A Nearly Perfect Day

Yesterday started with a two-mile run. The kids are all back at Kansas State University now, so it was just Bernie and me. After breakfast, I fed weanling calves and foals and dewormed two of the weanling foals. It was the first haltering for the palomino filly.

Next, I spent a couple hours in the office securing the purchase of a ton of mineral that will be mixed with salt and put out in each pasture a hundred pounds at a time, ordering a DNA test for one of the colts that will be sold this year, answering emails mostly about the sale of the last English shepherd puppy in the current litter, and helping Bernie with a few projects.

At noon, I cooked beef hash with squash, potatoes, onions, garlic, and cilantro. The only ingredients we didn’t grow were salt, pepper, and cumin. Delish!

I worked on the next novel Luck of the Scot. It’s been slow going because we’ve been so busy this summer. With the kids at school and daylight dwindling, I’ll get back to it.

Later, I dewormed another filly and Lou, the only colt we’ll be selling this year. Lou’s full name is GQ Blue Crickett. His sire goes by Blue and his dam is Crickett, so he needed his own name. He got another leading lesson and is coming along well. After unrolling a big round bale of oat hay for the weanlings, I brought in the cows from Long Pasture. They got a little grain to supplement their drought-stricken pasture. Next in was the riding remuda. With the Long Pasture cleared, I could bring in Blue and his harem in order to wean the last foal.

The breeding remuda was two miles north of the corrals and once in, the filly separated easily. I loaded the rest of the mob in the trailer and drove them back to their pasture. We keep the riding and breeding remudas separate because there are young fillies with the riding horses and because Blue bites the geldings. Saddles don’t sit well on bite wounds.

Bernie helped me feed sale bulls. I dumped buckets of corn gluten pellets while he brought the tractor to unroll a bale of hay. The bulls are on pasture, but we have to supplement. Half our stockpile of bales burned in June (the mower has now been fixed so it isn’t a flame thrower) and the forage sorghum planted in the field has mostly died from insufficient moisture. Fortunately, we are able to pasture and hay some former CRP (Crop Reserve Program).

I spent an hour with the dogs and in the garden and then headed inside for a supper with fresh cucumbers and coleslaw. Again, the whole meal came from the garden except the mayonnaise and ranch dressing. I haven’t figured out how to grow those yet.

It occurred to me throughout the day that my twelve-year-old self would be pleased with my life today.

Ranching and writing!