May 1-2  Another windy day from the south! Tornado warnings out for parts of the state tonight.  Looks like Osage County was getting it again tonight!  We hauled hay today.  All the traps around the house and barn need hay as the grass is not good enough to carry everyone yet.  I picked up the silver truck yesterday and filled it up with another 25 bags of mulch and 30 more bricks.  So last night I got it unloaded just in time for the big low boy trailer and hay hauling today! I was a little hesitant to haul hay today afraid I might get it scratched up again! ha After the last wreck I had hauling hay with the silver bullet I am going pretty slow and cautiously! ha  Can you believe it? ha  Grandma speed!  Shareen called and said Dalya locked her out of the truck in the cold the other day!  She wouldn't unlock the truck until Shareen bribed her.  She told her that she could call Grandma Jo Jo, and she said OK and unlocked the truck! ha  Wish that little girl was closer so I could really spoil her!  Diann says Grace is on the move now and already trying to pull herself up to the furniture! She is a live wire and will keep big brother Logan entertained for years to come! ha  I can hear him now!  NO NO NO GRACE!

 I planted some of the scrubs I got tonight as the wind went down to a dull roar.  Wouldn't be surprised to see them blown out of the hole in the morning!  I have been doing new landscaping in the back yard and front yard too! The plum trees had a pretty rough winter with the ice storm so I trimmed two of them back to scrub height instead of dangling trees! ha  Not sure I like it but too late now! ha I took down the cover on the new microwave and drilled four new holes so that I could shut the top cupboards.  Amazingly all the screws fit in the right spot! I didn't even have to ask for help! ha

Heard from our Indiana friends.  Dave has been chasing  a momma Raccoons and her babies in their attic!  He said he was almost ready to shoot into the ceiling to get them at 3:00 in the morning!! ha  They were only trying to find a nice home. ha  They have been wet and cold up there too!

We had a nice lunch with Carol the other day and here are some pictures of the heifer sorting.  We picked out a couple of heifers for Robbie's boys to show. 

Friday, We met Gracie, Robert and his Mother in Pryor for lunch!  They flew in from south Texas and we were half way for fuel on their way to Michigan!  Always great to see them!  Their airplane is really nice and I wouldn't mind making a three hour trip to south Texas instead of the 16 hours it took us to drive it in March! ha  We stopped and visited with a neighbor that was in the hospital in Pryor!

Mike brought Turk home and we are happy to have him back! He will get front pasture ratings! ha  Kevin Green stopped out and looked at the calves and was impressed with the babies!   Brian called and invited us to go to Vinita for supper and go with him to deliver medicine to Bluejacket.  So we fed up fast and we had Mexican supper in Vinita!  I didn't have to cook today! Yippee!

•  We had lunch at Luther's Drive In and made several pasture runs to see the Spring calves.  Randy, Debbie and Brittney were pulling out when Jon and Jane came to have cidars put in his cows he is going to have Abbie A I Breed.  Good to see Jane as always!  It's dark and I just got to the house after feeding.  Abbie is still at the barn giving set up shots to the donors.  This is a busy time of year when you just get the most pressing things done it seems!  If we have company tomorrow they may have to help us do some real work like build fence!  Abbie figured it up and we have five miles of new fence to build this year!  The old rusty wire has seen better centuries around here.  If you try to splice it it just breaks in another spot!  At $48-50 a spool of wire it's going to be a costly project!  Oh well!  Good fences make for good neighbors! ha

• May 4-5-6  Sunday actually was some what of a day of rest.  I worked in the yard on landscaping and Abbie worked on cattle.  Monday I headed over to Carol's to take pictures for her new honor as president of OK Angus Association.  We spent the afternoon in the pastures taking pictures.  Tuesday was catch up day and had entries and reservations to make for Junior Nationals in Texas and Kansas City.  That will be here before you know it!  Picked up Dani Leigh from school at 3:00 and we went to town to shop for her early Birthday present.  We came home with more than we needed but we had a good time shopping! ha  Eight years old and already a seasoned shopper! ha  Rod came to pick her up in the evening and he told me he had gotten her a paint gelding for her birthday surprise!  I might actually get a grandchild to ride horses with me someday! ha

• It's raining today and water is going over the bridge and everything is soaked to the gill again.  Giving shots today to the recips and A I breeding cattle today!

