Notorious C.U.R.E. Team = Family Fight!

Notorious C.U.R.E. is our families Relay For Life Team.

Not all members on the team are family members.

Most of us are.

Others are so close to some of us, they may as well be family.

The team is all about helping to find a cure!

For our family, it is really important because of this guy!

B is an amazing young man and a fighter!

B was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in March 2011.

THIS BOY NEVER QUIT!

HE NEVER GAVE UP!

HE NEVER STOPPED FIGHTING!

B graduated high school in May, of this year, and is looking forward to his freshman year of college, in the fall.

He tackles whatever is in front of him and moves forward.

When I say tackle... I mean, 

B takes it to the ground and makes sure "IT" doesn't get back up!

Our family is very proud of B!

He is very strong in mind, body and spirit.

B designed the B-King Notorious C.U.R.E. Team shirts.

His momma wears it with pride!

Tonight, we will ALL wear our team shirts with pride.

Tonight is our town Relay For Life!

Notorious C.U.R.E. has been working hard raising money to find a cure!

No Dream Is Too BIG!

That's the team motto!

We have done a Wine and Palette event.

Here is that special aunt with her painting.

She is B's MaMaw.

Our team held the Notorious C.U.R.E. Golf Tournament last Friday.

Exchange Bank Team was the big winner.

The best part about the tournament...

It wasn't the amount of fun everyone had.

It was...

EVERYONE THAT WON PRIZE MONEY GAVE IT BACK!

Our team also did some awesome baskets for the Relay For Life Dinner & Auction.

The MORE Birthday Basket

The Hawaiian Wine Basket

This girl right here...

She is B's big sissy and his biggest fan!

She is also the number one fundraiser for our team!

She is as amazing as her brother!

Tonight, at the Notorious C.U.R.E. booth, you will find lots of goodies!

We will have Cake Pops, Slurpees, Homemade Ice Cream, Blackberry Sorbet and GAMES!

Stop by and see us!

OH!!  

Don't forget the silent auction!

Drewman has donated a one month supply of those EGGcelent EGGs

AND

I donated 6 jars of our peach jelly!

I am sure there are other great finds that will be on the silent auction table too.

SEE YOU AT 7pm!!

Come FIGHT With Us!

Claimin "A Building We Shall Go!" on Bloglovin

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/8289695/?claim=n9qxxtt6pr7">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Google Reader is leaving the web world as of July 1. 

We are aren't going anywhere, but we are going to be claiming "A Building We Shall Go!" on Bloglovin.

This post is to confirm.

We will do a regular post later today.

Thanks,
Rancher Girl

Week 1 ~ Ailey Mae's Puppies

Ailey Mae's puppies are a week old!

They have grown so much!

At birth



This week

Number one is the rollie pollie of the bunch!

He is fat and loves to be next to his momma.

When he isn't next to her, he whines and cries.

Number two is the smallest of the group.

He is long and thin, but very independent!

He likes to be off by himself.

When he finishes eating, he crawls off to the side to sleep.

ALONE!

Number three is a MONSTER!

He is thick from head to toe, just like his daddy!

He likes to sleep under Ailey Mae's tail or between her back legs.

He also sleeps with his tounge out!

TOO CUTE!

All are getting color.

A little bit of cream on their legs.

A little bit of cream on the side of their face.

AND

Cute little cream eye brows.

These colors can change as the boys get older.

We can't wait to see what they will look like in 8 weeks.

Ailey Mae is such a good momma.

She doesn't mind if Princess Sheba checks on the boys,

BUT

She will not allow Pete

 or Onyx

near them!

We will update on them again next week.

For now...

We are off to play with the puppies!

EGGcelent EGG Layers Have Arrived

In the post "Big Night for Drewman",

I told you there would be some replacement chicks arriving in June.

They're Here!!!

Saturday morning, I received a text,

"Your McMurray Hatchery chick order has shipped."

Chicks are shipped express mail though USPS.

We knew, early this morning, we would be getting a call from our local post office.

