Posts Tagged With: family

We had an excellent week full of love and laughter. Thankfulness for the gifts we have received, meaning our way of life and our freedoms.

Posted on December 31, 2024 by horseshoeangusranch

Bright and early on Monday Kade and Toni hauled Santana, Peaches and Joss to the vet for travel papers to go to CA. All three did great. Gina also went to get a blood test to see if she is pregnant, she did not do great. 5x NRCH champion DID not want to ride to the vet with two yearlings and a two year old. Peaches wasn’t in to go to the vet and was not on the agenda, but the buyers decided they thought they wanted her late Sunday. Luckily she was easy to get in and loaded really well. It was probably nice for Santana to have a buddy. Sheena did ask what color Joss is because everything is so covered in mud. The drive to the vet was really foggy and stressful so Toni and Kade stopped for breakfast sandwiches before they came home. This was the Featherlite we bought first real trip and it pulled really nice. It is nice to have a smaller trailer for smaller groups like this. Chad stopped by to trim Ghost and Jetter before they go to their new home after Christmas. Both did great. Poor Jetter looks like a mud ball since the round pen is so muddy. Toni stayed with grandma on Monday.

Happy Christmas Eve. I took dad in to get laser eye bright and early on Tuesday, we were back by noon. It rained all day pretty much, but we had a short window midafternoon, so we went out to the desert to get Christmas pics of the kids. The horses came running across the desert to get in the pictures. They did not want to be left out. Some were nosier than others. We also had a donkey request, so we caught May and she got a bow. Kade rode Benelli in the rain. We worked on the foals then went to Christmas Eve at grandmas. We have soup and do the white elephant gift exchange. It was pretty bland this year, not a lot of fighting over gifts. However, I did go to the bathroom and Anna had traded her uncle kicker my gift for one he had she wanted. NOT HERS, mine.

Merry Christmas. We had a couple new Christmas calves, including a set twins, Joseph and Mary dad said. We opened presents Erina and Terry came down, we had prime rib, mashed potatoes, rolls, pies, the whole works, after mom made us a big breakfast as well. We played a new game Anna got the night before, that she did not trade for whatever Kicker had. It is Old Vs Young, So Post 1980 born people ask pre 1980 born people questions and vice versa, but we did men vs women, so young and old on both teams. Except the old Skip did not play. Then we played another card game. We had a great and family filled Christmas.

On Thursday we had a few more calves, one of them being mom and Anna’s char x jersey cross heifer calved. Worked on the foals in the mud, since it is still raining. Hauled pellets, hay, corn cobs out, etc. Basically just tried to keep an eye on the livestock and suck up as much mud as possible with the tools we have on hand.

On Friday we had people come out from Montana to look at the three big fillies we have left- North, Peeps, and Kenna. She liked North the best so North gets to come in with the next group. Our new horse showed up, Ruby, and Fabby came home from the trainers.  Sold a couple bulls. Had another new calf. Kaine is in bed sick, so we did not see him much. He tried to help with chores and fed some grain before he wore himself out. We had Marlo for chores on Friday. I stayed with grandma on Friday.

On Saturday the same people came back to look again, still North. We had interest in the other 2 as well, one of the other people are also from Montana. Had a few more calves. Kade rode Benelli out to check cows. We got some videos of Peeps for a gal in Montana. Kade jumped on Blueberry bareback with a halter, she did great. We took Jet and Santana for a walk about, they both did great. They look like mud balls from it being so muddy.

                A few more calves on Sunday, we got them all tagged. We took Sanatana and Jet on their final walk abouts, well not Jet, but Santana is headed to sunny and not muddy, at least at his new house, CA. We got the jersey Goldy and her calf, Noel, in so Goldy could nurse another calf. We have a couple of bottle calves in.  Fabby and Ruby went down to Mom’s house so she could call Ruby hers. We turned Blondie, Smarty, and Kenna out and got North, Astra, and Zelle in for this coming week. Astra and Zelle are Toni’s pets so she thinks they will be perfect. They all haltered pretty good so maybe. We also got Peaches in and haltered so the people from CA could see her on Monday. Then we went and had our annual dinner with our good friends and neighbors where we were served a Hungarian chicken dish that was excellent.

