On Monday dad texted that their hot water heater was leaking, so I texted neighbor Hector who does some handyman work, and he stopped by and looked at it. It was toast. Jaxsen texted Toni from school that he had a game. So Toni, mom and dad went to the game. Toni and the boys worked on the foals. We had Capone, Blue Star, and Mouse in. Capone has already been in one week a bit ago, but is really big so knowing we have people coming to look at him, thought he needed another week. Of course, Blue Star is almost as big. Mouse is small but had no inclination to be halter broke and felt she was better suited to be a pasture pet so the first day of halter breaking went ok, but not great.
Tuesday dad went to town to get a hot water heater. Mom stayed with grandma. Dad went to Lowes where they made him load the hot water heater himself. Lowes is probably lucky mom, Kellie or Toni weren’t there. All were pretty upset to hear that Dad had no help loading the hot water heater. What happened to customer service? I reminded Dad that I got my last one at the Grange in Connell where they always help. Dad got the hot water heater unloaded on his own too. Cousin in law Toby came down and installed in. Toni and the boys worked on the foals, and did the horse chores. Anna did the cow chores. Toni went and stayed with grandma on Tuesday night. Capone was good after he realized that he needed to be good. Basil got turned out because he didn’t do much on Monday and Toni felt he was worthless. Blue Star was actually super good for how big he is. Mouse was still a pill and resisting being halter broke. Kade got his ag permit so we now have another legal driver.
On Wednesday Sting went to his new home. Ben the buyer brought his daughter who Toni threatened to keep. She liked all of the horses and the donkeys. Toni told Ben that Ben had better go find another foal because Amelia, his daughter was going to steal Sting. By the time they got back home Amelia had Sting under her thumb. The kids had a half day of school so got a half day of work in. A few of the yearling heifers got out into the alfalfa field they will get moved to next, but it still has some hay in it. So Anna and Kade hustled home and got them in. John and Joe showed up on Wed and helped Toni with the foals. They also wandered around looking at everything and Joe agreed with us that Friday is our best mare. It was great to have Capone, Mouse, and Blue Star exposed to new people. Mouse finally decided she could be led. It was a hard-fought fight but we did prevail. Joe grabbed her because she is the shortest. John took Blue Star and Toni had Capone. John loved Capone the most because he is out of Gunner and Lura. Everyone was happy to see John and Joe. We used to see them all the time but things change. Glad we still get to see them sometimes.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We all went to the Meacham household for Thanksgiving and had a great time. Sherri and Barry and Terry and Erina made it down. We had tri tip, brisket, turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffy, two different green bean dishes, rolls and lots of desserts. As Thanksgiving is a time of giving thanks, we want to thank everyone that helps keep our lifestyle possible, our dreams alive, and our family for the love and support. We really have an extended family both in blood and in spirit. There are many people out there that are family by choice and there are others that are stuck with us due to heredity. A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Coco who turns another year older on Thanksgiving. She is related to us by choice.
We checked cows on Friday morning and there were a few heavy heifers we decided needed to come in. We had a busy day shipping and showing horses. Then we had Sheri and Paige come out and look at weanlings. I got a lot of pictures while they looked at them. We went home for lunch and moved some of the show cattle around at the house. Then some people from the area came out to pet some foals and ride my old mare Cad. I went and stayed with grandma and Marlo and Toni worked on the foals and the boys did chores.
We got the heavy heifers in on Saturday morning, we were supposed to have someone come out to look at Jackpot but he was a no show. Anna and I were getting them in then Kaine came beebopping around the field in warp 10. I thought maybe Ben and told him to beat the cows to the gate, and he thought I had told him too. But I guess that is just his speed? So Kade and Toni went for a ride out to check the heifers. Storm has had a few months off due to an abscess in her hoof, but she did great. Toni rode Gracie, and she did not do as well. Toni rode Gracie because she plans to pony Glo (2 year old) off of Gracie while they check cattle, but that was a no go on Saturday. Gracie might be older but that doesn’t mean she has to act like it. We kept 8 heifers in and tagged the ones that had calved in the heavy pen and turned them out.
We checked the cows Sunday morning, there are quite a few getting heavy. One of the heifers in the heavy pen calved. I went out and put mineral out with the horses in Circle 5 and caught Eddie and led her in with Lendy, Dandy and Spark following, the last two colts we needed to wean for now. We have the two summer fillies to wean later. After lunch Jaxsen, Toni and I went down and loaded them up and hauled them home. Kade and Anna had tied up their show animals and Kade went down to let his go. After we weaned Spark and Dandy we got new pics of Blue Star and Mouse, Kade helped, and then we got the new group in to halter break, Baby Blackie, Halo and Fancy Like. Kade and Toni then went for a ride and I took Anna to meet Bill Cox at Lyonns Ferry, she was headed to Reno with Coxs to show Hereford bulls. Kade and Toni rode, did chores and then Jaxsen drove the 4 wheeler for Kade to rope.
Another busy week! We are really excited to continue to see buyers coming out even with this weather not being as nice. There is still tons of optimism in the horse industry. We are also starting to see bull buyers. We are very thankful for our repeat buyers. We are also thankful for wonderful people like the Hamners that agreed to sell us our new mare Gina and Barb for letting us have Breezy. Very excited to see what Gina produces for our ranch. Gina is an NRHA money earner, Rom in Ranch Riding and 4x world qualifier, bred for 2024 to the Masked Gun. The Masked Gun has been on our short list to breed to for many years so we are really excited to get a foal from this cross. We also got Breezy, another bay mare that is open this year, but has a heck of a pedigree out of the Mighty Oak. We aren’t looking for more broodmares but when ones of this caliber come along you snap them up.
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