Not a great start to a Monday morning. On my way to work I saw that I had not shut off the water to BB’s pen and Cleo pen was flooded. I ran down to shut it off and saw that Cleo was foaling and needed help. The legs were caught. I pulled her foal, but it did not make it. I went home, cleaned up and then went to work. Toni had court in the morning and called that there was a heifer out on her way. Anna and Kaine ran down and got it in before school, and saw that Breezy had left Gunner’s group, so they ran out and put her in circle 5 with the mares that still needed to foal. Toni got a flat tire when she got on the highway, so she parked her car at grandma’s house, and Leslie sent her in grandma’s car. After school Anna ran Blondie into Sheenas for her TB test for our trip to Reno. Then we had steer of merit, I left work early to go and get everyone, since Toni’s car had a flat tire. Only the turn steers from CBJLS were graded, so Anna and Jaxsen of ours, and Jaxsen was reserve champion, with an Angus steer out of one of his cows. Good job Jaxsen!! Sophie Thomasson had a steer from us, and was graded prime, but she did not have enough daily weight of gain to get a check. Great job to her on her first year showing steers. We had a great turn out for Steer of Merit and Franklin County Cattlemen’s made sure every kid that came was rewarded for their participation. It was a great evening followed by our annual group visit to Dairy Queen. The poor Dairy Queen in Pasco was not prepared for the steer kids of Franklin County. We had a great time with good friends.

On Tuesday I went to Ephrata for work meetings all day and did not get back until late. We had one new foal Tuesday, Zoie had a fancy palomino colt with a lot of chrome. Toni went down to Pasco and got her couch. She had it refinished in Pendleton and it looks amazing. Buds Upholstery in Pasco did a fantastic job. Kade worked on Joss Tuesday night. Anna worked on her show animals. Kaine and Jaxsen (besides doing chores) did Kaine and Jaxsen things. Kade and Toni were catching For when I got there, so we got some pics of For and Ghost, then I went out and took some pics of the foals at mom and dads while Toni and Kade worked on Blue Star and Fancy. Almond is the sweetest boy, but he only comes to Almond, not Al. Hurricane is sassy, she comes up to get pets, but then runs off. She is a typical princess. We love our new colt out of Zoie but we are sure he is going to be gray. We need to color test him.

Wednesday we had some much-needed rain, it really made the desert pens green up. Toni and Anna went to the school early so that Toni could take pictures of the FFA officer group and pictures of the three FFA teachers. It was raining but they got some really good inside shots in the shop and the greenhouse. We try to take pictures with the officer team annually. It is a fun group of kids and the pictures turned out really great. Cousin Patricia’s mare Nelli foaled on Wednesday and had a fancy buckskin filly by King. Patricia has named her KT Miss Blue Belle, “Peaches.” Patricia is going to fly up to see her. Kids all had parent teacher conferences on Wednesday and it was a ½ day. Toni and Kade worked on Absolute. Toni went and stayed with Grandma.

Thursday was the first day of spring break.  Dad and Kaine hauled Sonny, the last mini yearling colt, to Baker City to meet his buyer. We had two foals on Thursday, both fillies by Gunner. Anna had her interview for the Star Farmer Award at Tonis. Toni says she did great. Anna isn’t as enthusiastic. We are proud of her regardless. Kade worked on his horses and tied up his steers and washed them. Toni and I and took mineral out to Gunners pen Thursday night and drove around all over looking for them and could not find them anywhere. There are lots of places to hide in the desert and I guess Gunner is worried he is going to get locked back up. We are all excited the kids are home for a bit. Spring break is always a fun time!

                On Friday Anna, Kade and Jaxsen went to Pullman for meats judging, Jaxsen came back Friday night, but Kade and Anna stayed up for a second day of judging. Kaine did not wake up as instructed when I left, I had to call Toni to go down and wake him to go and feed steers. He was asleep when she got there so maybe he needs a louder alarm clock. Marlo came on Friday and helped do chores. Toni and Marlo went out to the desert and found the Gunner pen right away. Marlo got some pictures with Charlie. Charlie so far thinks she is a pet and has only given us one foal. I stayed with grandma on Friday night. The three kids had fun at meats. I think Kaine is wondering why he is the only one home to do chores. Maybe he will volunteer for more FFA stuff next year. Live and learn.

Saturday we worked on the fence in circle 6 so we can get Tank turned out on grass. Kaine pulled T posts out of circle 5 so we could repurpose them. The men burnt cat tails, Russian Olive trees, etc. Toni, Jaxsen and I put up wire and posts, and every once in a while, (or for long periods) Toni would leave me and Jaxsen to cut down trees. So Jaxsen and I did not get as much done as we would have liked. Lane came to see Anna on Saturday, but she was not home yet, so he started doing her chores for her. Kade and Anna got home as we were switching Dude and MC, since MC had more mares and Dude had a bigger pen. MC is now turned out in the middle pen and Dude is in the corral. Dude is not happy. We did put Peanut with Cappy, Zoie with Dude, Jitter and Nellie with MC.  We are loving all of our foals so far to the point we don’t’ want to sell any of them!

Happy Easter! We woke up Sunday to two Easter foals, both fillies. Marlo got to name them since she has not gotten to name any since her birthday is in September. Erina and Terry came up, Meachams went to Moses Lake. Ben made ham, funeral potatoes and deviled eggs, Mom made Lemon Blueberry cheesecake, Apricot pie (Ben baked it since we have a double oven) and rolls, and Erina made a gluten free carrot cake and brought drinks. I made a Caesar salad, it was super hard since I got the kit from Costco, and I may or may not have just opened the bag. Mom, Anna, Erina and I went and looked at foals after lunch and left the men to gab.

As of Sunday, we have the coming 2 year olds mostly started. Kade wanted to start one and sell her, so he has Joss to work on then sell. He sold Mauney, the grade mare he was working on. Anna has been working on her show cattle and is headed to Reno next week. Kaine has been working on his vehicles and chopping trees. Jaxsen has been working on his steers a bit. The kids have been staying very busy overall as have the adults.  Spring is always a super busy season for us. We do have a few yearlings for sale and Joss is coming along if anyone wants a fun project. We are also getting people to come out and view the program. Feel free to come out and see the horses if you have time.