Monday, January 30, 2012

Routine

I'll be the first to admit that I have a whiney cat. 

Now with that being said, I will be the first to admit that she only whines because she wants food about half of the time. The other half of the time she just wants to be loved.


And hugged. And cuddled with.

Seriously. Whenever I come into the house and she goes on a screaming rampage, I just pick her up, throw her over my shoulder, and she proceeds to shut her mouth and begin purring.



Good kitty.

Drainage Problems


What in tarnation is going on in this picture?! One might ask.

Well, we seem to be having some drainage issues with our manure pond. Yup, that's manure those fellas and my mom are standing so closely near. Or dangling over. 

Mud Mask Facial


'Nuff said.

Love

Love.


Love my ginormous horse. I pointed it out to Texas the other day that I have no clue as to what her nicker, neigh, whinny, whatever you wanna call it sounds like. She is that quiet. The most noise she makes his breathing out of her nose. 

Barn Sunset

I know I have a lot of these... sunrises, sunsets - but they are pretty awesome.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

My Personal Shelf

I tend to stick things between my overalls and my sweatshirt... kinda like a "shelf" as I've been referring to it lately to Manny. I put things there I can't hold but need....

Like our book of all the cows on site....

Donuts....


Ranch Kitties...

Cat Nap

Dos ventured out to the hay alley this morning while we were working cows. He found his new favorite spot to nap!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Almost Snow

This was taken about a month ago - I forgot I had it! 


I really loved this morning walk up to work because the corrals were so thick in frost that if you squinted and looked juuuuuust right, you would think our corrals were snow covered. Almost.

Four Eyes

Here's a picture of me one month ago getting fitted for some new eyes.


I don't know if it was some kind of joke around the office or what, but I was the only person in the lens room wearing these crazy looking glasses. People were seriously staring...

But, I've been patiently, patiently, waiting for the eye doctor to call me to inform me of the arrival of my new glasses/sunglasses. Apparently, my eyes are the opposite of cross eyed which really trips my head out sometimes. Eeek.

Weaning Weight

Here are some of our little big girls that are too big for mama but too small for the bull...

Monday, January 23, 2012

Good Day For a Run

After the first set of storm clouds cleared out Saturday, Texas and I took our doggies out for a run in the pastures. We realized they hadn't been out there together since before our trip to Texas. Shame on us!


It was an absolutely beautiful day to be out there watching our babies run around.


It's probably one of my absolute favorite things to do is watch our dogs run out in the field, just getting to act like dogs.


Perhaps it's also of Stoney's favorite things too?

A Horse Sickness

Well, Texas and I had had a fun Saturday night this weekend.

No, we didn't go out dancing.

No, we didn't go catch a movie.

No, we didn't have friends over to hang out.

Yes, we got to walk Romeo around for 3 hours hoping he wasn't going to require a trip to the ATM, aka the vet.

When Texas and I went to feed the horses as we were headed down to our house to grill out some burgers, Texas noticed Romeo was not his usual chipper, @$$hole self (really really) when eating his grain. Typically, Romeo could knock a person over when eating his grain because he's such a pig. Not Saturday night. Romeo had dull eyes, ate his grain painfully slow, and then decided to lay down instead of eat his hay.

Big, big red flag when a horse does not want to eat food put in front of them.

Along with laying down, turning his head back towards his belly, he was also pawing the ground and awkwardly stretching his front legs out. Those body cues along with not eating or drinking are signs of colic, a horse owner's enemy.

My mom and I are no strangers to colic as I had a high strung barrel horse in high school that had about 25 episodes of colic in the course of a year and  a half. She almost died. We decided to sell her to the vet after too much heartache, financial loss, and the inability to remain sane when leaving her alone unsupervised at home.

Even though colic is a long lost friend of ours, we were not expecting to see ol' man Romeo show signs of it the other night. I, of course, though the worst. The melanomas have finally started to kill him inside. I wouldn't have thought that initially, but Romeo was also shaking his head and rubbing his melanoma encased eye on the fence. I thought, Oh no, it really is happening this fast.

Luckily, or not, it was not the melanoma, we think. Romeo was definitely colicking and after some medicine from the barn fridge, he started to perk up within minutes. We think the cause of him getting sick may be a combination of the rainy weather which makes him not want to drink water and the oat hay we just switched the horses over to last week. Oat hay is a major factor in horses that colic.

Romeo is all better now, but as previous encounters have proven, he's very much prone to get sick again. After 7 years of owning Mr. Easy Keeper Romeo (besides his whole cancer deal..), I thought he was invincible. Guess I was wrong.

Miss Jade was all worried and confused the other night when we had taken Romeo out of his pasture. She just hung her head over the fence and kept her eyes locked on him. 


Here's to having healthy animals!

Jaderoo Camera Phone Photoshoot

Disclaimer: I am slightly obsessed.









