 stall. I'll be heading to the hardware store for latches, hasps & chain to install on all of the stalls so those pesky guys can't open the stalls themselves anymore. Thank goodness Daddy was at the workshop & heard the commotion. Racks & latches installed, I will need to check the light fixtures that don't work & replace or repair. Fun stuff over, I guess I'll have to start cleaning up some of the old saddles to complete my work in there. Will have to take my time with that so that I can figure out what project to start working on next!

I'm Back!!

Left cold rainy Houston this morning & drove into a cool non-rainy day at the ranch. Had another great weekend in H-town with my hubby. We had some friends over for dinner Sat night & that was about it for highlights of the weekend.
Today was a "hit the ground running" day back on the ranch. After I put away 800lbs of feed in the feed room, my horse stalkers were looming about so I fed them. Ruby got her daily grooming & lunging. She was feeling her oats a bit as she tried to bite me while I was saddling her. So...she got to lunge some more in full saddle before I rode her. Just a little ride around the arena. I don't feel sure enough about myself with her yet to go galavanting off into the back acreage.
Horses tended to, it was time to go check on the commercial cattle. We now have a total of 13 babies. They are playing around in the top picture & then needed a little rest afterward. I think their mothers told them to sit down & be quiet. They were having a killer bridge game & had just brewed a fresh pot of coffee. Too cute cute!
While out checking on the baby count, I had the donkeys (Hody & Honey) trying to climb into the Kubota with me. Hody nearly bit me 5 or 6 times. What's the deal with horses & donkeys trying to bite me today?? Biting Tara does not make her want to pass out the treats!!!
Tomorrow is grocery store, fill mineral feeders, work with Ruby some more & lord only knows what else will cross my path. Am sure it will be just fine though - what ever it is.

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

So is Christmas, but that is the time of year I'm talking about. It's calving season! That is the most wonderful time of the year. Such cuties hitting the ground. The top picture is 242's baby. She is learning the flavor of stick. The bottom picture is 198's baby. She was nuzzling the weeds, but hasn't decided to taste them yet.
I got a great surprise when I went to feed last night. 184 had a baby yesterday. It seems to be doing well since it was not happy when momma left its side to go eat. No problems with the birth or after birth or her udder so we are shooting 1000 on this one!
I have worked & worked down in the horse barn the past few days. It was so crazy windy yesterday that that horses & I were happy to be spending it in the barn. They saw me pull up down there & came charging over in a stampede. While they munched their new food, I cleaned the tack room. It probably won't stay that way for long, but at least the mouse houses are gone. There are some great old saddles that need some TLC & I'll tackle that next week.
Today is a short day as I'm off to Houston for the weekend. It's going to be a more relaxed weekend this time since we don't have a million & 1 things to do. I'm just going to wrap things up so that I can start fresh on Monday.
I need to go do a calf count with the commercial herd. This cold weather surely brought on other births. Will have to bundle up because it is freezing cold out there. Doubtful that I'll take Pepe. He's been shivering under his cover for days now.

Ruby Tuesday

Had a horse filled day today.  Started out in the horse barn & stayed there all morning & a little bit after lunch.  The horses decided they would like a little breakfast & get out of the foggy cold windy morning.  Once I kicked them out again, it was time to muck the stalls.  All cleaned up, I decided to tackle the hay stall.  I'm always cautious walking in there because I don't know what is under all that hay!  Forked up all the hay & used it as bedding in the stalls as well as adding 4 fresh hay bales to the hay stall. 
The cattle inventory is as finished as it is going to get until we do a round up this spring.  I did get pictures of all the bulls & formatted their inventory to match the commercial inventory spreadsheet.  I think Uncle Don is going to curl his toes in delight at the new inventory.  At least I'm hoping he will!
The sun finally came out late afternoon & so I lunged Ruby & then went for a short ride.  I think she was more interested in the peppermint treats in my pocket than anything else, but we had a good workout & ride.  Tomorrow, I will officially adopt her.  Am really excited!!
The calves were a little confused with the new feeding arrangement tonight.  Their old feeding area is just a mud pit & so we moved the troughs.  Most of them went bounding into the old area only to freak out & come running back to the new area.  So funny when they realized that the food wasn't going in there.  Silly little calves!!
I'm pooped from scooping poop today & am going to go collapse in my freshly clean sheeted bed.  :-)

It's Monday Already?

