Christmas ramblings

Over the hills, across the plains,through the woods to the city we go to Jennifer's house today. We're looking forward to the time spent with family and sharing love and gifts and just time with one another. How we are blessed!
We have about 2" of snow so travel may be slower than normal. Lots of snow right Carrie and Kim? Ann is planning to spend the day with Jennifer cooking and preparing the Christmas Feast. With all the sweets and candies that we already have eating isn't too exciting. Man-we really raked in the sweets.. Russell's wife (our employee) fixed a huge basket of candied foods. Ann's cousin sent a Tower of candy as well as several cheese and snack items. I lost a few pounds while Ann was teaching but I suppose that's ancient history with all this food.
We do pray for safety in travel for all in transit today and look forward to the time together with grandchildren, children, parents, sister and her family. We offer a special prayer for Mike and Dana in this time of movement to a new home and envirnoment. From reading Mike's notes people in Alabama must drive a little more reasonably than those in New Mexico. When you're driving 85 mph in the slow lane, things are moving pretty fast-right-Mike.
Anyway-enjoy celebrating the birth of Jesus and the fellowship of believers and the love of family and friends.. Bob and Ann

This didn't turn out right I know but Lane was out this weekend and he and I decided to build a crane to rival the ones being used at the wind farm. We thought it turned out pretty well so decided to share with you all. We had fun -he helped me get through gates scraping pens and he thought it was great to be able to herd cattle by himself. He and Grandma Ann filled the cookie jar (yeah) and I finally convinced him he needed to ask his sister to feed his chickens. He really asked her nicely and she had already taken care of it. Chickens in town-he's convinced the sheriff is going to knock on his door! We had about 4" of snow Thursday (light and no accumulation, of course) by Friday afternoon it was mostly gone and Sat and Sunday have been great.

We got a load of cattle from far south Louisana from a customer Tuesday. The truck broke down in Texas and it was 5 hours before another truck got there. They were on a truck for at least 36 hours when they got here. They walked like drunken sailors but filled up and look decent now. The next 3 weeks will tell the tale.

Our church addition is pretty much enclosed-lacking the tie in to the existing roof and the plan this week is to start pulling wires and putting insulation in the walls. The fast part has been done and now it will seem to take forever.

We're looking forward to Christmas in Hutch and are praying for good weather and safe travel.

See a lot of you there-Merry Christmas Bob

Thanksgiving

What are you thankful for? Did you get asked that question yearly as a child in Sunday School or Grade school? As adults we often take many things for granted as we learn from experience that probably all things will turn out well. God's Grace, Mercy and Love are things that come to my mind that we take for granted until reminded of them. We know that eternity with Him is available only through His Son. Personal things I am thankful for are our family of course( there you go-you are taken for granted). God in His wisdom brought Ann and I together and we will celebrate our 40th in August. What Goodness! Our parents led us in the correct paths as children and I thank them for that. Our daughters and families are a great blessing and source of enjoyment. How we are thankful to have them nearby. Dad is getting to celebrate his 85th year this year and I am thankful for his wisdom and leadership over the years. God gave me an occupation where I can be outside and witness His Glory in the beatuiful sunrises and sunsets and the greatness of His creation. I need to run and get to our church for the Thanksgiving dinner there. One year ago God laid it on my heart that we as a congregation should do this for those who might otherwise eat this special dinner alone and I am especially thankful for Ann and the others making this happen. Thank You God for all you have done for us!!!Bob

