The Rocking JR

The guineas are pretty consistently laying 5 eggs a day.  We have, I believe, 7 hens so...

The seem to have abandoned the nest behind the barn as it looks like a predator has been in it.  Now they are just using the one in front of the house in the bushes.

Saturday there were 13 eggs, then yesterday 18 and now today there are 23 eggs.

Very interesting that they share a nest.

This morning we got up and went over to John and Staci's to load cattle up and take them over to John's mom's.  I took their big trailer over because John drove down to Webster, TX on Thursday to help with hurricane Ike stuff (he was a fireman and he just always wants to help).

So we hooked up their big trailer and loaded it and loaded the smaller trailer on their Tahoe.  All together we took about 15 head of cattle for various things.  We took them all over and then brought the trailer back to our place to pick up Bluebonnet and Big Momma.

Well the PLAN was to pickup at least Bluebonnet and Big Momma.  We wanted to have them preg checked to see if Candyman had done his duty.

Renee and I setup the panels and moved the feed troughs into a small area behind the trailer.  We got Bluebonnet and Candyman to come in, but not Big Momma.  So we loaded Bluebonnet up and even got Candyman to get in the trailer to make more room in the catch pen for Big Momma.  Unfortunately she knew exactly what was going on and stayed her distance.  After a little bit she just walked off and back to the pasture.

So off to Judy's with Bluebonnet.

When we got back to Judy's we got Bluebonnet into the squeeze chute and Dr. Gail got the ultrasound going.  She checked her out and we have a baby!  She is 45 - 60 days prego!  So we should have a late May/early June baby.  Below is a picture of mom and dad.

Shelby, John and Staci's daughter, is quite the 12 year old.  She wants to be a vet and is already working part-time at a vet's office.  So today she got to neuter one of her cats, after Dr. Gail neutered one and she got to assist in castrating one of her little bulls.  Go Shelby!

Something to think about as we draw near to electing a new president and representatives.

If you have never heard guineas, well here is a little bit.  In the afternoons they all get to going and it is much crazier sounding.  I will try and get some of that too.

Puddin' has been scratching at her ears lately so we thought we would take her in to the vet to check them out.  We figured since she came from the cotton gin, who knows if she has ear mites or something.

So we jumped in the truck and headed to the vet.  She was great.  She sat in my lap or up on my shoulder the whole way.  At first she tried to meow (she doesn't seem to have vocal chords or something, it just comes out like a screech), but then she was pretty calm about it.

Well we got to the vet at 12:10pm and wouldn't you know it they are closed from 12pm to 1pm for lunch!  So we turned around and went back home and did it all over again at 1:15pm.

They checked and cleaned her ears and the vet checked the stuff in her ears and didn't find mites.  But he gave me some ear wash and some medicine to help her.  She also had to get her shots so it wasn't such a fun day at the vet for Puddin'.

John and Stacey invited us to go to some friends place in Blanco today.  The friends, Charles and Nancy Harper-Smith own Anchor Oaks Vineyard.

We had to leave at 5am as we wanted to be there near dawn so we could get started on picking the grapes before the heat set in.  Last year John said they had about 15,000 pounds of grapes and it took more than a whole day to pick them.

Unfortunately this year there weren't nearly as many grapes.  They have only had 6 inches of rain in the last year and although they irrigate the vines, they have also had high winds and lots of birds.  It only took about 2 hours to harvest all the grapes and this year it was only about 1,500 pounds of grapes.

But it was a great day and everyone had a wonderful time.  Renee and I learned how to harvest grapes, met some new friends, drank some wine and just plain had fun.

We definitely hope to do it again next year and hopefully they will have a better crop.

See pictures of our day at Anchor Oaks Vineyard

Earlier this morning Claudia brought some of her friends out to the ranch.

Unfortunately I was getting ready to go to the Sheriff's Association of Texas Annual Conference so I wasn't a very good host - but they had fun nonetheless.

They came out around 10am so they could try and beat some of the heat.  Can you believe we have already had over 30 days of triple-digit temperatures!!!!

They got to see all the animals and I think they had a pretty good time.

Now tell me, is this one of the cutest mother-daughter pairs you have EVER seen??

Renee and I went to the big ol' Taylor Rodeo last night.  It was a lot of fun and even though the number of competitors isn't huge in each event, they are darn good.

I forgot to take my larger zoom lens so didn't get the best shots unfortunately.

It didn't start until 7pm so by 10pm they were just getting to the bull riding, the last event, and we called it a night - what a couple of wimps we are! :)

The harvest moon was absolutely incredible too!

This week has been crazy.  As you can see below I have been all over like rover.  It has been great though.

Monday I was in Mills County Commissioners Court and they approved the purchase of our software for the Mills County Sheriff's Office.  Everyone is very excited.

Then I was in Howard County Commissioners Court on Tuesday to present our solution to them.  Again, that went very well and it was big news in Big Spring, http://www.bigspringherald.com/content/view/130119/1/.  I think it may have been on the news too as there was a TV camera setup during the meeting too.

Tuesday afternoon I drove up to Andrews and met with the Chief Deputy and we had a good meeting and then off to Denton for the night.

Wednesday I spent the morning with the Chief Deputy, Chief Deputy-Operations, Captain from Operations, Lieutenant for Systems, Dispatch Supervisor and Systems Administrator, all from Denton County Sheriff's Office.  They are looking at purchasing our NCIC / TLETS client for their mobile units.

Then finally back home!  But only for a couple of days unfortunately.  Saturday it is off to San Antonio for 3 days for the Sheriffs' Association of Texas Conference and then Wednesday I have been invited back to Big Spring PD.