Fun weekend again! This time, in Houston. Spent the afternoon with my Mom on Friday celebrating her birthday. We had lunch & got our eyebrows threaded. Throw in a mani/pedi & we would have had the full grooming treatment! We had a lot of fun and I think she really enjoyed her birthday.
Saturday was full of running errands & getting ready for the Epiphany Party. We always have a lot of fun with the cousins & it was extra fun this time. Theater & Movies was the theme so we dined on a bounty of delicious appetizers before our gift exchange of items you might take to the theater or movies. Last, but not least, was charades. The gift swap was really funny as someone is always getting something stolen & charades was a hoot. I'm terrible at it & got a really tough one. We all just gave up on me, but every one else did great & most titles were guessed.
Can't imagine why, but no one wanted my white gloves that I got in the gift exchange. I had Katie (with me in the picture) in stitches with those gloves. We all had to take a potty break because we were laughing so hard. Again, such fun with the family.
Sunday was spent running about to parents houses to wrap up the family weekend. Charlie & I made a delicious pot of chili for dinner & enjoyed a relaxing evening at home.
Back to the ranch today. I finally had a chance to ride Ruby. We did really well & I just need to keep up working with her & riding her while we have this good weather. The calves missed me over the weekend. Little 57 tried to eat my hair & gave me plenty of kisses - that means the right side of my face is now thoroughly exfoliated! Mrs. Doe has fully integrated into the herd & she is bellying up to the trough in this picture. All the other calves are at the trough to the right & out of the camera shot. It is so sweet the way they have all adopted each other. I'm glad she has friends because she would be very lonely otherwise.
Back to riding & other ranching tomorrow. Looking forward to a busy week full of horses, cows, dogs & donkeys!

Cold, Cold, Cold

Did someone transplant Texas into the Arctic Circle or something??? The feels like 24 degrees yesterday morning made me feel like not getting out of bed! Alas, I could not do so. After suiting up to look like Randy from The Christmas Story or Kenny from South Park, off I went to get momma 198 in the pens so we could doctor on her. Momma & baby are still doing well, but would really like baby to be able to nurse all 4 quarters the udder.
The horses are getting to be funny in that they are waiting for their breakfast in the morning & waiting for me in the evening to be let back in the stalls for their dinner. That is the picture at the bottom - Leo & Ruby watching me put a little feed in the bottom of their buckets with hay on top. Extra funny was that they all knocked the hay out of the bucket to get to the feed first & then ate their hay.
I took some new pictures of Ruby. She is just so beautiful! I can't believe that she's mine & was just given to me. WB was sweet. He told me to order/get a new bridle or whatever I wanted for her. One minute he hates that we have horses & the other he's giving them treats. I guess we all need something to complain about &, in his case, it may as well be horses.
After my morning of cow doctoring, horse herding, putting out hay & mineral for the cows, it was lunch time. I sincerely tried to work on the cattle inventory after lunch, but I had a killer headache & was so sleepy that I just had to take a little nap. Sugar does love a nap & snuggled right under the covers.
I did get the inventory finished last night though with the exception of a few tweaks to the spreadsheets. Since I don't have Excel on my computer, I have to do it on WB's computer. I also started on my appetizers for the family Epiphany party this weekend. Looking forward to seeing the Poole clan.
Today will be a repeat of yesterday except we are heading into town to pick up Pepe from the 4-wheeler doctor. The gas leak was caused by a gas dump screw in the carburetor that came loose. Told the guy at the repair shop that I'd like to be able to check on it. I'm no mechanic, but I think I can handle turning a screw to make sure that I don't have gas leaking all over the place!!
More coffee, bundling up & then gonna get out there & get me some of this wintry day.

