Moore Ranch Journal

May 2007
I have failed to write this month. Our neighbors in Greensburg, KS were struck by the tornado May 4. Since then we have been helping a few days in Greensburg cleaning up or checking Greensburg residents’ cattle so they could sort through their losses. Even the pictures printed in the media can’t fully illustrate the devastation. There will be months of work to do in Greensburg. We did lose a half mile of fence in the tornado, but that is negligible compared to our friends’ losses.
Some highlights this month were our Cowboy School. Two women from Nicodemus, KS came down and enjoyed a couple of days with us riding to check the new calves, move cattle on rye pasture and practice roping.
The true highlight of the month was the Greensburg rodeo. Even though the town was still closed to the general public, the rodeo went on. Everything was volunteered. It was nice to enjoy a sense of normalcy amongst the chaos. Joe and I took our team and wagon over. They were used to haul in the barrel racing barrels and the rodeo queen contestants. We saw some friends we had been unable to contact after the tornado.
We had lots of babies in May. The cows started shelling out calves right and left. Longhorn cattle have colorful calves and some days it was like being on an Easter egg hunt looking for the new calves. Our son Laramie got 150 pullet chicks started and near the end of the month I went to the post office and picked up 50 chicks which we will butcher in a few weeks and 25 more pullet layers for Laramie. Laramie got his sheep sheared, and 3 lambs were born. Two of these lambs became bottle lambs when one ewe died and the other ewe would not take very good care of it. We were surprised with an early foal this year. A friend had taken a two year old filly to break it for us. Evidently she took a liking to one of his stud horses. We had a teenage pregnancy. She had been out with the saddle horses. An older mare attempted to steal the foal away, so we had to separate them. Now they are wandering around the barnyard with our old horse Yancy and Laramie’s little mare, Lightning.
Joe did not have a good report for May. He was riding a young colt and got bucked off pretty hard. The colt is very skiddish on the ground and stepped on him when he saddled him. In hindsight Joe says he wished he would have put him back in the corral for 30 minutes, roped a back foot and worked with him. Instead they left to check cattle. The first pasture Joe rode an older horse and ponied the colt across the pasture. It is a 2,000 acre pasture and they rode quite hard at times, so the colt should have been worn down some. He rode another pasture south of Mullinville and ponied him along there as well. Much later in the day, they got to the last pasture. Joe left the older horse in the trailer and rode the colt. He said they got along fine, until the colt balked and Joe gouged him a little too hard with his spurs. The colt can buck hard and after a few jumps through him off over his head. Joe said he felt like a yard dart. He did break some ribs. He was sore for several weeks. Laramie and I helped a little more to get some of the tough jobs done. By the second of June he was back on a horse. Laramie had named the colt a week before the incident. He named him Caballo Diablo or Devil Horse. Joe seems to think it is a pertinent name.
May has also been a breath of fresh air. Last year we were terribly droughty. In fact the past 10 years have been dry. It has rained and rained. Our creek has flooded twice and taken out all the water gaps. Water gaps are the portion of the fence built across a waterway. When it rains hard and the water rises, often a lot of dead tree branches will get swept down the creek and through the fence. If a water gap is built right, usually it will just break away and allow the trash to flow on down the creek to the next gap. Sometimes, however, a large tree will wash down the creek and tear out the water gap, the corner posts and several yards of fence. This happened to several of ours the past few weeks. We have only seen the creek by our house flood three times in the past twenty years. Two of those times have been this May. We are thanking God for His great blessings of rain. The wildflowers have been overwhelming this year and beautiful.

June 11, 2007
We had a mother and son here today. They went with us this morning. We rode out to check my milk cow. I think she is close to calving. She did not have a calf, but her halter was nearly off of her. I used the horse to corner her and Laramie got off and caught her by hand.
After that we rode to shut some gates and check some of the grass in the North pasture. The wild flowers are still everywhere and beautiful.
We checked the Jones pasture this evening. It belongs to a neighbor who has family in Greensburg. There were a couple of cows with foot rot that will need doctored soon. Foot rot usually occurs in wet weather which allows bacteria to infest the hoof of the cow.

