It's a New Year Already

Happy New Year's Eve!  Wow, it's already 2013...

Today, we woke up to snow!  We had about an inch to two inches; enough to go sledding, which did make our day.  This evening, the whole family went out and sledded on our hills right by the house.  The snow had gotten harder so the sledding was pretty fast, but fun.  When we came in, we started making carameled apples, but sadly, they didn't turn out right. ( cheap caramel )  So it goes, though.

We had a great, white Christmas, by the way.  Dad took us 3 kids out a few days before Christmas and we cut down a real tree!  Yep, we took a little bit of time to find the right one, then we cut it and put it in the pick up.  After driving a little ways, it fell out.  And again it fell out after we loaded it the 2nd time.  It was neat because we walked through snow to get it.  We were all glad that the tree wasn't any bigger, it barely fit in the house!  If you are wondering, it was 10 1/2 feet tall, 7 feet wide, and 5 feet deep.  Again I say--big!
We went out to my Dad's parent's house on the Sunday before Christmas, then to Mom's mother's house on Christmas Eve.  We were home on Christmas day.

So now that Christmas is passed, we will welcome the new year tomorrow.  We will also enjoy a revival beginning at our church.  Happy New Year!  : )     

Ranch Life Around Christmas

If you are looking at the pictures and wondering what in the world that is; it's Peanut Brittle.  The first I have ever made.  It turned out really tasty, just not pretty. 

Over the past few days I have been busy with the family.  We have been moving our cattle, which means we have been outside riding the horses in warm or cold weather, wind or still.  It's been good family time, good for the horses, especially our younger ones still in training.  Plus, it's good for the cattle, just to get them used to horses and people. 

We have been trying to buy something while Christmas shopping, but it hasn't worked out as planned.  It's hard to buy a gift for someone who says, "I don't care what you get me." and you can't find anything that would fit them.  So, our Christmas shopping hasn't been much fun.  Thankfully, I am about through.

We have had a little Christmas tree up since August, but recently we got to put up the big one. The inside of the house is all lit up in Christmas lights with Christmas music playing.  We got to put Christmas lights on our balcony for the first time.  It's pretty.  I would show you pictures, but they aren't good enough.  Sorry.  

Monday, we gathered up our cows and sorted 19 off to take to my uncle's wheat.  Paradise got a nice ride in.  I got to slide off of her left side, plus I got on her from the right side.  She is doing good for a young horse, though we still have a lot to learn.  Dad and Mom treated us to pizza that night.  And we did our cookie run.  (Every year at Christmastime, we as a family take home-made cookies to our neighbors. It's always fun.)  We got to see some good friends and talk for a while.  

Yes, we have been some what busy with school.  But that's nothing real exciting...

Yesterday, I was the first one down stairs, and as I looked out the window to the east, I saw a movement.  As I watched, Tonzo, my dog, come into sight with his tail tucked between his legs.  As I looked, a coyote came into view.  Then two others.  I thought of our chickens, who run freely about the ranch.  So, I ran up stairs and got Dad.  After getting a gun and shells, we walked outside.  We looked and to the north, and just across the road, a coyote stood over a deer rib cage.  After a second, he turned and ran off.  Dad and I trooped after him.  But when we reached the top of the hill he had gone over, the coyotes were nowhere to be seen.  It was disappointing, and odd.  They vanished!  Thankfully, they didn't get any chickens or Mom's whole deer that was hanging behind our pickup.  It was a fun way to start our day, though. 

On the odder side - I got to enjoy one of my pigeon's eggs today.  Pigeon egg?!  Yes, I have a female pigeon who has laid 41 eggs this year and we do eat them.  I got to hard boiled one and peel it.  After showing everyone in the family what a hard boiled pigeon looked and felt like, I ate it.  It was different... but good after getting under the rubber feeling part.  It felt like a bouncy ball.  It was a fun thing to try, though.  

Today, we did school and I finished for this week except for math.  I played with Big J. and Little J. quite a bit.  Also, we did get a skift of snow!  I am so glad.  Not near enough to sled, but still, it's a start.  It is still really windy now, but not snowing.  I wonder what it will look like tomorrow.

If I do not get back here and write a post before Christmas, may you all have a great Christmas day.  Merry Christmas!  : )    

December Already?!