Terrific Tuesday

Did y'all know it is cold outside??
I was in full gear this morning - warmest socks on feet, microfiber long handle underwear on legs, 4 layers under my barn coat, glove liners & gloves on hands, balaklava on head, face & neck plus a hat.  You'd think I wouldn't have still been cold!!
We got momma 198 up & treated her mastitis.  3 more days of treatment & all 4 quarters of her bag should be nursable for her baby.  266 & 207 both needed assistance removing the afterbirth from their calves.  I'm sure they feel much better now!  I found out though that keeping them well supplied with mineral assists with that naturally so I will make sure those feeders are never empty from now on.  I would have taken pictures but it was really gross & y'all would not have wanted to see that nasty nastyness.
Mucked all the stalls in the horse barn & leveled the dirt a bit.  Miss Estee was right on time for getting in the stall tonight.  She was peeking over the railing at me at 5pm on the dot.  Looked like she was asking me when dinner would be ready.  I did have time to work with Ruby on the lunge line a little bit & then just brushed her out & cleaned her hooves.  I need the practice doing all that & I don't want her forgetting that she has to stand there nicely to have those things done.
Another busy day on the range & another one ahead tomorrow.  I'll take my camera along to get some pictures of these cute calves (198's baby looks like a fuzzy brown bear!) & of the lovely Miss Ruby.

Hello Monday!

What a fun weekend! 
Friday was busy working with the horses, feeding cows, working on projects around the house & so much more than I can't remember it all now!
Went to a SASS shoot on Saturday.  It was Charlie's first shoot & the first time for me to wear the period outfit a friend made for me.  Can't believe I didn't get any pictures!  A lot of fun & perfect weather - nice & sunny but cool enough not to get hot.  Fun time by all.
The colder weather brought on two more calf births on Saturday night.  Charlie & I counted babies yesterday morning when putting out hay.  One of the mommas has mastitis & so I'll be working with Jack this morning getting the cows up so we can doctor on the momma & make sure baby is getting enough to eat - drink really.  So, we may have a calf that needs to be bottle fed or at least supplemented.  It's fun to do that - they are just so cute & you just want to cuddle them!  Once cows & horses are tended to this morning, I'll be hitting the shower so WB & I can run off to Cabela's.  What else would you do on a cold wintry Monday???

Ruby, Ruby - Ruby, will you be mine?

Here is Miss Ruby. She's a 15 year old mare with a mile long pedigree. Wish I knew the names of her ancestors as I'm sure I'd be impressed. We had a good ride yesterday & she did very well. I hope everything works out so that we can be friends & she gets to stay here. I know she misses the other horses that she has known most of her life, but surely Leo will make a good companion friend for her. I can't speak horse, but hopefully I too can be a good companion for her as well. She sure is a beauty & a lot of fun to ride.

On the other hand, we have the donkeys! Honey is a little fatty fatty & is forming a road block until I hand over all the feed in the feed room! Poor Hody back there is not getting the same amount of groceries she is - that is for sure.
OH NO! 4-legged banditos have taken over the VW ranch. Highway robbery, I tell ya!
There's no accounting for a spotty donkey.
This is what WB has been working on so hard for the last week or so. We will now have some stinking badges to shoot at today at our SASS shoot. He has had a lot of fun making these & I even got to help a little - mainly using the chop saw for the small pieces he needs to keep the star in the ring & for the hanger. My cousin Jill & I want him to teach us to weld. That would be so freaking awesome!! We have the equipment out here - might as well learn how to use it all. That & it would be totally fun. :-D

Beautiful Day!

