P.S.

I bought Ann a new Traegar smoker and grill for Mothers day and birthday. Guess what? Apparently the fan motor is defective as it keeps throwing breakers. We had planned to put a pork loin on to smoke and cook before we left for church. That's out the window now. We are disappointed in not being able to use it this weekend. Bob

Free kittens!! Any takers?

Ann now has 9 kittens in the garage. The first litter is about 10 days old and the other litter was born this afternoon. The mothers are two of the orphans she raised last spring after the mother disappeared. There is still one potential mother to bear fruit as well. Maybe she'll have 6!
I am amazed at how well the dogs have handled being moved out of their tire and straw beds. Nessa (my dog) gave me one of those-what's next,boss-looks awhile ago. She even shares her food (if she isn't looking). Hoover (Ann's lab) would like to mother them.
On another note,Paige did well at league track today with personal bests and new school records in both the 800 meter and the 1600 meter runs. Her goal was to set new league records but was off by about 3 seconds. A 7th grade boy from Leoti set a new league record in the 800 that had been good for 26 years-suppose the colleges will be taking note of him.
We had some more rain this week (not a lot) and several foggy and misty damp days. Corn is all in the ground but slowly coming up because of the cool weather. We have been busy shipping cattle and will load our last years calves Monday morning. The market isn't too great and we sold to a new buyer this year so I'm somewhat apprehensive about the return. We get a nice bonus for selling them as verified source cattle which means they can be sold to the Japanese market and hope that the quality premiums are there as well. The wheat looks great and everything is green. I heard on older fellow (older than me) say that's it's so green it hurts your eyes. It's great.
We are planning a 40th anniversary trip probably in early June. Any suggestions? I'm leaning to the Mogollon Rim country of Arizona that was told about in the Zane Grey novels. I think Ann would go about any where if she can get me to leave. Wheat is starting to head which means harvest around the 20th of June-be here soon, won't it? --Bob---

Frog chorus

Hey-for the first time this spring we, too have a frog chorus. Guess it warmed enough today for them to rise to the top. We had 3.20'' over the weekend and 1.20" last weekend. Things will green and grow now. The ranch had 1.90" last weekend and 3.50" this weekend. Roads dryed a lot today but are rough. The wheat will grow fast with the warm weather promised and grass is already greening and growing. We do give thanks for the blessing of the rain. This country depends so much on rainfall , it seems that we are always asking for rain. Calving is slowing as spring progresses and we need to be planning to brand calves and get turned out to grass. Corn planting is right away as well and we have 27 miles of fence to go around and have very little done. Anybody looking for something to do for a few days? We are about ready to sell last years steer calves. They will weigh around 1250#-can you gain nearly 4# a day for a year?
We had a young newly married ( as of today) Mennonite couple ask to rent our south house for awhile. I was'nt excited about having more to do but we agreed to let them move in next week.
We expect to visit Dad in the hospital tomorrow in Garden City and I am sure Ann has plans for at least some shopping while there. I get to go to the dentist Wednesday for a cleaning and checkup but I think I broke a tooth on the atomic fireballs the grandkids were feeding me last weekend. It seems those are hard to find but when I pickup a sack I get to overindulging. Bob

Well--------!!

2.40" of rain since yesterday afternoon! Praise God!! It's cold and windy and wet. We have water in the road ditches and lagoons and the yard and the roads-haven't heard any of Jennifers frog serenade yet-guess it's too cold. And for all practical purposes we are done calving heifers-what a day for that. One last night and 2 today. One heifer got together with the neighbors bull and will have a calf in another couple of months. She's on her own.
When I was checking cows on the ranch this noon there was 1.70" there and raining cats and dogs. couldn't get around very good and will plan to ride tomorrow to check better. We are about 70% done there. The promise of 80 degree days next week will really change things here in a hurry-might even see some corn planters running the end of the week.
Ann was tired of staying home and helping me so she subbed today at the high school. She has been very faithful making sure I don't over do the hand thing. She probably won't brag on this but she bought 2 bulls at a bull sale this spring when my hand was hurting so much I had to go set in the Trailblazer-good thing she did because when we tested bulls Wednesday one had an injury that will interfere with his favorite activity and another's semen evaluation was inadequate so the 2 she bought will cover us fine.
My responsiblity as an Elder at the church this year includes chairing the Outreach committee and we had a meeting last night and had really good discussion. We talked about opening a day care in our new addition as a service to single mom's and also talked about doing an adult day care maybe one day a week to free up a day for those caring for their loved ones at home. I was thrilled to have a really postive response to serving others with God's grace and compassion. we have tried and tried to connect with the Hispanic community without much response and talked about various ways we might to that. The day care would be one possibility and another might be having some activities at the city park during the summer-any ideas anyone?
Don't forget to pray for Dad on Monday during his surgery. Pray for safe travel for Jo as well and a quick and complete recovery for Dad. They have quite a schedule this summer but they can tell you about it. Thanks for listening. Bob