Well, as you can see I haven't been on here for quite a while.  We had a great Thanksgiving with our great family, plus two extras, well three if you count dogs...  Anyway- it's already the Christmas month!  I can't believe it, though I have had a Christmas tree up and Christmas music since August.
I don't know about you, but I don't like this weather.  I mean it's nice, but not for December!  It has been nice to ride in it and work with the cattle.  Still, I would really like to have snow.  Anyone else agree?   

We have been doing quite a lot of cattle work lately.  We have weaned our calves and now they are on wheat.  Thankfully, they will stay there and that will give us more grass for our cows.  Sadly, though, there's not much grass because of the drought.  Going back and forth from the wheat, we got to see a spot where an air plane crashed.  It might have been a once-in-a-life-time thing to see it.  The pilot did walk away, thankfully.  Plus, on our way back from the wheat, we stopped and got ice cream as a treat.  

Just today Dad took us two older kids and drove our two long-horns to a pen.  There we loaded up one of them and took them to some different pens.  Then we sorted 4 cows and their calves in a different pasture; then took them to a set of pens.  We will sell them tomorrow.  It was a nice ride, but windy.  On our way home, it got colder; we were really glad that we didn't have any chores to do outside.  (We took our bottle calves to wheat also.)  For the rest of the day, we will be lazy and do about nothing.  It sounds good to just sit and relax.  : )     

Early Mornings With Daddy and Deer

Well, the rifle deer season is now going.  Since Saturday, the 17th, Dad has gotten me up in the six o'clock hour and taken me hunting.  We have had some good father/daughter time together as we hunt for deer.  It's been fun.  Finally, the day, which was today, came and I shot my 4th buck.  The day before (the 19th) I had a really nice buck sneak away before I got a shot, and that made me upset.  But thankfully, I got a chance to shoot another nice one today.  

As the story goes--Dad took me up north of our house and we stood on the side of a hill, looking for any deer that might cross our land in shooting range.  There were four does, female deer, on the horizon, too far to shoot of course.  So we waited.  Dad saw some deer walking down the fence to the south of us.  They, too were out of range but we did have two options.  1) Cutting them off and shooting one, but we would have to drive to the house, binocular around there, tie up our dogs, then take a hike out to a pasture south of the house, and wait to see where they were heading.  2) Stay put and see if any more deer would come out.  We took the number one option.  We loaded up our things and drove to the house.  There, Dad looked around while I put cats in our shop (they like to follow people and would have gotten in our way if we were going hunting) and tied up the dogs, who also would have followed.  After a while, we started our hike.  Before too very long, Dad stopped and looked back to our pond.  There was a deer, the one we were after.  I thought that if we were to sneak up, the deer would run away on to our friend's land and I would feel the same as the day before, but Dad must have thought different and we went to the pond.  Thankfully there are some dirt hills and that made it easier to sneak up instead of in plain sight.  As we were about to sit down, the buck ran into view.  I looked up and could just picture him running away and me not getting a shot.  We got seated as another one ran out.  Dad told me to shoot the last one, but he didn't stop until he was in a bush.  The first one did stop before jumping the fence and Dad told me to shoot him.  I took aim and fired the gun.  Dad said that I hit him, really I had no clue if I did or not.  He told me to shoot him again because the buck wasn't down yet.  I fired again and this time he ran off aways and jumped the fence.  The other deer watched for a while, but then left and never returned.  Instead of going right away to find the buck, Dad slowly texted Mom that we had gotten a buck.  Dad left the phone with me and he walked back to the house to get the pickup and I just sat there playing with a bug, a stick and some dirt.  Sounds fun doesn't it?!  Anyway, my uncle called and we talked a little bit.  Then a little over thirty minutes later, Dad pulled up with the pickup.  He called our friend and made sure that it was alright if we went on their land to get my buck.  Dad took his gun and we walked to the fence, climbed over the fence, and then looked for the buck.  Some birds had come to eat on the deer, so they helped us find him.  When he was in sight, Dad quickly stopped.  I looked around him and there was my buck, just looking at us and lying there, for sure alive!  Dad pulled up his gun and took aim and fired to end his life.  We looked again.  The buck looked at us and acted as though he had not been shot.  Dad aimed again and fired.  The deer this time was in pain, and was closer to death.  He laid back as though he was resting peacefully on a nice fall day.  We looked and could see that he was still breathing.  After a while, Dad went over and nudged him to see if he had died.  And the deer shook his head a little.  Then his tail.  Dad nudged him again and we could tell now that he was dead.  It took 4 shots!  All of my deer before only took one, but we got him and he is not in pain.  We took some pictures and then we loaded him up.  He was a 4x4, (he had four points on each antler).  He was a pretty nice size, too.  I am really happy.  And now maybe I will be able to sleep in tomorrow for a change.  : )   

