• April 5-7  A weekend of trying to fight off a head and chest cold!  I do hate to be down.  I have way too many projects to attend to.  Abbie concocted a medication up for me last night  before we went to bed and I slept pretty good until we checked on the thunder storm headed our way.  Tulsa got hail, wind with torrent sheets of rain!  We lucked out and got a good rain with a little wind!  Water is standing on the hill tops again!  Visited with a gentleman from Sequin Texas this morning and he said they are real dry there and could use some rain! 
• I went shopping last week at the local Equipment store named Chupp's Implement.  I think the owner was a little shocked that a lady would come shopping for a pasture harrow! ha  I assured him that I knew what I wanted and he just happened to have that piece of equipment on his lot.  So I retired the bed springs as a hunk of steel for recycle we hope!  Sure hate to see that choice piece of equipment go into retirement. ha  I am sure it has lots of memories! 
• In my state of ill repair I have been doing some research on the family tree.  On the Vandergeest and Herrington side of the family!  Made contact with another Vandergeest. We are looking into any relations now. 
• Distant Cousin Judy from Onawa, Iowa also sent us a picture of John Herrington Junior's farm home in Danbury Iowa in the 1900's.  Also a cute picture of Harvey with his dog hitched up to a wagon.  Kids today only dream of entertainment like that anymore!  We saw on the Morning news where they are now making vehicles with dog restraints for protection against collisions!  The school systems are not required to buckle our school kids up in death trap buses but we liable if we don't do it now with our grandkids!  What a pain to strap a toddler in a car seat for 600 miles!  We had to stop and let Olivia out several times on our way home from Nebraska!  What will they think of next for animal safety!  We had an old mixed mutt  that thought he was a hood ornament.  He would really have been bent out of shape if he had to stay tallied to a cord in the padded back seat of the truck.   He would get bored in the back of the truck and jump up on top of the roof of the pickup truck and slide down the window to the hood.  We had traffic almost drive off the road on 183 a few times!  Plus we had to slow down so we didn't throw the idiot off in front of us!  He didn't die from that bit of high intelligence, he got ran over on highway 20 by Johnstown NE chasing a rabbit!  The passing truck got the rabbit and him both so that tells you how fast he was!  Not fast enough! ha
• Back to the family tree... I got off the subject for a minute! ha  GG Grandmother Agusta was said to have been wearing wooden shoes when she came to America with her husband William (Henry) Klinke/Klink who was also born in Prussia Germany in 1854.  The family story handed down is that she was disowned and disinherited from her Dutch family for marrying William.  Information about the Vandergeest family is hard to find in the Netherlands and Germany as they were caught up in the holocaust.  One such survivors is Jack Vandergeest  of South Dakota, who has written several books and spoke about the incident that he witnessed.  It makes me wonder if he is a distant relative?  Agusta and I have a similar likeness that is spooky huh?  My grandfather always said we were German and Dutch and didn't amount to much! ha  Have a great day!

• April 8-11  I finally gave up the ship and went to the Dr.  He gave me five days of antibiotics and cough syrup.  Today I am finally starting to feel human again!  It's been raining and windy for the past few days too.  A cold north west wind blew in today from up north.  Family says they got a good snow storm from it.   The bridge was covered up all day yesterday but see a few trucks going by today!  Someday that old bridge will float on down the creek! I hope our great county leaders build a new one before that happens.  Happy Birthday Beck!  Your card is on it's way!  Sorry to hear that old family friend Don Fox passed away.  He was still carrying mail the last time I saw him.  Our love and sympathy goes out to Ruth and his family.   He was a super good guy!  They don't make many of those these days!  Good Guys! 
• Here is a picture of Lulu at Houston..  She looked pretty awesome Mike!  We finally got those pictures from Houston Livestock Show.  See them at the News Page.

