Brandie's Prairie

Ramblings

2011-12-03T20:59:00.000-08:00

So life has continued to be a whirlwind. A couple of weeks ago we brought in the cattle and sorted out some we wanted to sell so that we didn't have to look after them through the winter. I held back about a dozen steers to sell next year for grassfed beef. Of course there were severall things to deal with. We tagged a few of the calves and will have to brand them soon. We really need to start pulling the bulls out so we have a regular calving season. Even though this is California we still get some crazy weather in the winter.

The kids are in full swing with their homeschooling work and really are getting into a great routine together. This is the first year they seem to be working in sync really well. Of course I am still chained to the table with them to help along and read text book sections. Meaning I cannot clean the corrals and see my animals.....It seems like I hardly get out of the house during the week unless we go to town. Speaking of town, thank goodness soccer is over! As stinking adorable as Sage was playing it was pretty taxing getting her to practice twice a week and then a game every Saturday. Her first year was full of fun. She had a great coach and met alot of really neat girls. She even got to have one over to the ranch as Steele buddyied up with the girl's brother and they came to his birthday shooting party. It was really fun for Sage to get to share our lives with her.

Back to some news about my animals....a mare of ours went missing. The smaller of the two wild herds had started coming down lower and lower. Well you can do the math....she is most likely pregnant. She finally showed up a couple days later pretty beat up as well. She is in a corral now and we have some friends that have expressed an interest in the foal if she is in fact pregnant. I should sell raffle tickets for the darn thing. I will haul her in to work one day soon and have her checked. There is just hardly any spare time for anything extra.

On that note we finally found the time to trade in our Jeep. Following the advice of our mechanic/friend we found a used Toyota 4runner. We absolutely love that car! We even checked cows tonight and it handled great. It is much nicer and I am feeling pretty spoiled. Hopefully we won't tear it up to bad!

The windmill project out here is in full swing and we are just hating it. Everyday except Sunday we can hear the heavy equipment making huge roads all over the hillside. There is even going to be one just over the hill so it will most likely be visable from the house.... :(

Until next time.......

Halloween Indian

2011-11-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

Halloween Fireman

2011-11-01T12:35:00.000-07:00

Catching up.....

2011-10-07T21:42:00.000-07:00

So Fall has fallen. We had snow on the mountain tops around these parts. We have had a fire in the wood stove the past three nights. We are back in full swing with homeschooling and having a great time with it although I miss cleaning the corrals. Does that even make sense?!
Remember my future milk cow Blossom? She is officially knocked up! All those nights shopping for semen online we nailed it....figuratively speaking. She is due May 5th Cinco de Mayo. I think I'll call it Fiesta!
We have the vet coming out tomorrow to put our brand on the horses. I finally ordered and recieved the copper brand so that we can freeze brand them. We have planned that for years and have never had the time to make it happen. It will happen finally tomorrow. How good it feels to finally be doing the things that had gotten set on the back burner for so long. With the kids getting older and being able to help out it seems as though things are happening around here faster and more efficiently.
We were blessed with a two stall barn over the summer and have gotten it put up. We also have aquired three two sided shelters and are getting them up for the horses.
A very good friend of ours staying here at the ranch has allowed us a few trips this summer. Well I take that back, we have only left once. Jeremy roped in Carmel Valley with Bruce Sandifer a couple weeks back. It was a very fun trip. I wished we had more people interested in the ranch roping around here.......
With that rambling of updates I had better head to bed. Morning will come early. With the cold weather maybe I will be updating this blog more often.....

My Redneck Romeo

2011-01-21T22:06:00.000-08:00

Belle the leppy calf

2011-01-07T22:02:00.000-08:00

This little doll is Belle. Jeremy named her that in memory of her momma. Her momma we called Anabelle and was our very favorite cow. She was one of our original cows and never failed to have a baby every year for us. She was old when we got her and that was at least 8 years ago. New Years day we went out to check on the cows and see what new surprises there were when we were introduced to this little one. I have started taking pics of all the new babies and mommies so that when we brand we know who belongs to who. It was a darn good thing I did.

Thursday morning we had a friend come up to deliver hay to us. He was unloading when he says "what's wrong with that #1 cow?" We gave her the number one because she was our favorite.

Well last we knew nothing was wrong with her. He says she was just laying in the middle of the road miles from where she should have been......

Of course we were still up to our eyeballs in chores around here and really didn't have the time to go on another adventure but we dropped everything and hauled the trailer down there to see what we could do. We have the good doctor meet us there and we all decided it was best to put her down. The entire time we were there we were looking for small tracks because we knew she had a calf. None were to be found. We thought for sure the coyotes had gotten her and we were left to just deal with the situation at hand. We finally got back to the ranch where Jeremy resumed trying to unfreeze our pipes and get us water. We had been without for days, thankfully Jeremy had just watered the animals so they were all good. I packed up the kids and off we went in search of this baby. You can imagine our delight in finding her! Getting her in was another adventure in itself!

Santa is a bad mistress......

2010-12-26T19:48:00.000-08:00

So a couple days ago Jeremy, the kids and I got a rare trip to town together thanks to all the rain. We almost always start a trip to town with stopping at the post office. Jeremy came out with a package and the mail. I did'nt think anything of it since I had been doing a bit of shopping on ebay. So he says what did you expect in the package? To which I say "oh I don't remember probably a shirt I bought on ebay." and he says "well why does it have my name on it? And why is a shirt so heavy?" So then I start paying a bit more attention. I tell him well heck I don't know, who is it from? We didn't recognize the name so he decided to open it.

Good think it wasn't explosive the way we were ripping it open. Looking back I sure wish someone had planted a camera in the car and we had it videoed. As he started pulling stuff out of the box he is saying "OH MY GOSH!!!" And I am driving down the freeway yelling "What is it?!?!" He is insisiting I must have had something to do with it. He is just sure I at least know something about it.

Turns out this little mistress is a Hansen String Cutter sent by none other than someone named "Santa". Still ripping things out of the box and swerving to, as Jeremy put it "rudely rip the card out of his hand" that is who signed the card. That's all we know. Santa.

Sooooooo Santa are you ever going to reveal yourself?! Such a wonderfully generous and thoughtful gift we sure would love to be able to at least say Thank You!

Here's for Zach and Ana!

2010-12-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

What is a trip to Knott's without an old west pic?!

How should I do this? clockwise starting at the top;

January (the other tech), Jeremy, Dr. Byerly, wait how do you do clockwise if there is another row......crap. Anyhow below Dr. B is his wife Andrea, all around her are their boys, Steele is in the middle on the bottom, I am below Jeremy, Sage is to my left and the other little girl is January's daughter. What a great group. We all had the best time!

This is what we do to our kids in our spare time! It was so funny, the next day we asked him which was his favorite ride and this was it. He keeps telling everyone he only made that face for the picture! So funny!

Knott's Berry Farm

2010-12-11T09:46:00.000-08:00

We had talked about going to Knott's for Steele's bday and then decided not to since the stagecoach and the steam train was not running during that time.

Then the vet that I work for said we were doing a Knott's trip. Sort of a Merry Christmas to us trip. We were all over it!

The little turds, I had to threaten to leave if they did not get over there and give me a picture of them with Snoopy. I mean really, is it a trip to Knott's without one?! Snoopy was so cool, he tickled them when they tried to walk away. Take that suckers!

You know my favorite ride was the stagecoach! Steele and I rode on top while everyone else rode inside. The little girl next to him talked his ear off. It was so cute, you could tell it embarassed him but he was polite to her. I think he thought she was cute!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the stage coach. Made me miss Denzel Cameron too.

He was a horse trainer for the movies that I was lucky enough to spend a couple of years with.

Steele carries his name as his middle name.

Steele, of course loved all the trains and the Calico Mine was no exception.

Sage on the other hand rode the whole way on the floor of our train car! She was so scared. It wasn't even a thrill ride, she just did'nt like the dark. Poor girlie.

This is the same girl that rode the Pony Express ride while I chickened out and watched.

Steele and I on the bumper cars. Poor Steelie was so upset because everyone else was going on a water ride that he was not tall enough to go on. So we went and took it out on the bumper cars!

He loved the carousel, but watched it go around while we were waiting in line to carefully select the one that did not go up and down. He is so funny.

One of the things I wanted to do was see the glass blowing. There are so many things that are a dying art and I was so happy to see they were still making these things by hand and not buying them in Tiawan or somewhere like that.

We had the best time and I have a few more pics to share and stories to tell about them.

Since I haven't been to good about updating this thing I will have to give you a couple posts today. Specially since we are all grounded to the livingroom today with a sick girlie.

Stay tuned!

Pickin Apples

2010-10-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

We had to run errands today and Jeremy came along since it was raining buckets at home. And he needed to see the chiropractor again......

I have always wanted to stop at this cute little place and pick apples but never had the time.
Today we made the time. It was so fun. My kiddos are adorable. I love how they are game for anything. Jeremy and I wanted to ones on the ground for the cows and goats!

My little rascals. They just don't come any cuter. Of course I am bias.

Playing with the scanner.

2010-09-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

I was looking for something yesterday and came upon a bunch of pics I thought were neat. In looking at this one I think, looking at the tire tracks and the look on Jeremy's face, I must have driven through the gate and then wanted to get a pic so I backed up and made him close the gate. Aren't I sweet? I am sure I had the heater on in the car.....

This is a couple of friends of ours at one of our brandings. Mike Bromley is standing. He is a blacksmith in the area and a darn good one too. On his horse is Freddie and his horse Brutis.

And this my good friend Angie and her stud Heck. We have a baby of his that no one fails to notice when they are here at the ranch.

A lazy Sunday.

2010-09-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

This wasn't actually this Sunday. I think it was a couple of Sundays ago. It was a beautiful day and we all got to just laze around and do whatever we wanted with our time.

My handsome little man. Doing what he does best. Digging in the dirt and playing with his tractors. Is he not the cutest thing you have ever seen?

This is what I found Jeremy doing. I think it was right before I called him a sissy and told him to get naked and get in with her.

He took me serious and did it!!! This is all I will show of the pics though!

hahahaha!!!

Prissy Poopie

2010-09-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

So I have a story to tell. Well, I have alot of stories lately just no time to write them. Our trip to Alturas was a much needed getaway for us. We had a wonderful trusted friend to watch the place and we were able to be carefree about leaving the ranch. Of course our truck was another story. We had great friends here with us from Sweden that traveled with us. We finally got to meet Martin's family and Sage and Ida were almost instant friends. In fact she rode in their car all the way to Alturas. It was a pretty easy drive for us with just Steele with us in the truck. Well, easy is a relative term. It would have been easy if it were for the truck overheating and the tires on the trailer blowing out. We broke up the drive in two days since we were hauling horses and kids.......not to mention we have a great friend that lives halfway between here and there. Mary always rolls out the red carpet for us and this time was no exception. We all had a wonderful meal (my favorite, pizza!), great company and comfy beds.

