2013 -- The Candy Bar Year

 

Welcome to the candy bar calves. We have named 7 new calves in just the last 30 days. More are on their way. 


This photo was taken just hours after Godiva was born. What a gorgeous Black Angus girl she is!



Here are a few of Godiva's brothers and sisters. What a fun crew we have this time!

 
 You can see that even though the Moms have plenty of white fur, the kids are almost all the same. The Black Angus influence of the bull is predominant. 

See that good looking hay on the ground? Best we've ever had despite the drought. This is year 3 of drought with no end in sight. Even though we have had warm temps, the pastures are still dormant and brown. Hurray for hay in the barn!

We might just have to keep two or three of these candy bar girls this year! 

Welcome 2013!

Happy Holidays to One and All!

Happy December to all our friends and loved ones across the world. 

We wish you good health and happiness throughout 2013!

Change of Plans

Superstorm Sandy: New Jersey, New York, East Coast Feels Hurricane's Wrath

The wonderful NASCAR trip has been cancelled due to the wrath of two storms; first Sandy and then a wicked Northeaster with snow. 

The Mars Corp., sponsor of the prize,  has it's headquarters in the path of both storms and the travel company they use is located in New York. No power, no communications and no more trip. No hard feelings on my part! 

Photo Courtesy of the American Humane Association

Mars has a pet division. They make the Pedigree dog food that I feed my dogs. Mars made a generous donation to the Humane Assoc. to help storm victims care for their pets. Please support Mars and the efforts of the American Humane Association. 

From the AHA: 
In another great effort to help animals left homeless 

or lost in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, the American Humane Association 

has has mobilized its 82-foot rescue rig, which will serve as a base and housing 

for its specially trained staff and volunteers, to help save animals. Their efforts 

were aided by Mars Petcare, U.S., but they still need your help!

The team is on a mission to deliver more than 80,000 pounds of food, medicine 

and supplies to shelters in Atlantic City, N.J.; Bergen County, N.J.; and Staten 

Island, N.Y., and other locations that were hit hard by the hurricane. 

Kyle Busch driver of the #18 M&Ms car

Start Your Engines!!

Mark your calendars for The Sprint Cup Finals held November 18, 2012 at the Miami/Homestead Speedway

Yes, I won another trip. M&Ms randomly chose a winner for the NASCAR/Sprint Cup Finals and it is ...........ME!!

My favorite travel companion is already booked, so my sister, Susan will not be joining me at the track.  I will have the great pleasure of spending time with my oldest child who has agreed to keep a close eye on his Mother. Hurray! More details soon. Stay tuned!

Bye-bye kids!

It's the most difficult time of year for me; the day we say good-bye to the calves. They were taken directly to the shipper/broker yesterday and are on their way today to Oklahoma via a cattle big rig.

                      

The calves will overwinter on wheat fields in Nebraska or Oklahoma. 

Oh, no! I forgot to pack their winter coats! 
Now I am left with Mama cows searching for their lost calves by mooing non-stop. I mean all day and all night and all day and on and on. 
We go through this every year. I went out this morning to hand feed the girls oranges and comfort them.  Alice and I have been through this 9 times and she still yells every year to remind me that she is THE best mother in the herd. 

The cows had a nice little chat with me about their children leaving and how this is what we all want; for our babies to grow strong and tall and go off into the world on their own. 

It is what we do. 

We have hay!

      It is haying time in our county and on the ranch.
These are the first days of perfect hay weather that we have had all summer. Today was our first cutting and usually by now, we have already had one or two cuttings. Thank goodness for several dry days in a row over Labor Day week-end!

John Deere tractor with baling machine in tow

   Most farmers bale round bales here for cows and square bales for horses. We grow cow hay - Coastal Bermuda mixed with some Bahia. The really good news? We got 94 bales today! Fingers crossed for a good second cutting soon before we lose the heat. 

Yee-haw!

 

The Fray Meet & Greet 8/21/12

Here is the photo they took of Mary and I meeting The Fray at the official Meet & Greet after the concert. Band Members are (from left to right) Dave Welsh, Ben Wysocki, Susan, Mary, Joe King and Isaac Slade. They were very nice and took a long time meeting the winners and taking photos with 75 people!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85543752@N05/7839906300/" title="Diet Coke Fray Private Event by Meet &amp; Greet, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8284/7839906300_d901e99e07.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Diet Coke Fray Private Event"></a>

Thank you Diet Coke, 7-Eleven, Live Nation, The Fray and Kelly Clarkson for a great trip and concert!

I even won a texting contest with Live Nation at the concert - $50 I used on their website.

Trip to Jones Beach, Long Island, NY : The Fray and Kelly Clarkson

Our hotel - a very nice Hampton Inn

The best fries you will EVER eat!

Through Urban Spoon and Yelp, we found this great restaurant

called Press 195.

Excited fans on the bus to the concert

Mary and Susan on the boardwalk at Jones Beach Theater

The Fray in concert

We had great seats!

Kelly Clarkson on the big screen

Posted with Blogsy

Four Days to Departure!

         Kelly Clarkson & The Fray - Aug 21, 2012

Only a few days to go until we board our flight and head off to JFK Airport. 

This short trip looks as though it will be a budget vacation. We are flying in economy class ( ahhh, First Class to Seattle - I remember you well) and will take a shuttle van to the Hampton Inn.

The contest awarded a trip a day for 30 days so there will be approximately 60 people on the bus heading out to Jones Beach to the Nikon Amphitheater. Something tells me we might be the oldest ones on the bus!

We will probably get nosebleed seats but that's OK. We 'll have a grand time no matter what. And, you never know who we might meet along the way!

Stay tuned for photos!

David Gallo, the person we met in the Atlanta airport, turns out to be a very interesting person - more than we thought! He studied geology and oceanography and has traveled all over the world.

http://www.ted.com/speakers/david_gallo.html

Check out these TED talks.

TED Talk David Gallo 1998

TED Talk David Gallo 2007

Interesting articles about his work at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

www.whoi.edu

http://thenews.choate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1387:woods-hole-project-oceanographer-dr-david-gallo-shares-new-findings&catid=19:news&Itemid=43

Wow! We ended up talking about traveling, gardening and looking at photos on his iPad. He's a really funny guy - as in comedy!

Announcing...........Trip # 2

                                    Susan has won trip number two! 

The third week of August we are flying from Ft. Lauderdale to JFK to attend a concert at Jones Beach on Long Island. This is a picture of the           Nikon Amphitheater. Two of those seats will be ours! Yippee!

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create a gorgeous, high quality photo book at Shutterfly.com.

I was able to order an 8"x8" hard cover photo book of our trip to the PNW and 100 4"x6" photos for only shipping and handling!

Saved almost $53!

I had a code for free 8x8 hard cover photo book, 20% off extra pages (good until 7/18), $10 off any order over $10 plus a code for 100 free photo prints. It let me apply all of them. I love Shutterfly!