Reached the Finish Line!

The Camaro project is finally finished. Sorry about the incredibly bad quality of photos for this blog. I just barely remembered to take pics with my phone when I dropped it off.

The project hit a standstill when I discovered I was pregnant. With the high fumes from the high-temp paint, I was forced to step back and get some help from a student to finish the project. The weather cooperated and we were able to finish it outside on a beautiful day.

Sure hope the owner of this grill is happy with the finished product. It was interesting and definitely a learning experience, but still fun!

Joys and Sorrows of Calving

During calving season this year, we have been blessed to have a couple of sets of twins. Unfortunately, we are still behind in the count. We have lost several calves to sicknesses that struck them well after they were born. We tried to doctor them the best that we could, but it was too late and we lost them.

When we have twins, it is rare that the mother will claim both of them. It is just a little too much for her to do to feed two hungry calves. More times than not, we end up bottle feeding one of the twins until another cow loses a calf. Then we "graft" the twin onto that cow. That includes putting the cow and calf into a smaller area so she has to become familiar with that calf. Usually it results in a successful pairing and she finally claims the calf as her own.

This little guy was a twin that was in the process of being grafted. His new mom hadn't completely taken to him yet and he had been bottle fed previously. So, when I walked in to look at him, he was more than eager to hunt for a bottle in my hands!

Red Pen Adventures

It is starting to become sort of a "thing" to see where I will find one of my teaching red pens next. I was a bit surprised when I pulled down the visor in the farm pickup the other day.

Joy of Dry Spring

Here is what I was driving through to get to church yesterday. Not everything was this bad, but it is safe to say, we need some moisture.

You know you live in western Kansas when.....during the preacher's children sermon on Palm Sunday, he asks the kids what we could have waved instead of palms that we have plenty of out here, and their very quick response was "tumbleweeds!"

Lots of Bull

I'll confess. Today I played hookey. Well, I was actually honest about my whereabouts to my employer, but I skipped school and went to a bull sale. I've wanted to go with my dad and husband for the past few years, but I have never gotten the chance.

This year it worked out. I've been to cattle auctions before, but nothing like this. Here's how I will explain it. Imagine making a decision that is worth thousands of dollars and will affect your cattle operation for the next several years. If you are like me, you like to take your time when making decisions involving that much money. Now, imagine having less than 50 seconds to do it.

That's it. You make the decision, and the money is pretty much out of your pocket in less than 50 seconds. In this world of high-tech and efficiency, they don't waste anyone's time at a bull auction. Today 125 bull sold in 102 minutes. Do the math. That is around 49 seconds to see each bull. Phew!

The pictures I got aren't the best, but it is a bit hard to get good pictures when all you have are a not-so-hi-tech cellphone and a husband that gets annoyed if you take a picture of anything at all.

As you can see from the top picture, this auction didn't have a show ring. Well, not in your traditional sense anyway. They had three 55-inch televisions set up and a DVD player that showed video of each bull as it was selling. Along with all of that technology, they also had two men taking phone and online bids through two different auction sites.

In the above picture, it is hard to see, but the men on the left side wearing the black vests and tan hats are the men taking the bids. There were three of them keeping track of who was bidding in probably around 100 people at the sale...including the men who were taking bids on the phones. I have absolutely no idea how the auctioneer kept track of anything with all of that going on and at such a fast pace. I happily sat there and took it all in while making sure to never nod my head or scratch my nose while making eye contact with the men taking bids ;-)

Above is one of the men taking online and phone bids. He had another screen in front of him that kept track of the current price and if someone put in an online bid. I have no idea how he watched all of that, ran the DVD player and also listened to the auctioneer.

These are my favorite observations from the day:

#1: Watching an auction is a bit like watching a tennis match. Everyone's eyes follow where the current bid is. The funniest part was watching almost every single head in the place simultaneously bow down after the bull was sold so they could write the price in their bull-sale catalog.

#2: If you take too long to bid, then you are out. And the definition of "too long" at this sale was about 3 seconds.

#3: It is hilarious to listen to people in the industry talk about things such as calving ease and the way they describe them. For instance, one bull for sale today was supposed to be an extremely nice bull for heifers. That means the calves are fairly low birthweight so they can be born easily but then gain weight quickly once they are on the ground. This is how the auctioneer described the calving ease of this bull. "He will spit 'em out like watermelon seeds now." Lovely image of how a cow gives birth ;-)

#4: Men don't own this industry. The best bull of the sale sold for $15,000...and it sold to an elderly lady sitting on the front row that had traveled clear from Montana or Wyoming. Now, tell me a woman can't be successful in the cattle industry. I dare you.

#5: The type of hat you wear shows your personality. You should see some of those hats that men had on. Some were really sharp looking and had been professionally shaped to look juuuuuusssttt right. Others looked like they had been run over by a bull several times and then slapped back on their head. Another hat looked like mice had eaten off part of the back of it. The best part is knowing that each man (or woman for that matter) has a story behind the shape of their hat. And that story probably fits right in line with how they live their day-to-day life.

Beautiful Blogging Day

Since the temperature outside was warmer than inside our house, I decided it was a great day for a blog. It was a gorgeous western Kansas day!

 I walked over to the heifer pasture to get some pics of our new additions to the herd.

It was about lunch time, so this little one was getting a snack. I always love watching their tails switch back and forth out of pure happiness while they eat.

After a day or so, they all like to have a little fun running around as well.

You can't help but love them...they are so tiny and cute!

A tell-tale sign of a good snack from mom is a shiny face. This little one must have just been getting a snack before I got there.

We have purchased some heifers from outside our herd to add to our numbers. It's always interesting since you don't know their history and temperament, so I kept my distance while they gave in to their curiosity about this lady, her camera, and two dogs.

My dad, ever the farmer/rancher, just had shoulder surgery last week. But he is still out checking on the well-being of the calves. He especially keeps a close eye on the heifers since it is their first time being a mom. My husband has been doing a great job of doing the late-night calving checks so my dad can get some rest for probably the first time in 40-50 years during calving season.

Your wife might be a teacher....

Your wife might be a teacher when...this is the pen you find to write down information in your book during calving season. I had to laugh when I saw this in my husband's coveralls tonight.