A lot of BULL!

"Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction".

Don't know who said that but it's good advice. Speaking of bull, we'll be seeing them from the front, the rear and every direction. Saturday will be spent at the La Junta Livestock Sales Arena for the Reid Bull Sale. The Reids will soon be my relatives.

If you've never seen a livestock auction it's interesting. It's not a whole lot different in theory from art auctions. Well, ok, the BULL isn't exactly as serene or still as the still life you might see at an art auction. He's usually well "full of it"! They parade him into an arena and announce his attributes. A few hands go up, and so does the price, a few more...sometimes the auctioneer stops his chanting to pitch him up a bit. "Now, folks, this is a great bull, you'll be very happy with him. His offspring have good birth weights..." etc. etc.

My little girl loved watching this last year. She was glued to the action like it was a kid-tastic Disney presentation. It gives you an appreciation of what ranchers go through. You choose a good bull, you get good calves, you get a good price, it's good. A good life. It's a gamble. We take for granted just how much work goes into that steak on the dinner table.

I will post photos next week after the sale. For now, I must get going I have a lot to do.....and that is NO BULL! :)

The wedding dress fiasco!

I'm no spring chicken! I was married before but I'm excited about tying the knot with Boyfriend Chad or uh, now Fiance Chad!

Chad's never been married. So we're doing the big wedding. I actually like the idea of it because I never had much family. He's related to half the county and I think he's inviting them all. Yep, all of 'em. I jokingly refer to them as the "Kennedys of Cattle", mostly because everyone is related to someone who does the same thing for a living. They're ranchers and farmers. Don't take politcal offense please.

Yesterday I experienced a very frustrating, almost exasperating moment. I went to try on wedding dresses.
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee YIKES!

My helper was a nice girl who was fairly down-to-earth but it was obvious she'd been groomed in training to work the bride-to-be's ego. She brings me a size 10. I am one, usually. But at 5'10" tall and a muscular build, I'm usually on board with the idea of needing to go BIGGER! I'm a grown up girl and can take it. Go ahead and bring me your best double digit size cause I'm not going to spend my day feeling like a sausage.

She explains they run "small". I know...they are often European designers of wedding dresses and those women smoke and do NOT eat!

So bring it on out...the big one...yep...I want to be pretty but comfortable, is that too much to ask?
I ended up going with my first choice. Usually the gut knows...now if I could just get rid of mine....LOL!

Annie had a little lamb...

...ok, so that's just...well, dorky but the story is very sweet.
We spent the weekend at Fiance Chad's family's ranch. They have cattle and sheep and they're having babies now. So the gigantic Lincoln county maternity ward has sickness like any other.
Sunday morning a tiny lamb was brought in from the cold, weak, small and not doing well. We put her near the stove in a box and allowed her to warm up a bit. She looked helpless and alone so I couldn't resist picking her up wrapped in a towel to hold her close to me. If this was her last moment, she shouldn't be alone...no one should..but that's another topic for another day and frankly can't be handled in ONE blog. Back to the lamb.
I can't describe how it feels to hold a fragile life in your arms and I can tell you it feels like the best feeling on earth when you feel it makes a difference.
About twenty minutes later, she started to perk up and nibble on my neck and ear. She was looking for dinner. Along with my little girl, I gave her a bottle. She devoured it. When we put her down on the floor, she stretched her too long for her body legs and stumbled about. She followed me around the kitchen, almost like I had become her "mommy".
It was precious and sweet! If she didn't make it, she gave me something I'll remember always. Everything has a purpose on this earth only if for a short while.
And "Ewe" know it's true! ahhhhhhhhh that was probably just plain dorky....like me! :)

And there it was...

...the call in the middle of the night that most of us have received.
"Mom......I don't feel well!", "I'm sick".
My little girl is seven and has been very healthy all of her life so this is frightening.
I stayed home from work because it is ME and only me who can take her to the military medical care facilty to which we are assigned. It ended up being stomach flu and after a day of gatorade, rest and an OTC remedy, she's fine.