Moo Cow Monday ~ The Places We Go

It started as a typical Thanksgiving weekend.

Trucks break down.

Spend 4 hours on the phone to get the lifetime warranty, of the part, provided.

Tractor won't start.

It might need new batteries.

Covered up in work, chores, and repair.

It's just our life!

For the past several years,

We have always tried to do some Black Friday Shopping. 

We normally sell cattle in November,

So it just makes since to replace a few or add to the herd.

Daddy always said "Grow slow! Don't get in over your head!"

Most of the weekend, when we weren't working on things,

We were, on our phones or the computer, searching for the perfect deal!

It was late Saturday evening.

Well, it was dark anyway.

It could have been 5:30PM.

We found it!

Flower Boy made the call.

Sunday morning, we were off!

Flower Boy

And Princess Sheba 

We never leave home without her!

Snacks were packed.

Some were purchased!

 We all had our favorite!

Sweet Tea and Chicharrones for Flower Boy.

Beef Sticks for Princess Sheba.

Frosted Mini Wheat's and Dots Pretzels for myself!

We had decided to take back roads.

You know, the highways from yesteryear.

Those that are less traveled.

We had nothing but time, 

As we normally consider these type of trips

A DATE!

We even have a road trip CD!

If you follow us on social media,

You know what we sing!

We hadn't driven 30 miles, and saw this!

Just a herd of horses and donkeys out for a Sunday Stroll.

They were prancing, down the highway, like they were on a road trip too!

We entered towns named

Wapanucka

Kinefic

Bokchito

We passed places like

Stubby's Way

A fueling station that didn't have a store or a clerk.

Ma and Pa's Store where they sold antiques and plumbing.

We even found an old military fort!

Fort Washita

It's the fort that protected the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations from the Plains Indians.

The post was abandoned by Federal Forces during the Civil War.

Confederate Troops burned the structures at the end of the war.

Fort Washita will be a place we re-visit!

As we were making the final leg, of our journey, towards the Red River,

We came upon this!

I got a bit nervous!

Can you see the curve in the road?

Yes!

That one, just past the bridge?

You see, we were pulling a 32 foot trailer!

The truck and trailer are almost 45 feet long, in total.

Flower Boy made the curve with ease!

The places we go!

Within two hours, of arriving at our destination, 

We made out picks, loaded, and headed back home.

It was a quick trip.

The back roads of Oklahoma never disappoint!

XOXO,

Rancher Girl

PS.  It was too dark for cattle photos. :-)

Moo Cow Monday ~ Got A Brand New Girlfriend!

This guy got to meet his new girlfriends on Friday!

Meryl is our heifer bull.

He is the bull we raised.

His momma was one of our best cows.

His daddy was one of our best bulls.

Meryl produces low birth weight calves that hit the ground growing.

 

Meryl has been hanging out in the pens, at the house, for a few months, just waiting for this moment!

 Flower Boy opens the trailer.

 Meryl exits.

 I always keep my distance from the bulls.

They kind of scare me...

 

Flower Boy and I drive around, to the next pasture, and call the Black Friday Heifers through the gate.

 The girls were in the center pasture, with the only entrance, joining the pasture we placed Meryl and that pasture is under this electric tower.

 Many people comment when they see photos like this, 

"Wow!  Your cattle are so tame to be coming through the gate under that tower!"

Well...

When they don't know any different, they don't know to be scared.

Flower Boy does a great job of directing and calling them across.

These girls have grown so much over the past year.

When we purchased them, they were just weaned from their mommas.

 

Meryl was on the opposite side of the creek.

He was actually destroying a small cedar tree!

Boys will be boys!

 

He finally realizes the feed truck and other bovine are waiting on him!

As he gets closer to the herd, it is evident he knows he's got brand new girlfriends!

 Note Meryl's head down and the stance/strut he is displaying.

 BOYS!

 Meryl smells all of his new girlfriends.

 He gives Flower Boy a quick eye and head nod of "Thank You!'

 We head back out the gate!

 All in an afternoon of ranch life!

 

If all goes as planned, the Black Friday Heifers will birth their calves in the fall of 2016.

I love afternoon like this!

It is much better than spending it at my desk!

Happy Moo Cow Monday!

XOXO,

Rancher Girl

A Letter To My Daddy

Daddy,

Yesterday marked 5 years since you left for heaven.  At times it seems like only days have passed, then there are others that it seems like forever since you left.

I know I don't have to write this letter and I hear you telling there is no need, because you already know what I am going to put down.  Ok... so this letter is for me and my own mindset.  You can just listen as I play it out on paper.  Every other day I would just talk to you while driving to or from work, but Drew's truck is broke down, he has my car, and Jeffrey and I are carpooling.  Yes, it saves us money and we should continue.

