No egg coffee?!

Today was apparently supposed to be a day off...sorta. I just thought I got the morning off for church but apparently I got most of the day to do my own thing- coolness!

So I rolled out of bed this morning and went out to feed Joe and Ace. Then, I came in and got ready for church. This was the first Sunday since I've been here that I have been settled in enough to go. There is only one Lutheran church in town and Merle wasn't sure that he knew anyone that went to that particular church (there are lots of different churches in Martin) so I headed out by myself for an eight o'clock service. It was tiny. I think there were maybe twenty people there all together- which was fine with me, I was just expecting a bigger crowd to hide in! So I walk in and sit down in an empty pew. Right then I realized this was not only a new church to me, but a Wisconsin Synod one. Now, I don't have anything against WELS- I just don't really know anything about it. So, needless to say, I spent the whole service singing unfamiliar hymns, watching everyone else to know when to stand up and sit down, and saying litany that was almost what I was used to- but not quite. It wasn't too bad, just a little awkward- and I couldn't take communion, which made me even stand out more. Afterward, I had a chance to say hello to the pastor, he asked me a few questions and then I talked to a couple other people and headed out. They were all pretty curious, I'm sure new people don't just pop into their church real often! I decided that of all of the strange and rather iffy things I have had to buck up and do out here, this may have been the scariest one! haha But, I think I will go back next week- and if you were wondering, there was no egg coffee afterwards, well actually no coffee at all (blastfamists!)~hence the title.

I came home from church and took a short nap- because I had a hard time even keeping my eyes open during the sermon (there's nothing like a good first impression)! After my nap I headed outside and started weeding the many flower beds here. I managed to spend the rest of the day helping out around here and working on my lawn. I weeded, mowed, trimmed, got the sprinkler set up, cleaned off the sidewalks, tried to nurse my frozen flowers back to life, and put out tacky yard ornaments! haha, it was quite the day. By the time I was done is was chore time. After chores I went in and was finishing a few things up and making macaroni and cheese when Merle called and asked if I could help him figure out his new GPS. I said sure and went up the their place to help. It was kinda hillarious- I could see he was about at wits end with the thing, and just didn't care anymore and I just walked in and showed him how to fix the problem...lol- he has never used a computer which made it really hard for him and Sharla to figure out. But, eventually we got it all figured out. At least that's one thing that I can look somewhat smart on! Well, I need to get some serious sleep, hope it rains here and at home!

A Saturday on the Ranch...

Hm. Today started off early...too early. I was out to help finish chores before 5:30. By six, we were in the pickup with three horses saddled and loaded. We stopped in town to pick up Glen, and then headed west to Delbert's place where we were rounding up cow calf pairs and moving them to summer pasture.

We drove out to the far end of the pasture and then got out and split up and rode it... Well the best we could. That pasture was so rough there were places that I don't think a cow could ever make it to. A horse certainly couldn't, and I'm pretty sure a cow would have to fall and roll down a gorge to get to the deepest point of the thing. Merle and I took the far end and didn't find a thing- the feces along the trees over there were so low in spots that it wouldn't take much for a cow to jump out and you could easily miss one in all of the trees. Eventualy we met up with a few head and everyone else and headed out down the road. Everything was going fine until this one stubbon calf decided to run through the fence and go back. So, they ran around and opened the gate to get to her and pushed her back through the fence. Now, she was behind me on a road with a fence on both sides... yeah. So after trying to get around the dumb thing and successfully doing so multiple times but having it escape time and time again we ended up on a wild goose chase. Three of us ran this dumb calf around for a good twenty minutes until we decided to rope and lead the sucker but right about that time two more riders emerged with a group of cattle and we stuck her with them.

So I got the pleasure of spending the next hour and a half pushing this calf at the back of the pack because she was all tired out from running around...yeah definitly not cool. During this time I also managed to get slightly sunburned, but not horrible just enough to make it a little uncomfortable to touch. We eventually made it back with our herd after moving them back and fourth for cars on the road (one went through three times)! Afterward we paired them off and headed in for an amazing dinner.