• April 12-14  Happy Birthday Dad!  Gee that makes you what?  That can't be right your still a spring chicken!  Your most favorite thing in life is your John Deere tractor that you spend many a day in pushing around dirt or knocking off soap weeds in the hills!  Hope your day was great as you were in that darn tractor when I called to wish you happy birthday! ha  Justin came this morning and he got all five head of horses feet trimmed and I got them all wormed and new bridle paths trimmed.  I was good to them and let them roam around the yard today while I mowed down the weeds.  They got some good picking in the yard too.  They all behaved well except Wily had to throw a little fit when he got his feet trimmed but not for long.  Justin got his undivided attention with a thump in the ribs.   Surprising how fast they learn who is in charge.  Glad Justin came back to Oklahoma after a few months in Ohio.  I was beginning to sweat who I was going to get to trim feet.   Tee, Wily and Jazz all look pretty good, but Baby Jetta and the old Gray Mare Jaycee wintered hard.   I am going to keep Jetta up and feed her some extra and prepare to break her this Spring.  Justin will put the formalities on her and use a round pen on her first ride. 
• This is a picture I took while Olivia and Delynn were here a few weeks ago.  Sounds like we will have all kinds of company next weekend.  California and Mississippi folks coming in.  I mowed up the place today so that project is done for a week or so.   It is absolutely beautiful today!  Big change from all the wind and rain the past week.  The frost doesn't seem to have hurt too much so far here.   I hope it calms down and warms up so the grass can keep ahead of the cattle.

• April 15-21  Happy Birthday brother Bill the 21st!  We had a house full of family and friends over the weekend.  It started when Mom and Dad came in on Thursday night from Nebraska.  The railroad conveniently closed all crossing to us within five miles.  So in other words they got lost trying to find a way in!  But we finally made contact and we met them in Big Cabin to escort them in one crossing they had not yet closed! Friday evening Tom, Carol and Barry flew in from a meeting they had been to in Texas.  So they left the airplane in Tulsa and picked up a rental car and drove out.  Scott, Shelly and Lexi came in from Mississippi too.  So we grilled up Maine/Braunvieh cross steaks for the crew that night and had a great visit!  Saturday Scott picked out some heifers and Lexi picked out her steer before they headed back south and east.  Always a pleasure to see those folks.  Lexi brought her Schnauzer puppy Libby along and we all tried hard to spoil her.  Lexi had been here when Hally was a puppy and she fell in love with her.  We took a tour to Claremore J M Davis Gun Museum and we also took in Will Roger's Museum New Mexico on Saturday afternoon.   They all enjoyed the day!  We had supper at the Chuck Wagon and I think we were all exhausted on Sunday.  It was a day of rest for the whole crew!  Although Abbie and Crystal ran cows through for pre breeding shots.  Sure glad I got to miss that episode! ha  I spent most of my time entertaining and cooking! 
• Today everyone flew the chicken coop and headed home.  Mom and Dad left for the north country early.  We went into Thomas Restaurant in Pryor for breakfast with Barry, Carol and Tom.  They headed back to Tulsa to pick up their plane and are headed to Roswell
• capade! ha   Thank you so much family and friends for a great weekend.  It's going to be hard to top this weekend for fun!  We truly are blessed to have such great family and friends.
• The Oklahoma Club Calf Association Banquet Show was on Saturday in Stillwater.  Lulu won Supreme Reserve Grand Champion Heifer honors for Rashele.  Congratulations Blakley family!  We are happy for your success in showing Lulu! Not everyday that a darn Percentage Braunvieh can win a big show like that one.  She beat out some high dollar heifers too!  She didn't cost 18-5 either! ha  A personal joke! We heard that Cody overslept and didn't get to make the trip to Stillwater with Adrianna!  Think we will buy that boy an alarm clock for college! ha  Brock was Reserve Junior Showman in both rings!  Great job Brock!  We are proud of you! You are going to scare the daylights out of the senior showmen! 
• We dropped off the silver truck to get the new bed put on today!  My hay hauling days will get to start out with a new looking truck next week.  All the rain we got has stopped our hay hauling for awhile and also my pasture dragging! ha  We are down to less than a dozen to calve now! So calving will soon be over for another Spring!  Thank the Lord! 
• Here is a picture of Carol and Barry and their new found buddy named TLC Bud's Barry!  Yep we didn't have a bull named Barry so now we do! ha   Barry and Carol are pharmacist from California and they fell in love with the cattle.  We are happy you had a good time in Oklahoma!
• Congratulations friends, Carol and Ed Smith on your winning 2 year old filly that broke the World Record Horse Race in El Paso Texas over the weekend!  How exciting to own a World Record holder!  Speed index of 111.0  WOW!

