Jul 8, 2008

Catchin' up........

We had a great 4th - ds came home from the ranch for a week!!! - yes a week; and dd and ds-i-l are here until Saturday.
Dh and I have been working our tails off, except they are still there. I unloaded 3 tons of wood pellets on Thursday - my brother wanted to use our trailer. He then called me that night and said he was taking his boat instead. My arms were a little sore but I was very thankful that God gave me the ability to do it. I finished painting the pipe fence and we put up the no-climb on 1/4 of it. It's a little tricky - you have to clip off the squares to have long pieces to wrap around the corner pipes. But.........praise God we are getting it done! Our projects are never ending. We were headed to town the week before and there was this huge tree sale - we have planted over 100 trees and probably 1/4 of them have made it. We live in a desert area that was once the Ruby Home Ranch, the only thing that grows well is sagebrush and rabbitbrush. So any way we bought 3 trees - big trees; they are at least 15 feet high and 4 shrubs. We dug the tree holes and hit the hard pan - we can go about 12 inches before we hit it. We've hired a man in the past with a tractor and hydraulic post hole digger - we broke 2 diggers and he quit! They are looking okay - hopefully they will make it.
DS came home with a good story. I wish I had pictures but mental pictures work pretty well. My sweet baby is 6'4" and maybe 165. He's been cowboying and now muleskinnin'. He's rode 2 mules - one just to get him used to different people - Ace is his name. The other one is 18 1/2 hands tall and not broke, Slim Jim. Ds was on Slim Jim Tuesday. There was a bucket by the barn that wasn't normally there, Slim Jim put his head down and scratched the bucket. Scared himself and reared up and pawed himself in the face. Kaleb was not really expecting him to shy, was knocked out when the mule hit him in the head. At that point he was thrown behind his saddle but came to quickly. The mule jumped so high, his boss said he could literally have looked into the hay loft of the barn had he been inclined too. His boss, who is a good bronc rider was yelling for ds to jump off. Ds wanted to try and ride him, so he got himself back in the seat - at that point his boss was yelling to 'ride him, ride him'. He had one foot in the stirrup and the other out, so he was reaching for the other stirrup when the mule figured out what was going on and really turned it on. (Ds was fixing supper for friends that night, and they were all front and center for the show.) Ds stayed with him pretty good with one foot still out when the mule sunfished and came down hard throwing ds on his head and shoulder. He has a pretty good knot on his head, bad shoulder scrape and fairly bad arm scrape. But he got right back on and got along fine the rest of the night! His opinion of the mules is going down rather quickly!
On the 4th, we worked on the fence and went to the fireworks at the marina down the road. It's really pretty over the water, there's no fireworks allowed here except organized by the communities. They don't sell them in our area because it's already so dry by this time of year.
We had a wedding on Saturday night. It was so much fun - getting to visit with folks we haven't seen for a while. They served wonderful food - anything that I don't have to cook is pretty tasty - we danced late into the night under the stars. It was a relaxing, happy night.
DD and D s-i-l got in Sunday evening so I am content to have my family intact - I know Josh is with us in memory.
So.........now that I have rambled on I will get my yard work started.
Until we meet again, may the good Lord take a likin' to ya'!

4 comments:

Ranch wife said...

Man oh man, I am glad he wasn't hurt badly. I have always wanted a mule, cause I have heard that they are easy trotting. But.......Now I am thinking that maybe I will just let that thought pass by, and stick with a horse!
So glad all the kiddos are there, Enjoy it for all it is worth!
Love ya
~M~

Cow Pies & Mud Pies said...

Sounds like a fun weekend. But you're working too hard! Enjoy the rest of your week...may it be filled with many more blessings!
Les

Paula said...

I didn't need pictures . . . you told it perfect! I watched my Rick ride a horse that started buckin' after he roped and one minute I was yelling jump off! and the next minute I was yelling ride him! It's terrifying excitement!

LeAnna said...

Those mules are somethin' else!

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