Oct 2006

October 1-2 Congratulations Eric and Brenna Jo on your marriage Saturday night! Wish we could have been there! Sounds like it was a spectacular event! A sundown wedding beside the lake sounds very romantic! Our Best Wishes and Love!
Home is such a sweet place! Yesterday was the last day at Tulsa State Fair Open Show! Kevin, Jim Bob and Crystal got the Angus heifer Queen Ann of Integrity ready early in the morning and Rox showed her in the Angus show. Queen got 6th in the class of 10 head of heifers. We were happy with that! Better than last so we were happy with her performance. She was coming into cycle, so Rox had a handful of heifer but she handled it with class as usual! The day was warm and muggy but we visited with lots of potential customers!
I said my tearful goodbye's to my pet heifer Star. She will continue her show career with the Flying I Ranch crew at the stern! We put her in good hands and look forward to sharing this great heifer! We loaded the little red truck about 3:00. I made an escape to come home and check the bred heifers and release the mutts from captivity! They were happy to get outside! Fed the steers, bulls and heifers just before Daniel and Josh showed up with their cattle. They spent the night before they headed back to Kentucky! Daniel's bull was Grand Champion Bull. Congratulations! Also one of his heifers was Reserve in Division that came from a Dragon daughter!
Abbie, Burke, Anita and Megan got here about 9:30 with the two trailers loads of cattle. I grilled up some burgers for the hungry crew!
Like I said, it's great to be home! Today is catch up! Clean out the trailer and truck. Feed and check cattle! We assisted Jari this morning with a pretty little black heifer calf from Hardcore! Everyone doing fine! Glad she waited until we were home! Typical heifer deal! Katie had a pretty little black heifer with a white belly and leg the other night out of Meyer Mickey! More show heifers for the next show!
Come back soon for more exciting times. Thanks for the visit! It's time to go to work on the next event at Thorne Ranch.

Rox and Queen Ann of Integrity at the Angus show Sunday morning

Wonder Woman and Redman got lots of attention! Will be sold in the OCCA Club Calf Sale next Friday Oct 6, 5:00 p.m.

October 3 A day of catch up on various projects, laundry, sort and clean all the show stuff. It is amazing how much stuff you pack to those shows. Everything but the kitchen sink! We had three new babies today. The Heart heifer had a pretty little red and white heifer calf that is marked so cool! She will be a show stopper! N31 had a red colored heifer calf from Bud and N3124 had an Mickey Meyer heifer calf. Finally catching up on heifers.

October 4-8 What a week! Wednesday was the steer show! Awnold and Gomez were grand and reserve grand champion Braunvieh steers and were then evaluated in the AOB class with the other breeds that had too few to be represented. A Charolais Cross steer was selected grand AOB much to all our disappointment, but it made someone else very happy! It didn't dampen the spirits of Jacob though and his big steer Gomez followed him around the arena like a big 1200 pound puppy! That's what it's all about in the end if you have a good experience with the animal. Learning responsibility and patience. Some take it way too seriously. It's about showing your animal good bad or indifferent to the best of his ability, not about showing yourself. Some kids get things mixed up! You can see it in their faces when they present their animals! They are out there for the wrong reason! The kids I like to see are the one's that have that pride in their animal and believe in their hearts that their animal is the best in the world. The grand steer was a Chianina and the Reserve was the Maine steer. Reighly won the Angus steer breed and Rashelle won the Crossbreed Division. So they were both in the Final Drive of Steers! Great job girls! We were proud for you! Awnold and Gomez didn't make the sale but they looked and acted well in the ring! At least they didn't drag their owner and try to trample other kids like one steer did that did make the sale! One of the rules I would change is if they get loose a 3rd time they are out of the show and sale. You have to have your cattle broke and under control! Someone is going to get hurt bad someday and then the fair will wake up! Maybe too late!

Wednesday Jesse Lowry from Texas drove in with his stock trailer to check out the steers and heifers left. He had a steer all ready for his nine year old son but tragedy struck and the steer dropped dead. So he was in a panic to get a replacement. We took him to the Chuck Wagon for supper! I didn't feel like cooking! ha He spent the night and went home with two steers and a heifers next morning.

