August 1, 2002

Joe was up early, but not early enough. He was to meet J.L. to ride grassland to monitor deer population and grass production. The saddle horses were out in two different pastures. The fence had broken and they all scattered. It took a bit longer to get the chores done.

They saw some nice bucks and were happy with some grass they saw and not so happy with other patches. We are extremely dry, so monitoring the growth, or rather lack of growth of the grasslands is very important. Overgrazing will hurt not only the grass, but the cattle, the soil, and all the wildlife from ground squirrels to deer that depend on it.

We were back to Dodge City to vend at the rodeo. Attendance tonight was very small. We made a few sales and saw many neighbors we visited with.

August 3, 2002

When we came home from the rodeo after midnight, all the horses we had been doctoring were in the yard. We left them there thinking they wouldn't go far since the yard around the house has the best grass. The next morning Joe whistled and whistled. He finally found them almost 3 miles down the road. He let them in our pasture and left to ride all of the pastures around Coldwater and Protection on the yellow colt. The colt only spooked once when a bull came walking unexpectedly out of some bulrushes on the creek.

I spent most of the day refinishing some chairs I am going to cover with hide. Before I knew it, the afternoon was gone. Laramie went with me to get the wandering horses out of the pasture and back to the corral. We caught the mare and her colt -- the yearling colt and the old mare followed her. Laramie sat on the back of the pickup, holding the lead rope while I drove. We doctored the mare and the yearling back at the corral and then got ready for the rodeo.

Laramie and I saw a few deer that we have spotted several times. They were about 20 yards from the house. It was the doe and her twin fawns. The fawns still have their spots. They stood in the trees and stared at us while we watched them. As we walked away, they stood stark still, not moving a muscle. They must have thought they were hidden from us.

August 6, 2002

My niece and nephew, Jason and Elizabeth are here for a couple of days. Laramie had a great time with them. They played in the creek, played on dirt piles, and rode a horse. After squirting them off with a hose and changing clothes, we cooked biscuits in the dutch oven and had roast beef and biscuits.

Jason found a nest with guinea eggs in it. It was on the ground under some weeds. There were about 20 eggs, but we don't know how long they laid there, so we will just toss them. I was beginning to wonder if we would run onto a nest anywhere.

August 7, 2002

Joe was able to get some CRP pasture from a neighbor to rent. The rangeland is very dry, and moving the cattle off of the regular pastures to the CRP will be good for the native grasslands as well as help to stimulate the CRP pastures which are only utilized during drought. CRP is a government program that pays an incentive for farmers to stop farming marginal farm ground and plant it back to native grasses. The government does not allow any haying or grazing of these lands, except during periods of drought. Joe spent the day fixing the old fences that have not been kept up.

I spent most of the morning doctoring the mare and trying to fix water tank floats in the corrals. I managed to get one of them fixed. The other needs some parts from town before I can fix the rest of it. In the afternoon, I mowed our lawn and then spent the evening fixing fence in the pasture the saddle horses are in. One colt seems to be causing havoc with the fences by running right through it. We left him in the corral this evening to see if he is the problem.

Joe saddled 3 colts this evening. I had gone out to catch my horse for the kids to ride. In the process, one of the colts ran by me. That was a bad move. Even though I had no intentions of catching him, it gave him the idea that he could get away from me. We caught him up right away and also caught the other two colts. Joe saddled the sorrel horse that had run by me. He is a terribly tall horse and was in the mood to see what he could get away with. In front of the tack room he ran away while Joe had the rope on him. He managed to get about 20 feet away, but never got away from Joe. Joe got him saddled and he reared several times in the barnyard while Joe was on the ground. That was the wrong thing for him to try. Joe took him to the corrals and rode him there. He bucked pretty good for a while. Joe saddled the yellow horse next and messed with him and then saddled the grey colt we had been doctoring. He had never been saddled before. After the saddle was cinched up, Joe let him loose in the corral. He squealed and bucked lightly on all fours, hoping to get that darn thing off of his back and belly. He settled down right away, a sure sign of a smart horse.

August 8, 2002

Joe left early to get a start on the rest of the fence around the CRP and to move the cows. He took his yellow colt to ride. He said the cows were scattered all over the pasture and the colt got a hard workout today. Hard work and lots of miles is what makes a colt into a good saddle horse.

I went to town to pick up some tax information from a couple of clients and worked on them most of the day. The extensions are due August 15th, and that is getting close!

