Sunset after Boy Scouts

From last Wednesday, 25 July, while taking several Boy Scouts home after our Troop meeting. Tommy noticed this sunset and wished he had a camera at hand. I get tired of frequently reminding my Scouts that the Scout motto is "Be Prepared". I am a Scout, and therefore always prepared - I whipped out my camera and got the shot. 

STARS Foundation

This is the local orchestra and theater group to which K7 and K8 belong. K7 is pictured on the left in this photo taken from the Springfield area magazine "417". Click on the link below to go to the complete article:

http://www.417mag.com/417-Magazine/August-2012/STARS-Foundation-Cabool-Missouri/

Sunset after a rain

We finally had a little rain in the form of a short but powerful thunderstorm Thursday afternoon. Huge lightening flashes accompanied by booming and crashing thunder. We had one particularly loud boom above or near the house that caused myself, K2, and K8 to jump. I expected a power outage, but the lights and fans still functioned. Oddly, what didn't function were the sinks and toilets -  the water stopped flowing! Traced the problem to the control box on our well pressure tank - the wires in the box were "fried". Had to wait 5 1/2 hours before we could get a new box and it was repaired. Yes, I'll buy an extra box to keep as a battle spare. This photo was taken soon after the rain clouds moved on. 

When driving through hell, keep driving!

I don't normally call my boyhood state of Oklahoma hell, but given the 109 F temperature today as I was returning to Missouri after a quick weekend visit to my father and sister's house, it may have been appropriate...

...especially as I looked at all the cornfields that had burnt up during the current drought.

The temperature actually went up to 110 between Tulsa and Joplin.

This was a cornfield outside of Joplin.

We really need lots of rain!

What kind of food do you eat when in this realm? Why, mini-coney chili dogs smothered in onions, with a little red cayenne hot pepper sprinkled on top. Yummy!

There is only one place to get these delicious little gut bombs - Coney Islander, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They started in 1921, and there are several locations spread around town.

A piece of American military history is coming back!

Yea! The U.S. Marines are bringing back the American manufactured Colt M1911 pistol! The U.S. military should never have switched to the Italian made Beretta 9mm. Why is this important? Below is a photo of the Colt M1911 with two bullets - the bigger bullet on left is the .45. The little bullet on the right is the 9mm. Which one do you think has more stopping power on the battlefield? You better believe it's the .45. Based on experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Marine Corps has come to the same conclusion. This pistol is also on the list of official Wanch farm tools.

Click on this link for the full article: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/28/marines-pay-22m-to-go-back-to-their-old-guns-colt-45-caliber-pistols/?intcmp=trending

Cattle squeeze and headgate

Last weekend K2 and I were discussing how to build a wooden homemade cow squeeze for our corral, because new metal ones cost $2,500 and up. On a lark, we checked online at Craigslist, and lo-and-behold, there was an old used homemade metal one for sale at a very low $450! I emailed the seller, got pictures, and today K2 and I went and picked it up. Here are the shots of K2 hooking it up and helping with the loading.

Its days like today that I am glad I bought a full size, V-8 powered, pick-up truck instead of a "smaller" truck.

Got home and our good neighbor came over with his big tractor and unloaded it from back of truck.

Yes, a little rusty, but with some sanding, painting, and oil, this baby will be perfect for our cattle operation needs.

The headgate opens wide enough for our bull Red to fit through.

The sides swing out or in. The wooden belly bar in the floor is coming out.

The back swing gate opens and closes for loading cows.

It is sitting in our corral. Notice the old wooden crate is now gone from the near corner of paddock #3 - it was falling apart and is now on our burn pile waiting for a day when it will be safe to burn, which means we will need a lot of rain before that happens. Check out the clouds gathering. Maybe we'll get some tomorrow!

Land of the Freebies, soon to be land of the broke

Just received an interesting email with a link to this short video. It is a politically conservative view point, but the numbers data should make everyone stop and think about the direction our country is headed:



http://video.staged.com/localshops/land_of_the_freebies_home_of_the_enslaved

Cookie Wars

K8 has been in a cookie baking mood the past few days. Chocolate chips. Good ones, regardless if raw dough or baked. They don't last long!

The Office

For the past few months this office has been totally trashed - piles of paper stacked on the desk; piles of stuff on both couches; and piles of boxes and bags on the floor. So bad, I refused to even take a picture of it. Well, not any more. A few days ago I started on the big push to clean it all out. I finished tonight. What do you think of it now?

I haven't seen my desk top in many months. After sorting through everything and filing items in their appropriate folders in my filing cabinets, I carried out 2 large trash bags. I had to add a 3-drawer box in one corner of the room just to hold all my Boy Scout stuff. Hope I can keep everything looking this good. 

Monday, 23 July

Sunset. We have 10 cows, 10 sheep, and 1 goat spread over 3 paddocks.

K2 and Dan are building a 3rd firewood storage rack in the backyard to handle all the wood we have already gotten, and what we will get, from the old dead oak to the left.

The many faces of Baby W

Not sure what K8 said to him, but W not happy

Mom to the rescue...

...for a moment...

All better now

Not sure about K2

Getting more intrigued

Loosing interest

Just kidding, back to happy

Contented with his Uncle

Saturday is the day we get ready for Sunday

No, K8 isn't "joy riding" on his vehicle. He has replaced K6 as our lawn boy, and Saturday is his day to get it mowed.

He does a good job, including mowing outside our fence - on both sides of the road!

Speaking of a good job...KT does a lot of cooking for the family. This evening she created homemade pizzas loaded with pepperoni, bacon bits, hot sausage, green bell peppers, onions, black olives, and pineapple. Oh my goodness! Yummy!

This was a thin crust pizza with alfredo sauce instead of the normal red tomato sauce. Also very Yummy!

Earlier this week, she decided to make her own hot fudge sauce. Yes, it is also very Yummy!

It's Saturday night, and the Whipple men are getting ready for the Sabbath Day and Church tomorrow. That means polishing our black dress shoes.

Didn't take too long, and it was worth the effort. A good habit for men to develop early in life. I remember my father and I doing this when I was a boy. Of course, a few decades in the military helped make it a permanent habit with me. But it was fun doing it together tonight, and chatting while we worked. Each of us has his own unique polishing technique as well. 

K2 and I paid K8 to iron our dress shirts. We get pressed shirts and K8 gets paid, so everybody is happy. 

Here are our shoes lined up in order: by age, oldest to youngest, from top to bottom. But K2 came along and said,"Hey, they won't see the shine on shoes."

So here they are again, father and sons, showing their shine (except for K7's which are more a hush puppy type soft leather). K8 is the last pair on the right. He is always worried about being short of stature, now and later in life. After seeing his shoes lined up with mine and his brothers, I think he can stop worrying - he will be taller than all three of us based on his foot size at age 12 (almost 13). He and K2 tied for shiniest shoes

Cattle

We have finally moved our cattle out of paddock 1 - it is eaten down. We now have animals in three different paddocks eating fresher grass.

Our 5 bottle fed calves are weaned and out on pasture eating grass.

Come September, we'll put the 2 guys in with the big cows. The 3 young heifers will continue to be separated from the bull - hopefully he will be across the stream on the hill pasture after we get it fenced this fall (and buy more older cows to increase his harem). These young heifers won't get bred to bull until next June, so we should have lots of calves in the spring of 2013.

The ewes are separated from the rams. After fattening them up on fall grass, we'll take any excess sheep to "market" and hopefully make a nice profit if sheep and goat prices continue to rise.