(this photo is by April)
with occasional periods of jogging. Except one exceptionally fit couple...Dylan and Cheri. Dylan holds the all time record of 36 minutes. They were also the only "competitors" to run the whole course this year.
This year most of us did it in under 2 hours including the ride in the sag wagon to take us up the steepest hill.
That counts, right?
We are happy to report that all 3 sires were enjoying the romance of this evening's sunset. One of the bulls may have even had a wild rose in his teeth. Fortunately our athletic and perhaps wild young males are paired with our geriatric females so the old gals will get one more salsa and tango experience and their calves should have a little more zip. We hope.
I have to say it is good having a son who is so handy. Here he is pulling off Tono's shoes and giving him a trim. We used to have to hire our farrier to trim and shoe, but Eric, being the Bold, saw an opportunity and asked the farrier to teach him. For about a year now Eric has been helping trim and shoe all of our horses and he has also helped our farrier with a few of his clients that live nearby. I told our farrier he was working himself out of a job, but he said was happy to teach Eric. He even drove Eric 5 hours south to help him pick out all of the tools he needs. What a guy! He has now given Eric the ok to do all of our horses except Buddy. Buddy still needs special shoeing until we get the quarter crack grown out. Buddy is growing a lot of good hoof and has over an inch of crack free growth now. It looks like I can begin riding him again by spring. Yippee! I miss riding that stubborn, clumsy, funny, smiling, wild horse.
His mama is having her first week long get away with a girlfriend so his daddy decided it was a good time to come to the ranch and cut some wood. Ritter is 20 months old and while he isn't officially our grandchild, he sort of calls us 'granmo'! He seems to like granmo and granmo, but he especially liked Anna when she came for her visit.
I think he was impressed with her muscles.
Unfortunately the little guy is now running a fever and his feet have slowed way down and so have I.
Taking care of Ritter has brought back many memories of raising my own brood; some good, some not so good. Of course, I wish I had the patience then, that I have now. I wish I had taken more time to smell the proverbial flowers. It seems like I was often in too much of a hurry with important tasks. But what could be more important than a leisurely, slow stroll to the barn with little fingers grasped loosely in my hand. The cows all seem to understand as they look at me with a sisterly gaze, and fall into step behind us.
I've read and enjoyed 2 of the books, but "The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur", is Mark's and he says it is very good, so let's see....
There is a discussion of a new tack room and a 12' by 16' stall. Time will tell which direction this old barn takes. We'll will keep you posted.
After bringing her into the corrals, #51, (who we call 51/50 even though she is anything but crazy) is carefully escorted into the cattle lane and then into the chute. Flower has a bit of a difficulty handling such equipment, so she lets Mark help catch the cow's head and close the rear door.
51/50 appears to questioning Flower's intentions in this photo.
A rope was carefully placed around 51/50's leg and then gently pulled back so as to inspect it for any problems. All fine. So then her hip, and leg were felt. Again, no indication of the cause of her injury. 
So 51/50 will get to spend a few days at the barn hotel with daily maid and food service. Of course, Flower will keep her company as well.
Where did the week go. It seemed to just float by. We, as always, did many tasks. I stored green apples in the basement. I seemed to remember my grandma wrapping each apple in paper and then placing them in a dark place, so that is what I did. I am curious if this will actually prolong their shelf life. Does anyone know? 
We still are getting plenty of lettuce, tomatoes, and green beans. I picked a mess of them. Does anyone know what a 'mess of beans' actually is? It is an old saying in my family and yet I have no idea what it means. I do know though, that there is nothing finer than going out to the garden and picking food fresh for the table. I encourage everyone to grow greens especially. Loose leaf lettuces, kale, swiss chard, and spinach are very easy to grow and so very tasty and good for you. If you plant them every 30 days or so, you can keep them coming well into winter. At least in this climate you can.
She loves to ride and so her husband surprised her with a visit to the ranch for her birthday. It was a special day enjoying the scenery, friendship and the horses. 
We decided Sweet Willie must have some Labrador retriever in him because every time we crossed water he took his sweet time splashing and playing. 
I know the photo is a bit blurry, but it was a time of action! Do you see Flower, the goat, on the rock. She came on the 2 hour ride just to taunt the horses, I think. They are't too fond of her. Perhaps Willie was hoping to drown her.
Then, of course, we had to do something about my new geriatric cows. We really needed to take a closer look to see what I purchased as well as to vaccinate, de-worm and brand them before turning them out with our herd. Overall they were sweet. A couple of them were a little 'high headed' and I think they will probably be taking a trip back to the auction yard in the spring, and one old cow had no teeth and no number on her hip indicating how far along in her pregnancy she is. So I think that means she ain't pregnant. Check out this cow's hip and all of her brands. 
The last one is ours. She even had them on the other hip too, maybe she is just into tats. But I think that is wishful thinking. All of these brands seem to indicate that she has been passed along a time too many. And that can't be good. Ahhh. Me and my impulses!
