Hello
& Welcome to our Diary page.
The purpose of this diary is to record our adventures, folks who stop by,
travels and events at the Thorne Ranch. It was primarily meant for
family and friends in the beginning, but we have grown a large number of
faithful readers. Over 90,000 from all
over the world have visited us. We don't intend to offend anyone
or to glorify our life here. It's pretty boring most of the time as
you will see! We are pretty common folks trying to make a living doing
what we love, breeding and raising cattle. Our wish is that someday this
Diary will be enjoyed and appreciated by our grandchildren and great
grandchildren. In the mean time we hope you get a few good laughs at
our expense.
Learn
from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them
all yourself."
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER
THAN THE SWORD..
2008
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to
skid in sideways, Champagne in one hand - strawberries in the other,
body thoroughly used up and totally worn out, screaming 'WOO HOO!
What a Ride!'' - Author unknown
May you be in Heaven an hour before the Devil knows you're dead.
Last Updated
Wednesday, 03 February 2010
You are viewer
July 1 Can you believe it the year is already
half over? It won't be long and we will be packing around
coveralls and muck boots again! We are really enjoying this
summer though and we have been blessed beyond belief. Hope
you all have a happy and safe 4th of July! Let's not forget
how our soldiers have sacrificed for our safety here past and
present! We salute you!
July 2 Meeting Gracie and Robert in Pryor
for lunch today. They are flying in and will head north to
cooler summer camp grounds.. I would imagine it's pretty
darn hot in south Texas now. We are having some beautiful
weather and the wind is not blowing 90 miles an hour at least.
It' time to mow yard again. It is hard to keep up but it
sure looks nice when you get it all trimmed.
We visited with Verna today and she says our
friend
Derry Brownfield
has relocated to California for his Common Sense Coalition
Broadcast show. We wish him every success. I suppose
Learfield Communications was having problems with Monsanto who
pays the big buck for advertising. We all know Derry would
not cut many any slack if they are not doing something good for
the Farmer or Common Citizen! ha
We did a photo shoot the other day of Vinnie (Vincente)
It turned out pretty good and he behaved pretty well. We
will be promoting him pretty heavily this year.
Left:
Dalton leading a heifer with Wade assisting. Below is five of the youngins! Logan,
Ruby, Grace, Thomas and Fred. We have plenty to look forward
to. ha
July 2-7 We packed up and headed north to Kansas City
for the Junior Nationals for the Maine Anjou and Chianina on
Wednesday and we got there just in time for the Adult Showmanship
Contest. We were cheering section for Mike Runner and
several other crazy participants. They were all in red white
and blue attire. We used Kyle's GPS to get around
Kansas City and that made it pretty darn easy. We watched
Reighly and Tiara the Maintainer show in morning where she was
selected 4th in the class of 9 head. So she did well
considering she was up against some tough heifers. She is
red and all the other heifers were coal black! We met Jerry,
Leona and Kate for lunch at Johnny Carino's and had a great visit!
We toured Cabela's which was close by.
Thursday we were there bright and early at the Kansas City
Royal Arena for the Chi show where Rashele exhibited Brave Heart
to 3rd in her Class of 8 head and she also showed Lulu to 2nd in
her class 31. Blake showed Andrea to 3rd place in the Maine
Anjou Senior Heifers class. We were real pleased with
their performance. They could always do better and they all
could have done a lot worse too. You can see the results at
the News Page!
We made it home to Oklahoma in time to do chores and the guys
found where Vinnie and Starwars had found an open gate. They
had fun for awhile! ha It's been catch up and getting back
into the groove! We found a visitor to our door step a red
and white Australian shepherd pup. We figure he must be
almost a year old. No collar or identity but beat up and
had several wounds and a limping back foot. So Kyle and
I took him to the vet when we picked up the Schnauzers at the
vets boarding while we were gone. Jarod said he was fine
and we had him give him all his shots and picked up worm
medicine. So we have another greeter at the Thorne
Ranch. He fell in love with Kyle as you can see!
We took Kyle over to
Grand Lake for supper last night and stopped for groceries in
Langley.
Today we took some
pictures of the Donors and found some in heat so we gathered that
group. Abbie was teaching Kyle how to preg check today.