Friday we moved on to Alturas and thankfully got there relatively uneventfully. We were able to set up camp at the fairgrounds and get the horses settled in. I thought I was so smart thinking we could just camp at the fairgrounds. I mean afterall it is summertime. I wasn't able to pack many blanket since there wasn't much room left in the truck. We had bought a real nice air mattress on the way up there for Jeremy and I and we pitched the tent for the kids. The kids had all their blankets and pillows and were all snug but let me tell you I froze my butt off! I had given up and gotten in the truck about 3am. Saturday we had our turn out roping and as I should have known I got nervous and blew it. We still had a good time though. Annelie, Martin's wife was just the greatest help ever with my two rascals while I was off riding and making my attempt at roping. I swear, I am surprised I didn't embarrass myself when it came time for them to go home by hanging off of her leg to keep her here. Saturday night we all went to the local basque restaurant for dinner and it was very good! Martin and Annelie brought us their blankets from the hotel room so we didn't freeze and it was a much better night than Friday had been. Sunday Jeremy was entered in the stock horse and considering his horse Flash, a colt of ours,that was bred, born and raised on our ranch, had never ran anything down a fence much less circled a cow before, he did remarkable well. His mother was a TB mare of mine and so needless to say he can be a little "hot". So when we didn't have to go to the emergency room so I was very happy. I have to say my heart was pounding watching the whole thing. Jeremy also had the cut and rope event to rope in Sunday. I could not wait for the end of the day as I needed a shower and a good nights sleep very badly. We had planned to get a hotel room and get a good nights rest Sunday so we could head home Monday. As Jeremy was visiting with one of his team members, Destry Campbell, he said he had turned his garage into a bunkhouse and that we would be welcome to it. I was concerned about the horses since we had Cody, our stud with us and thankfully he said it wouldn't be a problem. So it was settled, and I was very relieved to know I would get a shower and a restful nights sleep. We also had two of our five dogs with us. Priss of course and Kate the wonder pup. They for the most part were staying in the trailer and Priss was not very happy about it. She is my little diva dog you know. So we got the horses settled in and then got our things hauled into the very cute bunkhouse. Let me just say how stinking tired I was by this time. We had taken ourselves to a very yummy mexican food dinner and I was very much looking forward to showering and getting the kids clean. I caved and let Priss into the bunkhouse, just while were showering I thought to myself and then I will put her back out in the trailer. The kids were equally as tired I think. Sage had cried herself silly (and seeing her sad and crying I was as well) having to say goodbye to her new friend. It was the sweetest thing really. So we got them settled in and Jeremy and I stumbled in to check out the little bedroom where we were going to sleep. It was the cutest thing and the bed was the fluffiest bed I think I have ever seen. I was just going to lay down for a sec and next thing I knew Sage was tapping on my foot telling me something was wrong with Steele's foot. Normally I hear every sound in the night specially the kids making any kind of noise. And most certainly when we are in a different place than home. Not to mention it was dark as dark could be. Apparently Sage had carried Steele into the bedroom and set him in the big, beautiful, fluffy chair that was next to the bed. I, in my horror of not hearing the kids even wake up much less hearing them come into the room being as tired as I was, lept out of bed and went to rubbing Steele's foot, trying desperately to get my witts about me. All at the same time I was trying to figure out why my sweet little baby boy that I put to bed clean has a wet, slimy, grainy foot. About this time I hear Sage say to me "I think Priss pooped".........Aren't you glad your not me about now?! All I could do is walk away to the bathroom and tell the kids not to move a muscle. I stumbled to the bathroom trying not to touch anything and hoping like heck not to step in anything in the darkness. Thankfully I made it and got washed up, got the kids washed up. Somehow got the floor to exactly the state it was before my mangy, purse puppy had assaulted it. I was mortified I had let my dog into someone else's place without even asking and she had been off her normal schedule so I really should have known better but I was so darn tired.......
Sooooooo anyhow, that is why I now call her Prissy Poopie.......it just isn't always a glamorous life for me.

Wild ponies

2010-08-10T10:49:00.000-07:00

well, these three aren't wild.....

now these kiddos don't know how lucky they are.

Alturas Vaquero Fiesta 2010

2010-08-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

Our camp ;)

Morning Meeting....

Jeremy's team members, Destry Campbell and Weston Albrecht.

Pics from the clinic in Tehachapi today

2010-07-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

A peak at more of what we have been up to.

2010-07-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

Some weekend fun.

2010-07-04T08:52:00.000-07:00

Friday night we all headed down to the local arena to teampen. I have mixed feelings about teampenning but if you keep your head and don't blow up your horse trying to get a good time it can still be fun. We like to visit with good friends and watch the kids ride. They have to share Chico but one day before too long I can see Sage taking over my Poco. She is getting to be pretty handy.
Yesterday we had friends over to work with their horse with Jeremy. This is how the kids occupy themselves. Pretty cute little swamp monsters. It was almost too cold to get in.

Here is Jeremy and Flash & Ron and his mare Corona. Jeremy has been really working hard at helping Corona see a better way. Yesterday I think all the good colors were showing. I sure hope she keeps it up. Ron did an awesome job on her yesterday.

My little swamp monsters.

2010-07-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

The Gypsy Cob encounter.......

2010-06-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

Agua Dulce Clinic pics

2010-06-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

2010-06-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

It starting to get to where if I am bored, something is bound to either go wrong or crazy around here.

Yesterday started like any other. We had a client coming out for lessons. I had given her the combo to the lock box so that she could let herself in.

Jeremy was out riding and the kids and I were in the house doing regular stuff when I get a phone call from the client saying she is putting the combo in the lock box but it won't open. I say "no problem, I'll be down in a sec and let you in."

I get down to the gate and take a look at the lock box and see that someone has tried to break it open (again) to steal the keys. It was hard to tell but I could see the marks from a screw driver or something that they used to try and pry it open. It was jammed and you couldn't even open it with the combo. So I let her in and come back to the house, called the sheriff to make a report about it. I had decided I was going to try and have a quiet day in the house since the wind was howling for the third day in a row. I had drug out a box with old pictures in it and wanted nothing more than to sit on the kitchen floor with the kids looking at old pictures.

Then the phone rang. It was the deputy. He was on the dirt road and asked me to drive down and meet him at the gate. So I throw on my shoes and toss the kids in the car along with Moose and head down to the gate. Steele stayed in the car while Sage and I started telling the deputy the story of what has been going on with the lock getting cut and the lock boxes getting broke into. Just filling him in on what all has been going on around here when he says to me "here comes a truck behind you" Sure enough, on the inside of the gate coming down, fully loaded down with stolen items off a ranch up the road were two "gentlemen" in a little white truck. The older man that was driving gets out of the truck and proceeds to tell us how he was coming from the ranch up the road and they didn't think it was a big deal and he can put the stuff back if we want them to. Can you believe that?!?! So I say to him "how did you get in here?" He pulls out a key and says he got his from his neighbors cousins brotherin law.......So I take the key from him and put it in my pocket. The keys were all numbered for just this reason. I figure I will check my list later and find out just how he got this key.

About this time I say to Sage "GET IN THE CAR NOW!" She heard my voice and got in the car and her and Steele sat down on the back seat and stayed there.

The deputy started questioning the guys while I waited. Trying my best to bite my tongue and not esculate the situation any. I did tell the scumbags that they should be ashamed of themselves and I didn't care if "everyone else is doing it too" that it still didn't make it right.

So the deputy says to the scumbags "I want you to turn this truck around and show me where you took this stuff and you are going to put it all back." He asked me to follow them back up the hill also. I had to open the gate for the deputy and lock it behind us so in the small amount of time that the guys turned their truck around and I closed the gate and walked back to my car they were already around the bend in the road. I walked back to my car and damn near stepped on the scumbag passengers crack pipe he had thrown out the window!!!! I couldn't believe it. Now I was really crapping bullets! I had left the house without even telling Jeremy were I was going figuring I would be right back and since I was meeting the sheriff I left my gun at home! It was crazy! So there I was holding the guys crack pipe (wrapped in a napkin) driving up the road following the cop who is following the robber through a canyon with no cell reception and I am thinking should I call the cops!!! Duh!!! And I am thinking how the hell am I going to tell the cop that the dirtbag threw his crack pipe out the window without the dirtbag knowing I have it.........

So I am giving the kids strict instructions that if I tell them to do something they need to DO IT! No asking me why Mom.......they just need to really listen and be good.

So I have Sage saying "cool MOM! We will."

Meanwhile poor Steele is saying "I wish I would have stayed hooooommmmmeeeee!"

So we get to a place where I can pull up next to the cop and get him to roll his window down and tell him what just happened and show it to him. He says okay just stay here. So I had the kids get on the floor of the back of the car until I felt it was safer. The cop speeds up and gets behind the guys who are now at the back gate of the property where they took the stuff. He pulls them all out of the car and pats them down and then cuffs the passenger guy and puts him in the back of the car. I look in the back seat and both kids and Moose are hunkered down on the floor of the car! It was hilarious now looking back on it. Even the dog on the floor! I told them they could get up and see if they wanted once the guy was cuffed. Of course I had to take a picture even though I didn't have the memory card for my camera and could only take a few. So they go back and put the stuff back whole I wait. Then he radioed the station to have them meet him at the pavement with another deputy and a tow truck. I drove them down and let them all out the gate and he had the driver drive the truck down and then he arrested him at the pavement and towed the truck. I was so darn happy to catch these guys. I am pretty sure there are more involved though so we are staying on alert and making sure we have protection on us at all times.

Couldn't have been better timing though!

Picking up the cow.

2010-06-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

This morning we had to run over to Neenach to pick up a cow of ours that had gotten mixed up with Centennials cows. I got to see Priss' sister. Isn't she cute?!

It was pretty chilly still. I can't believe it is almost June.

Kids in the loading dock. Rascals.

We drove that cow up the pasture and set her out with her pals and on the way home killed this guy. Second Mojave Green in two days. I hate snakes. Priss almost got it yesterday.......

The Creek.

2010-06-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

Kissing the ground.

2010-05-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

So I always have so much on my mind and certainly a million neat stories to tell. I just have no time to actually sit down and write it all.......
Jeremy has completed his first reatta that he made from one of our steers. He is in the driveway as we speak throwing it over and over again trying to get the feel of it. He is obsessed. Steele is into who knows what on the porch. I thought I should probably check on him awhile ago but I heard him yelling at a cat and figured I would leave well enough alone............Sage is in the bath and I should probably be in there washing her hair but here I am on my butt. I could just go up stairs in my warm, quiet bedroom and face plant on my bed...........I think I will get the kids in bed first cause I think there is some radar that if I am in my room they need something.......
The last few days have been chaos. Good, happy to be working but chaos none the less. I stayed the night down in Acton the other night so I could deliver some of our meat. It worked out great and I had a blast doing it but dragging around a 4 year old and remembering everything is sometimes tough. Sage stayed home with daddy riding. That little girlie is going to be one handy rider spending so much time riding with her dad. She has even turned down going to town with me several times so she could hang out with dad. She even did the dishes! Of course now we need dish soap but beggars can't be choosers!

Wind oh Wretched Wind......

2010-05-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

Is that how you even spell wretched? hummmm anyway the wind has been blowing miserable for several days now. I was getting cabin fever and the kids were driving each other nutty so I packed Sage up and we headed to town to hang out. We started with lunch, just the two of us at Panera Bread. I had always wanted to check it out but never had the chance. It was a neat place for a healthy lunch and the cost was pretty reasonable too. It was so fun to just hang out with my girl. Then we headed over and enjoyed a pedicure. Of course that was wonderful! We got matching polish. I love that girl. We rounded off the day with a trip to our favorite antique store. I think we spent two hours in there! I found Jeremy a dutch oven pot so he can cook his fat after we butcher to use on his rawhide stuff. I found Steele a frog costume.........oh my gosh!!! You should see him in it! Hilarious!!! We are all snuggled in now watching our netflix movies........hoping the wind will blow itself out soon.

Chip off the ol block......

2010-05-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we headed to Tehachapi via Oak Creek since the snow has melted and it was such a beautiful day. We had to get the usual gas, dog food, milk. It was nice to have Jeremy with us to run errands so we took our time and visited with friends. Turns out they had one of the wild babies in a pen. The filly had been left for one reason or the other. Not sure if the momma died or if she just got left behind but a stud had beat the tar out of her so they had to do catch her up and doctor her. I think they said they had the halter on her a couple of times before but were still working on getting her to walk forward and follow. My silly little girlie went to work and had her following in no time.........so darn cute. She about gave us all a heartattack with some of it though. We were all standing around visiting when we looked over and she has the rope around the filly's belly getting her ready for a cinch apperantley........

She was brushing her all over and started to go for her feet when we stopped her. Man, I tell ya....there is nothing like a kid to get a horse gentle.

Anyone want to buy a dun horse?

2010-04-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

This is a recent addition to our animals........he came to us kind of spoiled. Jeremy is great with horses like that. He is just so darn patient and doesn't get into a fight with them but still gets his point across.

He's shaping up to be a pretty good citizen again. He is pretty darn good about everything you do with him, he does like it to have a purpose though.

This was at a lesson day in Palmdale. He was pretty darn good. Dragging logs, roping.........I think he will go on the sale block pretty soon.

Yikes

2010-04-22T10:58:00.000-07:00

Training horses

2010-04-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

2010-04-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

Easter

2010-04-07T20:32:00.001-07:00

We had a beautiful Easter Sunday. Steele knows how to charm the ladies..........