We finished the pens!  It took a year in the making, but they are finished.  We weaned this years spring calves just a few weeks ago.  The pens work great!  Jeffrey and Drew have worked so hard building them.

You told me the night before you left, to invest in my property, buy some cattle and grow slow.  You assured me that was the right way to do it.  We have done just that!  The ranch isn't what it was back in the day, but it is alive and thriving.  We have goals set and seem to reach them each year, just in time to set new ones.  We continue to uphold that Rockin' B brand!

Weaned calves are now in pasture.  Yes, they will be sold pre-conditioned, just like you taught me.  We will take them to sale in mid November.  We have been selling them at the sale barn near Tonya.  That makes it nice to swing by and visit with them.  The sale barn seems to treat us fairly.  They now know who we are and let the buyers know the calves are pre-conditioned and in good shape.  Last year, one of the buyers sought us out and complimented us on the calves.  Jeffrey and Drew were so proud!

We bought a set of fancy heifers on Black Friday last year.  They will be ready for the bull in December.  I can't wait to see what their babies look like!  These little girls didn't quite make the sellers show string.  Daddy, they are so pretty!  When they get close to their due date, we will bring them home to calve.  Remember the days of baby watch?  Thankfully the pens are just out the back door of the house.

Speaking of the house...  It's been 3 years since the fire.  Even though we are settled into a new normal, there seems to always be things left to do.  The old shop next to the house has got to go!  So does the shed in the back!  I keep pushing for that to happen, but am quickly reminded of your words "All in due time."

I have noticed a change in myself and have guilted myself a few times these past months.  Whenever I would have a problem, you were always the first I would reach to dial on my phone or want to call out to.  It was September, I don't remember my issue but Jeffrey was my first go to guy.  I felt guilt that I had called him on reaction and not you.  Then I later realized this was a milestone for me.  I have grown.  I think of you every day, but manage my fears and anxiety much better now.  Well...  I say I do.  The guys may tell you differently...

Drew is doing well!  He and his Cattlemen's group placed 3rd with their homecoming float.  The float was Drew's design!  Daddy, that boy has a mind like you, when it comes to industrial, manufacturing and welding.  The Cattlemen also placed 3rd in sweepstakes.  Sweepstakes is all homecoming activities combined for the week.  The AGR men also won house decoration and sweepstakes.

We had the Cattlemen at the house last evening for dinner.  These young men are much like Tuff's group of college buddies.  They are so well mannered and respectful.  The difference is, not a single young man at the house yesterday has family living in Oklahoma.  Jeffrey and I are happy to be their surrogate parents.  We think we may even have a few for Thanksgiving.

Although Drew's first semester at school was a struggle, he has since changed his major and is headed in the right direction for who he is.  He is balancing classes, work and his social schedule.  He has accepted an internship, with Helena Chemical, starting this summer.  He will do a bit of traveling, for training sessions, before being "planted" in Garden City, KS for the summer.  Tuff has done his part in checking things out, like a big bother should.  He says it will be an experience for Drew, as we all agree.  Drew's excitement is easy to see and hard to contain! 

The Big Kids.... Well.... They are going to have a baby!  A baby girl at that!  You already knew that too...  Yes, I paid attention when you showed me.  Daddy, they have named her Bower Marie!  I tear up every time I write, think or hear her name.  What an honor and tribute to you and our family!  Oh you should see how pretty she is in her ultrasound photos!  This is one time, I wish I were with you for just one quick peek into the future.  February can't get here quick enough!  Darb is so cute with her little belly!  Tuff is one proud Daddy!  They are going to be amazing parents!

They are preparing for her arrival, just as you would expect them too.  Their house is for sale, actually under contract.  They have a new home to move into already.  You would approve of the new home.  It is all one level.  Bower's nursery will be close to the big kid's room.  No more worries of two stories and stairs.

Jeffrey is shopping for ponies and saddles, and we have Miss Bower Marie's first heifer picked out.  She is so spoiled and she isn't even here.  I told a friend, "My boys were raised there is a difference between "want' and "need".  I am not sure that rule applies to Miss Bower!"  Aunt Lois is excited to get started on nursery decor.  The Big Kids will be home for Thanksgiving, as well.  I'm sure Aunt Lois will have her list ready, sewing machine threaded and on standby. 

I had fears and have always questioned my parenting abilities with the boys.  Somehow, I have no fears of being a MooMaw to a pretty little frilly COWgirl!  Even though frills and bows are a whole new world to me, I know Miss Bower and I will make it just fine!  I just need her MooPaw to keep the checkbook flowing.  I fear that since of financial responsibility, you instilled in the boys and I, may go out the window with this little one.

