April 24, 2002

Once in a while things don't go so smoothly. Today was one of those days. We left early this morning to move cows and calves to the Hall ground from the Miller ground. Some babies are just a few days old, so I traveled on the road with the trailer in case one of them was tired. The guys roped 12 of them and loaded them in the trailer to give them a free ride. J.L.'s mom rode in front of the herd and the rest rode at the back coaxing everything along. After we got to the new pasture, it appeared we were short a calf. J.L. and Karen went back to the pasture to look for it while we fixed some fence. We had just loaded up the horses to head out and help look for the other calf when we saw a calf headed at a dead run back towards the other pasture. Joe roped the calf and we took it back to its mama. He noticed two cows mothering the same calf. He had to separate the cows and make sure they both had their own baby. We then headed out again. Joe and I looked in the original pasture for an hour for the missing calf with no luck. We went on to J.L.'s house to help him gather a pasture of heifers. The cattle did not want to cooperate at all. Two cows were sorted off and the rest of the cattle would not leave the corral. We realized there were goats in the gate spooking the cattle. One calf had to be roped to get him out of the corral.

We went to Dodge City to get a car we were to deliver to Oklahoma. Joe went on to the next town to pick up a stock trailer. It had just had lights hooked up on it, but wouldn't you know, the adapter did not fit our pickup. Joe had to fix that, as it was getting late in the day and we would definitely need lights since it would be dark before we made it to Oklahoma.

We headed home to gather some cattle we would be hauling to Oklahoma as soon as we got everything done. Joe went out to gather the cattle. I gathered up some syringes to doctor a steer with a bad eye. We sorted off a bull that proceeded to go down the alleyway and in an instant tore up a whole stack of square bales of hay. After we restacked the hay, we sorted off the steer and attempted to doctor his eye. The syringes I had retrieved were both broken. The nose tongs we use to restrain the steer came unhooked and hit Joe on the chin.

We unloaded a pickup load of corn, hooked up the trailer and loaded the cattle. After a quick shower, we headed for Oklahoma. As Joe was headed out the driveway, he hit a deer. We had just had bodywork done on the pickup. Amazingly, there wasn't a mark on the pickup. Joe decided to take the time to drag the deer off the road. He got out and pulled on the deer's leg. He thought he felt a little jerk. The deer got up and looked around drunkenly. He stumbled and hit Joe with his head as he ambled off across the road. We were glad he was all right.

We had planned on leaving for Oklahoma about 2:00 p.m. It was now 8:30 p.m. We arrived at 3:30 a.m., just in time to go to bed.

May 15, 2002

We branded at the south Oklahoma place today. There was plenty of help and it went quickly. I branded while Joe, John, J.L. and Kent took turns roping and mugging. We checked the partnership cattle south of Coldwater on the way back to the ranch and then stopped in town to eat. Joe checked the pastures after we returned home.

June 2, 2002

It was branding day at the Hawes Ranch today. It is always a fun time there. The weather was forecasted to be blistering hot in the afternoon, so they began as early as possible. We were done by 10:30 and back to the house way before lunchtime, much to the cook's surprise. We enjoyed visiting while the older kids caught up on sleep. They had slept outside the previous night, and had not slept all night. The rest of the day was enjoyable with guitars and singing, water fights and some horse games. The kids always enjoy the scoop shovel race, which is a rider on a scoop shovel, pulled by a horse. The smaller kids raced to rope kid goats and dress them in t-shirts.

Our son and the Hawes' son had planned to buffalo their fathers this year in the horse-dressing contest. All the saddles and tack are put in a pile in the corral and the horses are turned loose. Everyone must catch his horse, saddle it and ride across the finish line. The boys had decided to chain their dad's saddles together. Coincidentally, the dads had the same idea. The mothers knew of the double whammy double cross and couldn't imagine both sets of them pulling it off. Lo and behold, all the saddles got chained together without the other pair knowing! It was a great laugh. We have decided that all fools think alike.