June 12, 2007
Joe and I both spent the day doing things we would rather not. He rode in the morning looking for a heifer’s calf he did not see yesterday. After showing some friends from Canada around the ranch he finally went to the shop to do some mechanic work. He and Laramie worked putting a water pump on one truck and brakes on my car. He had picked up the wrong water pump earlier in the week, so he didn’t get it finished. Instead he checked cattle at the Ward pasture and went to Protection to order the right water pump.
I spent the day doing bookwork, bookwork and more bookwork. I did chores this morning and this evening. My milk cow did not show up and I had not seen her all day so I sent Laramie to walk the creek and look for her. He did not find her. I suspect he was sidetracked by some adventure at the creek. I went to look for her and found her with a calf, across the creek. It was up and going well, so my guess is, it was born this morning. It is a pretty big bull calf. Soon we won’t have to bottle feed the calves anymore, I will just put them on the milk cow as a nurse cow. She is never crazy about it, but it is a lot better for the calves.
My broiler chicks are growing fast. They are so fat and lazy compared to Laramie’s chicks which scamper around. His chicks are pullets, or females and will serve the purpose of laying eggs. We use the eggs here and he sells them as well.

June 17, 2007
Joe left for Oklahoma to go to a funeral. It was a quick trip down and back. It is a six hour trip. He brought his mom back with him so she could attend Ben and Sheila’s wedding tomorrow.
We did some chores and doctored horses before he left. It was noon before Laramie and I got all the chores completed. After that I did some office work and made my way to Mullinville to pick up some feed for the cows. I spent most of the day fighting with the lug nuts on the rear wheel of the truck. We have trouble with them sometimes. Usually when Joe leaves they seem to come loose. Today was the day for that. Every 20 miles I was tightening them up.
When I drove through Bucklin I saw the Rattlesnake Creek had risen due to the heavy rain last night, so I decided to go to the Ralstin pasture to see how bad the water gaps looked again. The creek is still running wildly but all the gaps are still in right now. I saw the mares and stud there. The mares are very close to foaling. I wouldn’t be surprised if we have three foals in the next week.

June 16, 2007
We had a guest, John Walton, arrive from England today. He and Joe went out to ride through the cows in the Walnut pasture to check the calves.
Soon after they got back we got ready to go to Ben Nech’s wedding in Dodge City. Ben is a friend of our second son, Cody. We consider him an “adopted son” and claim him whenever we can. He is a pilot but helps us a lot on the ranch. The wedding was outdoors and certainly had a western flair. Everyone got a laugh when they marched down the aisle after the ceremony to the “Bonanza” theme song. We danced until we were tired and came home. It was a great wedding.

June 17, 2007
After church we spent some time moving chickens around. Joe, John and Joe’s mother came out to help us. I was grateful since this is the largest batch of young chickens we have had in a long time. Laramie and I crawled on our hands and knees in the pasture pen and caught 138 pullets. We handed them up to the guys who put them in cages. The pullets are about seven weeks old and were ready to move to the hen house. After they were all moved, we caught the 50 broilers and 25 pullets. They are only three weeks old. The broilers are growing fast and ready to be out in the pasture pen. The 25 pullets are rather small but should do all right outside.

June 20, 2007
We delivered eggs and I got my haircut this morning. John and Joe planned on taking a slower day today. They went to Mullinville to check the water gaps there and south of Mullinville. The water was still too high to fix fences, they did report there were some foals on the ground there. They came back and made a few rounds at the ranch checking the gaps here.
I cooked out in the dutch ovens tonight. For one reason it was a nice evening, and also, my oven doesn’t work so that the only alternative for baking right now. I tried some black forest cobbler which turned out great and made some biscuits for the next few days.