Hey-Harvest is finished!! Not a great harvest but we do give thanks for what God has given. I got the combine home about 4 PM and am glad to be done. If there are any volunteers to clean the combine and headers, we would be glad to have visitors. That's a job I always dread.
Next item is to get the cow herd ready for winter. I actually have'nt been to the ranch for 12 days and plan to go tomorrow. We need to preg check, vaccinate and de worm the cows and we will bring some here for about 60 days to graze corn stalks and other crop residues.
Ann is busy making bears and subbing until Christmas break other than grandma time with the Hutch bunch next week. Forecast is for lite snow this week-I guess it's time but snow is not my favorite thing.
The wind farm towers 6 south is beginning to go up and it's interesting to watch the huge crane lift the pieces up. We can actually see the crane from here and the towers as they rise. There will be 33 chargers and the towers will be something like 300' tall and the blade will clear the ground by 115'. The south horizion is changing. Bob

what's up in the coming week and we have been blessed with rain

After being so dry for so long we have had some really abundant moisture in the last 10 days-about 3.90" here and over 6" on the ranch. It's somewhat soggy over there. Lots of wind (hard wind-out of electricity for 6 or 7 hours-blew some lines down somewhere) and a little bit of that four letter word stuff-snow. The next week is shaping up to be busy if we can get some harvesting going. we had a freeze Friday morning (ice) so the milo should get ready to harvest now. we have 2 more loads of calves coming Tuesday and that will fill us up. We need to move some cows off of leased grass as the grazing season leases expire Nov 1 and it's time to think of preg checking cows and vaccinating and worming them. Anybody have the next week off??
We are open to thoughts as to what the economy is planning for us ordinary people and also how the election will end up. I've been teasing Ann that her cats are even going to vote Democrat-you can imaging what kind of response that got!!
We have our care group from church coming tomorrow evening and we really look forward to gettting together and sharing and visiting about our families and what's going on with God working in our lives. Our pastor is preaching through Romans and I think our discussion will be along those lines.
How about the Sooners and Cats this afternoon? Just about enough points. Leoti won one game this fall with a score of 6-2 and some thought it was a really boring game.
We pray that you all have a good week next week and that you give God thanks for how he has blessed you. Bob and Ann
p.s. Ann has been busy mass producing teddy bears this week-I think she has 20 to make for a lady in Leoti.

Another inch!!! We're thankful it's not snow with temps in the low 40's. Our hurricane cattle from the deep Mississippi and Louisiana probably are thinking that Ike may have been better.

How about that?? Our rain gauge dumped out a total of 1.25" this morning. what a blessing!
We had very hard wind all day Friday,Saturday and Sunday with rain starting about 2Pm Sun and then more during the late evening. Ann is subbing today and we are catching up on some odd jobs. Rained hard enough during the night that the roads are firm. According to weatherbug we should have had about 3" on the ranch. Hope it didn't wash things-we'll go tomorrow to check and work on some things over there.

It's Fall

Fall must certainly be here-as are the millipedes. Every fall our family room is invaded by millipedes. At precisely 9 PM Ann' s laminate floor comes to life with the herd. It's kind of funny because they're right on time and you don't notice them until you look down and the floor is moving. They are dark red and about 2" long and 1/8" diameter. Spraying around the house with Tiempo helps until it showers or rains and then here they come.
Had a call from one of the NeW Orleans songwriters that we have fed for in the past and he asked for all of our available pen space. First arrivals are in the morning. It's great to have the business but his cattle are usually difficult to care for and keep healthy. He buys what he thinks are bargain cattle and they can be really stale when they get here. We'll do our best and that will keep me pretty busy for awhile. He hinted he wants to keep us full for a length of time-we'll see. This particular writer is Boyd Robert' (Rowbear)(cajun deluxe). He and some others come every fall to Scott City and hunt and then put on a concert. They are good friends of a neighboring feedlot that we do business with-last fall they hunted here and did fair. Rivers Rutherford is the big name among the bunch and is a really nice gentlemen and down to earth.
Tried corn again today-too wet-milo's really needs a freeze to be ready. Ann substituted today at the grade school-lots of sickness I guess.