Thursday was busy again. Preparation for the OCCA Sale. Abbie brought Redman and Wonder and picked up Brian's calves so he came later with all the cattle! We tied them out and glad to not be in the heifer rush next morning on Friday! All the steers went home and all the Junior Heifers came in! Never a dull moment at the Fair cattle Show! We had a late supper at Jason's Deli on 15th Street! Thought maybe we would have to buy the place to park a long trailer! ha

Friday, Another nice day! Not too cool and not too warm! We spent most of the day getting ready for the
OCCA sale at the Fair Grounds Barn A. The sale went very well and Redman and Wonder topped the sale in both the steer and heifer division see the News Page! We have truly been blessed with great customers and friends! Redman performed spectacular for everyone and he went to a very good home! We had no idea that Brooke was interested in him until the gavel dropped and she came running out of the crowd towards me! Jumping up and down and hugging me! ha It was a momentous moment of joy and relief that someone like Brooke would own and show one of our babies! Also a big relief when Megan (who bid herself ) and won Wonder Woman! It's like putting the kids up for auction! You shouldn't feel that attached to your cattle but we certainly want good homes for our cattle. That is more important to us than the monetary gain!!

The Jones family from New Mexico got to the Fair grounds right after the OCCA sale and we took them to Don Paplos for supper! They followed us home and spent the night! Thorne motel open for business again! ha Really nice folks!! Chad, Waunita and Jaden. We appreciate you making a long trip to Oklahoma for an Okie steer named Harry Potter! We hope he does Oklahoma proud!

Saturday, They selected the Potter steer for their family project and got left before 10:30, just in time for health papers in Pryor!! Tim Vanover, Charles Mack and son came by and also checked out the pastures for a fall baby! I ran them around the pastures. They made their check marks on several. I then hurried to Tulsa for the Junior Heifer Show where I was superintendent for the Braunvieh Junior Heifer Show. We had a nice group of heifers come and it went off quickly about 3:00. Abbie got back to the fair just in time to help with the show. We watched the Low percentage Simmental show and saw Megan and Socks win their class. There were 11 head in the class, so we were happy for the LaRue family! Megan had a big grin on her face! Rox's Hereford heifer was selected Division winner and she was also top Showman in the Hereford show. We watched the Fitting Contest and cheered on our friends from Nowata! All in all it was a great week! Many great memories were made.

Sunday, Today is a day of rest.. from Fair activities! I bowed out of the Supreme Heifer Drive today! Susan and Sheila said they could handle it! Great job gals! The Fair was great fun and you ran the place with Class!

I am on a mission for the Aschermann Charolais Ranch sale next week! I got their catalog loaded this morning! We have news of a load of good Angus cows for sale from friend Clay. So if you know anyone needing some good Angus cows bred to a Meyer 734 son give us a call! Priced right! Good quality!

It's also time to do laundry and of course wash some beds at the Thorne Motel!

You all have a great day! Come back soon! Trust in the Lord! No problem too big or too small!

Watch for pictures soon!

October 9, Monday was the usual around here! We gathered cattle and preg checked until noon. Clint had a roast beef sandwich with us in the barn kitchen. We then started weaning the rest of the late spring calves. We also got all the weaned heifers bangs vaccinated. So this place is a bawling mess again! I bet our neighbors think we wean cattle a lot! ha A real chorus line out there! I made a trip to Pryor for groceries and supplies. The milk we had left in the frig got sour so it was time to milk the cow at the grocery store! Some woman actually didn't know where milk came from at the Tulsa State Fair! She freaked out when she saw them milking at the Dairy Barn! Hello! Where do you think cheese and hamburgers come from? Wonder if she knows how eggs are delivered? ha Thanks to Brian and Bill Jones from Porter for dropping by! They are sure happy with their two bulls they got from us. Old Vapor and Shotgun got good homes and happy cows!