June 21, 2007
Joe and John rode cattle at Ward’s today. The foot rot is slowing up and so they had a good report. They did see an interesting phenomenon which we sometimes see this time of year. Once in a while we will find places on the prairie where mushrooms grow in complete circles. These circles are often as large in diameter as an Indian tipi would have been. Many times we will see several circles as if identifying an old campsite. The place they saw them today would have been an ideal campsite close to running water. It always makes one wonder if this is remnants of an old Indian site.
This morning I took care of some business in town and at the house. Laramie pulled some weeds after chores were done. After lunch Laramie went out to mow. The mower wasn’t working right so Joe hauled it to town. John and Laramie and I went out to work on water gaps. There were six of them out, but they had all broke away from the breakaway posts just as they were designed to do, so all we had to do was drag them back in line, set a few posts and clean the dead tree limbs and grass out of them.
I saw a fawn today, the second we have seen this year. The grass is so tall, we probably won’t see as many. We will just walk or ride right by many of them that will remain hidden.

June 23, 2007
Joe took John to the airport in Wichita this morning. I got a call that our lawn mower was done. We have had a lot of moisture and the grass is growing like mad everywhere. The mower has been broken so we have lots of grass to mow and trim. Laramie and I mowed most of the afternoon.

June 24, 2007
After church, we all spent the rest of the day mowing and doing chores. Joe mowed until after dark. Hopefully we are almost done mowing. It won’t be long and it will be grown back up again.

June 26, 2007
Kristen came out for a riding lesson this morning. We rode in a pasture I needed to check the fence in. We saw a fawn while riding. After I got back in, Jill, a guest from Leavenworth, and I caught all the saddle horses, draft horses and the colts Joe has been riding. The ticks are bad and starting to show up on the horses’ tails and ears. Their ears get terribly sore with ticks in them.
Joe had gone to Mullinville to check water gaps. When he got back, we doctored the horses’ ears. We squirt some medicine down in the ear. None of them like it. Most tolerate it all right. There are a few older horses who are wise and know what is coming. We have a little more trouble with them. We used a twitch on a couple of them. A twitch goes around the lips of the horse. It doesn’t hurt them, but pinches them enough they have their mind on the pinching and not on what we are doing. We don’t use it unless we have to, and they definitely needed their ears treated.
A neighbor called and asked us to help him brand the next morning. The horses had already been turned out, so we had to go out to the pasture to gather them again and catch the saddle horses to use tomorrow morning. We caught up the saddle horses and I let them loose in a corral pen. I didn’t notice another gate was open on the pen and they went out to anther pasture. Luckily Jill noticed and I ran out and caught them before they got too far. That will remind me to check gates for a while.
Joe got in about 9:30 from checking cattle at Wards and helping move farm equipment to another field. About that time Kent Jarnigan called to say he had to cancel his branding for tomorrow morning. So much for catching the horses. It was good exercise, I suppose.

June 27, 2007
It was a slow, rainy day. It rained all day long, but only rained .25 inches total. Jill and I rode out through the cows in the afternoon. They were in a fairly close pasture and we managed to stay dry. There was only a cow and a heifer with bad eyes. The calves are all growing great with all the tall green grass we have this year. The cows are milking well and everything looks good. We unsaddled and I cleaned out the sheath on one of the horses and hosed him down for awhile.
Joe doctored one of the orphan calves on the milk cow. I don’t think it got any colostrum when it was first born, so we will probably always have to watch and make sure he doesn’t get sick. Colosturm is the mother’s first milk which contains lots of antibodies and provides immunity for the baby.
Jill and I rolled up some wire which we will use to line a pen in the corral when we brand on Friday.

June 28, 2007
Jill and I put up woven wire around the corral we will brand in tomorrow. We will use this pen to put the calves in after we separate them from the cows. We don’t want any of them crawling under the fence, so the woven wire will keep them in. We got it stretched up tight and it looks really nice. It should work well. We cleaned a cabin and the cookshack. I got some other office work done and enjoyed the cool morning.
Joe and Jill went to the N&N and checked the cattle there. They also picked up the branding stove. It is still muddy and they said they felt lucky they didn’t get stuck in the pasture. The four wheel drive is not working on the pickup they took, and Jill was glad when they made it back out onto the road.
Later in the evening when Joe got back from checking cattle we worked on the trap where we will hold the cows tomorrow while we brand. Laramie dug out a panel that had been across a water gap and had gotten buried in the sand. We pulled the water gap back up and put panels across it for extra measure. There were 3 huge cottonwood trees that had blown over in the recent storms and fallen on the fence. We didn’t have time to cut them off with a chain saw, so we did some patch work around them and stretched up some wire. I suppose the trees will be a job for this fall and winter.
We moved the two year old geldings out of their pen, through the bull pens and over to the loading chute. They were a little reluctant to load in the trailer, but finally loaded up. Joe and Jill hauled them out to pasture. We had kept them locked up since they were the only set of horses that didn’t get sick. Now that there are no signs of sickness in the other horses, we felt safe turning them out. They didn’t go far before they put their heads down for some green grass to eat.