It's been a couple weeks since our last update but things keep moving along in our yearly cycle of things. We have harvested some corn and are waiting for more to dry enough to bin. It's been extremely dry the last month. .56" moisture in September. Most of the wheat is drilled and up and awaiting the blessing of a soaking rain. the feedlot pen renovation is mostly complete for this time and we have the feedlot about 40% full. Dust has been a real problem the last couple of weeks. Ann has been busy subbing and volunteering and helping me.
We just returned home from a weekend in Hutch and got to watch Aubrey march in the Buhler Frolic Days parade,Luke play a rec league football game in Buhler, enjoy worshipping Sunday morning with the Bernings and absorbing a message about integrity and then Jackson played a flag football game in the afternoon and then we headed home..so it was a worthwhile trip.
To share a concern-with the free fall of the stock market the commodity markets have fallowed suit so we are looking at much lower prices for our outputs while our inputs (fertilizer, seed,chemicals,fuel,repairs,etc.) have reached new highs this falls-we would ask for your prayers for this situation be corrected. We know that without a doubt God has a plan for each of us and he has blessed us mightly with a great and caring family and a fantastic life.

September goings-on

We know it's been awhile since our last update. September has been blessedly cool with some rain at times. Grass is good for September-cows and calves doing well-we weaned calves from the first-calf heifers and plan to do the mature cows soon as time permits. We are getting some cattle in the feedlot also. The milo and corn really needs warm weather to mature for harvest.(notice earlier I said that September has been blessedly cool). The feedlot pen remodeling project is going- Russell is doing about all of that while I do other things. We cut silage the 3rd of September so we have at least some of the fall harvest done.
I had a very good 6 month checkup with the urologist Tuesday. He scoped my bladder again and every thing was healed and no new growths. He didn't seem to think there was any need to continue followup scopings. ( it's not the most comfortable thing to have done-having a camera slid up you can guess where.)
Our church is ready to begin a building project to add a larger fellowship hall, classrooms and a montrously big kitchen. We have a large youth growth meeting once aweek and feed them a meal. All of us are looking forward to having more room and to be able to enlarge our mission to the youth.
Ann has been busy canning and some substituting and looking after me. We do enjoy life together.

August

We have had an interesting August so far. The first two week-ends we went to out of town weddings. One of my two nephews got married in Manhattan on the 2nd. I was glad to have him finally decide to marry his girlfriend. While in Manhattan we drove around the campus to see how it looked after the nw corner was hit by a tornado. I was expecting a lot of trees and shrubs to be gone. We were pleasantly surprised. The campus really looked good - there are so many trees and shrubs and plants of many kinds on campus! (We don't have that abundance of trees here.) We could see on a few trees where big limbs were gone and a few places where new trees had been planted, but it pretty much looked like nothing had happened. There were a few buildings that needed roof work done and some boarded up windows. The reactor building looked like it needs quite a bit done to it. I don't know what the plans are for it.

The second week-end of August we went to a wedding in Wichita. We drove to Hutchinson on Friday to stay with Jennifer, Jerry, Aubrey, Luke & Jackson. On the way we met my sister at a resaurant in Great Bend for supper. Surprise - there was another couple from Leoti eating there on their way to the same wedding. Eastern Kansas has been having rain. Western Kansas has had spotty rain - our farm not a lot. During the night in Hutchinson, we woke up to rain. When we woke up in the morning it was still raining. My first thought was, "Emily is probably thinking Oh My! Will this ever stop?" The wedding was planned for outside at Botannica. After breakfast we drove down to Winfield to see my mother. It rained on us until a few miles north of Winfield. Then back to Hutchinson. While at the Bernings we were introduced to Wii. Of course, we tried it. The grandkids were better than we were. I bowled better than I ever have at a bowling alley though. Late afternoon Sat. we headed for Wichita. When we got to Botannica, the wedding had been moved inside. It was a good thing because it rained pretty hard while the ceremony was taking place. They had prepared for a hot outside wedding though; the programs were fans that spread out to fan yourself with and they had a bottle of cold water for everyone - not needed though. After the ceremony, after everyone had gotten their food from the buffet, after most people had gotten their cake and the dance had started the electricity went off. One whole side of the rooms was glass, it was not dark outside yet and there were candles on the tables so it wasn't too bad. The bride and groom just went with the flow and visited with guests. A generator was located and the dance went on. We headed back to Hutchinson though so we could visit a while. Sunday we went to church with the Bernings - a very good sermon. After lunch we headed home taking Lane with us. He had been visiting the cousins. Was he ever glad to see his mom!

