Variety

Dandy looks smaller after her summer haircut. Here she is pretending to be a herding dog, which is her heritage, but she has not been properly trained. Maybe next year.

Our sheep are helping out our field maintenance by attacking the salad bar of weeds.

Jimmy the cat is still trying to figure out the 4 ducklings and 1 guinea keet. We allow them out of their pen more often now and they wander around the front yard eating bugs and grass.

"Hey, my Dad brought me along to help this new family move in, but I'm going to let the little guy in front of me do all the heavy lifting of the piano".

"Okay, they really need my muscle now".

Look who is peeking in at my bedroom window.

Most vehicles have a distinctive hood ornament, so I glued this baby goat to the front end of our tractor.

The front lawn looks great after the yard boy (K6) mows it.

That's a lot of bull.

It's a dog's life for Chloe the pup as K8 carries her home from paddock #5. We took some alfalfa cubes out to the cattle to give them a little treat this morning.

Red likes his treats.

He is standing in the entrance to paddock #4 which is one of two fields we have not cut yet.

View of paddock #5, which has been cut. Our bull, Red Ferrari (on the left), is 25 months old. He is a long-legged Dexter, and is standing next to Cork who is a 15 month-old short-legged Dexter steer. They, along with our ram Mutt, are paddock buddies. Red has bred 4 cows which are due with his off-spring this year - can't wait to see 'em! Cork on the other hand is destined for the freezer someday - can't wait to taste him!

The black dot just above the center of his back is a gigantic horse fly, which I tried to smack with my hat when it landed on Cork.

The Muffin Man no longer lives on Drury Lane (what movie?). He's in the Ozarks.

K8 baked 60 muffins today. A few days ago his Mom taught him to bake the loaves of wheat bread to the right. Quite the handy guy in the kitchen. His Irish great-great-Grandfather was a master baker, and K1 and I have worked as bakers, so it is in the genes.

Now we just need to work on the clean-up part.

He usually gets a few minutes in the evening to check his Facebook page. Maybe he is sharing recipes...

New life on the Wanch

I returned home from the UK earlier this month to find this little white box in the corner of my bedroom.

S decided to try hatching some of our many fertilized eggs, so she borrowed a small incubator from Sis. J at Church. She loaded it up with 24 assorted colored eggs and plugged it into an electric wall socket. The boys had the assignment to rotate eggs every day at 8:00 A.M. and again at 8:00 P.M. for three weeks, and presto, like magic, baby chicks start chipping out of their egg shells and start chirping for food and freedom!

The first two. They come out of shell with a little dampness on their feathers, so you leave in the box for a day to completely dry-out before moving them...

...to the "pool" in the basement. They live on a bed of clean pinewood chips and lots of warm lighting and no drafts blowing.

There are now 10 little cuties chirping away and growing. More to come. The question is - how many will turn out to be chickens vs. roosters? The color of these chicks should be interesting since some will be cross-bred - the father of all the chicks is a Rhode Island Red, and the Mommas are either Rhode Island Reds, Black Austrolops, or Plymouth Barred Rocks. I have a hunch that Santa will be bringing S her very own incubator this Christmas. What do you think?

Sad day at the Wanch as we say farewell to Tex, a great family dog.

Tex died yesterday, Tuesday the 21st of June. We buried him on the highest point over-looking the pond. It is a sunny and cheerful spot. I have never mentioned on this blog that he was dying of cancer. Like all families fighting this evil enemy, we always hoped for a miracle.

We did not know about the cancer when he arrived at the Wanch in January, but I suspect the breeder who gave him to us knew. Tex was large and gentle, and it was great to have Dandy's father with us for six good months of bonding. He looked and acted healthy when he arrived, but he had a large lump on his left hip.

He started developing many more lumps, or tumors. He scratched and chewed them. Over time he lost energy and weight. He was covered in open sores. Once the vet confirmed it was widely spread and inoperable cancer, we held a family council to decide when to end his misery. It was agreed that we would keep him alive as long as he had "a sparkle in his eye and a spring in his step". He started losing those vital signs of life a few weeks ago. He never once cried out or snapped at any of us. He was super sweet as always, and he loved to have his ears rubbed. Monday afternoon, a friend, who loves dogs as much as we do, saw how bad Tex was, and offered to "put him down" for me. I greatly appreciated his offer, and was tempted, but said it was my responsibility to do. Tuesday morning, Tex could not move at all and was now obviously suffering, so we gathered for a family prayer. K2 and K7 gently and lovingly moved him to the hill above the pond where the boys had already prepared his grave months ago. K6 scrubbed the front porch where flies had been tormenting Tex, while I loaded my pistol with a heavy heart. K7 helped me bury him and cover his grave with rocks. More than a few tears were shed by everyone, just as we did when we lost my sister and my mother to the same dreaded disease in recent years. Just a dog? Not hardly! Some of you young ones reading this blog need to get medical and science degrees to keep moving us forward in the battle against cancer (human and animals - its the same disease). Thank goodness that the sun came out later on Tuesday and our many nieces and nephews came over to fill our pond with laughter and life. It really helped to lift our spirits.

Wanch Water Hole #1

I don't pay my wanch hands money, so I have to find cheap ways to reward them for their hard work. Swimming in the pond is the most popular reward. Hence the reason for my last post on snapping turtles.

