Pickin' Brains

We had a wonderful day today. We took the kids out for a Sunday brunch at the famous Davenport Hotel. They have a 5 star brunch every Sunday. The Davenport was built in 1914, it was the first hotel in the USA with air conditioning, a central vacuum system, pipe organ and dividing doors for all the ball rooms. It has 21 floors. It's a 4 diamond hotel and listed on the national register of historic  places. Anyways, we wanted to treat the kids and pick their tender brains a little. They are both graduating from college this June. Michael, my son, is graduating with honors with a  psychology major and philosophy minor. I am just bustin' at the seams with pride! Hannah, his girlfriend, is graduating with honors with a philosophy major and creative writing minor. Very proud of her also. They want to eventually go to grad school. Michael, wants to get his doctorate in experimental psychology. Basically the who, how, and why the brain does what it does. Hannah wants a PhD in philosophy. She didn't get accepted in the school she was hoping for. So, they decided they are taking a year off. They want to move to Austin Texas, get a job, and go back to school. I am not real keen on them moving to Texas. They need a J O B first. We are going to send them there as a graduation gift so they can check it out, look around and see if that's really where they want to go. It was a wonderful day.
Here's  the sunset at the end of the day. And the ever adorable Pansy.

 

 

The chandelier in the Grand Pennington Ballroom where the brunch was.

 

The main lobby of the hotel.

The kids.

Sunset.

Looking through the trees.

Pansies.

 

 

 

 

 

Ravishing Rhubarb

So, I don't know much about rhubarb, except that it's good in cake and pie. I have 2 HUGE plants that have been here forever. Last year when they started to grow, one of them got a flower on it. This year BOTH of them have flowers. They are quite pretty. The stalks that the flowers grow on are hollow. I know your not suppose to eat those. I guess the rest of the stalks are all right to eat. Does any one else have rhubarb that flowers? And why does it do this? Can you make them not flower?

The flowering rhubarb plant.

The rhubarb plant - or shrub. It's big enough to be a shrub.

The flower bud before it blooms. And a pesky May Fly!

The flower.

Bandit sitting in front of the rhubarb. She doesn't like her picture taken. I had to ask her if she's been bunny hunting lately! That got her to look at me.

And a Columbine. These flowers are so so pretty. And they reseed. So, you have to be careful where they grow. I gather the seeds and spread them around everywhere.

Found the bull.

First off - OMG! And I didn't have a camera.  We headed out this morning at 9:00 am to go get the angus bull with the cut on his right rear leg. We figured he'd be a little more cooperative. WRONG! He was on the other side of the creek. Angus bulls LOVE the water. ;) Well, we had no problem getting him to start to cross the creek. There he stopped. The creek gets REAL deep as you get closer to the lake. And he was close to the lake! So we went in after him. 2 horses and 2 dogs. He didn't wanna play :( Shaking his head at us. That's their way of saying, "LEAVE ME ALONE". We didn't leave him alone. He could move pretty quick in the water. So could the horses and dogs! Well, Cameron figured he'd rope him and drag him out of the creek. His horse Junior, or "Bug" as we call him, has never been roped off of. He's swung a rope and had it around his legs and such, but not had a 1300 pound bull who's not happy on the end! The bull got to the edge of the lake and stopped. Cameron was, or I should say Bug was pulling with all his might. Bandit was in the water chewing on his hip. No budgy. Tug, tug, tug, PULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! The bull was flopping and twisting, going under water, getting WET. He was just getting ready to give in when SNAP! The hondo slipped. (Hondo=a reinforced loop at the end which the rope goes through to form a loop). There he stood looking like, Now what? Fixed the rope, looped it on him and drag him out. He wanted to chase the horses, more then he wanted to be lead. So he chased Bug while I chased him! And yea, he still was dragging a rope. Get to some shrubby trees, and he hid in there. Bandit tried  to get him out, he just got wrapped around the tree. Luckily I had a sorting stick with me and was able to hook the rope and get hold of it and go around the tree. Off he went, to the gate where the trailer was strategically place, and in the trailer he went. :) YEA. Now, to the barn to get treated. Got to the barn at 2 pm!  Can't use a horse to push him up the alley, since he's on the hook. So, on foot. He responded MUCH better on foot, then on horse. He only sent Cameron over the fence once! LOL! Not funny. I went and got him a bite of hay. "peace offering". He was receptive! So, in the barn, in the chute, and treated with antibiotics. Bandit followed him down the alley and into the bunk to chill till he heals. Oh, did I mention we had 1/2 inch of rain on top of this? Well, we did. :) Gotta love this lifestyle. Was a great day. Mission accomplished. :)

Cameron and Bug. What a great horse.

Bandit my amazing cowgirl.

Smokey, my other amazing cowgirl.

Nerdly and her 'daddy'. Nerdly in now 9 years old. She was a bottle baby. So sweet.

Moving Heifers.

Today was another hot, dry day. We're suppose to have a little rain the next 2 days and cooler temps. Yea, we'll see. How many times is the weather man right? Exactly.
We moved our replacement heifers and 5 out of the 6 angus bull. The first group of heifers went through the creek like good girls. Then we got to the gate and then went past it one way, turn them around, past it again, turn them around a few went through, the rest went past it! It was like trying to shove a cat in a sock! The next group of heifers (they were all in the same pasture, just different areas), saw us and ran! Ran to the creek, ran up the rocks, back to the creek. They were like dumping marbles on an uneven tile floor! But, that's heifers for ya.
As for the 5 out of 6 bulls, when we went to move the 2nd group of heifers, saw one of them limping pretty bad. He had a HUGE gash in his hind foot. So we tried to load him in the horse trailer. No luck, he didn't want to play.SO, we went home for lunch. Cameron left his horse at home and rode mine. He usually doesn't take any BS from the bulls. I won't bore you with the rest of the details. Needless to say 3 hours later and 2 tired dogs and a tired horse, and a real crabby husband he decided that the middle of the lake was a good place to hang out! So we left him till tomorrow. Maybe he'll be more cooperative. :) Maybe!

Good girls crossing the creek.

Keep going girls.

And, through the gate. Good girls, follow the bull! Poof! Dusty!

Cameron on my horse Leo. Looking for that darn bull.

Leo glad to be home eating grass. It was a long day for him.

Outta Here!

Monday we shipped a bunch of cull cows to the auction. Along with 6 dink pairs and an unusable angus bull. Had a FULL truck load. Cull cow is a cow that no longer serves her purpose on our ranch. She is open (not pregnant), lost a calf sometime between preg testing and branding. The dinks are from granny cows. They had itty bitty calves that weren't in our calving dates. We kept the younger cows with dinks. The younger cows will breed back, and hopefully calve with in the calving dates. If not, they will go to town too. The older(grannies), usually don't breed back, or they have later and later calves. The bull, well, he was shooting blanks. And that doesn't work when you want to have babies! :)

Waiting cows to be sorted by pairs and age.

7:00am right on time. Backing up to the loading dock.

The old guy backing the truck up to the dock.

And down the road the go. Red hill from the sunrise.

Gertie, our bottle baby. Just finished dinner.

Stach checking out the bottle. The cats love hanging with the calf.