Working!

The kids are good to help so well with the house.  Grant and Mhari are busy working at Crumbl Cookie, but they still come in their spare time to help build the house.  We got the south side all buttoned up today!  

All this work can sure tire a guy out!  Grant is so cute when he sleeps :)

 

Make a Wish

A beautiful night at the ranch, watching the bison lick the riomax.  Seeing the calf is just the best!  Oh, and we had time to do Jeff's birthday dessert too!  Happy watermelon birthday!  May all your wishes come true!

Never Stop

Even though it's Jeff's birthday, we never stop working on the house.  Mhari, Lorna and I were able to help Jeff get more rows of boards for the roofing.  It went pretty quickly.  The kids are great workers, even if we are all tired!  

45 years young

Happy Birthday Jeff!  We love you!  Life is pretty busy with building a house these days, but it was nice to take some time to celebrate you today!  You are amazing and do so much for our family!  Thank you for being such a good husband and father!  We love you!  

Along with the presents from the family, the bison got you a present too... a new calf!  Alma, #6, had her calf today!  It was so cute and tiny!  What a great way to celebrate!

 

Lookin Good

Our little piglets are growing well.  They are always so fun!  Achmed is looking good too!  Coming up on breeding season again.  Keep those cute babies coming!

Just 14

Happy 14th birthday Clark! He just keeps growing! Last year he passed me up and was 6 ft tall. This year he's just over 6'3" and passing up Jeff.

We sure love our Bigness! Even though he's huge, he's still just a kid at heart who still loves Jurassic Park, video games, and squishmallows! Such a sweet boy!

 

2 Eyes!

Another kid getting to experience contacts for the first time! Such a handsome kid! Clark is sure looking more grown up all the time!

 

Living the Dream

I think our bison are living the dream.  They get to enjoy green pastures and extra feed as needed.  They aren't being hunted.  Life is good.  Maybe we need to remember that we are also living the dream.  We are focused on house building at the moment, but having bison is pretty amazing.  This is the dream!!

 

Hot Workers

The summer is here, or at least it feels like it!  Working on the house is hot work, especially when you end up on the roof.  Jeff and I laid on the concrete patio cement to cool off for a few minutes!

Oh, and we have a fun surprise in the pasture.  With all the spring rains, we have pumpkins and squashes that are growing.  Not only growing, but big enough to be harvested.  This is the best harvest I've ever had, and I didn't have to plant any of it!  It will be interesting to see how much of it keeps growing!  The seeds are from last year when the Smith family brought over pumpkins to give to our bison.  So crazy that they turned into plants and are ready for harvest!

 

Piglets!

Harriet had more piglets!  She is being such a good mom! We made a new piglet hut for Harriet.  She is enjoying it and the piglets are already on the move.  They are really growing fast!  This is some photos of them over the first few days of life!  Happy piglet summer!

 

What'd You Do?

Jeff was mowing the bottom side of pasture 7 when he drove over a fallen branch and popped the tire off the rim!  Oh man!  How do you fix a tractor tire?  

Jeff reached out to John Deere who gave him the info of a guy who comes to your place and will fix the tire in place.  That sounded like a dream, since the tractor was stuck in the pasture with our 12 ft mower attached.  It took a bit, but he came out and put in a tube to get the tire inflated.  It was sure a relief to get the tractor fixed!  

 

Water Fun!

It's finally time to go to Hurricane Harbor!  Clark was so excited... he likes water rides, way better than roller coasters!  The day was even better because our friends, the Cabrera's came too! The kids spent their time running from ride to ride.  Tami and I chilled in the lazy river and spent time with her youngest, Zayden.  It was a great day with friends!

 

Bath Time

Ranch dogs spend their all day outside.  They usually stay pretty clean, but with all the rain we have had they got pretty dirty!  Time for baths!  They don't love bath time, but they tolerate it.  They enjoy getting brushed and being loved.  It worked out since they are clean and got loved on!  Silly Lizzie and Darcy.

 

Overheating!

When Talmage and Grant got back from their trip to Phoenix for the wedding receptions they drove home from the airport ... in the Merc that they had waiting in the parking area.  On their way home the car started overheating.  They left the car at a car dealership in Arlington so we could have them evaluate what was going on and pick it up later.

  

The dealer said the intake manifold was cracked and it was leaking.  We decided we would pick up the Merc and fix it ourselves.  Thankfully our friend, Steve, had a car hauler we were able to borrow, so we wouldn't kill it on the way back to east Texas.  We parked it at the ranch for a few weeks to investigate the issue.  After a bit we decided to drive it and see if it started overheating again.  Well, it worked!  We think it was just low on coolant.  If there's a crack or a leak, it doesn't seem to be a big issue at this point, thankfully.

Mhari was so happy to have "her" Merc back.  She has nicknamed it "Carrot".