  May 7-8-9   Wednesday morning  was steer nominations at Tulsa Stock yards.  So went in and basically visited with the other superintendents.  The steers that came through looked good.  There is going to be some competition this year!   I stopped at Sanders nursery and picked up several scrubs and plants.  So you know what that means!  Dig more holes! ha  We were suppose to get semen in that afternoon and found out that SEK hadn't gotten it sent, so having to breed in the next morning we made a fast trip to Galesburg Kansas.  We stopped in Parson Kansas for supper and ran into a down pour rain all the way home!  We were in a severe weather warning and a tornado set down in several places in the county.  We lucked out again!  Thursday morning was breed the donors and we started AI breeding cows about 7:00 that night.  We didn't do many out of that pasture and were done by 9:00.  Cody and his cousin Travis came out to check out the new calves!  Joyce stopped by and we enjoyed her visit!

  Today has been many projects!  Cleaning house as usual and planting the last trip to the nursery! ha   We had rain last night and more severe weather about 1:00!  I slept straight through it, but Abbie kept a watchful eye out for us thank heavens!

  We had a new bush hog delivered today and I am anxious to get it hooked up to do some pasture clipping this year.  We have folks coming in on Sunday so best get busy.  We are also anxiously awaiting an intern named Kyle Robinson that will spend a few months with us from Florida.   We went pasture riding this morning so took some pictures of some cows and their new babies.  Here is a picture of Dani and the mutts!  They got hair cuts today so it best warm up now! ha

•  May 10-11  We loaded up 10 heifers and 1 pretty little Angus Maine cross steer to meet Scott west of Little Rock Arkansas yesterday!  We made it just about noon and we got in the middle of a down pour when we unloaded.  Scott headed back east to Mississippi and we stopped off in Alma to visited with old friends and customers John and Ruth Kelly.  We met at the Cracker Barrel and had a great time catching up on each others lives!  They still have their Braunvieh cows and are now breeding them all to Angus bulls.  They love their half blood cows like we do!  We made it home about 4:00 and watched the weather advisories most of the night!  The storm was rolling by Adair when we got home and it headed east to Jay and Grove and then onto Arkansas!  Picher OK got blown away from the same storm and they are saying 20 some folks lost their lives in that storm!  What a way to spend mothers day! huh?  We send out prayers for all those folks!  We have been fortunate to miss the oncoming daily storms.   The wind tried blowing off my furniture on the front porch last night but that is minor compared to what happened in several places in OK, Missouri and Arkansas!  Today I actually baked and made a pretty nice lunch!  Crystal came out to help today so I always try to have something better than normal when we have company! ha  Abbie loves to see company come because he knows I will cook! ha  I baked up a poppy seed lemon cake!  One of my favorites that my Mom always made for my birthday way back when!  Happy Mother's Day Mom!  You are a very special Mom and we love and appreciate you!  Funny how when you become a MOM you realize it wasn't that easy to be called MOM!  With it comes lots of responsibility!

• The Paul family was going to drop by today but they were scared of the storm and didn't stop!  They went by about 3:00 a.m.  Abbie met Donnie in Tulsa to pick up Hardy this afternoon.  Guess I might as well went along, but I puttered around the yard and the horses all got out to munch the grass around the lane!  So they were happy!  We have a whole group tied in the barn today!  Time to get them ready for June Junior Nationals.  So far they are all doing pretty well.   Wish we had a manure spreader to spread the piles on the pastures now.  My list of equipment keeps getting bigger. ha  I spread enough BS here on the Diary to fertilize several acres! ha  You can't say I don't admit my faults now!  Here is a picture of John and Ruth Kelly and Abbie last Saturday.  Also the storm clouds that were over Adair.  Those poor folks in Picher OK were getting it about that time I took this picture.  Our friend Mr. Jack from Miami OK called and said that it got part of his son's house and took their barn about a half mile from his house!  He told about a man and wife that didn't have time to get out of their house so they got under the kitchen table.  That was the only thing left the table and them under it!  The Lord was watching over them for sure!

