The weather this week has made us all thankful to be living in the great Columbia Basin. Yes, it has been cold, but we didn’t have snow.

On Monday we were on our way back from Idaho, we stayed and waved as the girls got on the bus, we did not get up early enough to see James off to work. Toni snapped a pic of Anna’s Youth Foal, “Gunnie,” and said Anna’s chestnut, Kade pointed out that John Dutton rides a chestnut. Gunnie is pretty nice, she is by Yo, a daughter of Jackpot and out of Pistol, Gunner’s dam, and her sire is Double. Toni waited for the shipper all afternoon to ship Lilo, and never heard from him. Finally, at 4:13 she called, since she had to go to a city planning meeting that night, which she had told him, and he was at 9 Mile, north of Spokane, so probably 3 hrs away. Kade went down at 5 to wait for him, we got home around 5:30, so I called Kade and told him I would switch him. At 6 still no sign or work, so I contacted him, he said an hr and a half. Toni got home and I told her he should be down around 7:30, but would let me know when he got close. At 8 he contacted me at said 30 min out, I joking said for sure this time, which he took to be rude and did not stop. So poor Lilo was locked in all afternoon waiting for someone that never showed. But, sometimes you just roll with it.  We put the purchaser in touch with some good shippers to see what could be done to get this filly home. 

Tuesday after school Anna went down and rode her young horses. Toni worked on the foals. They weaned the May/June foals, so only Summer is left on. The normal horse calendar pics are done with voting, now we are doing a stallion calendar and voting started on it. Toni said all of the foals she is working on are doing great. Deano texted Toni on Tuesday that he would arrive Wednesday night with the 2 steers for South Dakota, could he unload the longhorn bull he is hauling so he could sleep in Connell for the night. And that was all fine.

Wednesday morning Deano texted Toni he was ahead of schedule and would be there at noon. Toni was worried she might be in court when he showed up, but he was earlier then he thought, so Toni and dad unloaded the steers and bull, loaded Blue Devil up, the bull back up, and Deano took off. The bull was really tame so would get way too close to people with those long horns. Deano said that the bull was $25,000.00. He didn’t look like much of a bull for $25,000.00. The steers looked really good. And they were pretty tame. Deano is a great hauler so he takes good care and reduces stress on the haul. Toni went to court. Anna came home from school and messed with the three foals we have in so Toni could go change clothes and grab the trailer to haul the steers to my house. With it getting dark so early even working together they didn’t get the chores done in the light. But the steers got moved before it got too dark, so that was good.  Wednesday night Kade started feeling sick. I guess a bug is going around the school.

Thursday Toni and Mom took Molly in to see Sheena for a checkup and blood test. She was doing pretty good so she just has to finish her one antibiotic. No more fluid in her lungs. She was herself, so she tried to escape the trailer and was a touch ornery.  Mom and Toni stopped by the cowpath bakery and got Anna a pumpkin dessert for her birthday. Boys did chores, Toni worked on foals. Anna and men did cattle chores. The three foals, Honey Bug, Judge, and Gunnie are all really great. Toni said she put the three easiest ones in to have an easy birthday week.  Kade stayed home from school.

Friday was Anna’s birthday, Happy Birthday Anna, she is 17. Where does the time go?? Marlo came and helped do chores, I brought home groceries. Toni had Marlo lead some of the foals around.  The men took grass bales down to the horses.  Kade was still home sick.

Saturday was Toni’s birthday, Happy Birthday Toni.

Toni went down to the house to show some horses. Ben went to Moses Lake to deliver meat. Mom, dad and Skip went to town. Kaine, Anna and I put fence posts in for the fence around the corn field. Dan, Seth and Rusanne showed up to look at bulls, about the time Ben got home. They picked three out. Ben then put the gates up and Anna, Kaine and I went and got the cows in. We sorted out the heavy heifers and turned the rest out in the corn field. Then we sorted the Angus steers and the heifers out of the clubby steers and hauled them and Fred down to the alfalfa field. Molly was colicy again, so Toni spent most of her birthday down with mom leading Molly around. She tried to lead her off of Shadie, but since Molly does not believe she is a horse, she did not want to be around Shadie. Mom said Shadie was the problem, but really….. Molly finally started feeling better around 10 that night, I did take a turn in the evening so Toni could have Chinese food for her birthday and watch a movie.  Kade was still sick and Kaine started to feel sick.

Sunday Marlo and McCall came over and we had the big birthday party for Toni and Anna. Ben cooked meat balls, bacon wrapped shrimp and funeral potatoes. Mom made 3 pies. Toni brought a salad and appetizers. We had a great time. Then we went down to mom and dads, took pictures of the Judge, pictures of Anna and Gunnie, turned out the Judge and Honey Bug, and put in the next 2 to halter break. These are the last 2 big ones, King 3 and Willie. Willie is exceptionally big, but he is a Leroy. Haltering these two took less than 3 minutes. So maybe two easy weeks in a row? Kade and Kaine were still not feeling great.  When we were out messing around, we heard a kitten meowing and found a little kitten out by the road. So Anna had a new kitten for a bit. We later found out it is the neighbors, so Anna gave it back. I would also like to thank Mary with Stablefeed.com who not only took our call Sunday but took the time to discuss feeding options for Molly. Mary has been a really great asset to our team. When you have feeding concerns and are dealing with issues, Mary is knowledgeable and helpful. We are getting Molly onto some supplements that will hopefully help combat all of the meds that have been put into her and get her feeling good.

                The weather this week has made us all thankful to be living in the great Columbia Basin. Yes, it has been cold, but we didn’t have snow. So many of our friends and neighbors are dealing with early winter weather, trying to get cattle moved, keep the cattle fed and healthy.  Raising livestock is not for the weak.