May 29, 2005

It has been raining a little bit everyday. Everything is still very green.

Joe helped us start building a portable chicken pen for our chicks so we can grow them out on pasture instead of leaving them locked up in the coop and feeding them bagged feed. I am glad he helped us since my carpentery skills are not much. I learned a lot and Laramie got a lot of use with the electric screwdriver, drill and saws.

May 30, 2005

Joe rode Laramie’s colt Dingo today. He had not been ridden since last fall and really needs some miles put on him for training purposes to make him a good horse. He bucked around the corral after Joe saddled him, but didn’t do much in the pasture. Joe loped him around about 8 miles of fence line, doing some repairs along the way. He turned the cows into the new pasture after he was done. Dingo was plum tuckered out. Laramie was dying to climb on him after Joe got home. Instead, Joe insisted Laramie ride his own horse and they went out together to gather the milk cow and the orphan calf she is raising. Dingo was tired enough to look like a gentle horse anyone could ride, but he is still just a colt with a need for many days, miles and experience put on him.

I felt a bit lousy today and didn’t feel like a go-getter. In the afternoon we saddled up the horses and went roping at John Traberts. I ended up working the chute for everyone else. I was too tired to do much roping.

After running the steers through twice, a cloud burst came and soaked us to the bone before we could get the horses and saddles out of the rain, the horn wraps off of the cattle and put them back out to pasture.

We grilled some steaks and enjoyed them despite our wet clothes. It was dark thirty by the time we milked and did all of the chores.

May 31, 2005

When I look back at the day, I am not sure what I got done. We did many small things that needed finished up, but did not work on one specific big job. I made some cheese and worked on paperwork while Joe and Laramie got the mares in here at the house and wormed all of them. They also wormed the yearlings and two year old colts. A couple of the brood mares are not very cooperative or tame. We have a special chute we use on the longhorn cattle which is a great help. It keeps them calm and we are able to worm them quickly. This chute is also a big help with the colts. We can put the colts in it and pet them all over. This lets them know that we really aren’t a threat and don’t intend on hurting them.

Gratton O’dell, a thirteen year old friend, came over to pick a colt we gave him for working for us. He now has a young colt to work with and make friends with. This young cowboy will get the job done too.

Joe took my mare, June, to the breeding pasture. She is only 5, but has arthritis in her back leg. I will just have to wait to get a colt out of her and start all over again. She was a very gentle sensible horse. While Joe was gone, I sat out in the corral and took pictures of the colts to send in with their registration papers. Taking these pictures is never an easy job and requires more patience than anyone on the ranch possesses. It requires 5 different shots of the horse from front, rear and each side. Since most of the colts are young and not halter broke, it is a waiting game to get a shot when the horse is standing still in the correct position.

Laramie had a highlight today and also a disappointment. His nanny goat had a kid and it was evidently born dead. We had been watching her for several days and knew something was not right. She had only one kid and it was quite large. Poor nanny. Goats are very emotional and her motherly instincts will make her miss her little one.

We worked the bee hives today. Our weak hive is doing well. We never saw the queen bee, but we saw that she is laying eggs like mad. We are getting better at working with them and didn’t make them as mad as last time. We have only had them for three weeks.

In the evening I went looking for the milk cow. It has become a treasure hunt or rather a wild goose chase to find her. She likes to play little games with me like hiding in the woods or the tall grass and watching as I walk or drive right past her. As a brought her in, I had to park the vehicle and walk her through a dense tree belt to the house. The dog started barking and just in time I called her off. It was a porcupine. Little cow couldn’t be called off. She was interested in that slow moving creature and was following and sniffing. Luckily the porcupine went up a tree before she could put her nose to close to the quills. Quills are no fun to get out of a cow’s nose. It is a very tedious job to get them out of a dog’s nose and mouth. Many times we have had to anesthetize a dog to pull the quills out of the back of their throat and tongue.

Laramie was outside picking mulberries. I was able to yell at him to get a gun while I kept an eye on the culprit. The porcupine had climbed about 55 feet up in the tree and it was hard to get a shot. Laramie finally brought him down. I do love the wildlife, but can’t chance the problems it would have created being that close to the barnyard and house.

June 1, 2005

We have been putting in some nice long days. Long days are tiring, but when I lay in bed at night, there are always a long list of projects that have been accomplished. The month of May was full of things accomplished. I nearly have my portable chicken pen done. I worked on it a bit this afternoon. I need help ripping some boards, so I will have to wait for some help.