We had an excellent week full of love and laughter. Thankfulness for the gifts we have received, meaning our way of life and our freedoms. We got to spend another Christmas with Grandma in our lives and Skip. There is no blessing greater than our loved ones and we hope everyone had a family filled amazing Christmas with yours.

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The days are getting colder and shorter. We try to see the positive pieces of fall as we move through the seasons.

Posted on October 31, 2024 by horseshoeangusranch

Happy Birthday Jaxsen!! Monday was Jaxsen’s birthday, at before dawn, since he had to get ready for school, he opened Grandma Sherri’s present of Dr Pepper. You know, a breakfast of champions. Just what the Dr ordered. We got some pictures on Monday of Kade having fun at FFA National convention. Kaine and Jaxsen did the horse chores, Toni and I halter broke the next three foals, I say halter broke on day 1 since we did not even need the donkeys. Because we weaned the rest of the foals over the weekend, we had quite a few angry foals. Some weren’t too excited to eat so we had to spread hay and some grain across the pen to try to lure the foals over to the feeding area. Kaine went up after chores and helped Ben finish the cattle chores. Ben came home from the Nile with the Nile crud, so we are trying to stay away from him.

Tuesday was a beautiful day. Toni is still going in the morning and catching the show cattle for the boys since Kade is gone. Ben catches Anna’s.  Tuesday was Jaxsen’s last football game. Mom stayed with Grandma on Tuesday, so dad and Skip went and picked her up on the way to the game. Toni worked on the three foals and then Kaine and I finished the horse chores. Then Kaine went up to help Ben with the cattle chores. It is feeling pretty fallish out, however, it is not that cold for being mid October. We are still trying to steer clear of Ben and his crud.

On Wednesday Toni and Dad went to Kennewick and were going to pick up the pork on the way home but ran out of room in the car. Kaine went hunting with Cyson, it was parent teacher conferences this week. Kaine was in charge of morning chores, since Toni was going to town and he was not going to school. When Kaine got home he washed his and Kade’s steers and heifers. At FFA Nationals the Agronomy Team participated in their competition Wednesday.

On Thursday we found out how the Agronomy Team did, they were awarded the Silver Award and Kade earned his Bronze Award, good job!! Toni worked on Kade’s sim heifer while Kaine and Jaxsen worked on their steers. Then the three of them put some poles up in the alley. While they were doing that, one of the heifers that we just put a halter on last weekend got near Toni so we decided to see if the heifer was halter broke. The heifer actually did really well. Toni took a small video for Anna. Toni and I practiced loading Woody, for him to leave on Friday. Then we worked on the three we are halter breaking.

On Friday Kaine went to football practice then went to Kennewick to see Kendra. Anan got home early from school, her last class was canceled. Toni went to load out Woody, and her and the new family decided that Tuff was a better fit, so we still have Woody and Tuff headed to his new home. Which is good, because Toni kept telling Tuff she was going to keep him as a pet. Toni did chores early on Friday because they needed to go grab Kade at the airport around 8 pm. Kade had a great time at FFA Nationals and we are super proud of him.  I stayed with grandma, who is still not sleeping.

On Saturday I took pictures of the bulls in the morning, the kids all worked on their cattle. Kaine went to Football practice around 10 since they had a game at 1. The game was really good. Then we did chores and worked on the foals. Toni headed up to Ritzville to speak at the CPoW meeting. Our good friend Josslynn is the current President, so we are excited to support her. Toni got to see lots of friends at the meeting and had a great time.