Cloudy Morning

This was a beautiful sight to see Friday morning... 


Clouds!!! You know what they say about clouds??

RAIN!!

Dairy Princess

Yes, I do look this beautiful when rolling out of bed in the morning...

The Tail End

Sometime last week, Manny and I were busy going through some springers, and Stoney decided to entertain himself...


I literally watched him do this for about 5 minutes, everytime he started up again, thinking to myself, I better get this on video, this is the last time he's going to chase his tail today

Ha.

I caught the "tail end" of his performance in the above video. 

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

A Hay Truck Sunrise

Got a hay delivery this morning... wished I had my better camera, or actually, a camera that's not also a phone, to take a picture of the sunrise coming up.


These pictures don't do it justice, but it was a pretty, pretty morning. Something about seeing hay coming off a truck when it's in such short supply around these parts. Add a sunrise into the mix and well, ya got yourself a pretty day.


Weird Cat

Just in case this wasn't weird enough thinking this was just water the cat was walking through...


It's actually manure water from the cows. As in, it's filled with allllll their delicious food that goes in... and out. This cat won't be getting cuddled with for awhile.

A Cowgirl's Fire Dance

I was helping Texas put in posts for bracers last week for our new fence going up in one of the pastures. He had to cut off some pipe with his welding device, and I thought it would be cool to get up close and personal...


End up doing a little fire dance!!

Feeding Time

Feeding the beef cows out in pasture... waiting for rain!!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Shhh.

Shhh.


Our engagement pictures.



Just a preview. A silly preview. ;)




Thursday, January 12, 2012

Four Pounds

Little Mr. Princess gained four pounds this week.


After switching from puppy food to dog food, Stoney started dropping weight even though he was being fed more than the suggested amount on the dog bag. With doubling his daily food intake, he's looking a little thicker these days.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Two Favorites

Two favorites.


Sunsets on the ranch. And my baby girl Jade.

Dry

The California Central Valley has been extremely dry this winter. Actually, of of California is suffering from a dry spell, but especially is folks up here in the smack dab middle of the state.


We thought this winter was going to be a wet one when we got some shower in early September which is not typical. When we got some showers in November, we figured that was the end of dry corrals...

Now sitting here in the middle of January, working in t shirts, getting sunburns, and coughing at the dust flying up from the corrals, we along with ranchers and farmers valleywide are getting really nervous as to how long this dry spell is going to last...

Doin' a little rain dance, hoping yall will get your dancing shoes on as well.

Four

Four...


...of these little tikes running around the place as of the last week or two.

Can I Help You?

Um.


Can I help you?

Update

Hote-ho is doing better. Keeping a wary eye on him, but nonetheless, he is back to normal.


Except for the acting like a princess gig...

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

The Same, But Not Really

So, we got home Monday night at 10 p.m. after driving 20 hours nonstop from Amarillo, TX to Oakdale, CA. Awesome visit back to see Texas' family (and my-soon-to-be fam!), great food, some good times at the bar dancin', expensive but much needed shopping, and some relaxation thrown in the mix. Just some though.

Today was our first day back to work. Back to the daily grind. Everything was going fine and dandy all morning long. I moved some cows around with Manny, joked around a lot, and Texas drove around a lot pretending to look busy. ;)

Well, a little twist in our daily work day came about 11:45 a.m. We had thrown the doggies outside while we had a repairman come measure our floor to replace the linoleum from water damage last winter. Both our dogs were chipper and bouncin' around the place when we threw them outside in the kennel. When we went to take them back inside 20 minutes later, we came out to vomit, diarrhea (sorry yall but ya should know I don't leave out the details), and Hote glassy eyed, and immobile. Texas threw his violently ill dog into the truck and booked it to the vet. My mom and I followed as quick as we could. The news we got from the vet was not promising. Hote was so terribly sick, and we just couldn't pinpoint the reason. We left Hote in the care of the vets and God. We all left the office thinking that could be the last time we see the red haired hound.

I guess we should have known that Hote is not like any other dog. C'mon, this is a dog that can corner 100-200 lb wild hogs. This severe, sudden illness that came over him was nothing. He had us all, including the vets, convinced he wasn't going to make it through the day, but Texas got a surprising, but very very welcoming phone call an hour after we got back home. His pup was sitting up, and "100% better". 

Now? He's sitting in my Momma's back porch with a catheter in his foot, snuggled up with his brother, lovin' life, and under very watchful care.


The cause? We still don't know. It could have been a bacterial infection that finally surfaced, or possibly a reaction from the poisonous nettles weed that is sprouting up right now from our unseasonably warm weather, or something else entirely.... we may never know.

Besides that whole dramatic and scary part of the day, everything else around this place is pretty much the same.


My baby girl is still sweet. And sassy. And fat. And cute. And the list goes on...


Stoney Bee is still pressshhhh-us.