I found some thistles while we were over north and of course I got
high centered on a rock and had to call for HELP! I had
visions of being under that cart a few times while I was trying to
rock it off that rock! ha The weather has been hot and
muggy! Up in the 90's and finally drying up the mud holes.
They are talking about a front moving in though so it will
probably be short lived the dry weather.
Reighly and Tiara
Rashele and Brave
Blake and Andrea
July 8 Flush Day!All four donors hit
well and we have lots of embryos to transfer and freeze today!
The last flush until November.. Always a relief to get it
over with! Abbie spends most of his time setting up and
running cattle through the chute! I swear that man will go
to heaven with a cattle chute by his side! ha A vaccine gun
in one hand and an AI sleeve on his other arm! When I
suggested a few years ago that we needed to learn how to do our
own AI breeding I created a monster. Now of course he
has become so good that every Tom, Dick, and Harry thinks he
should also do their cows. Like we have nothing to do
but wait for them to pull in the drive with a trailer load of cows
to A I for them! ha Not everyone vaccinates their
cattle effectively to allow them to enter our facilities.
You have to draw the line sometime and this may be the last
season.
I fixed up some red beans, rice and Swiss steak for lunch.
It must have went over well because there wasn't much left.
It rained this morning and it is pretty muggy out now. Looks
like I can spray a few more pastures this afternoon and start
mowing the acres.
Kyle our summer
intern packed up and is headed to his uncles in Texas this
afternoon. He is then headed to his "Home Sweet Home" in
Northeastern Florida! We sure did enjoy his two month visit.
He was some of the best help we have ever had. We wish him
every success and much much happiness in life's journey.
We hope that maybe a little seed of knowledge from Thorne Ranch
has been planted to help him achieve his goal in agriculture.
It's going to be real quiet around this big old house again!
We are going to miss him!
We need a whole lot
of young people that will stay hooked in agriculture, even though
it is getting harder and harder each day for all us to make a
living doing it. Prices of fuel, taxes, groceries, feed and
vet supplies continue to take most of the profit if there is any.
Most of the time we are just happy to break even just so we can do
what we love to do. Being an independent livestock producer
has it's advantages and disadvantages. Seems like the
middleman is still making a pretty good profit off from us, maybe
we are in the wrong end of things! ha
Thank You Kyle Robinson! We wish you every success!
July 9 Lance came about dark and spent the night
and got up early and loaded his donor and recips to head
back home. It rained almost all night and we have
around 3-4 inches of rainfall! It is still cloudy
and looks like it could rain again this evening. I
have been working on picture files and trying to clean up
my computer from unwanted programs and files that are
slowing down my computer. Brian is stopping by this
afternoon to add some more RAM too. Isn't this
computer language something? Ram used to mean a male
sheep to us all, ha. Please continue to keep friend
Malinda Bowman in your prayers. She is having a
tough time of it with this dose of chemo.
Malinda
July 10-11 It was
catch up day and pay bills day! Met Sheila for
supper at the Arrowhead and we had a great visit! As
usual! I stopped off at Langley and picked up more
groceries. Clay and his driver Cory got here about
2-3 in the morning so the Thorne Ranch Motel 6 was open
again for business! We got up early and the guys
looked at cattle. Clay approved Mick for his
cowherd! They headed to Jay Ok on cattle business.
Dani Leigh came for the day so we sprayed some thistles I
saw earlier in the pastures down south and then we picked
up branches that Abbie had trimmed off the trees north of
the house. I got a good old head cold today a
present Kyle left me I think! ha I had planned on
visiting Malinda in Tulsa tomorrow but don't think that
would be a good idea now.
Word from the Shaffer
family they won Grand and Reserve Grand Steer at their
County show. Congratulations Kate and Will!
Doug said they had 40 head of steers in the contest!
The Reserve Grand steer was out of his Maine Bull and his
Braunvieh cross cows.
It's Friday have a great
weekend! Travel safe and keep Malinda in your
prayers!
One of the bred
heifers looking good! Sire: Class Act and out of a
Black Icon daughter TLC Black Jillian.
July 12 - Cloudy and muggy here
today. Chance of showers this evening again! Our entry
road is starting to look like a drainage ditch! The
water runs down the road and misses the ditch side! At
this rate we will have the grand canyon by Fall. So it
looks like we are going to have to have some rock hauled in
to fill the cavity.