On Sunday Toni and I got up and hauled mares to winter pasture. We then got our four new halter breaking victims in to get them ready for the week- haltered and some initial socializing. The kids worked on their show animals. We had a kid from Toppenish come and pick up his two steers. He bought a Hereford and a Black bollie. At 11:45 we went to Connell for the family birthday party. From there dad, Kade and I headed to St John to get some items from Skip’s house. Then we went to Lautenschlagers to get Kade’s Nile Merit Heifer, he is getting a cute Red Angus heifer. Dad and Kade were hungry when we left there, so we stopped at Sonnys on our way through Washtucna and got chicken fingers and fries. Toni did chores at home. Her and Kaine put big bales out. She also went ahead and continued deworming mares and getting stuff done around the house. 2 horses came out of the yearling pen, Miss Gen and Remi and got to be mainstreamed. She also went and rode Electra at her house. Kade has been working on Pony for his next roping horse.

The days are getting colder and shorter. We try to see the positive pieces of fall as we move through the seasons. We get to meet some really cool people that are buying foals and see repeat customers. We also slow down on the cattle shows and get some time to focus on some of our projects here at home.

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Sorry about the tardiness of the blog post.

Posted on May 10, 2024 by horseshoeangusranch

We woke up to a beautiful filly out of Mil and by King on Monday. Toni and mom decided to put Mil in the round pen, because she did not like everyone visiting the foal, by everyone I mean all the other horses, especially the annoying 2- and 3-year-olds that are out there. We have a few that have some personal space issues, meaning they don’t understand the concept. Dad took bulls to Ritzville on Monday and picked one up in Sprague. The kids took some tack over to BB for Leslie and Traci to take up to Spokane, we have all the chutes, end panels, and hay in ours. Plus, most of our tack. So, we could not fit 2 of the chute floors and the grain in. Kade and Kaine had FFA practice after school, to get ready for state convention. Anna dyed her steer. Jax is ready for FFA so doesn’t need practice, I guess.

On Tuesday we headed up to Spokane for the Jr Show. Before we could leave we had to run down to Mom and Dad’s to see our new foal. Our precious Gina gave us a stunning bay filly out of the Masked Gun with a big blaze and a belly spot. She is perfect. Then we loaded and took off. Leslie and Traci came up in the afternoon. We were down on the floor, as opposed to up on the side like normal, which was great, we had lots of room. We did not take all of the stuff we needed for set up, so could not do a lot before Leslie and Traci got there. We weighed in steers, and Devo the heifer. Set up the camper, etc. We had pizza for dinner, everyone did great coming off the trailer and being at a decently big show. We hear there are 66 fat steers, 120 prospects, and about 40 heifers. This may be the biggest show in WA, probably the biggest terminal show for sure. (FYI that is Toni in the video)

On Wednesday there are a lot of competitions at Jr Show, Anna, Kade and Emmett did meats judging. Jaxsen was also there with the FFA meats judging. The rest of the kids washed the steers and caught up on their homework. We get to sleep in on Wednesday, which is a good start to the week. Dad said that the buckskin mare foaled, so that meant Twist. She had a really smutty colored buckskin colt by King that is super cool looking in the picture we received.

Thursday we spent all day in the barn so we took tamales down to the tack box for lunch. Anna was in class 1 with her heifer. They were reserve champion 4H heifer, Devo is a heifer we got from RJ in South Dakota. Next we had 4H prospects, Natalie and Julian. Both were in the same class and made it back to the championship round. Then Anna, Julian, Ady and Natalie had 4H market steers. Anna, Ady and Natalie made it back to the championship round, they all did great. 20-minute break then FFA prospects, Kaine, Kade and Emmett. Kain and Kade both made it back to the final drive with Kade being 5th prospect steer.  And Lastly, FFA market, Emmett made it back with his giant steer. Emmett had the heaviest steer at the show. The judge said the steer waddled like a duck but would bring in a big check. True. All of the kids showed great. Then Peewee, which Vanna won, team fitting which Emmett’s team won, and pen of 3 (with Gary Bye steers).   I think we finally got done around 6:30 pm? Maybe? It was a long day. We hear there were some foals born at home. All colts. Dad said the one out of CeeCee was “special” we weren’t sure what that meant but Dad confirmed that means he is awesome. We also had a super cute colt out of Gracie and Whitty.

