This was our last true summer vacation weekend. Next weekend we will head to the fair for set-up, then we go to our first fair, then the kids go back to school.

Monday I went to Pasco for a meeting first thing, then I picked up Terry from work and Terry and I went to Othello for a meeting, had lunch at Checos, then back to Pasco. We only had to do a little zigging and zagging to miss most of the road construction on highway 17. Sagebug got a new outside mare on Monday, DD. Anna took Riggs back into Sheena for a checkup, she got to get her cone off of her head and stiches out, she is a happy girl. Toni also took pictures of the kids with their steers, and ordered some Ranch Dressn items, since we are retailers for Ranch Dressn. We also bred Lucy the other outside mare getting bred to King again. Moved water, chores, etc. Toni has an emergency hearing on Wednesday, so she has also been preparing for it. Our new freezer was delivered on Monday, it was heavier then it looked, it took all the men and boys to get it in the house. I am happy we have the boys so I did not have to help. Dad also started driving for a different friend’s wheat harvest. We are unclear how long this wheat harvest will last.

Tuesday on my way to work I was on the ditch road above the field so could see the horses were in the haystack.  I ran down and chased them out. They had broken the chain on the gate. We had a pretty chintzy chain holding that gate closed, so the chain did its best, but it was just a matter of time.  Toni is still working on getting ready for the emergency hearing on Wednesday. The kids worked on their animals. Toni went down and took the boys’ pictures of them with their steers so I could upload them on Wednesday. Kaine and Anna put the hot fence around the horse fence back up, the cows had knocked it down. Kaine cut down some Russian Olive trees. Anna got show tack ready for the fairs. Kade worked on his roping, like he does most afternoons after working on his steers. Tomrens came out to visit the horses and Toni gave them the tour. On my way home from work there were some puppies playing in the road by Chase Pond, so I stopped. There was an old car here and with further investigation I located the owner in the ditch under the road bridge making himself a spot to sit?? I asked if they were his puppies, he said they were. I said they are playing on the road, and I rounded them up. It was a bit freaky, so I left the puppies then I headed home. Mom made us a rhubarb dessert that was quite good. The boys could not get the valve off in the old mare/Leroy pen for the big gun, so they got completely wet trying to change the water with it on. So they stripped down to their skivvies. The men were out working on circle 8, so I called them and said the boys need help, so dad and the men went out and tried to shut off the valve. That did not work, so Ben kinked the hose while the boys hooked it up. It was quite the sight.

Wednesday Toni had her emergency hearing. I uploaded the pictures of the kids to the Benton Franklin Fair website and the CBJLS website. I guess they are their sale pictures. Mom told me I did not mention in the blog last week that Molly had not been haltered for 3 months in the video. So, I am mentioning it. The boys helped the men fix circles Wednesday night, it sounded like 4, 5 and 8 were all having issues. Anna built a fence on the end of the corn field, a corner that is hit by the circle, and let the show heifers out there, so they could walk more and graze some. Anna also brought meat back up to the new freezer in the house from the outside freezer and brought Spicy and Weeman down to stay with Basil. Basil seemed lonely by himself. Toni and I changed water, finished up chores and hand bred Lucy.

Thursday Toni and I got back on the Eugene Auction site, we have not been on in a while, why we got on I do not know. Not to throw anyone under the bus, but one of our friends mentioned there were some horses on there we might like. That made Toni comment that we haven’t bought a new horse all year and we are 8 months in. What is wrong with us? Very unlike us to not get something new. I think this winter was so long and so hard that we are still feeling the repercussions and just haven’t bounced back enough to want to add another horse to the mix.  Lots of texts back and forth on what to buy. Then Jeannie and Sonny got involved, the list got longer.  Stay tuned the sale was Friday. We filled out the form on AQHA website to donate a foal to the Youth Heritage Program. It is a great program and we encourage all youth to apply on the AQHA website. We also decided on Thursday we were going to get the cows in this weekend and sort out the cull cows and get George to stop by and preg check them. I then started prebidding on the Eugene website and Toni yelled at me to stop bidding. Lots of fun on Thursday.