Second splint

We went to Hays yesterday for Bob to get the stitches taken out. I was surprised at exactly where the stitches were. I thought they would be farther down. Looking at the x-rays, Bob was surprised at how big the screw is. The doctor spent about two minutes with us. He said go to rehab and have another splint made, wear the splint all the time (take your arm out to exercise it a little and when showering) and come back in a month. Then he left. The nurse said "you will have to come back another time to have a splint made." It was after 4:30 by then and the person who makes them only works part time. We said, "We live almost two and a half hours away!" With some calling they got someone to make a splint to fit him. It is shorter than the previous one and he can get a stretchy cotton glove over it, but it is still a bother. The doctor does not want the area where the screw is moving.

There are some new calves each day. They are all cute. Most of the cows are pretty protective.

The church is getting carpet this week - don't know how long that will take. It is not all in at the business that is installing it. Kitchen countertops have been delayed some also, but great progress has been made. Shingling will be done the two warmer days this week but won't be finished. Everyone is looking forward to being able to use the additon.

Ann's Doings

While Bob has been busy with cattle, I have been spending some days working on the addition to our church. Most of what I have done is trim painting -next to doorways, in corners, along the ceiling. The ceiling is a different color in all rooms. For the majority of the rooms the ceiling paint was sprayed on. Yay! We were not happy with some of the color and repainted some walls. The two bathrooms in the manse are also being redone. Last Thursday I went to the manse and did the trim work in one of the bathrooms. I have been wanting to repaint one wall in our main floor guest bedroom but just haven't done anything about it. Well, there was extra paint from painting in the church - one of the colors was just what I had been thinking about; so on Friday I got that wall painted. Bob's wrist has been bothering him for a few weeks; so he has not been able to go help at the church instead our hired man has gone in several days and mostly helped with laying tile on the kitchen floor and an entryway and hallway.

I have also gone with Bob to Hays twice to see the doctor, and we have three more trips for doctor's app'ts. scheduled. I will make a quick visit to the dentist who did the root canal on my front tooth last fall on one of these trips. I have also gone over to Lane Co. with Bob a couple of times. Being a woman, I want to be sure he can still get the calves tagged without any help with a bum arm. He has been doing real well and needs very little help. What else have I been doing? Goofing off some. Reading and doing cross word puzzles and of course have some sewing projects I need to get done - I can think of seven I need to get done. Our women's Bible study at church is Beth Moore's on the Patriarchs. I have enjoyed going to it. Guess that is about all except for my Sunday School class or 3rd-5th graders.

Blizzard update

We know that many of you have been concerned for us with the blizzard forecast for last week during the heart of calving season. Actually we only had about 4-5" of snow and 30-40-mph winds with temps in the teens at night. The heavy snow was to our south and east and our hearts and prayers really go out to those cattlemen. Pratt and Coldwater areas had around 28"-that could really be devestating. Our mature cows are all on the ranch 60 miles east of home. We had put out lots of hay Thursday as I doubted we would be able to make it there on Friday so they did pretty well as they have good shelter along the creek. About 10 calves were born during the storm and we know of 2 deaths-while that is bad enough,during the night I tossed and turned imagining lots worse. Anyway we give God the credit for caring for the cattle.
Last Monday I had a broken bone in my right hand diagnosed by a surgeon in Hays. It actually ocurred March 2 when my slower reactions didn't get out of the way of a kick by a heifer that wouldn't let her calf suck. X-rays at Leoti didn't show the break but Monday the surgeon took one quick look and said "you have a broken bone and we need to put a screw in it or you can wear a cast for 12 weeks and we can see then if it has healed"-I opted for the screw and that was done on Wednesday morning. Now I am coping with a restrained right hand until the 7th-it's a hassel but with God's help and a loving and patient wife the time will pass(hope she reads this as I am short on brownie points)
Carpet is to come for the church this week. Lots of room that has been badly needed.
Pastor Bob has been preaching through Romans and today he spoke from Romans 12 1-9. I'd encourage each of you to look it up and read it -it's a great passage.
Thanks for you prayers t0 help us throgh the storm-if you want to see snow,check out Jennifer's blog the last 3 days.b