After many, many days of temps over 100, it turned cloudy in the middle of the month. The temperature dropped and it rained here, there and most everywhere in the western part of the state. We had quite a few days of temps in the 70's. Wow for August! The cooler temperature sure helped the rain to do more good. Pasture grass is growing! It really looks green for August.

Now we are looking forward to a few days in Colorado. Bob is getting his fly fishing gear ready. I have a new fishing pole to hold. I'm making a list and adding and adding of what we need to take. I'm looking forward to getting some Colorado peaches to can and make into jam and of course eat. We are also looking forward to spending time with some of Bob's family. Maybe we will have a picture of a big fish or a string of fish to show everyone (and maybe not).

What's happening!!

We shipped our last pen of cattle this morning so the feedlot is down to 7 head. It's kind of a pain to feed just 7 head so Ann thinks we ought to be thinking about taking care of that. Actually I was looking forward to not starting the feed truck for a couple of weeks. This is the time of year when our customers ordinaryily start asking if we can take some calves so I won't be suprised if our phone rings. We had a great 1.85 rain Wednesday night courtesy of Eduardo and that with the much cooler weather certainly makes for a change of attitude. The rain did'nt make it to the ranch or down to Margie's so weaning calves early is still a probability. We are begining a remodel of some feedlot pens which will take some time here and there.
Ann and I are leaving in a few minutes for Hutchison, Winfield and a friends son's wedding at Botanica Gardens in Wichita. If it's 108 degrees like last Saturday the pastor better be on his toes and get it done in hubba-hubba time. We plan to stay with Jennifer and family of course then drive to Winfield for a short visit with Ann's mother.
We're all looking forward to getting together at Rainbow Lake in a couple of weeks and enjoying the beauty of the Rockies and of course Dick and I plan to catch plenty fly fishing time.
If any of you are so inclined we will be pouring concrete next week and starting welding I hope so we do have two extra bedrooms and I can share my Cheerios in the morning.
Have a great weekend everybody....Bob

Goings on

We had great houseguests this past week-end! They were a missionary family from Afghanistan. They have spent 12 years in Afghanistan. They were out of the country for 4 years when the Taliban had control of the government. Their children are 14, 13 and 10, polite, get along well and can entertain themselves with no problem and whatever is available - especially the kittens. It was quite interesting to visit with them and learn some about the Afghan people and the country. They had questions about our area and were interested in learning and having their children learn about different areas. They came Saturday afternoon and left Monday morning to go to Goessel, Ks. for a family reunion (her mom's family is there) via Dodge City. They were going to visit the Boot Hill area. Sunday morning they shared a little in Church and had the whole Sunday School time to talk and answer questions. The church then had a carry-in dinner so more people could just visit with them. Sunday afternoon they stayed in Leoti where the kids went swimming (courtesy of some of Paige's swimming suits) and the parents visited the museum.

We were hoping for some rain courtesy of hurricane Dolly. Here at the place we only got .18" - disappointing. Further north where we have some farm ground and grass it rained about an inch and the pastures in Lane county all got at least an inch. Of course we would have liked more, but that amount soaks in and doesn't run off.

The Wichita County Fair started yesterday. Paige and Lane each entered something and did well. Bob and I helped with the church youth game booth in the evening and then Bob ran the train for a couple of hours. I took tickets. For those of you who don't know, Wichita County has its own carnival rides and quite a few organizations put up game booths (fish pond, dunking booth and ones where you throw something and try to get it in a hole or knock something down and win a prize). Tickets for all rides and games are 25 cents each and each ride or game takes only one ticket. A lot of people come to the carnival. Of course there are several food booths. Many people in the community help run the rides and booths - all volunteer. It was hot when we started at 6:00pm (about 100 degrees) but turned into a beautiful evening. We were certainly ready to head home and to bed when we were through.

Our sweet corn is ready, and I am trying to put some in the freezer. It is good! I am looking forward to Colorado peaches. They are supposed to be delicious this year. Colorado peaches are always good.

cooler weather?

