One Big Happy Family

Here's a brain teaser:

Does my cat think she's a dog? Or do our dogs think they're cats??

Texas and His New Toy

A few weeks ago, one of my Uncles brought down our new welder.

For those that don't know what a welder is or does...

Let me give you the 411.

I actually don't know that much about welding except that there are some oxygen tanks, hoses, sparks, and lots of dials on a machine that looks like it should belong in an airplane.

I do know that a welder can aid in the creation of many beautiful things.

One being a coat rack... which was so beautifully handcrafted and placed in our mudroom by Texas a few weeks ago. Horseshoes adorn the coat rack as hangers.

Other things such as lamps, chairs, tables... anything that you want to create out of metal, your imagination is the limit!

The latest creation Texas made was inspired by a candleholder we received years ago from our horseshoer. He made it all out of horseshoes.. obviously. I really wanted a candleholder big enough to house the candle my dad bought me about a year ago, so my mom suggested Texas try making one out of horseshoes.

An hour and one coat of black spray paint later, I am a proud mama of a pretty black horse shoe candle holder. I love having a handy man! :)

Nothing Comes Between a Dog and His Jolly Ball

My dog has this...

Problem.

It's called...

...a Jolly Ball.

 I have never seen this dog, or any dog for that matter, so excited to play with this ball.

Every single day.

It's like why he lives.

Because of this ball obsession, I have come to learn that my dog...

...may not be the most coordinated dog.

Nope. Definitely not coordinated.

But at least he's still cute.

TGIF

Well, this post was started on Friday... but life as we know it took over. So, how about we call it TGLWIO. Thank God Last Week Is Over.

This last week and weekend has been a little busy. Just a little. I feel like a 50 year old woman... tired, cranky, menopausal.

Ok, maybe not the last one, but my body does feel like it's been through hell.

Last Monday came and went just like every other day here on the ranch. We branded. Sorted. Checked preg dates. The weather's starting to get a little warmer, so my Texas man is slowly melting...

Tuesday turned into a semi busy day. It started out like every other day. Started branding in the morning, and I went to lunch smelling like cow flesh, smoke, and manure.

Mmmm. Sexy.

Later in the day, my mom got a call from a broker who we know from auctions. He had a buyer coming out from Pennslyvania.

The pair was supposed to arrive at our ranch at 2 p.m. that day to look at some cows. 

2 p.m. turned into 5 p.m.

 5 p.m. turned into 6 p.m.

And they finally showed up around 6:30 p.m. 

Everyone on the ranch was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the cow buying pair, even these two -

Once the fellas arrived, everyone worked out in the pens, going thru cows until dark.

 And after dark.

Pennslyvania man told us he'd be back Thursday to pick out two loads which is approximately 76 Springers..

Springers are Mama Cows for those who have not been following along... :)

We all had an auction down south in Hanford to go to the next day, so that's why they told us they'd be back on Thursday. In the dark, we all headed back to my mom's house for some pizza and a cold one. Or two.

Little did we know, the week of madness had just begun...

Wednesday morning came a little early, more specifically, about 5:20 a.m. I jumped outta bed all bright eyed.

Ha, sike!

After a few cups of joe, I could at least pretend to have my eyelids open.

The herdsman and I filled up the trailer tires with air, packed on 14 Springers (see: ABOVE), picked up my momma, and we were on our way down to Hanford. A nice little three hour jaunt with the cowsies. I drove. I love my new black beast.

When we finally made it to the first livestock yard, we unloaded the mamas, including my own mama, and I got to drive around the auction's little 4 wheel drive cart otherwise known as a "Gator". Since we now had a 30 foot trailer attached to our truck, we couldn't just zip on back to the corrals where the potential new cows would be located.

After looking at the first auction's cows, we headed on over to the next auction down the road. Quite literally, a mile down the road. We checked out what they had to sell over there, and then we giddy up'ed back on over to the first auction which always starts first.

The herdsman and I sat through the sale there to watch our Mamas sell, and then we waited on my phone to ring to know if my Mom bought any cows over at the second auction.

And we waited.

And we waited, for what seemed like eternity. Especially since we drank all the water in our truck, and the auction's kitchen had closed up.

Finally, we heard from my mom, and my uncles dropped her off at the auction we were at.

We didn't bring any new baby cows back, but we did buy the Gator.

