Again with the BUSY week!
Wednesday morning found me up EARLY
to feed the horses and cows,
load up my car and head over to Linda's
house to be there by 9:00.
(It only took 15 minutes to feed the animals,
but much longer than that to feed me,
pack my clothes, eat my breakfast... lol)
I have 2 fresh fried eggs (I've still got some,
I get about 5 eggs a week now) and a BIG pile
of okra done in my air fryer every morning.
It's a lot of food and takes 20 minutes to cook
and about 20 minutes to eat! LOL
(Although I rushed through the last and fed some
of the okra to Beau - strange little dog loves
okra and broccoli, but do NOT offer him
a green bean. Harumph...)
Anyhow.
I was only 3 minutes late.
We switched my stuff from my car into her's
and headed over to Orlando to the temple.
She had some names for each of us,
so we did Initiatories and were there just
in time to catch the 11:00 session.
It was so calm and peaceful.
Linda has had a kind of stressful couple of days.
We knew we were heading to Gainesville on Wed
anyway, so on Sunday after Relief Society I
suggested we make a detour to the temple on the way.
When we finished up there we went over to the
clothing store (on the temple grounds) and I
bought another copy of next year's lesson manual
(the ward got one for each family but I want my own)
and changed our clothes - jeans are better for travel,
especially when your end destination is the ranch
where there are no amenities (yet).
A quick 2 hour drive up to the ranch.
We took a tour, driving the new Can Am,
and Kyle showed off all the work he has done up
there lately and then we walked from the hay barn
over to his mobile home and toured that as well.
She had never been inside.
Showed her the plans he has to customize it a little
for himself. She definitely approved of all of them.
And then of course we went out and visited
the cows and the babies.
(Who aren't looking very baby-ish anymore...)
We headed over to Gainesville where I had made
a reservation at the Hampton.
Checked in and relaxed for a bit while Kyle
finished up doing his daily stuff and then
he drove over and met us for dinner.
We are SUPER fancy. We walked next door to
Waffle House.
We love Waffle House!
He headed back to the ranch and we headed
to our hotel and bed.
Unfortunately, neither of us slept much.
We were asleep by about 9 and both were
wide awake by midnight.
We both put in some headphones and turned
on our books and tried to let that lull
us to sleep. Cat napped throughout the rest
of the night.
And then the alarms went off at 6.
(It was hot.
Then it was cold.
The bed was hard.
blah blah blah)
Showers, packing, etc and then downstairs
to grab some breakfast in the lobby
and then in the car to drive 40 minutes to Ocala.
We were scheduled to spend the day at the
Florida Cattlemen's Association convention
and trade show.
Kyle met us there.
It was GREAT!
We learned about a fantastic idea for working cattle.
(SUPER expensive, but a really nice system...)
 |
| The cow is in the rust colored chute on the left... |
We had a presentation by a local vet on doing
ultrasound pregnancy testing on your cows
as an alternative to blood testing or the old fashioned
method of just sticking your arm in...
Keeping the picture small... lol
We broke out into mini classes and I learned
what it feels like to palpate a pregnant cow.
Without the cow.
It was fascinating.
And stinky.
Kyle and Linda have each attended a 4-day school
at the church ranch and have each done it
WITH a real cow (which involves a glove that
goes all the way to your shoulder... hint hint)
so they opted out, but I donned my little blue glove
and dove right in.
Then there was a class on weeds.
Poisonous and non-poisonous.
They had several live weeds for us to identify.
Kyle got most of them right!
And we got posters to take home with us!
There was an excellent little lunch.
Pulled pork, the worlds BEST loaded mashed potatoes,
and some macaroni salad.
Totally not on plan, but the great thing about
Trim Healthy, is you are never more than 3 hours
away from getting right back on.
And nobody ever RUINED anything
with one off-plan meal.
After lunch we had a fascinating class on forage and feed.
What grasses to grow when and what food to
supplement with and how to coordinate nature
with your breeding program.
(for example, figure out when your grass is best and
plan to have your cows calving and nursing then...)
We got a really good take-away book and Kyle
and I made a TON of notes.
(Linda was having a little nap... lol)
Wrapped it up with a presentation on
Cattle Futures and what prices are likely
to be for the next couple of years.
(Low until 2020 and then a spike for the
next decade... basically, hang in there,
better times are just around the corner...)
Most of it was really technical and you could
watch the REAL ranchers hanging on his every
word and making notes, etc.
We felt like he was speaking Greek.
One day we will understand.
We hope.
Then they had a door prize drawing.
Kyle was REALLY hoping for the Yeti cooler.
First prize drawn: $50 gift card - LINDA!
Second prize drawn: 200 pound protein bucket - COLLETTE!
Third prize drawn: 150 pounds cow feed - KYLE!
Hahahahahaha.
And no, he didn't win the Yeti.
We went out and got our prizes - I traded Kyle.
I would have loved the protein bucket,
but it was SO heavy there was no way we
could have gotten it in Linda's truck
and NO WAY we would have gotten it out.
And he was going to buy a protein bucket
for the ranch this week anyway.
He headed to the ranch and we headed south.
I was WIPED out!
Stopped at Tractor Supply (Linda lives just around
the corner) and picked up some beet pulp
for the horses and saw a great sign!
And then to Sam's Club to get some food for the guys
for their Panhandle Hurricane Rescue trip this weekend,
and then Rod and I met at ...
WAFFLE HOUSE.
Hahahahaha.
Home so Rod could finish loading up
and I fell asleep on the couch.
Slept like a log and woke up when Rod
got up to leave this morning.
He was out of here by about 5:30 this morning.
I was up and feeding by 7.
Put a saddle on Andy (after giving him some Bute)
and we went for a ride out in the woods.
The Town is doing some new promotional stuff
and needed a picture of a horse and rider out on
the trails so I agreed to meet them out there.
We had a nice ride for about 2 hours.
There were a couple of spots where Andy
decided he was done and we were NOT going down
that trail! But we eventually got where we were going,
took some pictures and video,
and then headed home again.
(At a good, motivated Trot... his idea... lol)
We were both tired by the time we got home.
I gave him a nice cool shower,
and came in to make some breakfast
and get ready for this weekend's school.
Whew!
And now you are all caught up!
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