And he still loves his dad... which he will be legally adopting soon! ;)


Peps and Dos are still alive and kickin' - which ain't easy around this place, lemme tell ya.


I'm still chasing after these critters... I know you're jealous of my view.


There are some things that are different... different things that we intended on... like 4 more deer heads to hang up in the house. Pretty nifty for Texas having his Pops be a Taxidermist.


Another kinda different thing about being home - this girl in the corner is not quite as happy as she once was. She's absolutely terrified of the new deer heads in the house. You would think with 2 deer and 1 antelope already in the house,  Goose would have said," "Oh, the more the merrier, bring on the dead animals!" 

Well, in case yall were wondering, she doesn't dig the new dead heads. She confined herself in "her room" with her food and litter box all of yesterday evening and most of today. I forced her to spend the night in our bedroom last night, but she hid under the bed the entire night because she was too afraid to come face to face with the two new bucks in the room. She slinks by the new guy in the dining room. She's actually so scared that she's been trying to escape out of the door to the outside world which she has, believe it or not, never done before. Slowly, but surely, I hope we can get her used to her new dead friends.

So yall, like I said, I guess things in California are the same, but not really.



Monday, January 2, 2012

My Resolutions

Happy New Year friends, family, and strangers! Hope y'all filled up on yer black eyed peas and rang in 2012 with some special people.

I'm gonna cut to the chase as Texas and I are drivin back to CA right now and my driving shift is here in about 30 miles. Here are my New Years Resolutions/Goals:

1) Incorporate God into my life a little more. Ive been through a lot emotionally this last year, and I think I could use Him to lean on. Actually, this is a goal for both Texas and I.

2) Keep the 25 lbs I lost off.. And tone up even more! It's hard to belIeve I had that much weight to lose. I definitely feel sexier, happier, and healthier. I didn't get wheezy once during my hunting trek in the Canyon this last week. I think part of that is due to my eating and exercising habits during the last 7 months.

3) With a wedding on the horizon, I'm really wanting to avoid being a Bridezilla. This day and age, so many people lose sight of why they're getting married and instead try to throw as much money around as possible. Part of me just wants to zip over to Colorado right now, find a field to get married in, and then call it good. But, I do really want some family and friends present, so I guess we'll wait until the summer :)

4) Continue to stand up for myself. I'm a reserved person for the most part, and I've gone a long time dealing with people talking over me, or trying to tell me what I think is not right. Well dangit, I'm a 24 year old woman who's been living on her own and making her own decisions for quite awhile now. I sure as heck don't need 'supportive' people in my life telling me what to do and what not tO do.. If that means I burn some bridges, well, at least that's proof that I've stood up for something in my life. And what better person to stand up for than yourself?

5) Start competing with Jade at barrel races. Since the new year, she's officially 5 years old and growing up to be an awesome horse. And, if she doesn't end up liking the barrels, at least I'll have a broke horse. She's already come a long ways in the 7 months Ive had her. Picking up her left leAd, starting to slide some 11's in the ground, giving her face and collecting really pretty, and bending both ways, plus getting to those flying lead changes. Not bad for a filly that bucked me off the first time I brought her home!

6)Continue with my blog.. Duh! It brings me such happiness to share me world with ones near and far.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

And This Little Piggy Ran All The Way Home

I went hunting with Texas, his brother, and his dad on Thursday and Friday. We initially were hunting for Auodads in the Palo Duro Canyon here in Canyon, Texas. We didn't find any of the elusive Mountain Sheep, but we did spot several Mule Deer, Whitetail Deer, skunks, and.... HOGS.

Here in Texas, hogs are a nuisance. In fact, they are extremely dangerous. Outweighing me, they are big, gnarly, violent creatures that tear up ranches and even kill livestock.

We spotted three on the hunting trip, and the last one...


... I got to see up close and personal.

I spotted the Boar (male hog) as Texas, his dad, and I were walking back to the truck after another uneventful canyon sightseeing. The whole trip I was spotting creatures left and right, it's almost like my eyes were made for me to be a hunter. Well, this guy was no exception. I spotted him, grabbed Texas, who then grabbed his Dad, and we all tried to bunker down behind the brush, so we wouldn't get spotted. These suckers are very aware of their surroundings, and they can MOVE at like 35 mph. Well, he caught sight of us and started to book it towards the edge of the hunting property. With the moral guidance of Texas, I crouched down, looked down the scope, and just let 'er rip. We all got a shot at him as he ran off, and I wasn't quite sure if we had got em. After we lost sight of him, we walked off towards his direction, found a blood trail, and came up on the lovely sight of a nasty pig down in the dirt. We got all three shots in him, so really, this was a group effort. But, the boys swear up and down I would have had him down with my first bullet. Soooo, I'll take their word and claim the 120 lb Boar as my first hog. :)
When in Texas....