Right after round up we dropped Glen off in town and headed straight for Tina's family branding. Tina is Merle's nice who works here and is related through Sharla- Merle's wife. So, needles to say there were lots of family there. This is one of those brandings that is more of a social event. There were about as many calves as there were people! But, I managed to wrestle quite a few and even had a little boy sit with me on one and help- he loved it! haha Afterward I was able to meet some more people and some kids who wanted to initiate me by throwing me in the dugout and then drag me out the "H" (which is the hoppin' bar in town) but they accomplished neither: they didn't dare try to throw me in and there is just no way that I can even get off my chair right now, let alone go to a small town bar with a bunch of people I hardly know! lol During supper I also sat next to a couple who had just moved out here from Louisianna- it was hillarious because they wanted to set me up with some kid so the lady snapped a picture of me, but then they realized I had cattle crap all over my butt so she got that on camera too! Yeah, this should get interesting cuz they know who I work for! O, and I failed to mention that this meal was like a feast with fried fish, rocky mountain oysters (which are usually eated right off the branding grill but this time they were bought and fried), salsbury steak, and every kind of side dish and pie you can think of! -YUM

So after bumming two meals today, Merle and I headed home to do chores. While feeding Ace and Joe somehow the right series of gates were open at one time and Ace decided to escape to the pasture...so Merle grabbed a four wheeler and spent the next ten minutes chasing ALL the horses back in. This whole time Joe is pacing in the paddock freaking out cuz his friend is gone for more than ten seconds! O, what a tramatic experience. In fact, it ruined his appetite and even after we caught Ace, Joe wouldn't finish his grain- lol, o boys!

That puts me about where I'm sitting. Sounds like I am going to church tomorrow morning. Since we branded last Sunday I haven't done church out here yet. This could be intereting- hope I don't sit in anyone's pew! haha Night.

~...Ridin' the pony on a cattle drive...~

So today was full of lots of riding. We were down three people becasue of appointments and brandings so it was just me and Merle; Glen came to help us.

I started off the day on a little bit of a messed up note when I rounded up the steers we feed every morning and brough them in to feed. I found 20, and I thought there were usually 23- so only missing three is pretty good considering a couple are usually escape artists. Well, come to find out there are really 26, which means I was missing six rather than three...oops.

So after chores we saddled up and started sorting off cattle to bring north to their summer pasture. Once we got everthing sorted and headed in the right direction I was sent back to put a cow that we had sorted back but had jumped the cattle guard back in, and to bring the pickup to the next meeting point to get the gate open in time for the cattle to cross the road. So I head back toward this cow, but in order to do so I had to go down in a valley to open a gate and get through. Somehow within that one minute this cow managed to jump back over the guard and head back in with the cows...but I didn't know that. So Dan (the horse) and I wasted a good twenty minutes looking for her until we gave up and headed toward our destination. Well, I wasted so much time looking that they had beat me there so I struggled to keep up and finally caught up with them just in time to get everything across the creek. Then, I was told to bring the pickup and trailer to the pasture we were headed towards.

So this time head back and go directly to the pasture. I had found it ok, but when I got there I decided I was in the wrong place (But I wasn't) so I moved to another spot...now putting me in the completely wrong place. But, eventually we got it all figured out and headed back home. I felt like an idiot but no one else really seemed to be too concerned about the whole deal! haha

Once we got back we ate and then headed out with another group. We pushed them a good four or five miles just fine but this time we had to walk back...no road to bring the trailer up on. It was a really hot and slow walk but we made it. Dan in only three and has tiny strides so it took a while, but we made it! When we got back this time we took a short break and then I headed out for chores. As soon as we finished we went back out to string salt and mineral and that puts me about where I'm sitting now. All in all, not a bad day- just a few screw ups here and there...what's new! lol

Note of the day: I have this nasty piece of skin that I ripped off one of my fingers while pulling rope when we were wrestling calves at the last branding. Since I can't keep and bandaid on longer than a couple hours my mom suggested vet wrap, and since I have no ointment I have been using the stuff I use on Joe. Yup, so there I was with a "fura zoned" vet wrapped finger...o boy! Sounds like we are leaving here at six tomorrow to go help Delert round up some cows! Eh, better get to bed.

Too Much Testosterone!