Day jobs are going well for us all too.  We are all so busy running different directions, but always seem to come together often.  I know you are proud of us, how we have grown and the things we have accomplished.  Traditions have changed since you left us, but you are always here.  There are times I look and can see you watching us.  You are smiling your big smile, with your toothpick in your mouth, and you nod your head.  That's all I need!

I Love You Too!

Moo Cow Monday ~ When Things Go Wrong

We had just a little bit of cattle working to do over the weekend.

Those three fancy heifers, we have in the pasture, that pair with our Black Friday Deals.

Well....

It was time to wean them from their mommas.

We arrived at the pasture.

But not before Flower Boy hit his head on the stock trailer.

We had to set up panels.

We have the large cattle panels at home on the unfinished portion of the loading alley.

This is what happens when you forget the post driver.

 Honestly, rocks don't make good drivers.

Thankfully, the land owner was home and had a post driver in his shop.

The cattle were called into the catch pen.

A single heifer was pulled off and loaded into the stock trailer.

Off to the next pasture.

Cows and calves were called in and sorted.

Fall born calves and mommas were left in the catch pen, as well as the other two heifers we were holding back.

Along about this time, Flower Boy realizes we don't have the ear tags to tag the fall babies.

I am sent home to retrieve them, while Flower Boy and Drewman work the three older heifers.

 

 I arrive back with the ear tags, as the guys were running the mommas through the alley and chute, into the catch pen.

When working with smaller calves, you don't want to separate them from their mommas.

This is why the mommas were just outside in the catch pen, as we were working them.

After all the fall babies are worked, they run to their mommas.

Once they pair back up, the pairs are turned back to pasture with the other cattle.

Mommas head over the hill to take their babies as far away from us as possible.

They are only protecting their babies and taking them to a safe place.

Everyone comes to the feed truck for feed the next day.

The three fancy heifers are loaded into the trailer and transported home to meet their new herd.

These three, like the other seven purchased, are summer born calves.

We believe we have combined a really nice group of "off season" heifers, that will grow into amazing baby producers.

Even when things go wrong, in the breeding season or any other time in life, all is not lost.

Others have the same problems.

Take the time to seek them out and make the best of what you have.

We did!

XOXO,

Rancher Girl

Moo Cow Monday ~ New Jewelry!

Remember those Fancy Heifers we got such a good deal on during Black Friday?

They got new jewelry!

These girls came from a ranch that breeds show stock.

This is a good thing, because we haven't completed phase 2 of our pens at home,

AND

We really didn't want to load them up and transport them to the other working pens.

SO

We just ran them down the loading alley, at the house.

As you can see, the loading alley isn't complete yet either.

I keep telling you, there is never a lack of jobs, chores and tasks to be completed on a ranch.

Flower Boy cut out the girls' old jewelry.

And replaced it with Rockin' B jewelry.

Now, what girl doesn't want new jewelry?

Doesn't 33 look good with that Rockin' B bling?

Flower Boy does such a good job of making sure his girls have fancy jewelry and lots of bling.

Thanks Babe!

We love it!

Oh, by the way....

New Jewelry and Bling is on my Christmas list too.

;-)

XOXO,

Rancher Girl

Moo Cow Monday ~ Fancy Black Friday Deals

Friday, after Thanksgiving, started out as any normal day on the ranch.

Everyone gets up at their normal time and starts their routine.

The big kids came in for the long weekend and Drewman was home.

Flower Boy had been looking to purchase some cattle.

I made one request...

"If you are going to buy, I want fancy heifers."

I can't seem to stop kicking myself for allowing that fancy #14 heifer to sell a few weeks back.

I might have a few regrets, but we have 3 just like her held in the pasture.

They were the summer born babies.

I settled with the thought of keeping those, when we sold #14.

We went to bed, Thanksgiving night, with Flower Boy pondering.

Long about 9am, Friday morning, a call and decision were made.

It was a spur of the moment, hook the trailer, hop in the truck and hit the road type deal.

 Video Credit = Drewman

Thanks to the Big Kids, again, for holding down the ranch while Flower Boy, Drewman and I headed out on a road trip.

Our road trip took us about an hour and a half south, to K Bar W Ranch.

We aren't big Black Friday shoppers.

When it comes to these type Fancy Black Friday Deals,

WE WERE ALL IN!

7 fancy heifers were in a holding pen, waiting on us.

After a tour of the ranch, those heifers were loaded on our trailer

and headed back to our pens.

Open the trailer and let them out!

Saturday, was a beautiful day!

Flower Boy and I spent some time with the girls.

I had my big girl camera.

I absolutely love these girls!

They are deep bodied, with straight backs and hips, and track like a dream.

These babies will pair nicely with the 3 heifers we have in the pasture.

They have some growing to do, before they can be placed with the bull, as they are just weaning age.

We can't wait to watch these fancy baby makers grow and produce more fancy babies!

 

Have a great Monday!

XOXO,

Rancher Girl