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!