Today was full of bull(s)... literally.
After morning chores we loaded up the horses and headed out the pasture that held most of the bulls. I like to switch things up so I rode Tanner today- he likes to throw his head- it's annoyhing. We drove the bulls several miles until we were able to split a few off. There were 28 all together and if you can imagine having more than three bulls together try 28 sometime...yeah. When we split, four people took half and Merle and I took the others. Our goal was to keep them moving north up the road. We were taking them home to the corral so we could haul them out from there. The others were simply sorting off bulls in different pastures as they crossed through.

Merle and I went a mile or so north when we came to a gate that we needed to drop the yearling bull off at. We got him in and Merle headed after him, leaving me with 10 or 15 bulls to push north...on the road (that is fairly well traveled for out here). It all ended up working out pretty good despite what I was thinking was gunna happen, Merle finally met back up with us and we got the bulls home and penned up. The others weren't back yet so we hauled a few out to pasture and by that time everyone was back and we stopped for dinner.

After dinner we sorted bulls at the corral and Merle told me that there were enough people now so I could run into town and get to the post office and such before everything closes. I ususally only make it to town once a week or so, so while I was there I rented a couple movies! Kinda excited to watch one tonight.

By the time I came back it was time for chores. Merle and Tina went to a relatives branding and left me here to do the dirty work:( lol That's ok, now I can watch my movie. O, and sad story, between the frost the other night and the heat today I think my new flowers might already be dead:( eh.

Well, lessons learned today: It's ok to drive cattle through the crops out here...(dumb, lol); and when west river people complain about humidity- they have no idea! Also, Tina and I came up with a theory: bulls have like the most pathetic and easy job ever: they only work three months of the year and you know what all goes on then. ...and the other nine? They just stand around, fight, act grumpy and annoying, smell, break things, eat, sleep, pee, and crap. Wow- now wouldn't that be tough. ha!

Branding #2

I started chores at about six this morning- a bit earlier than usual so that we could make it to Merl's cousin Mike's branding on time at eight this morning. ...I might add that it froze last night and Merle said there was ice on the gates this morning!

We loaded up four horses and headed out. We were actually short two people today because Tina is sick and Ross had a doctors appointment in Hot Springs. So, Merle, Jeff, Glen (Ross's brother who helps sometimes), and I headed out. We moved cattle in and pushed them all through a tub chute to work the cows. This went pretty smoothly since there were lots of people around. Then, they heated up the irons and we got started. I started on rope today since I know I'm much better at it! This went pretty well, and I was able to meet some more people in the process. There was only one slight mistake when we all got bunched up to close I only turned a calf halfway because I was afaid I was gunna get someone kicked... yeah well appartenly that wasn't the best choice cuz the kid that headed the calf got stuck strattling it and it took him for a short ride and managed to rip his pants. OOps- it took all I had inside me to not burst out laughing, although I felt terrible cuz it was pretty much my fault! But, we got over it and finished up there and headed out to the next spot to brand. After we rounded up there we worked the cows again and then started out second branding. This time I started with tails...yeah I was proud of myself cuz I got my first one perfect - well until the kid with me took the rope off before he had ahold of the calf and the dang thing got up. I kept ahold of the front legs as long as I could but apparently that was only long enough to get run over! Haha I was fine but it was rather ridiculous that no one caught the darn calf when I was still under it holding a leg! But, we just kept on a goin. This second group was really spooky anyway so it didn't really surprize me at all. Oh, and btw, the amzaing green and yellow frog watch broke, but don't panic, I totally fixed it!

After branding we ate some amazing food and headed back home via Martin so that we could make a couple stops. After the bank, the post office, and the grocery store (where Merle simply pulled up in the middle of the street and parked because we had the stock trailer hooked up and full of horses lol) we decided to go over to a friends place and put a bull back in that was thought to be Merle's. Well we got no longer than a block and Merle stepped on the clutch just to hear a nice pop...and the pedal broke. Yeah, of all things...the pedal, so we run three stop signs to get to the ford dealership where we find a mechanic that has a clip and can fix it. We were lucky because we had a full load of horses that were getting pretty thristy. So, anyway we get the pedal fixed and headed back to the bull. We get halfway there and finally get ahold of the people who called saying they saw it, just to find out that it wasn't Merle's after all. This was a good thing, but we had already driven out of the way so we turned around again and finally headed home! By the time we got back and unloaded it was time to do chores. After finishing Merle asked if I wanted to ride along to Interior to get some cattle feed. I said sure why not, I have nothing better to do!