June 29, 2007
The days just keep staying cool. It has been unseasonably cool. We branded the 98 calves at our house today. I don’t remember ever branding this time of year in such cool weather. I even wore a jacket out to do the chores this morning. We try to start early in the morning so we can get done and get the cows back to the pasture before it gets hot. That was not an issue today.
Kent and Clay Jarnigan, Kent Woolfolk, and Jason Rotramel came out to help us brand. We had two guests, Rhonda and Alex Smith come along to help as well. Alex is only 13 years old, but did well. We gathered the cows out of the walnut pasture and got them sorted.
While they finished sorting and getting the branding stove ready, I got the rest of lunch together. I made peach cobbler in a dutch oven, so I hauled some wood down to the corral and made a fire by the branding stove. The cobbler was done by 11:00 and we were done branding by 12:30.
Alex managed to rope 3 calves. Laramie, Jill and Rhonda did most of the branding and vaccinating. The rest of us took turns roping and mugging the calves. These calves are from our registered herd. We only vaccinate and brand them. Tomorrow on our commercial herd we will earmark, castrate, brand and vaccinate them.
After a big lunch, the neighbors went home, but Laramie, Alex, Joe and I took the cows and calves back to the pasture. Most all of the cows have calved, so there won’t be very many late calves to brand later on. We turned the saddle horses out to graze for awhile.
Everyone was tired Laramie took a nap on the living room floor. I caught up on some loose ends before chore time in the evening. Laramie was worn out, but rode his little mare out to the pasture bare-back to run the saddle horses back in. We caught the horses we will use for branding tomorrow. We will have to leave the ranch by 5:45 in the morning, so they will need to be standing in the corral waiting on us. I usually only move my pasture poultry pen in the mornings, but went ahead and moved it this evening while it was light outside. Laramie and Alex went for a ride and then we ate supper about 7:30.

June 30, 2007
It was an early morning. I got up and made sticky rolls for everyone and finished my morning chores in the dark. Joe and I got the horses saddled. John Trabert rolled in with his horses and trailer and we were off to the Patterson pasture which is 41 miles from the ranch.
It was a cool day again. The cattle were in a large pasture, but we got them gathered in good shape. The calves we worked today are out of longhorn cows and charlais bulls. It takes just a little longer to work them since we dehorn and castrate this bunch of calves. Kent Woolfolk’s sons Tyler and Reiland were there to help. We all roped some and hoped we would get done branding before it rained, since it looked like it could start at any time. By 11:30 we were done.
Kent had 30 calves in a nearby pasture that needed branding, so we left to gather them too. Everything is so much greener than last year. The Jose Wheatgrass comes up to the top of the horses backs. It looks like a paradise. Joe and Laramie found a rattlesnake while they were gathering, but he made his way under some sage brush and Joe couldn’t reach it with his rope to kill it. He usually whacks it with the hondo of his rope until it dies. I usually watch and shake my head in disbelief. I was glad it was cool outside and the rattler wasn’t moving much.
When we got back to the pens, Kent’s wife, Stephanie, had brought lunch out to us. As Rhonda put it, she is like a true southern belle. She is always a wonderful hostess and brings the greatest meals out to us. Everyone enjoyed sitting on the tailgate of the pickups and visiting, eating, visiting and eating more of Stephanie’s chocolate cake.
We worked the 31 calves. Most of them were much bigger than ours and were ready to be branded. Kent took Jill to a scenic part of the pasture which looks over Oklahoma and the Great Salt Flat. The rest of us drove the cows and calves back to the pasture. Kent had already returned and loaded some of the neighbor’s steers we had sorted off earlier by the time we got back to the corral. We loaded 2 older calves in our trailer we were weaning and loaded the horses and headed for home. Some of us slept on the way home. I was driving, so no such luck for me. We unsaddled the horses, unloaded the 2 calves, started chores and came to the house to eat supper. I put out all the leftovers and declared it was every man for himself since I was tired myself. The bed was a welcome sight.

