This Week...

has not been conducive to stitching. Every Monday is sale barn day and on Tuesday we drove 3 hours to attend the bull sale where we purchase bulls every year.

                               

I did manage to get some hand stitching in during the drive

 This year we filled up our dance card with 16 pretty boys. I didn't walk through the pens with DH

 this year because I unhooked from the trailer and drove another hour north to sell DH's bobcat hides. I got back just as the sale started.

It was after 9 when we pulled back into the ranch and let the new residents out to have their fill of hay:

                                       


Then overnight, our gentle spring exploded with activity and wind:

                              

Folks complain about the wind, but I just shake my head. Unless you've experienced wind in the New Mexico desert, you have not experienced wind:


                                           

That's a horribly grainy shot, but I had to include it. And, no, you cannot just hole up in the house when it hits. Cattle still need to be fed, doctored, moved, sorted and when you're a rancher or farmer, staying inside is not an option. I was talking to a friend the other day and she said you just had to wait for it to pass and then shovel all the dirt out of your house. She got it right.

                             

On Thursday, the folks we bought the bulls from, delivered the rest of the bulls at noon and after dinner DH and I ran them through the chute

                                         

 to brand them:

                                        

With Skeet's help, we got it done:

                                        

That evening DH had a board meeting to attend so we drove into town for that and I bought groceries for all the extra folks I'll be feeding in the coming week.

Yesterday, my SIL came through at noon and today, my BIL came through at noon. Tomorrow I'll have 4 extras for breakfast because we are gathering steers to haul to the sale so again...I'm in the kitchen.

I think I'll have extras on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and then the kids will be here for Easter weekend with little T and apparently we're going to meet the newest member of the family:

                                                    

I dumped the boys out one morning too after breakfast and then scurried back to the house to fix dinner

Thankfully, there is no sale on the Monday after Easter, and Tuesday I'll have extras to feed again as we're sending out roping cattle to a sale and then we'll make a trip to watch them sell.

Plus DH is looking to get some more bulk feeders so we'll probably squeeze that in somewhere and they're still working on the new scale setup in spare time:

It's been nuts. I've been keeping sane by sewing when I can. I just got the binding on a little quilt so the long dry spell of no finished quilts might be coming to an end.

                                       

Somehow I have managed to get in some sewing. I'll be back with an update of that in a  day or two.