June 7^th   -   Friday

The colts have finally arrived, almost at one time. We had one colt born early this spring, but the rest of the mares had been bred later. We were thrilled to see all of them were in good shape and very sharp looking. Joe got a hold of them and handled them for a while. It was a new experience for the colts and the mares are never very thrilled with the situation. This is the first colt for one of the mares and she was very protective. Joe decided to let him go until he was a bit older and not disturb the mare.

June 8^th   -   Saturday

Finally we are branding the small herd at our house. There were only 60 head to do. With the drought this year, the cattle are scattered out to different places. It has made for several small brandings instead of one big one. Some friends from up North, the O'Neils came to help as well as the regulars, the Spurgeons. Some of the kids roped. They sure are doing a lot better since last year. I had made some stew and biscuits in the Dutch oven the evening before. We finished that off and took the cattle back to pasture.

After a long, hot day, Laramie and Joe and I went to the Round Barn tonight for a dance. The Round Barn is a restored historic site. The local barn dances in the hayloft are great fun and family affairs. I managed to dance nearly every dance since Laramie was determined to keep me busy so I couldn't dance with his dad. When some other kids showed up, the pressure was off and he danced with them instead. We are looking forward to the next dance.

June 12^th   -   Wednesday

We had friends out to play today. We hiked up the creek, looked at the beaver dam and nest, checked on the mares and foals and then saddled some horses and took a ride around. The does are just now having fawns and are keeping them hidden. We were astounded to run onto two different fawns.

The best part of the day was the huge bullfrog we saw at the pond and we also witnessed a water snake swallow a frog. It was amazing to see the mass of frog disappear down the body of the snake.

Trevor and Laramie were soaked clear to the bone after they wrestled in mud puddles. They are both boys to the bone. Faith, Trevor's sister, was a bit more lady-like but enjoyed the day just as well.

Laramie ran in the house to come and quick and look at the bird that couldn't fly. What we found was a baby blue jay that was learning how to fly. He had flown down, but couldn't convince himself to fly to a branch of a tree. We watched him for sometime, all the time being watched by the mama blue jay. I was surprised she didn't dive at us. Joe put him back up in a tree on the end of a stick since it was getting dark out and we didn't want any predators to get him. He was a big baby bird and a bit on the ugly side too.

June 13^th   -   Thursday

We moved cattle 2 different places today. At the south Oklahoma place, we gathered and moved to the large pasture. It got to be a bit challenging. Kent's 8-year-old son and Laramie were bringing up the back. Joe and I were working hard on the sides. It is rough country. The pairs moved easily, wanting to stay with their calves, but a few cows that had not calved yet tried us several times. This bunch of cows had just been put together from several different places, so it will take a few moves before they settle in. We managed to get it done. Kent's son trailed a calf that had finally lain down in the brush. He waited by the calf until Joe could ride back and carry the calf on the saddle back to the pasture to his mama. Laramie and I worked to keep the cows contained in one area of the pasture while they were off getting the calf.

We finished off south of Coldwater. The cattle there moved well. Two cows were left in the pasture that had young calves. They had them hidden in the tall grass and we couldn't find them, so left them for another day. The boys were amazed at all the lizards and horny toads we saw along the road and the pasture.

We were nearly to the next pasture when the UPS truck came up behind us. We held his delivery route up a few minutes. It would have made a cute picture with cows in front of the UPS truck, driving them down the road. I could just see the advertisement "We deliver anything, anywhere".

It was hot by the time we got done. The canteen was empty by the time we reached the trailer.

June 14^th   -   Friday

We had planned for two years to get together with the Williams family. Don and Janet Williams brought their kids Sarah and Curtis to the ranch. We had a beautiful evening on the creek. We cooked out, camped out and enjoyed all the stars and a still night. The kids splashed around in the creek. Curtis brought his bow. He and Joe messed around with it for a bit. I was the lucky one who only got about two hours of sleep. Everyone else seemed to sleep much better and longer. A mockingbird called all though the night.