• This is very interesting fact since we are daily exposed to Manure on this ranch!  We are the director of compost operations.   We are either scooping it, walking in it, jumping over it, falling in it, wearing it, dragging and spreading it at the Thorne Ranch! ha   I think I gave this to you all a few years ago but worth repeating!

• April 22-25 

A busy week of catching up on chores, planting flowers pulling weeds, book work, and resting up from all the company! ha  I finally got all the beds washed and floors cleaned up.  We are expecting the New Mexico crew in tomorrow afternoon.  Snow storm reported from NE today no wonder it cooled down in OK!  I ran the air this morning to get rid of some of the humidity! The rains have replenished the ponds again!  Guess we shouldn't complain about moisture but it's getting a little old!  Sure glad the roof don't leak anymore! ha  Now we just need to fix the pond out front that the dam broke on! 

• April 26, Some other crazy ranch woman sent this. Word is that she rolled her auto the other day and lived to tell about it!  Glad you made it out okay Clarice!  Some of this does apply to this ranch woman and some does not. ha  Please read this first.  My answers and relations to this story is to the right.

  Reasons not to assault a Ranch Woman
  
     Violence does not scare us. We ride 1,500 pound  horses and stare down an alley full of mad, snot-slinging cows that  weigh over 800 pounds.  We've held down calves that outweigh you by four times. Don't try to  intimidate us. Most of our husbands stand a  head and shoulders taller,  outweigh us by 100 pounds and we aren't  scared of them. Why would be  we be frightened by someone who can't  keep their pants up?  Every time we work cows, our husbands threaten us  if we don't get out  of the gate. They threaten us if we don't stay in  the gate.  We are pretty much not impressed by threats. Plus, if you  get much  closer we may give you some threats of your own to consider  and be able to  back it up.
      Don't wave that knife at me, boy. I  castrate when we brand, throw the 'mountain oysters' on the fire AND  eat them, dirt and all. You probably don't want to go there.     Don't threaten to steal my pickup. I work for a living, so I have insurance.     The chances of you being able to drive a standard are next  to none and there is no spare. I've walked home from the back side of  the ranch,  I can walk from here.
      You want my purse? Take my  purse. It has little money in it because, as I mentioned, I work for a  living. You will find various receipts for feed and vet supplies, some dried up gum and the notice for my next teeth cleaning. The only  'drugs' you will find is something that is either aspirin or a calf  scours pill
  but its been in there so long I've forgotten which it  is.  Don't threaten to hurt me. I may look old and fragile to you, but  I can ride horseback for 12 hours, with nothing to eat or drink. I  have been
  kicked, bucked off, run over and mucked out. I've  had worse things happen to me in the corrals than you have experienced  in the little gang wars you've been through, and still cooked supper for a crew.
     You may whip me, son, but you'll be a tired, sore S.O.B.  in the morning and yes, I will remember your face because I am used to  knowing which calf belongs to which cow.  I'll also remember  which direction you went and what you were wearing because I've  tracked many a cow with less information than you've given me.  You are not going to scare me with that little 'Saturday Night Special' when I have a .38 in my boot.  You need not think I  won't shoot you. I've shot several coyotes and numerous  rattlesnakes.  I put down my horse when he broke his leg and shot my  pet dog when he killed some sheep. Don't think I won't consider you a rabid dog and go on my way.

• The reference to snot slinging cows does not apply here.  When I came to Oklahoma we had a cow culling after the first gathering! Those high headed Brahma cows went to town.   They were captured and sent to the slaughter house for hamburger at McDonalds. I won't eat there either, do you?

•  I haven't shot any rattle snakes but does copperheads, cotton mouths, bull snakes and black snakes count? Good and bad snakes I don't like any snake! I don't care if they are Democrat or Republican! A snake is a snake!

• I haven't shot a dog yet, but if I had a gun last year a pack of six dogs would have got it .  I found them surrounding and chasing the cows and calves in the south pasture! Big dogs and little dogs they would have been dead! They left before I got the gun!

• I don't have experience with Sheep and probably won't either. I am too old to learn a new animal husbandry with another species! But let one coyote touch one of our calves and he's a dead coyote! I have shot a few in NE with a 30/30.  They were bounty in those days! ha  His hide was worth 100-150.  It helped feed the kids! ha  Saw a Coyote go across the north pasture this morning and he was running for his life! ha  No bounty in OK they all have mange anymore!  Plus nobody wants to wear real fur anymore!  We hope folks continue to want real leather products for a long time here!

