Febr 2006

February 1 Hope your having a sweet heart of a day today! The weather is beautiful in Oklahoma and the sun is shining bright! We are still clipping and taking pictures of the fall calves. I was out until almost dark last night.... and wouldn't you know it they all looked like beauty queens in the dawning. They always give you that look you have been looking for all day in the sunlight about time to quit! I left the door open one time and found two curious heifers about to enter the pups domain! ha I am headed to town to pick up some goodies and find a new hair do for myself instead of the cattle! ha Wish it was as easy as that! Run me through the chute and tie my head and start clipping away! ha I am sure they wouldn't hold still for a perm...ha But looks like I am going to have to or get the straightest hair do award for the county!

Hally is still a little character and she thinks she is a real big dog now! She took in after the cows this morning that Abbie was gathering.. One step and she would be done for! So guess I need to put a big rope on her to drag so I can catch her before she gets herself into trouble. ha She maybe weights 3 pounds now...ha Guess that's what I love about these little Schnauzer dogs is their bigger than life attitude! Thanks to Allison and Sheila for the great George Strait T shirt! I can't wait to wear it! Check out the new pictures at the Club Calf site! I have been daily adding new pictures and new calves... You all have a great day and come back soon!

Two very curious heifers checking out the truck and pups!

Little Elvis heifer picking up sticks!

February 2-5 A busy week of clipping cattle and paperwork for Uncle Sam! Oh yes those darn tax returns are due again! We had the Wofford's from Colcord, OK stop by on Friday to look over the young bulls. The Bruner's from the OK City area came yesterday to pick up their bred cows and little Viagra bull. He weighed in over 1000 pounds so not so little anymore! They were shocked at how big he had gotten! Megan came early and we took them all out to lunch at Goldies in Pryor for lunch! We got home and found that prospective bull buyers had been here while our friend Doug Shaffer was here too! You can stay home all day and no one comes by and then when you leave for an hour you get all kinds of visitors! Megan and Abbie have been clipping more cattle today! The Angus bulls sure look better after their Spring hair cuts! Talking of hair! I managed to kink up my hair this morning so it smells like a beauty parlor in the house today! ! ha We are sure enjoying having Megan here! She fit in well and is ready to do about anything you ask of her! Wonder if I can steal her away from the barn and cattle to help me paint someday in the kitchen? Well folks hope you all had a great Sunday! Come back soon! Maybe more exciting things will have happened this next week!

February 6-7 The past couple of days have been cooler here in northeast Oklahoma! I prediction will probably come true... It never fails to get cold and wet when we start calving.. But if that is what it takes to get some much needed moisture I guess we will have to tough it out! We have several that are looking pretty pregnant in the calving pasture now. It is a fun time to see all the new babies and the genetics we planned several months before...come to life! You never know when you might have the mating that could be the next grand champion animal. ha I went to town yesterday and picked up more salt and got more tires fixed for the creep feeders and trailer. I think we should own a tire company by now. I think we should fill them all with that filler so that they don't ever go flat again! Even though it's pretty expensive it might be a solution on this ranch and pay for itself over time! ha Read an interesting article sent by our friend Terry Atchison yesterday and thought it worth reading.. Check it out at: Nebraska's Nostalgia Trap - New York Times

I think Kevin is coming today so best get something cooked up for lunch! Abbie is happy when we have company for lunch.. He says I cook better then! ha Of course you all know I am on my yearly diet... and so far my rate of gain has been less for a change! Weight watchers is working... You just have to work the plan and it doesn't hurt to tread mill for 30 minutes a day or walk briskly! Sweat is good! You get rid of all those bad toxins in your body! Today we all have everything at our finger tips. Sweat is a five lettered bad word! If we do sweat we put some gunk on our under arms to stop it! No wonder we all have so many diseases. So friends get out, get sweaty, take a hot shower and feel like a million bucks today! ha I just did! ha There is getting to be a lot less of me to love! ha

February 8-9 Burr Cold! Yes it was 19 degrees this morning with a cold north wind chill. It was actually pretty nice here yesterday compared to today. Erica brought over her recipient cows and ET babies to clip up yesterday. So Abbie and her got them all prettied up so I could take their pictures almost in the dark last night. Todd Kirkland of Valley View Texas came about 1:00 today to look at the calves. He picked out some he really likes so we await his decision. We enjoyed his visit and look forward to seeing him again soon. The phone rang off the hook this morning and it looks like we will have cow and bull shoppers this weekend. We hope someone shuts the door up north to this cold wind before then..ha Terry showed up late this afternoon with cows to A. I. breed. Always something to keep life interesting around here! ha We should have a toll gate at the entrance.. we could pay for a new remote control gate real quick!