• May 13   We made it to Claremore and the dentist this morning for Abbie to get his new teeth!  He was really trying them out at lunch time and getting along pretty well.  It's cloudy again and storm warnings out for us tonight!  Just what we need another storm.   Worked on various projects today a ranch sign and various household jobs!  Sure would be nice to have a maid. ha  We send out prayers for Captain Robinson in Iraq.  Thanks for your email and we hope you stay safe!  Check back tomorrow and we hope we make it through another Oklahoma storm tonight!

• May 14-15-16-17-18-19   It's been a busy week and weekend! We flushed and transferred embryos one day.  So we had trailers in and trailers out!  The kids got in late or I should say early Saturday morning for a visit!  So we spoiled Logan and Grace as much as we could!  Kyle pulled in too from Florida and we spent the day visiting and getting to know him.  He will fit right into the Thorne family!  We gave Logan his first horse back ride on Jaycee.  He thought it was pretty okay to ride with me!  Not too excited about going alone on a lead line though!  Grace is crawling all over the place and will be walking way too soon!  They better buy that girl a helmet as she is a wreck looking for a place to happen!  She must be related to me her grandmother. ha  Jim and Robyn Burnette came to pick up their heifers that Abbie AI bred for them.  Doug Shaffer came by Sunday morning and he had lunch with us.  He picked up some Turk semen.  Jordan and David Fredrickson brought their red heifer Redina back for us to breed.  Good to see those folks!  Everyone left out in the afternoon.  I sprayed 15 gallons of feed killer on the thistles and black berries down south.   Then we loaded up Heart, Redbud and Annie to take down to Brian's.   Abbie took Kyle and I out for supper at the Del Rio in Chouteau. 

• Today May 19th has been a blur!  I ran tubes of dna blood and hair for donors to the post office.  The hair went to California and the blood went to Illinois.  I came back home to load six steers to deliver to Joplin Stockyards in Missouri.  Then take Hot Rod and Starwar to Strafford to collect them.  I also took embryos to send to Texas along with Bud semen.   So yes it was a busy day and I am exhausted!  Kyle rode along to Strafford and he got to see some country and some livestock facilities.  He said that someone told him to see Joplin Stockyards if he got the chance!  We stopped on the way back from Strafford and watched the cattle sell for a little while.  We made it home about 4:30.  So I am catching up on the Diary, Laundry and need to go let the old gray mare into water as she is in the lake pasture that is dry now.  It is up to around 90 degrees today!  Warm and muggy!  This should make the Bermuda grass come now!

Logan and Joan riding Jaycee	Pappa Abbie and Grace

• May 20-23  A busy week of many projects.  We dug out a water line that was leaking, hauled in rock for around the bunks and holes around the drive.  Abbie kept Kyle hopping inducing donors and also AI breeding cows off and on.  You would think we had enough to do around here with our cattle and then they had to Ai breed the Schrum cattle.  I think everyone thinks we get rich off this operation AI breeding other folks cattle.  I have started to refer all calls to our local vet Clint who does this for living.  Abbie too nice and too easy sometimes! ha  On the other hand you know me I am not afraid to say NO... HELL NO.  Enough is enough! ha
• Curtis Phillips and Kevin Green came by to pick out a 25% Bull for their cow herd.  Thanks for your business.  We can't wait to see those calves next year out of Hot Rod!  Luis had to turn him back as he could not get him into Mexico, so we had him for sale again.  Evidently according to Luis, the border entry has Mexican Army going in and out!  
• We had news that our protest against the heifer that we questioned last year at the Cool Room incident  at the Junior Braunvieh Association Nationals in Bowling Green Kentucky was proven to not have any Braunvieh blood.  So our protest was with justification.  Thank you to our Fearless Leaders, Mark Nelson, Larry Yates and Lance Warn that worked to get this issue resolved.  You have renewed our faith in the breeds ethics and accuracy for a complete herd book.  It's a problem in all breed associations that needs addressed with proof sometimes.  Several years ago we sold and donated 20 some units of semen on various Braunvieh bulls to Viacon to establish a DNA marker for Braunvieh cattle.   It came back to help us in the end on this issue!  So what goes around comes around.  A little seed planted will grow into a large Oak tree someday!  Talking about Oak trees!  We planted a tree in honor of our intern Kyle yesterday!  A big Oak to shade the barn someday we hope!