Sage makes friends wherever she goes. And we were blessed to have full tummies and happy hearts. Hope you all did too!

The Intro to Ranch Roping Part......

2010-03-28T22:42:00.000-07:00

Cattle/Intro to Ranch Roping Clinic

2010-03-28T22:27:00.000-07:00

Lessons in Palmdale

2010-03-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

Last week was one of the busiest weeks we have had. It was one thing after another. Good things but it sure kept us busy. Tuesday I attended a meeting with United States Forest Service Law Enforcement, BLM Rangers, Cal State Parks, Kern County Sheriff offroad team. They have been getting together for a year now and I think we are finally gonna kick some but. I will post pics of the convoy in another post.

This is Dr. Byerly's horse. Jeremy rode him during his lessons on Thursday. He was a pretty good boy. Our friend Margaret rode her paint mare pictured above. I brought Andy along hoping to find him a great home. We brought home a big red dun horse that I hope to be able to sell. He is supposed to be real good about most everything just has gotten pushy. He hasn't seemed too bad so far. Tomorrow Jeremy will get to check him out better.
This beautiful pony is sired by my handsome Cody. It was so fun to watch them play. Steele was helping too. I always wish I had gotten more pics but I spent most of the day running here or there doing...........well I am not quite sure what I was doing except mostly it included "what Sage?" or "what Steele?"

A Glance at life on the Broken Arrow

2010-03-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

I realize I have been terribly neglectful of this peaceful little blog lately. I know I have said it before..........I just haven't had a shred on a minute to update all the fun stuff we get to do around here. So in a nutshell you get it in pictures. We are so excited about all the new calves this year. It will be our biggest branding ever. We are so darn excited. To see the meger 8 we started with in 2002 to now.......it just takes my breath away we are able to continue to prosper to this.

Of course don't get me wrong....... It hasn't come without the blood, sweat and tears along the way. It isn't an easy life but I have come to love it and couldn't see it any other way now.
And you can't go anywhere without being armed. It's getting to be a little bit of the wild west with the unlawful activity we have been seeing. My girl still has time to pick and smell the fresh new wildflowers.

What can get any better than this sight?! That cow is one we call "Horny" she is dang mean when she has a new calf. She is one of the original "eight". We keep her around because she is so hooky when she has a new calf. It keeps everyone honest.......

Ahhhh and this bunch of punks. They are thoroughly enjoying the green grass and keep venturing farther and farther away. The other morning we had a roping and we awoke to see all of our good saddle horses were gone! So Jeremy gathered on Ojos (who is a good saddle horse too) and I drove the car up the mountain to run this bunch of brats home.

Hope you all enjoyed the visual tour. I will try try try to be more regular!

Another fun new development around here is I have decided to try and have my family not consume anything we have not grown, produced or made this summer.

Wish us luck, it is a tall order but I think I may have already found my milk cow and my non hydrid seeds are in the mail!

Life is getting me.......

2010-03-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

If you ever need to find anything around this house you look first under Steele's pillow. I was pleased to see that his rope ranked up there with the rest of the stuff he has pilfered. The funniest one was the "no dirtbikers" sign........bet that was hard!

Road Trip to Bishop!!!

2010-03-11T22:45:00.000-08:00

My rascals and I took a roadtrip today. They were the best rascals and I am a tired girl.

More to come..........

Work Party

2010-03-06T18:43:00.000-08:00

We had a work party out here in our area today. We have a huge problem with the dirtbikers cutting fences and making paths where ever they please. Then that leads to others coming in where the fence is down and scouting the place out, doing other things they shouldn't..............

So today we all got together and had a work party to repair the fence and put up new no trespassing signs. I was so excited to see everyone come together and kick it in the butt. Some people drove hours to come out and do their part. It was so awesome to have everyone's support and take care of the place. Thanks so much everyone if you are reading this!!!

The happenings

2010-03-03T23:03:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how darn busy I have been lately. Last Sunday we all had a wonderfully beautiful day together to do whatever we pleased without having to do anything. It was great. I had the front door open and the birds were singing. I watched movies and did little odds and ends. Jeremy cut strips of leather for another project and the kids tortured Squeakers the mini horse. I was giving Jeremy a hair cut when I looked out the back window of the house to see them. I love this picture because if you look on the hillside behind the kids you can see our other horses grazing. The peacock below and one of the chickens. It was so funny all the animals were just hanging around the kids.......

This little turd is what else has been keeping us all hopping. We still have a lamb in the house. She is getting big and a pain in the butt! I just told Jeremy, we can't put her outside it is too cold! Hello!!! It is a damn sheep! It has wool! Whatever!

And my sweet girl Sage got a cool present from Nana. Doesn't she look so cute. Now I just need to find me a buckboard and some harness.......I have enough nags around here I could hook up.

You think I am joking!? I really do want to start gathering harness and get me a wagon.

Running free.........

2010-02-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

I came home from Sage's enrichment classes yesterday to find our horses over the hill where they really shouldn't be. I guess nobody told them that. We were checking cows and counting calves when we happened upon them. I got the camera of course and got out of the car and hollared to them that they shouldn't be out here. They perked up their ears and then took off running for home. Out in the lead is Min with Flash behind her, Itchy the grey filly, Poco in the middle, Sam the dun gelding on the for sale page of our website and Poco's momma Cat behind. Home is just beyond the first knoll and they knew they were in trouble. It is sure a spectacular site to see them be able to run free like this. I think I am going to blow up this picture and hang it on the wall.

Ponies

2010-02-22T22:42:00.000-08:00

Sorry I don't always have the time to write with my pictures, but it is so. This is what we pulled up and saw yesterday afternoon when we got home from Jeremy's granddad's funeral. We had checked cows also and were excited to see lots of calves.

And then these bunch of hooligans. This is right where I parked my car. You can also see our solar panels on the hill.

Jeremy had headed down to feed so they all came running down off the hill and promptly found this gate open. What is it with open gates. The have a hundred acres or more to run on and they find an open gate and they just have to try and sneak through.
Brats.

Cattle Clinic

2010-02-20T20:49:00.000-08:00

Pistolera

2010-02-19T20:42:00.000-08:00

Can you believe this is Poco's little sis?

She sure looks alot like her daddy!
Wowzers she is pretty if I do say so myself!
Thanks a million times over Leslie for keeping me updated!

I got nothing today.....

2010-02-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

I haven't got any cool fun news........

We have just been busy with regular stuff. Clinics, lessons, me working with the vet. The never ending list of errands that comes with this place.

I thought this picture was funny cause a couple weeks ago I kept freaking out on Jeremy about the house smelling like smoke.

I was just sure the chimney needed to be cleaned. So in order to expedite my husband on some projects that he may............lets just say

"have his feet stuck in the mud"

I start taking things apart and threatening to do it myself.

So the picture speaks for itself as you can see his horse that he was riding tied up in the background and him on the roof getting it done finally.

I cleaned the pipes on the inside and I can report it is much better!

Agua Dulce Progressive clinic

2010-02-17T08:07:00.000-08:00

Buffy and Lil Joe. Isn't he cute? Just a big fluff ball. I am going to have to ask her to stop bathing him so Jeremy's horses don't look so dirty in contrast!

A group shot from the morning. As the day goes on there is no telling what I am doing so I don't always get a riding group shot. I wait, I remember what I was doing...........going to help pull a lamb and doctor a sheep. The fun never ends. Pictures of the bummer lamb to come.

Christy and her mare that did really well. She was one of the favorites of this clinic.

That continues on Jeremy and I's dialect on the way home. I always ask him "what was the highlight of your day?" and "which was your favorite horse?" besides his own of course.

Brigid and her mare Derby. I am sure I have said this before but guess who her daddy is? No not Brigid's!!! Derby's! My Cody boy! Doesn't she look nice and soft?!

Buffy and Lil Joe, but I am thinking she is going to have to start calling him
Big Joe soon!

Last but not least Jeremy and Flash. Did you notice the hobbles hanging from the saddle?

Flash is also wearing the first bosal Jeremy has ever made. He rode real nice in it and if I have to hear about how much he likes that horse again............

Lessons in Agoura

2010-02-17T07:59:00.000-08:00

Why no, my son is not in a kennel! Why do you ask???

Our sweet Mary...........

We aren't in Kansas anymore Toto.

I have the best rascals ever!

2010-02-12T21:47:00.000-08:00

Janine's mustang for the Extreme Mustang Challenge in Norco

2010-02-12T21:15:00.000-08:00

I think that's him!
Today we went and picked up a mustang for our friend Janine. She is signed up for the Mustang Makeover Challenge in Norco. It was sure fun to get to go with her and help bring her kiddo home. She plans to start a blog of her progress and as soon as she does I will post the link here. I want her to have the biggest fan club! That sure was part of the fun for us.

Sorry the picture is crappy but it was the best my little

point and shoot camera could do into the sun.............

That is her guy. We all agreed he is pretty cute. A bit small but still a good looker.
And would you check out that forelock?!

Meanwhile our friend Patti was cozying up with this big black fellow.
He is part of the competition and has a trainer assigned to him. We will have to watch him and see how he turns out but I think he is going to be a nice one.

What's happening around here...........

2010-02-10T21:15:00.000-08:00

Open Gates

2010-02-07T22:26:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I finally got this darn picture loaded. I had it on my facebook page. It is from the last storm we had. I worked everyday that week and if it wasn't raining it was snowing when I would leave the ranch. To leave you have four gates you must open AND close, one way. It is a 7 mile journey to even hit pavement and 25 miles to the closest town. Which is where the doc lives and where I most often meet him for work. I got a bit lazy and left one gate open knowing I would be back rather quickly. Well, darn if I didn't come home in the dark and find there were tons of cattle tracks............

DANG! One gate.......for a couple of hours!

The next day I was on the way home when I spotted the culprits and wandered over to take their picture so I could confirm with Jeremy which ones were out. Or in. However you want to look at it. They weren't where they should be.

I posted this picture and everyone loved it. I tried and tried to get it to load here and it just wouldn't work out for me.

Tonight everything aligned just right and it loaded.

My Pokey

2010-02-03T19:42:00.000-08:00

I am sitting up waiting on Jeremy tonight as I write this. He is braiding his first bosal with the hides he saved and cut into strips himself, from the steers we just butchered. I posted these pictures days ago and never wrote anything so since I am bored I figured now is the time!

Yes, that is my Poco I am riding. I wore her plum out that day. Jeremy and I had to finish cleaning up the mess from a couple of weeks ago when I left the gate open. We called our dear friend Diana to hang with the kids and we headed out. We were done within the first two hours and just decided to keep riding. Check some calves or something. In this picture we heard dirtbikers and were running to catch up to where they would come out. All day long we did that. They were everywhere! It didn't take long before the colts were getting kind of amped up when the heard the engines, waiting for our cues to take off running again! It was pretty funny. I told Jeremy he could use it as a new technique on getting horses over being spooked of them. Track em like cows..........I doubt it will take off!
We played in the snow, just cause we could. The dogs looked like they were having too much fun I though I would join them. Jeremy even shot off of his horse and neither one of the horses thought anything of it. I love a good old ranch raised colt!
Prissy got into a ton of trouble when she took off after a jack rabbit and would not listen when I was screaming at her to come back. We were heading for home by then and the horses thought we were more than cruel when we had to head the other way running again after the darn dog. I am pretty sure Flash's little habit of running off is cured! He was begging to quit running!
I thought I was never going to see my dog again! I think I love that darn dog too much!

Playin...........kind of

2010-02-03T13:59:00.000-08:00

Wolfie caught one!!!!

2010-01-28T08:04:00.000-08:00

Steele has had a new sidekick lately. This new sidekick MUST go everywhere with us. And MUST be treated like the rest of the family. He gets tucked into bed with him and he gets goodnight kisses. He gets wrapped in Steele's prize blankie that no one else gets to use. Which none of really complain about since he doesn't allow this blankie to be washed either. Any meal that is offered MUST be approved by Wolfie too. I even had to put a bandage on Wolfie yesterday cause he had an ouchie.

Wolfie was a gift from our dear friend Martin that came to visit us last year. I always tell them the best treasures are gifts from friends.

