Happy Gobble Gobble Y'all

Since I refuse to believe that I am aging daily, I must be having fun as time just flies by. My days on the ranch are fairly similar - feed horses, feed calves, feed cows, feed bulls, feed WB, feed dogs, feed calves again, feed WB again, feed dogs again & feed, the yard calves anyway, a few more times before calling it a day. Mixed in there is fixing broken pipes to water troughs, repairing squished hay rings, airing up the never ending flat tires on the tractor & doing my best not to track recycled grass into the house. And, I do love it all!!
Here is a picture of the handsome WB in front of one of the many helicopters he flew in the Army. I sent this picture to my sister for Veterans Day. She printed pictures of kids family members in the service & hung them on the wall in her library on Veterans Day. I thought that was a great idea & it is always nice to get a visual reminder of those who protect our freedoms with their lives & that we can take so easily for granted.
Here we have the Boys Breakfast Club. My sweet man Val is up front & Coalie is in the back. The little guy in the middle has no name yet as he may get to live elsewhere one day & be the proud father of cute little humpie babies. I currently have about 15 adult & adolescent bulls in that pasture. Although I can pet & scratch every one of them, the breakfast room is closed while plates are being served. Once that is done & Pepe out of the way, I open the gates & they clamour for position around the feed troughs. They could care less about me & getting scratches when food is on the table. Can't say as I blame them as their feed is rather tasty to them. At least we now have some grass on the ground since we have had almost 3 inches of rain since last month. Fingers crossed, all the rye grass we planted will sprout nicely & they will have some good grazing.

Here we have the Junior version of the breakfast club. Just a few of the little heifers we have this year. All the steer calves have been sold. WB informs me that after Thanksgiving we will be sorting off a few more of the smaller heifers & some of the little Brahman boys who aren't very friendly to sell. Fine with me - fewer mouths to feed over the winter. Some of these little ones are getting used to me & discovering that I don't just bring them feed but that scratches behind their ears, on their itchy horn buds & under their chins is very nice! Sometimes, I feel like the Pied Piper with the way they follow me around. Kinda fun & kinda creepy!!






















This little girl just cracked me up. I guess the hay is tastier up there & she is staking her claim on all of it!

Here Mr. Junior is eating his late night snack.  Such a sweet little guy.  He was hungry but very tired & didn't want to get up.  Yes, every one gets spoiled out here.  We just can't help ourselves!

Must get moving to get all animals fed, pack up the truck & head to my sister's house for Thanksgiving.  Very excited to see her & to spend some time just relaxing with my family.  I have so many things to be thankful for &, as always, my family is my most precious gift for which I am thankful to be included as a member.  I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

Rual Does Not Equal Sedentary

Well hello hello. Every time I sit to blog, something keeps me from sitting long enough to upload pictures & typing! Things have been super busy at the ranch lately. Not sure what changed from the normal super busy, but I guess when you think your schedule is already full there is always a little room to squeak more in there. The last 2 weeks of September we spent inventorying all the cows & weaning calves. Not to worry, my BB calf is still hooked on me & can usually be found loitering in the carport. It's always the same, she wants to get in the yard to eat grass & get her rations of calf feed & milk. She actually noses the gate latch & tries to let herself in - it's too funny.
With the cattle work came flies, flies & more flies. In this picture, WB is spraying the commercial lot for flies. Not only does it make them more comfortable to not have those pests buzzing about them, but the flies bring worms with them & worms degrade the health of the animal. So spray away please!! They were even bothering me & I'm not sure if that was because I smelled like a cow or what, but I was ready to stand there & get sprayed too! Freaking little nasty pests!! Buzz off!!


This storm front looked promising for rain, but alas, it did not bring any. It did make for a nice picture, but that was it. We did get some rain the first part of October & those 2.5 inches really made a difference. The ground is green now instead of brown. The cows, horses & donkeys are loving it. We still feed them all every day & about once a week I put out hay for them.

This is such a sweet picture of mother & baby. I guess baby was feeling a little insecure & wanted a little lap time.












Here we have our newest family members. Two Basset hounds showed up at the back door one morning. A boy, Flopsy, & a girl, Mopsy. They are super sweet & I can't imagine that someone just threw them out on the road for dead. They are definitely in good hands now & are getting quite accustomed to lounging in our laps, in their fluffy beds or snuggled up on the furniture. Dog & Sugar don't mind one bit as they too know that life can be hard living on the streets & welcomed the new family members with open paws.






Yes. That is me getting a facial by #57. She does love to lick on me whether it is my legs, arms or face. She has no preference. She'll even eat on my hair if given the chance. Pretty soon, she & the rest of her herd will go out in the pasture with all the big girls as they will be old enough to breed this coming spring. I'll miss having this lot around to love on, but we have a whole new crop of calves just waiting for the same attention these girls have gotten.


Well, I'm off & running again. I'm going to try to work with the new pups on leashes. We'll see how that goes. I might end up tangled in a mess of rope getting licked to death!!!