We may get folks here today from
Arizona looking for show heifers. We were referred by
some of our Arkansas customers. We sure do appreciate
referrals.
I am washing beds again and cleaning
the floors! Ready for the next herd to come in.
Happy Birthday Granddaughter Ruby!
Wish we could have celebrated with you! Gosh 3 years
old going on 16! ha
David and Sharon Kaye
from Arkansas, Marie and Bob from Arizona visit.
Thanks for taking time to stop by! We appreciate
your friendship! Enjoy that rope bag David!
Three Thoughts
to Ponder 1.
Cows
2. The Constitution
3. The Ten Commandments
Cows - Is it just me, or does anyone else find it
amazing that, when investigating Mad Cow disease, our
government can track a single cow born in Canada almost
three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the
state of Washington ? And, they tracked her calves to their
stalls. But they are unable to locate the 11 million illegal
aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give
each of them a cow.
The Constitution - They keep talking about drafting a
Constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It
was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for
over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.
The Ten Commandments - The real reason that we can't
have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this:
You cannot post 'Thou Shalt Not Steal,' 'Thou Shalt Not
Commit Adultery,' and 'Thou Shall Not Lie' in a building
full of lawyers, judges, and politicians. It creates a
hostile work environment.
July 13-15 We are trying to dry out after the 10
inches of rain last week! We sorted pastures yesterday
morning and every bull has his own harem now.
The pens were a muddy mess but we got through it with out
loosing our muck boots! I took the back tire on the
mower to town to get fixed and also took another saddle in
to get repaired so we will have three saddles
that are ready to ride. I took a picture of the crepe
myrtles that are in bloom in front of the house! Now
if we could only get the house all painted. I am
holding my breath that it will happen this summer!
Black Icon in his hula hoop!
Abbie came to get
me about sundown and said grab you camera! When he says
that I usually cringe wondering what kind of wreck he has
gotten into now! ha
Black Icon
was stuck in his favorite play toy the plastic bale ring! All
his girl friends were following him and wondering what was up
with him not paying any attention to them. ha He has
done this before so he knew the routine. He waited for
Abbie to tip it up for him to walk under. Our cattle are
easy to get out of situations like this .. Thank heavens!
We are breeding several more to him this year. They are
just good cattle and who ever said they don't milk don't have
any! He adds milk and muscle to about any type of cow!
Plus he turns them black and polled with awesome dispositions!
July 16-17-18 Happy Birthday Brock! It's been busy here for the past
couple of days! Our friends, Bob, Jeanne and Jessie
came out for a tour and visit. We had a great time.
Grilled up some burgers and scraped up enough peaches from
our tree to make a cobbler. Jessie stayed and we
loaded up the two nags and went trail riding with the Ya Ya
Sister on Wednesday night. We had a great time and I
think I finally have a partner rider in crime! ha Tee
and Jessie got along wonderfully. He really is
starting to act like a broke horse now. ha All it
takes is lots of TLC and wet saddle blankets. He
reminds me of his old mother that loved to be rode and
messed with. Some horses like it and some horses loath
it! Kind of like people! Some folks like the
attention and some just want you to leave them alone! ha
We went tractor shopping yesterday! I am
holding my breath at this point that it's is very possible
that we are going to get a new New Holland Four Wheel Drive
w Loader cab tractor to rake hay, pull bush hog, mower,
harrow for cow turds and a loader complete for putting out
hay next winter. It might even have a heater. At
this point I am not concerned about the heater. I am
worried if the air will work. ha We went to
Bartlesville and then went to Tulsa jumped on the turnpike
and went to Muskogee. We also stopped off at
Chupp's south of Pryor to check out their prices. The
tractor he was looking at the other day was already sold so,
"Weight is what broke the wagon down" according to my
ancestors. ha So say a little prayer for heaven
to send us a new tractor... Some women want
diamonds and pearls.. this woman wants a tractor! I
can see it now... I might have to decorate it to fit
my life style! I need to get a new lap top with
satellite connection for in cab office facilities. A
office desk that folds down for easy access while I am
waiting for the baler to catch up so I can update all the
web sites and keep new updated pictures of the cattle on the
For Sale page. I think we will need a frig plugged in
so we can have ice cold water and fresh cooled fruit for
snacks. Oh yes let's add a small but color tv for back
ground noise too. I might have to add a microwave too
so we can have hot meals in the field. That would save
fuel not having to run home to fix food! Now if we
could find a genie to come and muck out behind the show
cattle three times a day we would have it all under control
at the Thorne Ranch. Imagination is a good thing it
takes you away from reality and in my case most of the time!
ha Have a good one!