The End

2010-01-27T20:46:00.000-08:00

The was last Sunday after Jeremy cleaned up the mess I made when I couldn't get the ranger to start and block the gate for him. Yes, it was right after I told him he could go home and unsaddle cause I already got the job done but who is keeping track?

That is sweet Kate with him. He is riding Flash a colt we have bred and raised. He sure is a nice one. He has a pretty big motor as his momma is TB. He was all to happy to turn it up and run off at one time. He seems to have matured and gotten over it because when Jeremy had to open him up after those cattle he just lined out and got the job done and then dialed back down when they were done. No fuss, no messing around. He just knew his job and then walked out like a gentleman.

We still have to find Travis' longhorns but they are elusive punks so it will take some time for them to turn up.

Sledding

2010-01-26T08:34:00.000-08:00

Putting cows back where they belong.......

2010-01-25T07:41:00.000-08:00

I have been working my butt off lately. I have worked everyday last week and then Saturday we celebrated Sage's birthday. Yesterday we had to sort the cows out of Tejon's and get them back on our pasture where they belong. I hate to have to admit it but I left a gate open for a mere two hours one day when I went to work. I have four gates to open and close to get out of here and it was pouring rain........so needless to say I thought since I wasn't going to be gone long on one of the days I would leave just one measley gate open. There were no cows to be seen afterall. Well, they must have all been notified by some unknown source that I left the darn thing open and by the time I came home (in the dark and the rain I might add) there were cattle tracks going through. DAMN! I just caused us more work, not to mention I didn't want Tejon to know about it before we could get them cleaned up. Those of you that are on Facebook saw the picture of the vagrants in the snow the day after I had left the gate open. It was a real neat picture of them all hiding behind the bushes but I can't for the life of me get it loaded here.

So yesterday we were off to get it cleaned up when we got the call from Tejon. Double DAMN!

They weren't mad and I admitted it was me that left it open and apologized. Jeremy saddled a horse and me and the kids took the ranger filled with hay. We gave him a head start and then joined him. We can cover the longer flatter distances so we headed south toward the gate and he went over the hill to check a couple of canyons. I had just went through the creek when I spotted a whole bunch of them mixed in with Tejons cattle. I was trying to get a plan together and went on past them to open the gate. In the time it took me to find the gate keys and get it open the cows must have seen the hay and decided they might get an easy meal and there they were! Right smack behind us! I throw open the gate and toss a flake of hay in the road just beyond the gate and there they went through the gate right where they belonged. The Tejon cattle aren't nearly as gentle and were kind of hanging back, there were two more of ours that had paired up with them, dang it! Well they were two of our real nice ones and I wasn't about to let them get away so I jumped in the ranger and told the kids to HOLD ON!!! Off through the bushes we went, every so often I would yell to them to make sure they were okay and by golly we got those tail over their back punks! Sorted out Tejons and had everyone where we needed them! I was so proud of my kiddos, oh and Moose the dog. He was in the back of the ranger too! I think his brains are already scrambled though. So of course I went back and closed the gate and headed back toward where Jeremy was. I rounded the corner and found him, of course I promptly tell him he can go ahead and go home and unsaddle his horse cause me and the kids single handedly had gotten the work done already.......he loves it when I get cocky!

Well, we still had a couple more mixed in with Tejons cattle to get but I will save that story for later. It involves a bit of cussing though........

2010-01-22T21:32:00.000-08:00

So sorry to have not posted anything here lately........I have been a busy girl I swear. I have worked everyday this week and although usually it was just a couple of hours each day I had to drive through the driving rain and flooding streets to get there. I think I may have caught a little head cold the first day when I didn't cover my ears up in the wind blown rain........Not to mention I cannot get this blogger thing, or my computer could be the problem, anyway i cannot get it to load pictures. I hate to blog without at least one picture. I have more excuses but I will spare them this time.

I will keep wrangling with the picture deal cause I have some cool pictures.

The good doctor and I worked on a horse in Leona Valley in a couple of inches of beautiful snow today. He is one of three ranch horses left on the man's property. He used to ranch........the horses are all old and the one we worked on was an old bay. I love bays. He had an absess and it has been needing to be flushed. It is healing really well and the man that owns him is a pleasure to work for.

I will try and find more time to update this more often........sorry to keep you all hanging!

Something is terribly out of place.......

2010-01-15T20:07:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been in a situation where something just isn't right?

So on Fridays Sage had enrichment classes in Tehachapi. I love Fridays. It forces me to slow down and spend the day doing kids stuff. I really look forward to individual time with Steele. He is so darn cute and funny in his own way. I love seeing him talk to other people. So darn cute. Sage attends classes in the morning and then Steele and I join her for lunch and storytime. During storytime kids can sign up the previous time for show and tell. One certain little girl who routinely cracks me up anyhow, we will call her Katie, brought her pet for show and tell. It was one of those little bug container thingys. I remember seeing the cage over my shoulder as I was eating. Didn't think much of it. So at some point cute little Katie decides to unleash her beast. It was a freaking stinkbug!!!! A huge freaking stinkbug!!!! I hate stinkbugs!!!! I fell in love with my peacocks even more when I saw them eat stinkbugs!!!

Oh Lordy......she is carting the thing all over the class and now a crowd of kids have gathered and want to "pet" it. Well, after the teacher calmed a few of them and reasured them she knew she had it and yes it was a pet.......I am just sure this thing is going to somehow land on my back, crawl up my back and suck my brains out............I am seriously thinking of a way I could justify leaving without looking obvious. And you know if little Katie saw the terror in my face she would bring "Jack" over and ask if I wanted to pet him........oh gosh. I can hardly think about it.

The teacher distracted me long enough to tell me a couple of storys about it. How Katie accidently stepped on him one morning and he is now one leg lighter. Katie was on the florr apologizing to him over and over. How Jack rides around on her NOSE!!!! Her cute little nose!!! Oh my gosh, I can hardly take another minute and then it was time for storytime to start and she had to put the creature away.

THANK GOODNESS FOR SMALL FAVORS!!!
I could have died!

Lessons in Old Agoura from Saturday

2010-01-10T20:22:00.000-08:00

Jeremy and Donie. I can neither confirm or deny this story but

I think he was talking to Susan about how to convince Zorro, Susan's horse,

to accept the bridle better.

This is Carolyn and Mr. T, he is a cow eating fool and a

classy little dressage pony all wrapped up in one. Can he get any cuter?!

Speaking of cute this is Mary and Tex, she owns his momma.

You should see how soft and responsive he can be. She also owns the

beautiful mare that Jeremy is riding.

We had a beautiful day of lessons in Old Agoura on Saturday. The weather was just about perfect. This is Susan and Zorro. As always I am chasing kids and Priss as well as making sure the release forms are signed and of course visiting with people so I didn't get a picture of everyone riding but here are a few.

This is what my rascals did all day long. The horse park is right next to a park with only a creek bed in between. They rode here most of the day but we went to the park for a little while.

This was one of the group lessons Jeremy had in the morning. Cutest bunch of people all day.

We love spending time there and hope to be back next month.

Our 5yr. Anniversary here on the Broken Arrow Ranch

2010-01-05T20:08:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was our five year anniversary here at the ol Broken Arrow Ranch. I cannot believe I have survived here that long. I owe huge thanks to so many people for helping me tough it out with the man I fell in love with.........the crazy man who has so much stay in him. I can't tell you how many times I threatened to move back to town and asked him what we were doing here. Why we were working ourselves to the bone. Everytime his answer was " nothing worth having comes easy". Plain and simple. That was my answer and now that we are five years into this deal I don't know that I could ever move anywhere near town. I am ruined of town life. It would just feel like vacationing. I love it here. Our sactuary in the hills. Our peace and quiet in this crazy world. Yes, we make alot of sacrifices but in this nutty world I think it is worth it in the end for our kids to be raised in a place like this and will appriciate the their lives that much more.
I can only hope and pray they will want to continue what we are building when they are grown.
I want to add so much more to this post to commererate the occasion but in an effort to stay afloat I have started working with a large animal vet and am tired....I am lucky I even got to mention the anniversary............
Happy New Year!

There was alot of action in my bed last night......

2010-01-03T07:24:00.000-08:00

We were all pretty tired after a long day and the clinic yesterday. We had stopped at the post office and had another disk from the Deadwood series we are addicted to. Steele was so worn out riding his bike all day he crashed in the truck just about the time we hit the first gate. I knew this would me he would be up early but I had no idea........

Jeremy had missed his dog so we had Kate and Priss in the house with us and of course they thought they should all be camped out on the bed too. Kate doesn't usually sleep inside because she always has to go out to potty at about 4am. And you know I wake Jeremy up to let his own dog out! I just cannot get up and make the trek down those stairs and to the door and back up without waking up completely that close to morning. Jeremy on the other hand can fall back asleep anywhere anytime anyhow. So he can get up darn it!

The moon was still shining bright in the window. I thought about covering it but that would take too much energy. Just about the time I had drifted off to sleep the dogs started barking. On the bed. So of course I jerk up and for a second am terrified that someone just came up the stairs and we don't have a gun in the bedroom. I plan the change that tonight! Then all of a sudden I hear the sound of Steele wailing.

It was Steele coming to get in bed with us. Which by the way he never does. He usually will just lay in his bed yelling for me to come get him. Sage was the sneaker, when she was younger she was a master at sneaking in bed with us. Not Steele he prefers the whole house awake with him.

So the dogs barking at him, well it was more of a bark and then they were going to rip whatever's throat out that it was, it scared him and he was crying. He is a sensitive boy you know. So we got the dogs settled and I got Steele cuddled up and calmed down.

I had just drifted off to sleep again when Priss tried to jump back on the bed and Kate must have gotten woke up and she snarled at her...........argh!

So there I was wedged in between Kate, Priss and Steele. All the while Jeremy is snuggled up all cozy on his side of the bed. *sigh*

Just as I drift back to sleep again Steele is awake........I am sure I got a couple hours sleep but it sure doesn't seem like it. Steele has to go pee and needs a flash light to see where he is going. Being the flashlight king he is you would think he would know where one is but no not my luck this morning. So I carry him down stairs to go to the bathroom. We get snuggled back up and after awhile he says "I am going to my bed". So soon?!

He procedes to wake up his sister and wants to know where his game is. It was still in the truck and since I figure I am not going to get to go back to sleep anyway I might as well get up and unload the truck from yesterday. Well, God forbid you wake up the goats and don't feed them right away.........and the damn cats........ahhhh the damn cats. I don't know why anyone keeps cats. I feed them all and decide since I am up I will do some laundry. There is no water!

Dang it! Sundays shouldn't start out this way!!! So why I am sitting here on the computer and not out starting the pump I just don't know. I thought I should at least let Jeremy get some sleep afterall he worked hard yesterday.

Please wish me luck with the rest of the day. And I am thankful my little rascal is healthy and happy enough to be raising so much heck!

Agua Dulce Horsemanship Clinic

2010-01-02T21:30:00.000-08:00

Here are just some pictures from the Horsemanship class yesterday. We had a great group of people and we had a wonderful time. The weather couldn't have been better and the lunch was grand! Thank you so much Jennifer and Patti for putting it all together for everyone!

My sweet Sagie chasing Jennifer and Otis. She did so well. She is a good girl with so much try in her. And her Chico is worth his weight in gold, and then some!

Jeremy rode one of the training horses, a mare named Dancer.

Here is a group shot. Patty took tons of pictures and she probably has some better ones.

My little point and shoot could only capture this. Let me see if I can get everyone's names correct. From left to right. Gina, Janine, Tracy, Bonnie, Jeremy, Sage, Jennifer, Pam, Margi, Krista, and Zusanna.

Thanks so much for joining us everyone!

Misc Clinic Pics

2010-01-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

After a hard days work......

My girl at the end of the day. Practicing her loop building and swing.

I thought this was a sweet picture of a mare we have in training. Jeremy used her the whole day during the clinic. Darn it if my shadow isn't in the picture. I don't really look like an umpa lumpa in real life.