July 2, 2007
After breakfast and chores Jill, Joe, Laramie and I left to doctor some cattle. Joe and Laramie rode through one set of cows and found everything all right. Joe anticipated doctoring about 6 yearlings. In the end we only doctored 2 since the other 4 had bad eyes which had gotten better. I was riding one end of the pasture checking the yearlings and saw Joe and Laramie had roped one. Joe headed the heifer and then Laramie heeled her. When I got there, I put a rope on her front feet to hold her and Joe doctored her. She had an abscess on her jaw that he lanced. We all rode to the top of the hill where Laramie saw a rattlesnake. Joe had his rope down trying to kill it, but it went down a hole before he could get the job done. Jill and I didn’t find anything that needed doctored where I had been riding, so we headed for another pasture.
Laramie and Joe rode around to some other pastures to check mineral tubs and make sure there was still mineral in them. They found a heifer with foot rot, so they roped and doctored her with antibiotics. This part of the ranch is about 2,000 acres, so it went faster with all of us being there and splitting up.
I loped across a feed field which had just been planted to see what kind of stand it had. It was coming up well with all the rain we have had and looks like the yearlings will do great on it in a few weeks.
I made it to the last pasture before Joe and Laramie did so I began riding through them and checking them. I was so thrilled we only had one or two yearlings to doctor, but I wasn’t quite as excited when I saw 2 full grown bulls with bad eyes that had to be doctored. There were also several calves with bad eyes, but I wasn’t looking forward to the bulls. Since there were so many of them and they were in a paddock near the corrals, I just held them there until Joe and Laramie rode in. They brought several more cows and calves. A few of the calves had bad eyes also. We pushed them up to the corrals and started roping them. Laramie and I tightened our saddles and helped doctor seven calves and then started on the bulls. Usually Joe tries to rope both back feet and then one of us will rope a front leg or the head. He only caught one back leg and by the looks of the small rodeo that came afterwards he decided he should have tightened his saddle as well. The saddle slid forward on Yeller’s withers and was pinching him. Of course this would be the time for me to miss the front foot about three times. After getting the front foot caught, Joe got off his horse and tried to tail the bull over. If he would have gotten both back legs, it would have been a lot less strenuous. After a short wrestling match we got his eye doctored. We squirt an antibiotic called Nuflor on the eyeball; it is an easy cure. Joe got my rope off just one front leg and put both front legs in it. Then I held the bull and he got some slack from his horse and put both back legs in his loop. If the rope is only around one leg, it won’t come off the animal when he gets up. If both legs are in it, the rope comes loose and slides off when we undally the rope from the saddlehorn. Joe got back on Yeller and we let the bull up.
The second bull went much smoother since Joe made sure he caught both back legs. I roped a front leg, Joe got off and doctored him, got my rope off and let the bull up after he got back on his horse. It was way past noon when we got done. We headed to Coldwater to drop a tire off to get fixed while we got some lunch to eat.
The rest of the day was full of odds and ends and chores. We had turned the milk cow and three calves out of the pen today. Laramie went out on June to bring them in this evening. He had trouble with one calf not keeping up. The calf got separated when he went through the trees. He brought the other two calves and the milk cow in and went back on foot to bring the other calf through the trees. He struggled and struggled and went back to get his horse, but Joe had already unsaddled her and turned her out. Joe, Jill and Laramie went to look for the calf but couldn’t find it. We will have to saddle up in the morning to see if we can hunt him down.

