Saddle up and Move out

It took a while to get the internet up and all settled.

I left off on my last day at the ranch.
We got up for early chores at 5:30 and got everything fed and ready for the day. We finally got some more milk replacer so there weren't so many cranky calves around too. I caught my horse and started saddling up with Ross when Lee showed up. We kept on getting ready and in the mean time Delbert showed up with Angie and Dante too. I don't think they were real awake...haha he just let them off at the house and soon enough Adrienne was outside. We were joking that today hopefully we wouldn't keep Angie in the house the whole time and could get her back home by noon!

We got all set up and Delbert, Lee, Ross, Adrienne, and I loaded our horses as Mike was showing up with the Ranger and we took off for the south end of the pasture close to home. We found most of the steers on the south end and pushed them back to the north. As wild as these colored steers seemed, it actually worked really well because a couple of them decided to follow the Ranger for cake. Merle came out with the four wheeler and helped too, but we didn't have too much trouble getting them in and into the corral. Once we did the brand inspector was there so we ran them through and counted. There wasn't really any sorting to do, so once we got them counted and inspected we stood around and ate rolls and chatted for a while until the trucks got there. During this time, of course lots of bs was shared...Adrienne and I started playing with the kittens and Delbert had made some comment about the cats being as prolific as the Allen housing...now that's bad. But, you can't even pretend it's not funny. After a while all the cats where lining up at our feet trying to beg for rolls...this got even funnier becasue he accused the of waiting in line for their commods. ....o the things that you hear on the rez- lol!

Once the trucks arrived, we went back to business. Adrienne and I were still messing around and tried to chuck a paddle at Delbert but it turned into an epic failiure as we watched it hit the side of the alley and make all sorts of noise...drawing all attention to us as we just laughed and walked away. But eventually, we actually bucked down and workd and started in loading. It really didn't take long and we had three trucks loaded.

I was about ready to unsaddle Nelly, when it was decided that we were going to go out and help round up Fannings bulls. These woudl be the cattle that Delbert runs near Merle's. I was game, so we gave Mike some time to saddle up Tanner, and then took off to chase after some white bulls (not hard to find!). Everyone was worried that i should get going- I just laughed, and said I would put off school as long as possible even if it was down to the last minute! We took off and dropped off a group of riders in each pasture. Adrienne, Delbert and I ended up in the second pasture with me and we were able to come up with three bulls. When we entered the pasture I was sending a text message and wasn't paying attention to where we were going because everyone was giving me a hard time about texting boys or some dumb thing like that. So, for whatever reason I got totally turned around and didn't even know it! I asked Adrienne why in the world she was pushing that bull west, and she was like- haha I'm not...I'm going east. She later told me she wondered if she was back with Dean again- going the wrong was all the time! lol...burn! Anyway, they rode the fences and I just pushed them on down the trail to the next pasture where the rest of our riders were. By the time we reached the end of our long, narrow pasture, we had three bulls and one cow that we needed to sort. We met up with the others who had some bulls as well, but as it turns out we missed one somewhere. Debert said not to worry, they woudl find him eventually- so we just moved what we had home. That was pretty easy moving, those bulls never fought or gave us much trouble at all. It was pretty impressive- apparently a few of them were show bulls and the others were older bulls so I'm sure that helped, on top of the fact that they were Charolais.

On the way home we also saw a grey steer we were concerned about from moving the steers in the other day. He looked like he was getting around well, and would be easy to move home in a few days- so that was a plus. Once we got the bulls back home, we unsaddled and Jason (the owner) was there shortly to load them up and move them home.

Once we got that taken care of Delbert picked up Angie and Dante (who ended up at home longer than planned again- but at least not all day!) and Mike and Lee went out with them to have some pizza in town. I was going to go but I decided to stay back and eat left over spaghetti with Merle, Adrienne, Ross, and Rylee. There was a ton of spaghetti left over that Jonni gave us from the postponed fire meeting last Tuesday! So, we ate that up and I played with Rylee for a while until I decided that I had better go home and finish packing up. It took me a couple hours or so to get things all packed up and cleaned. I seriously had my car as full as it woudl go...Bart took the last cupholder and that was about as much as it could hold. It was weighted down and I could just barely see out the back window...I swear I really don't have that much stuff but it seems to accumulate when you move around every few months. I wanted to take out the trash when I went so I had to put in on the trunk like a hillbilly...it was pretty entertaining- I even had to stop once to put it back on the back! haha- but I got there and sent some groceries over with ADrienne and Merle and dropped off my trash. I stopped in and said goodbye to Adrienne and Rylee, and then went out and put some gas in my car because someone told me to stop being stubborn and just take a little gas (much to my disliking). Then, talked to Merle for a while and said goodbye for the summer. :(

As I was driving away it was hard not to look back and smile at such a great summer. It's pretty well impossible to write down on paper how I feel about my experiences from this summer or my experiences at the ranch every. I have learned more there than anyone could ever pay me for. Not to mention the second family that i seem to have acquired and mooch off of way too often! I can't thank those people enough, or be at all regretful of the time I have spent there. It means so much to know that you have a place to go and learn still be welcome to learn and have fun!

My drive home was long, but I spent a lot of time on the phone catching up with people and planning things for work fo rthe next couple days, so it wasn't so bad. I ended up meeting up with a good friend of mine who was in Texas for the summer. She was driving with her dad just ten miles ahead of me on the interstate so we stopped in Mitchell and ate at Culvers. When I pulled in and got out there there was a car next to me already amazed at my weighted down car, but then I went to get out and grabbed my fish in his cup insted of my billfold and took a few steps before I realized it! hahaha...but I turned around and fixed the issue and gave those people a good laugh. I finally pulled into Brookings around 10:45 or 11ish. Jennifer walked from her house acrosss the alley and helped me get my boxes in as my sister was being interviewed by the census people in the living room...ugh census- but that whole federal law thing seems to be a good incentive to follow through! haha

Once I got my boxes in I helped a few friends do teh same thing at their place, talked with Virginia, and went to bed on my couch. It looked much more inviting than my bed full of stuff.

Since, I have been going non stop with move in, work, and trying to plan a training session that will be held on monday for a mentor program I am starting on campus. My water heater was leaking one day, and that was replaced- just my luck. But, at least it's fixed now. At some point I would appreciate some sleep, but this move in week is always like this. We are making posters and organizing like crazy- but eventually when Monday passes, I think things will slow down a bit before classes start getting tough.

I am trying to take it a little easier this semester so I can have a life- 17 credits, two jobs and lots of activities, but I think I can still cut back- we'll see. I hope to update my blog once a week or so but I can't make promises because I don't know.

What I do know was that I had another amazing summer that was well worth the work! :) I am unsure of next summer because I have my own place to get up and running, but we'll see. I hope to frequent back at the ranch this fall and spring- after all, I couldn't fit my saddle so they know I'll be back! We'll see how often it works out. Here's to another great summer out west! Thanks for reading :)

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow."" -Mary Anne Radmacher

'Steer'in towards school

For being one of my last posts, this won't be too exciting- but I can't make up any stories to tell you that would ever top the things I have already gotten into this summer.

I got up and met everyone for chores this morning. Merle had started a little early before I got there because Delbert was coming. Ross and I finished chores and grabbed horses and saddle up. Delbert was there shortly after we caught our horses and we hooked up to his trailer (it has three gates rather then two). We loaded our three horses and Merle's four wheeler up.

First stop, south of the place to put a run away steer in. Merle just happened to see him out this morning. We got over there, found him, and Delbert and I were working him towards the gate when he just decided to hop the fence. Delbert's commetn: graceful as an elk. haha- he didn't break any wires to we'll have to give him that.

After we got him back in we loaded back up and took a trip over to Risse's big pasture. You have to drive quite a ways to get over there, but once we did, it didn't take long. We stopped at the well Delbert last saw the steer at, and unloaded there. We took the horses one way and Merle went the ohter. Within a couple minutes he was calling Delbert telling us he had already found the steer. Well...that didn't take long- this is why four wheelers can be so handy.

As we were riding over there I asked Delbert where the corrals were from here- he said: "right here" as he pointed to his rope in hand. Ahh...yes, this might be much better than going the two miles to the corrals to load the sucker up. So, we come up on him and tried to keep him moving north since the wind was so crazy so Delbert could throw a loop. He missed him the first time (i don't think the wind helped at all) and then the steer cheap shotted him. It took about 200 yards and he played out. Just stopped and basically walked into the rope! haha...I could really use that against Debert if I wanted, but it would do not good since I couldn't swing a rope if my life depended on it! ...but i wanna learn.

So, he got him roped and Merle brought the trailer over to load him. He wouldn't jumped right in if Delbert's horse woulda on the first try. But, that didn't work so we finally got the horse in and he drug the steer right with him. Then did some rearranging and got the steer in one compartment, the 3 horses in the other, and the four wheeler at teh back. That worked pretty nice. When we got him we dropped the little fart off with the rest of em right out the side door of the trailer and headed home. We unloaded and let the horses out. Delbert and Merle switched tailers around while I brout a few things of Merle's in the house that I had stashed away at my house all summer. Then, I sat around playing with Rylee for a while and decided that i had better go home and pack.

When I got here I thought it would be a good time for a nap, so I layed down at about 11 with intentions of getting up at 11:30. yeah, like that ever works. 12:30 rolls around and I finally get up and start moving. I spent my entire afternoon basically packing. Boy, it sure wasn't fun. I don't really have that much stuff considering I live in a house by myself, but it's a very very tight fit in my car. I really didn't feel that good today for whatever reason, so the packing was a little slow, but I got most everything boxed up.

I think Merle strung some salt this afternoon and Ross went home after we chased the steer this morning, so we weren't extremely productive. O well, you have to have those days once in a while. I would have liked to mow my lawn, but that wasn't gunna happen from the start. It was way too hot and unbelieveably windy to even want to have grass clippings all over my face in the 100 degree heat. Besides, it took all afternoon and evening to pack and clean.