Abbie and Vincente coming up the drive.
Hally and Holly leading the pack! He had gotten into the
neighbors pasture and took on their Brangus bull last night.
So Abbie went down with his feed bucket, halter and brought
him home behind the Mule! Tee and Wily wondering if they
are going to get their grain!
July 18 I was in the middle of
house cleaning when Abbie Dear came to the house and as he
usually says.. "Get your glad rags on." We are going to the
Farm Show at Pittsburg Kansas. So thankful I didn't
have four kids to get dressed and ready. ha I took
Hally though so she was the kid for the day. We got
there about noon and Abbie was amazed at how much bigger the
show was from when he attended some 15 years ago.
They had every kind and color of farm equipment. Abbie
went on the Hay exhibition and Hally and I walked around
checking out all the stuff! We ran into Steve
and Dana so we had supper at Chicken Annie's, right next to
Chicken Mary's! ha Two sisters as the story goes that
didn't agree so they split the restaurant into two
establishments! Not bad chicken but their mashed
potatoes tasted like the came out of a box. ha Maybe
that is why they parted ways! ha
We came home with another Mule to use
around the place. The old golf cart has a few days
left but sure not equipped to race across the pastures as we
do! ha The Mule's are built tough and have good fuel
economy. Cheaper than a horse that is for sure! ha
Hearing more and more horses being turned loose because the
owners can't afford to feed them or have no outlet for
them. We had news from friend Carol at
Smith Land and Cattle.
one of their bulls evaluated the highest IMF and Beef $ in
the Angus breed. Great news for their program!
They are gearing up for their September Angus production
sale. It will be here before you know it!
Coleman family from TN will be here
sometime today to look at cattle. Looking forward to
seeing that crew! I am sure they are on vacation doing
what all good cattlemen do look at cattle on vacation! ha
July 19-21 The Coleman's got
here in the afternoon and we spent the afternoon picking out steers.
This will be their 4th set of TLC Steers for their kids to show.
We appreciate your faith in our genetics. Abbie went back to
the Farm show to make the deal on the tractor and baler. He
met us at the Chuck Wagon for supper. We had a good visit and
found beds for the whole crew! They left in the morning and
were headed to Tulsa for PBR Bull Riding and the new Center.
Then they were headed to Stierwalt's Clipping Clinic in Stillwater.
What a vacation!
We have been hit by the heat wave now. Up
in the 100's today! Jon brought back the big flat bed trailer
and had lunch with us! I made it to Pryor for supplies and
picked up the mail. The juvenal criminals from the area have
smashed our mail box again, along with breaking windows out at
several homes in our neighborhood. They better hope that they
don't get caught because they could serve time in a Federal prison.
I don't know what they get out of destroying personal property?
Rinsed the 10 head of show cattle tonight before we fed them.
They enjoyed the bath! Abbie is working on the old 4430 to get
it in shape to sell.
July 22 Happy Birthday Joyce! I
scanned some pictures today.. Thank you Dave for letting me
know the print was the same color as the background! I must
not have checked it huh?
Joan and Grace
Granddaughter
Grace looks a whole lot like her grandmother (Me) when I was a
baby. That is plum scary! Because the daughter calls
Grace the maniac! She is a real sweet little girl in
this grandmothers book!
Today is muggy hot! Too hot to even try to do too
much manual labor outside! This is definitely haying weather
and hopefully we will be cutting it down and wrapping it up soon!
Before the weather pattern changes and we get bucket loads of rain
again. It's time to rinse cattle again tonight so will head
out to the barn and try to stay under the fan's and misters as much
as possible. Abbie took the mower to get it repaired! I sure
hope it didn't mess up the shaft! I got into some trash last
fall and yes I am to blame! Funny how the husbands never let
you forget your mess ups! ha Go to the
Family page
as I updated some photo's. Stay cool!