Oct 10, Tuesday, Happy Birthday Daughters, Shawna and Shareen! It was a nice day! Enjoying the fall harvest weather. Newt Stephens and Trista his daughter came by to check out the steers and they selected two that they think their niece will like. So they left their trailer for this weekend when they will come back with the whole family. We are still trying to recuperate from Tulsa! It's amazing how far you get behind in your work when your gone! We have been doctoring several head for various reasons. Someone always has a runny nose or behind! ha Todd and Karra Hill and John and Loretta Hall got here about 9:00 p.m.. They hadn't had supper yet so we all went to the Big Cabin truck stop for breakfast! We came back and they spent the night with us. Daylight we had biscuits, gravy and sausage to get everyone fired up for the day. Todd picked out a Dragon daughter that was bred to Black Icon, a Black Icon daughter bred to Bud and a Riss daughter that was AI bred to the Rito Platinum Angus bull I fell in love with while we were in Denver. He made some good selections for his cow herd. They got loaded and gone before 10:30 a.m. as they had to be back to Amarillo for a volleyball game for the daughter. We sure hope that they made it in time!

Oct 11, Wednesday, Another nice day here! But it's suppose to cool down soon! We gathered the Fall babies and doctored several for sore feet and scours! I had a wrestling match with Gomez one of the little Angus twin bulls in the pasture. Abbie thought it was pretty humorous to watch me being drug. Next time I will hold the vaccine gun and he can wrestle the little demons! One of the bull calves got his head stuck between the water tank and fence, so Abbie had to use the cutting torch to get him out! We also sorted and sent the first calf heifers and their babies to a different pasture so we can feed them a little more. The grass has came back in the south pasture so we took the big bunch down there! The calves were really checking out their new surroundings. Tim Vanover and Charles Mack from Waukomis came to pick up their two steers that they decided on this afternoon. They were amazed when Abbie led the Angus steer straight to their trailer. He was weaned two days ago and put on the halter once. He acted like he had been haltered his entire life! They were in awe! A little girl is going to get him named Blaise Newman. Andrew Mack will get Samson. He fell in love with Samson and had not let his Dad rest until he agreed to get him! We finished up the feeding and made it to the house just after dark 30! Another day, another dollar down the drain!

Oct 12, Thursday Will it ever slow down? I guess that is the way we like it or we wouldn't do what we do for a living! Vinnie came by to inspect the fall calf crop! We ran out of gas in the south pasture and Abbie walked back tothe house for fuel! There were a couple of fall calves that sparked his imagination! ha I got all the bills caught up for another month finally! Too bad we can't live on air! ha Hot Air or BS one or the other! ha I made it to Pryor to the bank, post office, the insurance office, and the cell phone place to fix my phone that would not stay charged. The charger was the problem for one thing. Then I went to friend, Carol Smiths to take some pictures of her place and cattle. We had a good cow woman talk! Funny if folks would listen in they would think we should be talking, grandchildren, or decorating the house, but not us! We talk cow genetics and selling cattle! There must be a place for us cowwomen in heaven! I hope! We have to be a unique breed or species! ha Anyway we will be creating a web site for Smith Land and Cattle in my spare time! She has some beautiful cows and a spectacular ranch! I stopped by and saw Terry and Susan for a minute and observed the pet bird they adopted! He loves Terry and hates Susan! What a bite of feathers he would be if he lived at our house! ha

Oct 13, Friday Ron, Hope, Hana Dighton and Ron's grandmother came to look at the bulls. A real pretty day to look at cattle. They picked out TLC Denver for their cow herd and will pick him up a few weeks after they get their place ready for him. We had more babies today and they all came without any help! They are out of Meyer son Micky. So far they have all been real nice calves too! Kent Barns stopped by to pick Abbie's brain for setting up and breeding some of his cows. Always great to see Kent! We got everything fed up and almost made it to the house before dark 30!

Oct 14, Saturday We got cattle fed and checked early. Newt Stephens and his brother came by to pick between two steers. They selected the Dictator steer and we left for Carthage MO. I clerked Larry and Peggy Aschermann's Charolais sale. It didn't keep Mr. Thorne from bidding though! I had no control with me sitting in the auction box! I tried loosing his ticket once on accident! ha So we collected another breed for the cow herd! ha We finished up the sale about 3:30 and then went home with Doug, Judy and the kids to see their nice calf crop! We had a good visit and then headed to Joplin to pick up plumbing for the middle bathroom! Ran into Julie and Malcome Yaryan in the parking lot of Home Depot! They saw our truck and called home to get our cell numbers. Small world! It rained almost all day and it was a steady rain that soaked things up pretty well! Just what we needed at the time we needed it! We are thankful!

