Co-Pilot

Me and my co-pilot.

Headed off to pull out some fence posts.

Early Morning Wake Up Call

Is it time for my nap yet?

Good Puppy

I've been dragging corrals the last week or two to get em' ready for scraping manure. Ahhh tis' the season for manure spreading! Err, at least manure scraping. I think I will be blessed with manure spreading when Texas and I get back from our honeymoon in August.

Anyways, back to the point of this post. While I drag the corral for hours on end, I make Stoney go lay down, preferably in a shaded spot. There's no point in him following the tractor in circles for 3 or 4 hours while getting covered in manure dust.

I just love how he's SUCH a good boy!! He lays in his little spot for hours with his eyes on me the whole time. And when I do get off the tractor and tell him the shows over, this boy's motor goes in overdrive. I don't think he could run any faster to me than he does after laying in cow crap for hours.

Traffic Jam

Most out of staters have this impression that California is full of beaches, celebrities, bumper to bumper traffic jams...

Well, that may be true if you live in the very southern part of this state, it could not be more of a myth around these parts: The California Central Valley.

Poverty stricken and with no "bright lights" around these parts, we have very few celebrities.

We definitely don't have beaches. We do have cows, orchards, crops, and lots of flies.

We also don't get many bumper to bumper traffic jams, unless you dare to drive to the big city of San Francisco, which is still quite the journey from our little valley towns.

The only traffic we tend to run into around these parts are....

Trains. Lots and lots of trains. They got plenty of places to be, apparently. It seems Texas and I cannot make a single trip to the grocery store without getting stopped by a long train. Or in this example, I was on my way back from sending cows to auction.

We also have an abundance of farm machinery that tend to put a damper in the day of the city folk around these parts. Sometimes taking up a lane and a half, they can be difficult to pass safely. 

This ain't your stereotypical California traffic jam, that is for sure.

Supervising

Hey Booty-ful

Oh hey.

Hey booty-ful.

Crappy Part Of The Job

The crappy part of my job is definitely cleaning out the 30 foot trailer when it gets to dirty.

This particular morning, I spent almost 3 hours powerwashing.

And I didn't even get close to being perfectly clean. Texas has a knack for getting every last morsel of crap off of the trailer.

I, on the other hand, try my darndest - but I definitely need to work on my trailer cleaning skills.

At least it still looks a lot cleaner than what we began with!

Waitin'

Waitin' with the ponies. Waitin' on Texas.

One Morning

One morning, a couple weeks ago, Jaders and I got saddled up to work some beef cows.

She's the cutest.

She puts up with me being an over loving mama.

Knee Deep

Lately, I've been knee deep in...

well, you know. :)

My New Job

My new job as of lately...

Professional Weed Whacking Machine.

Snapshot

Snapshot.

Texas and I. Riding on the back of the 4-wheeler, driven by Manuel, after pushing 400 rambunctious Springers out to pasture.

A Little Mud

Our rain dance must have worked. It must have been one heck of a show... we have been DUMPED on the last two or three days. 

Yesterday, Manny and I had to move some cows around in the pastures, so we opted to take his horse out during the lull in the rain.

As we were getting ready to move the Holsteins around, we check out on the pasture they were being moved in to. When we were ready to turn around and go get the ladies, Manny misjudged a puddle... was actually more of a sinkhole. Let me tell ya, it's sure fun being a passenger on the back of that thing with mud flying up from all directions.

Next time, I think we will find another spot to turn around.

My Little Helper

This last Tuesday, we had our bi-monthly vet check to find out which cows were pregnant.

Little Dos decided he needed to assist me with the cows. Since he's 6 months old now. Pretty big deal.

A Morning Moving Cows

Sometime last week I took these pictures on my phone.

Texas and I did some cattle roundups. 

Moved lots of girlies and some boys around. Actually, Texas and Romeo had a square off with one of the fellas. I think it was more play than fight, but still interesting to watch my two boys tango with someone twice their size.

Minus all the "bull", it was a lovely morning. Working with my boys and my love.

Makeup King

Some little pup was curious about my Cowgirl Makeup.

Silly boy. Just let us women handle the makeup.

Now, go chase some cows or your tail or something.

Waterin' Hole

Time to hit the waterin' hole.

What's that crazy girl doin' with her phone?! Quick, somebody spray 'er good with some manure!

Pardon Me

Pardon me folks while I get this little bugger.

Curious Cows

Manny and I went to check on the ladies out in pasture last week. They are the most curious creatures, those Holstein cows.

They followed us on our "horse" all the way from the back end of the pasture to to the gate.

2 for 2

2 for 2 Saturday mornings that we've had cattle shipped out. This means I get up early. This means Texas and Manny get up even earlier.

This means someone's gotta feed all the cows in time to get them locked up and moved down to our loading chutes.

Three trucks ready to take pregger ladies off to Mexico. Adios!