Down to the wire...

Gettin' a little nervous. The big event is tomorrow and I want to do well cause I really want to win that buckle. So I'm keepin' my fingers crossed. Maybe all of y'all should cross your fingers too. I need all the help I can get. Oh, and pray that I won't need this......

Let's hope not. But everyone knows I'm a clutz. The husband doesn't call me Grace for nothin'. Adding a horse, rope, wild donkeys and calves to the equation doesn't bode very well for this oh-so coordinated lady. You know when the husband participated in his first ranch rodeo in March, he fell on his face running in the arena. I laughed and laughed. Now I'm thinkin' it's gonna bite me in the butt. What goes around comes around. Why can't it just go. I'm good with that.

Well, if all my limbs are intact, I will update the blog late Saturday night or Sunday. I know you can hardly wait for pictures. I'll try not to make you wait too long. Wish me luck!

Ranch Rodeo Part II

Now that you are familiar with my boots and hat, let's move on to some more items. This next accessory is more for protection of legs. They are the chinks...

You may look at them and say, look like chaps to me, but they are not. Chinks only come down past your knee. They don't cover your entire leg like chaps do. As you can see, my lovely pair have been broke in rather well. My brother sent them to me from the feedyard. Not only do they look rough, they smelt to high heaven. I hung them in the laundry room at first. Finally, the husband said they had to go and took them to the barn. I happen to wear my rain jacket that was hanging next to them and boy was that thing rank. Shoo wee! I think I would rather get wet then have that hood over my head!

Oh, have I mentioned it is going to be 90+ degrees this weekend. Not only am I wearing a long sleeve BLACK shirt, but will have leather chinks strapped to my legs. Hmmmm, I may really stink from sweating but my good 'ol chinks will mask the odor. Figured that would come in handy sometime.

Alright, let's see what my next item is.....

ahhh, my rope. So I have never really been much of a roper. Never got into it. But for this ranch rodeo, we have to rope. So the husband went and bought me this great rope, cotton glove, and a steer and a calf head to practice on. I must say, I enjoy the roping. First practice, first time to throw a loop from a horse, I caught a calf! I know, couldn't believe it either. The husband was speechless too. But it turns out, I am a first time throw/catch girl. I usually always catch on the first loop. But then, I keep trying and I run those poor calves to death. Eventually some just stop and lay down. Come on little calfers do you really need to rub it in my face like that. It takes skill to lean off the side of a horse and try to fish a loop over a sleeping calf's head but it can be done.

Upcoming Ranch Rodeo

As some of you know, I will be participating in a women's ranch rodeo this weekend. For those of you who do not know what that is, let me educate ya. It's a rodeo that has events that would take place on a working ranch. The four events for this rodeo include: Branding, Sorting, Trailer Loading and Wild Donkey Riding. Our church is puttin' it on and I am the team leader for the girls. I came up with a real snazzy name for us too.....H.O.T. Chicks. Had it embroidered on the back of our shirts. Oh yeah.....we'll be stylin' and profilin'!

For the next few days, I am going to provide you with a description of the accoutrement's that are needed for this endeavor. So let us begin with what I believe is the most fashionable and chic accessory I have...............
my tall top pink boots with blinged out spur straps. Really, how much cooler can you be? I remember the day I saw these boots. I called the Husband and said, "Guess what I just found, tall top pink boots! And they fit perfectly" And of course he said, "You must have these boots, buy them and charge 'em to my account." Oh, wait......that's not exactly what he said. It was more like, "Sounds cool, but why you callin' me, you're gonna buy 'em anyways." True so very true.

And then we have.............

the straw hat with a feather. Must have a feather. I really wanted a turkey feather but couldn't find one. So I had to suck it up and put this thing in my hat. Oh well, still the punchiest girl around these here parts.

I see the hat as serving two main purposes. It provides excellent shade for the face and neck, as well as, allows me to go a day without brushing my hair. Oh yeah! Major plus!

Okie dokie cowpokies, tomorrow I will fill you in on a couple more items. I bet you didn't know accessories and wardrobe were such a major focal point to a ranch rodeo. Well, they probably aren't for most but for a women's ranch rodeo...........come on, what do you expect!

