well its over (mostly)

from down by the river side: well its over. We finally had our auction yesterday. Told just about everything good bye that wasn't nailed down here on the farm. Had several people ask what I'm going to do now. My response was "keep farming." I guess the only reason to have a sale is to do something different in most people's minds. We saw it as a way to clean house and do a better job at doing what we love to do - farming to help feed the world.

Me and Cranky want to say a special thanks to everyone who helped with the auction, who came and bought stuff and those who just came to visit. We appreciate having you over.

Here's what we did this past week. Mike, Kendrick, Maxton, Daddy and I were all about working the calves. We turned 58 of them loose on the Pickens/Richardson place. Hope they stay out of the wheat! We had to buy a new fence charger and install new ground rods to keep them where they are supposed to be.

Here's Mike givng shots to one of the "Cranky Steers" (he's getting good at that)

here's Maxton checking to see if we need more calves run up the chute.

here's another "shot" of Mike:

here's Kenny checking to see if Mike is staying in line:
And one last thing, here's one of Parker's jokes: "What do you call a bull with no horns?.....A cow!"

looking east

Hello everyone. Do you ever look forward to visiting with someone and then don't know what to say when you are with them. (sorry just got distracted by a wayward piece of toast stranded in the pencil drawer. Hopefully it was Parker's and not mine.) Anyway, back to conversation we were having. Sometimes its just nice to be with someone and not say anything at all. That's what we did last night. Jenn and I took a drive, stopped by mom and dad's and just let the kids run wild around the yard and we just sat and enjoyed the evening.

Thot you might enjoy this pic of Carson & Griffin enjoying suckers from Aunt Keren. After we got home last night, I was feeling a little bit down and out because we drove up by the school where the prom was going on. Made me feel a little old for ma and pa to be driving around with all the kids loaded up in the car. Upon thinking these thoughts, I was changing diapers, putting on PJ's etc. etc. etc. when Parker came knocking on the locked bedroom door. (you may wonder why Jen and I were getting the kids ready for bed with the bedroom door locked. I'll leave that for speculation.) Parker kept knocking and hollering so Jenn finally answered the door. Parker said "the sink in the bathroom is running over!!!" Jen asked "why didn't you shut the water off!!!" as she stepped across the hall already flooding with water and shut off the flow. Parker said "cause I didn't want to get my socks wet!!!" That's when I lost it. Nothing could have been funnier! Try to enjoy the small stuff, its probably the funniest.....even when there is nothing else to say. Keep you sails out. You'll catch a breeze sometime.

think green

Happy Easter everyone. I'm so glad that spring has sprung. Seems like its that time of year when everything is new again. Check out these flowers from up by the shed:

This gets me in the mood to smell the fresh mown hay, honey locusts, alfalfa in bloom, and WHEAT HARVEST. What a better life. Especially watching the kids hunt for Easter Eggs this morning:

Even when its hard, keep looking up. Jesus is coming soon.

a week makes a lot of difference

Love is sunshine, hate is shadow, life is checkered shade and sunshine....Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha.

The first day of spring has come and gone without me even remembering or noticing. The picture below was taken by our house Saturday afternoon:

From farm headquarters (at fireside): Hello everyone. Spring has sprung with a flurry of fun and games here at the farm. Below is a sample of our activities:

Gretta's observations of the last flury of wintertime activities was done from the safety and warmth of her box in the garage. Keep the box warm G.

We had a very nice week on the farm this past week. Cows are busy trimming the "winter grass" that has started to peek through the leaves and old growth from last year. Fence was built to pasture some native pasture land that we call the "Old Crow" place up by town. This land hasn't been pastured for a while so it has some great old and new growth.

I think this week we'll start with the fertilizer and weed control applications of the bermuda grass down on the river bottom.

Talk to you soon. r

Spring has Sprung

From all of us at the farm headquarters: I think we've officially kicked off spring with bang. This picture was taken by a "storm chaser" out by Hammon back on Monday.

