Recieving Yearlings

It's that time of year again.  We started receiving yearlings Friday night, which means I spent my weekend processing yearlings.  It actually isn't too bad of work.  We have a decent crew, and a good routine, so it doesn't take too long.  The only glitch all weekend was when a hinge on one of the hydraulic gates broke.

So we had Julio weld it for us, and after a short delay we were back to work.  Everyone works at our place...Not only do we give the kids whips, we make every stray that passes through work as well.

Luke, an Australian Shepard was put to work.  He received a doughnut for his efforts.  Yes, we take doughnut breaks.

We run every animal through a hydraulic chute that weighs each animal.  We class everything by weight, vaccinate for pink eye and foot rot, and the best of the best are kept for breeding.  Sometimes we are so fast, we surprise ourselves, and get the whole bunch done before lunch!

Being a mom, cowgirl, and ranch wife I get to do a lot of fun things, like take my kids to work with me, work outside, and ride some neat horses.  I also get to do a lot of lousy things that I care not to do, like cook for a huge crew (which I don't mind too much), clean up the dishes from feeding a crew after the days work is done and everyone else gets to relax, and spray weeds, which is a story for another day!  Saturday was no exception.  Not only did I work all day with the crew, I made a huge lunch to feed them as well.  I think the final head count was 10 people.  I cooked a couple of roasts, a crock pot full of beans, a huge macaroni salad, and brownies for dessert.  I should have taken pictures of that too!

After lunch we reweighed everything to get an average weight, then moved them to their new homes.

If April Showers Bring May Flowers, What do May Snowstorms Bring?

I have been waiting (rather impatiently I might add!) since August for my bulbs to bloom.  A friend mailed me a shoebox full of daffodil bulbs last summer, and I just can't wait for them to finally bloom.  Lamoille is the first place I've lived in my married life that I actually live in a house year round, and am taking advantage of having a yard and a place I can plant flowers and be here to enjoy them.

My darling TR doesn't appreciate my desire for flowers.  I walked outside the other day, and he had pulled the petals off of the 2 daffodils that were about to bloom.  Broke my heart, I was so disappointed.  Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your frame of mind) the weather has been so wet here ever since that he hasn't been able to go outside, and some more of my daffodils have had an opportunity to bloom!  I see where I have some grape hyacinth, tulips, and a peony coming up as well.

My house plants are doing much better than my outside plants.  This is a geranium I've had in my living room for over a year now.  We have a huge picture window that is perfect sunlight, and along with this geranium, I have several violets and a cyclamens that are constantly blooming.  I've started some gladiolus in my dinning room, and they are getting tall, but no buds on them yet!

I love gerbera daisys, and bought a couple this spring.  They have huge, beautiful blooms that are so colorful!  We are just waiting for all of this wet to stop so I can put them outside too!