My Buckin Bling necklace

2009-12-31T10:12:00.000-08:00

I wish the darn picture was bigger......Jeremy got me an early Valentine's day that I told him about after the fact. He loves it when I do that. He is the kind that likes to surprise you. I came along and ruined that for him. Time and time again. It's just my noisy nature I guess. I found the gal on Facebook and turns out it is Robert Chavez's (saddle maker for those of you that don't know who he is) little sister. Small world. I am not sure if she has a website aside from Facebook but you could always search Buckin Bling to find her if you want your own. They are all custom pieces. I just told her the concho I liked and the colors and she came up with it! I love it and cannot wait to get it!

I be a bonehead sometimes......

2009-12-27T20:51:00.000-08:00

I have been a busy girl around here lately. I have worked four days this past week away from home. I am freaking loving it but it is hard not being around for the stuff that normally I do. Christmas Eve for example. I got the call from the doc in the morning asking if I could work later that afternoon. "Yes!" I quickly say. Jeremy already had clients scheduled to come. I had planned on making cookies for Santa with the kids. I needed to dress and get the kids ready to go to a dinner at my good friends house that night. Which we go to every year and I was really looking forward to it.......and all the preparations. Not that I am complaining. Not by any means am I complaining. I am just, well we all are just making adjustments.

So there I was showing my little miss mommy girl where the clothes they were to wear are. Telling her to make sure she listens good so she can tell Daddy this stuff later.

Curling her hair, making mac and cheese (fresh from scratch, I swear!), discussing the state bird, tree, flower, ect with Sage, all while Jeremy was outside giving his lessons.

When it was time for me to leave I ran Steele outside to Jeremy, which the clients helped to watch. Locked my Prissy in the tackroom so she wouldn't stow away in the truck with me. She is having a tough time adjusting to me being gone too.

I was to drive to the docs house, stock the truck and drive it to the call and meet the doc. He was coming from another town and it just worked out better that way time wise.

It was Christmas Eve after all!

Seems a big ol sweet draft/paint horse had been run into something by the other horse and tore a huge gash in his chest. Muscle hanging out and all. It was quite impressive to watch the doc sew him up pretty as could be. Good as new some would say.

This bunch of vagrants were begging for an easy meal. Punks.
Jeremy was out riding the other day and I ran up to the top of the property to take pictures.
This is some of our cattle hanging out, soaking up the sunshine.

I didn't make it in time to get a closer picture so this is all I can share.
You can see the tracks from people driving down into our property (mostly dirtbikers), thinking they are doing no harm. Driving right by the no trespassing signs I have hung. I have a hard time with city mentality. I think everyone should have to take a course in country etiquette. I am not sure who would teach it, I am just sayin......

some things you just don't do.

On a lighter note. I thought you would all like to hear a funny story.

My wonderful, kind and understanding husband comes upstairs to tell me the doc had called this morning and needed me again. I just want to make note of him being so darn thoughtful and understanding of this new job of mine. Demanding I drop and run usually on last minutes notice. I mean let's face it, most of the calls are not scheduled ahead of time. They just happen when they happen and I must run. He took over once again and away I went.

I met the doc at his house and away we went to way East Palmdale for what turned out to be one of our clients also. The horse had a puncture wound right over a joint and possibly had affected the tendon. We took radio graphs, cleaned it up, sewed it and bandaged it.

We headed off to Lancaster to develop the x-rays and meet up with doc's family. They had other plans for the rest of their day and I was to drive their other car back to their house.

Well, doc is also on the volunteer fire department so all his vehicles are equipped with lights, CD's and best of all sirens. At the time I did not know the family car was also equipped with all of these fun things.

So away I go heading back to Rosamond. I called Jeremy to see where they were and what they were up to. The kids both got new bikes for Christmas and they were at the park riding them. Sage's bike didn't have training wheels and I thought that was going to be a problem. Turns out after about 30 minutes with Daddy's help away she went. I was kind of bummed to have missed her take off by herself for the first time. But I was on my way, and I guess I can't be there for all the "firsts". There I was on the freeway, I didn't even so much as turn on the radio. I just felt like it would be disrespectful to mess with everything when all I was supposed to do is drive the car back and unload the x-ray equipment. So there I was, peacefully driving along and I hear an alarm going off. I am looking all over the car at what could possibly be making the noise. The radio is off, the gauges look fine. I can't figure it out so I just keep driving. Finally it goes off. Ahhhh, thank goodness I was thinking. I exit the freeway and start down the main road in town. I stop at a stop light and there is the noise again. I am looking around. I realize that everyone is looking at me. SHIT! There I was, trying to stay calm and cool...........I slowly raise up my hand to roll the window down and confirm my feeling that everyone else can hear this noise too. CRAP!

So I just look ahead and pretend I don't hear anything.

Oh yeah, you heard me right! That was the best thing I could figure out to do!

What would you do?!

Finally after what seems like forever it goes off.

I decide I better call the doc and ask him about this mysterious noise.

Just as the phone rings and he answers it all comes together with the discovery of a button of the floor that my long legged foot had been resting on..........

The siren to clear the road for when he is responding to a fire.

So not only did I embarrass myself being such a bonehead blaring his siren as I leisurely drive down the road but now he knows what happened too!

I can only hope that he didn't laugh at me all day long.

Go ahead, laugh, I can take it.

Merry Christmas to all!

2009-12-25T18:24:00.000-08:00

Every year for Christmas Eve we go to my chilhood friends Sandie's house for dinner. I start looking forward to it for weeks in advance. We get to see friends that maybe we haven't seen for awhile. It is ashame really to not get to see people you like so much more often.............busy lives account for it. Same old story. We had a great time. Great food and friends. I finally got to see Sandie's brother's new baby. She is just a doll.......Santa comes every year and always has a special present for each of the kids. They get to get together with their "cousins" and hide out in the bedrooms playing.

Cutest darn thing ever was last year when Santa had a tractor for Steele. He was so excited he could hardly stand himself. He had just asked Santa for a tractor and as I recall last year everything was tractors. This year it is pocket knives and flashlights...........

who would have known?!
My sweet little angel faced girlie is happy with a turd and a bow. Not that she got one, I am just super proud to say that if someone were to give her one she would smile and thank them. I just love that girl! She got some bracelets and a lip gloss and was happy as pie to play with her friends. She had special presents for all the Finch girls and was excited to give them to them.
Another thing I love about her is her giving nature.
It was a beautiful sunshiney day at the Broken Arrow Ranch with patches of snow all around still. We had time to reflect on the past year and it's ups and downs. We are thankful for our health and Jeremy's recovery. I am tickled beyond words to be working for a large animal vet closeby. I snuck away during the kids playing with their toys and cooking the Turkey to run down to the basement and dig out my old scrubs from when I worked for the small animal vet a couple of years ago before the kids were here. It was so cool to see them again! There was a couple of them I had even made myself. I had forgotten about that. Of course the pants aren't going to cut it. I am happy to report I could get them over my butt but if I were to drop something there would surely be a draft. Good thing is I can wear jeans and scrub tops. I can't believe how excited I am to be working for a horsie doc. I thought I would never be able to leave the kids. Thankfully Jeremy, poor dear sweet Jeremy has been pulling double duty. Have you ever seen a man try and multi task?! Pretty funny but he is hanging in there and when we have clients around they pitch in.
We here at the Broken Arrow Ranch and JB Cattle Company hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and will have a safe and Happy New Year!!!

Bully and other bully

2009-12-22T13:59:00.000-08:00

This is bully number uno on this joint. Some people call him Jeremy too....... this is a mare named Dancer that he is on. Bad angle I know but it's the best I got for now. We have been very busy around here with Christmas and all..........

Handsome bully number two.........and his herem. One of his kids in the background. That same meadow is covered in snow as I type this. And the wind is howling outside.
I am off to work now or I would write more. Maybe I will have a more exciting story by the time I am able to post again. Hope all your Christmas preps are coming together!

Hansel

2009-12-20T11:22:00.000-08:00

Isn't he cute trying to be studly?!

Closeups of the braiding.

2009-12-19T19:19:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to get better pictures of the hobbles Jeremy has been making closer up

so the detail of the braiding can be seen better.

This is about the best I could do with my old junky camera.

This is the middle ring done with spanish lacing.

Making cookies with Grandma

2009-12-18T20:20:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago we headed down to Grandma's house to make Christmas cookies.

I asked Sage to take some pictures, or did she ask to take pictures............

at any rate this is what I got.

She is a silly girl. I did want to get a picture of her new smile with the two new beautiful teeth coming in.

This is what my rascal was up to. He did help with the cookies but for the most part he hung out with Grandpa and watched a movie. Sweet baby boy. Today he got to go to town with Daddy and Grandpa to buy his sister a Christmas present. Last night Sage and I went shopping for her to spend her tooth fairy money on her brother's present. Isn't that sweet? I am so proud of my kiddos and their giving nature.

Today while the boys were shopping Sage and I attended a craft party at her school. I have to be honest, at first I thought to myself how will I survive this? I felt like a duck out of water and then thankfully I warmed into it and had a great time. I am still getting to know the other mothers and teachers so I just felt funny at first. The kids are all so cute and sweet and that helped, watching them make their crafts. There were several different tables and now talking about it I will have to take pictures of all of the crafts she made for a seperate post later. They were all so cute. We had a great time.

Sweet little turds........

2009-12-17T08:10:00.000-08:00

I took this a couple of mornings ago. Jeremy was in town and the kids and I were on our own for the day. Seems weird when he is gone somewhere, he is always here on the ranch. We hunted pine cones and checked cows. Did school work. Played with the baby goats.
Some changes may be amiss around here. I am not ready to divulge just yet.............

The kids were finally born!

2009-12-15T15:51:00.000-08:00

Last night Jeremy and I were watching Intervention when the dogs started barking. Close to the house. So Jeremy went out to check on things. The dumb dogs must have heard the babies making noises. About 11pm and there they were finally. I was outside all day yesterday and had hoped to see them born..........I don't know why watching them be born is so much of a thrill. I just love that part. I had expected a bunch of kids cause she was so darn big. She had four one year! I couldn't believe it. I got to see the last three that time. There was only two this time.
This handsome buck, and behind her.........

A sweet little doe kidlet. This is why I keep goats. And watching them venture out into the sunshine today. Oh and then in a week or so when they will be jumping and playing. They are fun. As long as they stay in their pen and don't kill my trees.

My busy beautiful day.

2009-12-14T21:43:00.000-08:00

I spent most of my day unloading big super sacks of cubes into other bins so that it was more organized and they can stay dry and clean. Steele and I did a bunch of the work of shoveling it into bins and raking it up. Sage and Jeremy were across the creek riding. I had to call him over to help at one point though cause I don't know how to work the come along. Please don't tell him that is just my excuse..........anyhow he came over to help. I took the opportunity for a break insisting that I thought what he was doing would be more effective if he took off his shirt. He gave me the look a couple of times and then..............
if it will make you happy..............

HA! Sorry girls, you don't get to see the rest. Besides the camera was fogged up............So you get this stud muffin instead. This little rascal stuck it out with me all day working. He would go and play nearby sometimes but for the most part he helped when he could and just kept me company. Sweet little rascal. It was so fun getting to be outside with such beautiful weather to. The cats played and were silly by us. I let Ojos out of his corral and he ran around like a nut having fun. Hansel and Gretal, the peacocks hung around hoping to get a bug underneath something. Priss ran around causing trouble bothering the cows. My nanny goat who is huge pregnant was crying for me when the billy got loose and was assaulting her again. Hello you big dummy!!!! She is already prego! I fed the horses carrots, in their feeder. Not out of my hand. Watching my girl play with her horse across the creek with her daddy.

It was a beautiful day and I am t i r e d.......

Yesterday at school with the kids.

2009-12-12T08:23:00.000-08:00

As most of you know we homeschool, but I wanted somewhere for the kids to have some of the extra stuff that kids at a regular school would have but in a better enviroment than public school. So on Friday's the kids have enrichment classes in Tehachapi. Well, right now just Sage is enrolled but since it is such a family enviroment Steele is included in as much as he can be at his age. Yesterday they has a guest speaker from the Stallion Springs police department. How cool is that?! We also had a field trip to the Fire Station a couple of weeks ago but I am a looser sometimes and didn't take my camera..........boo. Steele got to sit in the police car and turn on the sirens. He thought that was the coolest things ever! And thankfully my car was parked close and I had my camera this time. While Sage is in class we usually run errands and just hang out. It is kind of fun to have some time with just him too.

