Thursday Thoughts with Kellie

Fall Back, week two. It’s pitch dark at 4:30, which means everything we do after lunch now qualifies as night work.

Jake stopped to pick up Player, aka Flash, to take him back to Tina, and he got to load in the dark. We’ve also been practicing trailer loading with Gun Runner, Ammo, Handsome and the Kandy colt, also in the dark. The upside is that when they loaded Friday in actual daylight, they walked on like professionals. Apparently if you can do it blind, doing it with the lights on is easy.

McCall came and got Anna’s heifers ready for the Western Showcase, again in the dark, with help from her trusty dog Andee. Andee does not care what time the clock says.

Toni spoke at Cattlemen’s on Thursday at the Water and Ecology Committee meeting, and Dad went along to the conference with her. Anna was there too with Tanner and Jean, and all three of them went to the meeting to hear Toni. Then on Friday Dad and I went to Moses Lake to help set up for the Western Showcase. We weren’t there long, because they already had almost everything done. That’s my favorite kind of volunteering.

We had a great time at the Showcase. It was just us girls in my group: Anna, Tesa, Tommy Jo and me, and Rachel was there too and took the pictures on Sunday. Leslie had Juju and Kasen in her group, and Nick came as well. The boys all had other plans. Kade was roping with Mr. Dansie (he’s one of the Ag teachers at Connell, so he’s Mr. Dansie to us, not Charlie), then headed to the National Rangeland competition with Mr. Palmer. Jaxsen was in Vancouver with Toni and Kicker for football playoffs. And the Seldom Rest heifer woke up with a bad tummy the morning we left, so she stayed home with Ben and Kaine to get doctored.

Now the results:

• Tommy Jo showed the Char heifer, and she was Reserve Champion Charolais heifer.
• Tommy Jo also showed 436, who won her class.
• Anna showed Baby and Ella, and both were 3rd in some pretty deep classes.
• In showmanship, Tommy Jo showed the Char heifer, Anna showed Baby, and Tesa showed 436. All three girls got callbacks.

Aubrey and Hallie were at the show too, both with clubbies from us. Aubrey has a Trump Train heifer out of an Angus cow, and Hallie has a Trump Train steer out of a Red Angus commercial cow. Both stood well in their classes, and it’s always fun to see our calves out working for someone else.

Everybody did a great job, and I’m proud of every one of them

Back home, Jaxsen, Marlo and I covered chores until Kade got back Wednesday from Rangeland. And by “Jaxsen, Marlo and I,” I mostly mean Marlo and Jaxsen.

And last but not least, Jexy entered his first barrel racing futurity with Ty Decker in the saddle and was 7th out of 19. Good job, Jexy and Ty!!

If you missed it this week, Elvis is officially part of the stallion lineup, and the 2027 Star Studded Stallion Lineup video is up.

See you next Thursday. Bring a flashlight.