Monday the kids washed their steers and heifers, cleaned out the trailer, etc. A pretty normal day. Toni told the boys they had to chop thistles if they want to go fishing, so they chopped some thistles and then went fishing. Anna pulled devil weeds out of the horse pen and feed lot pens. Toni was on the phone all day and in meetings. Toni and I bred Lucy the mare again on Monday night. The boys help change a center drive on the circle on Monday. Ben thinks he is going to have good help in these two big boys, but I feel like they are going to get really good and helping then run off to college. Our hay was getting bailed into small bales on Monday, they could not bale for too long because the wind came up and blew out the dew.
Tuesday they finished bailing and started stacking hay. I went to Ephrata in the morning for a Power meeting, there is lots of road construction on highway 17, and I swear I hit every red light going through Moses Lake, so I am not buying a lottery ticket. Dad and Kaine went to Pasco Auto Wrecking so Kaine could get some parts for his 1982 GMC ½ ton. Anna’s friend Brandy came out and helped wash the cattle. I stopped at the house on my way back to the office for lunch, and Mur and Jax were relaxing after lunch on the couch. Midnight, the last outside mare still at the house being bred to Sabebug, went home Tuesday night. We also bred Lucy again on Tuesday.
Wednesday Toni had court, she tells me it was not an emergency hearing, but it sounded emergencyish to me. Mom made rhubarb pie. I went to Kennewick Irrigation District for a meeting in the morning and then to East Columbia Irrigation District for a meeting in the afternoon, so I was actually home early, because East District is closer to home. The hay was done being stacked, so Toni and I shut the panels up around our hay stack area. The boys helped change a center drive on the circle on Wednesday.
Thursday was a typical day, kids worked on their show animals, we did chores, changed water, fed the animals. Coco and Shae showed up for a few days. So we all got to talk to them, and Toni hogged the baby so no one else could hold her. Toni has always wanted a red haired little girl so Shea is “her” baby since she has bright red hair.
Friday Strawberry FINALLY foaled. She had a fancy blue roan or smokey blue roan filly. And in typical hot summer fashion she had her in the middle of the herd, so the young horses were trying to steal her. Marty was out seeing her foal when Strawberry foaled- two times now when Marty has been out we have gotten foals, so Marty is clearly good luck. Mom and Toni got them in. It was a process since Strawberry couldn’t be caught and there was lots of equine help. I had Friday off but was getting my hair done, but I got calls to get home. I named the foal KT Gunz of Summer. Summer thought it was too hot to nurse, and Strawberry is a range mare that is not halter broke. However, she is a very sweet and kind mare and we have tamed her down a lot since we have had her. However, I never thought she would let us milk her, but she did. On one side, the other side she shook her head no. So I said ok, one side is good. Anna and I went out to lock Tank’s pen in, and we could not find them, finally looked over and they were in the desert. So we ran over and got them before Gunner saw them. Pepper and Rudy were missing. I needed to run into town for an appointment, Pepper had joined Gunners group. Rudy was by herself grazing. So when I got home I went out and got Rudy in. Anna had to come out and help me catch her because she did not want to come in. I got Rudy to circle 5 and she was tired, she is old, so I left her in circle 5 with Bunny the mini mule. We also had Kelsie out who had been in love with Gucci, and continued to be in love with Gucci so bought her. Kelsie’s great uncle was our old vet in Othello. So we had lots to talk about with her. Chad Whetzel showed up for some farrier work, so I went down to mom and dads and started catching horses. Toni and the boys eventually showed up as well. Chad wanted to be down trimming at 5, and we were done at 4:58. We only got one yearling done, the rest were mature horses, but that isn’t terrible.
So you know when you have this awesome tan that is really cow crap and dirt so it goes down the drain when you shower? That was our Saturday. We had to sort 90% of the pairs on Saturday because even though it is hot, this is the first weekend we have been home. Big thank you to Ben for taking the 4 kids to their jackpot so we could get some real work done. Ben had actually gotten them in the weekend before by himself while we were gone to dr eyes and pull the bulls with one group. We sorted the bulls out of heifers, heifers out of bulls, heifers to potentially show, calves that need to get worked on now, heifers here to get bred belonging to other people, and anything else that needed sorted. And because it was hot, you ride your horse with no saddle, so then no bridle just a halter. About the second time Toni had to jump back on her horse, she popped her hip out, so I guess that was interesting. So she wouldn’t keep getting back off and on her horse. Thank God we have good horses. Good horses make the world go round.
Ben took the kids to Summer Sizzle in Ritzville. They all had a great time, Leslie, Traci, Jolene, Deb and the kids were up there as well. I went down and checked Summer first thing before we sorted and she was nursing, so I moved her and Strawberry out back to the alley so it was more shaded. Toni had someone out to look at foals, but they also liked Mean Jean. The dogs and I started getting cows in so Toni and I could sort cows in the afternoon. I was in the pickup since I was by myself and Rudy was in that pen, and Jackpot and his mares were right there as well. So I of course got stuck on a rock so Toni and the ladies had to come and pull me off. While I was waiting the dogs and I moved the cows up to the riding horse pen. The dogs and I got them all in and then we broke for lunch. Toni got there and caught Friday to sort off of. It was a long, hot day, but we got it done. Ben and kids showed up home about the time we got done. That night we went to Cocos for dinner and got to play with Baby Shae and see Courtney who was over from Idaho for the weekend.
The kids had a good show, Anna was 1st in her class with Roarke, Kaine was second with Jimmy, Kade was 3rd with Emmett and Jaxsen was 4th with Rocking, they were all in different classes. Their heifers all showed well. Whitney took pics at Summer Sizzle, but I am still working on the 2,000 pictures from Sagebrush, so the pictures below are from other shows this year.
Sunday the kids were wiped from the heat the day before, so they just washed their jackpot animals. Kaine and Ben went to Todd’s 50th birthday after. Anna and I went to Debbie and Cecils and got the minis, except Jesse and Truffles, we left them there to graze the pasture. Then Mr Danzie, the FFA Advisor, came out and viewed Anna’s projects. Anna is the only one showing FFA so he only had to look at hers. Then we did chores, moved water, etc. Strawberry and Summer got moved into the old mare pen so we could watch them for a few days. Now that Summer is nursing and doing well Strawberry is back to being a range mare and lays her ears back and circles her foal. That just tells you how smart she is, she knew she needed us to keep that foal alive, and now she knows she doesn’t need us, so we need to stay back.
It is a relief to be done foaling. We just have two mares left for breeding, then we are done with that too. Now that the summer has heated up, we are ready to focus on selling foals and enjoying the rest of the summer.
KT Ranch 
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