A Blogger Lesson

Okay, my blogger peeps. Yes, I am talking to you. I have heard you are out there but I have my suspicions cause I never get any comments. Well, I get the occassional smart remark from my co-worker but that's about it. So I want to encourage everyone to post comments on my blog. That way at least I will know you are looking at it. Most of the time, I think I am talking to myself or just the husband, which is like talking to myself. But I would like to get your thoughts on my posts. And if you start commenting to much, I will take this offer off the table. But lets just see how it goes first.

Since I am new to the blogging, I figure many of you are new to it as well. So I thought I would give you a quick lesson on commenting. First, as you see below this post, as with most of them, there is a o Comment link. Just click on the link and a comment screen will appear. All you have to do is type your lovely remarks about the blog then enter the security letters to make sure you're not no spammer or something. Than you can go to the Name/URL button or Ain't Gonna Tell You My Name button, enter what you wish, hit the publish button and you're done. See......how easy is that.

So now that you've been lessoned, I hope to hear from ya.

Here Come the Bulls

The husband and I went back to what we consider our hometown this weekend. We took three of our young bulls in hopes that we could buck 'em. Only one was ready though. So I would like to show off Stubby. He's for sale if anyone is interested! ;o)

I was pretty proud cause he's out of what the husband calls "my lawn ornaments." His momma is one of my longhorns. Plus he was bellerin' the whole time he bucked. I love that! I had told the husband that he was going to surprise him but he didn't believe me. Just goes to show he needs to start listening to me more.

Moody Women

Why is it everytime you get a bunch of women together, someone gets into a tiff? I swear, it don't matter if it's humans or cows. Went out to feed this evening and two cows can't get along. They start with the dirt pawing and the bellerin'. Then it's on. The husband was worried they were going to hit his truck. He tried breaking it up but they listen to him about as good as I do when I'm mad.

That's Oreo on the left and Cherokee on the right. Cherokee was the instigator of the fight. Maybe Oreo was flashing her teets a little too much at the bull for Cherokee's taste. Who knows! But she was upset about something.

New Interest

Okay, so I have become the crazy person parked on the side of the road taking pictures in the bar ditch. I can't help myself. I have a need to slam on the brakes, whip my camera out and walk thru knee high grass to take pictures of wildflowers along the road. I know people are thinking "what the heck is that girl doing out there?" Of course today it was on my way home from work so I still had my "professional" attire on while I was up to my waist in brush. And at the time, I'm not thinkin' about the snakes or the bugs, just what a pretty picture I can get. Then as I am walking back to the truck, I start itchin' and notice something bit me on the arm. Oh well, it was worth it. Here is one of my favorites from today's roadside excursion........


There were a few other ones that I thought were pretty neat too. If you notice on the left-hand side of the blog, I have a slideshow now. It is currently just wildflower pictures. I thought it would be a good way to show them without posting every single one. I will be changing it out ever so often.

Home Sweet Home

Boy, am I glad to be home. I am not a city girl. I don't see why anyone would want to live in a city when the majority of your time is spent sitting in traffic. It is so nice to drive home and see this..................



Not a soul but me on the road. Isn't that nice and peaceful. No honking or evil glares, no finger waving or tailgating, just a long stretch of open road. These city folk don't know what they're missin'! You can take all your stores and restaraunts. I got a chicken place 12 miles down the road or a pizza place 10 miles the other way. And you know what, it will take me only 15 minutes or less to get to each. Took me over 30 minutes to get 5 miles in the city. That's just a cryin' shame. It's so good to be home!

Plus the Husband has missed me so. He said he checked the blog every night to see if I had posted anything. Ain't that sweet. And he hasn't been able to sleep since I've been gone. He was so happy to see me. I think he is just delirious from exhaustion. Oh well, I'll take it however it comes. Gotta tuck the Husband in, blog at ya later!

GO STARS!!!!

It's do or die tonight for the Stars. I'm keeping the faith they are going to pull it out. Would have loved to have gone to the game....Stars vs. Red Wings....awesome! The husband even said he would take me and fly me to my training but couldn't do it. Maybe when they play for the Stanley Cup, we can go. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

The Big City

I arrived in the capitol city this morning to help with a training for a few days. I did well driving in, finding my way downtown, etc. The husband called me to make sure I got here okay. "Of course I did," I said, "No problems." Everyone here knows I'm from the country. One guy even asked me, "How is cow country?" Which I take in stride, no biggie, I'm proud to be country. But then I got to the hotel and checked in. All good.....went up to my room and this is what I saw when I went to open the door........



