The Big Cattle Drive

We had a lot of fun this weekend, and the horses all did very well... most especially E's horse Rebel, and T's horse Tori. Those two ponies worked their butts off, they were the most experienced out of all of the ones we had helping, so they did most of the chasing of the strays.

Of course, Rebel gets a gold star, because right off the bat, the cows were nuts. Once we got them across the highway, it was all good, and everything went smoothly, but to start with, they didn't want to do anything that even resembled cooperating.

One of mom's precious Hereford crosses decided to go all evil and start ramming the horses... Rebel got hit a couple of times, and she crawled right up Monkey's butt, lifted him off his hind feet.

I gotta tell ya, I thought I was a goner. I looked back just in time to see her dropping her head to hit him, and I figured either he was gonna leave me there and head for the hills or we were going for an e-ticket ride together. I had time to think "oh, shit" and then she hit us.

I am so proud of Monkey, though. His only reaction was to kick her in the face and run forward a few steps, then go looking for more work. Spooky horse my ass!

Of course, another of the cows was being the shits and not staying with the herd, and E had to rope her and drag her back... Rebel worked his butt off hauling that cow around, until we gave up on teaching her to lead with the horse, and tied her to the pickup and let dad drag her around... but E and Rebel got her a long way... even if E did have to adjust his dally a few times....
I just love that picture.

S came with us too, brought her horse Diablo, and he and she did really well for never having seen a cow before. Farmmom got to ride Diablo for a bit, while the cows were being stupid and we needed another person that knew what they were doing, and it just made her day.

Once we got them across the highway things went better, they moved a lot easier and we got to where we were going... Long after I had figured, but we got them there.

E's camera was there too, and there's a bunch of pictures on it, I'm waiting for him to email them to me, and then I'll share some more. I don't know what all they got with his, but he said they got some good ones, so we'll see when he gets them to me.

I'm too old for this sh.....

Really, really too old.

We quit drinking at four thirty this morning. Since then I've gotten four hours of sleep, been to class, grocery shopped with Farmmom, had lunch with T, herded cats... er... gotten everyone together to come to the Homestead... loaded a reluctant horse and an easy loader, hauled them down here, had a near flat (the treads were peeling off the tire... YIKES!) gotten the tire fixed, unloaded horses, got water for horses, fed horses, came back to Mamaw's house, peeled and chopped potatoes, and dug out cactus jelly for breakfast tomorrow.

I'm so tired, I'm not sure I'll be able to chew.

Remind me not to do this again, guys. I forgot just how exhausting it is to be young.

Young and Stupid, and A Bad Influence

That's what I am.

In my defense, one of the girls made a conscious decision to get trashed last night, and I was under the impression that Sparky had drank more than he actually had before last night.

Yeah, first time drinker girl, and second time drinker guy. The girl, we plied with tequila and dr pepper, then screwdrivers.

Sparky expressed a wish to catch up, when he arrived a few hours after we'd all already gotten good and going, so we fed him shots. Of tequila, rum, and vodka, alternating.

He made it all the way back to his dorm before he started calling dinosaurs.

It was fun, though.

Tonight, T's birthday party at Opals. I gotta get a shower and get cleaned up, he'll be here around seven. I'm gonna be soo dead tired tomorrow....

But it's totally worth it.

Two Things....

First, a correction on the situation with the horse yesterday. I was misinformed. The vet that the girl took the horse to said it was bad off, and she should leave the horse at the vet's office, and if she insisted on taking him somewhere, to take him to Fort Collins. She ignored that advice and brought him back to the barns, to put him in a stall that was being rained into through the barn door, and leave him alone all night.

The next day, after he left the barn, she took him back to the vet's, where the vet recommended euthanasia. So, she hauled him back to the barn, and shot him. Which would be fine, except for the fact that she didn't manage the job on the first shot, and let the poor horse bleed and suffer for thirty minutes before she tried again.

And, this part is hearsay, but I understand that the colic was caused by riding the horse until he was extremely hot, in the cold weather, and putting him away wet. A definite recommendation for cooling your horse out before putting them away.

The other thing is a lot happier. I got my last Lit paper back today, the one that I really wasn't happy with because I made the mistake of putting it off until the last minute.

On the last page is a note of "Wow! Excellent!"

I got a hundred on it.

It would be really easy now for me to get cocky about things!

Little Fuzzballs, Livin Large

As we all know, young of any species tend to grow. Since I'm honorary grandmother to three kittens, it's my responsibility to make sure that they have room to grow. As you probably recall, I had arrangements made to keep the furry ones out of trouble:



But, since they're getting bigger:


They needed different arrangements:



No, really. They're getting big. Like, Pixel Mamma has to hold on to them to give them a bath:



And of course, after a few moments of panic at their being out of the box, once I'd re-arranged things so that she could put them back in the box and still have room, she promptly stretched out on the sheet and made herself comfortable as far from the box as she could get. Now, if she follows the pattern she had the last time, she'll make sure they're "in" the box whenever she's not in the room, until they're big enough to run around on their own anyway, and make sure they stay on the sheet the rest of the time. She's very good about the whole "den" thing, until they start getting really mobile, and then she starts demanding babysitting.

I didn't *do* it! I just told them how....

Every one of the girls on my feed crew were dosed with estrogen-laced crack, tonight, I swear. They were all hyper and laughing and being very "girl."

Of course, when I heard of their plan for the evening, going to Wally World, filling a cart with random items, and dropping them into other people's carts, I had to speak up, in the name of maturity, to stop this juvenile delinquency. I was, after all, the responsible adult there.

Yeah, right. If you believe that one, I've got some excellent ocean front property I want to discuss with you.

My contribution was minimal, actually, I merely told them that for maximum amusement value the items should be entirely off the wall. Pregnancy test for an eighty year old woman. Douche for the nice clean cut young man buying all of the salad components. A box of condoms and the largest tub of vaseline available there for the mother with three kids in tow, preferably with one of them being fourteen or older, to open up the debate on whom, exactly, put the items into the cart.

Of course, for real entertainment on those sorts of missions, you have to scratch the bar code on the box or the sticker, so that it won't read properly. Otherwise, the people might get all the way home and wonder why they bought a tub of whipped cream, a jar of pickled okra, and six bottles of Astro Glide, which thought is amusing but deprives you of your god-given right to witness said confusion.

Up Since Five

Legs ache... Knee's tweaked.... Ears are frozen...

But, the horse that coliced yesterday, that the vet sent back with only instructions not to feed or water him today, that we found down in a stall and not breathing at feed crew this morning, is up and on his way to the vet's again.

Even a weak horse is stronger than a person, especially when the person is trying to rock them up when they've gone down while walking, and the horse is flinging himself back down. And it kind of hurts when they knock you down where you're bracing against their shoulder to keep them from flopping sideways, and land on your leg. Thank goodness for my work boots, or my foot would probably hurt more than it does.

But, he's in the trailer, and on his way. Hopefully the vet will be able to fix him up.

Meanwhile, I'm not in good graces on the second floor of the boy's dorms. They kind of frown on it when you spend five minutes solid banging on a door without getting an answer.

Thankfully, some people answer their phones, and another truck and trailer was found.

I don't think I'll ever make nice with the dude down the hall from the room I was banging on, though, he cussed at me and I flipped him the bird.