Cold crisp morning this morning. We didn't put out hay because we are going to fog it to 'em tomorrow. Weather supposed to be really nasty by this weekend. Spent the morning cutting up old garden hose into 18" pieces for the "snake pit" at the shooting range. Those "snakes" really fly out of the sand when hit in just the right spot with a shotgun! After my snake charming, off I went for a long ride with my cousin & some of his friends. Rode Estee today - she is a sweetie & fun to ride. Since she is a Quarter horse, I feel like I need a ladder to get up on her. Good thing I'm limber!
WB spent his morning cutting out new targets for the range. They are a Texas star with a ring around them. When finished, they look like a badge. He'll hopefully have 2 if not all 4 ready tomorrow so we can shoot them on Saturday. I was really jealous because that looked like fun although I'm sure it would have looked like a blind monkey cut them out if I had a go at that cutting torch.
My other cousin found one of the flags Mom & Daddy used on SV Tire Swing - 42' WestSail cutter rigged ketch. It flew on her in Palmetto, FL in 1995. This flag survived two hurricanes - Luis & Martin per my cousin. I am still crying missing my beloved Mother, but happy to see a cherished piece of our family's history again. I lived on the boat with my parents in my early 20's. It was a lot of fun & I still have many wonderful friends there. I learned how to sail, strip & refinish teak, always had a killer tan, got a tattoo with one of Mom's friends at Lou's Tattoos in St. Pete (she got a dolphin & I got a sailboat), and so many fun memories that I can't even begin to share. It makes me sad & very happy to see that flag - mostly tears of happiness.

Tomorrow is going to be busy - get out hay, meet my potential new horse & ride her, feed calves, get dinner ready & await the arrival of my hubby from Houston. Looking forward to his first shoot with us on Saturday.

Every Day Brings a New Baby!

Another new baby born last night or early this morning. He's taking a nice stretch after his afternoon nap. That makes 7 babies since late November & most of them have been born in the last 2 weeks. They are too cute!! The little one below is my favorite. Looks like he has white sneakers on. Tennis anyone?? Oh wait - can't hold the racket with a cloven hoof! I can't wait to see if we have any more tomorrow. Looked like there were a few mommas ready to go with milk for their yet-to-be-born babies.
Busy day today - got hay & mineral out for the cows (I drove the tractor again - super fun!), cleaned up some broken branches in the calf pen & tended to the horses; made chicken salad, chicken & dumplings & peanut butter sticks; cleaned my room, got all my laundry done & bathed the dog. Oh wait...that's not it! I also fed the calves, fed WB, put leftovers away for Charlie to have next week & then did the dishes. I'm exhausted just typing all that! After all that, I totally deserved
the 2 beers I drank earlier this evening. Now I'm waiting to talk to my hubby, fill out my 401K rollover paperwork & then I think I'll actually sleep!
Hopefully, I'll wake up to some new four-legged friends running about in the pasture!!

New Year's Baby

Momma 242 finally had that little baby on New Year's Day. Our first calf of the year & it (I don't know if it's a girl or boy yet) makes a total of 6 commercial calves born in late November, December 2010 & now January 2011. That little baby is soooo cute! I just want to go give it a hug & give it lots of kisses. I would never survive even if baby would stand still for all that loving since momma would eat my lunch! Momma wasn't too worried about me though at feeding time last night. She was hungrier than she was concerned as I was putting out the feed. She did finally lift her head from the trough, look for her baby & look for me. I made sure I had the Kubota between us just in case she decided I was closer to her baby than she wanted. All was well though & baby frolicked about the pen while the big kids & grown ups ate their dinner.
Mrs. Black Buck doe has been fully integrated into the herd. You can sort of see her in the 2nd picture & that is the closest I have ever gotten to her. She gets right in the mix of all the cows to bed down with them or eat hay. She's kind of small to get in at the troughs with the cows, but she definitely goes back & does cleanup on anything left behind or that hits the ground. I guess the Brahmans & the Black Buck know that are fellow countrymen since they are both of Indian (from India) decent.
Today I'm going to make chicken & dumplings - yum yum! I also have all the stuff ready to go for some peanut butter sticks so I better get started on that as well. Once all my cooking duties are done, I think I'm going to go clean up the calves pen a bit - lop some broken tree branches & fix a section of the fence. The horses probably wouldn't mind getting out of the cold rainy weather to enjoy some dry hay & alfalfa cubes. So I'll work with them today regardless of weather. It's still pitch dark outside so I'll be waiting a while for all of that. The rain is so nice to have - maybe we'll get to burn our burn piles. Of course, the county will have to lift the burn ban first.