K2 is the oldest son and the hardest working.

K8 works if properly supervised. He thinks some jobs are stinkier than others...

...but he knows that there are fun things every day.

Clearing and burning brush is a regular chore. The weather has recently been in the high 80's and low 90's, so after work, they enjoy a cooling dip in the pond. The forecast for this coming week is low 80's and high 70's. Might be a good week to visit the Wanch!

No snapping turtles allowed!

Yes, turtles are nice and sweet, but not snapping turtles. They enter ponds uninvited and eat all the fish, and "snap" the human swimmers. Two days after the raccoon incident, S was leaving the wanch at 5:50 A.M. when the dogs started a chorus of barking at some dark object moving across the yard. S had visions of bad coons, so she came and got me. She realized it was a large snapping turtle.

I got K7 up to come look and help since he had to milk goats anyway. He took the first 2 photos.





***WARNING*** Do not continue if you can't handle sad endings or graphic pictures. ***WARNING***

K7 flipped the big sucker on its back and struggled to carry it by the tail across the road while I got a 9-shot .22 revolver.







***YOUR LAST WARNING*** Do not continue if you think the Teen Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles are real! ***WARNING***

There are not many happy endings for uninvited critters that threaten the peace and safety of the Wanch. No, it did not suffer very long. I put 9 rounds into its head and chest very rapidly, and No, capturing it and transporting it elsewhere for a happy release to the wilds is not an option. It would walk to the nearest pond and eat all the fish, and "snap" the human swimmers - that's what snapping turtles do...
and this is what I do to them. This was the 3rd snapper we shot this week. K8 shot the first one in the pond along with a small snake (he said it was a copperhead - incredible shot to a small head while it was swimming). I shot another large snapper in my pond the day before! The boys swam safely in our pond yesterday and today.

How many shots to kill a rabid raccoon? Depends on who is holding the gun, angle of the sun...

The boys and I were at Boy Scouts and poor S comes home after a long day at the hospital to find a raccoon acting queer (that means acting odd). It was just sitting outside our fence, while the sun was still out - pretty unusual since we had 5 dogs on the inside of the fence barking and wanting to eat it. S suspected it might have rabies and pulled a small revolver and started blasting away - sure is great living out in the unregulated rural Ozarks. How did she do?

Taking into account that she was inexperienced, extremely tired, stressed out, the target was probably moving, the setting sun was in her eyes, and a gentle breeze was blowing across the road, I will chalk this one up to a  practice session. After finally wounding the demonic critter, she eventually called me for some coaching tips. She had not been checked out on a pump shotgun, so I recommended using K8's youth size .22 caliber single-shot bolt action rifle, and stick the barrel through the fence. She was then able to put the diseased guy out of his misery in short order. She left him outside the gate in a black trash bag for me to place in the bed of my truck later that night. I called the Health Department first thing next morning and they had me take it to a local animal clinic for testing. We get the results back next Monday, but most people in the area say he got what he deserved. And yes, I think Santa will be bringing S a double-barreled shotgun for Christmas. At least we'll save ammo and she will hit it first time every time.

Look who's back...

You knew K6 would be back from his 4 day Pioneer Handcart Trek in Oklahoma, but how he returned was impressive. He returned triumphant - had a great time and was praised by his trek "Ma" and "Pa" for his leadership, humor, and hard work as the "oldest" brother in a family of 8 youth. Music to parent's ears.

Chloe's return was unexpected but happily received. She was too much work and worry for K4 who is expecting her 4th child this week, so S brought her home. S was able to bring Chloe home from Texas because she was there attending her final Midwifery conference which wrapped up her 24 month course of rigorous academic and clinical requirements. No wonder she is ill - the stress has been overwhelming at times. The boys keep sneaking Chloe into the house, but I am adamant there will be no dogs in the house until September when ticks go away. 

Easy week at the wanch

We moved the 4 ducklings and 1 surviving guinea keet from the basement out into the yard since they are big enough and it is warm enough. K2 made this nice cage to protect them from hawks and our Dandy. Dandy was showing way too much interest in the little birds, so I put a shock collar on her for the next few weeks to help her learn that fowl are friends and not her food.

Since the 14 to 18 year old church kids left Wednesday A.M. for a 4 day pioneer handcart trek in Oklahoma, the 10 to 13 yr old scouts came to the wanch for a camp-out. I put them in paddock #6 since I just burned all the brush and there was plenty of open ground and shade.  

Unfortunately, I didn't notice all the poison ivy growing near the gate and the parking area! Hope no one shows up at church Sunday with ivy rash.

Thursday they hiked about 6 miles. K8 was the only one wearing a pack (big one) as they headed up the road, so I convinced him to leave it at the house.

S spent a half hour in her garden laying straw mulch, but had to come in and rest due to her respiratory infection. To add insult to injury, she got numerous chigger bites which increased her misery. I took pity on her and let her accompany me on a quick trip to Oklahoma for a 2-day visit with Dad and sister. We had to be back in Lebanon by 3:00 P.M. Saturday to pick-up our trek youth. 

K2 needed a new battery. He got a 3-year one to take him through 3 years of law school. He can buy a new car when he graduates.