WHAT THE HECK!!! I may speak funny and call things by different names but handicap.....I look around to see if there are buttons on the other doors....NOPE! Oh well, I would rather be "handicapped" than live in this rat race.

SUCCESS!!

I was starting to wonder after my failed efforts on Saturday. That evening I was grilling steaks when the Husband drove in, he yelled, "Get your camera!" from his car as he pulled up. I ran into the house, grabbed the camera and peeled out of the drive. Pulled up to the pasture and there is was. But it was nursing, so I couldn't get a real good picture. I got out of the car and there momma went again, headed to the back. "Noooo!" Dang it, as I try to get pictures, my camera's batteries die. What luck.


Fast forward to this evening. We happen to drive past and lookie lookie who's by the fence. I ease out of the truck and jump on the back and this is what I got......



Yeah Me! Mission completed!

New Peeps at the Place

We had some new faces show up around the place today. My big brother arrived with some of our young bulls this afternoon on his big rig. Brought them in from the Panhandle. They are probably so happy to see a tree again! It was the first time the brother had been to our new abode. I think he approves. Little Sis did alright.


Everyone say hello to my Big Brother.

We also had some calves born.





I just love new babies. They're so cute. Just want to hug 'em and squeeze 'em and pet 'em and the husband says, "Buck 'em!" Whatever...........

The Mission Continues......

Momma buffalo has it out for me. I watched out the window all day waiting to see them up close to the road or at least on this side of the pasture. No luck. So finally, I decided to take my chances and walk out there. I walked to the bottom of the pasture and the suckers seem to be taunting me. They were in camera range, sure enough, but they were also in waist high sunflowers. So I couldn't even see the baby if I wanted to. Then all of 'em came right up to me while momma ran off to the back. Gimme a freakin' break!



See....they were hiding.



This one even tried to camouflage itself. Sneaky little sucker!



"Hey, we'll let you take our close-ups." Thanks but no thanks!



There goes momma with the baby.



"Dude, you're hand stinks!"

#1 Thing I Hate

Hate is a pretty strong word but I think it's appropriate in this instance. For all of you that don't know what this is, let me fill you in. These are devil insects. They're about the size of a flea but pack the punch of a hornet.....FIRE ANTS! It seems no matter where I stand these days, I end up in a fire ant mound. That or I am just the ultimate fire ant candy. As I sit here and type, my foot is on fire, itching and burning. Luckily yesterday when I was standing in the middle of them, I had pantyhose on. It seems as though the little evil critters have a hard time penetrating the netting. Which is a good thing cause I got about four bites and my foot was covered in 'em. So I curse the fire ant.

I know we're suppose to love all God's creatures but I say, "Death to the fire ants!"

Grass Cuttin'

Yes, I have lawn boys. They showed up today and man were we in need of some grass cuttin. With all the rain we've received lately, the grass was growing. Having lawn boys makes me feel a little hoity toity and I like it! But as many of you know, the Husband is very allergic to grass and I am very allergic to manual labor! Plus what takes them about 15 minutes to finish would take me hours upon hours. So to keep the Husband from dying and me from perspiring, we've added the lawn boys to our monthly expenditures.

Thank you lawn boys!

Now if I could only talk the Husband into a pool so I could get a Pool Boy!

On a Mission

I am on a mission this weekend. Let me fill you in. In the pasture across the road from our place are buffalo. I have been waiting years for one to have a baby. Yesterday, as I pulled in from work, I looked over and to my surprise, THERE WAS A BABY BUFFALO! Of course, I had to take a picture and post it on the blog. Well, dag gum, the momma has it too far away. So I come on home and start feeding the animals. I walk back out to the road and glimpse over to see if she's decided to work with me but she hasn't. About that time, the Husband calls me and asks what I am doing. I tell him I am admiring the baby and wanting so badly to take its picture. So he tells me to go get some cubes (cattle feed) and pour it over the fence. Surely that will get it closer. So I trudge back down the drive to the barn and fill a bucket with cubes. I'm thinkin', "all right, missy, this is it. You can't resist staying away now." I pour the cubes out and all the other buffalo come to me. No problem.....well, one problem, she still won't budge. And then Duke starts barking, then Pepper and Zena start trying to get into the pasture to get the buffalo. I'm yelling and swatting, no wonder she won't get any closer. So I holler at the dogs to get back and we go sit up the drive and wait. I figure I can wait her out. She'll be curious about the food and make her way over. And what do you know, looky there, here she comes. So I grab the camera and head that way. Well so does Duke, barking all the while. "SHUT UP DUKE!" He just doesn't quite understand the concept of sneaking. Before I could even think about getting a shot, momma turns around and heads to the back. DANG IT! So I gave up.