Friday morning mom and I went into Tennelles for a hair appt. I told the kids to get their animals caught and washed before I got home, we had lots to do. Anna went down after she got done washing to mow mom and dads yard, since dad has been harvesting. Sonny came and checked on Anna’s pigs. The boys and I caught their baby heifers and tied them up. Then the kids and I got in circle 4 and we weaned the bull calves and kept a couple of cows in to preg.  Friday night we spent lots of time on the phone.  We had narrowed it down to 3 mares that we felt we just had to have. Our top pick was no saled at $17.5, our next pick sold for $16.5, we were able to get our third choice at $4300. There was some drama as Toni thought she was in charge of bidding and she stopped, so I jumped in and got the mare bought. Sonny and Jeannie also bought three horses on our number.

Saturday we got circle 5 in and sorted off the cull cows and heifers for George to preg. Erina and Terry showed up with Katana and so Toni, Kaine and Kade ran down there and loaded up Kat. McCall showed up to get her clippers and stayed and helped. George showed up about 12:10 and we pregged 56 head. We had a full load sorted out to take to Toppenish. Lane showed up around when we needed to take the cows back, so McCall, Lane and Jaxsen rode in the pickup and the rest of us rode the horses. If Lane or McCall had wanted to ride, Toni or I would have been forced to give up a horse for them, but luckily they didn’t.  After we got back, Toni had Lane ride Pistol then Kevin to evaluate his riding skills. She described him as a clean slate, which is good. Then she can teach him how to ride correctly. The next time we all need to ride we will have to bring another riding horse over because we had them all saddled up.  McCall took lots of great action shots. Tall John showed up about the time we got back with a mini for the kids. Ben showed up shortly after that with a kitten he found in a corn field. Then Toni, the boys and I went to do chores and McCall, Ben, Anna and Lane finished putting the animals away at the house, putting the culls cows in pens etc. McCall then came to Mom’s. McCall and I got a halter on Ninja and Toni and John practiced loading Sam, then John and I moved the water. Mom made us strawberry triffle, one of our favorite desserts.  We brought Mom a present in the form of a cow. One of my favorite cows, Libby, who was a show heifer, hasn’t really been producing. She wanted to be a pet, so we asked Mom if she wanted her. Mom thought she was a Hereford, she is an Angus. So we put her out with Leroy. We will see how this goes. Molly was scared of Libby so that caused anxiety for no one but Molly. Molly needs a lesson in life. We are a cattle ranch, she had better not be afraid of cattle.

                Sunday Ben and I got up early and took the load of cows to Toppenish, it was a full load. Murtaugh and Maranda went with us. Toni worked on some law stuff and edited the pictures McCall took. The kids caught their steers and heifers and worked on them. Anna’s friend Brandy came over and Anna and Brandy went on a double date with Lane and Travis. Kaine and Kade went fishing. I tied Mayhem (the heifer) to Basil (the donkey) and Ramsey’s heifer (unnamed at this time) up. Then the boys got back from fishing and it was time to go and do chores. I tied Ninja up to Tulip and Toni worked on Sam and Glo.  We are getting Sam ready to ship out on the 19^th, so really trying to get her loaded as many times as possible and just keep working on her.

This was our last true summer vacation weekend. Next weekend we will head to the fair for set-up, then we go to our first fair, then the kids go back to school. Kaine starts football next week, Anna has started her FFA President duties, I guess now that they are both in high school life gets serious.

We are getting ready to start weaning foals as soon as we get done with our last fair which will be the Othello Fair. We will start weaning Sept 24. For anyone with a foal that hasn’t contacted us, please get in touch with us so we can schedule when your foal needs to be weaned. We only like to wean 4 at a time. We have already started weaning our calves so that means fall is sneaking up on us.

If anyone needs beef or wants to support a 4-H or FFA project, the kids will have steers at Benton Franklin, CBJLS, and the Othello fair. The kids have worked very hard on their projects and appreciate any support.