This is what it looked like on our drive home. Our place is on the other side of thesse mountains. We have to drive all the way around the horn to get there from Tehachapi.

We went the long way in to look in on the cows. The other day our whole day got rearranged while I hauled Jeremy, his dog and a saddle horse down the road a couple of miles to drive them back up closer to home. When it snows and is real stormy they tend to travel south to get away from it. We like to keep them closer to home of course. This was the bottom pond. That is snow on the top! I can't imagine what the top pond looks like! I didn't even try to get up there. There is still alot of snow drifts and I didn't think it was worth it to tear up the road.

Sledding........kind of

2009-12-10T09:43:00.000-08:00

Just to start of with a cute picture. Here is my beloved Priss digging in the snow. Isn't she the darn cutest? Except for yesterday when she almost bit a little girl at the park. Yes, she was on a leash and yes, I had ahold of her nose. Yeah, I saw it coming and was trying to tell the little girl that "petting my puppy" was probably not a good idea. I could see in Priss that she wasn't liking how she was being approached. It is amazingly sad to me that people can't or don't read an animal better. It would probably keep people out of more trouble.

Not to mention their parents don't teach them self control and to listen to another adult. She acted as though I wasn't even talking and just had to reach out and pet my puppy...........I am not sure why Priss wanted to bite her...........she hasn't been off the ranch much. But she isn't insecure. Maybe she felt like it was rude too, the way she was so bold. I don't know but either way she didn't get a bite and the girl's mother was too busy smoking a cigarette to notice the danger her daughter just escaped. So she is still cute to me!

This was my brilliant idea this morning..........Steele was sliding on the hill a bit lower on the patch of snow on the bottom left of the picture. He says to me "wanna try Mommy". That is where things went bad. I have had that sled since I was a kid. A key piece to this story. When I was a kid I weighed less. My butt was smaller. The sled still had a seat then. Instead of two bars where the seat should be. The same bars that wound up crammed up my arse as I careened down the hill trying desperatly to steer the damn thing on the snow patches and in between the boulders.............

Can you see the terror in my face?! Neither did Jeremy apparantley. He was behind the camera and said he was too busy taking pictures to save me. I stayed upright until the bottom when I hit dirt. Frozen dirt. I heard giggling. I have since educated my sweet husband that when the only thing I can mutter out of my mouth is cursing that I am probably NOT having fun and forseeing my certain death. I must go now and nurse the road rash on the whole left side of my body.

Snow on the rancho......

2009-12-09T20:20:00.000-08:00

Only a fraction of the dumb cats I feed. Everytime someone threatens to take one to the pound, or worse a litter of kittens, I relent and say they can live here and if the coyotes don't eat them I will feed em. They are good hunters so I can't complain too much. I have to feed them on top of Beau Bunny's cage so the dumb dogs don't eat their food. Imagine my delight when I found Moose, Sage's dog, up there one day.

My doves did not think this white stuff was so fun either.

Ahhhh, how I love my Hansel and Gretel. Although Jeremy informed me the other day I may have two Hansels. Better than two girls I guess. I have trained them to come up to the house and I throw seed out for them. Well........I was thinking the other day how darn smart I was to get that kind of "training" on a couple of peacocks and then it occured to me when I heard them honking for me to come out and feed them seed that they probably think they have me trained.

We had alittle snow around here a few days ago. It was kinds pretty and kinda neat. At first. Not so much anymore. It was so cold and it snowed so hard we couldn't get the front screen door open the first morning. The wind blew so hard it blew on the front porch and piled up in front of the door. I worried all darn night about that dumb goat that has been bagged up for like forever now. We are expecting another storm tomorrow night from what I hear. She will probably wait til then..........when I think of things like that and when they eat my beloved apricot trees I wonder why I have them. But when the babies live and they are kinda cute I remember. Then they get out and eat my favorite flowers and I hate them again........it's a vicous cycle.

Todays storm.....

2009-12-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

This was just the beginning of the storm that hit this afternoon. We are now covered with about four inches of snow with the winds blowing pretty hard. I have a nanny goat bagged up and hopefully not going to deliver in this crap..........never fails! She had four kids last year so I really need to keep an eye on her. Hopefully the wind will die down a bit for all the critters sake. I already have half the ranch in the house! That tree you see on the left is our Christmas tree we planned to decorate but Steele got grumpy so we will do it in the morning.
This is my beautiful bathroom I have been working on painting for the past couple of days. I am so excited about it! We will do the flooring next and then we will be done! Well, we will need to put shelves or something but that is just small details, finally my bathroom is cute! Don't you love the shower curtain?! I got it in Reno at the Wild horse and burro Expo we went to a year or so ago.

Misc pictures from my day.

2009-12-02T20:43:00.000-08:00

Alot of time has passed since the "miscarriage". It is a general term. Easiest way to refer to it I guess. What happened in our words is at our first doctor appt. where they performed an ultrasound to determine how far along I was and check everything out we saw that there was no heartbeat. I have seen enough animal and my two previous pregnancy ultrasounds and was always facinated with the heart beating and how strong it seems when you see it on the screen.

A week prior was when my ultrasound was actually scheduled. I had to cancel it to attend the funeral of another baby of a dear friend. I remember calling the doctors office because I was feeling crampy and worrying it was stress............they told me to just take it easy or go to the emergency room.........I had a feeling something wasn't right but never in a million years would have imagined what we saw that afternoon..........I knew as soon as I saw the baby on the ultrasound. The poor doctor was looking and looking and even called the other doctor in to look. While I laid there on the table, tears running down my face..............I was given the option of going to the labor and delivery right then or to go home and hope my body took care of it on it's own. We had to explain to the kids, well mostly Sage as Steele was only three still. I was heartbroken for Sage........she was so excited about another baby.

A week went by and still nothing. I called the doctor to say I needed to go to the hospital, I just couldn't take it anymore. I just wanted to move on, it was just too agonizing. This is where the small town has it's disadvantages........the Labor and Delivery said they had no beds and if I wasn't bleeding they could not admit me. Finally out of desperation I told them I was bleeding just to get admitted. Of course I couldn't continue to lie to the nurse and broke down and told her the situation. I wish in a situation like that you could remember everybody's names. She said she would do whatever she had to to get me a bed. And she did. I was too far along for a D&C and had to be induced. I think back on it and I wonder what was going through Sage and Steele's minds while Mommy and Daddy that are never gone were thinking. I have a hard time leaving my kids. I have issues I guess. The last time I saw my mom was when they dropped us off at a sitter while they went out. She died in a car accident that night........I think I am afraid to leave them for fear something could happen. Probably where I get my control issues from too......yikes. Anyhow, once again I did not intend to get this into the story but the above picture is where Micheal Tucker Dunn is buried.

Another feat I fought for as they were not going to permit me to take him home. I did not know how I would feel about it but when he came I felt the same as my other kids. They never left mine or Jeremy's sight in the hospital. He was coming home with me no matter what LA County thought. And I got it done.

Jeremy built the area around the site. I think it was his grieving coming out. Afterward he said "do you think it is too much?"

How on earth could it possibly be too much.

He is under the old Almond tree that has lived all the years the ranch was vacant.

Next to the pond that runs when the rain is good.

Jeremy buried his old horse next to him.

I will have to post the poem he wrote for him while we waited in the hospital..........

On another note, below is my sweet, beautiful girl. One of the things that helped me stay strong fighting to bring Micheal home. I had a picture of Sage and Steele next to the bed to remind me of what I did have. I am still a lucky girl. I don't know why things happen but there seems to be a reason for everything. I had been home from the hospital only a week and a half when Jeremy got hurt and I had to start riding the training horses.............

Probably just as well. I was going to hide under the covers as long as I could and that wasn't doing me any good...........

Where's Waldo?

2009-12-01T22:45:00.000-08:00

I had to run out on the ranger to find Jeremy the other day. Thank goodness for that darn ranger so that I could throw the kids on and away we go. Anyhow, I needed to let him know a client would be coming so he would stick close and this is where I found him. Down in the creekbed on Shabba, a little Arab mare. I thought it was sure a lucky picture with the colors still in the middle of changing and the color of the horse. Hope you all enjoy it too!

handmade Hobbles

2009-12-01T22:37:00.000-08:00

Jeremy has been filling his rainy day time making these things. This is the result of years of tying knot in everything he gets his hands on. He is addicted. Cannot stop tying knots and braiding. Hobbles. Handmade Hobbles.

He happened to have some at a clinic we had a couple of weeks ago and already sold a pair!

This was the first pair he made and already sold. He just keeps getting better and better with each one he makes. Pretty cool and handy guy I have huh?!

My guys

2009-12-01T11:58:00.000-08:00

This is a hilarious story. See their faces. Jeremy had just gotten done with some lessons in Lake Hughes and we had met at the pavement to go in together so I wouldn't have to get the gates. I hate getting the gates........Jeremy had stopped at the gas station and had a big Mountain Dew and some pork rinds.....ewwww. Steele saw Daddy and wanted in his truck and I was on the phone so Jeremy put him in the truck and they were happily munching while I finished up on the phone. I had just gotten off the phone when Steele took a big ol drink of Daddy's soda, decided he had too much in his mouth and spit some of it back into the bottle. All before I could say anything. I took the picture just as I told him what had happened.....................

The mantle wall before and after

2009-11-28T21:58:00.000-08:00

Okay so maybe not in that order. This blogger thing likes to remind me that it is smarter than I am. This is the after the wall paper was all torn down and cleaned up. Painted and all the pictures put back up. Me and my Sagie pie.

Isn't it interesting what is on the mantle? Oil lamp in case the generator won't start, which has happened. With my son's addiction to flash lights you would think we would have a bunch of them but good luck finding one if you need it.

This is what it looked like before I started, or about halfway through the job. Too bad you can't see the pictures closer. On the far left hanging on the wall is our stallion, Sonny Cody Canyon. The other hanging picture is our wedding photo from back in September 16th, 2000. Seems so long ago.........just below that is our family photo from about a year ago, to the left is Steele sitting in the saddle on our stud when he was six months old. He looked like it was taken in a studio, I love that picture. And the one to the left of that is from the Extreme Mustang Makeover in 2007. In the photo is our friends and practilly family Jim and Linda, Me and the kids and Jeremy on Ojos. That was a fun trip. Anyhow, it looks much better now don't you think?!
Next up the bathroom! I picked a paint color and I plan to pick it up tomorrow. I am so excited! I have wanted to make the bathroom a beautiful place forever now! That is the first place company wants to go you know!

I'm all about the child labor.....

2009-11-28T19:18:00.000-08:00

You gotta love this right?! The little rascal. The best way to keep him out of trouble is to let him help. And I must say he is a big helper. Sage on the other hand...........she would be a help if you wanted to do it her way, but then that would defeat the purpose wouldn't it?!

I have been very busy lately with all kinds of projects. This is just one of them. See the old ugly wall paper? I have been needing to take the rest of it down for awhile now and to finish painting the living room. I will have to show the before and after in another post.
This was afterwards cleaning up our mess, it was quite a project spraying it with water and then peeling it off. We had wall paper everywhere. See the camo shirt he is wearing? A friend that has a cabin up on the mountain gave it to him and he is so proud of it. Cute little rascal.

Training horses.......

2009-11-28T19:01:00.000-08:00

Here is at least one of the training horses right now. His name is Zen. He came out of a show barn and he is here for exposure and miles.

He belongs to the soap opera actress. Isn't he handsome?! He is such a sweet, sweet horse. He just needs to let down a bit and not fret so much. You can see it in his face here. He will get there.

My produce/hay ride wagon

2009-11-24T13:18:00.000-08:00

Alot has been happening around here that has kept me from being able put up new posts............ gosh with the holidays things just go crazy! Awhile back I told my dad I wanted him to build me a wagon so I can start driving some of our horses. He is an ebay freak so he saw these two little wagon thingies and bought them real cheap. They were too small to make into a safe wagon for the horses so he transformed it into this. He painted it green, added the stake bed that he stained, and then painted the finishing touches with yellow.

Mom, why are you taking my picture?!

