It rained all of Sunday night, we were very happy all our hay was up. Monday morning we had more rain and cool temps, it is supposed to warm up during the week. Somehow one of the poles in King’s pen got knocked down, but it was an easy fix. One of Toni’s college roommates called Monday morning and was headed through the area, so she stopped and had dinner with the Meachams. We were all happy to hear how Kellie was doing, besides on Facebook. Mom and dad went to town on Monday, so Toni got to feed Molly B lunch, Molly B has been moved to 6 hour feedings and is giving mom her sad face. As an FFA Officer, Anna got to go and talk to the Connell School Board on Monday night to ask about going to FFA National Convention. They were approved to go. They are very excited. The boys finished up the cattle chores and cleaned out the barn.
Tuesday the wind blew, yea, shocking after the rain. Kaine and some of his friends were dressing up as frat boys for their last full day of school. Mike Chubb came out and harvested two more head of cattle on Tuesday, a grass and a grain fed, both were presold. Alli came out and ultradsounded Tuesday night. Toni and the boys caught the horses. Stinger, Butterfly, Abs, Miss Gen and Rosey all open. Good news is Cami and Annie are bred, so they both got moved out to the field. However, 2/7 being bred is pretty bad. We are hearing across the board that it is a hard breeding year, so we aren’t taking it personally. This is the first time Cami has bred naturally vs AI, so that is cool. Leroy is pretty good at his job. We moved Lendy, Stinger and Rosie in with King. Mis Gen is going out with Leroy and Butterfly is going back to John’s to get bred to PD. Then we went down and checked Jackpot’s pen and went home.
Wednesday I left early for work and saw Comet in the fence, she is in the heavy pen, so in the corral I can check on my way to work. I raced down there and she was foaling and had rolled into the fence. I called Toni, dad and Ben, Dad and I had her most of the way out of the fence when Toni got down there, Comet decided she was good enough to get up. We got a halter on her and dad held her while Toni put her arm in to see what was going on. Foal was backwards with a leg down. So we got it pulled up, Toni and I started pulling it when Ben got there and helped us finish. Comet is fine, foal is not. It was a cute blue roan filly, very disappointing. However, we are happy Comet is OK. Sometimes we just have to focus on the good and Comet being alive and doing well is really good. Wednesday was turning into a real shit day. On the good glass half full side, Bob at work make me some peal rings, at cost, that are very nice, improved my mood to some degree. And he made a chain for mom, she wanted a shorter chain for some of her necklaces. Also, Wednesday was Kaine’s last spring Football jamboree. Some of the kids were already gone for summer break, so we had a pretty small team, only one extra person. And we played Pasco, so our Varsity and JV teams combined were smaller than their JV team. But the boys played really well. Kaine figured out the guy on the line and sacked the QB so many times that they asked him to just hit the guy in the back when he made it through the line versus knocking him down. Mom made a chocolate pie, it was great. Anna friends were over, and they helped Anna with the cattle chores, and then Ben, Anna, Josie and Brandi went to Booths to dr a highlander’s eye. Toni, Kade and Jaxsen did chores, moved water, etc. When I got there after the game we checked horses and waited for John to show up to get Butterfly. Then Toni went home for a call and I went down to give Comet a shot.
Thursday was the first actual day of summer break. Toni had court then her and the kids had their annual lake party. The kids worked on their show animals while Toni was in court. Then Kaine, Kade and Anna’s friends came over and Kendel, Scarlet, Kolton and the rest went down to the lake. They all had a blast. They stayed at the lake until chore time. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. They paddle boated, had the motor boat, kayaks, a tent for some cover, some floaties, and lots of snacks.
Friday Anna and Kaine went and helped sell strawberries with McKenna in Richland. Toni went down and loaded the two Hereford bulls for dad to take to Connell. One to go back to Joe so he can sell it in TX and ours to get his horns cut so he doesn’t look like a goober. Toni and Kade tied up steers. All of the steers are really coming along. When they got back McKenna helped the boys clip their steers to go to Saturday to Hermiston. Toni had Dad leave the trailer at his house and practiced loading Dagnon in the trailer to get her ready for a person to come look at her on Saturday. She loaded really well. She has been a really great filly overall. Too bad she is grade, but she will make a great horse for someone else. Marlo was also out on Friday and helped Toni with loading and getting Dagnon used to new people.
Saturday Ben, Anna, Kaine, Kade and the BB Crew went to the UCCA Desert Classic in Hermiston. They had a good time. Kade with 5th overall with his steer. Anna and Natalie were reserve champion in showmanship and Kaine was grand champion in showmanship. Everyone did great. Ady and Julian showed well too.
At home Jaxsen, Toni, Tux (the cat), the shags (dogs) and I tied up the steers and did chores. Then we got in circles 4 and 5, Toni sorted circle 5 with us. Toni went to feed Molly B, since mom and dad went to Hermiston. Then we sorted cows, Toni had to leave for a while to sell Dagnon, so I just had Jaxsen and Tux, but we got it done. We hauled the bull calves down to circle 5 and went to haul the heifer calves back, but they had gotten a gate down and were out. We fixed fence and then did chores. Ben and the kids drove by while we were doing chores. Because Dagnon was sold, we got Sam in and got her haltered and ready to be the next project. As a yearling, Sam is already 13.2 hands, so pretty good sized. PBJ and Kat also came in with Sam, so Toni caught them and worked on picking up their feet to get them ready for Chad. We are down to the 8 yearling fillies. That sounds like too many but we like them.
Happy Fathers Day. The kids tied up the steers in the morning, while mom made pie and potato salad, I made burgers, hotdogs, german dogs, green salad, and Toni made apple crisp and Texas sheet cake with Grandma’s maple frosting. We had a great lunch with the fathers. Then Anna went to Toni’s house to pick out dresses to wear to Jr Nationals, as the WA Angus queen. Ben and Kaine went out and fixed the water line. I cleaned up the house and did dishes and laundry until chores. We put Miss Gen and Comet in with Leroy and tried to bred Abs to Stetson again, hopefully it takes this time. We took Lucy the outside mare down to see if Sagebug likes her today, since she was in heat. He still does not like her.
This has been one of those weeks. Good things have happened and bad things have happened that test your faith. We try not to dwell on the bad and instead focus on the good. I think that is one of those life lessons being a rancher teaches you, if you dwell on the bad, you are so wrapped up in what went wrong that you can’t learn and move forward. At the end of the week, we have 2 mares left to foal, and what seems like too many mares left to breed.