Oct 15, Sunday It rained all night and soaked up things well! I was over my shoe tops in the corrals a couple of times. We fixed the barn so that the cattle in the corrals could get out of the rain! It will mean a wheel barrow load to clean up though! Do they realize how much work they create for their comfort? The Lobland family got here in the afternoon and Jordyn selected a Gold Club steer for her FFA project. She led him up to their trailer and "Horse" as she called him jumped in and waited for her to tie him up. He surprised us and them. It is amazing how some people just have that natural knack for handling animals. He trusted her completely and that steer has only been tied three times on halter.

Oct 16, Monday We finally got everything fed and situated in the morning. The bulls got out and tore up some fence on Saturday night. So we captured them to the barn corrals! It looked like a bull stud around the barn! ha My horses were out too! They knew the fence was not hot! Tee grabbed the white tape and opened the tape to get out! He just looked at me as if to say, "I know it's not hot" I finally put them back in the corral by the barn. Their loss! We finished cleaning out the trailer of trim chutes and hay. I got soaked! We hooked up the trailer to head to Carthage and pick up the new cattle. We had lunch in Joplin at Cheddars. Not a bad place to have lunch! It rained on us all the way. We got our heifers loaded at Doug and Judy's without any problems and visited with Doug for a minute! We also inherited and Ficus tree from them! We then headed over to Larry's to pick out the donor we are going to flush. Visited with Larry and we selected a 717 daughter that we think will sure enough add some dimension to our club calf breeding program. We got home and Brian was here with vet supplies! We fed and made it to the house about 7:30 just in time for the Bachelor Show! What a mess Lorenzo has gotten himself into! Wonder if being a prince is all's its cracked up to be? My vote is for Sadie! ha Glad the Houston socialite went home! Poor little rich girl! Found something money couldn't buy!

Oct 17, Tuesday We hauled the Ficus tree up stairs to the family room where it will get lots of light from the sky light this morning!! It looks like a forest up stairs! ha All we need is that parrot sitting up n the branches! ha Thanks Doug and Judy for the beautiful tree! I hope I don't kill it! ha Kevin came this morning and he will be helping us each morning before he goes to work in the afternoon shift. A welcome addition to the crew! It gave me time to make tags and catch up on some bookwork. Caroline C572 had a pretty little Bud bull calf this morning! He will be a keeper! Vasa is looking pretty miserable and we had her in the barn over the weekend! But we kicked her out today since the sun is shining! Vet will be here at 2:00 to preg. check about 45 head and semen test some bulls we have for sale and test bulls we are taking to Strafford MO. to be collected. Visited with the Lowry family and they are happy with the cattle they got from us!

Oct 18, Wednesday Megan, Cassie and Burk came by with all the Blue and Gold FFA food we ordered. It was good to see them! Abbie, Kevin and I had lunch in Adair at Beverly's! Made a fast trip to Pryor to pick up groceries and supplies! Fence fixing stuff to go along with it all too! So when I got home I had a truck to unload.

Oct 19, Thursday Dani Leigh came this morning and spent the day while Andrea went to the Dr. in Tulsa and Claremore. We baked up banana bread and a big lasagna for lunch! I took pictures today of the steers and of the open heifers. Abbie spent most of the day fixing fence and trying to find his short! We got this email from our friend Leonard in Texas.. It sure says it all for us cowgirls! I hope you enjoy it! haThe first idea was to create a list of rules for cowboys written by cowgirls, things that would bridge the understanding gap. But historical reaction by cowboys for advice given by their wifely partners made me realize the futility in the effort.

Moving from that fleeting moment of "saving the world," I decided to help a small part of it by suggesting some basic advice to those considering matrimony to a cowboy. While this is by no means a complete guide, recognizing the following situations will save years of misunderstanding.

Ranch wife 101 guidelines:

1. Always load your horse last in the trailer so it is the first one unloaded. By the time he's got his horse unloaded, you will have your cinch pulled and be mounted up ready to go - lessening the chance of him riding off without you with your horse trying to follow while you are still trying to get your foot in the stirrup.