Today when I came in, I thought maybe she would be waiting for me by the road, all proud to show me her baby. NOT! Still in the back. What is up with this momma? All mothers want their babies pictures taken. I was all prepared too. Had the camera turned on, rolled down the window, finger hovering ever so slightly over the button. What disappointment. Then the Husband calls and asks, "Did you get the picture?" NO!

So this weekend, it is my mission to take a picture of the baby buffalo. By Monday morning, a photo of the baby will be published on my blog. If I have to go climb thru the fence and chase the sucker down, it will be done. Wish me luck!

Morning Sunshine!

Texas sunrisings are so pretty. I was headed to work, looked over at the horizon and this is what I saw. So I pulled over and thought I would share it with everyone. Not only am I happy today is Friday!! Woohoo!! But when I get to see this first thing in the morning, it just makes me smile......

I Get No Respect....

So I am out trying to take pictures of our lovely cows and calves. I'm walking amongst them telling 'em how to pose for the perfect angle and this is what they give me......



What's up with that! No respect I tell ya, none!

Thunder & Lightnin', Very, Very Frightnin'

Holy Cow, did it storm early this morning. About 1 am, the thunder and lightnin' rolled in and by 2am, a full fledge storm was among us. Pop's last night was dramatic. Don't think he knew what was gettin' him. Turns out it was just a Texas storm. The creeks were still risin' when I got home from work this afternoon. They tell us down here to "Turn around, don't drown!" at high water crossings. But not me, no sir, me and my truck drove right thru the water flowing over the road. Okay, so I pee'd my pants a little but I got thru it. Here are some pics of the bridge right by our house.

Working Cattle

So we worked our cattle from sun up to sun down. Boy, were we tired. Our preacher man came out to help. It was quite the experience for him. Don't think he had worked rodeo cattle like ours before. Our calves gave him a run for his money. He got bit, kicked, britches and shirt torn and that was just working the calves!! He was a good sport though. We couldn't have done it without him.

Preacher man after working the calves.

Our sweet innocent calves......

My cattle working crew...Pops, the husband, preacher man, and our BFF Dino.

Look, there I am getting into the mix of things.

Ahhhhh....nothing better than the smell of burning hair and flesh.....

Fence Repair

While I was out taking pictures in the pasture yesterday, the Husband and Pops were doing some fence repair. They said I had to take some shots of them working cause all I'd been talking 'bout was their fishin'. So I caught them doing some repairin'. Don't think it was back breaking work by no means but they were exerting some energy in a means other than castin' a line. Which was done shortly after these photos were snapped!!

My Mother's Day Flowers for You......

Okay, so they're not your typical Mother's Day flowers. These are Texas style flowers. I was out in the pasture yesterday and found this blooming cactus. Thought it was pretty and needed it's picture taken. Other picture of the butterfly was taken along side the country road by our house. It was a very patient butterfly. I had to take several shots before I got one I liked.

Happy Mother's Day

Hope all the mothers have a great day. We're thinkin' 'bout ya!!

Product of the Day.....

Okay.....Just couldn't resist this one. I saw this ad in a horse catalog. So what more is there to say.....I don't think my girls want Uncle Jimmy's Hangin' Balls......

Fishin'

I got home from work this evening and found the Husband and Pops at the neighbor's fishin' hole. They said they had just thrown out their lines. Later I found out that they had their lines in our tank most of the morning. As you will see, they are quite the master fisherman.......

Pop with his prize catch of the day.

The Husband with his trophy winner....sad, huh!

That's me pickin' out the best tastin' worm of the bunch.

Alright, can you see my massive fish. I know it looks like the bait hanging from my hand but I am very talented. It takes years of fishing experience to master the skill of catching such small fish.

Some call it bait, I call it "The Catch of the Day!"