   

Thankful Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is coming up and so I am going to put some things I am thankful for...
#1  I am really thankful for my family: Dad, Mom, Big J., and Little J.  They mean a lot to me.
#2  I am so thankful and glad to have a grandma on my mom's side and a grandpa and grandma on my dad's side.  They are all great people to be with and learn from!
#3  I am thankful for all of my critters that Dad and Mom allow me to have.  My cats, dog, horse, birds, goats, calves, and fish, to name a few.
#4  I am thankful for our house and land that we can do most anything in/on with out getting hit by traffic.  (Country life. Away from the towns and cities.)
#5  I am thankful for my own room and the things in it.
#6  I am thankful for all of the gifts that God has given my family and me.  I hope we use them to please God.
#7  I am glad that I can have antiques.  Yes, I like old things!
#8  And of course I am thankful for all the everyday things; food, water, furniture, clothes, etc.
I am really looking forward to our Thanksgiving week, as I call it, and to all of our family being at our house this next week.
May you all have a great Thanksgiving Day.
  ...and early Merry Christmas!  : )

A Night to Remember

Last night was a night to remember!  To start with, the 3 of us kids went to bed with part of the bath room floor torn out.  We are doing some remodeling, you could say.  We are taking up the old worn out stuff and are going to replace it with some new stuff- probably stained concrete.  Anyway, the best way to explain what I heard while I was in bed is like this... it was like the movie Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, when the dad was in the shed working on the car.  You know, the kids would sit up in bed and listen to their dad banging and hammering.  Yep- that's just what it sounded like in our house last night.  Well, though we should have been asleep, we could not get there, so we snuck to the stairs every so often.  And before long we were down stairs, almost surprised at what we saw.  Not only was part of the bath room floor out, part of the kitchen floor was missing!  I couldn't contain my excitement.  Now, why was it a night to remember?  Well, Dad and Mom, who were doing the taking-out of the flooring, told us to get down and help.  We were already up, so why not help tear up the floor?  We got down and started pulling up the flooring.  And to make it more fun, we listened to Christmas music as we worked.  There was linoleum on top and now we are at a layer of stuff that's not fun to get up.  Thankfully, Dad got a tool that will get that stuff up quicker.  Under that we have concrete.  The project was a fun one.  But that still wasn't the best part!  As we worked, time got away... it was getting close to 12 AM.  Dad let us work until ten till 12 and that's when we quit.  So, that's why it was a night to remember.  Not everyone gets to work late into the night as a family.  I really enjoy the family time we get to spend together.  I wish a lot more people would have a family that cared enough to eat as a family at a family dining table.  Thank you, Daddy and Mom, for spending family time with your 3 kids.   Even if it's work that we may dislike doing, I know that when I look back, I always have to say that it was fun.  Love you, Daddy and Mom!  : )     

Repost of : )

To those who saw a post that is not showing anymore--I took it off because it wasn't appearing how I wanted.  So, yes, there was a post that is gone now.  Here is a post kind of close to the one I took off.

Dad took us out to move some panels, Saturday.  When we were on our way home, Dad driving and us 3 kids in the back, Dad stopped to look at a snake.  Yes, it is odd to see one in the fall.  That morning we even had a freeze.  The snake was a grass snake and harmless, so Dad picked it up.  He let Big J. and me hold it!  Oh, I wanted it bad, but I couldn't keep it.  It was very interesting to let it slide through your hands.  (Not to some people, I understand.)  It was real shiny and had a green under side.  We had a good day with Dad.   

Here are our bottle calves!



#1 is Dos, #2 is Thomson.



#3 is Comson.



#4 is Prince



And #5 is Rabbadash.



Today, 10-29-12, I almost stepped on a snake.  It was just a racer snake.  Out of the 4 snakes I have seen this year, I have almost stepped on 3!  Yeah, it's not a good habit, I know.  Thankfully only one was a rattlesnake...  : ) 

Lil' Update

Well, I am here and ready to put up a new post.
The Youth Deer Hunting season was here and is now gone.  We 3 kids went out with Dad to hunt for a buck or a doe deer.  One day, we went out  and sat on a hill.  We got to watch some cranes fly over, and boy they were close, shooting range if it were that time.  It was fun to see.  There have been a lot of them come over our house lately and I enjoy listening to them.  They make my favorite sound.  While hunting, we saw a lot of coyotes and hopefully us 3 kids will some day get to shoot some.  We had a great time hunting with our daddy!  But, we didn't shoot anything.  So it goes.  There will be another deer hunt around Thanksgiving in which we will all be doing.