I took another nap this afternoon cuz I felt like crap. Then did chores, and came home and put most of my stuff in my car. I've decided that my saddle isn't going to fit. But on second thought, that isn't the worst thing ever cuz I"m guessing it will smell after the morning's ride. I'll be back to use it before I would need it at home anyway, so it's not really that big of a deal.

So, most of it is packed up and I have the house pretty clean. Just a few last minute things need to be put in the car and cleaned up. I may need to pick up my mail as well- or I could just skip that part and hope I don't get anything. It's hard to believe the summer is already over! I don't wanna go hit the books at school- not even a little. It will be nice to see my friends, but I'm not excited to become stressed to the max over stupid schoolwork. I know this coming week will be awful with work training and all sorts of preparations for a training I am holding for students involved in a mentor program that I started as the Ag Bio Advocate for the college this year.

Anyway, this has been an amazing summer, once again. Live and learn is probably the best way to put in in few words.

I will write tomorrow when I get back if I have internet and report if I make it in one piece without blowing a tire because my poor car is so weighted down!

"There is no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day." -Alexander Woollcott

Burning Hot

ughhhh...I'm ready for bed.

Another very interesting day. This morning I woke up and was making my pop tart breakfast and headed out the door when the phone rang. Harv was letting me know where he was at on his way down and mentioned that Merle would be back around 7:30 or so. I don't know if I missed the memo or if Merle just didn't say anything or what, but he went up in a plane around 6ish this morning looking for steers. It was a super cub of a guy in town, whos buddy took him up and they flew for an hour or so.

That's something to wake up to- let me tell ya. I know they have done this before, but I just hadn't ever thought of doing that to find steers. So, I headed down to the corrals and did chores with Ross. We were just saddling up our horses when Harv pulled in. We got everything ready to go and found out that Merle was close, so we just waited a bit for him, hooked up and loaded and headed out. Merle reported that he only saw one steer in the corner of Scott's 560, so we decided to look for it after our hunt for the first two we knew of. He made a comment about the steer not looking really good and I asked how close they were able to get. He said that you might have been able to grab the ear tag... I decided that I didn't know if I really wanted to fly with them or not! The pilot is also a crop duster so they flew really low I guess!

We needed two steers out of Delberts pastures. We saw one on our way in and needed to find another and move them home together. Of course, the steer wasn't in the same place where they saw him yesterday so we all split up and rode the pasture. After a while, Harv flagged me down and told me that Merle was coming with the steers. Right about then he came over the hill with the whole group of cows and the steer. We got him cut off with a cow, but she wouldn't stay so we had to fight him to the gate. In typical yearling fashion, we got him to the gate and he shyed and tried to run back on us. If it wasn't for Merle's fourwheeler to push on him I don't think we woudl have ever gotten him back with our horses. But, we did and sent him towards the other steer in the next pasture.

We gave them a break for a bit and then sorted the yearlings off and headed home. You always try to walk and slow them down as best you can, but not with these. One wanted to run the whole way so they both did. It took all you had not to run up on them because they would just move faster. So, needless to say it didn't take long to get home because I spent most of the time catching up with them! We got them home and up into the pasture on the creek. Merle stopped at home and grabbed teh trailer and we loaded our three horses and his four wheeler and headed to the 560 where he thought he saw the steer in the corner. We looped around that pasture while he rode the back quarter and found nothing. The little fart must have jumped the fence to the west and gone back. So, we loaded up and went home. But, somewhere along the line Risse's called and said that there was still one steer left in their pasture. This is the big (8,000 is acres?) pasture that Ross and I went to find when we loaded up those 12 steers. So...I think I know what tomorrow morning with hold.

Anywho, we came back home, ate dinner, and then went up to unload some barrels of Crystalyx that Harv brought down. After we got that done, I went to help Ross with some oats that he needed sacked and Merle and Harv went out to take a picture of some cows with a lick tub. I thought it was rather entertaining- would have like to watch them set out the perfectly clean tub in the grass and seen which cow ran to it the fastest for a picture! But, after we got all that done, Harv headed out and Merle told me to go home and take a nap and pack if I needed to.

So, I went home and just after I layed down Merle called and mentioned that we forgot the milk replacer (we ran out and Pee Wee is hungry!) in town. He said he felt really bad but if I could go get it that would be great. I didn't mind at all- they were out stringing salt and we really needed it. So, I exnayed the nap and went and got the milk replacer. I headed back home with it and just as I sat down to make some phone calls the pager went off...

I could understand the "Attention Martin Fire" and the word "Hisle". Well, that means it's close. I called Merle right away and got the numbers for people tha twould have heard the page loud and clear. After we made phone calls and got back ahold of each other we figured out that it was a fire near Hisle. Well, Hisle is just up the road so I got in my gear, grabbed the truck and took off north. I radioed us in to dispatch on the way there and tried to listen to their really bad directions to the place at teh same time. When I met Merle he quick put his gear on there on the road, and we left Adrienne adn Rylee with the pickup to head home. So, we take off for the smoke (which is a long ways off from Hisle). We went all the way north to the highway and then back west towards the Weaver place (if that means anything to you). We are going west headed to a driveway that we think is right when we meet the Interior trucks headed the other way. So, we turn around and follow them. Not one minute later we meet them headed back the opposite direction again! So, we turn around again and go back to where we originally were headed. From there, we had a rancher (I think the oldest Weaver) lead us up into the timbers of the badlands. It was quite the trail. In fact the tender trucks that came later had to park way down at the bottom of the hill because they would never make the crick crossing or the hill climbs up there. We finally got there and were really the first set of trucks. I think there was one rancher with a pickup tank there and maybe one other personally owned fire rig. So, we got to giong. It wasn't as big as it looked, but it sure could have burned if it wanted. Merle left me with the truck and headed down in there with a McCloud. I stayed back and made sure there wasn't any back burning and put out hot spots. At one point, I decided the spot I was at was pretty well covered so I rolled up my hose and turned the truck around to watch what else was going on. Just as I did that, Merle showed up. So we took off for the other end of the fire and started wetting down teh edges and putting out hotspots. This was quite the trail to get around. I was surprized we were able to get teh trucks as close as we did.

At one point, when we were rolling up the hose I managed to push the button that rolls the reel too long and sprayed Merle in the eyes with high velocity water. That was brilliant, and I'm sure it felt great on the eyes. Since I hadn't had anything happen to me today or done anything really dumb yet, that was it. I felt really really bad- but what do you do. We ended up there for another hour or so until we ran out of water. Some "firegod" who thought he was in charge of the show basically told us to go home- so we did. We left the other Martin trucks (who had not been there long because they came another route at first and had a tender tuck break down) . We left them to mop up with teh explorers and we filled our truck at the bottom of the hill and headed home. It ended up only being about a 25-30 acre fire, but it was on some rough turf and it did jump in one spot where there was no connection of burn fuel.

I love to fight fire. It's not a good thing- perhaps I like it too much. But, definitly not something I woudl wanna do everyday of my life. Those people are tough. We got out of there and headed home. Wrote down all our records and fueled the truck up for the next fire. It wouldn't take much for that fire to flare back up, so I may be out again before morning. I really woudl like some sleep, but we'll see- a fire is a fire! ...and the other night we did skp another one bale fire. they paged three times- on the third time I almost called Merle, but chickened out. Why should we drive all the way to Martin and west to watch one bale burn when most of the fire fighters live in town? That was my theory anyway.

But, Im in now- probably not going to get a lot of packing done. More interested in showering and going to bed. I won't have much more for blog posts so you all will have to find a new source of daily entertainment! haha...it's so sad that my life is that entertaining!

But, so be it. I don't wanna go to school! Nooooo! ...o well, that's life.

"Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" -New Testament, James 3: 5

Leaps and Bounds

Hm- another day.

I got up on time this morning, grabbed a pop tart and headed out the door. After chores the first stop was the steer pasture. I saddled up Bowdie and Ross grabbed Joe and Merle grabbed his trusty red horse with the black nose (aka Honda) and we loaded up. Adrienne road with us out to the psture and then her and Rylee went back home with teh pickup and trailer.

We started in on the hunt because we were pretty sure there still had to be steers in that pasture- one for sure, but more werwe possible. Well, once Ross and I got going through the righ let down and met up with Merle we had two steers to chase right off the bat. This is one of those deals where it takes two pepole, so we took off with them and Merle kept on riding the pasture. We couldn't look much because one of out steers was a totaly pain in the butt. We did eventually get them across the pasture and where they belonged with the others, but much effort was put into it. Bowdie was about to kill me or make me laugh or maybe both today. He, more so than the other horses, like to leap across things instead of get his toes wet or step in a low spot. When I have time, I make him walk and not leap, but when were in a hurry he just does it. So, I felt like a regular hunter jumper and was laughing at the things he would try jumping at a full out lope. Needelss, to say it was dooable, just a little hard on the back.

Once we got out two obnoxious steers to the gate Merle called and said he was way back with a steer...yep just one. -that can be the worst with yearlings. So, we head back to meet up with him and just before we came over the hill Merle had lost sight of the steer. This only lasted just a second and the sucker was gone. We looked and looked for him, and coudln't find anything. We fainlly decdied we must have lost him for goof and if we did find him we would ahve a heck of a time getting him back now.

So, we weaved aroudn the pasture on our way home, and just happend to ride by the little fart. He had jumped the fence and well, heck yes we'll take hime home! So we drug some cows along and got him out the gate with teh other steers. It worked pretty good. At least we found 3 this morning- much better than none.

