Long Time No Blog

  Yes, it has been forever & a day since I have sat at the computer to blog about life on the ranch.  I guess the Fall & Winter were too depressing to share.  No rain, no grass, hay hard to find & very expensive, livestock skinny & debating on selling or to keep feeding everyone & pray for rain. 
  It all worked out since we were able to get our tanks dug out & they are now full & have overflown twice with all the rain.  My calves sold at a higher price than I've ever gotten & all the livestock are so grass fat they can barely wade through the belly high grass.  My prayers & patience were answered & rewarded.
 
I took a little trip last weekend with some friends to an equestrian lodge around Bandera & rode horses in the hill coutry.  So beautiful there!!  I haven't been in ages.  It was extra exciting because even though I have ridden horses all my life, I have never ridden my own horse on property other than my own.  We had a wonderful time except for a little run in with some Boy Scout hikers.  The horses freaked out but we were all OK.   Apparently, Ruby & I can do 360s in a cedar tree without me getting sratched, loosing my hat or either of us getting hurt.


OK.  This mesquite tree is one of the freakiest trees I've seen lately & there were two of them.  They are completely empty inside the trunk yet the tree was leafing out.  Just amazing the resilience of nature & certainly that peksy mequite.  Those dudes don't die easy.








Mr. Shiner & Rosemary.  I call him Shine Man because he is rather stellar.  He just hopped up on that rock & was looking for a cookie from his Momma.  Rose & Shiner are a perfect match & Ruby actually doesn't try to bite & kick him too much.  She's an alpha & can be quite the grande dame.








  Miss Ruby was stuffing her face with grass.  That is Cowboy in the background.  He belongs to Rita & Rita is Ruby's grandmother.  Rosemary, in her infinite wisdom, matched Ruby with me.  Rita's daughter could no longer care for Ruby & Ruby became too much for Rita to handle.  Who better to take charge of an alpha mare than me?  Sometimes I think Ruby & I are a bit too alike in our personalities.  I guess that is why we get along well & she doesn't get away with any of her attitude with me!!







This is Skunk the cat from Hill Country Eqestrian Lodge.  She was hanging out on the fence.  Probably waiting for a mouse, baby rabbit or little bird to be ever so foolish enough to land in her pasture. 
















My riding buddies - Rosemary & Shiner; Rita & Cowboy.  We have a great time together & have lots of laughs.














Here is Daddy with the two Basset hounds that adopted us last October.  Flopsy & Mopsy attack WB's lap daily & he does enjoy their company.  Not to worry, Dog is still king of the canines around here & hangs out with his dad all day.  Feeding time is much lounder than it used to be.  Flopsy is a rather timid male until dinner time, then he definitely finds his voice!









This is our horse Fish playing in the water trough.  You can see the flood on the ground he created.  Watching him do this made me understand his name!!





We now have 8 commercial calves.  So far, 5 are versions of red & white & then we have 3 that are black & white.  So cute.  I run out back every day to see if we have any new ones.  I just want to snuggle on these little babies.  They look so soft!!!




As of today, we have 4 Brahman babies.  3 are white & we now have a red one in the group.  These babies are also too cute but their mothers don't let me get nearly as close as the other cows do. 
  We have a big weekend ahead - WB & I will shoot in Lockhart & some of my family arrived today.  Next week is work cattle week - a bull got in with the commercial cows & I'm not ready for them to start dating yet, one needs some udder care, one needs to see the vet & one needs a new ear tag.  They all need to be fly sprayed too.  The Brahmans are doing well, but I have some concerns about one of my mothers right now.  She has plenty of milk but I just hope that baby is able to nurse her gigantic udder. 
Am off to bed & will try to be a better blogger.  I do enjoy sharing this life I am very blessed to live.