We went out to Interior and (no joke) went straight to the Prairie Dog Ranch Store...yup the Prairie Dog man sells feed~ I know I thought it was weird and hillarious too! We talked with him, picked up our feed, checked out the dogs and headed back the sceinic route. So, it was a long day, but a fun one too. Tomorrow we are driving bulls all over the country so I think it'll be an interesting one! Night!

Coldest day in May Ever!

Today was nothing too out of the ordinary...just cold! It was in the fourties out here for most of the day, and just at that point where it's windy, and feels like it's gunna rain. When I got out this morning the chores were already almost done and I was sent to catch horses. We were going over to Merle's brothers place to help round up and sort some cow calf pairs that are going to be hauled off.

We got over there a littel late, but still made it in time to run the herd back into the sorting pens and get started. We spent most of the morning sorting and running calves back and fourth. I stayed on horseback the whole time so that we could cut a new group out every few minutes. We branded a few cows and then headed back home. On the way back we stopped in Martin for dinner at the bar (which is pretty much the only place to get lunch) and it wasn't too bad!

Merle headed to Shadron to talk with his banker while Ross and I went home. I hooked up the disk, fueled up, and greased while Ross hauled some hay. We spent the rest of the afternoon moving the disk out to the field (yeah it takes forever to go through ten gates and plus a few miles). In that time we also chased the neighbors cows back in...twice. So, when we got where we were going we headed back home and I started chores. O! But first I ran out and put Joe's blanket on, the poor guy probably froze all day because he has a hard time with temperature change and he's body clipped! But, he looks happy now that he's warm and has a new friend:) That pretty much summed the day up. Sounds like tomorrow is starting earlier than normal and we are going to a cousins branding down the road. Should be a fun time, but will proabably make me sore for a while! Have a good night!

Day Off

I took today pretty slow. Got up at 7:30 to feed Joe and happened to run across Merle while I was outside wandering around. I rode with him to pick up another gelding he had over at a pasture a few miles away so that Joe could have a friend in the paddock and I wouldn't have to turn him out to pasture. We got over to where we needed to go and moved a few things around and talked to the renter who lives on the pasture the horses are in. Yep...she lives behind five or six gates literally in the middle of a pasture- it's actually really nice and peacefull up there, just maybe a little too quiet! So, anyway we pick up the horse and headed back to the road when Merle got a few calls saying that his buffalo were out on the county road...so basically this short trip got just a little longer. We finally found them along the road after turning around and we were lucky enough to have the four wheeler in the trailer to get the horse. So, Merle took the four wheeler out and herded the cattle and I drove back home with the horse, Ace. I got him unloaded and settled in with Joe. They seemed to be great friends right away so I'm not too worried about that :)

The rest of the day I spent weeding the landscaping, planting a few flowers, cleaning, cooking (yep I actually cooked dinner for myself!), and watched a little tv on my computer. Still don't know how to make the tv work!

So, today was not as productive as most but hey it was a nice day off! Have a good one, it sounds like I get to haul bulls and start some farming tomorrow unless it rains! yey! ...and hopefully I'm not soo sore tomorrow! haha

First Branding

Today had an early start around 6:15-6:30. I finished up chores and we went straight into branding preparations. I rounded up the horses and we were saddled up and ready to round up by a little after seven. By this time there were already and extra 25 or so people on the place. While rounding everything up I managed to do nothing stupid...well nothing dumb that anyone else noticed. Although, somehow I managed to practically loose my saddle while riding up a steep (way too steep) draw. So there I was hanging onto my horses neck with the saddle hanging off of his side until we made it to the top. Yep, only I could manage something like that! lol

By the time we had everything loaded up and all of the calves rounded up and sorted off it was time to brand! I watched the gate for the first fifteen minutes or so and then when there came a chance I started with the tail/head. ...and I failed to mention these calves were big...like way bigger than they should have been and there were probably about 150 or so. I never did get the flip quite right to knock 'em down but I can keep 'em pinned pretty well. I found out that I am much better at the rope and back job- I'm assuming it requires less coordination! For anyone who has no idea what I'm talking about: two people wrestle; they rope and drag a calf out and one person grabs the rope and pulls while the other grabs the tail of the calf in order to flip in on it's side, then the person with the tail pins the head and the person with the rope holds the back leg down and out. It's a lot easier to watch than to understand me rambling.