Ha, sike!!! We didn't buy the gator, but we did buy 106 new little heifers to bring back home.

So, being that we brought the new rig, and 106 little cows a little bit too much to pack on one semi truckload, I brought some back in our trailer.

So, the madness begins.

It seemed simple enough to pull up to the chute to load the cows. I was, of course, nervous to back up the rig for the first time somewhere other than our ranch in front of a bunch of auction workers..

but they had to make it even more difficult on me by having me back up first in one corner...

and then decide I needed to back up to another corner...

and when they finally decided that I was in the right part of the yard...

they forgot that they had mixed all of our cows together...

which caused a headache because we had to separate 106 of them again...

before 20 of them could be loaded on my trailer...

and the other 86 on the semi...

Ay caramba!

So, after an hour dillydallying around the auction yard in Hanford, we headed back home.

Three hours later, we were all very excited to be back home.

Back home in the comfort of a lighted house, pipes full of water, and dinner on the table...

Ha, ssssiiiiikkkeee!!!!

Texas and my little sister had informed my mom on the way home that our ranch had lost power.

The ranch had conveniently lost power during The Texas Man's cooking hour in which he started cooking for us a delicious meal of:

Chicken Fried Deer Steak

Fresh Broccoli

BBQ Jalapeno Poppers

accompanied by Sam Adams Cherry Wheat beer

When our ranch loses power, we lose the phone, light, internet, and the water. The most important of those being the water because not only are we without water, but so are the cows. We may be able to go a few hours without water, but pregnant mama cows can't!

My mom called PG&E while we were on the road, so she could report the outage. Previous outages have proved to be not a problem for our neighbors who fail to report outages, so it's always my mom to be the one to call in. She figured this way the power would be on by the time we got home which would mean cows, old and new, would have water to drink.

Luckily, the power did come on right about the time we arrived home. We put the cows away, and we all went to bed, happy and full of deer steak.

Ha, sike!!!!!

The power came back on, but for some reason, the water hadn't turned back on. While my mom and the herdsman attempted to get the water turned back on, Texas started back on dinner which he was preparing for all of us.

Unfortuantely, the water problem didn't get better. My mom and the herdsman spent a good 30-45 minutes in the dark trying to turn the water back on. At 8:30 p.m., my mom had to call the "water guy" who came out to fix our situation instantly... and he flicked the "reset" button, and the ranch's water turned back on in a flash.

............

No sike there folks.

Apparently, we had a "brownout" which meant the power didn't fully go off at first, so the water pump had turned itself off to prevent damage. It just needs someone to turn it back on or push the "reset" button inside this handy little box by my house.

Everyone called it quits after that aorund 9 p.m., and Texas and I sent a plate home with my little sister to give to my mom after she got done with the water guy.

Phew. Wednesday, check.

Let Thursday begin!!

We expected the Pennslyvania buyer Thursday morning at 8 a.m. to go through cows to buy. Since he only planned on buying two truckloads, we figured it would take him no more than two hours to pick out some Springers. We set up the Brand Inspection at 10 a.m. with this is mind.

A Brand Inspection is needed everytime we sell a cow, whether it be to an auction or to an outside buyer. Auctions hire their own B.I.'s, so we don't have to worry about calling a B.I. unless we are doing a private sale.

Back to Thursday morning. The buyer showed up late again. Fortunately, only 20 minutes late instead of 4.5 hours.

Anyways, the two hours we had set aside to pick cows turned out to be nowhere near long enough. In fact, the buyer decided to buy three truckloads instead of two which means 116 cows instead of 76. The increase in cows along with the fact that the buyer handpicked every cow out of 300 cows led to our long day. Along with the Brand Inspector, we were out sorting through cows from 8:20 a.m. until about 12:00 p.m. Instead of going to lunch, we all ran around like a teeny bopper in Los Angeles, and we got the cows ready to ship out. By 2 p.m., we had sent out two thirds of the cattle.

Have fun in Pennslyvania girls! While the day was much shorter in length than Wednesday was, it felt just as long if not longer. We barely had time to grab a drink of water in those six hours, nonetheless think.

We spent the rest of the day sleeping. Seriously. All day. Texas and I woke up long enough to feed our animals and ourselves and go back to bed.

Thursday, check.

