It rained Monday, we had a nice day Sunday to dry out some of the mud, but no more. Toni checked cows and horses and then sorted out 9 poles out of the pile to put on the fence. She texted the boys after school they get to help her get poles and put them up. Jaxsen texted he had FFA practice, but it got canceled so he got to help. Lucky Lucky him. Toni and the boys put up 2 poles Monday night, in the section we already had two in, so we are down to 6 sections of poles to put up. Ben and Anna are still feeding the cows with the tractor due to the mud.

On Tuesday Jaxsen had a dentist appointment, so he got to skip some school. They also took the Pendelton upholstery fabric with them for Toni’s office couch that she is having reupholstered. Toni checked cows in the Am in the mud. She told Monica it was her day to calve, and Monica had a calf by the time Anna got home. Monica is one of our clubby cows. She has a cute black white-faced calf. Toni and the boys did another section of fence. Kaine and Kade both went to help work on friends’ pickups Tuesday night so they took off to go be boys.

On Wednesday dad and mom came to town and brought a coffee too me, they are the  best. Guess what, fog and rain on Wednesday, made checking difficult for Toni. She got pics of Charlotte the Charolais, Monica and her calf and 710 and her calf. She told the old cow in the calving pen it was her day, so she thinks she will calve on Wednesday. Kade had agronomy practice after school, but got home in time to help with the fence. The old cow in the heavy pen did not calve, so talking to the cows does not work to inspire them to get with it. We are making progress with the fence, but it isn’t fun.

On Thursday when Toni checked there were a whole gang of calves out, and they were not concerned with her catching them up. They sauntered around. Toni and Kaine had to go and get poles for their fencing project and then put up a few more poles, but ran out of lag bolts.  Jaxsen is in charge of the lag bolts so should have probably mentioned they lag bolts were running low. Jaxsen had to have baby teeth pulled at the dentist to get ready for braces.  Kaine and Toni weren’t in a good mood after loading 8 more heavy poles and getting them up the hill. Dad had gone to a funeral in St. John so brought home some of Uncle Tommy’s genealogy boxes. It was mostly full of moldy gross stuff but we found one crown jewel. It was a story that Great Aunt Bess typed up in 1927 of a trip she took around the Pacific Northwest with some friends. The story is 11 pages long and super well written and informative. It was also super interesting that on the trip they went and visited the Mastersons in Cle Elum which have been friends on our Mom’s side of the family for generations. So part of life in ag of how we are all related somehow continues. Very interesting and entertaining.

On Friday I worked on the corn field fence until around 11:30, then mom and I went to Cowpath in Othello for lunch. It was really good, we had potato soup, carrot cake and brought donuts back for everyone. Toni went into Connell and had lunch with Evy and Evy’s mom Holly, so she did not go with us. After dropping mom off I finished most of the corn field fence, then went down and we put up more poles. We are getting really close to being done! The CX Ranch cattle sale was Friday in Lewiston. Our agents, Dad and Uncle Joe, went on our behalf. We had a couple of head picked out but Uncle Joe said we were going to love one of the heifers. Toni told him he had authority to make it happen, so we got a new Hereford heifer on Friday. We didn’t see her or any pictures, but we trust Uncle Joe and of course Bill and Kayla. CX Ranch has good quality cattle so we weren’t concerned, but were very excited.

Saturday morning Anna, Ben and I finished the last few things on the fence and then turned the cows out. They were happy. Kade had trap shooting and went to Colton. Terry went up to watch him shoot and brought snacks. After lunch Toni and I got 7 more poles ready to put up and bid on some mares in the Moses Lake sale. We did not get any. We also got grass straw out to all the pens that needed it. We got the poles set out and did chores then went to Tel’s 1^st birthday.  We were very excited to finally meet Tel. He lives in Wyoming.

On Sunday Jeanie brought a couple of horses out for Kade to ride and get pics of. He is selling one for her. She is a nice grade black mare that will be 8 this summer. She has been broke to ride, used in the mountains to move cattle, and used in general ranch work. She hadn’t been ridden since last November but saddled up great and rode right out. She is a very kind, nice mare. She will be on our for sale page very soon. Anna got Baby Cow into the heavy pen. We got our 2 little girls, Robin and Celeste, weaned and in the round pen. So we are DONE weaning the 2023 foal crop. Toni, Kaine, Kade and I finished the fence, then we all went to the BB Cattle Co Sale dinner.  It was a huge relief to get the fence done. We needed that side finalized for a couple of reasons- 1) so we have a good, heavy, nice safe fence on the side that will be closest to other studs so we can turn a stallion out in that pasture; and 2) a good fence because we plan to plant the alley between the pens with native grasses. We already have 2 little trees growing on the hillside.

One project down. 14,345 to go. On fencing projects we only have a couple that have to be done asap. We start the next one next week. It won’t be as strenuous we all hope. We won’t be pulling heavy poles up a hill, so it already sounds better.