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