August 9, 2002

Joe went out with his binoculars to scout out some deer. He came back with a report that he saw a terrific buck. Too bad he didn't take the camera with him.

August 10, 2002

Joe went looking for deer again. He saw several bucks and got pictures of a few of them. A young buck sniffed him out and came close enough to see that it was a human. After he snorted and ran off, the rest of the deer left too.

August 11, 2002

Laramie and I went to early church today. We were a little late. Actually, we were forty minutes late. It was a short service. In the afternoon we went to Kinsley, which is a small town about 40 miles away to listen to a missionary friend speak. Afterwards, we stopped by a friend's house to see their new cowboy. They had a new baby just a week ago. I always get a kick looking at small babies and their small fingers and toes. Their fingernails are so tiny.

Joe's cousins, Monty and Kathy Moore came from Denver to spend a few days. They have three kids for Laramie to play with.

August 12, 2002

Joe picked up a horse for Laramie to try out. He seems to be a very gentle horse, but has a bit more "go" than his old horse Cimarron did. He rode for a while and then all the cousins took turns riding. Cody took Kathy and Monty for a ride in the Walnut pasture. They saw quite a few deer.

We cooked breakfast for supper tonight out on the fire. We had eggs, bacon and pancakes. Afterwards the kids toasted some marshmallows on the coals. I am getting better at the campfire cooking. I am practicing up for our trail drive in October when we will be using only the chuck wagon to cook out of.

August 13, 2002

It rained over an inch last night. It is such a blessing. We have waited so long for some moisture, and God is faithful. It was cool today, so more of the moisture will have a chance to seep in the ground instead of evaporate.

After it quit raining, Joe went south of Protection and Coldwater to ride the cattle with Kent Jarnigan. He was hoping it would take only until noon, but he didn't get back until 4:00 pm. I would have loved to have gone with him and ridden Jack and had Laramie ride his new horse Chico and see how he handled with the cattle. We will just have to wait for the next go round.

We cooked outside this evening. I made lasagne in the dutch oven and then we ate outside. Most all of my firewood was wet from the wonderful rain we had the night before, so I used charcoal instead. It was nice outside, so we dined outside. The kids had a good day riding horses and running around the ranch chasing chickens and climbing trees.

August 14, 2002

The cousins left today. I found out through an e-mail that the Western Nile Virus had infected a horse in the county adjoining us. I left early for the veterinary clinic to pick up some vaccine for the saddle horses. Joe and I moved the fence charger to the horse pasture and then vaccinated the saddle horses and turned the colts out he had been working with. He left to go to his dad's house in Oklahoma to help them work cattle for a couple of days.

We had a hen turkey and her 3 chicks in the yard today. I had seen one hen with one chick, but this is the first of this hatch that I had seen. We were thrilled to see them just 10 feet from the back door.

August 15, 2002

It was just Laramie and me here today. We spent most of the day getting our school room ready for the new year. Laramie will be in First Grade this year. We redecorated the walls and moved the furniture around. We are both looking forward to another year of home schooling.

I went out to the pasture to take pictures of the stud horse for the Paint Horse Association. Every time we want to register a colt, it seems I must prove the color of the colt. This time it is the color of the stud. It keeps the film developers in business! The stud and mares were at the far side of the pasture, so I wandered that way in the old red '79 pickup. He stood fine for the pictures. I saw a doe with twin fawns. They are a bit older than the twin fawns which range closer to the house, this older set has nearly lost their spots.

We turned the two paint colts out today. Joe had suspected that they were the culprits that were tearing down the electric fences. Since it rained, and the animals can feel a shock on the fence now, I turned them out to see if they will stay in. I will know by tomorrow morning if they show up in the wrong pasture.

I finished putting the seat in the old pickup.

August 17, 2002

Laramie and I waited most of the day for Joe to get home. We finally saddled Jack and Chico, the horse we are trying out. It was very windy, and we couldn't talk to each other as we rode unless we were right beside each other. We found a deer antler in the pasture and saw some deer trying to hide from us. Chico was easy to handle, but is a fast walker and outgoing. We will have to see if he works out for Laramie or not. Later when Joe came home, Laramie and he went out to check the cows. Chico acts as though he has never seen cattle before and was a bit spooked. Joe wanted to switch horses with Laramie, but I had saddled Chico with a small child's saddle. We will have to ride him among the cattle later and see if he settles down.

August 18, 2002

We went to church in Dodge City today and ran some errands afterwards looking for parts and supplies for building the chuckbox on the chuckwagon. We stopped by Lee and Tamie Hawes' Ranch on the way home for a visit.