Friday was a little less hectic with my day starting out by dropping off some cows at the auction in Turlock. The rest of the morning was relatively calm. At 2 p.m., we had the vet come out to take care of shots and legality matters for the other 40 head of Springers waiting to ship to Pennslyvania. After an hour of writing down numbers, ripping off tags, putting on new tags, etc., we were done and just had to wait for the truck to arrive Monday.

Dun dun dunnnnn....

I wish I could say I had a nice, relaxing weekend, but Texas and I had friends come into town that we know from working in Colorado. This is a story for another post, but I can leave you with the knowledge that I can still NOT move after dancing my cowboy boots off on Saturday night for the Oakdale Rodeo.

I thought weekends were for getting rest???

To be continued...

Do you want a tissue?

Seriously... do you want a tissue??

Sooo not lady like.

Seven Months

Help. Someone, please help.

I've got a problem. I'm obsessed with my puppy.

How can you not love a face like this??

He's an old man this month... seven months old.

Please stop. Stop being so cute. I can't get any work done around this place.

I Done Did It

Well folks, I done did it.

They all thought I couldn't.

Even I thought I couldn't after they all thought I couldn't.

What did I done do??

I helped drive our truck and trailer safely home to the ol' farmstead yesterday afternoon.

Yup, the little California girl can drive a diesel truck and 30 foot trailer.

Without hitting curbs.

Without hitting cars.

Without hitting pedestrians.

Without going over the speed limit.

I actually didn't think it was that big of a deal. I mean, I drove 10 horses every week in a 24+ foot horse trailer down mountain roads in Colorado. Where sometimes you had hundred foot drops on either side of you, and taking your eyes off the road for a second would end up with you driving down a mountainside.

However, I started to pysch myself out after I kept hearing from family member after family member,

"Oh Katie dear, are you sure you can handle that big ol' tank?"

"Can you handle that thing on the freeway?"

"What about those right turns?"

I'm not saying I'm an expert at driving trailers. I'm not saying I was any good when I started out driving goosenecks years ago. I learned how to drive a gooseneck in high school when we had a little gooseneck to tote the horses around to my rodeos. As far as bigger horse trailers - the first time I got put behind the wheel of the 24 or 28 foot trailer in Colorado, within a minute, I saw the trailer wheels go off the road into floating air. By some grace of God, we all made it safely - horses, wranglers, and our lunches still in our bellies. I think my now dear friends, Ash and Sarah, thought I was some Cali girl who drove a little Smart Car everywhere and were wondering why our boss decided to hire me.

But... that little trailer wheelie experience in Colorado along with being a passenger in a horse trailer accident involving my horse and trailer, I have learned to drive rather safely with a horse trailer.

No slidin' stops. Don't take yer eyes off the road pard'. And be nice to yer neighbors.

I'm not saying I'm the best truck and trailer drive out there either.

Sheesh, I'm sure as heck not the best driver out there, period.

But I try my best to get the job done and get everyone home safely.

And you know what I did yesterday afternoon??

I done did it.

 Anything boys can do, I can do better...



Reporting to you from the backseat

Currently, my mom, herdsman Joe, puppy Stoney, and I are headed down south on the 99 to meet my uncles. The are meeting us at Perkos cafe with a black shiny ford f550 with a 30 foot gooseneck trailer in tow. I'm supposed to know how to drive that thing pretty soon... Pray for me. And the cows I'll be transporting. Of course,this is all pending on whether or not I can acquire my class a drivers license. Pray for me. And the people driving on the highway when I take my test.

Today was the first day in about two weeks that the weather's been good enough to travel with a trailer over the Grapevine pass near L.A. Where my uncles are. So, about that weather. It's been raining. A LOT. As in, Texas and I had a 'manure river' flowing thru or front pasture down into driveway turning our porch, dogs, trucks, and newly planted flowerbeds a disaster zone. Plus, the rodents living outside have become sick and tired of being soaking wet for 10 days straight, so they've decided to move in with Texas and I. One big happy rodent friendly family!! Here's a picture of me at our house warming party for the mice, of course covered in my new favorite makeup secret: mud!!

Missing my Puppy

Someone's staying overnight at the vet's this evening after getting a certain puppy surgery.

One that means he's no longer a man. Yup, Stoney is no longer a mandog. He's an it. I'll now be referring to him as "it". I miss it.

I'm never going to be able to have kids. I can't do this separation anxiety stuff.

Hmm

One of these things is not like the other.