Ranch . . .

As I said before we ran away at the last minute to the ranch this past week. My dad decided to purchase some cattle, and needed assistance in preparing for their delivery. It was a very eventful week! I had quite a few pictures, including Kaiya helping her Uncle Cary drive the backhoe, but my memory card got lost at the start of the cattle "processing" (ear tagging, vaccinating, and branding) on Saturday. So, those fun pictures of gone, as are a years worth of pictures. I am a little bummed! But, what do you do! We searched and searched, but no luck!

We arrived at the ranch, to find Uncle Cary linseed oiling the corrals! The next day was spent with Granddad and Uncle Cary linseed oiling the corrals, and we went to Idaho falls to pick up supplies such as water troughs, lumber for a shelve at the corral, groceries, and more linseed oil.

Kaiya got to play lots! The remaining time was spent with Mom, Uncle Cary, and Granddad making preparations for the cattle to arrive and for the big day on Saturday. I am considering changing careers from teaching to large equipment operator after getting a crash course in operating a backhoe (I hear operators make more money than teachers). Helped collect wood for the fire to place branding irons in, build shelf for equipment, etc.

Some highlights of the trip included being made fun of for Mom's inability to lift more than two 90lb. bails of hay on to the rancher to feed with! She was quite proud she lifted two on, but come the third . . . all harassment broke out from Uncle Cary!! Not as tough as I thought I was!! But, really . . . how many women could lift one 90 lb. bail of hay?? I am just wondering! At least I got two up, right??

Mom got to go with Uncle Cary to set a bear trap, he is "Davey Crockett" and knew there were bears in the area! After a drive with jelly donut and hickory barbecue scented spray along with some not so delicious to me food, we hiked into the bear area. Luckily, I wasn't the one wearing the backpack with all the delicious smells! We stole the memory card from the motion sensor ed camera placed to catch pictures and left! The bears had been there and we discovered he got some great pictures of it!! Might see if I can't confiscate a picture or two . . . .

Saturday came, and my brother in Idaho Falls brought his family up to the ranch to assist. It took the entire family plus one hired hand 5 hours to "process" 240 head of cattle. My SIL and I pushed cows most of the day, with Grammy assisting. Granddad ran the head on the squeeze shoot, Uncle Colby immunized, Uncle Cary branded, and the ranch hand ear tagged. Grammy helped push cows, and then made a delicious and well deserved lunch.