Summer of '16

Wednesday, August 10th~
Baseball season for my favorite summer league came to an end today.  With that comes mixed emotions of happiness for a season well played and sadness for the realization that I no longer have their evening games to look forward to.  But, who knows, I may just pick a major league team and start following them.

My super loving family went behind my back at one of the last baseball games and got the team to sign this canvas for me.  Words can't really describe how happy I was (and still am)!

 

The other night (one of the few which no home baseball game was played) Mom, Little J., and I went to the Dodge City rodeo.  A dear cousin invited us, a loving Dad and Brother took care of the dogs I was boarding, and we hit the road.  The rodeo was great as anyone could have guessed.  The clowns attempted to make the crowd laugh, men and women competed for mere seconds, and the livestock did their thing.

Afterward, we three, our two cousins, and a friend ate at Applebee's for a late night supper, one that mainly consisted of appetizers and condiments.  Much needed laughter and conversations were shared between the six of us girls. 
We spent the night with my cousin and her family and went antiquing the next morning.  That afternoon, it was back to home and work.

Another smile enhancer is the fact that we still have green grass.  Any rancher understands the need for grass and this year has been a good one.  We've been blessed with helpful rain and cooler days.  It's the talk between all the folks in this area and everyone is loving it!
If you aren't from here, most years by this time, the grass has lost a lot of the green and we're longing for rain and cooler weather.

Wednesday evening~
After the temps started cooling off, Dad and we three kids moved the cows and calves.  When we got back to the pickup, I couldn't resist the urge to take a picture of tonight's gorgeous sunset.

 
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Today, August 18th~

All of us waiting out the rain and loving it!

For the last few days/weeks we've been hard at work with one thing or another.  One of our cousins came down a couple of times and brought a lot of laughter and fun.  Since we branded last Saturday, the days leading up to it were filled with cattle work, baking and cooking, and making sure everything was ready.

On one of the days, Dad and Mom sent all four of us "kids" to move a couple of bunches of cattle while they went on a date.  We hadn't been riding for much more that thirty minutes (if that much) before heavy clouds began rolling in and thunder rumbled across the darkening sky.  We decided to sit it out and continue riding afterwards. 

The rain only got harder and we ended up heading home.  But, before we could do that, we had to move our saddles, blankets, and bridles to a round top building.  We waited till there was a gap in the cold rain and made a run for it.  After the tack was put up, we headed home...only to have to stop and sit in the pickup as another round of very hard rain poured on us.  Needless to say, we eventually got home safely.

The next day, we finished what we had started and got all of the cattle moved. 

 

 

Our branding was so much fun.  With 20 some helpers at the pens, we finished around 10:30 in the morning and then had time to talk and relax before dinner.