February 10-13 A busy weekend with several good friends and customers dropping by! David and Madison Chaney came early and picked out a steer and heifer for her next show calves. They had lunch with us! Friends Anita and Vernie Krieger from back home came on Saturday morning for a visit! It is so nice when old friends some to visit! You can catch back up on all the kids and talk about old times and make new memories! Kevin came by and clipped out one heifer on Sunday. Stephanie and John Oxtoby came by and went shopping in our pastures too! They found the tiger steer unforgettable! Good thing they spoke for him as I got another call on him this afternoon! Go figure? We have had trouble selling them sometimes due to their extreme color but this year he is one that we have gotten several calls on. All you would have to do is draw some lines down his side and you could play tic tack toe on him! I'll be x and you be o! ha We took Vernie and Anita to Grand Lake and Crosby Catfish restaurant last night... We all swam away from the place! ha Happy Birthday friend Leona! We hope you have a great day! You are luckiest person I know! Born the 13th Child on a Friday the 13th! We are catching back up on several projects here and a stack of paperwork! Does it ever end? The paper trail? I am headed to WW tonight! Will probably pay for all that catfish we had last night! ha Next time you see me I hope you say? Is that you! My you have had an extreme make over! I have taken into consideration what loosing weight might cost me or should I say Mr. Thorne? I am sure I will need some new clothes, a tummie tuck, face lift, Brazilian butt lift, and permanent make up tattoed on the eye's! Do you suppose there will be anything left for mother nature to preserve? ha Of course you know I am just pressing buttons here... I am scared to death of needles and knives so don't look for this grandmother to be carved up anytime soon! You all are going to have to love me for me! The real me! ha Maybe a little less of me but the real me! Have a good week friends! Come back soon!

February 14-17 Happy Chocolate Day! Hope you all got some sweets from your sweetheart! I got the usual! "Nothing" I guess Abbie dear must feel pretty secure that he has all my love! ha Actually it would just mean I would have to ration myself if I got a box of candy and he really did me a favor! ha We have had several folks drop by this week! The Shores family came by and picked out a couple of heifers and a young breeding bull. We thank those fine folks for their business. I ran into those guys at the Tulsa State Fair this past year and they were impressed with our percentage cattle we had there! We look forward to seeing the heifers show in the Oklahoma area. We have had a flood of calls from Mississippi and Texas this past week! Shopping for steers, bulls and heifers! The Dixie Land National just got over and they are shopping for new steers already for next year. Also Ft. Worth, San Antonio and Houston steers. The only hair show is Ft. Worth other wise they slick shear them... so in other words they want muscle and lots of body! It sure would solve some judging problems here if they went slick shear... I am a betting person that it won't happen in Oklahoma in the near future! We have a hair and camouflage contest here! ha They actually build hair on some cattle to make them look thicker, deeper and wider! You don't see many judges feel or touch cattle anymore, which is a shame. I think they are afraid they might get kicked or get paint on themselves...ha Or have to admit that some are not what you see! An optical illusion! But still they are so pretty to look at after you fit them! Like big fluffy teddy bears!

Burr cold! Someone really left the door open up north! We had our first couple of baby calves and I bet they thought this was a bad place to come into! It went from 76 degrees to 35 degrees all in one afternoon yesterday! Leona and I went shopping in Pryor and Chouteau in the afternoon! Always so great to spend time with her! Today I am hanging wall paper border and will try and finish painting the rest of the kitchen and dining room! Have you ever hung a 15 foot roll of border by yourself? I thought that I might end up in a ball on top of the counter and kitchen sink before I got it under control! ha I was trying real hard to get it hung before Abbie dear came in for lunch! I'd hate to have to ask him to help me decorate! ha He thinks things should stay the same for years! I like change and something fresh once in awhile. ha I am way ahead of my spring cleaning so far! Let's hope we see Spring soon! This winter weather will convince me to start baking and we sure don't want that! ha Thank you Roberta for your nice comments about our web site and Diary! Glad that you enjoy reading our endless adventures! Check out our friends in Nebraska's new web site I designed for them www.dubatrailers.com We wish them much luck and success with their web site!