We got home and went in for dinner - still working on the sloppy joes, but where getting them taken care of. After dinner, Ross headed home and I took off for Gordon with Dean's old ranch pickup. First, I had to jump start it because the CB radio had been on without it being started in so long that it ran her down. BUt, we got the back end cleaned out and I headed for town. I needed to pick up a board for the tailgate hole adn get the tailgate fixed. First, I stopped at the body shop that is always ofpen, and no one was there. i was n't sure if I should leave it or not, so I jsut kept it with me. Then, I ran down to the Ace Hardware and got a better back board cut for the pickup. Once I got all that done I headed for Gordon. I got there and all went well.

I weighed, got laoded right away, got some salt to hold down the tarp, and headed back. I had to stop for some ice cream of course, and then hit the road. O, I almost forgot, while I was in Gordon I ran into Sue and MaryKay two ro three times and then ended up following them home. I laughed and asked if we always needed to drive this far to get together!

Once I got back home, I started in unloading corn. This is quite the taks because you have to get teh augar down out of the ceiling and then get it in the pickup and through the hole in the bulding. I was very resourceful with some twine and barrels to stand on- but I got it done. After I finished checked my phone that had a message from Adrienne saying that I didn't need to unload it- they would help later. Oops...too late. It's done now so who cares?

I got it unloaded adn did chores adn headed for home. We realized that we are out of milk replacer tonight and will have to get some tomorrow somewhere in town. ...oops, I totally didn't think to grab any in Gordon today either. I laughed cuz I have to chase those calves that get milk in some nights. And now tongiht, when there is no milk, they bellar and carry on. O, they'll survive!

After I got home I started packing and talking to friends on a Friday. I will have to really pack some more stuff tomorrow though. It's hard to believe I have just a couple days left:(

Chadron

Today shouldn't be too hard to write about.
For whatever reason I woke up to my alarm that had been going off for quite a while, which put me late for chores. But, I didn't seem to miss much and was still able to help finish things off. I told Merle not to tell the boss that I was late!

As soon as we finished chores we loaded up the four wheelers and some elk meat and I took off for home to change clothes quick. Next stop Chadron, NE. While at home the phone rang twice, then as I was running out the door I had to stop and talk to the harvesters that were in the front yard loading up to take off for North Dakota. So, I had a late start to begin with, but I finally got going. I went through Martin, and came just over the hill to the south of town to find that they were moving a building...not just any building, but a church. I was pretty much boxed in and there was nowhere to go so I just sat there for a while, watching them lift up powerlines to get the building through without hitting them.

After a while, they eventually let my line of cars through and I got going. Now, I knew I was late, but thought it wouldn't be more than a half hour. I got all the way down to Rushville when I heard this crash, bang, boom, on the pickup. I was looking in my mirrors trying to figure out what in the world happened, when I realized that the antenna for the CB on the roof was hanging by the cord on the back window. I got out and got that put back on where it belongs and got back ont he raod. Just a few more miles down the road constrcution starts...then I hit a spot with a pilot car. At this point, I decided I had better get ahold of these people. So, I called Merle and told him what the deal was and got their number from him. Then, i called this place and told them that I would be over an hour late because I got stuck behind a moving church and a pilot car. ...who's gunna believe that!?

I finally got there at about 10:15 or so for a 9/9:30 apt. When I stepped out of the one ton, long box, ext cab pickup pulling the stock trailer I think the guy about peed his pants. It was hillarious- I was trying not to laugh! They asked me what all this was about the church and I straight up told them I got stuck behind a church, no joke. They all laughed and probably still didn't believe me! So, I got the four wheelers dropped off and unhooked the trailer in the back lot then went to cruise Chadron. I soon realized that there isn't much to cruise there...

I started at walmart and got some school supplies and other junk that I will need when school gets going. Then, I ran across the street to Bomgaars (The old Merchantile) and tried to kill some time and spend a few dollars. That didn't work too well either but I did purchase a really cute barn picture frame out of the deal. By this time, I was able to meet up with a friend of Merle's who wanted some elk meat. We moved it to her cooler and off I was again. I had already grabbed breakfast at McDonalds so I took Merle's friend, Dayles advice and went to a coffee shop downtown that had internet access. I was able to find a municipal lot to park teh pickup in and then went in and sat and worked on school things all afeternoon on my computer.

It was nice to get some of that stuff done, bit it was also time to go home. At about four I went back to the shop and they jsut finished the last one. I loaded them up and off I went towards home. I managed to make it there without any road blocks this time.

When I got home I helped merle finish chores and wetn out and rode the alfalfa field across the road to get the neighbors cows off of it...

After we chased them out Merle headed out to go check claves and I unhooked the other trailer they used today for the horses and took my pickup home. I got a lot done for myself today but there is still more to go and lots to get done ont the ranch.

It sounds like it took 2hrs to find the horses this morninig and when he (Ross) did finally give up and let someone else look-they miraculously appeared. Adrienne and him did some riding for two steers that were supposed to be there in Delbert's pastures, but they had no luck. This afternoon Merle and Adrienne went to Interior to get more pellots...yay because we've been out for a while.

Now, I'm home and ready for bed. So just a rondom comment. I have caller ID on my land line and a friend from Missouri was trying to call me tonight. Every time he called it would show up as a different number from Florida and when I answered no one was there or I was there in an echo. He finally got through once and it had a 5 second delay and finally just hung up on us. What in the world? Either his phone or mine is losing it mentally.

But, weird phone calls aside, I must get some sleep.

"Sometimes the best cowboys...are cowgirls." -saw it on a sign in bomgaars

4 wheellin'

Another busy day. We decided to start the day with a bit more of yesterday!

After getting chores done, Ross and Merle and I fueled up and got the four wheelers ready for an excursion. Yesterday Merle beat up his four wheeler pretty bad, but none the less he was bound and determined to use it anyway. So, we spent some time changing the tire and taking the box off the back before we left. Then, checked oil on all the four wheelers and loaded them up in the horse trailer. Adrienne and Rylee came along on the trip out to drop us off. We went out by the big unit to start and rode a lot of Delbert and Scott's pastures to see what we could scrounge up for steers because we are for sure still missing a bunch of about 20 or so.

The hunt was on, we found four steers in the second pasture we rode and ended up taking them home to the long narrow pasture and combining them with six we already had there. We got those ten back in with the others which really helped our numbers but didn't solve the question of just where all of them went to. We rode a bit more before dinner and I came acoss a few fun things. We shoved a bunch of the neighbor's cattle back into their pasture through a gate they tore down (we think) that is not next to the fenceline we put these steers in, with hope that they would stay there until Monday. In the process of doing that, I managed to find a gate between that pasture and Deblert's pasture totally gone. Both posts were busted. When the three of us met up later and put a couple of his cows back through it we just moved the wires from the broken posts on to the ones that were stationary there. For now, it will kinda defeat the purpose of a gate, but it will hold them out! After getting that little project done, we gave in and headed home. Four for the morning is much better than none, and really, we got 10 back in so horray for us.

After we got in and went up for dinner and ate some pizza and fair cake with the ice cream I picked up the other day. I went to get it out of my freezer this morning to find that I had put in in there upside down. So, it's like way overful and sticky on the outside and to top it all off...it's maple nut. It looks like vanilla from the outside but does not taste like it...oops. I ate it anyway! So, after experienceing Maple Nut ice cream for the first time I got up and took on the afternoon.

Merle decided to go and string salt and look at Dick's for some more calf pellets since we're out. While they were gone doing that, I was helping Ross get teh chisel ready for some bottoms down south. First, I took off this tire that has been low and was ready to take it in to get fixed because that's waht Ross wanted done, but by the time it was all said and done I just put it back on and decided to take it in another day. We needed to get something done- so we'll do it after he uses it. We moved one sweep over and did a few little maintenance things while greasing it and cleaning it off. Then, he pulled up to the shed to wash windows and get air in that flat tire. Well, that bad news was that we had already pinned the whole deal up so I had to do some serious climing to get to the tire. I bet it was entertining to watch- but I"ll have you know as of 2pm that tire had air in it!

After what seemed like forever, we got him going and I went grabbed a four wheeler to get ready to check wells. I stopped by home and got my water jug and tarp strapped it in really good, although it still came out a time or two it didin't break anyway! I took off and of course, the first well I got to was running over. Since I took a four wheeler, I have no tools and for some dumb reason brought neither salt and mineral or prairie dog poinson. I like to get more than one thing done when I got that far from home but it was looking liek I wouldn't even get the well fixed. I figured out the problem and had only one way to fix it without a wrench. I tried my pocket knife plier but they wouldn't cut it. So, I just shut off teh elcectricity and told the cows to drink it down while I checked the others. The other two were working good- I did take som time to clean moss out, but other than that I lucked out conisdering all the lightning we have had. When I go tback to the first welll again they had drank what seemed like hardly anything. So, I bailed some water out and then sat there while they drank more. After a while I tinkered around with it enough and got enough water out of the darn thing that it started working agian. Hooray for miriales! At least I got something accomplished because i didn't deserve to after bringing no tools! After I got that done I headed for home.

Just as I was pulling up I saw a harvesting semi come out of the driveway via the autogate. There was another one coming jusst as I got to the gate, After getting that all set an dond with I deicded tht it was probablyfor the best that they heded out anyway. They have been parked here for quite a while, but must have finally found some wheat to harvest out north somewhere. In that short amount of time I was home I grabbed some water for me an salt and tools for the next well. Then, I took off for Chief Bears and checked the wells there.It's always better to check than to assume~ tha's for sure. They looked good, so I turned aroudn and came home to do chores. Merle had an apt tnoight so Ijust put all the feed out and finsished chores first off.
The calves thought they were jsut starving. But, I get thme all fed and then life was much better. After chores I hopped back on the four wheeler and wetn tot check heavy cows. This took forever cuz I was short one cow and i looked and loked for her until I finally saw her on my way back with a brand new calf. Yey, for calves but it sucks wehen they hide with them! Eventually I made it home and am not ready for bed.