2009-11-17T21:45:00.000-08:00

Because my sweet, handsome, baby boy, you are just too cute out there with your twactoz!

Hello working girl!!!

2009-11-16T22:44:00.000-08:00

I am trying to come off my high.............I think I might have kinda sorta got a job tonight.............

I am pretty sure I went on an on the job interview............it involved wrestling a llama.

Sage woke up sniffling and sneezing two days ago. Poor girl told me she was getting sick. Jeremy and I have been popping vitamin C like crazy. We had a long and busy weekend. Saturday we had the clinic and then Sunday we had a new horse come in for training. Turns out the owner is an actress on a soap opera. How cool is that?! I am going to have to watch the Bold and Beautiful now. Today I had to run to town and pay some bills and pick up a few things. I had more to do but was running out of steam with two grumpy sick kids and guess who was starting to feel the familiar tickle in her throat? Ugh. So I got home after driving in the long way and looking in on the cows. I checked my phone messages and I had gotten a call from our vet to give him a call if it was within the hour of him calling. I hurry and call him back and he wants to know if I am still looking for work. Ummmmm YES!!! He asks me to meet him at his house in about an hour, he wanted my help wrestling a llama.

I feel like I aced the exam. I drove the truck without hitting anthing so he could eat his dinner, I successfully held the llama, I pulled up drugs without poking myself and I cleaned up and put things away. He said I did a good job and offered me a price per hour that I think I was too eager to accept.............

I don't know when I will get the next call because as of right now he is still trying to get his practice going so it will be sporatic, but I am just beside myself! Time will tell and I had a blast tonight.

Agua Dulce clinic pictures

2009-11-14T20:30:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Horsemanship Clinic in Agua Dulce today. It was beautiful weather and the day went great. The funnest part of the day is to see the look in the horse's eyes at the end of the day. And the happiness in the owner's faces.

This is the morning working on some groundwork exercises. Jeremy has ahold of the great

Chili Beans helping the equally great Patti. She provided the awesome Subway sandwiches for lunch.

Jennifer is on the left and Kim on the right. Jennifer hosted the deal at her place. The place looked great Jennifer! Thanks a million!

This is Kristie Holiday and Sundance. Jeremy started him for her a few months back. He was named Uno while he was here cause he only has sight out of one eye. He gets along fine without it though. He is very trusting and Kristie is doing great helping him along.

This is Brigid and her mare Derby. Guess who her daddy is. Derby not Brigid, I wouldn't make you guess who Brigid's daddy is. Although I have heard he is a good man.
Derby's daddy is my Cody.

Speaking of Cody, this is Flash. Cody's son from the same year. Jeremy kinda likes him so I have heard.

Agua Dulce clinic continued...........

2009-11-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

That is Bonnie and her big ol paint horse in the middle. He came a long way today.

Here is Buffy and her colt Lil Joe. I should have confirmed this but I think this was the most riding he has done so far. Please, feel free to set me straight Buffy. She worked on groundwork in the morning and then moved to the roundpen with him and did some riding then bravely joined us in the big arena. I thought they looked awesome together! And I couldn't get over the look in his eye at the end of the day. He will be doing some soaking the next few days!

I just loved this picture of Linda and her mare Shabba. They looked great today too.

Jeremy helping out Kristie.

Thank goodness Brigid reminded me to get this picture. This is a special picture to me because all of the horses pictured are Cody's babies from 2005. I know, I know I am bias but can you just believe the looks on their faces?! Everyone of them are the nicest horses. He makes some pretty nice minded colts even if they are just bays.........
Just in case you didn't know........

Poco and me on the left. Jeremy and Flash in the middle and Brigid and Derby on the right.

Fridays

2009-11-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

Sage has classes on Fridays in town. It is a fun day for me as I just get to hang out with the kids. I mean I still try to knock out a few errands while we are in town but mostly it is about them. Steele had wanted to go to school to but I just wasn't able to make it happen. So we drop Sage off at her classes and him and I take care of whatever we need to do. It is just plain fun time to hang out with him only. Him not having to share the stage with his sis and be able to have me all to himself. Today it was pretty cold and cloudy out so instead of going to the park or something outside the best I could come up with was McDonalds since they have a play area inside. He helped me clean out my purse and stole a handful of change to shove in his pockets and away he went playing on the slide. He has always been the one that didn't need to be constantly amused and could play by himself. I was just sitting drinking my coffee when one penny comes down the slide.........then another and another and then the whole bunch came clanging down the slide. You should have heard him giggling from the top. So it was getting toward the time when we all go back to the school for storytime. All of the family is welcome for storytime and it is also lunchtime. So Steele and I headed over to the grocery store to get out lunchables. This particular grocery store has those damn little carts that all kids love. I figured since it was just him I wouldn't have to worry about them getting into trouble racing. There we were walking along and all was fine and then wammo........my sweet little man was behind me going a bit too fast when he ran clean into a parked cart that someone left in the isle. He must have not been watching where he was going cause when I heard it hit and looked back just in time to see his poor sweet little face ricochet off of the bar of the cart. He immediatley grabbed his face and went to screaming. The man that happened to be right next to him is in a panic asking if he is alright. I am telling you, people say the silliest things sometimes. How the heck would I know if he is alright yet????? When I could finally get a look at his face, the bridge of his nose was red so I knew where he had gotten it. It never bled which for Steele is a miracle. You can look at him wrong and it will bleed. So I felt so darn bad for him (and I was happy he was letting me hold him, which he usually doesn't do. he is a big boy you know!) I carried him the whole rest of the way through the store all the while pushing the cart. I just remembered about the two drunk men trying their best to pick me up. How freaking ridiculous is that. I couldn't even be flattered. Drunk, in the liqueor isle at 11am, trying to hit on the lady with the screaming kid...........what the?!?!?!? Anyhow, we got the lunch and headed over to meet sis for storytime. It thrills me to no end to see my kids make friends. Homeschooling we haven't gotten to have too much of making friends their age. Sage has no trouble making friends wherever she goes but it is cute to see her with kids her age. Sage and Steele always greet each other like they haven't seen one another in a week and Steele told Sage about getting hurt and she loves on him. Then they find a spot and sit together to eat their lunch and listen to the story. I just love days like this. They make me so proud. Oh and I told Jeremy I was gonna bust Steele in the nose from now on if that is what I have to do to get to hold him in my arms. Don't tell anyone umkay. People might get the wrong idea...............

Hansel and Gretel

2009-11-13T17:55:00.000-08:00

I just realized all week has passed and I have not posted anything new. Life has been busy, and I can't even recall all I have been doing...........It hasn't been painting the bathroom, or the living room ceiling I can tell ya that much..........

A couple of days ago I was out in the front yard watching the kids play when my peacocks Hansel and Gretel came up to the house hunting for bugs. I ran to get my camera and take pictures of them cause I just love them so much and I can't believe the coyotes haven't gotten them. Then I hear the dogs coming up the driveway and I turn around to fine Jeremy on Tubby. Well, his name is not Tubby, but everything gets renames somehow after they come into training. His name is Chipawa I think. Oh Lordy, I just noticed the toilet in the front yard still..............ugh! I filled it with dirt and joked that I might as well give up and plant flowers in it as long as it will take for Jeremy to haul it off...........I think he has taken this too far. Possibly that he thought I was serious and I really wanted a toilet planter.........oh the fun.

Sit pretty! I don't know if one of them is actually a boy or not but I am still hopeful. Also one of them has brown wings and more green while the other one has the same color wings as the rest of it's body. Does anyone out there know about this stuff. Don't worry I won't throw them out on the street if one is not a boy. I just love em. They make me happy.

Roping and Cattle work yesterday

2009-11-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

Here is one of the highlights of my day. This big old beautiful mare belongs to Zusanna. She is TB/Friesan. Isn't she cute? This is her first time to work cattle. This was just before she made a jump and dive at them. I knew she would, she was ready!

Awwww, my Gator. I told ya he is always in the mix somewhere! We had just let the cattle out of the pen and we were heading them back over the hill.

Zusanna's sweet Mom came along and took all of these pictures. Thanks Zusanna's Mom!

It was nice to meet all of you.

The Letter

2009-11-06T20:44:00.000-08:00

So I know I said it would be up this morning but I didn't take into account my childhood friend from Texas was here and we had dinner plans with another friend and I had to get up early for Sage's enrichment classes. So here I am getting it done since I plan to spend Saturday with the family only and not be on this darn computer. Not that I don't love it, it just takes so much time from other things I should be doing. So away goes the letter. I am kind of excited since I have found it I haven't read it. I knew what it was I just haven't read it.

Hello all! I wanted to take a few minutes to fill in everyone in on our past year since the "moving adventure"

As you all probably remember we moved onto a 160 acres homestead called The Broken Arrow Ranch. The house and land needed quite a bit of repair. We had planned to make the repairs and clean-up before the move but when a change in the neighborhood reared it's ugly head we packed up and headed out sooner than later.

Some would call us brave or crazy as moved in the dead of winter with 16 horses, 3 ponies, 4 dogs, 2 goats, 4 cats, and a handful of chickens. We had only a generator for power, no good source of heat, no running water and no refridgerator. We had four pregnant mares and no foaling stall. (the rain just wouldn't let up that first year. I swear if it wasn't raining it was snowing.) It seems like everytime Jeremy, Sage and I bundle up to head out and get some work done it either rained or snowed on us.

The very first night we were here Jeremy stoked up the small wood stove in the oven to try and keep us all warm. To our horror we woke up to the house full of smoke. The wall next to the stovepipe had caught fire. If it had not been for me waking up and the snowfall that night I think the whole house would have surely gone up in flames. Sage slept through the whole ordeal upstairs in our bed with the covers pulled up over her head.

Jeremy had a full load of training horses and had to continue even with all the weather and work that needed done around here. Trying to continue business with no landlines and limited cell service was pretty tough. (We didn't even have internet at the time.)

We celebrated Sage's 2nd Birthday here at the ranch.

By Febuary was had the big wood stove installed in the living room and it worked wonderfully! With all the downed trees we had plenty of fire wood. (even though our chainsaw was stolen during the move)

Come March we had gotten the water lines replaced (poor Jeremy only after I went to CO to pick up a stud horse and threatened to not come home if we didn't have running water) and finally had running water to the house and horses. (for the first three months Jeremy pumped water out of the creek and into a big tank on the back of the truck to water the horses. He also filled a storage tank on the front lawn to fill my buckets that I used to flush the toilet and do the dishes. Oh I also used to heat up water on the oven to make Sage's bath. I sure wish I had pictures but I had the coolest metal, square planter thingy I would bathe her in next to the fireplace. It was so cute.) No more pumping water out of the creek to water the horses. We also had another surprise when we found out we were expecting another addition to our family.

In April three of our mare foaled.

In May we found out our little surprise is a boy. We branded our calves and our last mare foaled.

By the end of June with the help of some really great friends we had our arena up.

Come July just as we were loading up our horses after a day of gathering for Cenntenial Livestock we got a phone call that our pasture in Tehachapi was on fire. We lost the entire pasture. Mostly all of it was burned and the fence we worked so hard to repair had been ripped down by the bull dozers and other equipment coming in to put it out. Thankfully we didn't loose any animals. We caught my mustang mare halfway to Mojave and gathered the cattle in the coming days and got them moved here. Jeremy had started working for the Loop Ranch in Keene. My dad helped us get the solar panels, batteries and inverter installed. We got some trees and plants in the ground.

In August we were asked to judge the rodeo queen competition in Tehachapi. We had a blast! Sage rode her pony, Star in the Mountain Festival Parade. She was even waving in her sleep! We got our internet connection up and running. Wow! Connected to the outside! Sometimes good and sometimes not. George, Jeremy's dad came to live on the ranch.

September we lost Jeremy's grandmother. We also celebrated our anniversary. Jeremy laid all new pipe for our propane system so now we had hot water!!! (I will never forget my first hot shower here!)

October came and so did Steele.

(we joke and say he was our "cause it was a cold winter baby")

November was here and seemed busier than ever for Jeremy and out business. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner here at the ranch. That night we had an awful windstorm that brought down several trees. Thankfully only the old Ford was grazed by one of them but that was the worst of the damage.