2. Never - and I repeat never - ever believe the phrase "We'll be right back," when he has asked you to help him do something out on the ranch. The echoing words, "this will only take a little while" have filtered through generations of ranch wives and still today should invoke sincere distrust in the woman who hears them.

3. Always know there is NO romantic intention when he pleadingly asks you to take a ride in the pickup with him around the ranch while he checks waters and looks at cattle. What that sweet request really means is he wants someone to open the gates.

4. He will always expect you to quickly be able to find one stray in a four-section brush-covered pasture, but he will never be able to find the mayonnaise jar in four-square feet of refrigerator.

5. Count every head of everything you see - cattle especially, but sometimes horses, deer, quail or whatever moves. Count it in the gate, out the gate or on the horizon. The first time you don't count is when he will have expected that you did. That blank eyelash-batting look you give him when he asks "How many?" will not be acceptable.

6. Know that you will never be able to ride a horse or drive a pickup to suit him. Given the choice of jobs, choose throwing the feed off the back of the pickup. If he is on the back and you are driving, the opportunity for constant criticism of speed, ability and your eyesight will be utilized to the full extent. "How in the *@*# could you NOT see that hole?"

7. Never let yourself be on foot in the alley when he is sorting cattle horseback. When he has shoved 20 head of running, bucking, kicking yearlings at you and then hollers "Hold 'em, hold 'em" at the top of his lungs, don't think that you really can do it without loss of life or limb . Contrary to what he will lead you to believe, walking back to the house is always an option that has been used throughout time.

8. Don 't expect him to correctly close the snap-on tops on the plastic refrigerator containers, but know he will expect you to always close every gate. His reasoning, the cows will get out; the food will not.

9. Always praise him when he helps in the kitchen - the very same way he does when you help with the ranch work - or not.

10. Know that when you step out of the house you move from the "wife" department to "hired hand" status. Although the word "hired" indicates there will be a paycheck that you will never see, rest assured you will have job security. The price is just right. And most of the time you will be "the best help he has" even if it is because you are the ONLY help he has.

AMEN Cowgirls! This really hit home! Thanks Leonard Keeton for sending the email! ha

October 20-22 Crystal came out and we put her to work right away! She is excellent help and you sure don't have to baby sit with her. It's a nice change! We had a gentleman from Missouri come in right as we were dehorning a couple of bull calves. So we left her in charge of the chute room! She got a couple of wheel barrow loads scraped up too! Bill Martin spent most of the afternoon and we showed him almost all the cattle. A real nice guy we hope we see more of in the future! Vet Tony came by while we were in the pastures and he read the TB on the bulls we will be collecting in a few weeks! Jeremy Church came by and brought his donor cow and had a steak dinner with us! Always good to see Jeremy! Diann, Jeffrey and Logan got in about 2:00 in the am on Saturday. I had to take Holly dog into the vet in the morning! She was spitting up blood and not feeling very well! It was hard to leave her at the vet's so they could put an IV in over the weekend! We had a great weekend spoiling Logan! What a cute little guy! He win's your heart with his smile! Vasa finally had her bull calf and she thinks he is pretty nice so far! Hairy little dude! She will give plenty of milk for a first calf heifer.

Doug Gilkey stopped by and I showed him the one Purebred bull we have left! It was so cool that we didn't even brave the cart or mule! We took the silver truck with heater! Jeffrey got to help Abbie do some cattle work and they were chilled when they came in just before dark! Boy it did cool down!

We made it down to the south pasture on Sunday afternoon and got some real cute pictures of the kids and the cattle together. The calves were really curious about short stuff Logan! They came right up to him and checked him out! The house is quiet again.. Oh so quiet! What a wonderful time we did have. Wish it could last forever, but we all have to get back to the task at hand! Life goes on and living waits for no one! Took picture of Hardy and Dragon today... check them out at the Herd Sire Pages.

Another picture after the end of the game! Her unhappy look tells it all for Nebraska fans! ha What a loss!