Our bottle calves are doing good.  Mine, Thomson and Comson, are fun to have.  Big J.'s are Rabbadash and Prince and Little J.'s is Dos, so we did come up with some cool names.  They are eating grain and hay really well compared to Rawhide and Lucille Ball, our other two weaned bottle calves.  So we have quite the posse of calves.  I lost one of my 3 chicks that my hen hatched earlier this year.  Kind of disappointing.  My little Red Bud tree has lost all of its leaves and the other trees are starting also.  It is that time.  I am really ready for Thanksgiving, to be with all of my family and have LOTS to eat. ( Not that I need that. )  Today, we got the horses up to water them and I brushed Paradise.  I also cut my finger with her hair.  It hurt.  Big J. and Little J. are out riding now.  Well, it's been a good day.  Till next post...  : )

New Comers...

Yesterday, we welcomed 5 new critters to our home... bottle calves! Yay!  Big J. and I already have one each but now Little J. can have one too.  The 5 new calves still need to learn how to nurse from a bottle, so we will be working with them quite a bit.  And then names, my favorite part of having animals.  Hopefully we can come up with some odd ones.  Right now it is pretty noisy outside, they miss their real moms...  Today we will be moving some cattle around so I might have another post later.  : )

Moving Inch Worms & Cheetahs

On the 15th we as a family went out with the horses to gather and haul some cattle to town. (Sell them.)  The first bunch that we moved took a lot of time.  My Paradise just wouldn't go, her being a colt, I couldn't do much with her.  The cattle slowly went as though they were inch worms and finally we were at the pens.  There, Dad and Mom sorted off some old cows and some calves, including a dear cow, Reddy.  She was a cow that would eat out of your hands and let you pet her.  It was kind of hard to let her go.  It is part of ranch life, though.  So I fed her her last piece of cake and said good bye, holding back the tears.  Dad, Big J., and I then went to another set of pens to gather some cattle.  Mom and Little J. went to get dinner- hamburgers and fries.  Dad and Big J. gathered up a bull as I took the pickup to the next pens that we were going to sort.  I listened to classical music while I waited for Mom and Little J. to get there.  Dad and Big J. also got there right as we were getting our tail-gate picnic ready.  We ate the filling meal and got back to work.  As we gathered the next bunch, they got spooked at two bulls fighting and ran a ways past the gate.  With a little loping of horses and hollering, we got through the gate and from there the cattle ran a little more.  So we were kind of moving "cheetahs".  Once the cattle were penned, Dad and Mom once again started sorting off the ones to go to town.  We 3 kids found stuff to do; I sat and watched or helped in any way that I could, Big J. and Little J. found sticks and made guns out of them.  When the sorting was done, Dad made a few trips to drop cattle off at places.  On the last trip, Mom went and left us kids at the pens and we played slaves.  You might be thinking that we are rough kids... I mean playing gun fights and slaves.  I guess we are in some ways, but we really are good kids.  Anyway~ when Dad and Mom got back, we loaded up and went back to the first pens.  There, we moved what cattle we had left, back to the pasture they came from.  That went alright, but my horse, Paradise, was hungry and wouldn't do what I told her to.  Dad had to lead me some bit.  Now, the sun was setting and it was close to 7.  We had been outside all of that day.  It was also starting to cool off.  We got home and put up the horses, then ate supper and got things ready for bed.  We slept outside under the starry sky and yes, we had a few cats in our sleeping bags with us.  Dad said that we had been outside over 24 hours (counting sleeping).  Great day I would say.  We sure have fun here on the ranch! 