Friday was showmanship. We no longer have any jrs, so our first class was intermediates. Natalie and Julian both got a call back for the championship round that night. Anna was our only Sr, and she also made it back to the championship round. Emmett, Kaine and Kade showed FFA Jr/So, Kaine and Kade made it back. All of the kids did a great job showing. Anna won the Sr division and got to show in the round robin at Spokane. Kaine was 5th in his division, Natalie and Julian were 6th and 7th, and Kade was 8th for his division.  Kaine and Kade washed the steers and Anna’s heifer, and send all the prospects home with Kicker. Leslie, Traci, Savannah, Kayla and I followed the round robin while the rest fed and loaded out the prospects. Anna did great, Spokane is different than the other shows. Only the Sr 4H and Jr/Sr FFA get to show in the round robin, and they show random animals, not the animals of the winners. All of the steers in the round robin were great. Most of the pigs were great, Anna had a really good pig. However, most of the sheep were crazy and the goats were a shit show. One would jump up and ram the kid holding it, one would jump up and strike the kid. But it was a great experience, and Anna was glad she got to do it.  Dad let us know that the red mare had a palomino colt, so Queenie had a colt by Tank.

Saturday was the sale, the steers always sell last. We would like to thank all to the buyers of the Footloose 4H Club and Connell FFA. Thank you, Les Schwab, for buying Anna and Kaine’s steers, L&M Truck Sales for buying Kades, Co-Energy for buying Emmetts (a home town buyer), Byes for buying Adys, Fusion Seed for buying Natalies (a long-time buyer of Natalie’s steer), and Jonel for selling Julians steer. Spokane booster did a great job and put a minimum of 2.75/lb on the steer kids and added $100. The kids all did great. Thank you everyone for your support. All our steers loaded out Saturday night except Ady’s, so he got to go up with the Pomeroy steers. The kids got to go play laser tag with the Pomeroy kids, and they had a lot of fun. Emmett and Stacy invited the boys to go and stay at their camper that night, so Kaine, Kade, Emmett and Julian. They stayed up until 10:30 playing football, until Stacy finally told them he needed to go to bed, he was worried Toni wouldn’t let the boys have a sleep over again if he had to call her to tell her he lost the boys. So he had to stay awake. They then made quesadillas and stayed up.  They had a great time. Toni’s law school roommate came over and had dinner with us while the kids were at laser tag, and it is always good to see Kellie K.

Sunday we loaded out Ady’s steer, the campers and came home. We had a lot of horses to move that had foaled while we were gone, Queenie we put down with Cleo to move the following weekend since he is a little guy. We put Gracie and Mud down with Tank, CC in with Sagebug and Twist and Mil in with MC. The boys turned Opal, Shadie and Katana out of the MC pen while we were hauling CC out, we will put them back in a month to make sure they are bred.

What a great week. We had fun at Spokane seeing our friends and family, meeting new people, and letting Anna enjoy her very last Spokane Jr. Show as a kid. We are very proud of our entire group of kids, they all showed great and did their very best. We all came home tired, but glad to have the memories made at another Spokane Jr. Show. Thanks to everyone that stayed home to do all the ranch work.

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Life is the sum of your choices- choose to buy a horse.

Posted on March 15, 2024 by horseshoeangusranch

No new babies on Monday morning. Dad went to the Palouse and got pellets, he said it is snowing there. Ben and Kaine unloaded the trailer and then took it up to feed cows. Bouncing Betty lost a tire on Saturday, so we are down a flatbed trailer. Jaxsen had an FFA competition on Monday, Toni thinks Jaxsen is going to be short lived with FFA, he got to miss chores but did not miss any school. The boys placed really well, they were first, and the girls team was 2nd. Good job guys.  Jax tied for first on the meats test.  The kid knows his food.

No new babies on Tuesday either, and Playin would like someone to play with. She is being evil to her mother. It was Savannah’s birthday on Tuesday and a lot of times we have a foal on her birthday, but not this year. Anna went to the Jr high to do a presentation for FFA on ag related jobs. Dad went to work running tractor for Luke. Kade worked on opening and closing gates on Mauney. We are done halter breaking the foals, but we still have Bellini in the round pen due to her eye graft. She gets the graft removed from her eyeball next week. She is doing really great, but has lots and lots of energy and needs to be out of the roundpen.