Kyle Robinson and his tree Turk in the shade Logan, Jeffrey, Diann and Grace

•  May 23-26  We packed up Friday afternoon and made it to Kansas City to pick up the Ranch sign we got made for the folks anniversary present.  Mitch from Kustom Signs graciously met us so we saved $165 dollars in freight.   We ran into a traffic jam just north of KC in between St Joseph MO.  So that slowed us down to about 10 miles an hour!  We met Jerry and Leona for supper and had a great visit and then proceeded to Lincoln, NE to spend the night.  It had started raining cats and dogs so we opted to shut it down around midnight.  We left about 8:00 and headed for the Sand Hills!  We stopped and said howdy to Brian and Correne Duba in Chambers.  They are busy with their trailer customizing and trailer sales..  They do a great job on making them look like a place away from home!  We made it to Herrington Ranch about 4:00 and surprised Mom and Dad with the new sign and posts we picked up in Grand Island.   We packed up again and met Doc Gilg in Long Pine for supper and afterwards ran out to his place so Abbie could see all his carvings.  He almost has our Polar bear and baby bear done!  Abbie was amazed at the creativity of our favorite Country Doctor's retirement skills! 

• We made it up next morning on Sunday to pack everything up again and head to Atkinson to put flowers on the family graves.  Then we headed over to the Legion Club for the Herrington Family reunion that cousin Jeannette and I planned last fall.  Uncle Roy and Aunt Lotus Herrington from Casper Wyoming, Aunt Donna and Uncle Dewayne Tasler, and Aunt Dorothy Nachtman from Atkinson NE.  Cousins, Shirley Sears from Ord and Dick Petersen came from Yutan NE close to Omaha NE.  Also friends, Dick and Elaine Young came from Columbus.  We got to see the twins and their families.  Four of our grandchildren, Kyleigh, Justin, Dalton and Dalya.   We had a great time visiting and looking at pictures.  The day went way too fast to catch up on everyone but we tried anyway!  That is what counts!  We got left for home about 5:00.  We made it back to Grand Island and had supper.  Then we headed south to try and miss the storms in southeastern NE.  We made it to Concordia KS about midnight.  We got up and headed south to Oklahoma.  Making it home about 4:00 this afternoon.   Just in time to gather two pastures of cows to set up for Ai breeding and recipients.  I spent most of my time scooping the show cattle stalls out and adding new cedar bedding!  Ike and Sally came by from Hugo OK on their way home from KC.  I showed them the Spring calves and also showed them what we get by breeding half Maine and half Braunvieh.  He liked the little red ET heifers a lot! 

  • We also got home to several emails from folks and calls that our web site was asking for permission to enter!  Go Daddy changed our hosting account to a new server.  Thus I had to uninstall Front Page and wait an hour and then install Front Page again to get it to acknowledge the url!  At least I know somebody is worried about us with all the storms around.  No news is bad news folks! ha  We always hope for the best news here!
  • Well folks it's bed time!  We will have some pictures to show you from the Family Reunion!   I mixed a little of the old in with the new pictures.  I missed taking several pictures that I wanted but guess that is life to miss a few things!

• May 27-31  This old month has shot by the quick!  We have been busy with various projects and I am not sure you can actually see anything we got done that is noticeable!  I made it to town to pick up more cidars and groceries since I am the errand person, the cook, the laundry lady and the bookkeeper combined.  Today I am going to be weed sprayer. ha  So watch out all you thistles and blackberrys.. speaking of Blackberries!  I got a new cell phone yesterday.  No it was not a Blackberry but a LG Shine that will fit into my pocket better and allow me to slide up the face instead of flipping it open!  Some of those new phones even allow you GPS.  I guess I probably should have gotten that one so that when we get lost, and I do mean lost we can find our way back home!  I walk into the pantry closet these days to get something and forget what I went in for.  Lord help me when I get in there someday and can't find my way back out!  I feel bad about loosing my memory but when you talk to all the other Baby boomers they are experiencing the same symptoms.  Called OLD AGE and too much on our minds! I guess we will eventually have to have dog tags or blackberries tied around our necks so we don't get lost or a computer chip like they put on our pets!!ha  Cheers and have a great last weekend in May...  By the way someone complained that they couldn't read the Diary anymore..  So I increased the font and color just for you. :)