Riding in no Rain

Today Dad, Big J., Little J., and I -Savannah- went to help a neighbor move cattle.  I was very proud of my 2 year old filly, Paradise.  She is learning new things every time I ride her and is doing great!  Since we got up, it has been cloudy and we have a chance of rain, which we need badly.  We rode 5 miles or so not counting zig-zagging back and forth to keep the cattle out of crops.  We had to cross a road in which all the cattle but one crossed.  Dad had to chase her for quite a while before she finally crossed over.  Before too long, we had them moved from one pasture to the other, and from there, Dad went back to get the pickup.  The 3 of us kids continued to take the cattle to the neighbor's house, just up a ways.  When we were through the gate, we met 8 or so other cattle.  None of us knew if they should get mixed with the ones that we brought.  But by the time we were going to cut the 8 off and go to the house, they were already mixed together.  So slowly we took them to the house.  I was feeling bad, thinking that maybe we weren't suppose to let them mix together.  Once we got to the next gate, our neighbor and Dad were there.  We pushed the cattle through and Dad told us that we did great.  The 8 cattle were suppose to come with us.  I was glad about that!  By then we had been hearing thunder and Dad and our neighbor had even seen lightning.  So we quickly put the halters on the horses and loaded, then left.  We stopped to get gas then headed home to Mom and some good tasting chili and cornbread!  But we haven't got any rain yet.  However- it was a good day.  : )    

Trip: day 2 and Home

Hey,

Day two- we got up with fog outside of the hotel.  It was a nice, cold day.  We left the hotel and went on to Red River- on the way we took a lot of pictures and watched the fog move over the mountains.  LOVELY!  My eyes hurt sometimes, but there were a lot of pretty trees to look at.  At Red River, NM, we ate at a place called Texas Red.  They had great food!  Plus we got to throw peanut shells on the floor.  That was a first for Big J., Little J., and me.  We got to try buffalo hamburgers which were good.  After that, we walked a ways down Main Street to the park where the Oktober Fest was going on.  That was the funnest thing that we did on the whole trip!!  No, we don't drink beer so we were there for looks.  We did get a little stein though.  There were tons of dogs!  It was really fun to watch dogs go by and talk about them with Dad.  He is so special!!!  We stayed there for a while and then left to go to Raton, NM.  We got there late so we didn't get to see a friend.  We just got McDonald's food and then headed home.  We got home pretty late.  Got some sleep and then got up for church.  It was a great family trip! We had a fun time and here are some pictures...



This was at the log where the water runs in it.




Pretty little leaves.

 





Looking up at the changing leaves.



I really like this one.  Lovely view of the land.



The whole family. L to R: Big J., Little J., Dad, Mom, me- Savannah. 





A cloud coming in.





: )









 















Trip: day 1

Hi,
Now we as a family are in New Mexico to see the mountains and trees changing colors.  We stopped at an antique place, my favorite thing to do.  And then we drove through mountains and got to see lots of antelope and turkeys.  We also got to see a few deer.  The trees are very pretty and the weather is nice for fall.  We are in our hotel for the night and I don't know what we will do in the morning.  This is a trip where we don't know what all we will do.  Dad and Big J. are watching baseball and Little J. is lying down, she's tired, Mom is looking at a book and I am writing as you can see.  : )  Hopefully we will find somewhere to eat and then get a good night's rest.  Till later!    

Work is fun...

This is  the first post on my blog.  Today we as a family (Dad, Mom, me-Savannah, Big J., and Little J.) went to doctor some sick calves.  That was an exciting and very fun memory making thing to do!  Big J. roped along with Dad, Mom carried the shots and medication, Little J. played run-around-horseback, while I flanked any calf that was roped.  Some were roped on the ground and some were roped on horseback, either way we got them roped, flanked, shot, and then they returned to the herd.  Big J. had quite a few calves run though his loop and get away- living on a ranch and growing up going to a branding, you would know that missing a calf while roping makes a young boy mad... and it made Big J. a little upset.  Only one calf was hurt and we have no clue why.  Oh, and right after unloading the horses and tightening the cinches, I got on my 2 year old filly.  She was fine-- and all of the sudden, well, I was on the ground... yes sadly she bucked.  She bucked maybe twice before I was on the ground.  She then ran off bucking all the way.  She finally stopped.  But let's back up, my horse, Paradise, is a nice tempered horse.  I am training her so that she won't buck.  It was odd that she bucked today.  She was fine and even held still while I got on- for a change.  So I thought nothing of her bucking.  When she started, I slid back out of my saddle, which is an English/hunting saddle with no horn or much of a seat either and slick.  I came off on what I think would be the second buck.  I fell on her left side close to her front legs.  Thankfully she didn't step on me or kick at me.  I am quick to jump up from the ground after being bucked off and yes I jumped up, then held my head where I landed.  Anyway, I got back on and Dad lead me around the rest of the time.  We all had fun and I can't think of anything- that you would call "work"- funner than tackling calves with the family!  We ended the day by eating Panhandle Pizza for supper.  Great way to end the day!