Hey-the high today was 89-can you imagine that?? We've had at least a week of 102-106-been pretty tough on the crops and Bob and Ann/////

Busy, busy

Well, I will try a quick blog. Bob's wounds are healing, but I am leary about taking out stitches. When we were in the emergency room for Bob to get his head stitched up, the doctor took out the stitches where he had had the cancer spot taken off of his ear. He keeps asking if the stitches can come out of his head wound; so I took one out last night but am not sure I should have.

I have nephew getting married in Manhattan Saturday afternoon the 2nd; so we will miss the last day of the fair and the alumni reunion for Bob. Those of you who are coming on Friday, we will have to see Friday evening. I have misplaced or thrown away the paper on which I wrote down the motel we are staying at Sat. night; so I need to get with it and start hunting or calling to find where we are staying.

I am trying to be busy cleaning house, washing windows and getting things looking good by Saturday afternoon. Our hired man mowed the two south yards and around the other buildings yesterday. (yea!) A missionary couple and their children who have been in Afghanistan for about 3 years and who our church helps support are staying overnight with us on Saturday. We are really looking forward to meeting them and having them come to our church.

All the details of painting the utility room and kitchen are done. Bedrooms get attention next. I also have several bears I need to get made. I have been spending time goofing off and had better get with it.

The orphan kittens are doing well. We gave one to our hired man; so have three. They certainly know what it means when I come out the door with a dish in my hand. The bucket calf is growing but will not drink water on his own - he has to be taken and fed. I am still feeding him milk replacer but that is coming to an end soon. We certainly seem to find things to keep us busy.

The week in review

This past week went somewhat better although something of a rocky stat on Monday. First I let a horse step on my foot and you should have seen the colors and swelling that produced then a tractor blew a rear tire and I walked in range of a falling metal ladder and got 8 stiches on the back of my head. Good news though I got a discount when they didn't have to shave the area. So Monday wasn't too great. It was Wednesday before the buffalo items all got back where they should be and we had a real nice rain of 1.20 here and 1.50 in Lane County. So the week turned out to be a blessing after all. The emergency room people and Bob and Ann are on a first name basis (of course we know them all anyway) but we have the routine down pretty well. I think that was the fourth visit this year. 3 for me and 1 for Ann. (knee, arm, and head and heart for Ann)-pretty well spread around don't you think. All's well that ends well- right. Bob

Life on the ranch

The last few days have been the pits on the cattle front with 1 bull not staying where he belongs(3 strikes and he's out) and trouble with a neighbors buffalo over in a Lane county pasture. That's what I said BUFFALO and a BEEFALO. They were in our cows Tuesday and I asked the neighbor to remove them and he informed me he would when he got ready to do so. Russel and I managed to drive them off Tuesday evening and knew they would be back. Wednesday afternoon sure enough. Not only that but we had some injured cows. so I had the sheriff's dispatcher call the neighbor and he informed her the same as he had me. Thursday morning Russell and I headed over early and I visited with the Ness county sheriff and asked him to come out and he agreed. As soon as we got there the neighbor had 2 pickups running things and soon another. They did get the big old bull out but only into an area of trees and brush where he held up. They neighbor's hired girl quickly drove up to me and said "we didn't hit your cow but Edwin ran about 6 or 7 off a cliff the day before. Western Kansas is not all flat but can you imagine doing that to your neighbor's cows. Anyway we removed our cows and got the beefalo cow to leave and put our cows back. Last word was that they were going to tranqalize the beasts and haul them to a corral. We hope they got that done. They wrecked one pickup not to mention all the tracks and spins that will be in the grass forever. The sheriff talked to the man and informed him he will at least be liable for a veterinary bill and that the sheriff would testify on our behalf in court if necessary. The girl employee said she would too. Such is the trials of life. Please pray for a peacefull and complete resolution to this tribulationl .
I do plan to finish wheat harvest this afternoon after attending a neighbor ladies funeral.
Enjoy the day all of you.