I was just noticing the ranom streaks of bruuses on tmy lgs from all the tree branches in the timber reserve. But, I now have a bruise on the insided of both knees...my gues is that some horses had me holdin on tight and I don't even renember ti. ...or I got to roundy with the foru wheeler. Guess we'll never know- I just thought it was dkinda funny.

Well, I finally got in an dnow I"m sleep=typing. We'll catch you all later!

Steering the ship

What a day.

For starters, last night got really interesting. After I finished my blogs I checked my email quick and realized that I had forgotten to fill out a shortish application for an FFA position I was nominated for on teh national level. It said it was due by Monday the 17th...well since there is no such date Idecided that I had better get it done! Long story short- I didn't get to bed until 1:40 and then woke up just after 5. That's just great for a day like today...

I went down and started chores just before 5:30 and was able to get everything set up and moved for the day in time to saddle my horse and be ready when everyone else showed up. Delbert, Mike, Lee, Mickaela, and Delbert's hired man Michael came out. That made a crew of 9 for the morning. First off, we loaded up and moved the yearlings on the crick right on home. It really wasn't that difficult because Mike had the Ranger and just led them in with cake again. Once we got them into the corrals the sorting began. We didn't have any get back on us so this part wasn't too difficult. I guess there were quite a few of us there and a lot of people more skilled than I, so Mickaela and I got sent to get Delbert's pickup out of the pasture and bring it back home. We took off and grabbed it. After Mickaela opened that gate she rode on the running board of the pickup down to the trailer- it was hillarious...at one point she thought she saw a rattle snake and about glued herself to the window...haha! O the little things we get into. So, we grabbed his pickup and brought it home. I parked it up by the shed because there were already two pickups and trailers down below and we needed four trucks in there at a time. I later got told not to park it there becasue they thought it was still in the pasture...o my gosh, I parked it in a slightly different spot! lol

After we got back from that we felt pretty useless because they would let us help since there was enough help so we went and checked the fall calvers. We each took a four wheeler and ran down sunflowers the whole way- if you have never done this you must try, it's cheap entertainment. We didn't find any newbies so we came back home and watched them sort the last few. Then we were going to go eat rolls and Delbert was picking on Mickaela and I about not saying anything when the rolls came out...he was just sure we were starving. lol Well, we didn't get a chance to eat them because Merle decided to do a second count first. So, we moved steers aroudn and counted into groups again and then all at once the trucks showed up early. This was perfect because we had them all sorted out and ready to go way early. So...we loaded the first four trucks up. I ran a hot shot up the alley so my job wasn't too hard, but still needs to be done. Mickaela and I were just happy to have a function. After getting those loads of black steers out, we finally ate our rolls...that was pretty entertaining. We're sitting there eating them and someone makes a comment about the inbred cats- Delbert finds a way to relate it to the Allen housing. O, you can't miss a beat when he's around! lol

Since the brand and health inspectors couldn't come until later and the trucks for the second load out weren't planned to come out until 12:30 or so we decided to go in for an early dinner. Sloppy Joes were on teh menu and they sure tasted good with some fair cake to follow (we are going to eat that cake forever!). I sat next to Angie's son Dante (she babysat for the day) and it was quite entertining. He was certain that having the BBQ on his plate tasted wayyyy different than the stuff on the bun. Gotta love kids. We all chowed down and then almost ran out of ice cream becasue I forgot to bring the stuff down that I picked up yesterday afternoon. But, we snuck by! As we were just sitting there talking and killing time someone looked out the window and noticed that he brand inspectors pickup was there. We didn't know how long he had been there but I sure saw a bunch of guys fly out the door in a hurry! I stayed back and got the kitchen cleaned up and then went out to check things out. They were all just sitting aroudn talking because there wasn't much else to do until the trucks came. All at once we decided that since there was a crew there we were going to round up the other colored steers this afternoon as well. So, I grabbed a horse for me and a horse for Mike and started saddling so they woudl be ready after we loaded. As we were catchign horses Delbert hollered over to me to catch a horse for Mike too. The whole time I was so confused because I was thinking of Mike his hired help who already had a horse saddled. When Adrienne and then later Merle asked me why I had two saddled I told them one was for Mike and I didn't know why. Well, good grief we are all so dence or something today- it was for Mike Hicks, he wasn't going to take the Ranger out to these steers and wanted to go horseback instead. So as we are all looking at teh younger Mike's horse trying to figure out what's wrong with it and being all confused we were all off. I just got a kick out of that!

We got the second group of trucks loaded up pretty easily. No major problems or escapees. After the last truck took off we all decided we should saddle up and head out. We crammed seven horses in the trailer and took off for the big unit. The goal was to fish the steers that had gotten loose in there out and them move the whole crew from their original pasture on duck creek up and out all the way home to be shipped out the 23rd. Well, by the time we got to the pasture i realized that there was no way I could do this and get down to Jonni's on time to pick up all the food for teh firemen's meeting at 7 and have it ready. So, very reluctantly, I left Nelly in the trailer and rode back with Merle as the others went and rode the unit. We got just about to the Hisle road when Carol (MVFD secretary) calls and says they want to cancell the meeting because some of the officers can't make it. Seriously?! ugh. So Jonni and I say it's ok and the food she had made will ahve to be frozen or eaten before next Tuesday. So, aside from being annoyed about that, now I can't even ride my hoses cuz we're so far away. When we got back I unsaddled her and turned her out and then hopped on a four wheeler adn Merle and I headed out for the pasture. He took Adrienne's four wheeler with teh new basket thing for the dogs. He filled it up with cake to see if it woudl work as steer bait at all. We made out way out there slowly but surely as to try and not spill all the cake out. We went all the way to the far gate to start with. There was one yealing there that had jumped the fence after they have moved them back into this pasture. Merle quick kicks me off of my four wheeler and sticks me witht teh slow one. So, I got to pretty much follow him and this steer around as he fought it and fought it. Eventually it went in and he took off after it to make sure it was moving int he right direction. At this piont the others have moved the yearling they foudn in the unit (about 30 or so) into duck creek. But, Mike (Delbert's help) was missing. After staring off into the hills i saw him way way out there. I know that Merle had in mind that I would go and get him but I wan't goingt o take all that time to go way outt there so I just shut the gate and didn't lock it- hope that he saw me and left. I met up with the rest of the bunch and followed with them a while until we caem to a stopping point where we needed to wait for the others to bring steers in. Delbert had told me to sit on top of the hill and wait to make sure they don't loop around. So, I sat and watched them while waiting for the others to show up behind the hill. Before much else could happen Delbert was back and watned to tade the four wheeler for his horse. Ok, whatever- I hopped on his horse and he took teh four wheeler. I had to laugh becaue I knew the cake was now a lost cause and sure enough when he came back it had all bounced out- either that or he found some mightly hungry steers! We waited there until Delbert and Merle showed back up again with a few yealings and then took off for home. Delbert's horse was out of gas before I got him and so was everyone elses so it seemed long and hot. But, we got them all teh way to one of the last gates when they spooked at a horse sneaking through the gate with them and split and went all which ways. In the end, we only lost one out of the deal and that's becuase he had his mind made up and and I was out of horse power to catch up to him. Lee and I crossed the creek and tried to cahse him back but he eventually said that had better quit adn just leve him because we were out of horse. You know it's bad when cowboy admits that the horse is done for the day...but they sure were. So, we turned around and took teh short cut home. The rest of the bunch showed up shortly after and Merle come limping his four wheeler down the hill. He deicded that he better be able to ride horse soon because he was way too hard on it today and broke the frame on a washout, got a flat tire and a steer tore the fender all apart....not to mention that we have been pull starting it for a couple weeks now too. It's got an apt in Chadron sometime this week!

We all sat around adn talked and decided we were gald to get that done. We will probably have to ride that pasture again to grab a few that we left, but we didn't do half bad. I guess they had to choke one down this morning and get pretty hard with those calves at teh beginning, but that's how it goes with yealings. At teh end of the day we coudn't change it anyway. So, we all had a pop and went home to do our own thing. i put things back together at the corrals and am jsut now thinking that I never roped the paneling upt hat the truckers move when we load out cattle. This may mean that there will be loose bucket calves inteh morning...guess we'll see! I did chores and put teh little chickens away for the night adn home I went.

I havne't been this tire sinece who knows when. This time I'm off to bed.

Grease and Gates

Whew, finally caught up a little bit.

Today was intersting with some rain here and there. After doing chores and laughing at teh half a watermelon that I brought down for the chickens to peck on left over from our explosion.

After chores, I grabbed Nelly and Adrienne, Ross, and I saddled up and Merle gave us a ride to the long, narrow psture alon g the road and off we went. The goal was to move all the black steers we had in there to the creek with the res tof them. We found them all alright but then had a heck of a time sorting the five non blacks out of there. Withe some time, we eventually got the five sorted off and sent the others on down the hill to find their buddies. We went back home and I started in on new projects. Ross and I took off with his pickup to get the chisel and move it. In the process it rained off and on which made the trail extremely annoying to travel, but we made due. We got him all pinned up and then I took off. i met Merle and Adrienne at our turnoff so they each took a pickup and I stayed home and chekced fall calvers.

I didn't find any new calves or suspicious looking cows either. So, I headed home and fired up the 560 and pulled it in the shed before I got toally soaked. I cleaned straw out of it till dinner, then went in and ate some grilled cheese and tomato soup! The best thing ever. I talked to Jonni on the phone while I was in. Last weedenk she roller her four wheeler while four wheelin' in the hills. So, now she's laid up with all sorts of tight and torn muscles. Her and I were supposed to do the meal for the fire deparment meeting tomorrow night so Ic alled her to find out what I needed to take over and she said nothing she was still doing it! Ok...sounds good to me, I just grabbed ice cream and garlic bread at teh store later.

