Windblown Ramblings and Sorting Cattle

I don't feel like blogging, but I am dragging myself to the computer anyway. I figure I owe it to you and I'm being reminded that it HAS been a week since my last post. Sorry, but the weather has been too nice to spend much time indoors. At least it has been until this morning. It was 68 degrees at 6 am and the wind has decided to kick into high gear and I'm feeling a bit windblown. DH and the kids were out cutting more bulls and after feeding them a hearty breakfast, I set out to make my way to the end of the dirt road to stick some mail in the mailbox. I don't know what possessed me to walk but, 5 miles later, fighting the wind the entire way, I made it back home and started on dinner. Besides the arrival of buzzards, wind, also generally can be counted on as a sign of spring out here. I'm already tired of it and that's not a good thing since we're bound to be experiencing many more days like today. Its difficult to be in a good humor when the wind blows incessantly. You just sort of sigh and look away from the dirt piling up on the insides of your window sills...and on the dining room table...and on the counters...and on the ....(insert anything here).

Last week we shipped out 117 hd of steer calves and since then, the days haven't slowed down much.

Too many trips to town, but some of them are just worth it! Ranch girl had the most gorgeous baby boy you ever did see on Sunday and there were about 16 of us nestled into the waiting room waiting for the blessed event. I'm glad no one else was in labor, because we kind of filled up the entire room! I so want to head over there to peek into his precious face, but I'll give them a little time to get settled in. You done good Mama!

On Saturday I attended a quilt class in town. It's held once a month for 8 months and I don't know how many I'll be able to get to, but I made the first one anyway! Now I see a trip to the quilt store in Texas looming in the not too distant future!

Monday was Bible Study, a movie for DD and time for me to catch up with a friend on town.

I enjoyed every minute at home on Tuesday, but dreaded the fact that we would be heading back in on Wednesday for piano, on Thursday for Shooting Sports, on Friday for a 4-H Meeting, and on Saturday for a Bull Sale, and on Sunday for Church. I'll confess that we haven't been attending church like we should. I'm working on that.

I'm still in the midst of the planning stages for the garden. I'm waiting for my "New Square Foot Gardening" book to arrive. I stopped by the seed store yesterday and Jesse told me they had tons of potting soil and garden soil from broken bags that I could have for next to nothing! Yes, I am excited about dirt! I'm not entirely sure what I'll use for the containers or boxes, but we've got lots of old, round, water troughs just sitting around that I'm eyeing with interest. So recently, I've had my nose stuck in the Farmer's Almanac along with the seed store catalog that gives me a ton of information for gardening in this area.

So, that about catches you up on life at the ranch. I'll leave you with some photos I took when we sorted steers and heifers a couple of weeks ago. Well, I didn't sort. All I did was snap some pictures. Oh, and almost set the truck on fire.

Here's DH sorting:

Everyone's gotta stay on their toes and keep the cattle from heading in directions other than where DH wants them to go:

They'll sneak by you any chance they get:

Its a group effort:

These critters are not known for their cooperative natures either. See that "you can't make me" stare?

DD headed them in the right direction when the sorting was finished:

The wind was being quite uncooperative as well; she spent much of her time holding onto her hat.

Oh and that fire? Here's the culprit:

I smelled something burning as I drove the pickup and trailer over here and lo and behold, DH crawled under it and pried out this smoldering chunk of grass. Looks like someone's been driving off road! And, no, it wasn't me! DH thought it had been there for a while. Whew! I was off the hook and breathed a sigh of relief and sent up a prayer of thanks that the pickup didn't catch on fire. I'll tell you, we keep those angels busy around here!

And while we're at it, lets just have a flat tire for fun:



Sigh! Never a dull moment around here. It's a wonder DH lets me get behind the wheel of anything!