The Coleman family that stopped last week
end.
July 23-25 Hotter than blue blazes here in Oklahoma!
The heat wave has struck that is for sure! We made it
to Lockwood Missouri yesterday to go through the tractor
orientation. Jessie came and spent a couple of days
with us and we put her to work helping wash cattle.
The only cool spot was under the fans with the cattle.
I finally had time to take new pictures of the cattle this
morning. Jessie helped by shaking the rattle and squeaking
the turkey call. See new pictures of the
Donors
and
Club Calves.
Time to mow yard again! It won't last a week. In
five days it's time to chop again! Wonder if the
hayfield is growing this fast! ha Looks like we
might get started next week when they deliver the new
equipment.
July 26-31 What happened to that week?
Wow it has been a busy past few days! Saturday was
absolutely a day of company! I think we had four sets of
folks drop by! Then when we planned on taking in a
late supper here came a cow to AI. So in other words
our time is not our own even when you work for yourself! ha
Preparation for company was key on Sunday to list. I
wonder if folks know how much time is required to wash all
these beds around here? ha Maybe we should buy
disposable sheets and pillow cases. ha No that would
be going overboard and of course they would have to
recyclable to fit the green scheme of times. ha Our
friends from Flying I Ranch came last Sunday afternoon so of
course we hit the pastures on the Mule's and shopped for
show heifers. Mark was pulling his wallet out for a
quick sale several times with Abbie, but doesn't he know
that the final price and okay comes from Joan? ha He
has purchased enough cattle here to warrant some kind of
discount though and to make matter worse I finally agreed to
do their web site. What have I done? Those
southern boys know how to charm their way into your life and
your web site family! ha Thank you for your confidence
in our cattle and our web site design! Partnerships
are kind of like a marriage of sorts, you have good times
and bad times in any relationship but if you continue to do
the right thing, be honest and truthful any partnership can
flourish as ours has. If all partners started and
ended with the word " I " there would be no room for WE!
A Team! Every successful marriage, business or
industry takes several we's to succeed!
We traveled to Springfield yesterday morning to take
in the Ozark Empire Show. As you can see Cowgirl was
Grand Percentage Heifer and Tabi was Reserve Grand Champion
Fullblood Heifer. She is developing into a real nice
heifer and has only gotten better as she matures. Some
cattle mature early and some later. She will be a
heifer to recon with by Tulsa and the Fall shows. At
least she can walk! Some judges will only look at the
side profile, flesh and some take into consideration that
they are functional cattle that will be able to continue on
as a mature cow in production. It takes a really good big
footed show heifer to handle the added weight that comes
from show feed!
We grilled up pork ribs last night and had a
good visit with Mark, Zach and Roger. The Flying I
Crew left this morning to go back to Texas. I am
catching up on the house chores and preparing for the next
crew to come in Saturday from Texas. Our friends the
Paul family will spend the night on their way to Iowa where
son, Patrick will attend college.
The new tractor and baler are to be hauled in today!
So we will be excited to try out all the bells and whistles
on it! ha It got here sooner than I thought so here it
is! Wow are we red white and blue!
It's been hot and muggy! The shower yesterday
raised the humidity another notch higher! It was foggy
this morning due to all the moisture! Thank heavens
for rain though as we have heard several are in a drought.
Also we heard from Sharon last night from email and Patrick
and Wiley were selected Grand Champion Steer at the Warren
County Fair. See
News page
for the story. Great job Patrick and
Sharon!
TLC Cowboy's Cowgirl Grand
Champion Beef Builder at the Ozark Empire Fair Springfield MO
TLC Bud's Tabi shown by
Zach Ivey selected Reserve Supreme Grand Champion Fullblood
Heifer
Mark with his pile of ribbons!
TML Siverado Grand
Champion Fullblood Bull at Ozark Empire Fair. We
flushed several of our donors to this bull and we are
excited over the progeny to come.
News Flash! Watch
for editorial and true story about a full circle of
friendship with our Montana Friends. You won't believe
how small this world really is! :) In the August
Diary!
Mark, Zach and Abbie
with Cowgirl as she leaves home again!
Remember to welcome strangers, because some
who have done this have welcomed angels without knowing it!