After dinner I headed back out and worked on cleaning out eh square baler in the shed. Adrienne and Merle came up with Rylee Jo and she sure helped us out. They were working on some gate hinges that needed fixing before tomorrow and Rylee was being cranky so I tried to pacify her for a while while mommy was welding away. She eventually fell asleep and they finished up the gate hinge. While they were putting it back on I cleaned up my huge pile of straw and shuffled tractors around- then went and helped them finish up with the gates. I did chores quick after that and then got ready to head for town to get groceries.

It looked like we got it all set pretty good for the morning. Ross came home on the tractor just as I was getting ready to go his way so I stopped and picked him up and took him back to his pikcup on the other side of town. First, though, I stopped by the grocery store and fire hall to drop off stuff. Then, took him to his pickup and came home. I've been doing laundry and typing since. Now, I'm off to bed for an early load out morning tomorrow. Good night!

Bales of Fun...

Sunday.

I got up a little early and Mary and I went down to Merle's to try and load up my chair that i have had in that house since last summer. Since there was extra room in the car, it made sense to just haul it home and my microwave as well. So, we got down there and managed to fit it out the door and into the Explorer. I don't know if she was able to see anything on her way home, but I'm pretty sure the chair made it- haha.

After I laoded her up we said goodbye and I went to work and she went back home to pack and leave. We had such a good time- who woulda guessed! We will have to get together again to discuss movies while they are happening and shoot at random things...

But, it was back to work for me. I went down and helped with chores and saddled up Bodie, and off we went with Delbert for another day in the timber reserve. The goal today was just to get what was left. We figured about 8ish or so, so we new it was slim pickings. There were considerably less of us so we took different, bigger areas of the pasture and started the hunt. We were able to cram four horses up front in the trailer and the four wheeler in the back so Merle zipped around just as fast or faster than we did.

I took a ridge between teh creeks and rode it south zig zaggin the whole way. I never did find anything, just ran into Ross once and didn't meet up with anyone else until Delbert came down a draw towards the end of teh hunt with three steers. That was all we could come up with but we figured that was way better than none, and it coudl be all tha tis left in that pasture. Miraculously, we were able to get the three back home all the way to the electric well at the very last gate they have to go through and they were aftraid of the dumb thing. That was quite the fight and I wondered if we would loose therm there when we were so close! But, we didn't and they eventually crossed through it and went on home whwere they belonged with the others. After we got them in it was still before noon so we were pretty impressed with that. Ross took off right away because he wasn't feeling good and the rest of us headed in for dinner. I helped Adrienne get things ready and then we at soem yummy food. And had the turtle (turle made of cake and green frosting) part of the beach cake I bought at the auction for desert- it was excellent, but then again, I looove cake so you never know!

After dinner Merle and Delbert set out on a quest to find one yearling that was supposed to be in with a neighbors cattle. Low and behold they did find one in that huge pasture and got him corraled up and loaded to our pasture. Meanwhile, Adrienne's mom babysat while we hauled down some oats and I moved some feed. Adrienne dove into town when her mom did and left her pickup at the rodeo grounds so there was a good spot to sit tonight. I kept on working on tings at home and decided to bale stack. She stayed in town with her mom and the baby until Merle came and got her for the rodeo later. I ended up stacking all afternoon until I was almost late the rodeo but I got them all stacked and made the rodeo in time to boot. We did end up with three vehicales there, but oh well. I got in the door just as they were starting and found them in the pickup and had a seat. Adrienne and I went to the concession stand to load up and came back with all sorts of good stuff. All in all it was a good right for rodeo- the show was pretty good and the weather was pretty nice as well. Most of the time those two were tryhing to set me up with a cowboy that kept on coming over to the people next to us. They came home last ngiht from the rodeo saying his name and how we would work just perfectly...then he shows up! good grief Charlie Brown. lol

But, I snuck out alive and unseen and was once again, "that girl" that no on really knows haha. When I finally got backed out of my parking spot and off the grounds I stopped by and dropped off my rented DVD and off I went down the road to home.

Another busy, but fun day!

FRUITloops

Yes, Yes, I know I'm behind. No offense to you but I would rather get sleep when neccesarry than spend and hour writing in this thing. Yes, it's nice to read later and apparently the ridiculous happenings of my life are funny most times- but often times it sucks to write when you're tired. The last two nights I was just really tired and didn't think I could keep my eyes open long enough to do this- haha! So back to Saturday.

I got up early and tried to make it down to do chores a tid bit early, but by the time I got there Merle had already started. I had to stop at the house and deliver the famous beach cake and price sheet to Adrienne. Then, today was the day to round up steer in the timber reserve pasture. I helped finished chores with Ross and then grabbed a horse. Merle happened to be catching them while I was finishing chores and asked me which one I wanted...I said whatever he coudl catch! (I wasn't all that awake and didn't care at that particular moment.) Well, he caught Tanner, and in the end I'm quite glad of that:)

We had some extra help lined up to round up a lot of steers in a big pasture. Makayla (a girl about my age) came and rode Nelly, and Delbert came with his horse. We met Mike and Laura and there kids at the pasture. Once, we all got saddle up and ready to go we loaded up the ponies and took off for the pasture. On the way down Hisle road we had to stop and back up to kill a rattle snake. Sometimes I get such a kick out of what a person will stop doing to kill a rattlesnake. I'm not saying it's not worth it, just saying that sometimes it's hillarious.

So anyway, we made our way to the pasture and Dustin and Brady came in right behind us with their trailer. Mike and Laura rode over in the little Ranger thing they have. It's like a fourwheeler on steroids with a bed. So, he puts cake (a type of tasty cattle feed- kinda like candy) in the bed and then strings it out in front of them and it will basically lead the herd around. After we all met up we split off in our own directions. Merle went home and came back with a four wheeler as the rest of us got started. I started down on teh creek. I think I actaully rode the same spot last year so it was pretty familiar territory.

It seemed that all the steers (or most of them anyway) we down on the north end (Where we started). That's always kinda annoying because then you have to push them all the way to the south the whole ride through. I came in contact iwth several different groups that I pushe dup the draw ahead of me. Then, I met up with Mike on the Ranger a few times and devised a plan for steers we were chsing. At one point I sent a bunch with Ross and then found them an hour os so later...they had gotten away from him but have no fear...they did the same thing to me. As I looked over the hill at one point when I came up out of the creek I could see proably 100 head with Mike and Delbert. The next time I looked...they were gone. Delbert and I met down at teh creek and he told me that they went all the way back to the north fenceline...so off we went. We found them all way back where we started and took them up another draw. As we went we just kept on picking up more steers. It worked out pretty good minus teh jungle we had to climb through. We got off several times just to get through the trees and brush. With all the storms this past year and the growth the trees have gotten ridiculous.

We managed to get them there without too much trouble, just a lot of zigging and zaggin through the trees. At one point, something caught my eye behind me and it was steers running into the draw behind us. They were of course headed the wrong way and Delbert was up ahead so I jus tleft the 150 or so I was following and ran all Tanner was good for backwards to catch up with theses steers that showed up. Shortly after I turned them towards the others, Merle showed up on the four wheeler. He was able to get them down there but couldn't climb the steep hills to get up to the top and around with the 4 wheeler. But, we got em. Then, once we got up on top with them, I sat and babysat the group of about 200 or so while the rest of teh clan brought their steers our way.

We all eneded up meeting up pretty well and were able to head on home. The cattle drive home was not very difficult at all considering it was yearlings. We just mozied right along with no major issues. Merle went ahead with the four wheeler and cleared out cattle in our way and I just hung out at the back. I was talking to Brady for a while about his arm. He broke it at rodeo bible camp riding a bull last week or maybe it was two weeks ago... either way- its in a full arm cast now and here he is riding. He told me the trick was to take three advil before you go out! lol, gotta love it. The kid must be pretty tough cuz I'm sure it hurts.

We got em all home and put out on the creek just in time for dinner. Adrienne and I had a good laugh because when we got close to home and headed through one of those gates in the yard Merle told us they could get them from there- we could go work on dinner if we wanted. Adrienne had some funny comment about men and their food- sad but true. So, we unsaddled our horses, took the trees worth of sticks and pine needeles out from under our saddles and saddle pads out and headed in. Theresa (or mother Theresa as Adrienne calls her) was there babysitting Miss Rylee Jo and they were qutie content and helped us with the dinner.

We all ate some dang good crock pot steak and then everyone split off and went their own way. merle gave the boys and their horses a ride back to their trailer that was still up in the pasture and Mike and Laura headed home. Delbert took off for his place too, so that left me standing around trying to motivate myself to figure out what to do next. Well, Merle told me to go home and see my company and take a nap. That, I can do! So, I dinked around with a few things and then headed for the house. I knew that Mary was interested in Wounded Knee and I was interested in going back as well. So, I came home to see if she wanted to go. As I came in, she was sitting at the table cleaning her gun. lol...gotta love that.