All in all I had a pretty good time and nothing managed to get away from us. I had some trouble at first but eventually I'm sure it will come pretty easy. We have another branding to go to on Wednesday so we'll see how that goes. We used the house I'm living in to cook out of and had lots of good food afterward. The branding was just cool in general because I got to meet a lot of people around here and show them how inexperienced I was with calf wrestling- haha!

I was given the rest of the afternoon off so naturally I am too dumb to go inside and stayed around and helped move and sort some bulls. Later I took Joe out and we went for a ride while the weather was still nice, I also started to weed the six bajillion flower gardens around here (well the used to have flowers in them!) Afterward I came in and ate some pizza and cake again and watched tv online since I still haven't mastered the dumb converter box and tv thing. Anyone know how the heck to do that?

Well have a super night! I get the day off tomorrow! :)

Round Up

Hmmm...were to start with today.

Well I guess the beginning! I did chores this morning as usual and this time nothing was extemely ill or trying to escape- just hungry! We went up in the pastures to cake steers and also put in some salt and mineral- which created a few trips back and forth to the shed from the pasture. After checking the heavy cows we are not down to one...yes one cow to calf on the place- which is pretty darn exciting!

I was given an hour or two to run to town to check my mail and get groceries since I haven't been off the place in several days. One of the things I needed in town was a cheap watch, since I figured the one I normally wear is way to nice to ruin...so I looked at all my stops and didn't find one. I decided to make a trip to the True Value to check out their supply. Well, they had watches but only nicer ones or children's watches. ...Yup that's right- I am now the proud owner of a green and yellow googlie eyed frog watch! Not sure how long it will be green and yellow but hey it's cool anyway! After my quick trip to town I came back, changed back into my dirty clothes and we set out on four wheelers to sort off a cow calf pair that somehow ended up with the dry cows. This took a while since she ran us all over the place...and it really didn't help that I had no clue where we were going...but eventually we got her in and stopped to eat lunch.

After lunch we went out and saddled up for this afternoon's round up (branding tomorrow). Merl's brother and his son as well as his cousin and his two kids came over with their horses and eventually Merle joined us on a four wheeler and Tina and Jeff (the other hired help here) did too. We started off split up into two groups..but of course en route of a 2600 acre pasture I found myslef alone with fifty head of cattle that I found moving west. Since I had no clue where to move them and it appeared that someone had herded them in that directions I pushed them down the draw...until I ran into two other riders pushing them east. The easiest way to make youself look like an idiot: drive half the herd in the wrong direction for a while. So, after feeling completely stupid we continued to go back and look for more and more pairs until we thought we had as many as we were going to find. We rounded them all up, sorted off a few that didn't belong, and set up coral panels for tomorrow. By the time we were done I was ready to start evening chores.

Tonight-on account of feeling like a dumb idiot...I made myself a cake! lol yep that'll fix it! So I had pizza and cake for supper and took Joe out for a walk (Still trying to decided where to keep him around here). It's a little wet and chilly and supposed to storm tomorrow, which will make branding very interesting...I'm a little nervous since I'm of course the only person who hasn't branded before. We'll see how it goes.

I'm off to shower and go to bed!

Shovels and Pitchforks <====

O how about another exciting day on the ranch!

So...today I was really hoping for no disasters- problems- or just plain cruddy situations. The best part is, we managed to avoid MOST of them- but not all- (haha of course.) Merele called before I made it out of the house. He asked how things where and what we had been doing, and I tried to come up with all of the things we had done that had actually turned out decent- seriously the man needs to quit worrying! While doing morning chores this morning I noticed that we had a calf with a nasty cough that seemed worse- so we shot him up with some LA200. In the process of trying to do so Ross ended up poking the poor thing like four or five times because the needle was blocked...oops- I think the calf is looking better already though. So, in the mean time I notice that Joe looks alright, but still a little sluggish and slow- although he ate well so who the heck knows!