When we got home, I went down to the corrals to help Joe take the cast off of the mare with the badly cut hoof. He used a shop grinder, and both of us were sure it was going to turn into a job. Usually when the grinder is plugged in and the sound reaches the horse's ears, that is when the fight begins. The mare was very docile and stood still the entire time. Her leg looks a lot better. Joe will turn this mare and colt back in with the stud on Tuesday.

August 19, 2002

Today was our first day of school. We home school and Laramie is in the First Grade this year. After school we made another trip to Dodge City. It is about 40 miles away from the ranch and I always dread it! I enjoy the seclusion of the ranch. We picked up a new trailer and more supplies for the chuck wagon which we will use on the trail drive this fall.

Joe is going to help Lee Hawes haul buffalo from Nebraska tomorrow and the next day. It is about an eight hour drive. We were up late fixing lights on the stock trailer and the pickup so he would be ready to roll early in the morning. We made it to bed at 2:00 in the morning. It seems that trailer lights are always worked on late at night, the day before leaving on a trip. They are also a never ending problem. This particular trailer had been rewired a few months ago, but a light had gone out. It never fails that trailer lights will always fail.

August 20, 2002

Joe left this morning for Nebraska. Laramie and I had school today. We went on a field trip in the "Walnut Pasture", to look at different terrain and take soil samples for a science experiment. We drove out to the creek and walked a few miles up and down the embankments and rocky points. We ate a picnic lunch up on a ridge where the wind was blowing. Down on the creek bottom, the trees were blocking the wind and the mosquitoes were bad. When we got out in the breeze, they left us alone. If you ever watch a herd of cattle or horses, they will be in the same place at the hot part of the day for the same reasons.

I finished loading my sales trailer and did some work in the house.

It was a year ago today our dear neighbor passed away. We still miss his wisdom and neighborly love.

August 21, 2002

It was my birthday today. Laramie gave me one of his matchbox cars and picked some wild flowers for me. My dad and stepmom came of over in the evening with a birthday cake. We had a good visit. Joe made it home just about 9:00 in the evening from hauling the buffalo. They had a few delays and problems with a flat tire. They barely made it back before dark. It was a must to make it back before dark so they could turn the buffalo out before dark. New stock in a new pasture need time to check the fence line and the surroundings out. Dumping them out in a dark pasture might mean a broken fence and no stock the next day.

August 23 - 25, 2002

We spent the weekend at Joe's parent's place in Oklahoma. There was a Longhorn sale in a nearby town. We had consigned several head of cattle, and I also set up a booth to sell some of our ranch merchandise. It was a scorcher the day of the sale. I had set up outside and was worn completely out by the time it was over. Joe worked the sale ring as well as helped sort and feed the cattle prior to the sale. On Sunday we went to the local "dog swap" to see if there were any good buys available. It is like a huge flea market on a creek bottom. I was able to find two dutch ovens in good shape. On the way home, we stopped at a friend's house to try out a horse for Laramie. Although the horse is very gentle, he was trying Laramie out. He bucked Laramie off. We decided to try the horse anyway and took him home for a few days.

August 26, 2002

Joe went to Kiowa County to check on the cattle there and fix some fence around some wheat stubble for the cows there. Even with the bits of rain lately, the pastures are still sparse and the cattle are looking for something else to eat. Some of them are getting out on the road. The stubble will help to suffice them for a while.

In the afternoon, Joe, Cody, Lee Hawes, Laramie and I went to stack square bales. J.L. came later with another truck to load hay on. We had quite a crew for a while and got 460 bales hauled home and stacked. J.L.'s old truck wasn't working very well, so we pulled it twice to start it. Luckily, it made it all the way home.

August 27, 2002

We had a nice rain to day. It seems to be pretty widespread. It is good to see the pastures greening up, even though it is a little backwards for the time of year it is. Usually this time of year everything is just now drying up. This year we were brown and dry most of the summer and late in the summer we are now turning back green! We are thankful to God for every drop he sends us. There won't be any hay hauling today! Joe went to Kiowa County to finish the fence.

August 28, 2002

Late in the evening we all headed for the hay field to turn the bales. It was breezy and warm enough today to dry them out from the rain that had fallen. We turned them a quarter of a turn to dry out the bottom of the bale. This will help to keep them dry in the haystack and keep them from molding.