Kittens

Jackson really enjoyed the kittens when he was here. One day he was taking one of them for a ride on the tricycle showing it around.

This is the cactus on the patio. It bloomed for three weeks. The kittens have not bothered it at all. The spines (thorns or whatever) are really sharp. There was a bug impaled on one of them.

This is from when we were in Grand Junction. Bob, Cheryl, Dorie & Gary. They have a lot of beautifully blooming rose bushes in their yard.

We have four orphan kittens on our patio. Their mama was probably gotten by a coyote; so I brought them to the house to take care of them. I had them in the house about 4 days and that was it! I got tired of milky pawprints all over the floor. Out they went. They are growing and lots of fun to watch. They climb up the screen on the patio door, pounce on each other, chase each other and climb through the hole in the patio wall. Great entertainment. However - they also like to lay in the flowerpots and have killed half the plants I had on the patio. I saw one using a flower pot for a litter box.
Sorry you have to look at Jackson sideways. The paragraph about the kittens was supposed to be first. Maybe I will get this figured out sometime. I thought you might also like to see a picture of the Alstatts.

1.40 " here at home-biggest rain in 54 weeks!! Less down south-none in Lane co. and don't know about Logan Co.

It's Raining!!!!

It's raining-it's raining-it's raining- Praise the Lord!!!

This may not fall into order but we are trying to learn. we ran into green wheat today so I actually came in early(before dark). I'll try to wait until Monday to try again but that may be hard. Harvest has been somewhat better than we thought it might be. Yields have ranged form the upper 30's to the upper 70's on one field.
Tomorrow I get the cast off-yahoo!!. It's really been uncomfortable when it's so hot. Yesterday I had a dime sized skin cancer removed from an ear so ann is playing nurse caring for me. I plan to get to look at my cows tomorrow for the first time in a week. Cattle get shoved to the back during harvest-hopefully the bulls are all where they're supposed to be and the windmills have been pumping-they all have other water as well.
Ann and I wish you all a happy and safe 4th..

This is Bob with Luke and Jackson working on the tractor mower over in Lane County. They visited us while Jennifer and Aubrey went to the Miss Oklahoma Pageant. Luke thought it would have been awful if they (he and Jackson) had had to go to the pageant.
Jennifer, Aubrey and Jackson visited us while Luke was at Camp Lakeside near Scott City. We
were really glad to have them. While they were here we took off wallpaper and painted part of the walls in our kitchen. They did not have to work the whole time though.

When Father's Day and my birthday are on the same day, I like to do something special. This year we went to Grand Junction, Colorado to see Uncle Wes, Dorie& Gary&Cheryl, Julie and Rita. We also got to see Jason, meet his wife Megan and their son Aidan. We had a good visit.
I have more pictures to show but it may be awhile as long as it took me to get these on.

Bob is cutting wheat today - here and there. Part of a field may be ready but not all of it; so then he goes to a different field . Not the most efficient way to cut wheat, but when some is ready you had better get started because you never know what the weather will do.

What's Happening Back on the Farm

We're somewhat anxiously waiting for the wheat to ripen so we can begin harvesting. It's been quite a few years since harvest has been this late. The wheat looks like a pretty decent crop considering that I destroyed some and some didn't come up until March. Of course, we sure would like to share in the abundant rainfall you easterners have been getting. Over on the ranch things are better but dry as well. We had barley over there and do have that harvested and it was a good crop. I broke my right hand 4 weeks ago and have been wearing a cast for 3 with one more to go. It was rubbing a big blister on the point of the good bone and finally today I convinced Ann to use a dremel tool to cut a hole in the cast-what relief. Next week I get to go to a dermitologist to have a squamous cell carinoma removed from my ear-see hats are important. Ann had a colonoscopy last week aas well as an EDG --those really wore her out but from all reports are normal.
We have been blessed having Jackson, Aubrey and Jennifer here this week while Luke is at Camp Lakeside. It's awalys fun to have them. Of course Jennifer set this blog up and is trying to train us. They're also enjoying Ann's 4 kittens and country quiet and peacefulness. Bob