We need some sun to get the hay up, but we are thankful for all of the rain.

We thank all of those that have kept us free. In memory on this Memorial Day 2022!

Monday Ben, Leslie, Traci, the kids and I came back from Salem. We did not have a lot of traffic so it was better coming home then going. Dad and mom took flowers up to St John to the cemetery. Uncle Skip went with them. Aunt Peggy and Uncle Tom came down to Connell to put flowers out and then came out to see mom and dad. Ranch worked continued on Monday, with some dirt moving, fence building, breeding mares, etc.  Toni just had Jaxsen to help her, but they got four mares put out with studs. We keep a list of which mares are supposed to go with which studs but since I wasn’t there, Toni put them where she wanted them. Blue got put in with King, the other three all went to Tank. Her rational was based on what she wants to keep next year. When we got home there were still chores to do, so we got them done and then went to rest.

Tuesday back to school and work, tired or not. Kaine had baseball practice, and High School football practice started. I feel like there is not a break from sports when you get to high school. Toni had court in Yakima, that actually went really well but lasted all day. The boys and I did horse chores. Then they went up and helped Anna with show cattle chores. The men did cow and circle chores.

Wednesday Kaine had his last baseball game and then a banquet after. The men rolled up the wire in circle 3, so Isidro could go in and spray on Friday. Toni had a big bankruptcy meeting in Prosser, but went well too, again just took a long time. Kade did horse chores and Anna did show cattle chores. Then Kade and Anna pressure washed the show carpets. Mom and dad went to town on Wednesday, so Toni fed Molly B before she left to Prosser. She actually schedules meetings around when Mom and Dad are gone around feeding Molly B, who Toni now calls the Monster.  Toni is continuing to work on the grade filly, who Toni started calling Dagnon because she came from Dagnons. She is coming along reallly well.

Thursday the schools all had a modified lockdown. We have heard that a child either had a gun at school or threatened to bring a gun. The information coming out about the incident has been pretty sparse. With everything going on, everyone probably needs more information versus less information. But we got what we got. The kids did come home from school at their regular time. Toni saw that Crystal was back in heat, which really sucks as she was confirmed in foal to NZ Scotch Time “Rip”. So Crystal needs to go back to Allie to get re-AIed.  Luckily they are still collecting Rip so hopefully we can get her in foal and keep her on regumate. Thursday Jaxsen had his baseball banquet, he was voted most improved. Since he was a super star all season, I do not know how he improved. Sounds like he was a rock star the whole season to me, but this is his version of things. Kaine started football practice, the activity buses are no longer running, so dad went and picked him up. When Kaine got back Kade and Kaine helped dad fix the hose to the big gun in Leroy’s pen, then went up to help Anna and the men move the cows out of circle 3 and push the horses in circle 3 to the back side of the lake. When I got home Toni was done with the main chores, so I went to hand breed Abs again, she was out of heat so I turned her out, I turned Sally out as well since it has been over a month since she was bred.

On Friday Toni took Smokey Joe to the vet to get cut, and Riggs in for a check up.   Mom and dad went to Moses Lake for a few hours, so they picked up Riggs on their way home. Mom needed some fabric from JoAnns and milk replacer for Molly B. Anna went to the Connell High School graduation on Friday night with her friend Brandi. Marlo came out for her weekly chores.  Marlo, Toni, and I drove out to the desert and checked the Gunner pen. Then we got back and Dad wanted Comet moved to the heavy pen, so we moved her to the corral. We are down to 5 mares left to foal. All are pretty late so we are debating what to do with them. Some people don’t even breed until June but we want to be done by June. So we will see. 3 of the 5 are old mares, so that is always a factor.

Saturday we had a lot of ranch work to catch up on. Ben and Kaine cut down Russian Olive trees most of the day. Anna, Kade and I hauled minis to Cecil and Debbie’s house. Then Anna and Kade washed their steers and heifers. I went and worked on the riding horse fence so we could turn them out. Toni worked on office work, went and took pictures of Dagnon and then the Meachams went to a graduation party.

Sunday Toni shipped out the yearling colt by Double. Yes, in the thunder storm. He loaded great considering the thunder was right above them and the lightening was flashing. He is a really good colt. He was our last yearling colt to sell.  We had the three left coming into spring, 2 that had been sold and the buyer backed out and the last Colonel colt. We finally got serious about selling them, started marketing them like they should have been marketed the whole time, and they were gone. A big thank you to our friends and repeat buyers that snatched these three colts up. 2 are going to performance homes and one sold as a stallion prospect. We know all three buyers really well and can’t wait to get updates and see their progress. 

I went and tried to get some videos of Mini Tank, but we had a lightning storm at about that time and so they didn’t want to stand, so I have group videos of them moving. The kids washed their steers and heifers. I did make them come in out of the rain during the worst of the storm. Then Kaine and Kade worked on their boat Sunday afternoon. They dewinterized it, washed it then I heard Kaine tell Kade, we had better get a picture of that set up. You know, of the Hammer Slammer and the 82 GMC. I finished the riding horse fence and then went and strung wire up in circle 3 so we can move Tank’s pen out. Murtaugh was supposed to be watching for rocks while I watched the wire wheel, but she did a poor job, maybe because she is a dog?? But we hit a rock and broke the front axle of Mini Butte. It scared Murtaugh, and she either a. jumped onto the floor, or b. was knocked onto the floor. We were not going that fast due to putting our wire, so I am going with a, Ben thinks b. Toni worked on “her” yearling for a bit, then on some ranch paperwork. We reconvened for chores about 3:30. We are still working through the list of which horses need West Nile and dewormed. We got some of that done. We are really almost done with all of them, but it takes a while. Then we caught Crossfire and Cappy and got new pictures of them. We are going to go ahead and sell them both. They are great colts but we are moving a different route with our breeding program. Not everyone in the family agrees with the decision, but a vote is a vote.

                We also finally started cutting our hay. Yes, we are aware of all of the rain, but we normally get first cutting up in May. It is now June, the hay is still not up. It is still not baled today due to all of the moisture. Luckily we feed the hay ourselves, so it isn’t as big of a deal as the farmers that are trying to market their hay. The saying, “make hay while the sun shines” is pretty accurate right now. We need some sun to get the hay up, but we are thankful for all of the rain.