After all the bales were turned and we were walking back to the pickup, we herd a rattle and saw something move in front of us. It was a medium sized prairie rattler taking all the young rattlers down a hole. A larger rattler was curled up by a patch of grass and didn't move. We scoped the situation out and continued onto the pickup. We didn't have anything to kill the snakes with and tried to run over the large snake. He was a fast old bugger. We never got him.

When we got home, Laramie got on Leroy, the latest horse we are trying out. He seemed to do a bit better with him this evening, getting a better feeling for him. I am a little surprised he isn't shy of him since he bucked him off last Sunday.

August 29, 2002

It was a long day hauling square bales. Cody moved to Salina today and was unable to help. That left Joe and I and Lee Hawes and of course Laramie to haul about 450 bales. We got a late start when we saw the trailer had a bad tire on it. I drove the pickup, Joe stacked the hay that Lee threw to him off the ground. Laramie was general management. We got all the hay hauled out of the field and most of it unloaded. Tomorrow we will unload the last of it off the biggest trailer.

Joe took his shotgun in case we ran into the rattlesnakes again. He got several of the young rattlers and a medium sized rattlesnake. Joe cut the rattler off for Laramie. We never did see the large snake again.

September through October 2002

September and October have been very busy months as I reflect on them. They seem to have run together. The way I have written this journal for these two months will reflect this. We were preparing for a 45 mile long trail drive that we held near the end of October. Joe had bought running gears to build a chuckwagon and spent a lot of his free time building the wagon and the chuckbox to go in it. I spent a lot of my time sewing 1880's outfits for the drive, helping with the chuckbox, helping with the cattle and cooking for the trail drive.

Fall tends to be a very busy time of year around our ranch. While most people in the farming business see fall as a slow down to activities, ours is just now starting to gear up and go.

Soon the cooler weather will come and the grass will begin to turn brown. The calves will need to be weaned from their mamas. Some will go straight to market and others will stay on the ranch for 3 months and some longhorn calves will stay for another 2 months after that. We will have to keep a close eye on the weaning calves to make sure they aren't stressed and become sick. We also keep a close eye on our cows and their condition as well as the condition of the pastures. We will rotate on to pastures where we have stockpiled grass throughout the summer. When the cows have need of extra protein, we will begin caking them which is a large pellet manufactured as a supplement for the cattle.

Throughout the month of September, Joe spent most of his evenings spotting deer and watching their habits throughout the day. We had a hunter come in for a few days near the end of the month. He saw a few nice bucks but chose to wait and come back during rifle season and try his luck then. After the hunt was over, Joe spent most of his evenings in the shop working on the chuckwagon.

Laramie and I spent most of our time in home school and on field trips. It shortens our time with Joe and the animals, but we will endure! Laramie is in the first grade. We spend a lot of time observing thing around the ranch in conjunction with science. We studied soil types around the ranch and looked at a lot of erosion over the years and the causes and effects of it.

Our biggest surprise in late September was the hatching of some guinea chicks. It is way to late in the year for guineas to be hatching any chicks, but here they came! One morning while Joe was graining the horses, the hens appeared with 8 chicks trailing them. We were told it was imperative to capture any guinea chicks as they cannot keep up with the mothers and can't survive. These chicks seemed to be doing well, however we have so many predators, Joe gathered them all up and brought them to the house in a bucket. All the while he was picking them up, the mama hen was flogging his leg. He was stuffing them in his coat pocket and kept picking them up and picking them up. He finally realized he had a hole in one pocket and they were coming out of the other side.

Laramie and I fetched a cage and made a place in the tack room for them to stay in. They are as quick as their mamas and have the same characteristics of loudness, quickness and running into one another. Seven of the chicks were brown and one was gray. We have watched them develop. The first thing Laramie noticed was their tiny new flight feathers coming in. We have been feeding them cracked corn, malt-o-meal and oatmeal. Their favorite meal is houseflies, which they can snap out of the air, and grasshoppers that Laramie catches for them. They go absolutely berserk over grasshoppers and fight over them. One chick will grab it out of the others beak and run around the cage with it until another one snatches it from him. It makes for great entertainment to feed them a grasshopper.

We did loose 3 chicks when the weather got just a bit chilly. They had a heatlamp over the cage, but it was too drafty for them. We added a saddle blanket around the cage. It will be a challenge to raise them since the weather is just going to get colder. It will be a bad thing if the electricity goes off in the night and their heating lamp is off for an hour or so. That happens often around here. We will just have to make the best of it.