July 3, 2007
The calf was laying by the corrals when I went down to do my chores this morning. What a relief! The weeds are so tall this year in spots, I was afraid we would spend a lot of time looking for him.
We all made a trip to the chiropractor today. We would like to go once a week, but during the summer usually don’t make it that often. His office is 65 miles away, so we usually deliver eggs, do our banking, get parts and groceries at the same time. I usually find every excuse not to go since I would rather stay right here on the ranch and never leave. It is a good thing Joe doesn’t mind doing the grocery shopping. It is a lifesaver for my sanity!
We got back about 3:00 and did some odds and ends. I did some yard work and Joe finished moving equipment and mowing around and under it. He mowed near the beehives and commented they were not too happy with him pestering them. Laramie, Jill and I built an electric fence around Laramie’s corn patch. If we don’t the raccoons will help themselves to the corn the very instant it is ready to pick and we won’t get to enjoy any of it.

July 4, 2007
Joe, Laramie and Jill went to the N&N and to Ralstins to check all of the cattle and ride through them. They were gone until about 2:00. I caught up on office work, boxed up a longhorn skull I had sold and then did some maintenance work outside.
Joe and Laramie mowed in the evening while I picked green beans in the garden. A thunderstorm rolled in quickly this evening. Joe and Laramie managed to get the mowers put up. The sheep, milk cow and the calves were right near the barnyard. I took the opportunity to pen them up a bit early for the night. I let the milk cow and calves under the shed since it was beginning to pour. One calf would not go in the shed. By the time I got a rope on him and Joe tailed him in the shed, we were drenched. We dried off and waited for the electricity to come back on before we went back out to finish the night chores.
At about 9:00 Laramie and I went to Bucklin to watch their fireworks display. It rained a little the whole time, but didn’t dampen any of the fireworks.

July 6, 2007
I got a lot of riding in today as did our guests Sherri and Jess Poteet. I finally rode my mare, June. She had been crippled two years ago with no hope of recovering, so we turned her out and bred her. She raised one colt and surprised us when she appeared to be sound again. She seems to be doing quite well. I had expected her to buck a little, since that is her normal demeanor, but she didn’t offer once. Maybe motherhood has taken it out of her. I hope she stays sound since I enjoy riding her.
We checked the cows here at the house. There are only six left to calve. About a third of them were in a paddock they weren’t suppose to be in so Joe fixed the fence and left the gate open for them to come and go. We saw a doe and fawn and lots of grass. We have grass everywhere. There are even some species very prominent that we don’t usually see often. It is pleasant to check cattle this year. Last year it was depressing to see all the dry grass and no growth and know we would have to sell most of the cows because of it.
We checked cattle at Richards. We rode through one set of cows to check a bull that had a swollen sheath. It looks like he got snake bit and the wound in draining, so he should be all right. After that we rode through the yearlings. I found one heifer with foot rot. Joe headed her and I heeled her. We got her doctored and rode to check the rest of the yearlings. Joe found one more that had foot rot. He had a time catching her, but after he did, I heeled her and we got her doctored and on her way.
The next set of cows were in another pasture. I figured they would be close to the corrals and road that way. They were on the furthest side of the pasture they could be in. We had to ride quite a bit further to check them. The bulls we had doctored a few days ago and all the calves look like they are healing up. It took a while to ride through all of them and then ride back to the trailer.
We were all tired, but did the chores and ate supper. The milk cow took her merry time coming in this evening and didn’t show up until 9:30. I drove up the driveway to look for her and Laramie went bareback on a horse. The weeds and grass are so tall, you have to be in the right place at the right time to spot her.

July 10, 2007
Joe and Laramie and the Atkins family from England went to Wards to check the yearlings and cows. I was busy with the gardening, mowing, housework, cooking and any other undone details. I drove down to Protection to meet them for lunch and hauled a horse along. They had found several more calves with bad eyes that needed doctored and two bulls needed their eyes doctored once again. Laramie and Joe had roped some yearlings in the pasture and doctored them. Laramie even had a pretty good heel loop on one of them. Joe and I roped and doctored the bulls. Joe intended to get two back feet but one came out of the loop, so I was trying my best to get both front feet. For once we had some luck and I got both front feet. That made it a lot easier for Joe to tail the bull down. After he was down on his side, Joe’s horse held the back leg and I held the front legs with my horse while he put medicine in the bull’s eye.