So, yesterday, we got the brooder tub ready.

This includes setting up the brooder light.

Chicks need the temperature to be 105 degrees.

As well as, setting up the water and the feeder.

7am this morning....

No call.

I called the post office.

"Do you have a delivery of chicks for Drewman?"

Postmaster ~

"YES!  I called and received a message the phone was disconnected! Come to the back door of the post office, ring the bell, we will bring them out."

I head to town. 

Drewman has to be at work at 8am.

On my drive in...

DISCONNECTED!!!!

(that's another story)

I arrive at the post office, ring the bell and they came out with the box of chicks.

Strapped in the seat and ready to head to the ranch.

Peep... Peep... Peep....

These little peeps are very noisy!

Chicks are shipped in boxes.

Clearly marked!

Chicks are hatched and shipped, from the hatchery, the same day.

Each chick must be removed from the box,

It's beak must be dipped into water and feed.

Chicks can survive their first 24 hours of life without food or water, because they are still absorbing nutrients from the egg.

It is imperative they get food and water as soon as you receive the shipment.

Half the box is unloaded!

Now for the second half.

43 chicks in the brooder tub!

25 brown egg layers,

15 green egg layers,

AND...

3 extra chicks!

The hatchery makes sure to throw in a few extra chicks, just in case there are any causalities in shipping.

2, of the extras, have naked necks.

One has a fuzzy top hair do.

If all goes well, these chicks will be laying those EGGcelent EGGs this fall!

PS...

The phone wasn't disconnected.

It was our home phone number.

I forgot to remove it off vacation status from the HOUSE FIRE!

Silly Me! 

We Had a New Baby

You may remember from past posts, we have mostly spring born calves, with a few fall born.

Well....

We had a new baby on Monday!

Technically, she (IT'S A GIRL!) was spring born.

Summer didn't officially start until today!

The problem is, this baby was born really late for a spring born and really early for a fall born.

When you sell calves, you want them paired up into groups the same sex, size, height and weight.

This little girl will have no one to pair up with, unless she has a large growth spurt.

Single calves don't sell as well as those sold in groups.

Number 6, the momma, had a fall born calf last season.

When #6 was purchased, she hurt her foot coming off the trailer.

We had to keep her in the lot and away from the other cattle, for her foot to heal.

Therefore, she didn't breed with the other girls.

Thus, the fall born calf.

Labor Day weekend, last fall, we moved all the girls to another pasture and weaned calves.

Number 6's baby was to young to wean.

Our plan was to move #6 and another fall calving momma off to a different pasture.

Well... Then on Labor Day, we had a HOUSE FIRE!

If you haven't ever had such an event happen in your life,

Let me tell you...

After such an event, you don't worry or even think about your cattle for a while.

Long story sort...

Number 6 stayed with the bull and got bred.

The result...

A late spring/early summer baby girl!

I drive past the pasture, where the older cows are located, on my drive to and from work.

Monday morning, I told Flower Boy,

"I think we have a new baby!"

His response, "Where?"

I said something like this...

 "In Babe's pasture.  I think it's number 6.  She was along the side of the hill.  No other cows were around.  The baby is too little to be one of the older ones."

I needed Flower Boy to know I was paying attention and don't just drive past the pastures without watching for the cattle.

He agrees it could be #6 and says, "We will go look this evening."

I love the new camera!

It allows me to zoom in really close.

Momma doesn't like us getting too close to her baby.

And off they go!

This is a sign of a good momma.

Now we have to decide to keep #6 with this group of mommas or move her and the baby off with the other fall born mommas.

Just one, of the many, ranch management decisions that have to be made.

Either way, we have a baby!

Babies are our income!

 Even if they aren't born in the correct seasons.

Ailey Mae Had Puppies!!!

At 4:30am this morning, Ailey Mae went into labor.

She sleeps on the floor next to my side of the bed.

We woke up to her nesting.

By 5:15am Ailey Mae delivered her first puppy.

It's a boy!

Jet Black!

Just like his daddy, Onyx.