By the time Ross had the steers caked I was just finishing up chores. Somewhere in the mess of chores a gate got left open where Ross came in and I turned the bucket calves into right about the same time. So basically we had nine free roam bucket calves all day long...o boy was it hillarious. Do we try to chase them in? O no, why would you do that- haha!

First task of the day: clean out the barn. Yes, I mean like pitchfork in hand clean out time. This really doesn't bother me, but after a couple hours of smelling the rotten straw underneath and worrying about my horse who decided to lay flat on his side and moan and groan for a couple minutes (apparently he always does this and somehow I missed that?!- shows how clueless I am sometimes!) you can imagine the excitement level I was at. But shortly thereafter we decided to go and get some feeders out of a winter pasture and clean them out- with shovels. After shoveling for an hour or two we tried to spray them down with the garden hose...yeah bad idea- too much crap and not enough drainage equalls nasty sledge stuff! So we moved the feeders out of the yard (we only did two or four) and decided to abandon the task 'till later when "Merle can use his fire hose to spray the water out"...yep. Ok, so we head on to clean out the garbage pit where everything from November had been burned and now needs to be taken out to the hole in the pasture...mmm fun job. But, we got it done and I headed back to the barn to thrown down and string fresh straw, and for some reason this straw was put up a little green so with every single bale I unwraped I wondered if I was using the right staw! Turns out I was, but it was definitly a little scary:s Well that took most of the afternoon. Also, it turns out the dead tractor simply needed to be charged or jumped with some better cables (that's right, I actually knew something)! So I finished off the day with evening chores-2 new late calves today! 2 cows left to go. Then, Joe and I went for a walk just for the heck of it and to get him out and moving. We'll see where I decide to turn him out tomorrow.

Overall things have been super duper, I'm working hard, but having a great time and trying to soak up all the info that I can. A few things I have learned: I dont' know if it's just this place or most places out here but they bring everything to town to get fixed or worked on before winter. At home, we do most of that ourselves, so it's kind of odd, when something breaks down I want to crawl under it and look around and everyone else is like- o just leave it we'll have someone look at it later...haha I guess its just a difference in the way ppl operate. I have also learned that this place is not a whole load of excitement on a Friday night- hmm I work tomorrow and am eating a cookie. Obviously I dont' have a ton going on because I would never write a blog this long if I wasn't lost for things to do at the moment!

Thanks for reading my ridiculously long and too detailed post. If you're bored call me on the land line: 605-462-6144.

Yey for farming!

Today started off a bit simpler than the last few. I did not get soaked, break down, or get locked into any hot rooms! haha:) Ross and I did the morning chores (some of which Merle does at 4:30 that we opted to do at 7:00 instead) and headed out for the day's adventure.

We had planned to start off by each taking a loader tractor and moving an old pile of ground hay out to the pasture. I hopped in one tractor and realized that we left the lights on the day before - creating a dead battery... and of course the tractor was convieniently backed in next to some bales, making it almost impossible to charge up. Eventually we got one of the bigger pickups pulled up just close enough for the cables to reach but it didn't seem to matter- it really didn't respond much at all. Ross is pretty convinced there is a short; I think it just needs to be hooked up to a battery charger- we'll see tomorrow! haha So intead, we started off by moving a whole bunch of tire cattle feeders with the hydra bed on the pickup. I've never worked with a hydra bed before and I must say the things are amazingly handy! We got that project done in an hour or two. Then, we loaded up some salt and mineral and headed out to a pasture that we are moving cattle to in a few days. After driving for about a half hour we realized that there were no troughs to put the salt and mineral in... which completely defeated the purpose of the trip- so we checked some waterers (they are all powered by windmills so you always hope the wind blows on hot days out here) and headed back for lunch.

After lunch I headed out to disk up a "field" (some bottom ground in a pasture) where they are going to plant milo and Ross went to clean up that ground hay with the other non-dead loader tractor! I was so excited to do some farming! Yey for disking for a couple hours! We finished off the day by doing chores and I spent some time trying to take care of Joe. He showed up by himself wanting to come down to the paddock tonight. It looks like he may have foundered a little bit on the grass now that it is greener after the rain last night. I gave him some bute and put his blanket on- hopefully he feels better in the morning!

