Hello once again! It's been busy lately, but I can't say, "It's been busy on the ranch." Why not? you ask. We have not been home.
Let me start with Monday, the 4th of February. Dad, Little J., and I went out to move the heifers we had moved when I got bucked off, back to their original pasture. (Big J., cowboy as he is, stayed home because he was sick.) Over all, the ride was good and the move went well, until Dad bragged on the heifers. Of course after doing so, the girls quit moving and we got a little upset. Finally, we had them through the gates. Now home, we pushed them a little farther, hoping they would remember where water was. We then rode the horses home.
Because we were going to leave the 5th for a trip to Branson, MO, Dad and Mom went out on foot to continue to push the heifers to the water, just to be on the safe side. After returning from their 'walk', Dad and Mom told me that they found my home-hatched rooster's feathers out in the pasture. He had been missing and that was proof that he was no longer living. And so, we packed our bags and went to sleep that night.
Tuesday- the 5th
We woke up and to Dad's disappointment, we left later than he had planned. But we were on the road by 10 o'clock AM or so. We picked up some meat which we were taking to Joplin, MO, to some friends of ours. On the way, Dad had me text his best friend to see how they were. The reply was disappointing to all of us. They asked for us to pray. That began our weird, emotional, different, odd, and many more words trip. After some talking between Dad and Mom, we called our friends in Joplin and told them that we would be later that we had planned. We took the roads to Oklahoma City, to be with our friends who were in the hospital. The wife of Dad's best friend had been fighting cancer for--let me say long enough! We got to OKC around 2:30 PM and after taking backs roads, because we had missed our exit, we arrived safely at the hospital. When we entered the waiting room, we met the family members. The cancer was that bad. We had not told Dad's best friend that we were going to the hospital, so it was a great surprise for him. The two grown men embraced each other, emotions getting the best of them. After they slipped out of their hug, we kids were told by Dad and Mom to stand along the wall and wait for them while they went to see the wife with cancer. Me, being the oldest of the 3, made sure that Big J. and Little J. stayed out of other's way and stayed quiet. The wall was lined with family members of the woman fighting cancer. Dad and Mom returned to the waiting room after a while and we stood or sat around, talking to family and friends who had stopped their day to be with the husband and sons of the woman in the hospital. The hospital staff moved the woman to a different room, but in order to do so, they rolled her bed down the hall of family and friends. Looking at her made me wonder what she was thinking. She looked anything than her normal self. Around 5 PM Dad and Mom lead us kids to the elevator. If we were going to make it to Joplin before 10, we had to leave the hospital. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we continued our trip. The friends in Joplin understood why we were late and they were very fine with us stopping to see our dear friends in OKC. So, we ate some vanilla bean ice cream and peach cobbler, and then went to bad.
Wednesday- the 6th
We awoke the next morning and ate a huge breakfast. Then we got directions for the best way out of Joplin and headed towards Branson. The trip to Branson was hard for Dad and Mom; they were sad to leave the hospital and their hearts were still in OKC. That leaves 3 kids and 2 humans in the car headed for Branson, a town in which they didn't know what they were going to do. Sound fun? Well, besides stopping for meals, we drove non stop to our destination. We drove a while in Branson, looking for our hotel. Finally, we found the 8 story hotel which was to be our 'base' for two nights. We actually got the 8th floor, which was very fine with all of us. We sat in the hotel room way too long, but finally we went out to eat. We found a Dairy Queen just down the street. We pulled in at 7:29 PM. They were closing! At 7:30! Mom went in, because the doors weren't locked yet, and asked if they were closing. "Yes, but we will take you, the grills are still going," they answered. So we went into the closing store and made an order. We sat down at a booth and waited for our food. That's when Dad got a text that really changed our trip. The woman who was fighting cancer, had passed away at 7:14 PM. My heart dropped as I read the words. Our little meal in DQ was shattered and now it was a crying party. What a nice little supper... not! We ate our supper quietly and then left. It wasn't the best end to a day.
Thursday- the 7th
So on Thursday we went to a really neat building called Ripley's Believe It or Not, and looked around, finding some very interesting things. There are some crazy things in there! There was a life-sized stage coach made out of tooth picks! And a huge, I mean 7 foot tall, ball of hay twine! Anything you could think or not think of was there. And after that we sat in the hotel watching TV.
Friday- the 8th
Friday was a lot better than Thursday. We got up and around 9 AM we went to the Titanic Museum and Attraction. That was so fun! And to some people, sad. At the door, we were each handed a 'passing' ticket and on the back it told a little short story of someone who was aboard the Titanic the night it hit the ice burg. The card did not say if you--the person who was on the Titanic-- survived or perished. You had to go through the museum and then in one of the last rooms there was a wall with your person on it. It said if you lived or not. Dad, Big J., Little J., and I survived. Sadly, Mom perished with all of her children. But the museum was very nice and interesting. After that, we took a boat ride. What nice timing, do you think? Thankfully, the boat we were riding, did not sink. Little J. even drove the boat for a little ways! She was such a cute captain. It was awfully slow and the surroundings weren't too amazing. We did see a lot of birds, houses, a pickup I really wanted, trees, an old house that people think was the hide out of some outlaw, and two fishermen boats. Also, we watched a water and light show that played along with the National Anthem, but it was day time, so the lights didn't show up and the music was really quiet. It does sound like I am complaining, and I am sorry for that. The trip was fun! Just some things didn't go as we had planned. One high-light of the trip was the Farmhouse Restaurant. We ate there two days in a row! The waiter was so fun and the food was great. That was one of the best parts of the whole trip. We headed back to Joplin that day after eating at the Farmhouse the 2nd time.
Saturday- the 9th
We slept in a little on Saturday, ate a tasty breakfast of biscuits and gravy, and then our friends took us to the houses for humanity built after the tornado in 2011. Our friends had also lost their house, so we got to see where it had been. Then we headed home. It took around 8 hours to get home to our awaiting animals. I was so glad to see them all. We didn't loose any except my prize rooster, Augusta. But it never hurts to loose a rooster when you already have two others. Any farmer or rancher with chickens would know that... So our trip, the one so odd and different from the others, ended.
Since then
Big J. and I helped Dad fix fence, because our heifers were rubbing on it too hard. And Monday, we went to the funeral for the woman who had passed while we were on our trip. There were a lot of people there. Really, it's been a little slow since the trip, but I am sure we will be doing more in the weeks to come.
So that ends my post. I hope you all have a good day and bye for now from the ranch! : )
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