Grandson Dalton Lee

TLC Awnold and Morgan at Duncan OK where he was Breed champion!

Morgan also got 2nd in Showmanship! Great Job Haggard Family!

February 18-19 It snowed and blew in northeast OK over the weekend! There was enough snow on the ground that Abbie said he almost didn't make it to one of the pastures over east to feed... I had to give it heck to get out of our garage too! Big pile of snow blowed up in front of the door! But at least it is moisture! So far we have not had to bring any new born calves into the barn. The heavy breds are holding onto warmer days we hope! Abbie has been getting up in the middle of the wee hours and checking just to make sure we don't loose one to the frost! It was 18 degrees last night! I ran into Pryor for the Spring cattle show and Michelle Johnson told me they lost a set of twins to the weather cold. Last report brother Bill was calving heifers that were suppose to calve in April right now... They were heifers that they bought. Bet that breeder gets a mouth full next time brother sees him! He had about 35 on the ground so far. The girls did real well at Pryor. Reighly and Vasa were Champion AOB female in a really tough field of big name winners in their respective breeds. Morgan and Awnold were fourth in a really tough AOB steer class and she also won Junior showmanship showing him. Reighly had Waverly out for her first show and she did well with her. I didn't stick around long but long enough to give out some hugs to some well deserving adopted kids. I picked up some groceries and today I am cooking up a big pot of ham and beans for lunch. America needs more gas you know!

Congratulations Doc Dean Gilg on your retirement! Dean was my families doctor when I was growing up and he also was there to deliver our four girls. Dean was your old time speak it like you think it kind of doctor. He didn't use fancy words and sometimes he was little too plain spoken..ha But we all loved him and we respected his judgment. He kept me alive during the birth of the twins when I could have been singing with the angels now. I think he knew how bad a 2nd soprano I was and kept me around to deliver a couple more beautiful girls a few years later. I was feeling pretty sad when Diann was born the last of four girls and he set me real straight... Well we can put her back or better yet I don't have any girls I will just take her into my family of three boys! ha You know what kind of answer he got! ha He had a way of bringing you out of feeling sorry for yourself! We love you Doc and happy retirement.

I see George the mineral man driving in so guess I best go help him unload and he also wants to see the fall babies.. you all have a great Sunday. God bless and keep you safe until you come back again for more bull and beans!!

Morgan and Awnold and Reighly and Waverly in showmanship.

Hally and Angel playing!

The big and little of it!

Burr cold! Awnold and Morgan preparing to go into the show ring.

February 20-22 It has thawed out some last night and today. Good thing we had four new baby calves today! Out of first calf heifers too! All bulls calves but one! I got the living room wall painted yesterday and that was a chore! Wow talk about aerobic exercise! Up on the ladder down on the ladder stretch and bend! My old bones are all talking today! ha Gearing up for company from Indiana friends and the flush on Friday. Weather looks to be warming up some too! The snow is almost all melted only in the piles where it blew up to three foot in places... At least it is giving us some much needed moisture and it soaked in instead of running off like rain. Shareen sent a picture of Dalton that aunt Becki took. He was the star on the Fence Post magazine in Nebraska... It's going to be a busy weekend too with the Claremore Jackpot Show going on with two days and four rings! Several of our kids will be there with the cattle. The neighbor Joe called and said that there are big birds that are related to buzzards in the area and that they will attack small live creatures. He saw on the other day chasing baby calves... I don't know if he knows what he is talking about but maybe coyotes or wild dogs are not always to blame? A friend sent this story about Hikers and Utah Bears. Thought you all might enjoy this! Hope you don't run into any bear while hiking or any flying man eating birds! ha Ding aling! I am wearing my bells in Oklahoma just in case! ha

www.thefencepost.com

Bear Alert in Utah ----- What to Do
The Utah Department of Natural Resources is advising hikers, hunters, fishermen and golfers to take extra precautions and keep alert for bears
while in wooded areas. People are advised to wear noise-producing devices, such as little bells on their clothing....to alert, but not startle a bear. They also recommend carrying pepper spray, in case of an encounter with a bear. It is also a good idea to watch for fresh signs of bear activity, and to know the difference between black bear and grizzly bear droppings.

