These boys.
My boys.
Ten and twelve years old.
Best friends.
(Most of the time.)
Play together.
Ride together.
Argue together.

Lately there has been a lot more arguing than playing between these boys. It was a hectic morning of swim lessons then rushing home to load horses and drive out to help the cowboys. A lot of bickering during that rushing around.

Then we climbed on our horses and spread out looking for cattle. Within moments these two were paired off, happily talking and laughing together.

Playing and laughing and riding. So much better than arguing and bickering and fighting. I’m thankful for these small, yet magical, moments.

She has been practicing all summer and has finally mastered climbing into the saddle by herself. It takes a little time and a very patient horse (thanks Grandpa!), but the grin when her bottom hits the saddle is worth the wait!

Catching horses before dawn is made more enjoyable under this amazing and peaceful sky.

On the less peaceful side of these early mornings, is rolling the kids out of bed and send them shuffling out to the barn. I noticed that each of them paused for a moment on their way to the barn to glance at the sky.

It’s going to be a great day.

My view most days. Ears of my gray horse. Red angus cattle. Lots of dust.

Evenings are spent hosing that dust off of four kids who manage to look as though they rolled through the dirt before the end of the day.

Come to think if it, I’d bet money that’s exactly what my four year old does!

My new catwalk! Cannot tell you how excited I am about this. When we are working cattle, one of the jobs is loading cattle into the alley and from the alley into the chute. Cattle move more smoothly when the alley has solid sides and curves toward the chute. This is all well and good, unless you are too short to see over the top of the solid sides of the alley. A catwalk allows easier access to the cattle and is a godsend to those of us who are much closer to five feet tall (me) than six feet tall (my husband).

Our cowboss, Joe, built this last weekend and it was a great surprise to come home to after yet another weekend on the road. We worked heifers yesterday and although it was a long, hot, dusty day, the catwalk made life easier for the shorter people (me and the kids) on the ranch.

And the neon pink rattle paddle? My daughter and I share it. Odd that the cowboys never seem to use it…

This mama cow is ready to unload from the trailer! We hauled her and her calf to a new meadow where the rest of the pairs are grazing for the next few weeks. She was spending a little time by the barn while we doctored her calf for pink-eye. He’s now fully recovered and it’s time for them to join the rest of the herd.

Brought the heifers into the corral for a date with the vet. He did a quick ultrasound to determine if they were bred or not.

It was a long day, but my daughter earned the title of #1 Helper! It was a great animal-handling-teaching-moment with her. She and I talked about how important it is to keep the heifers calm while they walk down the alley and into the chute. She learned how to move the heifers in different directions depending on where she stood. It was fun to watch her practice and understand the process a little bit. (Lest you forget that I am Overprotective Mom, rest assured that she was on the outside of the alleyway!)

Animal handling techniques aside, it was a big learning day for my girl. One of our cowboys, John, took it upon himself to teach her the finer points of sword fighting.

She asked me this morning when we were going to work cattle in the chute again. I told her we are planning on working more heifers tomorrow. She grinned and said, “Good! I’ve been practicing my sword fighting!”

That’s my girl!