Incredible Gift

We had a fantastic day at the Ranch. Men working hard and children having a blast--great day! I have a lot of fun pictures to share, but not tonight. Blogger is acting up again.

Our friend, Trish, delivered some very special packages from her mother, Pam, to us this afternoon. There were four pairs of beautiful boots in great condition and two great cowboy hats that had belonged to Trish's dad and Pam's husband who passed away in November. As Trish handed over the boxes, I had chills all over. What an incredible gift, huh?

I talked to Pam tonight who told me that it was all the Lord's doing. She felt that they should come to the Youth Ranch where they can be used. She said she wasn't quite sure why they had hung on to them over the last few years (maybe he'd wear them again), but she knew now what to do with them.

Trish, Pam, and Jim--Thank you so much! God bless.

Thankful Thursday

Because Galloping Grace will operate as a free program to children, we are relying on the generosity of others. Wow! Thank you so much, everybody! There are so many businesses and individuals that have helped us out so far. Each Thursday I am going to try and thank a few people that have done so much for us in getting this Youth Ranch going. If you frequent any of the businesses mentioned, please help us in saying thanks.

In October, we had our first fundraiser selling pumpkins. What a great month! We set up our patch in a dirt portion of the parking lot at Quanz Advanced Auto Care. Max did not know Chad Cisco, the manager, when he asked if it would be at all possible for us to sell pumpkins for our Youth Ranch in their parking lot. Chad did not hesitate in saying yes. They were so good to us. Chad allowed Max to build a fence and a shade structure and put thousands of pumpkins out.

That's our friend, Marvin Otero helping Max. Marvin does everything for Galloping Grace. We are forever grateful for his support, ideas, horse trailer, green chile, manual labor, hay stacking, poop scooping, etc., etc.! Thank you! Also, thanks to Taylor and Dalton for all your help. You guys are amazing!

I have a lot more I want to say about the support we received at the pumpkin stand. Unfortunately, Blogger is freezing up tonight. I will try and continue tomorrow. Have a great night.

Hee Hee

Just a funny forward I got from Renee today. Thought you might get a kick out of it.
I'm going to make sure Max sees this. We wouldn't want him wearing his hat incorrectly in front of the children.

Good Times

I mentioned that I was going to try really hard to get a picture of squirting blood. Well, that didn't happen. The mama cow herd did not have a lot of horns this week. How about some oozing blood from some sweet little baby calves? The whole branding experience is pretty hard to swallow the first time out. The shock wears off, and it just becomes something that needs to be done. But, the shock doesn't wear off with the dehorning. The sound is terrible! Max even admitted that he really doesn't enjoy that part of working the calves. Here is Mr. Robb in action. I don't know if he minds the process. Enough of the post hole diggers to the skull. On to more blood. Guess what happened to this cute, sweet thing. (Notice face.)Max tossed an "object" at her which bounced off her jacket and on to her face. She was totally grossed out. These little guys usually get banded, but some calves were too large and had to be cut.
Brooke and Claire had a little rodeo fun.
More great teeth. She's a keeper.

Every once in a while it takes some time for the ropers to catch a calf. When there were little breaks in the action this weekend, our adorable shot crew could be seen dancing a little jig.


Branding isn't all blood and singed hair. It's also a lot of fun!

Good job, Michael! Not bad for a rookie.

I think I'll try to ease up a little with the blood. I'm sure there are plenty of you who do not understand or enjoy all of that.

No Kidding

We made it home from a very successful, fun, and WINDY weekend at our family ranch. We'd love to go on and on about it, but we're exhausted! We stayed up way too late last night playing games, packing, and cleaning the bunkhouse, only to get up this morning at 4:45 in order to make it back in time to get the kids to school. At our age, we definitely need more than three hours of sleep!

While the guys were separating the calves from the mamas, the goats decided to join the fun. They even posed for the camera. Enjoy these photos of some calf wannabees while we go enjoy some ZZZZZZZs.

Good night.

On The Road Again

We're headed back out to the family ranch for more dusty fun. Hopefully we'll have some exciting stories to tell upon our return. I'm going to try real hard to get a picture of a cancer eye and some squirting blood--just a little something for you to look forward to.

Please say a prayer for a safe trip for us. We'd sure appreciate it. :) Have a great weekend.