Joe and Laramie hauled hay for the corrals this morning and sold eggs in town. I worked on some income taxes for some clients. It is past tax season, but I still have quite a few to finish up.

After noon, they left for Oklahoma to deliver a bull we leased out. We also have some roping cattle that our son Cody bought for us to pick up. They will go down to his dad’s ranch in Oklahoma and pick the cattle up and take care of anything that needs to be done on the ranch there.

June 13, 2005

We had some photographers come out to the ranch today. They are taking pictures for the Kansas Visitor’s Guide which is a tourist publication. They were great guys and easy to work with. We saddled up and rode through the mares and colts so they could get some shots of the horses. We then moved the cows to a new pasture. They were able to take a few shots as we moved them.

On our way out to the pasture, I spotted a calf hidden on a hillside. He shouldn’t have been in that paddock. It was a new calf, only about 3 days old. After we gathered the cows to the corner, Joe found the calf’s mama. As we moved the cows, we pushed the herd over to the baby calf. The little calf found his mama right away, but the cow pushed the little thing away everytime she tried to nurse. We kept pushing the cows to the new pasture. Finally the little calf gave up and was looking for a place to lay down and hide again. Ben and Joe caught her up and tied her down until the photographers were done with their work.

Joe went back after her and brought her to the house. This evening I let her nurse the milk cow. Little cow, as we call her, was not please to have a new munchkin at her udder, but the calf was hungry and glad to find a half-way willing dinner pail that didn’t kick her away.

The photographers spent quite a bit of time laying on the ground getting pictures of the cows. Since we had moved them to a new pasture, they were very interested in the new tender grass and grazed contentedly around them.

June 14th, 2005

The photographers spent some time here this morning. We saddled up again and got some more pictures with the cows. Afterwards I spent time on bookwork and Joe checked all the cattle. We had a yearling colt get cut up. It looked like a pretty nasty cut down the front of it’s leg, but Joe decided to let it heal on its own. Sometimes things will heal just fine without any attention. The trick is to know which ones will heal themselves and which ones need some attention.

June 16, 2005

I have failed to write the last few days! We have been getting up at 5:30 in the morning and don’t get into the house at night until about 9:30. Then I still have to make supper, take a shower and go to bed. This time of year there is so much to do, it seems we don’t stop until we run out of daylight.

We have been helping some of the neighbors brand cattle. It is always a fun time of year, but very demanding and tiring. I have finally been retired to giving vaccinations, ear-tagging, and branding. There are enough boys around now to do all the mugging. Cody, our middle son, is home to help. He is one of the young strong guys, so we make sure he gets a workout.

June 21, 2005

We branded at the Buffalo, OK pasture today. It was a cool morning and we got done in good shape. It has rained a lot in that country and all the ponds and draws were fuller than I had seen them before. The mosquitoes were particularly annoying.

Afterwards we went into Buffalo to feed everyone. I took my horse Jack into the vet while we were there. He has had a swollen sheath. Everything looked all right to the vet. There was no real explanation, just one of those things that happens. I will be glad to be able to ride him tomorrow.

June 22, 2005

Little mare is not being cooperative about her sore eye. She has decided she might try to bite and fight rather than have someone mess with her eye. Cody eared her down and bit her ear while Joe put the medicine in her eye. It seems like a dirty trick to do, but it was the only way to get the job done.

We branded some of our cattle today and also some of Kent Jarnagin’s calves. The only mishap of the whole day happened early. We had gathered the cows and calves into a portable corral. The cows were all sorted off and we had branded about 5 calves. All at once while everyone was in the middle of their job, a calf stuck his head through the only panel which didn’t have a tie on it. Up went the panel and out went 10 head of calves before someone got around them. The two fellas on horseback got around the cows and calves again before they could get far. We re-gathered the runaways and some of the cows and resorted them. All went so well, we decided to go south and gather the next pasture before lunch. The gathering went well. Everyone jumped in one pickup and went to Jarnagin’s to eat.

