It looked like Snowageddon was underway

Monday we all had a blast working at the BB Cattle Co bull sale. Toni was in bidding, we had a couple of bulls picked out, but we did not get any. For once we even had a healthy budget, but we still couldn’t get anything bought. I guess we will have to make due with the 8 year old Hereford bull we have in the pasture. Kaine, Kade and Jaxsen helped Nick, Jaxsen helped by playing with KK (Kasen), and Kaine, Kade, Nick and Grace brought bulls down for Ben, Jolene and Mar to sort, and took them back when their pen got done selling, so sometimes they were running. Anna, Traci, Emma, Todd’s kids, Casen (I told him he was so helpful I would stop calling him tall kid and remember his name) and another boy, the kids tell me his name is Riley, all helped me pull gates, get the bulls ready, and get them into the sale ring. The sale went great, the average was high. When the sale got over the kids were starting to help Leslie pick up and dad called to say the yearling colts were in the yard, one of the gates that Ben has not had time to weld up yet was laying on the ground. So we ran home and chased them in, they were standing not far out of the gate eating pellets. Dad went to Palouse on Monday to get pellets, he said it snowed on him part of the way, and was sunny part of the way.  By the time we got all of our chores done and the colts back in, we didn’t have time to unload the pellets.

Tuesday Toni had a meeting in Prosser, so she was there most of the day. Anna checked cows, 926 calved on Tuesday. The kids went down to do chores, and Dusty called to say the red heifer we had wanted, she looked pregnant when we went to look so Dusty took her to get preg checked, was open, so he switched her for one of the ones we had gotten. The kids ran back to the house to help Dusty, but Ben was home so then they turned around and went back to do chores. Toni got there about the same time, and Fancy was in the corral, so they locked her in to move to the heavy pen. We have a couple of mares that could start foaling.  We are keeping close watch on them.  Fancy likes being in the heavy pen because we have all of the old mares over there and she hogs their protein tub.

Wednesday was sunny but cold. Anna texted that baby Arcee had a bull calf, he is a cute guy with red eyes pigment. Toni and the kids did chores, they locked the horses in to take to Sheena at Sagehill Vet on Thursday.  Everything went pretty well. Blue, Shady, and Whinny needed to go to the vet on Thursday so they all got brought in and locked in. Because of all the kids, moving Blue wasn’t as hard as normal. She is a great mare until you have a halter, then it is game on. Toni and the kids just made a wall, pushed her in the corral, and sorted everything else back out. It was so efficient, who knows if Blue even realizes she was caught!

Thursday the kids had a 2 hour delay because the town lost power. Anna checked since all of the kids had to go to school. Toni and Emma took the three mares into Sheena to get their teeth floated. It was wicked cold with the wind blowing hard. Toni and Emma had to stop in town and get hot drinks. Toni also takes all of her dogs with her so Emma gets to keep Coco the puppy entertained. It started to snow on Thursday. Toni and the kids did chores. Toni was asked for an interview for Irrigation Leader, we are very proud of her.

Friday I took the bottle cats in to the vet to get spayed and neutered.  I also went and got the dog Uncle Skip adopted that he named Rowdy. Uncle Skip has already had a dog named Rowdy, so this is Rowdy number 2. The Eugene horse sale was Friday, but lets face it, we don’t need anything. We may WANT something, but Mom and Dad had told us to take a break on buying. Which we knew that, we can count. So we bought nothing. I wanted a painted mini jack to make painted mini mules, but he sold really high. Friday the weather wasn’t great. It looked like Snowageddon was underway.

Saturday Toni, Leslie, Whitney, Traci and I were supposed to go to Spokane to celebrate all of our birthdays. We had to cancel due to weather conditions, calving and feeding in the snow takes a lot of time. So that got canceled, or postponed.  Chad and Andrew came out to trim up the riding horses as we start to get ready to AI cows.  Toni worked in her office, then rolled in for chores. I sat in the house with Chad and Andrew while Toni and the kids did chores.  I had held horses Toni could handle this.

Sunday was pretty nasty. Snow snow and more snow. Kicker, Kaine and Ben plowed driveways and we were all thankful that we could stay home. Our big project on Sunday was making sure all animals had water, straw, were ok, nothing looked off. Frankly it took all day. The mares are in circle 5 but can go out on the desert, which is 500 additional acres. Only about 17 of them have come in, so we have to get out to check the others. There is plenty of feed until the snow gets deep, then we feed. And yes, the calf in the picture is fine. She was just cold.

It is pretty awesome having the kids at the age they are. They are very helpful and competent. I have no clue what we are going to do when they find better things to do. Like hang out with their friends or go to college. Hopefully they will be like us and come home all the time. As of Sunday night, all was well and the animals were safe and healthy.