Home again to my other home

It's always sad & a bit of a relief when the holidays are over.  Gone are the family & friends back to their homes.  Time to get the decorations put away.  Some things are hard to put away because I enjoy seeing them so much & they bring back great memories of Christmases past.  I'm never ready for it to be over because it flies by too fast!  But.....chin up, shoulders back & march on forward into 2011.
It was great to be in Houston for a few days, but I really miss being at my home away from home.  To see cows walking by my window or hear one of the donkeys braying or giving lots of good face & nubby horn scratches to the calves.  If that happens in Houston, I have passed out in the middle of the livestock barn during the rodeo!!
Looking forward to my cousin visiting this week as I will have someone to ride horses with.  I might even have to invite those boys up to the house for dinner!  I guess that means I'll have to get to the grocery store since we are down to zero leftovers & not much else except for Spam!
It's going to be a "get it in gear" week.  I think both WB & I have gotten used to the slower pace of the holidays & now it is time to get back to work!  We really need to get the Brahman herd worked - wean calves, tag ears, freeze brand & get the inventory straightened out.  I'm sure we'll do it in more than one day as this kind of work takes more time with each cow.  We are both waiting on a little warmer weather though.  Even the cows are extra testy in the cold weather.
We have a new baby that hit the ground late Saturday or early Sunday morning.  Cut little fuzzy black calf - will post a picture later today.  Momma & baby are doing well.  Was extra worried about momma since she prolapsed, but all has worked out well & both seem quite healthy - a little sore, but healthy.

Happy New Year Y'all!

WOW! The holidays have just flown by. Can't believe the new year is here & it will be time to get back to work, work, work.
Charlie & I had a great time with our families & friends. I think we actually managed to see just about everyone this year & we aren't exhausted from running about to & fro.

Charlie & I, mostly Charlie, took down the old guinea pen yesterday & so the side yard looks much better. Now to wait for Spring & to get some grass in that yard. I'm really excited about that as Dog will no longer be bringing all that dirt in the house!

As you can see, Dog is ready to start the New Year. I think really he'd like some breakfast, but I haven't started cooking yet today! I'm going to have to get the black eyed peas & cornbread going here soon though. Must have that luck for 2011.

Bunk Stagner is going to start the year off with a big bang by going to Agarrita Ranch for a SASS shoot. He took off just a little while ago & is now back since the shoot doesn't start until 11. He would have been just a little early & their gate would have been locked! He's not sure what he's going to do with himself for the next 2 days. We've had a houseful for over a week & the house will be awfully quiet. Maybe I'll put a bell on Dog's collar so that there is some annoying noise going on in the house! Nawww - I like my Dad so I won't do that to him. Might drive him over the edge trying to figure out where that noise is coming from. I push the limits of his sanity on a daily basis - as all good children should do for their parents.
Sugar drank way too much booze last night & is nursing her hangover. I kept telling her to slow down on those drinks, but she wouldn't listen & now is paying the price. You'd think she would know the score by now considering that she is fairly ancient!

We are back to Houston today. I hope the fact that I have to go home & clean house & toilets for guests is not an indication of how the year is going to go for me considering that it is starting in the toilet!! Maybe I'm just getting the worst over first & the rest of the year will be cake. One can only hope & think positively.

I wish everyone a very happy & healthy new year. May 2011 be good to you & your families.