Black bear droppings are smaller and contain berries and possibly squirrel fur. Grizzly bear droppings are a bit larger, smell like pepper spray, and have little bells in it.

February 23-27 It was a busy weekend with customers, new baby calves, cattle kids and a cattle show! Dave and Nina from Indiana got in early on Thursday afternoon. We took them out to supper at the Chuck Wagon and celebrated my 55th Birthday! Yep another year older! Thank the Lord he has given this old cowgirl some more time with family and friends! My motto this year is "55 Stay alive" We all know that I probably won't keep the speed limit to 55! ha We flushed on Friday and had a barn and house full of folks! The low pressure sure didn't help with the production of embryos, but we got a few and we made the Gebhart family happy again! ha Old Matilda had three good eggs and three good recipients to take them.. Knowing their luck they will all probably stick too! Talking about sticks! Matilda has a bad habit of getting sticks up her nose! For some reason it has happened more than once too! She has to make the Guinness book of records in number of sticks up a cows nose... Now how she gets them up there is still a mystery! Our helper, Megan got here Friday afternoon and we prepared for the Will Rogers Cattle Show in Claremore. We took a couple of heifers over to show and spent two days in the expo building with lots of other cattle kids and cattle! We had a good time! Vasa and Reighly were selected Grand Champion Female over all at the Rogers County show on Friday too! Meaning she beat every breed there! Wow we were excited! I think it shocked a few people too, even us! ha Dave and Nina headed back to Indiana on Saturday afternoon and selected a couple of nice Fullblood cows and a heifer calf! Sure enjoyed seeing those fine folks again! Birds of a feather stick together! ha Thanks so much for the wooden cross Dave! It will hang in a very special spot in our house and in our hearts! Wish they lived closer! Abbie spent the whole weekend delivering babies! He called me about every couple of hours with new reports of new calves being born! He had one that was upside down and his head back that he did manage to save too! So our cup is running over from all the excitement around here! Looks to be a great Spring crop of calves again! Just like opening up a present every day to see all those pretty little calves appear! Megan had a good weekend and showed in the top even though her heifer was not always cooperating. But she handled the heifer well for her first trip to a show ring! She was selected reserve breed all four rings! They had two judges and two rings a day. So they showed in one ring and then went immediately to the other ring to see how that judge judged them. They didn't always agree either... One man's opinion that day or should I say two men's opinions... The weather has warmed up this Monday and it sounds like it's possible to be up in the 80's this week! Wow what a change in a weeks time! Keep your fingers crossed there is a chance for some showers this coming weekend... Watch for some pictures real soon! Prayers go out to our friends Trevor and Joan Onley in Australia! We hear that Trevor has been under the weather lately and we wish him a very speedy recovery! Robert gave us a jingle as he would say it, to notify us of Trevor's condition! We sure enjoyed hearing from him! He hasn't changed much! Still just Robert! Just the way we like him! He is considering coming back to the states possibly the end of the year! We can only hope!

February 28 Wow where did February go to? Always seems like this month hurries by anyway and here we are ready for March 1... We had a beautiful day today! Up in the high 70's. I got several projects done today.. I took the blower out and blew out all the leaves in the north flower beds! Wow what a mess that was! I think I got most of it in my face. I made up eleven tags today for the new babies. That will catch us up on the last bunch born! We tag and weigh all the calves at a couple days old and adjust the weight some for full tummies! Most calves will average two and a half pounds a day even on the cow around here. We cleaned up and headed over to Claremore Expo building for the FFA kids calf fry and slave auction. We will get a couple of great slaves to help us sometime this Spring. Of course you all probably know who we got! Rox and Amanda! Had a great visit with everyone and enjoyed the calf fries! Rocky mountain oysters or what ever you want to call them! I think I have enough testosterone in my blood stream already but a little more doesn't hurt! ha Well it's about time to close down the shop... Abbie went to check the heavies as we still have seven due right now... Maybe just maybe we will have them while we have this nice weather... The almanac says that March could have some moisture hit Oklahoma..let's hope! It looks like March is going to come in like a lamb this year! Of course we have several due the end of March too and then it will probably end like a Lion!