A Girl, a Camera, and a Whole Lot of Cows

It may be no surprise that I--being a rancher's daughter--like cows.  They are amazing creatures.  So many of ours are super gentle and a bunch, ranging in size and age, eat "cake" out of our hands.  We have many that have been around long enough or are unique enough or are special enough to be named. 
 
We have had bottle calves, we've had old girls that just aged to the point where we had to sell them, we've had a handful of breeds and cross breeds.  We have days when ranch work goes smoothly and all of the cattle act and do as they are suppose to.  And we have days that are the total opposite-- ones where the calves only have one goal and that is to slip under the gate, escaping the pen, or cattle don't do what they are suppose to.
 
But all in all, cattle are just cool.  And they are a huge, huge part of our life as ranchers.
 

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The other morning, I woke up to the sound of moisture droplets falling onto our metal roof, a lovely sound we haven't heard in months.  I crawled out of bed and began the day.  Downstairs, I could see outside the windows that this was a day that I needed to photograph. 

 

 

 

 

The fog/drizzle that had been falling throughout the night had frozen into a thin layer of ice on all of the grasses and tree branches.  Unlike last year in January, this ice was harmless.  But like last year, the overcast skies, damp air, and vibrant colors of brown and orange and gray screamed, "Picture time."  And I caved.

 

It was cold and my fingers felt like they were frozen, but I snapped picture after picture while walking around near our house.

 

Since it was Saturday, I knew Daddy would be feeding our cattle cake.  (He is "caking" them about three times a week; Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.)  Me, being in the photographing mood and knowing I couldn't pass up this wonderful lighting, tagged along for the ride. 

 

We drove to the pasture just East of the house, where our horses and Longhorns are at the present time.  And that is where my cattle pictures began.

 

 

 

 

 

After feeding the Longhorns and horses, Dad and I checked some young heifers that were being weaned away from their moms.  Then we fed what we call the "sale barn cows" or "horned cows."  It's probably my favorite herd of cattle that we own.  Don't get me wrong--I do like all of our cattle, but there's just something neat about the sale barn cows.

 

It is actually a herd of odds and ends, so to speak.  For the last few years, we have bought Corrientes and Corriente crosses.  They are cheaper than Angus and don't require as much pasture and food costs.  We have kept adding to the herd.  We bought a handful of big cows (most of them have since been sold because they were too big).  Then some Watusi/Corriente cows.  Then some others.  And now it has become a herd of all sorts of cows.  Because of that, it is the most colorful, most horned cows, and all sizes kind of herd. 

 

Also, some of the cows have been out of sync with the rest of our cows, meaning they would/do have their calves in a different time of year.  (As I've said, I believe in other posts, we calve in the late spring, early summer.  That way the weather is prettier and we usually have green grass for the mama cows.)  But since our calving season isn't the case with the sale barn cows, we leave a bull(s) with them year around.  So far, their calving seasons have worked well and we have to do very little for the expecting cows and their calves. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the sale barn/horned cows, we fed the "main" cow herd.

 

"It was extremely quiet.  Not a sound was made other than the songs of birds in the tamaracks and the gentle breeze whispering through the branches.

Slowly, yet on cue, the cattle emerged from the brush and surrounded the pickup.  Their heavy breathes and loud bellows filled the once quiet air. 

The birds still sang."

   

 

 

 

 

A Look Inside

 

I'm sure if you have been following along during this new experience with us, you are more than ready to see some pictures of the inside of the school buildings.  At long last, I finally have some to show you.  So, please "step" right in and take a look around. 

First up, is the building I'll live in.  The first two pictures show what will be the dining room/living room. (All of these pictures were taken before we put in the heaters.)

And, yes, most everything you see in the rooms came with the buildings.  It's kind of surprising what they left!  For example-- multiple cork boards, two older TVs, tables, shelves, a metal desk, filing cabinet, telephones, and more.  

 

 

This next picture is a look in the hallway, and office which will eventually become my kitchen.  I don't have any pictures of the bathrooms yet.

 

 

Below is the other classroom.  It will be my bedroom/writing room/whatever else.  Right now, we don't want to put up any walls, but having this huge open floor plan definitely gives a lot of options to play with, should we decide to make more rooms. 

 

And yes, there is a water fountain in my bedroom.  : )

 

 

That does it for the house, but below are pictures of the boarding building, even though they are basically the same.

 

I will board pets in this room.  As you can see, we have a little bit of cleaning up to do.

 

 

This is the hallway between the two bathrooms.

 

In this room, I want to have an area (lobby of sorts) where I can greet clients and get them checked in/picked up without a lot of barking dogs.  Also, I am considering putting a few kennels in here for cats and other small animals so they won't have to be with all of the dogs.

My family also likes the idea of having part of the room for craft/leather projects and such.

 

Dad and I have been fixing minor cracks in the drywall which were caused by moving the buildings and it has been a fairly simple task, but requires quite a few layers.

 

I am kicking myself, so to speak, for not getting a before photo of the hole in the wall in the pic below.  If you look at the repaired spot on the far left, you can see the outline of a rectangle.  Before Dad fixed it, that was a huge hole that not only went through the drywall, but clear through everything else.  It was huge!  As you can see in this picture, which was taken during the progress of fixing it, that you can hardly tell there was a hole that big.  I guess, since Dad and I were the only one to see the hole before, we'll be the only ones who will truly admire this fix in the wall. 

 

 
Here are a couple more photos of different cracks and holes we were/are repairing.

 

 

I am already loving the views up at The Homestead even though I'm not moved in and I look forward to showing you more in future posts!

 

 

 

 

Progress

 

Good evening readers!  I hope the new year is treating you well so far!

 

If you came to see more photos and read about updates on The Homestead, you have come to the right place.  : )

Mainly, this post will wrap up the major outdoor projects and necessities, such as the four water hydrants we installed.

 

 

 

 

The men who did the foundations came out again and put in the entire septic system.  I wasn't there during most of the installation, but here are a few pictures of the progress.

The two large cement objects on the trailer are the septic tank.

 

 

In this picture, the septic tank is in the ground.

This picture shows where the sewage line come out of the boarding building.  When they first did the footer, they left a hole in it for the line to go through. 

A picture of the leach lines.

A view of the septic tank in the ground.

Another neighbor helped hook up the gas to the buildings.  He, Dad, and Big J. put the line through the wall in two places on each building so that we could get the heaters going.  There is one heater per large/class room.

 

While installing the heaters, Dad, Big J., Little J., and I could see our breath inside the buildings.  It was so cold in there!  Once we got a heater in, it was hard to leave the warm spot to go work on the heater in the other, much colder room.   

 

 

 

Dad and Big J. getting the heater ready to be hung and connected to the gas.

Three of the heaters are white and have orange colored bricks when turned on to heat the room.  The fourth heater is black and has a blue flame/light instead of orange bricks, and because of that, it doesn't put out as much light when the room is dark.  Therefore, the black one is in my bed room.

 



I took this picture right after turning on the heater.  Those bricks are still warming up; they'll be bright orange when hot.



  

Dad, Mom, Big and Little J, and I finished covering the ditches and lines, finalizing that huge part of this adventure.