Bulls and Babies
Bulls and babies...pretty much sums up my life lately. But, I'm not complaining! Odessa Rose has finally returned to her happy, little self again and she' nursing great and starting to sprout some teeth. I think this could have also added to her nursing defiance. But thanks to God, she's been nursing great for the last week and she started sleeping through the entire night the last two nights. I almost don't know what to do with myself when she sleeps all night. I wake up at her usual nursing times only to look over and see her peacefully asleep and breathing slowly. Wow! I sure feel rested! This last weekend, Kody decided to stay home from the bullriding event because his riding hand has been sore. I hate that he can't ride because he's hurting, but the girls and I love having him home on a weekend! Friday night we had friends over to eat chili and play Shanghai. Shanghai is a card game that we all like to play, but one game can take 2-3 hours to play so it's always good to start early in the night.
Starting her young learning to cook chili. And yes, she's pantless!
Saturday, my friend Breann, who has a baby girl the same age as Odessa, joined me in going to a huge baby sale that was taking place at the local fairgrounds. The clothes were pretty picked through, but we were still able to find a few good deals. A place like this always makes me a little nervous because I'm not a "hunter shopper," I don't like to look through a crowded clothes rack and bump into the person beside me. I like wide open spaces! But I managed to make it through unharmed and I didn't lose either of my girls, ha! Later that night, we had the inaugural Saturday service at our church. Our church has grown so much in the last couple years that we are now able to add a service and I'm totally stoked. I'm not sure why, but church on Saturdays has a different feel to it. It's a little wilder, freer and the church just feels "awake"! Does that make sense? Kirste is our worship leader and I sing vocals in the worship band and it's always more fun to lead a congregation in worship when they're a little more awake. So I think our first Saturday service went great. Sheridan and her children's church class even got to come up on the stage to sing "Like a Lion" with us and she had a blast singing her, "Lion Song" as she calls it. My Nana came up with my parents so it was so good to have her at church as well. I love that woman so much!
My Nana and Odessa
After Sunday services, we headed home to get yearling bulls sorted and ready to dummy buck. For those who don't know what "dummy buck" means, we use a weighted box that has a latch system on it to when it's cinched on bull it can be released at anytime by using a remote. We use this on young bulls that are too small or too dangerous to put a rider on. This also allows us to unflank the bull as soon as the remote button is hit which gives the quickest reward to a young bull that's learning to buck. If any of our readers are curious about this process, just let me know and I can elaborate more. So, bucking bulls is always a community event that calls for a lot of hands on deck to get the job done easily, which means it's fun for all of the wives, mothers and girlfriends to get together to watch, video and corral all of the kiddos. I smile when I think back to the first couple of years we bucked bulls because there weren't hardly any kids running around and now they outnumber the adults! As of right now we all just sit in the bed of pick-up trucks but I think I'm going to talk Kody into building us a crows nest that will protect us from the elements. We had everything from sun to rain and wind to lightening on Sunday and it was pretty sketchy having the babies with us. But thankfully we made it and I got all of the bulls videoed. Missing a bull bucking, especially one that bucked hard is a VERY BAD thing! Kody and I don't get mad at each other much, but missing a bull bucking is a sure ticket to some choice words being said. No excuses either! The baby could be crying, Sheridan could be running off, or an alien spaceship could be landing in a pasture..."you better get that bull videoed!" I understand why though, this is how we make a living and missing a bull bucking could mean a loss of a guaranteed sale. We only buck these bulls every couple of months because they're young, so it would be a while before we have a chance to buck them again. To say the least, we had some buckers! Most of these bulls are homegrown and are out of cows and bulls that we've raised ourselves. It's so fun to see the fruit of our labor!
Here are our rowdy bunch of yearlings
I haven't quite learned how to post a video yet, so here's a still shot of one of our best bulls.
This week looks to be a fun one as well. Cooped Up Cowboy's Wife has some exciting things coming up in the near future and I'm so excited!
I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!!
Candace