June 15^th   -   Saturday

Since I didn't get much sleep on my cot under the tree, I got up early and started the fire for breakfast. We had pancakes, bacon and eggs. After packing camp up, we went for a walk up the creek. Curtis found a nice deer antler shed. We were lucky enough to see a fawn hiding along the bank of the creek. It stayed "hidden" while we gawked at it and took pictures.

The exercise of climbing up and down the hills was welcome. We then went back to the corrals to saddle horses and head out to the last branding. It began raining on us as we rode out on the horses to gather the cattle. It has been so dry that any amount of rain is welcome, however just a little moisture on the hair coat will prevent branding.

The wind was blowing hard, so Sarah and Laramie rode their horse back to the corrals to wait. Don was eager to ride, so he took their horse and loped back with me to the pasture. The cows were nearly to the gate when we got there. We got them gathered; the calves sorted off, the dry cows sorted off and then began branding. There was an abundance of help, so the younger kids played hard, and got on the horses and messed with them. The older kids got put to work. Curtis was a quick learner and a hard worker. He mugged most of the calves, which were pretty good sized.

They drove the cattle back to the pasture and turned a bull out with them. We then headed home through a terrific thunderstorm. The water poured from the sky as the wind blew. Every drop will be welcome to the parched prairie.

June 24^th   -   Monday

Joe checked all the cattle today. We had been missing one cow. Often we would see her here or there, but she would disappear by the time we went out to fetch her. She was in with the neighbor's cows. Joe said it was a picture perfect event. He went in on horseback and separated her from the neighbor's cows. She trotted down the fence line and out the gate. He roped her right near the trailer and tied the rope off to the saddle horn. A second rope was threaded down the side of the trailer and he slipped that rope over her horns and used the horse to pull her on into the trailer. "It took less than twenty minutes". It's always nice when things work the way they should.

I spent the day mowing the yard, getting things ready for the web site and getting some details together for our next trail drive we are having this fall.

June 19^th   -   June 22^nd

We spent several days in Wichita tending to business matters and attending a Ranching for Profit Conference. We enjoy being around the other ranchers who have the same ecological values we do. We also visited Old Cowtown Museum and made some arrangements for a possible trail drive there in Wichita.

June 25^th   -   Tuesday

Joe has decided to buy a few chickens or guineas to help with our infestation of grasshoppers. He left for Oklahoma to pick up Laramie at his parents' ranch and also go to the chicken auction. I stayed home and began work on the old chicken house. It probably has not housed chickens for nearly 30 years or more. At one time the chicken house housed our sheep flock and I had revamped it for sheep. I tried out a few carpenter skills -- put chicken wire back on the windows, made a few new window frames and did some innovative plugging of holes. The chickens we buy will probably not roost in the house after we let them loose after a couple days. I wasn't looking forward to making new roosts, so I drug dead tree branches in for them to roost on. I considered it innovatively lazy.

June 26 ^th   -   Wednesday

Joe and Laramie arrived back with about 35 guinea hens and a few chickens. It is odd to hear them clucking all the time. It seemed so peaceful before. It won't take long and I won't "hear" them anymore.

July 1, 2002

This morning Joe and I struggled with some paperwork for some upcoming Longhorn Sales. It was not at all difficult; we dread putting it all together. Of all the work that we do with each other day after day, this is one that we don't enjoy doing together or separately. Later, Joe fixed some fence while I paid bills.

Joe ran the horses in and each of us caught a horse. We moved the cows from the Walnut Pasture to the Wedding Pasture. Each of our pastures has it's own unique label. There are huge, ancient walnut trees in the walnut pasture and our wedding was held in the Wedding Pasture. The cows moved very easily. Laramie actually did most of the work at the back of the herd while Joe and I took some pictures and checked on pasture conditions.