October 23 Monday! As usual I couldn't go fast enough to get everything done today! But I gave it a try at least! I got the check books caught up and I headed to Pryor to pick up Holly from the vets at 10:00. She is doing lots better! She was happy to see me! I stopped and got the oil changed in the silver bullet! Way past time! I got home in time to hook up the trailer and we loaded 15 head to take to Joplin Sale today! Mike and Nathan came driving in as I was leaving with their two donor cows! I made it to Joplin all in one piece and back home by 3:30. So I started cleaning up and digging my flowers that won't make it the next frost if I don't cover them up! It frosted the pumpkin pretty good last night! Come back soon for more exciting times we hope! ha

October 24-29 I got loaded fairly early and left Oklahoma at 9:30 a. m. headed towards the Sand Hills of Nebraska! It was a pretty drive through green Kansas! All the wheat fields are green and growing! The fields of grain and yellow corn stalks are full of ears of corn! I made it into the feedlot north of Loup City and south of Ord NE. at Peterson Farms around 7:00. Dave Steen from the Maine Anjou Association was polite and kind to meet me in Loup City and led me to the feedlot that I would never have found on my own in the dark! Wow forgot how people live out in the sticks and actually make a living doing it! ha The steers checked in and we sure hope they meet our expectations in the feed out! Being half Maine and half Braunvieh we feel they should have a competitive edge. We took three steers for the Junior Maine Feedout for Rachele and five for the ranch. All were sired by Maine bulls out of Black Icon daughters. I made it to Shareen's about 9:30 and was exhausted from my trucking all day! I sure wouldn't make a very good truck driver. I couldn't do that daily! But I think everyone that gets a drivers license should have to know how to drive a truck and trailer so that they are more courteous on the road. They don't have a clue as to what weight can do when they drive their snappy little sports car and jump out in front of you or slams on their breaks. If they only knew the choice words they get from freight carriers! They are lucky or have just plain dumb luck! You can see why road rage is common! ha Idiots!

I spent the night and day at Shareen's and we prepared for the Halloween party that the Rose Community Club was having at Leota's. Shareen is the president so she really gets into events like this! ha I spoiled granddaughter Dalya all day. What a cute and sweet little girl she is! Sure wish I lived closer so we could have more time together while she grows up! Shareen did caramel apples and all kinds of goodies for the party! She dressed up as the Black Widow and I got my choice of masks and wigs. So I went as a Mrs. Santa Claus white wig and an old lady mask dressed in one of Tom's favorite patched red shirts! I never said anything during the whole party so that no one knew who I was. We listened to Becky Sawyer give her political spur for County Commissioner. I followed her outside afterwards when she was leaving and she was surprised to see me! ha It was fun and my friend Kay Fred was shocked when I took off my mask! Way too hot an outfit for someone having hot flashes! ha

Visited with Nick and Larry Buell next morning and caught up on their busy ranch life! Had lunch with Shareen and then headed to Bassett to fill up with diesel so that I could get back to Kearney. When you travel that country you fill up at every opportunity! Drove through Bassett and not much has changed there! Same old cow town! Post Office, 2 Banks, One Bar, One Grocery Store, One Hotel, two Motel's and one convenience or dime store! I made it to Mom and Dads and they were happy to see me! No place like home! The place looks good as usual! We went down to see Bill, Beck, Beau, Brenna and Gage at the lake place! Bill and Brenna were riding horses. Beck was baby sitting Gage and baking cinnamon rolls! So we had a cup of coffee and a sweet roll! Checked out the new barn and shop! Really nice and it sure must have came in handy for Brenna and Eric's wedding, that we missed out on while Tulsa State Fair went on! Dad and I got the trailer all cleaned of about 8 wheel barrow loads of good stuff for mom's flower beds. Mom fixed up chicken fried steaks for supper. I went over to Kent and Faye's about 8:00 and we worked on her web site until 11:00 and thought we had it all fixed.