July 15, 2007
I played the organ at church today, so I left early to practice at the church. We got home, changed clothes and I butchered about 10 head of chickens in the afternoon.
Joe put in watergaps at the ranch one more time and checked the water gaps at Mullinville. South of Mullinville we had over 5 inches of rain. It is still green, green everywhere and it is the middle of July. What a blessing and a change from the last 10 years of drought, dust and crackling brown grass under your horses’ hooves.
In the evening I went back to church for a meeting. Joe and Laramie did the chores.

July 16, 2007
Joe and Laramie went to the N&N to brand 25 head of calves and also bangs vaccinate the heifers. Any heifers we keep as prospects for mama cows are vaccinated for a disease called brucellosis. The veterinary comes out to do the vaccinating. This is about the only time we have the vet come out, other than when something happens drastic to one of the horses.
I spent the day with the lovely job of butchering chickens. I have had worse jobs, but it is monotonous. I just try to remind myself how good fresh chicken will taste. This time of year there is an unending list of things to do, harvest, or check. The problem is either there is not enough time in the day or there is just too much daylight in the days. We are up at 5am and working way past dark. Some of these long summer days I wish for the short days of winter when we can slow down a bit. I just have to remember those are just around the corner. Sixteen hour days, week after week, are wearing on me.

July 17, 2007
I butchered chickens after I gave a riding lesson this morning. Laramie and Kristin helped, so it went a little faster. I don’t think Kristin was overly impressed, but she has a good heart and pitched right in plucking feathers off of half naked chickens.
In the afternoon we all rode into town. I do some tax work for a business in town and checked up on it. Joe went to the doctor for an ingrown toenail and Laramie went to the swimming pool. He has been to the pool twice this year. That is about a record for us. Once or twice is about all we make it for swimming.

July 18, 2007
I didn’t have to butcher chickens today, but there was plenty of other things going on. Laramie and I got up early and checked the bee hives. It is nice and green and there are lots of flowers around. The hives are getting fuller of honey all the time. We robbed a bit of it this time. It was a treat.
I had kept the milk cow in, so went down and milked about a half gallon before I left to go to the chiropractor. On the way back I delivered eggs and stopped at the library to pick up some books about range plants for Laramie. He is about to drive us crazy when we ride with him in the pasture. Each grass we pass, he demands to know the name and usefulness of it. I am glad he is interested and sees the value of learning more.
In the afternoon I worked on some business that has been left undone. Joe and Laramie turned the stud horse out with the mares for breeding and pushed the longhorn bulls out to pasture. They also had an easy time of catching a mare and foal. They managed to catch her with a bucket of grain. The first time they led the mare in the trailer, the foal didn’t follow, but after leading the mare back out of the trailer and back in again, the foal hopped right in. They then hauled some bulls over to the ranch south of Mullinville.
Late in the afternoon we all changed as quick as we could and headed south. We had a mare and colt to deliver to the county fair. We had donated the colt as a raffle and needed to get him there to be on display. On the way I was going to drop off one of the trucks to get it worked on. By the time we got there, the truck Joe was driving was having transmission problems which were worse than the problems I was having with my truck. We switched the trailer from one truck to the other and headed south of Protection to put another bull out. We did make it to Coldwater in time to leave the mare and foal. They had a fajita feed and Gospel concert. We stayed for awhile to visit with a few people and then came home to do chores in the dark. I caught the rest of my chickens to butcher for tomorrow. Once more I was exhausted. We have been running non-stop 14-18 hour days for about 2 and a half weeks. I am ready for a reprieve.

July 19, 2007
Joe and Laramie helped me butcher chickens this morning after the chores were done. That made it go so much faster. We were done plucking them in about 2 hours. I got done dressing them and had them in the freezer before noon.
Joe checked some cows and did all the mowing around the ranch. Laramie just took it easy most of the day. He said he hoped he could just play like he used to. He has been working hard and doing a very good job. I was glad to let him be an 11 year old for part of the day. He did help me clean a cabin and cleaned the cookshack all by himself.
I forced myself to go to the garden and see what I didn’t want to see. The beans needed picking again. I picked a five gallon bucket full and put them up.
I was about to put my shoes on to take them to the freezer at 10:20 p.m. when the phone rang. The neighbor called to say some horses were out on the road. Joe and I hoped it was just our old horses we let hang around the barnyard and not the 2 year old stud colts. I was thankful it was the old horses, which would drive right back in the gate. The two year old colts would have been almost an impossible feat in the dark to get them back in where they belonged. We yelled at them and they trotted down the road, back to our driveway. They knew very well they were in the wrong place. They try this about twice a year. Finally we were to bed after 11:00.