Lunch was great. Branding was hot. Super hot. We got done by 4:00 and took the cattle back to the pasture. I stayed behind to load the branding stoves and equipment and didn’t get to see the excitement. I was letting three of the extra horses graze and couldn’t imagine what was taking so long! Usually taking cattle back to a pasture after they have been cooped up, separated from their calves doesn’t take very long. The cows are ready to get away from the corrals. This particular pasture was being seismographed for possibilities of oil production and the seismograph crew had orange wires on the ground about every 100 feet. It didn’t take much convincing to get the horses to cross them when we gathered. On the way back to the corrals however, three of the horses got caught in one of the cables. Everyone was tired when they got back to the trailers. We loaded up and headed for home.

June 23, 2005

Laramie and I took his little mare to the vet today. She has a bad eye. We have been doctoring it with some antibiotic ointment, but it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. She either scratched it or had something in it at one time. There were 2 good sized ulcers on the cornea. Our next challenge is to doctor her 6 times a day with some new medicine and see if we can’t get on top of the problem. Since we are working on fence which is 15 miles away, we will just have to haul her in a trailer with us so we will have her available.

We leased another 2,000 acres of grass. It is great country, but the fences are in poor shape. The last few days we have put in 14 to 16 hours a day on chores and fence work. Cody will be leaving to go back to his grandpa’s ranch in Oklahoma. I will miss his muscles while we work on the fence and brand again. I think he enjoys the change of pace when he gets here. He makes no bones about the fact we are crazy for not using our air conditioning. I know he will be glad to get back to the real world where they switch on their air.

June 24, 2005

More fence work today. We stretched wire, pounded in posts, set corners and tied up wire. It is a never ending process. Most people would rather build new fence than repair old fences. I don’t mind fixing the old fences. It does get to be frustrating when the wire breaks three times in a row while stretching it tight. Some of the wire is so old, it can’t take the stress. You always think, surely I can get just one more click out of the stretchers without the wire breaking. Sure enough, you get half of a click and then zing, then wire breaks.

The milk cow was hiding from me tonight. I found her in the tall, tall grass. I was not in the mood for her antics, but she never gives me a choice. At times I wish she was a child so I could take a few privileges away from her. She has quite a personality. She will graze in pattens for a while and then suddenly change her pattern. Then the hunt is on to find out where she is laying down chewing her cud. I know at times she laughs at me when it is 8:30 at night and I ride by her without seeing her. It will get hotter soon and she will stay closer to the barnyard to get water and she will get more predicatable. She has pretty much free range of about 2 square miles of the ranch.

June 26, 2005

I had intended on going to church today. Our plans change, as is always the case here. Popcorn, Laramie’s puppy, was riding in the back of the pickup and fell out and got run over by the trailer. I decided to take her to the vet. It looks as though she will be fine. Maybe she broke her pelvis. We will find out tomorrow.

We didn’t get to church, but did get more hours in working on the fence. It is looking great where we have it done, but there are miles yet to do. We have one pasture done. I am not sure how many more pastures there are. I have decided the fact is there are hours and hours left to finish and it will consume the summer. This summer will be remembered as “the summer we fixed all that fence”.

We took the little mare with us again so we could doctor her eye 6 times a day. Joe had tied her to a tree so she could eat some tender grass. When we went to doctor her about 6:00, she was gone. After about 20 minutes we found her. She was skillfully dragging her 20 foot lead rope through the pasture and around all kinds of obstacles. We got near her and Laramie jumped out to catch her. He went running up the hill after her. If Joe or I had tried that, she would have taken off at a gallop. She loves Laramie and just stood on the crest of the hill and let him catch her.

When we got home, there was a message on the answering machine that the cows were out again. Joe trudged back out and went to Mullinville to put them in again. Laramie and I did the chores and dug up something to eat.

June 27, 2005

It was another day of working on fence. It is nice to be out in the wide open space and look for miles and see nothing but pasture land. It almost revives me after having cleaned out the 20th posthole and tamping in another post. I am grateful we rented a bobcat with an auger on the front to dig the holes. I can’t imagine how the fences were built years ago and all the holes were dug by hand with a lot of sweat.

I had to return the bobcat today, so we finished a bit early. Joe went to pick up Popcorn. She didn’t break anything, but is terribly sore. Joe then went on to Mullinville to check on the cows which have been getting out. I got home from Dodge City about 8:30. It was a treat to come home and see that all of the chores were already done. No milk cow to go hunt up and milk and no chickens to move and feed! Laramie made supper while I put up groceries and started fixing food for branding the end of this week.