I spent the morning trying to get mothers computer working and we finally called Ed the Sybrant Preacher to come over and cast out the demons of that internet trash machine! ha He brought his cute children along, Lydia, Hannah and Samuel. They had lunch with us! I took some picture of some of the family pictures. Found one of my grandmother Lela when she was a young lady. See below! I can actually see me in those eyes! ha I got packed up and Mom and Dad got hooked up to their trailer to head to Atkinson to pick up some pairs that Dad bought over the phone sight un seen! I headed west and south across sandy country roads!! I ran into Trevor at their pasture gate and he took me over close to Sybrant Cemetery where his grandfather and great grandfathers were all buried. All the time I have lived in Ne and never made it to the Sybrant Cemetery! Out in the middle of Sand Hill pastures! We checked out their angus weaned heifers. About 150 head of super fancy angus heifers. You can already tell I am interested! ha Guess what I want for Christmas! Anyway we had a good visit too! He was wearing an OU logo cap and I told him if he really wanted to irritate his NE friends I would send him a real Oklahoma cap with OSU on it! He said send it on! I was joking when I said that OSU was going to beat Nebraska anyway! ha As it happened they did beat NE... So now I am looking for the perfect OSU cap to send to Trevor! ha I made it to Kearney in time to pick up Shawna and Kyleigh and we went to supper at the Cellar. Then shopping for Princess stuff for their Girl Scout Fund Raising Project. Kyleigh's idea signed up 78 little girls and 78 Dads for a Bowling fund raiser for the Girl Scout Camp at Grand Island. Great idea Kyleigh! I spent the night in Kearney!

I got left for home about 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and listened to the NE and OSU game most of the way home in the afternoon! In between phone conversations with everyone that I could think of that I had not called in a while! When I had cingular service! ha I got home just before dark. We enjoyed the extra hour we got to sleep on Sunday. Day light savings time done for another year! Terry and Susan came by and we checked out a new calf in the north pasture. Two donors escaped out of their trap and Abbie rescued them back to their pen. We had lunch at Chilies and picked up some groceries and supplies at Wally world. Now we are gearing up to clip several heifers for the video shoot we will be doing on Tuesday! Hair cuts for all! Congratulations Aschermann Charolais on your Grand Champion heifer at Kansas City Royal! I also heard that Kate Shaffer's heifer won her class ! We are happy and proud for you all!

October 30-31 Happy Spook Day! Wind and more wind on Monday! It blew over some of my iron furniture too! Sent the trash cans a flying down the road. Heard from the Lowry family and Ty had some good luck over the weekend with the bald face steer out of Meyer Micky and a Black Icon daughter named Diamond. Out of 44 steers they were selected Reserve Grand Champion steer! The Class Act heifer was 2nd and 3rd in Class in two shows. So they are happy! Ty is nine years old and this will be his first year showing. I am sure from the sounds of it, it won't be his last either! ha A very polite young man! He will be sending us pictures soon! We clipped until dark last night and the cattle are looking good! Kevin came this morning so that gave me time to do some last minute registrations and book work! It never ends! Davy Lockhart will fly in this afternoon from Bryan Texas and spend the night with us. Thorne Motel open again! ha We will then get a plan of attack for the videoing tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Olivia Grace Plott! 7 lbs and 6 oz. Won't you have fun growing up and celebrating your birthday on Halloween Day! Congratulations Rick, Delynn, Phillip and Clayton! A new baby girl to help balance out the heavy on the male household! ha One less stool lid to close Delynn! ha We can't wait to meet her!

We all rose at daylight and we started the process of videoing cattle. Abbie blew the cattle out and touched them up. Kevin and I ran cattle around in circles in front of Davy and his camera just north and west of the barn! Twenty eight head were selected for the first filming! It was cold and windy and we all were glad to have extra coats and gloves today! I wore tennis shoes not heavy boots today! I needed them several times when we had to cut and keep cattle moving in front of the camera! Kevin and I both laughed at his joke of being an aged gelding in the cutting horse show! ha This old grandma or old gray mare, should have been sent out to pasture in that category!! ha We finished up just before 2:00 and finally went to lunch in Adair. Kevin had to go on to work in Tulsa so he left about 1:30. This went fairly well too so we will probably make a habit of doing this from now on! We can't wait for the finished product though as the video clips will now be available on several cattle in motion on the web site! Go see some of Davy's work at www.cattleinmotion.com . One less project marked off the list of plenty! ha Come back soon friends I am moving like the grandmother I am! ha The only thing still moving fast is my typing fingers! ha Watch for a picture of the new granddaughter soon! We wish blessings for you all this Spooky Day!

Remember to welcome strangers, because some who have done this have welcomed angels without knowing it! Hebrews 13:2