Laramie and I went to a Ranch Rodeo in Medicine Lodge the end of September. I vended some merchandise. Laramie had a great time watching the rodeo. We also slept out under the stars. It helped to break us in for sleeping out during the trail drive later in October.

It began raining a week before the trail drive. It was a blessing since it enabled Joe to work on the chuckwagon during the day. J.L. came over and helped him one day.

A week before I went to Eastern Kansas to pick up the draft horses for the team. They are mares, Amy and Abby. Draft horses are a different breed for sure! Besides their huge hooves, they are "cold blooded" and very docile. I am amazed at the way they handle. Windy Spurgeon came over to take a trial spin with them. We took the chuckwagon out in the pasture among the cows. We thought they might be spooked by the rattle of the wagon, but none of them even seemed to notice. After the initial run, Joe saw only a few minor adjustments were needed to the brakes and the chuckbox. He also managed to make a new wagon seat for Windy and got it done just hours before we were off on the trail drive. I suppose you could call it making it by the skin of our teeth or use the interpretation I prefer: The timing worked out perfectly.

The trail drive was an absolutely enjoyable success. Our goal was to drive our cows to winter pasture instead of trucking them. At the same time we wanted to share this unique experience and opportunity with others. The particular group of guests that came with us preferred to do as much as we could authentically. We tried as well as we could to dress 1880's style and use as much equipment and cooking from this era as we could. We slept outside, cooked with dutch ovens, and drove the cows 43 miles to their new pasture in 4 days.

We had 6 guests. One came from Virginia, one from Texas, three came from California and one from Louisiana. Four of them had virtually never ridden a horse before and came for a four day, 45 mile drive. I was skeptical whether they would make it and wondered how long it would be before one of them was in the wagon. To my surprise, none of them even made a suggestion about quitting or slowing down. By the end of the drive they were understanding the makings of a hand. Only one gentleman got off of his horse to drive the team for a few miles, a boyhood dream he had always had.

Laramie was a goer on his new horse Chico. I was leery since Chico is a bit friskier than his old horse Cimarron. He did beautifully, as well as made sure everyone on the flank (riders on the side of the herd) and the drag (riders at the back of the herd) got their job done to his satisfaction.

Karen Spurgeon came the first day and was indispensable since the cows were ready to walk out and go the first day. The second day was a bit tricky since the weather had changed with a front coming in. The cattle tried to break several times as we gathered them that morning. The guests got broke in well that day. I was grateful my brother, Jeff, had come from New Mexico and could do anything from ride a bronc, talk intelligently with folks and keep the cattle from breaking. The third day Eric Spurgeon, age 10 and his dad J.L. came to help out with the rest of the drive. Windy Spurgeon, age 74, drove the chuckwagon. His wife, Dell also in her 70's came along. The first day she rode a horse and rode the flank. The innate knowledge of these cowboys and cowgirls made the whole thing run smoothly and gave the guests a good example to emulate.

Ocotber 26, 2002

Today was a very pleasant day. There was not one breath of air moving. I took advantage of the opportunity and got all the bedrolls out in the yard and swept them out, rolled them up and got them stored. I made Joe a huge bedroll with added blankets for the buffalo hunts he will be helping to guide throughout the months of November, December and into January.

October 28, 2002

Life is almost back to normal. There are no more preparations for a trail drive right now. Today I got most everything stored back in the chuckbox on the wagon. I picked up the tack room and got the harnesses stored away.

Joe left to help Lee Hawes with his first buffalo hunt. It is still dreary and a bit rainy. I sent Joe with his duster, extra clothes and several wool blankets in his bedroll. I am eager to see how things are going there.

Laramie went out and caked the cattle here. There is one small calf with scours. I will have to keep a close eye on him the next few dreary days. Sunshine would help him a lot.

We fed the guinea chicks and the horses. The stud horse had managed to weasel his way into the alleyway with another gelding. He has really turned into a pain. We have separated him from the mares, and all he can think about is his beloved harem on the other side of the alley. He and Chico got into a bit of a fight as they passed in the corral. Chico is pretty tough on the other saddle horses. He might be a bit proud cut, that is he has a little bit of testosterone activity which makes him think he is the king. The stud has cut him down to size a bit. In the past, he would barely let the saddle horses eat if the hay was not spread over a ridiculously large area. Now the stud stands in his far corner keeping his eyes constantly on the mares, in the meantime, the saddle horses get their fill of hay and Chico is standing under the barn feeling a bit sorry for himself since he realizes that his reign as king is over for now.

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