The grass by the creeks and in the bottoms is quite green, but all the rangeland at the higher levels is getting crisp and brown already. We had very dry weather through the fall, winter and spring. In late spring we were grateful to receive rain, however they were only sustaining rains. The subsoil is very dry. We will need rain in monsoon-like proportions and some nice deep snow this winter to counter the effects.

The big find of the day were 2 whitetail antler drops and a lug wrench found beside a fence. Joe said he had been missing it for nearly 2 years.

In the evening, I mowed while Laramie caught tadpoles out of a mud puddle that is almost dried up. I cooked supper of biscuits and gravy outside in the dutch oven, over an open fire.

July 2, 2002

My Aunt and Uncle came for a visit this morning. It is always nice to have someone drop by. After the visit, Laramie and I went to the creek. He let his catch of tadpoles loose in the creek and he played a while. I sat in the shade and did some planning for school this coming year.

All of the guineas were released this morning. They are grasshopper eating machines. I hope we are able to keep most of them alive. I am afraid there are too many predators here to get my hopes up.

Joe went to town to do banking and then went North of Mullinville to check the cattle there.

July 13^th - 21^st

We enjoyed a trip to Florida. The highlights of the trip were swimming day after day in a crystal clear ocean, Sea Word, and meeting some wonderful new friends, Paul and Lourdes Schatzberg. We met Lourdes on the airplane flying out of St. Louis. She was thrilled to find someone who enjoyed the outdoors and animals and real food just like we do. Lourdes can appreciate farm fresh eggs, fresh chicken and other meats and anything baked with them. She is truly a self made chef and baker. We had a personal invitation to their home and enjoyed their genuine hospitality.

July 23, 2002

We enjoyed biscuits and gravy and gingerbread from the dutch oven tonight. I really need to quit this practice. I sure am enjoying what I cook way too much!

Joe checked cattle today and doctored the horses. I cleaned out the old ranch pickup we use for fencing. We are going to sell it. I pulled the seat out of it and gave it a good hosing down. I sure found a lot of treasures in all the little nooks and crannies. It seems like we are always looking for water tank plugs. We can never remember where we put them after draining a tank. It appears most of the time they had been stowed away in the fencing truck.

July 24, 2002

We left for our pasture just over the Oklahoma line. We gathered the set of cows that are on about 3,000 acres there. We sorted off several cows to send to the sale. Most of them are nice English bred cows, and should bring a decent price. It is a big pasture and took a few of us to gather. Laramie was there as well as Cody Trabert, a grandson of our partner John Trabert. They got along pretty well considering the pasture is pretty rough country, and sometimes they had to wait on the ridge for us to get around a few stragglers or a few devils that tried to run off. Most of these cows are new purchases from several different places. It will take awhile to get them trained to be gathered together easily.

We sorted off the cows one at a time we wanted to sell. Joe and Kent rode into the herd and eased them to the gate. We then had to make sure their calf was paired up with them so we didn't end up shipping another cow's calf to the sale barn or leaving a calf behind without it's mama.

While we sorted, Cody and Laramie played in the creek. They managed to catch some sort of baby bird that appeared injured. It looked a lot like a young vulture. Laramie managed to wade into the bog to get a frog and some cattails. He was covered with black, stinky mud.

We ate lunch there at the pens and loaded the semi when it arrived afterwards. It was a hot day, well over 100 degrees We spent the rest of the day at the house doing chores. Joe had a fever of 101 degrees and was ready to get back to the house.

July 25, 2002

Frogs . . . Laramie got up early to go to the Fish and Game to identify some creatures he found at the bottom of a dried up mud puddle. The creatures had disintegrated, so he opted to stay home and ride his horse around the barnyard instead. He ended up at the creek and came back to the house leading his horse. His surprise for me was a frog he caught in the mud. Cimarron his horse was left by the front of the house to graze while he played. When he felt like another ride, Cimarron had returned to the corrals. Laramie got a folding chair out of the tack room and mounted his horse and was off for another ride.