Sounds like tomorrow is going to be odds and ends around the place- guess we'll see!

...the boss goes on vacation

Okie Dokie, today was an interesting one. Merle headed out for the airport this morning before chores really even got started, he left me a note with everything written down because he is just that worried that something might go wrong while he is gone for an entire four days or somethings like that! lol I don't know how long it's been since he has had time to even leave, and now that he's going he was wayyy too worried. I mean with me to do the work, what could possibly go wrong? haha, ok don't answer that.

So, as you can imagine during chores a person goes in and out of the feed room several times- well I went in the first time at about seven to weigh out some feed. I went to push the door open to go back out and---crap; it was locked. The grainery has two doors, both which lock from the outside and one lovely agar hole that only latches from the outside (yep I tried that too). So after a good 20-30 minutes I finally got out of the dumb thing with some wire. Lol what a way to start the day.

I spent the rest of the morning with Ross (Merle's dad). We met with some other friends and family members at an old Indian cemetary that was in shambles and needed lots of mowing and tlc. But by noon we had it looking pretty good! We grilled out there and headed back to Martin to pick up a truck we had work done on at the dealership and headed back home. The rest of the day was spent with piddly tasks and moving feed bunks...hmm fun- feed bunks! It started pouring and lightining when I was doing evening chores- I wonder how conductive a soaked girl on a four wheeler is- I'm not sure and I don't think I want to know! I also spent an extra HOUR trying to find the horses out in the pasture...the little farts- eventually I ran across them.

Anyway, it was another pretty productive and exciting day! I better get to bed- it's time to farm tomorrow!

Ok. Here we are on Tuesday, May 19, 2009. Today I was up and out by 6:30 to do chores. We finished them fairly quickly so that we could get started with moving cattle. We spent most of the morning moving about 110 cow/calf pairs seven miles north. I actually had a pretty good time, even though it got to about 97 degrees and some of the calves were just a pain the whole way. I was riding one of the ranch horses here since this trip was a bit too much for Joeseph. But, even though I rode one of their horses I used my saddle...my new/used saddle that isn't very broke in. ...I'll let you guess the rest of the story! lol I'm just a tish sore, but eventually that darn thing will break in! After we moved cattle and ate lunch I went with Merle to look at some farmground. Let's just say that the west river way of farming doesn't hold a candle to our east river ways- haha sorry guys, it's true. But, there was actually some decent looking alfalfa and one really nice 40 of wheat. The rest were summer fowl or I'm going to disk them up later this week. A few wheat fields and lots of gates later we arrived back home and turned out my horse with the others- so far so good. I was given what was left of the afternoon to go to the big city of Martin and set up my PO box and pick up some things I forgot...like a frying pan and an answering machine :) After my little trip into town I came back and worked in the house a little and then headed out to do chores- hopefully I did them right?! Guess we'll never know. Merle is headed out on vacation for the first time in pretty much forever tomorrow to Arizona- this will make things interesting around here! I hope it all works out :)