This picture is of Dale on a Thorne Ranch horse named Icabod back in the 70's! Prayers sent out for Dale who is combating heart problems.  Get well soon Dale we know your heart is in the right place!  We have another horse for you to ride at Thorne Ranch.

• April 27   I unloaded the 50 bags of pine chips.  I hauled them home the other day.  I was overloaded on the little red truck and was lucky to make it home.  I only lost one bag! ha  It took nine dollars of yellow plastic rope to criss cross over the back end to hold it on.   One lady came to my rescue with a big toad knife to cut the rope at the Auto parts store! ha  One thing about the Oklahoma people they are always ready to help each other!  I rolled out black plastic and then dumped bags of pine nuggets on top!  The back yard is getting a Spring make over! ha  Sure wish there was a cement pond in the back yard! ha
• A gentleman came from Ft Smith to look at one of the steers in the morning.  Chad, Jaden, Tyrell and Lee made it after lunch from New Mexico.  They had their three new little show pigs in the back of the truck that they purchased from a breeder here in OK.  They came to search the Spring herd for their steers for next year.  We had a nice day and enjoyed the touring of the pastures.  They picked out several calves they thought would work for them! They ended up with their picks that they will pick up at weaning!  We also had company from some folks from Pryor looking for a breeding bull.  Then came folks from Hot Springs Arkansas looking for a heifer as their show heifer had broken her neck.  So we found the perfect heifer for Kaylee.  They got loaded and left about 9:00.  We had planned on going to have catfish at Langley but we were all too tired so I grilled up burgers for the crew and we all hit the hay early! Bad news in the morning one of the little show pigs got over heated from fighting and perished so we could have had fresh pork if we had wanted to.  As it was I cooked up sausage, biscuits and gravy for the crew.   We sure enjoyed those folks!  I could just keep Jaden and Tyrell!  We missed you Cheyann!  We hope your pulled muscle from the track meet heals soon!  They got left for New Mexico in pretty good time.  David came by to pick up semen. Jerry Cole and Charles Hammond came by from north of Tahlequah to look at bulls.  We sure enjoyed their visit, too.  Real nice guys and we appreciate your evaluation of our cattle herd.  I hope we can find a couple of nice young Fullblood bulls for you when we wean.  We are glad you enjoy our web site too! Check out the new pictures of the Spring Club Calves.  Several Turk babies in the group!  They are impressing us more and more!

• April 28-29-30  Monday was catch up day.  I picked up another load of pine mulch and 40 more bricks to lay down in the back yard!  Took Holly to the vet as I think she got rolled by a cow yesterday.  She was moving pretty slow but no bones broken but was covered with mud.  I got the yard all mowed again and only got stuck once this time.  I would rather eat grass than have to call Abbie to come pull me out. ha  I have almost gotten all the flower beds planted.  Every extra spare time has been spraying thistles and black berries bushes.  I picked up some more spray the other day, now I need to hook up the 30 gallon tank on the back of the mule.  That is if I can get it away from Abbie and his feed buckets. ha  There is so much to do and such a short time to do it all.  Abbie is setting up recipients and donors today for the 15 of May flush!  It will be here before you know it! 
• Finally checked out the Year end show results.  They don't send you a notice or letter of congratulations, so you have to find out for yourself.  We were named Breeder of the Year with 616 total points.  Next closest breeder was 51 points so we won that by a landslide!  Now if we won the lottery I'd be happier! ha  At least it would pay something for all the time, money, fuel and effort that goes into showing cattle and promoting a breed.  See all the break down results at the News Page.  Highlights were Lulu and Heart tied for Show Heifer of the Year and Turk was Show Bull of the Year.  All five Show Dams came from our Cow herd which was a great honor.
• Abbie gets to pick out his wax teeth today and then they make the real teeth for next visit! That should be interesting! ha  He has been toothless since February 18th and he is getting anxious as I am to have pearly whites! ha We are stopping at friend Carol's.  She invited us to lunch and then we are helping  her pick out an Angus heifer to show.   Congratulations on being named Madam President of the Oklahoma Angus Association, Carol!  We are proud of you and we know you will be a big asset to the Oklahoma Angus breeders.  They might have a time keeping up with you! ha  I updated some of her web site today check them out at Smith Land and Cattle.