The First (real) Drive

A typical day here at Duncan starts around 8 or 8:30am.  This morning, we were all up and at'em by 5:30 and on our horses ready to chase cows up the hill at 6.  This was not our choice, but the neighbor's.  He gets up that early nearly every day (as do most ranchers/farmers, I suppose), and seeing as we were helping him move his cattle, he got to call the shots. C'est la vie.

All in all, my first drive was a great success despite the early start.   I started out a little unsure of myself, but after a while, I got comfortable getting where I needed to get and knowing how to come at the calves to get them to move.

We had only one or two glitches.  One was an incredibly old cow who decided that two or three steps to go at a time was just too much and that down the huge ravine was the only direction to go.  Clara and I stuck in the back lagging farther and farther behind doing everything in our power to just get her to take those next couple of steps without running down the hill.  We got her close enough to the top of the road (where it evens out into a nice open field: much easier to work cows up there) when the neighbor came down and told us to leave her.  We loped a nice long distance to catch up with the others.
Drifty's lope is almost heavier in the front end than Marty's. Her trot's a dream though.

The other problem was the Duncan Ranch cow that decided to follow along. We'll have to go back and find her later.

Clara and I have been knocking out chores together this week. Weeds, fences, cows, horses.  Sometimes I get surprised by the fact she's only 12. I'd say 15 or 16 at least.  I'm so grateful for all the girls. They're so sweet, energetic and hardworking.  I hope they enjoy their lifestyle as much as I do!

Here's an interesting fact; cattle are curious critters.  If something/someone plops themselves down in the middle of their field, they will undoubtedly all go to investigate.

On Monday, we were sent to move the fats to the next patch of grass, and so we got out there, moved most of them, and were going back to take down fence when out pop about 7 more cattle!  After very unsuccessfully trying to get them to go under the fence while we held it or down to the end so we could open it for them, we plopped ourselves down and started chatting, and lo and behold, here came the seven cattle drooling and mooing with curiosity in their eyes.  We crawled a little ways, and they came plodding right along behind us.  The more I'm around cows, the more I like them. :)

I joined the Lankisters for church on Sunday.  It was fine-mainly different than I'm used to considering it's a MSL Lutheran church.  I was taken aback and got completely upset when they didn't allow me to take communion because I wasn't confirmed in their sect.  I suppose everyone has their thing.  I have a lot to say on this subject, but I don't think this is a good place for rants. Simply put, Jesus died for everyone, no matter their sect, past, etc.  If anyone knows this and, more importantly, follows Him and wants to join in with communion, they should be allowed that right, not excluded.