First day of Work

I woke up around 5:45 this morning so that I could eat breakfast and get a head start on my horse chores before we started ranch chores at 7:00. Things went pretty good from the start I learned all the ropes of the regular chores and met all the help around here. I went with Ross (Merle's dad) and caked steers- they defintly have plenty of cattle in that department! During this I managed to cut my hand on a gate but figured I wasn't any worse for the wear. After chores I was sent to Gordon, Nebraska (about an hour drive) to get a load of cracked corn. I figured this was a simple enough task and headed out. So I find Gordon and the elevator and go inside to get the weigh ticket before they load me. I left the pickup running outside because Merle mentioned he just had it into the shop and it's still slow to start....So I come out of this elevator and put it in reverse and it dies...and decides not to start back up. I messed around under the hood for a good five or ten minutes and decided I needed someone to pull start me. So I go in and ask one of the guys working there if they would mind pulling me out and they said sure, no problem. One guy goes and grabs his pickup and the other one hops in mine- he turns the key and the dumb chevy starts (turns out I'm a better mechanic than we thought...lol). So I feel like an idiot and go on to get my grain loaded and get out of there. I get no more than two miles out of town and it loses power and the engine starts knocking and dies...and dies again...and again. So I call my boss (who coincidentally had some important people over looking at some steers :s ) He doesn't answer, so I call Joel (who is a neighbor from Baltic)- figuring he can at least help me figure out what the heck is wrong with the dumb thing. Meanwhile a few people stop and I just tell them I'll figure it out, and send them on their way. After talking with Joel we decided it was some kind of fuel problem- like the filter or the gas line. I finally got ahold a Merle who told me to go back to Gordon and wait a few hours. So I go back into town and the truck runs fine...don't ask me! So I called him back and told him I was heading back to Martin and if I didn't show up to head towards Gordon! I made it back but it definilty took forever. We spent the rest of the day unloading that corn and then Merle and I went out to fill salt and mineral feeders. I assumed this was one of those things that takes a couple hours- oh no just kidding it took all afternoon and then some. It was cool though because I got to see a lot of pasture, meet some people who live on a few of them, and open lots of gates- and apparently that was only a small portion of the job; he said he can spend an entire day moving around salt and mineral and sometimes still not finish! As we finshed our last pasture we took the highway back to Martin- and blew a tire on the trailer we were pulling- must just not be our day for driving! We stopped at the farm supply store and changed it, but in the process I somehow managed to cut the top of my hand right into the vein that runs across it...I didn't even notice until blood spurted down my hand and everywere else! But again, I don't think I'm dying and hopefully it will heal itself shut without stitches- haha not gunna lie I think it's pretty funny that I managed all of this on my first day of work- can you imagine what the rest will be like?!

We finally made it back and did the evening chores and I spent some time with Joe who is finally settling down a little. Then I came in a worked on the rigging in my saddle and that puts me to where I'm sitting now. I think I will eat, take a shower, and go to bed. Tomorrow we are going on a seven mile ride to move some cow calf pairs- I think it'll be pretty exciting, but I should probably sleep first!

Here's to a super exciting and very realistic fist day!

Day One

So I have decided to start this blog because so many of my family members, friends, and professors have asked me to send emails- this is an easy way to keep everyone updated if they are interested, as well as allow me to journal (since I am terrible at physically writing one).

So I left for Martin on Saturday morning with my friend Jennifer Bosch. I drove my mom's truck and trailer out here with Joe (my horse) in one half and all my stuff in the other half! Jennifer followed in my car. It was sad to leave the farm and my family, but I was definilty excited to take on a new job with lots and lots of learning included.

It took us about five and a half or six hours to get out here. We didn't have any trouble but the last few miles were definitly the worst. When you turn off the interstate to get here you take highway 73 south to highway 44- both are oil roads...but then you turn off on gravel, and proceed another 16 miles. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal but since I'm pretty sure the road hasn't been graded or maintained in like two years it was rough! ...and when I say rough I mean 20-25mph pulling the trailer. But despite the extremely rough and slow last few miles we made it! When I unloaded Joe I notice that the spare tire that sits at the front of the trailer had shifted and he was standing on it! Poor guy- he seemed alright though, just a little stiff. We got him all settled in and went on to unpack stuff and try to get things all set up in the house. We ran to town at about six and made it to the grocery store only ten minutes before it closed...we managed to throw $180 into that cart in ten min- that's right we're just that good. :) lol While we were in town we stopped and parked on a hill to use the cell phones. While talking on the phone I believe we saw the best 'res runner' van I have ever seen. It was teal with lovely dents everywhere as well as no hub caps. But the best part...there was no back window and about four or five kids sitting in the back waving and sticking their heads out~haha it was pretty funny! This will probably always be my first, hillarious, memory of Martin.

So we made it back to the house that night and tried to get some sleep- Joe on the other hand was way to busy being nervous about this new place! We got up the next morning and tried to make some pancakes...but one small problem no frying pan! haha I think I'll have to work on that. After unpacking some more Jennifer had to head back home with the truck and trailer and I stayed here and kept settling in for the summer. Later I ran up to Phillip to see my friends up there, (Mark, Megan, Mick, etc!!) Mick graduated so I stopped by the party to congratulate him and say hi to everyone else. I got back around 8:30 and went to bed fairly early (for those of you who know me well you shoudl be proud) to get a good head start on my first day of work!