Toni went and got her stolen child and brought her out to see the horses on Wednesday. She got to pet Libby, pet horses, hug Abby, etc. Things a small child likes to do. She wanted to pet all of the cows, but since most of the cows are not halter broke and don’t like small children, that was a no go. Coffey had to come back out and work on the freezer, it had an error message. 626B calved, one of the last few stragglers. She was a show heifer and produced a really pretty little heifer for Kade. Dad went out to drive tractor again and dropped mom off to stay with grandma. Toni stayed with grandma Wednesday night.

On Thursday we had a big ditch break at work, but it could have been worse, no one was injured. We are starting the main canals up to start water on the 13th. Toni checked cows and horses when she got home, no one new. We got a gorilla cart and some circle tires in the Booker auction, which was good. We were bidding on some hay spears in the Yarboro auction. Hopefully we get those too. We missed some weed shearers in the Booker auction that would have been really great to have on the Russian olive trees. I was really disappointed we missed those. Toni is also watching those standalone 24 foot panels at Booker, but they went too high. She may have access to those panels delivered to Othello for $350 per panel if anyone needs any.

                On Friday Ben and I went with Anna, and Lane and Myles were also there, to Moscow to tour the University of Idaho. We had a great time in the walking tour and then Micheal Colley took us for a tour of the production cattle, feed lot, sheep and dairy facilities, etc. We all had a great time.  I had an emergency board meeting at 1, so I missed part of the tour. Toni had a bunch of meetings, and Chad was out so Toni was busy with him. We are trying to get all of the yearlings trimmed up for the first time. They got three yearlings done then four big mares in the time they had. The yearlings were all good, but they were the ones we expected to be good. They also had Celeste in to get a trim but Celeste is only good when Celeste is doing what Celeste wants to do. She was not into having her feet trimmed. Mom helped hold horses as well. Kaine went snowmobiling with Maxx, Marlo, Kade and Toni did most of the chores. We got home about six so Ben and Anna did go feed the cows.

On Saturday morning Anna and I went to the Big Bend Annual meeting for her to accept the scholarship she won. She got to read her essay to the meeting attendees. We sat with Uncle David and Shattucks. Our whole table won door prizes, we were a pretty lucky table. Dad went with Kade to Colton for Trap. Dad and Kade both reported it was a cold and windy trip. They then went to St John and saw Uncle Skip and went to Ed Hayes before coming back. Ben went around and got all of the auction items we bought, circle tires from Booker, hay spears from Yarboro. In the afternoon Ben and Anna rolled up fence. Toni and I moved mares and stallions around. We are trying to get the open mares out with studs asap before the mares with foals go out. We turned our 2 year olds out in the big pasture, but Gunner and three mares in their pen. MC got moved to Gunner’s pen with 2 mares. Cappy was able to stay in his pen with 2 mares. Dude and Bug still don’t have mares just because. I stayed with grandma on Saturday night. Anna and Lane went to Ritzville prom in Spokane.

On Sunday Wagners came out and looked at bulls. Dad and Ben went to Alans and got a harrow, checked on the Charolais cow and had cinnamon rolls with Alan. Anna went out and pulled more posts out of the fence. Kade tied up his steers, Anna washed her steers and heifers. Kade rode Stormy out to check things. Then Toni, Kade, Jaxsen, and I went out and got a few mares in out of circle 5. Shiney had foaled and had a big, pretty, grulla colt. We are very happy he is alive and healthy, but this is the second stunning grulla COLT she has had. It isn’t too much to ask for a filly is it? We have more to get in, but the main ones we wanted came in so we left it alone. We just had our little old white trailer so we took them in two loads. It was super windy so we called it a day.  Then we did chores. Kaine got home in time for chores. Kaine had tons of fun on his trip, but it was good to get him home and back to work.

Life is the sum of your choices- choose to buy a horse. We have five really cool yearlings left, a brood mare and Kade’s sale horse. All ready to be someone’s project.

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