Catching up

Well it turns out that last week was a lousy time to start a blog! Life got pretty busy here on the ranch. We had "Anna's second ride", still with no pictures. The Biggest Cowgirl did ride her at a trot and was able to accomplish some nice one-rein stops (essential to have down before I turn loose of the long lead rope!). Anna goosed a few times, keeping things interesting for the Biggest Cowgirl who rode through them quite well. Between life and weather Anna has not had her third ride.

The end of the week was spent preparing for a craft show in Longmont, Colorado. The previous owner of Mary Ann's Beans (why didn't that all get underlined?) took the products to a lot of craft shows on the Front Range of Colorado. She had a great and loyal following of customers that is prudent for me to maintain. So, for a while, we will continue this avenue of marketing. It is a lot of fun to go and meet new and old cutomers face to face, sample the soups, and get wonderful comments back. It's also great for the girls. Since we homeschool it's like mini-society, but in real life. When I was in third grade we had mini-society where we made a product and then had some mini-society bucks that we could buy other peoples products with. So, I pay the girls with beans when they help with a craft show or farmer's market. They can then trade those beans for other vendors' items, or if they don't trade, I will pay them cash when it's over. The Biggest Cowgirl and the Redheaded Cowgirl went with me. They traded shrewdly for a bracelet, and a bunny statue and doll dress respcetively. They also pooled some resources and traded for a pair of earings for me for Mothers Day. They're good kids!

The Rancher kept the Littlest Cowgirl with him for the weekend. Their's was the bigger adventure! They headed out to Meeteetse to buy our final load of heifers to stock the ranch. They made it as far as Casper when the empty bumper pull trailer hit some ice and whipped around and hit the side of the truck, popped off the hitch, and rolled! No other vehicles were hit, The Rancher and his precious passenger were rattled, but fine, and they were able to complete their trip, minus the trailer and the 4 head that it was intended to bring home. The rest of the weekend was uneventful with the Littlest Cowgirl taking good care of The Rancher and helping him irrigate, ride out on her horse to check the heifers, and snuggling up for a good story before bedtime.

We were all reunited late on Monday. And as they say, there's no place like home!