On Monday we had our first legislative call at work. Lots of interesting bills this year. WA is, I think, a billion short on balancing the budget, so the message has basically been if there are any fiduciary components, your bill won’t make it through, that is what I heard. Toni has had a big case that has been in the news, and there is an Environmental Crime Bill, that we think is from her case. Toni said that this was a good article for anyone that wanted to know about the case. She will also answer questions if anyone wants to email her- https://www.everettpost.com/local-news/digging-for-the-truth-king-ranch-owners-fight-claims-of-illegal-wetlands-excavation
Janette the nurse came and stayed with Skip on Monday and dad and mom went to town to run errands, have lunch with friends, etc. A much-needed break. Toni was on the phone late on Monday, so Kade worked on the colts, Buzzy and Fancy Gun. Both need their feet trimmed so are in to get work done on picking up their feet. While Toni was on the phone she kept sending us mares in an auction she wants to get. Mom and I told her if she got them for under 5,000, they had all earned more then that so we felt we were safe. Monday night I found some sunglasses I had gotten for Kaine, Kade and Toni for Christmas, I gave Kaine his.
On Tuesday I gave Toni and Kade their Shady Ray sunglasses. Hopefully they like them. Toni is continuing to check the calving cows and petting them if their mothers are agreeable. Toni worked on Buzzy and Fancy Gun, both colts did great. One of Kade’s old show heifers, Ramsey, and another cow, 055, were both trying to share the same calf, Ben and Kaine decided it is Ramseys, but we will DNA it to make sure, so they had to get 055 in with the other calf and lock them in the barn. Kaine hooked up the gooseneck for dad after him and Ben fed cows, dad and Skip were taking some beef cows to Moses Lake on Wednesday. Ben and Kaine also got the beef cows in and sorted them and locked them behind the barn.
Wednesday morning Ben loaded the beef cows for dad and dad and skip took them to Moses Lake. Once they were there they saw Uncle Joe had also taken cows to Moses Lake. Uncle Joe already had a lunch date so didn’t go get chicken fried steaks with them. Mom went and stayed with grandma on Wednesday. Toni checked cows and took a video of her Wee Lord miniature horse, since he escaped out into the circle when Ben and Kaine were getting the cows in, and she had to find him. Kade worked on Wild Wednesday night, got on and off of her and rode her around the corral. He ponied Fancy Gun around on Shadie, who is getting old but was fine with it because she got grain after. Then Kade had a Nile Merit heifer meeting and horse chores were not done, so Kaine came down and helped us finish them after he got done with the cow chores. Wednesday seemed long.
Devo the show heifer calved Thursday morning. Toni petted it but Devo was not thrilled with her. The little bull calf is only about 40 lbs but is a healthy little bugger. We were all a bit worried about Devo calving. She is a Primo daughter so we knew she was either going to be a good mother or think her calf was an alien and try to kill it. Luckily she likes him. Toni also tried to pet my bull calf of hers, Dano, but he ran away. Toni worked on the colts, she said they are doing great. Kade tried to ride Wild, but she did not let him catch her, so Toni caught her and left her in. Kade worked on her a bit. Toni stayed with grandma Thursday night.
We had rain Friday morning. Chad came out to trim horses. Marlo showed up after a few hours so Kade and Marlo got to help. They did the weanlings Buzzy and Fancy Gun, plus mares, a three year old, etc. They got as many done as they could with the amount of daylight that we have. They all did decently. Fancy Gun is pretty sensitive but they got him done. Kade worked on Wild. He is trying to be really consistent with her and just keep moving her forward. I stayed with grandma on Friday night. Marlo had dinner with Toni.
Saturday we tagged calves and did prep to build fence Sunday and move the cows out to fresh stalks. Kade had a trap meet in Colton, he said it was cold, he shot pretty good, 3rd on his team. Steve, who owns Gracie, came to see her and Whitty, her 2024 colt. The colts really enjoyed him. I hauled a couple of bales down in the dump trailer Saturday to put out with the yearling fillies and pasture. We took pics of Fancy Gun and Buzzy and turned them back out with the other colts. We ended up taking a bunch of pictures of the colts. They were all intrigued by Tipsy the lgd. Tipsy also tried to play with June the donkey, we aren’t clear if June thought they were playing or not but no animals were harmed with their activity so it was fine. Kade put his 3rd ride on Wild. Kaine and I went out and got an old mineral box out of the desert for my yard and put out mineral tubs. The mares all look good. Kaine wanted Powpow back in so he could start riding her again and I just walked up and caught her. Kaine thought she would be difficult to catch since she was turned out but she wasn’t a challenge for me to catch. Sometimes it is good for the boys to remember that we kind of know what we are doing.
Sunday we got the fence done around the rest of the corn field and turned the cows out so we could stop feeding them. Luckily the weather was really great. Ben repurposed the cows feed trailer to put the wire wheel on it so the cows thought they were getting fed. There was mass confusion in the cow herd for a bit, but then when we started calling them into the new corn stalks they were pretty excited. Fresh corn stalks is more important than their feed trailer. We hauled a few more bales down to the pasture and Kade but his 4th ride on Wild. We got the colts into the corral and got Shooter and City out to work on this week. They both did really well getting their halters on.
For anyone looking for an Opal update, she is holding her own. We are still in the danger zone but have hope. We are going to try to figure out how to do a live post so people can ask questions.
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