Still Learning To Blog

So I finished writing Workin' The Cow Part 2 and then posted it. When I went to the blog to make sure it posted correctly, I couldn't find it. Turns out it was inserted after/before (depending how you look at it) the horse video. I guess that's what happens when you start a draft and wait to publish it????!!! What I'm getting at here is that you need to scroll down to find it. (If you feel like it.) :)

Love,
The Newbie

Old Geezer

Guess who turned 33 this weekend.

Yep, Cowboy Max!

He spent the day working those mamas cows we mentioned. He said it was the perfect way to spend his birthday, and he meant it!

Happy Birthday, honey! We love you.

AMAZING Ride--Bring On The Chills

Workin' The Cows Part 2

We mentioned in Workin' The Cows Part 1 that this past weekend wasn't only about branding. After we finished torturing the babies, the mamas got to have their share of fun.

We have very srong and talented flankers, but even they cannot hold down one of these mamas.

That's why they cows need to be run through the chutes. In there, their bodies are stuck and they cannot move their heads around as much. The nose clamps (first picture) work wonders getting a little more cooperation from these grouchy mamas.

Some cows have very vivid memories of last year's happenings and try and escape before it is their turn.

It never works, but they keep on trying. I guess there was a pretty bad three cow pile up on Sunday--I hate missing the good pictures!

See these teeth? Not good. She's a goner! According to Candido, our awesome ranch manager, a cow cannot properly eat with this pathetic mouth of of broken, ground down teeth. She is off to the sale barn. So is this old girl. She is longer of any use to us. Kinda sad, really. Candido said she is the first cow the ranch bought over eight years ago. Thanks for all those calves. Sorry about all the freezing winters and dreadfully hot summers. Hope you enjoyed your stay. Have fun being some kind of meat. Now these are nice teeth. She gets to stay. Would you look at that tongue!! If you ever feel tempted to eat cow tongue, don't! Yucko. I got a little close taking these pictures. They have the absolute worst breath on the planet! I'm not even kidding about this. I feel sorry for the guys having to check hundreds of these nasty mouths. Why would a cow have bad breath? They eat grass all day. That shouldn't be a problem. Some things are snot pleasant around here, that's for sure. I'll fill you in on more next week. As I close this post, I'd like to ask you something. What color is my manly husband's shirt in this light???

Thanks

Eye appreciate you reading our blog. Have a great day.

Workin' The Cows Part 1

We know this blog is about the Youth Ranch, but our family ranch is a huge part of our lives and we want to share that as well.


The family ranch is a cow/calf operation. There are approximately 1700 mother cows, and depending on the time of the year, an equal amount of calves. There are also about 120 bulls.


Typically we brand all our calves in the summer. This year that wasn't possible because the drought caused a much longer calving season. Many were too young in July to withstand the "torture" of branding. The rest were still in their mama's tummies.


This weekend we went down to work on branding what didn't get done this summer. We also use this time to mouth (check their teeth) and vaccinate the mamas. If their teeth are bad, they have to be sold. If they have a cancer eye, they're also gone. Horns growing--they have to be cut off. It's tough being a cow. There are so many reasons I would not want to be a cow. Many, many reasons!


Before we show you all the gory details, we would like to give a HUGE thank you to Deanell and Darren for taking care of Galloping Grace in our absence. THANK YOU! The horses and their bellies really appreciate it.

So here we go.

Here's Cowboy Max roping the rather large calves.The calf is then dragged out of the pen to the eager flankers. (Macho men who wrestle the calves to the ground.) The calves are pretty GINORMOUS this time of year!This makes the flankers feel that much more manly! Smile for the camera.
Garrett's first time flanking. He definitely felt manly!

After the calf is secure, the branders, banders, vaccinators, dehorners, and taggers ATTACK! It can be shocking to see the first time out, but people usually get used to it in a hurry. Good times.It looks kind of hard to breathe in there, doesn't it? Hot irons. Hot irons in action.This is Marvin, a board member of Galloping Grace. This is Max's stepbrother, Justin. Isn't he a cutie? Ouch, ouch... and OUCH!The pain continues with this little contraption--the dehorner. Can you see the little horn piece in Garrett's hand? This is the dehorner in action. Here's a little shot of "banding." This is a family blog. We're going to leave it at that. This picture shows the girls preparing the shots. Big sis showing little sis the ropes. We think you get the point. We'll end with Jordann piercing this little beauty's ear.

Well done everyone. Thanks for the help!

Check back for Part 2.

We got a big kick out of this picture. Thought we'd share.