A Busy Start to November!

On the last day of October, Brian and JJ headed out for a long awaited elk hunt in Burns, Oregon. JJ had so much fun hunting with her cousins on the annual trip with her dad. They didn’t see many elk, but it’s all about the experience for them. While they were away, the girls and I did our best to take care of things around the ranch! We have 10 new litters of piglets in the farrowing barn, so November started out with a few busy days and late nights pulling piglets from one momma sow and keeping tabs on all of the others.

When Brian got back from the hunt, we packed in a lot of ranch work and cattle sorting and the girls did a lot of riding, roping, cooking, and catching up with friends in between. The girls hae been diligently riding and exercising their horses every afternoon and early evening. JJ got some tough news that her horse, Stretch, has a pulled tendon and will be out from rodeo competitions for three months. Her sisters did a great job giving him the right kind of exercise while she was away on her trip, and she has a good attitude about making the best of it… just making sure that the care of her horse and his health are the first priority. She has been roping on good old Rooster while Stretch is getting lots of walks and time to heal up. They have a big rodeo next weekend so lots of practice this week.

My friend Della brought by my new beautiful hat… that she made from scratch from a piece of felt! How cool is that?! I’m her first custom order and you know I’ll wear this one proudly. We also did some night welding on things that needed fixing!

Francie has been such a big help being able to drive in her cute new-to-her 2004 Ford diesel truck that she bought last week! It’s a whole new world having an extra driver. Equal parts sad that I don’t get to drive around anymore and amazing that she can help out so much more with picking up her sisters!

Bitsy turned 4 this week and Tessa made sure to throw her a birthday party. She’s the sweetest dog, but terrified of loud noises like thunder and gunshots, so she tends to claw down on the kitchen door during hunting season. She paws around with Milo most of the time, but leaves the front line guarding to him.

We’ve got some big news coming SO SOON that we’re really excited to share with you… looking forward to a great month ahead! XO, Mary