Lights, Rain, Action!

Well, I am sitting here in front of our open house door watching and listening to the rain fall from the roof and the thunder rumble across the thirsty Okla. Panhandle.  It is such a pretty sight for this girl.  I don't know how much rain we have gotten, but it smells and looks good!

I am really glad we got home from swimming in the river before the rain cloud hit...why...you'll find out.  Mom was talking with Grandma and a few lightning strikes rang in her ear.  It was time to hang up the phone.  After she did, we were watching the outside world and all of the sudden KA-BOOM!  Right before our eyes a lightning bolt stuck the ground just a few yards from the house.  And it was close!  I saw the sparks fly and the smoke rise from the beaten ground.  I literally jumped from my chair and my heart jumped from its normal spot and started to beat really fast.  Oh!  We have yet to find the spot and take pictures if worth it. 

The "storm" seems to have passed and Gus, the ranch rooster, had to let the world--ranch world, that is--know that all of his hens have survived the weather and that they were safe.  : )

P.S.  We did not find the spot where the lightning struck the ground.

What's Happening here

Hi to everyone still reading my blog, or more like willing to wait for me to create a post.  A lot has happened lately, and I will do my best to explain things in an interesting way so that it is enjoyable to read.

To start things off--Some of you dog lovers might enjoy hearing that we have recently added to our number of dogs.  We went from two dogs to three.  Lightning, Big J.'s own female dog, is half lab, half border collie--a great mix.  She is such a puppy and has been learning a few things like not eating chicks--ugh, she did kill one--and she knows to sit and play fetch (she even brings things back to you).  She has also gotten it in her mind that she should gather the chicken eggs for me.  Thankfully, she hasn't eaten any.  She is also a water dog.  Just today we went swimming in the river and she was acting like a crazy dog, jumping in the water and catching twigs and such.  It has taken me a while to get to liking her (she is just what my dog isn't), but I have to say, she is such a sweet, loveable pup.

Speaking of dogs, my dog came home a few mornings ago with sixteen porcupine quills in his nose!  Poor thing had to be sat on while Dad pulled them out one by one.  But he forgave us and still likes us. 

On Saturday the whole family loaded up in our nice truck and began gathering our cows.  Mom and Little J. gathered a few pairs (a mom cow and her baby) while Dad, Big J., and I gathered some other pairs.  Paradise did very nicely that day; we started the ride by trotting a ways to get to the cows quicker and then bumped the speed to a lope.  We had gathered and Dad started sorting all of the mammas that had heifer calves.  We sorted 14 pair with only heifer calves.  There was one calf which we didn't know if we paired up correctly, so with a little more waiting and watching the cows, we found the right mom and then started pushing all of the moms and heifer calves east.  We went in that direction for a while and then turned north into a gate.  We continued to push the Angus pairs to another pasture and held them for a little bit.  We came home after that.

We have also had the privilege of borrowing a donkey to breed our white buckskin mare.  His name is Mike.

I have also been milking three goats each morning for a while now.  They are giving a good amount of milk, though some of it doesn't taste too good.  We still have six out of eight kid goats, and they are still really cute!

 

Big J. has three female cats which all became pregnant around the same time, so we have seven kittens now.  One cat, Monster, lost all two of her kittens, so "adopted" Ghost's, her sister, three kittens.  Really, the two moms take care of the kittens and take turns watching them.  They now have a weird relationship.  Kind of gross, really.  And then Numbers, the other mom cat, had four kittens which are healthy and happy.  So, not only has our horse and dog numbers gone up, our cats did also.

 

And the garden is planted!  We have cucumbers, squash, peppers, cantaloupe, okra, green beans, and maybe some other things that I forgot about.  Sadly, the grasshoppers are plentiful this year and think the garden makes a great café.  There are millions out there and when walking, waves of them fly up everywhere you step.  Our chickens are eating them and are doing their best to keep them somewhere under control; it's impossible.

I have also gotten a turtle whose name is Tortoise.  I feed him grasshoppers and give it daily walks in the kitchen.  Yes, we have lost him once and he has been kicked across the room, not on purpose, of course!

That cat which was attacked by a coyote is doing much better; he may not loose his foot.

 

We did get a nice amount of rain a few days ago, but other than that, it is hot and either really windy or really still.  Weather good for only swimming or staying inside with air conditioners.     
 
I thank you for taking the time to read my blog.  Till next post...  : )

  

Life on the Ranch

I am still out here!  Yes, so it's been a long time since my last blog post--I am sorry.  Trust me, life on the ranch has not been slow, that is one reason why I haven't sat down and done a post...I've been busy.  So, let's get on with the post.

Just yesterday Dad, Little J., and I went out to move our cows and calves.  It has been very hot here so we got up before the sun, when it was still somewhat cool.  After we walked out to the horses, saddled and loaded, we headed south to the cows.  We started our ride horseback and slowly gathered all of the mamas and their calves.  Then we pushed them up and down a few little hills before we came upon a closed gate.  Dad dismounted and opened it, letting the cattle through.
  Little J. and I had a hard time getting the last calf through...see, it just loved my horse and me so much that it couldn't go through the gate without the two of us.  Yeah right, you might say.  Well, Dad finally told me to walk through and let the calf follow me; with some pushing from Dad and Little J., it did go through.
We kept pushing them through that pasture until we came to another gate, and we left them in that pasture.

Next, we rode the horses towards the tamaracks, which by the way, is not my favorite thing to ride in.  Dad had just gone by one branch and it spooked Little J.'s horse, who was in front of me.  Perfect start to a trip through those over populating plants!  So, we inched through, under, and around those things, only to come upon one which Paradise totally refused to go through.  No matter how much I kicked her and clucked her along.  Really, I didn't want to go through it either; the branches were so low and I had the thought of Paradise bucking and seeing me fly off of her nice, smooth back where the saddle sat.  (I think I need to face my fears a little better.)  Anyway, I came off-on purpose- and led her through, after breaking those scary branches in two.
  We made it out of the 'forest' and rode a ways more; but next came the river, which I thought Paradise might happily cross with no problem.  I am not saying that she caused a problem, though.  She did cross it, but not exactly how I wished.  She jumped it.  
  I got off to get a gate and we kept riding.  We were now searching for 33 cows and their calves.  We all trotted some and did a lot of walking.  Finally, after searching most all of the pasture, we found--well, heard--the cows and shoved them into a corner to get a count.  We got 29 cows out of 33, which wasn't too bad, but Dad had really hoped to get all of them.  He kept searching. 
  By now the day was warming up and us two girls were getting sweaty by just holding the cows while they munched on their cud.  Dad returned, but without cows.  He opened the gate and we pushed the cows through, and with that, after closing the gate, we started the ride back to the pickup. 
  The rest of the ride was nice, a little walking on foot and of course on horse back, some trotting and loping, to add to that, and a rest at the gate between us and the pickup.  We got home by noon and had dinner with an old western show.

As for animals, they are all doing well, even the cat that survived the coyote attack on him.  Yes, he looks bad and really stinks, but he's alive and doing pretty good.  My pigeon is growing like a weed and has some feathers now.  The garden is slowly coming along, and we hope to plant the plants soon.  It is still really hot, windy, and dry.  There is really nothing we can do about the dryness of this land.  The weather is depressing, mostly for the ranchers and farmers, but I think it has to have some effect on everybody.  We have our swimming pool up and have been enjoying the cool, refreshing water, along with the dogs.  I have trained my chicks to come when I call and they are also growing really quickly.  They love having all of the different kinds of grasshoppers to choose from out here.  There are a bunch!  Here are some pictures to end the post.  Have a great day.  My view on the ranch...  : )