Ready for Lazyville.

This has been my little corner of the world for the past few weeks....

that is, when I haven't been at work.

I've been tucked in my corner of the breeding box with a thaw unit, semen tank, timer (thanks Mike!), lots of paper towels, straw cutter & Diet Snapple.

Lots of Diet Snapple.

The Diet Snapple pack from Costco gave Diet Pepsi a run for it's money this year....

the new Half & Half Snapple is pretty darn delicious.

But never fear.

I'm back on the Diet Pepsi bandwagon.

It is the breakfast of champions after all.

And I'm here to be a champion.

............

I didn't really take too many pictures this year while we were AI'ing this year.  Most of the time, there were three guys breeding in two different boxes, so I was hustling.

But we've wrapped up the season, and are about done with breeding heifers.

At least, I think we are.

The best of plans always have a way of changing sometimes around here, I tell ya.

Not that I'd have it any other way.  Variety is the spice of life.  ;)

These guys were happy to be done for the day!

And so if you'll excuse me....I'm headed for Lazyville.

Sitting on the couch with my feet up after work, watching DVR'ed episodes of Duck Dynasty & American Idol sounds just about right, right now.  :)

At least for a day or two.

PS - I bet the heifers are glad we're done breeding too....

Sorry - I had to include this picture.

These heifers were happy humpers.

Probably TMI.....eh?

On the road again.

On the road again.

Just can't wait to get on the road again.

The life I love is out eating green grass with my friends,

And I can't wait to get back out on the road again.

  

We've been very busy breeding cows & heifers here the past couple of weeks, but the crew at Double M has also worked to get all of the cows & calves turned out to grass. 

Because most of the ranch's pastures are contiguous, when they're ready to move the cows, the guys open the gates, send a truck in front to stop traffic, and have one or two people on horseback follow up the rear.  Since Morgan, Miles, Dave & Jesse were here helping breed heifers that day, they helped Clint, Jack & Deana get the group moved.  Oh - and Teagan was there too.  Every crew needs a cow boss, right?

The cows know the drill....when they hear a pickup horn honking, they head towards it, go out thru the open gate and turn onto the road.  They trot along and when they come to the first open gate, they turn in.  The calves keep up alongside their mama's, and eventually everyone gets safely to the new pasture where green grass is awaiting.

Green grass + Pairs = Happiness.

And when that pasture is grazed down a bit, they'll be ready to head out onto the road again to greener pastures. 

The crew at Double R.

They say you should never get so busy making a living, that you forget to make a life.

I've said before that we get to work with some of the best people around....and because of them, quite honestly - it doesn't feel like work.  It feels like living.  In the best possible way.

A big thanks to the crew who helped us last weekend.  We're looking forward to heading back your way in a few weeks.

 

The view at Double R.

This weekend, we bred cows & heifers at the Double R Ranch in Loomis, WA.

A ranch a few miles from the Canadian border, it seemed like whichever way you looked, a more expansive & varied view met you.

Breathtaking. 
Vast.
Spacious.

Words & my pictures don't do it justice. It simply, was beautiful.

I kept thinking that to capture it adequately, I needed the widest, wide angle lens there was.  Not that I own one - but this weekend, I would have loved to.  My father-in-law Dave kept saying, "Darcy, make sure you get pictures so I can show Melly!". 

Mel - I know you're out there reading this....here they are. :) 

I could have taken pictures all day long....but we were there to do a job, and somebody had to run the thaw unit.  Although I did sneak a few of us while were working - it does take 30 seconds after all to thaw a unit of semen, and I made the most of every one of them!  Those will come tomorrow....

We might not all have such a tremendous view where we live, but it's up to us to make the most of the view we have.  So I hope wherever you are, and whatever you are doing....that you are enjoying the view.  May it be so wide that the widest wide angle lens wouldn't be able to capture it.

Laughter really is the best medicine.

We got home from Loomis this afternoon, where we were breeding cows & heifers for the Double R Ranch.  It was flat gorgeous country.  Seriously - I don't even think the widest, wide angle lens could capture the vastness.    We're headed to bed early, and I'll post pictures of that project tomorrow, but I wanted to post these pictures from right before we left.

We'd been running around, hustling to get things done at the ranch, trying not to forget anything that we'd need, since there were 6 of us going and we'd be 5 hours away, and to be honest - when you're at that point in the day - sometimes you just need a little laughter to get over the tension & anxiety of a big project that you're trying to be 100% ready for.

So with that - here's showing a little bit of laughter here at the ranch.....

I'm so thankful it finds itself into our days! 

I hope you all had a great weekend - and may this week be filled with laughter to get you over the humps!

Reba & friends.

The Char's are turned out and enjoying the green grass! 

The other night on my way home from the dentist, they were all gathered by the fence along the road, so I pulled over to take a few pictures. 

I'll let you figure out which calf below is the one Clint named Reba.

;)