I showered quick and she put the gun back together and off we went to Wounded Knee. We stopped in town first and decided to rent a movie. I have only been to the movie rental place in town once- it's really sketchy and it's in the laundrymat. So, there we are, looking through these movies that have no rhyme or reason to the way they are set on the shelves. I kinda wanted to see Thunderheart, but when I asked the lady she was like..."if it's on the shelf we have it, if not, we don't. I think that's one that has been stolen a few times so I'm pretty sure we don't have it." O good grief, so we just grabbed a movie, The Kite Runner, becasue I knew it was a good book and then took off. I think it cost me an entire dollar and thrity three cents...o big spender. We got back in the car and headed for the Wounded Knee site. Mary got some cool pictures along the way and we didn't have any trouble finding it. When we got there I kinda made some comment about the fact that there will probably be people from teh housing close by just hanging around. Sure enough, there were a bunch of younger people there sitting on the step. First, this girl tried to sell us jewelry, we politely declined. We took a look around and checked out some of the older sites that had stories behind them. It's not only a sad place in general, but the fact that the grass is overgrown and there isn't much upkeep at all to the cemetary in general is pretty sad as well. But, I guess that's jsut how it is. As we were wandering around this same girl from eariler starts following us around. This time, she catches us and asks for a donation for school clothes. I told her I didn't carry cash (not a lie) and Mary didn't have any either (also true). She kinda put on her sad face and I was kinda waiting for her to tel us who to make a check out to when Mary goes..."Well, our tax dollars." ...and turns around. Now, I don't know how everone feels about this, but in this case it was sooo perfect. It was obvious that money would never make it towards any school clothes yet I'm still paying taxes so this girl can buy her cigaretts and sit around at a cemetary begging for money. Frustrating. Anyhow, after taking a look and finding out that the visitor center is closed to fix a hole in the roof (I thought it was the same story as the last time I was there a year ago but whatever) we headed out. We stopped really illegally a few times to take some pictures on the way home that should sturn out pertty good. Once we got back to town we headed straight for the fairgrounds for some free food! I had some excellent beef and pork and baked beans for free just like the rest of the town. Mary and I were giggling because I'm already the odd one out and here I am bringing in people that no one knows. lol- I bet they were wondering what the heck was going on. But, it was really a lot of fun to sit and listen to the local talent, and be entertained by people and thier kids.

After teh food I kinda was thinking about going to thr rodeo but I didn't know if Merle and AD were there and I wasn't sure that I wanted to miss what was about to happen at home. Ok, so the firemen feed watermelon at the end of the food line and there are always left overs. Thsi year there were twelve and I saw Chriss selling them to people and we both had this genius plan. How much fun would it be to shoot at the watermelon!!!! So, we don't have two bucks- so I stole one for half price and gave him a buck after some bartering and off we went with a watermelon that was doomed from teh start!

The ride home was ridiculous because we were all excited about shooting the watermelon the whole time. I opted to skip the rodeo for the night because we had other plans and I wasn't sure I would ahve anyone to sit with or a ride. So, home we went. We grabbed our guns and headed out back. I videoed the whole occasion so if I can ever figure out how to do that on the blog I will cuz it's hillarious.

Mary practiced shooting so much when she was here that she only had 8 rounds left after like 250 she started with! haha...watch out world. So we set the watermelon on end with the tomato on top. She shot them at close range and o my gosh it was funny. The first shot put a hole in the melon and made it basically bleed. Then, she tried shooting the dead tomato setting on top and nailed it. Then, she shot the melon again and it exploded into pieces! It might sound lame but it was sooo hillarious. She said it was something she always wanted to do but never really had a place to do it- now she does! lol I got out the .22 later and shot at some pieces of the watermelon at long range and had a good time with that too. But, all good and funny things must come to an end so we wrapped up the fruit shooting and headed in. Probably the best alternative to teh rodeo ever= haha.

When we got in we popped in our movie, the Kite Runner. It was really good, and I highly suggest it. You will have to read a lot though, beware of that. After the movie I was sooo tired that I jsut went to bed. I found out later that Merle and Adrienne were at teh rodeo but i didn't feel that bad for not going because we got to shoot watermelon in teh back yard! We highly considered buying two but decied one was enough to keep us entertained, and it sure was!

Anyway, it was a super day and was pretty hillarious along the way.

Pancakes, Logs, and Lemon Cakes!

This week has been eventful and today didn't change that at all.

I got up at about 4:25 and drug my butt to town. We set up chairs and such and got things all set out and ready to go for the pancake feed to start at six. Once again, I was nominated the batter mixer woman. Hahaha...it's quite the job. We use a cordless drill with a paint mixer bit on the end of it and mix up the batter in five gallon pails. I think I went though about 12 or so bags of pancake mix which would be about 48 gallons of pancakes. Ya know...just a few. I got batter all over once again, but managed to keep it wiped up most of the time. Since I know most everyone on the fire department now, it was like one bs fest all morning. They would pick on me and I would shove it right back. Merle stayed home and did chores and started cutting some wood this morning so I had to fend for myself. I almost (came really really close) got one guy to drink a cup of syrup- but he wouldn't man up and do it! That was just one of many things that we had going on back there. Chris (the chief) brought one of his sons and we made him the pancake runner from the kitchen to the roaster. It was hillarious, we named him Cookie and Dave (The pancake griller) would yell "Cookie order up!" and he would show up with oven mitts on that could fit over his head. Super funny and cute. So anyway, by the end I was super tired and I stayed and washed dishes and cleaned up until about ten. By that time they were making the beans for the BBQ tomorrow. That's quite the project- 6 roasters full of beans, molasses, brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, and liquid smoke...pretty much amazing. I told them I had to go and help the same cause...just in another way.

So, I took off from there and stopped by Jay's to pick up some loader pins and rake springs and then went home. When I got here Merle had already cut down a dead tree and was just starting to cut it up. I ran inside adn changed clothes and out I went. We were cutting up the wood and loading it on the chain mover for the BBQ pitt. The meat sits there overnight and simmers- yum. Hence, why I said I was goign home to help the same cause. We got the tree loaded up and looked at the mover and it seriously looked like we had done hardly anything. It was a huge tree but didn't supply us with much so we decided to go down to the post pile and load up old posts. Uusally he would cut down more little trees but we only had a couple hours before they needed the wood in town so we just used the posts- they should burn just fine.

We got half the posts loaded and went in for dinner. I ran home and talked to Mary and ate some leftovers- then headed back out. After loading the rest of the pile so that the chain mover was full enough we strapped the load down and moved back to where the original tree was. I grabbed a tractor and moved the big tree trunk onto the mover and added a couple other logs that we couldn't lift alone. Then, Merle took off. I shoved what was left of our project into the creek and then was ordered to go home and take a nap- so I did. And it was good. Mary went out back and practiced with her pistol on some bales. She said it was a blast- funny thing is I don't think I ever woke up to anything so I must have slept liek a rock. After I did get up though I went down and did chores. It was about my turn- I got out of the last three times worth!

After chores Merle called and let me know that I missed a fire call! boo! I told him that he stunk and of course he just rubbed it in more and said he knew I would say that. It was just a shed on fire in town adn they got it out right away- I must have turned the pager down and then slept through it going off- that's always good....:s

So, after chores I came home and tried to put some Malathion on my flowers becuase enough grasshoppers are back that they are starting to eat them again. It's really funny because they always eat the light colored purple ones but not the dark colored purple ones. Random. So, then I ran in and showered and headed off to town. Mary opted to stay and I don't blame her.

So, I'm headed to town to check out the cake auction and the exhibits at teh fair. Merle calls me on the way there and asks if I will bid on this one kid's cake. I said ok, no problem, I'll call you when he's up. Well, that was interesting. I think there were like 55 cakes total and they ranged in price from 75 dollars to 625 dollars! I had to wait quite a while for this little guys cake but when he came up he was so darn cute that the cake went for like 325 or something crazy liek that! I bid on a couple more for him and finally got one for 175. It's a lemon beach cake and it's super cute. Afterward, I got in the wrong line twice and made the check out wrong but I finally go the darn thing payed for and then had to have a ltitle girl help me find the cake because I didn't even get to look at it while it was selling. I could hardly hear Merle on the phone and the auctioneer was hard to understand through teh microphone. But, we finally found it so I grabbed it and stopped by the fire hall to get some chairs for dinner tomorrow and then headed home.

When I got home I opened the door and looked at the cute turtle on the cake to find that he was totally dismantled! I did some reconstructive surgery and he now once again looks like a turtle and is just a tish worse for the wear! I bet he still tastes good though:)

But, now I'm home and I'm tired and going to bed. Tomorrow is the big steer round up- will be very challenging I think but hopefully we find a bunch of em.

Good night!

What a BLAST!

O boy where to start.
So I'm gunna try to make it short cuz I have to be in the firehall at 5am to make pancakes...

I got up at five and was out the door by five thirty this morning. O what fun it is to drive in teh morning without falling asleep! So...I stopped at the gas station in Martin and grabbed some snacks and then headed out to Gordon for the Sheridan County Fair.

So I beat the clan there but I did find them and boy was Panelope worried. I walked over and here are all the calves waiting in line to weigh in. Most of them are a little nervous, looking around, not holding still and here she is...eating grass and shooting her cud. Yeah, no big worries there. So, she had to be ready in about twenty minutes so we quick got things going and got here ready to go. Brandy had to go buy a can of moouse that we were short and I started in on the calf. We got her all prettied up and ready to go just in time. Hayden took her over and did showmanship. He didn't place first or second there and they don't place the rest- but he had another chance yet to show. After he showed, they had cloverbud showmanship (for the little ones). So, we didn't realize this so Hannah goes and grabs her calf and we throw them in the ring. Probably the cutest thing ever. She really didn't have much of a clue but smiled pretty and got a good rainbow colored participant ribbon.

We sat for a bit and then went and did a little more work on Panelope whom I might add is a 505lb bucket calf! LOL, I helped Hayden practice a few show tips and asked him questions before he went in and boy was he ready. On the way to the ring the calf layed down...how nice lol. But we got her up and cleaned her off- must have been all too stressful to be primped and shown all morning- yeah right. He went in the ring and did a super job. The judge asked him questions that he was sure of all the answers on and ended up getting Grand Champion Bucket Calf! The judge mentioned that she had never seen a bucket calf that big before but admitted that she did believe us and it was a bucket calf! haha

Well, that pretty much made Hayden's year, winning a division. So, he brings her back and we took her down and cleaned everything out of her hair that we put in. Then, I went and ate with Merle and Adrienne and Ross and Marva and Judd and Brandy (the whole crew was there) at the concession stands and talked a while. I wanted to watch more of the show and Rylee was getting hot. So, eventually Merle and Adrienne headed out, I stayed and watched the show and then headed out. It was a very successful and fun day at the fair. Some night I will get the photos onto mycomputer and on here s you can see this beast of a little calf.

