Monday morning bright and early Rog headed to TX, the shipper called Sunday and wanted to pick her up, but we asked her to wait because we were still at the show on Sunday. Rog loaded up a ramp into side load trailer like a pro and headed to TX. The shipper was on time which a lot of them are not. Rog has been a mini me of Leroy, and game for just about anything. We are really going to miss her. Her not brother that had been living with her, since he is headed to Oklahoma any day, was also sad to see her go. Poor Gen again aka Fat Buddy. We brought Ram, one of Fat Buddy’s other “brothers” in to get halter broke and be Fatty’s friend for a week. Kaine and Anna cleaned all of the tack out of the trailer Monday night and cleaned out the barn. Kade had basketball after school. Jaxsen had basketball practice, Toni took him. Dad went to Lewiston to get some oats. Ben and Toni unloaded them then did chores. Ben and Kicker fed the cows and checked duck ponds.
Tuesday, what happened Tuesday? Well Dad still had my pick-up from taking it to Lewiston for oats. So he decided to drive it around while he had it. Toni thought that was pretty funny so took a picture and sent it to me, so she ratted him out. Lightning Bug somehow got super lame on her back leg, could be in her hip, unclear. There is nothing we can see. So she is in the roundpen getting care, and under close watch. Ram and Fatty are still getting worked on. Ram got tied up for the first time and did great. Ram is out of Sagebug and Reba, a Colonel daughter. We were very upset when he was born because he is a colt not a filly. We would have kept him too if he had been a filly. He is amazing minded and has a really cool dun roan color. Toni was feeling a bit ill, so she hasn’t been making us build fence, so that is nice.
Wednesday Coco rolled in from CA. She is going to take her mare, Money, and her foal, Penny, back to CA. Coco is pregnant with a little girl, so Toni spent most of Tuesday trying to convince Coco to name her guardian if her and Jake both die. Toni would also like the baby to be born with red hair. Ram and Fat Buddy got some exposure to Coco to help with any stranger danger they might have. Fatty has none, but it is still good for him to be exposed to new people. Anna and Kaine got home and set up the giant dog crate to haul the mini down to Andee. We got packed to go and packed up the pickup.
Thursday was Veterans Day. We live in the greatest country in the world. Thank you, Veterans, for all you’re doing to help keep it that way! Ben, Anna, Kaine and I drove to SE Idaho to spend the weekend with the Geddes family. We had a great time hanging out and playing card games. It was great seeing everyone. Katie and Alvina came out to pick out Alvina’s new project foal. They were between Blue Starlight and Memphis. Memphis really took to Alvina so she made the choice easy. We are really excited for Alvina to have a Leroy foal out of a Double daughter, under Katie’s supervision. We were all hoping Alvina would love Memphis. Toni showed Memphis’ granddam, Porche, for many years doing anything and everything with her, so we are hopeful that this will be a good fit. Marlo came out to house sit and help with chores. We are in one of our busier times because all of the livestock needs to be fed as we are out of pasture, so it takes all of us to get chores done each night. Marlo helped Toni, so Fat Buddy and Ram got more exposure to strangers. Marlo helped lead them and work on them. Fat Buddy has to wear a fly mask when he goes with his shipper, so that came in the mail and they worked on getting him used to the mask. It wasn’t big enough, but luckily mom could add some velcro to make it fit, so all was not lost. Toni and Kicker fed the cows in the dark, in the mud, so I am sure that was fun.
Toni is filling in the rest since I have no idea what happened. Yea, I have a great post going here. Toni, Leslie, and Dad went to the WCA convention early Friday morning. Toni was speaking at the Washington Cattlewomen’s annual meeting and had to host her meeting with co-committee chair, Nancy Belsby, for Water and Ecology. There was a really good turnout and lots of good discussion on issues with DOE, water, Wotus, and various other subjects. Mom called when they were at the convention and said the horses were out, so they headed home. Marlo and Coco helped get the horses in and fix the fence. This is the same fence we are working on replacing, so that just made Toni want to get back to fencing. Chores were the same, work on horses, feed horses, check everything, feed cattle, check water, look for anything sick, injured, lame (cows and horses). Kicker had to check duck ponds for the hunters.
Saturday Kicker and Kade went bird hunting, after feeding in the morning that is. They got home in time to go with Toni and Jaxsen to Jax’s basketball tournament. Kick and Kade stayed for one game then went out passed Moses Lake to get some equipment Kicker had bought in an auction. Jax had a great couple of games and his team finally had their first win. To celebrate Toni and Jax went to DQ and got blizzards on their way home. Once home, everyone went separate ways to get chores done in an effort to try to beat the darkness. Toni and Kade fed the mares in the corral in hopes that they could get them in easier on Sunday. Then off to regular chores.
Sunday Kick and Kade went hunting again. Toni and Jax went down to load Ram out for his move to Klamath Falls. The wind started howling about 3 am Sunday morning. Ram was perfect. The buyers had trouble with their normal trailer so brought a 2 horse with a small door to get into, but Ram took his time, and eventually loaded allowing his new owners to hit the road. Toni went and pushed Frank in, haltered him, dewormed him, worked on him for 10 seconds, then led him across the drive-way so he could live with Fat Buddy and get halter broke. Frank is out of Rosie and Double and just a wonderful colt. He is going to move to California in December with his new owner. Then she caught Abs, and her and dad moved Abs into the old mare pen, and moved Rosie and Blackie back out into the big pasture. After lunch, Toni, Coco, Kade, and Jaxsen went and got the whole broodmare herd in, sorted, dewormed those that were staying down there, sorted out the pairs that were down there, hauled all the pairs home, hauled Jag home, weaned 2 foals, moved Money and Penny, dewormed the stuff that came home, turned mares out, moved 2 mares back out to the broodmare band, then started chores. Toni was headed home to start dinner about the time we got home from Idaho. It was dark. It gets dark so early it is hard to get enough done during the day. We came back to massive winds that will dry out the mud and make life a bit easier. But man the wind is bad when it is howling. Gusts up to 50 mph the weatherman said. Luckily our drive home from Idaho went well.
We are always busy on the ranch, but making time for family is a priority. I am glad we got to go see Ben’s family. The kids all are growing like weeds so they are really changing between visits. Just like the calves and the horses, you don’t see them for a week or a few days and they really change. We are down to our last couple of colts for sale, Blue Starlight, the last Colonel colt, and Ima Freckled Son- this colt is unregistered and will not be able to be registered with the AQHA. Both are nice colts and ready to go if anyone is looking for a foal. We also have a couple of fillies with prices on them that we don’t really want to sell. But they have a price if you have to have them. Also, we have our annual calendars for 2022 for $25.
KT Ranch 
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