July 20, 2007
Joe, Laramie and Megan, a 13 year old girl from Florida, checked the cows at the ranch today. All seemed to be well. They then went to Mullinville and checked the cattle at Ralstins. The only thing wrong was the mosquitoes that always seem to be in droves up there. The Rattlesnake Creek is still running a pretty good lick. All the water gaps are still in, so maybe we will get lucky one more time.
Laramie rode Dennis, a horse that hasn’t been ridden since May and always has a good buck in him. Dennis bucked a bit in the corral before they left this morning and bucked some in the pasture. Laramie sits a horse pretty well and it didn’t seem to phase him.
After they got back we saddled up to ride a pasture near the house and look at the grass. Jack, the horse Megan was riding, was limping on his rear foot. I relinquished my horse to take Jack to the creek to soak his foot in the cool water. The rest of them went on to ride. I did the chores and saw that Jack, the master at untying himself, was waiting back at the corral for me. Once more I trudged to the creek with Jack in tow. This time I got my boots soaked and held him there for 20 minutes. Joe gave him some medicine for inflammation and we turned the other horses loose.
It was dark by the time the eggs were gathered. It was about 100 degrees today, but still we had a cool morning for a July day. It was a little slower for me today. I put up some pickled beets and some green beans, and did some cooking.

July 21, 2007
Joe, Laramie and Megan rode about 25 miles today. They went down to the Ward pastures and checked the cows and yearlings there. They had only one calf to doctor and one yearling heifer. The heifer weighed about 900 pounds and they had trouble with her. Laramie was riding Newt and had trouble trying to maneuver him and rope at the same time. Newt is only four and hasn’t had a lot of roping done on him.
On the way back to the house, a big buck deer came out of some tall weeds about 12 feet from them. Too bad I wasn’t there to see that one!
There was plenty to do at the ranch while they were gone. I raked the yard, did bookwork and took Jack to soak his foot in the creek again. He isn’t limping quite as bad today, but it is still swollen.

July 22, 2007
Finally a slow day. After church and lunch, I lay down and got a nap. Joe was fixing gates on a trailer since we planned on picking up some charlais bulls and putting them out today. As it turned out the fellow we lease them from didn’t have them gathered, so Joe mowed in the evening and I raked the grass out of the lawn.

July 23, 2007
This morning I rolled up electric fence and then built another electric fence for the colts. It is finally hot, sweaty and feeling like summer.
My nieces and nephew came out in the afternoon, so I put them on horses and we went for a ride. While they and Laramie played in the creek, I spent some time with maintenance here and there. It was another easy day for me.
Joe checked cattle at Mullinville. He had one big cow with foot rot. He roped two back legs perfect the first time, but didn’t get his dally. The second time he loped by her to rope her, his stirrup broke. He stayed right with her anyway and two footed her again. He spent the evening until 11:00 tonight repairing the stirrups. He put new bolts in them, took the rawhide off, soaked it and then recovered and laced them up again.
We ate supper by 7:30. Some friends came by to visit and play with the children. They had already taken a shower, but had to run them all through again since they got quite dirty playing on the tire swing and with the dogs and catching frogs.

July 24th, 2007
Yesterday I let the colts out and they came out of corral slowly, so I thought I had it made with the new electric fence. I was wrong. This morning more than half of it was torn up. They had run through it, probably not aware it was there, or they had forgotton. Remarkably, none of them are cut up anywhere. I fixed the fence and went back in to make breakfast for the children. They got to sleep in until 9:00, which is unheard of around here. Laramie has been ready for a slow time just as I have, so I let them all sleep. They will probably sleep outside in the fort or in teepees tonight and make up for the extra sleep they caught up on.

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