Joe gathered cows in Kiowa County in the morning. He hauled a load to the auction sale barn in Pratt about 65 miles away. He called and asked me to go to Dodge City to pick up a deer hide and some veterinary supplies for the horses we have been doctoring.

I am quite the home-body and very reluctant to leave the ranch. Ugh! Off to Dodge City I went. I dropped Laramie off at his Grandpa's to show off the frogs he caught. I picked up the deer hide, the veterinary supplies, dropped off Trail Drive brochures, stopped at the saddle shop to check out the leather sewing machines and headed home.

Laramie caught another frog in the evening while we were doctoring the horses. They are doing better now, and both can walk quite well. They are also a little more of a handful to doctor since they feel better. That is always a good sign, although I dread the extra fight to get their wounds cleaned out now.

July 26, 2002

It was a long, hard day. Joe left early in the morning to watch some cows sell at the sale barn in Woodward, Oklahoma.

I doctored the horses and did the chores. I noticed that Cimarron didn't come in to grain. I supposed he was just tired of being ridden and didn't come to the corral. Just to make sure, I went to look for him. He was down on the creek at the bottom of a bluff. I scaled down the bluff and checked him out. He looked very lethargic, so I ran back to the house and yelled at Laramie to get dressed. We fueled up the old pickup, hooked up a trailer and went out to the pasture to coax him back to the corrals.

We headed off to the veterinarian, which is 30 miles away. On the way, the pickup overheated. A local farmer picked us up and took us to the vet. The vet loaded some water and we went back to the overheated and by now, much hated pickup. We got the pickup running and the horse to the vet clinic. Cimarron had a high temperature, but didn't have much blood circulation and he was breathing hard. We knew the situation didn't look good. After the vet put an I.V. in the horse, Laramie and I went home. Joe came back through Ashland that afternoon and stayed there. Laramie and I went back in the evening. Late in the evening we brought him back home. After he was home he appeared better for a short time. Joe made a trip back to the vet to pick up some more fluids. We tried the fluids for a short time, and knew that he would never get better. Joe put Cimarron down late that night. He will be sorely missed. Cimarron was a wonderful babysitter for a little boy. He will be hard to replace.

July 27, 2002

Joe left early in the morning to ride the cattle in Kiowa County and check the windmills. Some wells are going dry because of the drought and over usage of water by irrigation. We have to check the slow wells often to make sure there is ample water for the cattle.

Laramie and I stayed home and helped a neighbor bury Cimarron. We saved some of his mane and tail hair to make something special later on. We also found an almost perfect arrowhead near where we were working.

Later in the afternoon we left for church so I could practice the organ. After church we went to a 25th Anniversary gathering at a small town park in Spearville.

July 31, 2002

We gathered the roping cattle Joe turned out yesterday. We had just weaned 5 head and the buyer we had lined up backed out. Joe had turned them out and gone to the house and answered the phone. Another buyer wanted to come and look today. That meant we had to get them gathered again.

I ran first thing that morning and saw where the herd was. They gathered and sorted easily.

We also noticed a huge knot on the shoulder of one of the bulls. We sorted him off and doctored him. Apparently, he was fighting with another bull and got hooked in the shoulder and it swelled up almost as big as a basketball. We lanced the knot, which means we opened it up with a scalpel so it could drain the pus and fluid out. There was a lot of fluid. It drained and we flushed it with iodine. When we let him out, he was moving almost normally and felt much better. We took the cowherd back to pasture just in time for the buyer to show up.

I got my trailer ready to take the rest of our merchandise to Dodge City to the rodeo. I have outgrown the trailer and am in desperate need of a larger one. Joe left with a young mare to take to a friend to break. Laramie and I left with the car and trailer filled to the brim.

Laramie stayed at a friend's house while Joe and I set up the booth in 105 degree weather. Since we work outside all the time, the heat doesn't bother us much compared to others that work in air conditioned buildings all day. It was nice when the weather cooled off in the evening anyway!

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