Retire? Not Likely

The other night M was on the internet looking at rentals in Arizona.  What?!  He must have been really tired....or tired of the weather.  Not sure, but I think it's a good sign that he's thinking about cutting back a little.  However, later that night R called to say his girlfriend was taking him to the ER with a possible kidney stone.  They stayed in town overnight so M had to do cow chores.  He was planning to move grain so that the other two trucks could keep hauling to the elevator.  That plan was shot down when J called and said he was throwing up and couldn't drive the truck.  So both boys were down for the count and M's planned changed yet again.  I guess M won't be retiring any time soon.

Since I started working just one day a week I don't see people as regularly so they think I've retired completely and are surprised when they do see me there.  The other day at work I left a note for the other tech about the days I'll be gone if she wants to trade days with me.  My boss saw it and thought I was retiring, too!  Yes, I have a little bit of travel planned this winter.

Speaking of which, I'd better get a move on.  My brother and I are on our way to Arizona!

A New Year of Cow Stuff

We usually try to Bang's vaccinate and brand our heifer calves during the holidays so that M's sister can get in on the fun, but the weather didn't really cooperate.  M called the vet clinic last week to let them know we needed to get it done so we could get on their schedule.  The vet picked yesterday which turned out to be a perfect day to do it.  We were wondering if he could predict the weather, but he assured us it was more good luck than good management.  It was a mostly sunny day with temps in the 30s and no wind.  A beautiful winter day in our world-- much better than the -30 with 30 mph winds we had over the weekend.

We decided to brand some before the vet got there to speed things up a little--R had 10, M's sister had a couple and I had two....until we remembered that we had another five we had on shares with our friend.  I managed to get my brand on those, too.  The remaining 26 got our new brand so now we have his, mine and ours.  We also had 30 of the neighbor's that we're feeding for the winter.  Those didn't have to be branded so went through pretty quickly.  They really are a nice set of heifer calves and bigger than last year.

It was nice to get out and get physical, but the fresh air and activity had us all ready for bed early!