Awwwwww, I must have gotten busy come December cause there was nothing more...............

hope you all enjoyed this walk down memory lane with me.

I had better get back to some picture now since I am backed up with fun stuff to share!

Where were we?

2009-11-05T12:13:00.000-08:00

So there I was...........just kidding.

If you haven't read the previous post "digging up bones" you might want to start there so your not starting in the middle of the story.

So after our first branding we turned the cattle out on the pasture in Tehachapi. Like I said there was no water on the property so we got an account with Teh-Cummings water district and filled a tank that we hauled behind our truck. The fill station was only about a mile down the road so it wasn't too bad but we still had to drive from home which at the time was about 25 miles. Seems like nothing now. Usually Jeremy would water them on the way home from work since it needed to be done just about every other day. Sometimes I would get off work early and he was working late so I would do it. I can't remember where he was but I should tell you about the day I filled it up all proud of myself that I had gotten the freaking thing hooked up by my self and driven it down the road, got it backed in and filled. Feeling all triumpant I pull out of the place and onto a pretty busy road to look in the rear view mirror and watch the hitch of the water trailer go up in the air and shrink in the mirror as I drove away. Apparently I hadn't gotten it hooked up as well as I thought and the damn thing was now in the middle of the road full of water with the hitch saluting the sky. I swear I just wanted to keep driving and pretend some other idiot had done it but no, I went back and was paniced trying to figure out what on earth to do. When I hear an approaching tractor.........thank God!!! Out of the ranch next to the water place is two chicks on a John Deere coming to my rescue! I did happen to get a picture of it that I will have to find someday. Those gals got to work and had it righted and pushed off to the side of the road in no time.

As time went on Jeremy was getting more and more restless with his job with the windmills and along comes Blah Ranch (name changed so I don't get sued) offering him a job riding horses through their sale as well as keeping them going between sales. We had talked about it and made a deal with them about how much money it would take to get him to quit his "real job" and they agreed! We couldn't believe someone was going to pay him what they did to ride. Of course he would have a 90 probationary time and that is where they got us. After 90 days, which in the end we were both glad for, they laid him off. It was a bunch of horsetraders and Jeremy wouldn't lie to sell a horse so I am sure that is the demise of that. I hated the whole thing. I thought they were crooks. I will never forget that day. It was Halloween come to think of it. Sage was just a baby, not even a year old yet. Looking back we know it was just a vehicle to get him to jump off the diving board and ride outside horses for himself. Not someone's jockey boy but his own boss. We came together and put the word out. My friend Angie, who still helps me today, helped me get the website together. I ran all over town putting up flyers. And away we went. I have never hung another flyer since then. Jeremy set out building his arena and a better roundpen. He had to transform our little place to accomadate all the horses that would come. We planted trees at that little house that we didn't own. It was quite a cozy deal. That went on for almost exactly a year when Jeremy took in a horse called Min. Alot of you probably know the horse as we still have her. She is how we came to be here. I was home with the flu that day. Jeremy comes home and insists we need to go and see this place. So the next morning, without even a how are you feeling sweetie, away we go. We drove to the end of the pavement and kept going several miles up into the foothills. The whole way I am thinking he has got to be out of his mind. All there was was desert!!! Through several locked gates we come to the ranch entrance. I was still not impressed. Another mile of bumpy dirt road and we come up to the house. Well, not quite all the way up to it as the driveway was covered in downed trees. The house was cute, built in 1885 but badly in need of a roof. A window was broken and the house was full of mouse and rat poop. There was a couple of beds and couches still in the place. A dining room table. Enough to have some shine through the dust.............I was starting to fall for it. Outside was a wreck as well with all the fallen trees from years of neglect. The house had sat vacant for several years before we arrived and fell for it. Did I mention there is no conventional power here or phone lines?

After some thinking on it and trying to figure out if we could make a go of it here ( Ithink it was always a done deal) we set out cleaning and repairing it. With all the time we were spending driving back and forth things were getting neglected at out other place. So we made it sort of liveable and jumped right in.

Dead of Winter.

January 5th, 2005.

Thank God it snowed that night of we would have burnt the place down. I will tell that story when I rest my hands, I am not used to all this typing................

The letter from the first year here to come in the morning.

Diggin up bones........

2009-11-03T09:10:00.000-08:00

As I started looking for the records Jeremy was asking for I have stumbled upon tons of treasures. Of course now I have an even bigger mess to put back away and I am not that organized to begin with!
I must have wanted to write one of those cool Christmas cards that a person tells everything that has been happening in their family the year leading up to Christmas. I hate to admit it but I never got it done apparently and I had forgotten I even had done it. Must have been the newborn baby I had all during that first year here on the Broken Arrow Ranch. For those of you not familar I should paint the picture so you can understand the letter better. My husband is a dreamer, The End. Just kidding, about the end part. Jeremy is a dreamer, and I love it but it still stresses me out sometimes. I am the get it done part of our equation. Not that he doesn't get it done, he surely does. He is the hardest worker I know and never complains. Me on the other hand, well I have stopped threatening to move back to town just this last year! Anyway, he has always wanted to cowboy. He has worked on a few different local outfits after a brief stint of trying to continue his rodeo career in Arkansas. At the urging of his Mom (thank goodness for that cause that is ultimately how we met) he got a job at the local windmill company. I call it his "real job". That lasted seven years and at the end he was operating the crane and hearing constantly about layoffs that were coming. He was going crazy with sitting in a crane all day watching other peoples cows graze the hillside and feeling like he would always have to work for someone else. Sitting in a crane all day provides alot of time to think and he was becoming restless. A couple years into out marriage we found a lease in Tehachapi to have a herd of cows of our own. Of course there was no water there, we would have to haul water in and the fencing on the entire 222 acres needed repair. We set out fixing fence every night after work along with the help of some of his friends from work that would occasionally stop and help as they would drive by and see us. I will never see an Arizona Cypress the same again. The whole one side of the property was lined with them and over the years of not being taken care of they were growing out of control and all over the fence line we were needing to put back up. My job was to throw the tree branches over the fence as Jeremy would cut them. I swear everytime I would throw one a branch on the end of it would grab me and tear up my back. I never cussed before that.
I have to run down to the gate to let some clients in so this will continue later..................
Ahhhh, I am back now. Where was I?
It was funny the ridicule we suffered from people that, looking back now were jealous. Fixing all that fence on property that we didn't own.........blah blah blah. There isn't even water there........yada yada yada. If you want something bad enough you bust your ass for it. Plain and simple. No, we didn't own it but it was a beginning of a dream. A small price to pay to run your own herd these days. Especially being as we didn't come from ranching families with the family place worked down to us. We pulled it together. Our blood, sweat and tears. And let me tell you sitting here in the position we are now, I am sure there will be more. I shouldn't go into the downfall of society in this story but I truly believe that is part of what is wrong with this great country. People thinking something is owed to them and should be freely given away. A sense of entitlement because maybe their parents didn't have it so good when they were kids and they think they are giving their kids a better life by making it easy on them. Nothing worth having comes easy. Honestly, I can't believe I am sitting here writing those words after all we have had to do to get to this modest position in life. But it only makes it more worth having.
Soooooo back to the story. We purchased our starter herd in 2003 with eight cows. We had just barely finished the pasture in Tehachapi so we brought them to our little house we rented in Rosamond. I must have been a nightmare to the landlord. As we grew we just kept claiming more space on the land. We needed to brand them before we just set them out on the pasture so we planned the branding before we even had out registration in our hands. It was still in the mail. I never liked playing by the rules anyhow. We were too poor to want to feed them for too long and we wanted them out on the pasture. I remember that first branding like it was yesterday. We had a bunch of our family and friend there to help us. They were big cows so mostly we used a chute. I was looking aat a photo album from that day and saw myself dallied off to a calf riding a horse of Jeremy's and it hit me. I think that was the very first time I had ever roped anything and dallied before in my life. I guess that is a good trait to have in this life, not afraid to jump in and get a job done. I lived. The calf lived. And so did the horse. Something was said about my roping the other day and why don't I come out and rope with them on the practice days............puhleez I said who needs practice. The bunch of buttheads. I am just lucky to survive this place much less add more danger into the equation. Jeez, I am getting way off tract with my original story and didn't really intend to get this involved. Well, I am entered up now so I will have to post the letter in its own post and continue the lead up later.

Bragging.........

2009-11-02T18:47:00.000-08:00

As we were out chasing down dirtbikers that drove right down into our property yesterday we get a phone call from a lady that was looking to buy a horse that Jeremy had in training some time ago. She wanted to know about him and for once Jeremy couldn't remeber the horse and I did. So when I finally remind him enough that the lights start going off for him he calls the gal back to tell her what he can remember. I remember him liking the horse, well there really isn't too many he doesn't like. Anyhow, it has now progressed to him wanting me to pull out the paperwork on the horse to remind him how long it was here and such. In looking for that paperwork I stumbled across an email we received from someone we have never met after the Extreme Mustang Makeover. I teared up the first time I read it and I still did tonight. It just makes me proud I guess but I hope you don't mind me sharing it and bragging just a little. We won't tell Jeremy...........as much as I tease him about getting a big head it really embarasses him. He is a humble man.
It reads:
Jeremy,
I was pleased to sit next to yourlongtime friends, Diane and her neighbor. As we sat and watched the brilliant performances today I noticed some reoccuring tendencies.
tight reins, lack of softness and responsiveness, tail ringing from excessive leg aides, lack of emotional development and over correcting or rushing through the obstacles by riders.
I noted too that none of these faults was exhibited by you or your horse. perhaps these are only a few of the reasons you were in the top ten. I had hoped, prayed and believed that my friend Steve Smith too would have made it into the top ten, but it was not to be, he was one of the 38 disqualified in the groundwork. After his disqualifacation Steve was no longer in the running for the top ten so even tho I cheered for him, I cheered for you too from that point onward- I appreciated your preparation which lead to your ultimate safety and success. Thank you for an inspiring performance, an illuminating lesson in quietness and a splendid moment I shared with your extended family that will last me a LIFETIME!
finally as a last thought, I am not easily impressed since I am an old geezer, but (Brandie inserting here-okay this part really gets me) but youngman, with you I was impressed.
grace and truth, and she signed her name.

with this darn internet weirdness I probably shouldn't include her name. But from the both of us a very Sincere Thank You, for letting us know how you felt. It means alot. I did write her back at the time and tell her so. And thank you now, readers for letting me share this proud moment with you before I stuff the letter back into the file cabinet.

More halloween pictures

2009-11-01T10:02:00.000-08:00

How do you like his pullstring?! That was his personal touch that brought the costume all together. Love the back view!

Okay fine............here is all of us together. I had a pettycoat under the dress that came with the costume. I swear I took out several small children when the crowd got thick in the church. So last night for the door to door trick or treating I left it off. Not to mention I wouldn't have fit in our car with it much less be able to drive!

I just loved this picture. I think this is what wore us out on Friday at the church. While it was very cute, tons of kids wanted pictures with either Jeremy or I. I worked so hard to make out costumes so neat, it must of worked! Being a girl that would rather not be in the spotlight or the center of attention I kind of kicked my own butt. Please remind me next year to not wear a huge pink dress with an even bigger silver sparkly crown! Oops...........
Jeremy on the other hand is used to the attention and handles it much better. This little boy was just dying to have his picture with Woody. I think it is so funny the looks on our kids' faces. Sage was so proud to share her Daddy and look on while they took a picture. While Steele was looking at this kid wondering why he wanted a picture of his Daddy. It was a fun weekend and we are taking today to rest and do nothing............well I might move the huge entertainment cabinet upstairs to our bedroom to use as a closet. You should see the look of excitement on Jeremy's face when I mentioned it.

Halloween kiddos

2009-10-31T22:20:00.000-07:00

I haven't decided if you all get to see me in my costume or not...........it was fun though but I promised Jeremy I would not make him dress up next year. Wait, I think I said that to him last year..............oh well.

My camera is still down in the car so this will have to do for now. I took this picture last night right before we went into the harvest festival at the church in Lancaster. I have to say they are the cutest little Dorothy and Buzz Lightyear I have ever seen!

For reference

2009-10-30T08:41:00.000-07:00