 

Ailey Mae had a total of three puppies.

All will be AKC Registered German Shepherd Dogs.

All boys!

All black!

Kind of ironic that the puppies were birthed in a pink kiddy pool.

 

Momma and boys are doing very well.

Momma is tired.

We will keep you updated on their progress.

 



Gutters

A few weeks ago we had gutters installed.

It wasn't something we were putting off.

It was just something we hadn't gotten too.

The guttering is seamless.

It runs the length of both sides of the house.

There are two down spouts on each side of the house.

One on each end.

We did a pretty good job of matching up the color.

Don't you think?

We have had quite a bit of rain these past few weeks.

We had 2" in the rain gauge, from yesterday afternoon and last night.

The guttering is working really well!

That's really all I know about gutters.

Flower Boy should be writing these type of blog posts.

Now to finish the yard....



Puddling? A Butterfly Effect

Yesterday morning as Drewman and I were leaving for work,

I noticed the elm tree, at our gate entrance, was covered with butterflies.

It was as if they were swarming like a hive of bees!

When we returned home yesterday evening,

The butterflies were still at the tree!

Flower Boy and I took a walk with the camera.

Upon closer inspection there were red wasps, bees, flies and other insects on the tree too.

None were aggressive.

It looks like they are eating or drinking in the dark moist spots of the tree.

Check out these freaky things!

Flower Boy thought it was a snake, at first sight.

After taking the pictures, we did some research to find out what the butterflies were doing.

Are they drinking?

Are they eating something?

Are they resting during migration?

Just what the heck are they doing?

According to the Natural Resources Conservation Services Wildlife Habitat Management Institute,

The butterflies are "Puddling"!

Puddling is more of a nutrient uptake than a water requirement, for the butterflies.

Normally, butterflies are seen puddling around mud puddles, damp sandy areas, campfire rings, salt licks and urine spots.

There is a nutrient or mineral in the elm tree that the butterflies can't get from nectar of flowers.

One video states "Only the male butterfiles puddle."

Is it the sap secreting from the tree?

Is it there has been so much rainfall that the bark of the tree is filled with moisture?

Is it the algae growing on the tree?

We didn't find the answers.

There are several other trees in that area.

Other elm, cedar, cottonwood, dogwood, redbuds...

The butterflies are only on this elm tree.

As Drewman and I were leaving this morning, the butterflies were still at the tree!

We think it is a good sign!

We are glad they are there!

Have you ever seen this?

Do you know anything about butterfly puddling?



I Have a New Title

I will ALWAYS be Daddy's Rancher Girl!

BUT

This weekend, Flower Boy gave me a new title.

We purchased a camera, since ours burned in the house fire.

I spent most of the weekend playing with it.

I don't have it all figured out.

I am having fun with it.

Here is a few shots of the 100 or so I took.

This is the pasture with the momma cows.

Their babies are the younger group of calves.

I LOVE this picture!

Cletus!  He is Big Daddy of this pasture!

I had to get the canine members of our family, since Flower Boy and Drewman won't allow me to photograph them.

Ailey Mae will have puppies in a week or so.

Onyx! 

He loves his frisbee/bucket lid.

Ailey Mae and Onyx will have beautiful puppies!

Pete! 

He is always on point!

Princess Sheba!

She is so pretty!

Drewman is playing catch with Pete.

Watch the next few frames...

So cool!

I really like that feature of the camera.

Life outside our front door, at the pond.

These three photos were zoomed in from our porch.

Back at the pasture with the heifers and the older babies.

Remember Chrome?

I really like their faces!

A group of the older babies.

LOVE THEM!

This makes a Rancher Girl smile!

Found this on the side of a hill.

Kinda neat!

Remember that cactus growing in the yard?

I might like it now...

Flower Boy and Charlie

They are a team.

To watch them cut or corral cattle...

You would just have to see it!

Maybe, I can get some pictures of them working soon.

A few of Drewman's EGGcelent EGG Layers.

Hope you enjoyed the photos?

Signed,

The Ranch Photographer