When the Cows Come Home...

Yes, friends...it's that time of year again. Last Friday we all came together and drove the cows the 16 miles home to the ranch headquarters, which can only mean one thing! CALVING SEASON!!! Jordan, James, and I stayed back at the ranch to sort and vaccinate the 2nd and 3rd calvers while Chase, Megan, April, Brian, Gracie, Natalie, and their friends Casey and Flora (as well as Olivia and Abby) all started the rest of the herd home from my house. Reiny, Jordan, and I went out and met them when they were about 6 miles from home and Reiny and I rode Reggie (the horse) the rest of the way home. Reiny looked so cute up there and was having a ball! She got tired by the time we made it back to the ranch and had all but fallen asleep on the horse in my arms.

It looked like quite a circus with all those little kids on horseback, but they seemed to handle things quite well. Gracie has great balance on a horse, and Natalie rode all by herself for the first time on a horse she's named "Snow" (can you guess what color he is?). We made it home...ate ourselves silly on "gut-buster chili," and watched the openning ceremonies for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The next day, we all took turns sorting the rest of the cows (about 1200!!!) and then vaccinated all the "heavy" ones. "Heavy" refers to the ones that are closest to calving...it's a good thing Jordan never used that term with me when I was expecting! April and I got COVERED in cow crap, but it was still a lot of fun...if you can believe that! I always like when April and Brian come for a visit...they are such a breath of fresh air.

Saturday night, Chase, Megan, Jordan, and I went to Salmon for dinner and a movie. The dinner was delicious and the movie probably the best one I've seen in years! We went and saw The Blind Side. That was such an awesome movie and I wish I had the nerves of steel like Sandra Bullock's character did!

Anyway, here's some pictures of the cows we moved home from about 40' in the air. Jordan lifted Brian up on our loader and he took some pictures for me. The only cows missing in this picture are the 2nd and 3rd calvers (about 450) since they were already sorted and vaccinated. Still quite an impressive herd...