We've been busy this past week on the farm. It seems the weather plays havoc with the schedule board so I'm just going to pencil in "BUSY" everyday for everyone. How's that? We've been moving our electric fences to keep the cows off the wheat that we want to save for grain harvest and keep the cows where they are supposed to be. Not an easy task with green lush wheat on the other side of the fence from you no matter how much those cows mind and listen;)

Now on with something very newsworthy:

Mike Sigg has Officially been here with us as our friend and co-worker for 1 whole year!

WAY TO GO Farmer MIKE!

In other news we (rick, jenn, parker, preston, griffin, carson, and claire) all took a trip to Jenks to see the Oklahoma Aquarium. We went with Jenn's brother Jason and his wife Amy and their 2 kids (William & Alex) Wow, we were impressed. Never before had the kids or us parents seen such great exhibits. We then went for nap time up to the Port of Catoosa. That's where we get to sell some wheat from time to time. After that we checked into the Holiday Inn, complete with swimming pool and trampoline (our bed unfortunately). Griffin complained that he didn't know any better because he had never seen such a big bed.

For supper that night we went to Incredible Pizza. It certainly lived up to its name and we had a blast.

After getting up and enjoying the breakfast at the motel, we headed out west towards Enid. We stopped by Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse. I have never seen such an extensive outdoor jungle gym, maze or whatever you would call that structure. I would have played longer myself. Inside Leonardo's Warehouse we played for a long time too by going "shopping", playing "dress up" and painting masterpieces. Well worth every penny! After getting buckled back in the car, all the kiddies needed a nap and Jenn and I had a great visit on the ride back to home base. Safe!

Cranky says.......

Howdy Folks! Looks like there just might be a hint of spring in the air today. I saw a few tulips and daffadils starting to poke through the ground. How have you all been lately? We've been pretty busy here on the farm. The cattle pretty much take up our time in the morning. In the afternoons we've been trying to work on remodeling a fixerupper house we bot 2 years ago. We've also been trying to get ready for an auction to sell some extra equipment, tools, household items, etc..... Lately, all the kids have been practicing their cowboy/girl skills. Here's Claire's attempt:

Below is Preston (Paul Newman's lookalike)

Parker looks the part pretty well:

Here's carson's attempt: notice a wash rag instead of his hat in his hand.

Here's Griffin's little smile under his hat:

As a fun project right now on the farm, we have made a start at least to try to sell some of our home raised beef directly to the public. We have a steer being processed right now that will be cut in quarters. If you are interested, please let me know asap. You don't even have to buy a a whole quarter, but its just a way to divide up all the meat evenly.

I recently found a neat website: http://thepioneerwoman.com/ This lady has some of the funniest posts and best pictures I have ever seen, complete with picture naming contests. She has even been on Fox and Friends and Good Morning America with her cooking demonstrations. Below is a sample of one her pictures I thought was pretty funny.

I'll let you guess what the photo was named in her contest.Go ahead, check out the link to her site. You'll be glad you did.

january on the prairie east of t town

Above: The River Valley looking East from the camp site by the pond we are fixing. It was about 4 degrees this morning.

Hello everyone. Its been a slow week here on the farm. We've been rebuilding a pond dam that washed out, hauling and selling our older cows and calves off the wheat. That pretty well sums up the last week here. Parker has gotten on the habbit of "going hiking". We'll take one this afternoon here in a little bit.

I took a couple pictures of our neighbor's cattle while out checking cattle here lately. Thought we would ride over and give them to him here a little later after everybody gets up from their naps. Here's a beautiful shot of their cows on the river:

And here's one of Eddie's prize long horn cows.

Also, below, here's Rex on a typical day feeding cattle
Notice the calf back towards the open barn door in front of the cow feed bunk. He's our current little bottle baby. Park has taken to calling him "Black Shop". Not sure why and don't think he even knows. Also, notice the yellow 'schwans' feed truck. The most we have had to feed this winter has been 5 tons in one day. This truck will hold about 7 tons of silage. This silage has been a point of controversy on the farm however. It seems we've been feeding more than cows with it because the wild hogs come in at night and eat their fill. We've been trying to get rid of this guys for a while now. I think we'll have to fence the silage pit with some hog panels to keep them out.

al