I stopped at the gas station in gordon to get their amazing ice cream before I left but the machine wan't working so I was bummed and went on my merry way with an ice cream bar and pop instead. When I got back home, I took a short nap, and then Mary and I headed down to Merles to pick up a gun and do some p dog hunting! First, I brought him this whole box of .22 ammo that my mom sent as replacement/gift for all the shells we've shot. Then, after giving it to him I ask if I can take some...haha that's super polite right?! So, he sends us with a second gun and some ammo and off we go.

We had such a good time- o my word. We didn't actually see a ton of prairie dogs but we sure killed the ones we saw. Usually we shoot hundreds of rounds but we only shot about 50 today which is odd. It didn't seem like that but heck, it was fun! A lot of the towns have been heavily poinsoned so we have gotten rid of most of the dogs, but what was left we tried to wipe out! haha At our very last town I had to call and make sure I was headed the right way, but I was and it worked out. We got cut a little short there because it was getting dark, but we got plenty killed:) So....the best part of the day besides all the pictures taken and cattle and landscape seen was the Glock 22 pistol that Mary carries. We got that thing out in one of the big hay fields and I put a grease rag on a bale and we had at 'er. It was sooo much fun! We took hillarious pictures too boot. I have never shot a pistol but I think I am now hooked- pretty much amazing. So...if anyone feels the need for my birthday or Christmas (hint hint). Lol, I'm not sure that I could convince anyone to be a part of getting me one of those! haha I even hit the target several times so I was happy!

All in all, we had an awesome afternoon- I was super tired but it really didn't matter cuz it was sooo much fun! I love to shoot, and that's just what we did. But, eventually all things come to an end adn we had to come home. Haven't done much since but talk, work on the computer and eat pizza. I better go to bed to make pancakes for the breakfast tomorrow!

"Conquer their hearts and their minds...two to the chest, one to the head" -Cop quote (no we really aren't killing ppl but it's pretty funny)

Grass...

O what a day. I had a really hard time motivating myself to do anything today for no apparent reason, but I picked up the pace by tenish.

So, after chores and feeding the little squirt who has really taken to sucking down the bucket of milk now we took on the day. First, Ross and Merle and I went out and put out six or seven pairs of fall calvers. As it turns out we missed one, but we did pretty good- she can go out tomorrow.

After we got that done, Merle went to take Delbert's trailer back and Ross and I took off for the field. I got his fuel and air compressor ready and he put his grease and everything together. Then, we headed out to the field. I spent quite some time out there getting him ready to go. Right before I left I was pounding on the sweeps to get some dirt off of them and I noticed a broken sweep. So...we spent the next 20 minutes trying to find washers that would fit and puttting them on. I tried to draw down teh sweep as far as I could in hopes that it would stay. I didn't hear anymore about it, so I'm hoping it stuck with it until we can get a new one.

Once I got back home, Merle was running to town to get a tool for the winshield repair guys who came to put a new windshield in the windrower. Apparently they showed up in this car that didn't look like a company vehicle at all and then didn't have the right tools. I guess Merle had to run to town to get them but the guys turned out to be good at their job- just appeared a little sketch. So, he was in Martin- and I started in on a new project.

Mowing the jungle. So, for whatever reason mowing lawn has not been at the top of our priority list because there are a lot of other constructive things to do. (Can you tell that I hate mowing) So, I get out the mower and can't figure out where the air filter is. I finally decided that we must have been running it without one so I went ahead and started it. As far as I know, a small engine can handle that for a bit with no major problems. I started in mowing...it's hot and there is a lot to mow down, but it wasn't all that bad. Once I got going, Adrienne came home and stuck her head out the door with an air filter so hooray for that- the mower now had a bit cleaner air to use.

By the time I was almost done it was dinner time, so I quit and ate, then went back to it. Rylee was not impressed with life today and fighting sleep so she made dinner interesting- but good :) After I finished the lawn we did some work in the garden and mowed down some other weeds. Then, on to the next task.

By this time, Mary (mom's best friend who wanted to come out where she can shoot a gun and kill a prairie dog) was here so I ran to check and make sure she got in. She was all set, so I grabbed a pop and headed out to the hayfield. We were originally just going to hay for a whiel so that we could go down and see Hayden get his chicken auctioned off but there was just too much to do so everyone will have to get their fill of fair tomorrow.

We got all the hay that was down put up. In some bottoms there was virtually no hay and Ross sholdn't have even wasted the fuel to cut it. We were laughing cuz in one of them you couldn't find the windrow even after I raked it and then Merle was giving me a hard time about missing windrows! He got like 1/4 of a bale off the whole bottom that time!

When we finished we came home and did chores. Adrienne helped me fiished things out and then went to check the heavy cows. I finshed chores and came home. Since that time Mary and I have been laughing and telling stories and I have been doing some work on the computer. Good news of the night- I got an email from national ffa saying that they are considering me for the natinoal nominating committee. Which means that I have a chance to serve on the committee that nominates the national officers. I'm pretty excited to even fill out the application!

Anyway, it's waaayyy past my bedtime. I gotta leave at 5:30 tomorrow to make it to Gordon by 7 to help Hayden with his bucket calf. Hooray! That will be fun:) ...if I sleep first.

Cleanin' time

OK, it was the same old story this morning.

I drug my butt out of bed and went down and did chores. We have our little calf sucking good now and it appears he will live. But, boy he sure was a patience tester for a while. We got the horses in and I saddled up Tanner and Ross grabbed his trusty Joe.

Of course the few steers we needed were here close to the house last night but way out yonder this morning. So, Merle hauled us down there and we went and gathered them up and brought them home. They weren't too bad for yearlings, and weren't that hard to find. I kept my eyes open for my old cell phone the whole time but no luck. Eventually I hope to run into it and get the chip out of it with all my numbers and photos on it but who knows if that will ever happen.

So we got the steers in and then sorted them out by owners and loaded them up into Merle's trailer and Delbert's trailer. There were enoough divider gates to make everything work out to be sorted. Adrienne's grandpa came and rode with here and Rylee and Merle pulled the other trailer. They headed up to Phillip to the sale barn.

Ross and I stayed back to start the days work at home. I ran out to check the fall calvers while he was servicing the farming tractor. I found three new calves! They all looked good and apparently Merle foudn two more later so it must be the weather. That's a good deal becuasue as long as they're calving out ok, the better we are to have them out of here and back in their pasture. So, I found them and came back, let the horses out to pasture and headed up to the shed to help Ross.

We spent quite a bit of time blowing out air filters and checking and adding fluid. Not to mention the time it took me to reach my arm all the way across the hood latch cuz it didn't shut right last time to try to get the darn thing open. We finally did but it's an awful good thing I have my mother's arms or it would ahve never worked. We got it hooked up to the chizel and all pinned up and ready to go. Then, I took my pickup and Ross took his and off we went to the field. We dropped his off and he came back home with me and headed out with the tractor.

By this time it was about lunch, so I ran home and ate a couple grilled cheese sandwiches
(my favorite) and then headed back to the shed to service my bale stacking tractor. I didn't wanna waste any more time so I did the neccesary service work adn then headed for teh bottom. There weren't a ton of bales, but they still needed stacked. I was pretty impressed with myself for making pretty neat stacks today- it must be my day. I was laughing as I stacked at one point thinknig of Sabina. She was telling me when she was visiting that her and Nicole used to have contests as to who could stack the neatest pile fastest. That's sure one way to make the day go by! Wish I could have tried that contest with someone. lol...i'd probably lose but it would be fun!

So, I finished the bales and took a couple extra home. Did some cleaning on the work bench and then went down adn helped Merle clean out and rebed trailers from today. While I was looking for the missing shovel that we keep in the nose of the trailer I came across ome posts and post hole diggers that were in the nose of teh horse trailer from back when Dean used it for a four wheeler trailer for fencing. Ross will be happy to hear that his hole diggers are back...

Speaking of Dean, they haven't been here to take care of their goats and chickens. I really want to go do something about it but it's not really my place to do anything with them. It's fair this weekend so you woudl think they would want everything looking nice but maybe he doesn't care. I don't know, it's just annoyhing to think about really.

So, we got everything taken care of and did chores. Then, I ran home and showered for the fire meeting while Merle was checking and tagging the fall calvers again. He picked me up and off we went to the training meeting. This weeks lesson: how to clean the fire hall. lol- we have the pancake breakfast this weekend so it will need to be clean. Jonni and I tackled the kitchen and boy was that fun....she really like the hose. So ( no joke here) she takes the hose to the kitchen floor and jsut starts harpingon it. Then comes in after it with a car washing brush adn scrubs it. Meanwhile, I'm cleaning sinks and refigeratores, Merle is cleaning the men's bathroom, Suzett is doing the truck bay floor, and about six guys appeared to be priming the tender truck trying to get it to run. Note that there were about six ppl tryhing to do that....o men.

It was a pretty entertaining cleaning session. The guys have some phobia of the girls bathroom and wont touch or clean it. Jonni and I are the only females in sight and obviously don't care but it's still funny. I just don't think they wanna have to clean it too. so, Jonni and I get to the bathroom and I'm standing there scrubbing on the sink and all of a sudden here she comes with the hose. And i kid you not, the bathroom was hosed donw...hosed. The toilet paper definitly became a casualty. It was funny, and I have never seen someone clean an entire bathroom or even a toilet with a hose- but now I have. A bunch of teh guys were lookin at us weird but we didn't care cuz we had wayy more fun cleanin then they did. The two of us are also supposed to cook for the next fire meeting so we talked on that all night too. We decided on spaghetti and garlic toast. I am on desert detail fo rsure. I know we want ice cream, but what else would you suggest for desert with spaghetti with a bigger crowd than normal? Pat, you would know I bet! :)

So, we finished up that lovely cleaning session and back the trucks in. We left the rugs hanging we outside and i'm sure teh women's bathroom is still dripping water~ haha But, I'm headed to bed!

Cell Phone Finally!

Hm...so here goes today.



I did chores and really never did get my feet on the ground. It was one of those days where you're eyes are open but you really can't mentally function. I realy dont' have any reason to feel that way- just was.



When Ross showed up I was doing chores- he gave me a hard time about taking the chores off yesterday morning. Lol- I told him I didn't want to drive home in the dark...so I just waited till the sun came up! haha So after chores Merle said that we were going to go go rake and bale what Ross had cut down last night. Merle went to check the fall calvers, Ross headed out with the windrower, and I stayed at teh shop and started servicing. First, I ran out of grease and had a heck of a time finding more...when I finally did- the tube was all crushed so I had to mess with that and get grease everywhere. Eventually, i got that under control. I got everything greased and then ran home quick to grab a snack and make a phone call before 10am central time. I got that taken care of and when i came back Merle and I unhooked loaders adn tried to get everything hooked back up again. After quite a bit of servicing, we finally headed off to teh bottom ground over south. We got one piece put up and then headed in for ldinner. Merle found out he needed to run into town quick after dinner so we all headed in. I needed groceries and to get my phone and mail so it worked pretty good. Before we could get too much done, the fire whistle went off. So, we headed to the fire hall.



I don't have gear at the fire hall- I keep all mine at home. so the first thing I did was steal the chief's wife's gear. lol- I knew she want' coming. Then, I hopped in a suburban with Josh and Dalan. The supposed wreck was north of Batesland so it was a little trip over there. During that time we shared in lots of random conversation and I also realized that I had two left handed gloves. haha- Dalan and I weren't too excited, just ready to go. Josh on the other hand, is just a nervous type of kid. So, the ambulance in front of us radios over that they can't find it. Then, the conversation begins and we are all confused as to where to go and what is wrecked and blah blah blah. Come to find out, some dude went into the ditch and drove right out. The neigboring rancher saw it and thought it was pretty serisous or something dumb like that. So, we decided it was a nice day for a drive with lights and sirens on I guess. To top it all off, as we were pulling up there was this green box thing in the distacne and it looked like a green combine. So, I made some comment about it being a combine and Dalan started betting against me. Well, we were still arguing about it by the time all the rescue rigs determined that our wreck wasn't much o f a wreck and we all turned around and headed back home. We get a ways down the roaded headed back to town and Dalan and I finally convince Josh to turn the rig around cuz we wanna settle up on this bet. It was hillarious, as we turn around and head back we are meeting confused brush tucks and the other rescue truck...we just waved politely and sped on by. As we turned on the mile road that this green box was on, the cop came flying behind us. Nice work Martin cops...you're just a little late. So, we just keep on going and finally get to what I was seeing. As it turns out it was a green tractor parked next to a couple green water tanks. I think I was close enought- but Dalan still won! Dang! Meanwhile, this cop is still following us, probably thinking that we are looking for a car wreck...

So basically, now you now what goes on inside a fire truck when they speed past you on a highway or gravel road. Ok, not really, but we sure had fun giving Josh a hard time. When it comes time to do the job, it gets done right. But, when there is a long ride involved we have to find something to do! We made it back to town, fuelded up and parked our truck. I think one of the funniest parts was that no one asked any questions. They probably just figured that it was us three in one truck and they did'nt want to knwo what the heck we were up to.

Adrienne, we still there waiting for us at the fire hall. So, I returned my stolen gear, (haha) and we hopped into the pickup. We stopped by the grocery store so I could get some food for myself and my company. Tomorrow, my mom's good friend Mary is coming out to stay for a few days. She is writing a book series and came out las tsummer and loved it here. So, she want to come again to get some more writing done where it is quit. She also wants to shoot her pistol and kill some prairie dogs too! haha- so it will be nice to have somone around to talk to other than facebook! After getting some food that normal people eat, we headed back home.

I dropped my groceries off at the house and we headed down for chores. After getting the new calf to suck twice today and feeding everyone else we finished chores. It has been trying to rain all day but never succeeded, so after chores we went down and rolled up the hay in Delbert's lot (that wasn't supposed to be cut) adn the haypen. That put us up until about 8.
Merle invited me down for fish, so I stuck around and had some amazingly tasty fish. Hooray for eating supper! haha- it was really good too.

As soon as I got inmy house I started in with my phone. It finally made it here today- but I had to get it actived. I've got it going now, but let me tell ya, it's hard to activate a phone with no service! But, I got it done:) Now, I'm at least semi connected back with the world. We'll see how this phone works out- I hope it's not too big and that it will stay in my pocket. Anyhow, I'm just excited that it works!

But, after such an eventful yet unproductive day in the life of Sara- I am falling asleep at the computer, so I think I will bid you adue.

The day after...

Well, to day was just riveting- let me tell you about it.

I got home around 5:45am. Went to bed. Called Merle at 6:30 to tell him I would take him up on his offer to do chores this morning...lol. He said we weren't doing much today because by the time they got back and picked up Rylee it was late too. (Not 5am, but past midnight). So, I slept and answered the phone most of the morning. Then, got up and cleaned and did some bookwork and laundry and such.

I did chores this afternoon and fought with a calft Merle found out in the Baldy pasture the other day. We can't teach the little fart to suck yet- hope he catches on soon. Then, I got the pickup back up at the house. That about sums it up. It's been actually pretty nice to get a few things done for myself (still not enough though) and catch up on sleep.

I know that Ross did some windrowing this morning so I'm sure there will be bottom hay to rake tomorrow and summer fallow to chisel. We'll see.

We went out last night...

My o my...we went out last night. Haha- it wasn't really that bad, just leads for good stories. Not sure if I'll share them all, but most! lol- no there really isn't much to tell.

Yesterday after chores, Ross and I headed out and stacked bales. We thought we could be done by noon, but no such luck. So, we stopped and ate and then kept on stacking. We ended up getting ten stacks of 22 and 49 crammed into the haypen. So, it was pretty productive. That has us caught up with bale stacking for now, until we put up ditch hay and the one bottom that is left down south.

We were done around three. I took off for home with the pickup and Ross came behind me with the tractor. As I came out I had to chase a little fence crawling calf back in and fix his fence mess, and then headed on home. As I was getting closer to home some people passed me headed the other way that aren't real fond of Ross. I got a little closer to home and there was some trash dumped off recently just coincidenally at our turnoff. I thought just to be safe I would radio Ross to be sure he was still moving- I couldn't get him to answer. So, I turned around quick and went back. He was still comin' down the road, but sometimes you never know, so it was worth the check.

After I got back home again, I spent some time cleaning up the pickup and the hydraulic oil that sprayed all over from the hydrabed. Apparently, when we serviced it the other day we put too much in, so when I picked up a bale downhill or when it had to work extra hard, it sprayed hy tran all over the place. It doesn't have a dip stick, so you pretty much can't tell how much to put in. O well. I was just going in to talk to Merle and Adrienne when their company was leaving. I always joke that Rylee sure keeps 'em coming! She even scored a cute little new outfit from them and everything! As I walked in, I got to see the steel sign that Adrienne had made for Merle for his birthday. It' s Hick's ranch sign with a cool picture, their names, and brands on it. I will have to take a picture when they get it up. It's pretty neat! I sat and talked with them for a while, and then headed out to do chores early.

We were all headed to Phillip but in different vehicles. Merle made me a deal that if I did chores tonight- he would do them in the morning. Works for me! So, I went down and did chores and they headed to drop Rylee off with Grandma for the night and eat. I got showered and out of here by about 5 :45 and headed off to Phillip. I still don't have a cell, so I had made a deal with my friend Mark that I would meet him and the gang at their house in town at 7. So I get there right on time and no big surprize...no one is there. So, I cruised Phillip for a while, got some supper at the gas station and went back and sat in the driveway.

At 7:30, I decided to leave a note and figured they would get it eventually. I headed to the bull riding. Merle and Adrienne had pulled into town the same time I did, so I knew they were there. It had started at 7 so I had to poke around for a parking spot but I finally got one and went and found them. I had left a note with Merle cell number on it for Mark. By the time I found Merle...he had already called and asked for me. Hhahaha! ...I bet Mark was a little surprized. Merle and Adrienne told me the boys were a callin' and looking for me! It was pretty ridiculous. So, I called Mark back and they decided to stay at the house until I got back from the rodeo. Merle has two cell phones so he gave me one for the night. It's not bad enough that I gave Mark his number to call, but now I've got his cell phone too! I told him to be sure he wanted to give me the phone because we all know what happens to my phones! haha. So, I stayed for the bull riding, even found a friend I know from school that lives in Phillip now. At the end they started acutioning off riders before the championship ride and I got sick of sitting. A house full of boys was calling me and telling me they were waiting for me, and to boot I don't think the broncs had been bucked before and most of the kids were high schoolers. I mean don't get me wrong, a rodeo is a rodeo, but it wasn't "top notch" you could say. One horse jumped the chute into the arena, a lot of them just ran and didn't buck, some didn't know how to buck. It was entertaining anyway I guess.

Eventually, I took off and went to the house to meet up with the clan. I was surprized to see my friend Megan there because she worked in CO all summer and just got back today- so that was fun! We sat around there and bsed for quite a while. Then, went down to the street dance and danced and talked. I had no shortage of dancing parnters since we ended up with about five guys and one girl. No worries Mom, they are all completely harmless and quite funny when it comes to the last few songs and then they decided they all want to dance. Mark mastered the art of dancing with two hands while holding a beer bottle in his mouth...no one undersatnds that one yet, but it's funny to say the least. I "sober walked" them all back to the house and we sat there and talked for quite a while. At about 4am I decided it was best to go home. So, I did. I had enough red bull in me that the drive was fine. I got here and went to bed without a thought!

It was fun to go out, really the only time I've gone out while I was here with friends. Glad it's Sunday today! haha

"I ain't never had too much fun.." Trace Adkins song