Church arena

This is Sarah Ray...if you remember, she's the dog we "inherited" last summer when Buddy's friend from church passed away.  No one can pet her...not even her previous owner.  But, lately, she can't seem to get close enough to me.  There are even times when she lets me reach down and pet her.  I was going to ask ya'll for suggestions on what to feed her but I found something this evening that she will eat.  She is rapidly losing weight.  I have no idea how old she is...we're guessing around 12.  I've been fixing her "people" food and she was turning up her nose at it.. fresh scrambled eggs with ham...nope!  So, I finally found something...moist and meaty with canned dog food...bacon flavored!  We knew she loved bacon and popcorn...oh, boy, does this dog love popcorn!!

As some of you already know, Buddy is the pastor of the cowboy church that we planted.  Our church is focused around bringing lost cowboys to Christ so to do that, we need an arena to put on horse events.  I went yesterday and bought a couple loads of cedar posts to support the arena panels..

Today was a work day at church to put up the arena..this is exciting!!!

The local sheriff was generous enough to bring out some trustees from the jail to help get the arena up.  I can't wait to show ya'll more pictures of it in progress and then some of events!!! I can't wait!
Happy Trails...
Berte

A Promise to the Dying

This one might be long so bear with me. Last year, a church member and dear friend of my husband's became ill. He was the same age as my husband. One day he passed out while driving and wrecked his beautiful vintage turquoise truck. Ray was okay but the truck was no longer driveable besides the fact that Ray didn't need to be driving anymore. Because Ray was no longer driving, it ended up that it was either me or Buddy toting him back and forth to the doctor and various appointments. His cigarette smoke about knocked me over but Ray was, of course, very respectful of not smoking in my truck so I never pushed the issue of suggesting quitting to him. And at the point, why would I? Shortly, after the first of the year, Ray was diagnosed as terminal and died in April. Now, after all that, comes my story. Ray had one stone deaf little dog, a wild dog that no one could get near and was elusive because the entire time Ray was alive, I never saw her, and four cats as old as dirt. Ray found Jesus as his Savior the last year or so of his life and never doubted for once where he was going after death. He had time to make arrangements for the deaf dog but was worried sick about Sarah because no one could get near her. Of course, in the last few weeks of Ray's life, Buddy promised Ray he would take care of Sarah and to quit worrying. Shortly thereafter, Ray died. Ray's family all lives out of town so now we (get the "we" part?) were committed to taking care of this dog. To say the very least, I have been after Buddy to do something about that dog! We tried finding her a home but we didn't know a thing about her except that Ray had all his pets neutered and immunized.
We did know that Ray had her and her littermate since puppies and Sarah saw her littermate mauled by another dog and has been shy ever since...well, duh...I think I would be too.

Once I did spy Sarah, I saw that she had on a tag but getting close to her was another thing. Four months later...yes, I said four months, I told Buddy I was going to sit and wait it out in the heat and get Sarah. Ray's neice had provided us (way back at the time of the funeral) with sedatives to use for her. Now was the time. Mind you, everything has been shut off over at this house since Ray's death so we've been toting water over there...and it was hot! To shorten this story, the sedative never took affect but I finally got her....yes! The dog tag was from a clinic in a nearby town. It was Monday and they didn't open til Wednesday. Since it's been 110 here, my dogs have been coming in and so did Sarah...and always on a long leash while outside. She's been with me constantly. Wednesday comes and I call the clinic..wouldn't you know it? The tag on Sarah belongs to one of the cats! What?! I still know nothing about this dog except that she is one of the sweetest dogs I've ever been around in my life...and I've been around a few...ha! This dogs does not want me out of her sight! And I need to add, she is no longer on a leash. Of all the dogs that I have had to be "compadres", this one has chosen me. All because of granting a dear, sweet man a dying wish and letting him go in peace. Now, why is that? Neither Buddy or I can take Ray's phone number out of our cell phones. Maybe one day but for right now... we have Sarah Ray.
Happy Trails,

Berte

Still Alive Here

Here I sit on Christmas Eve morning, having coffee and reading other's blogs. Yes, it's been awhile. One of my friends told me to just check in and let everyone know that I'm still alive so here I am. I just don't find what I have to say very interesting but here's the latest since forever. Wow, how God has been working in our lives! Here's a quick review.

My sweet little Gretchen is not with us anymore. She was extremely blind with cataracts and 9 days shy of her 11th birthday when yours truly ran over her out in the orchard. It will be a day and feeling I will never forget. We still miss her running this orchard.

On a good note, Button did come to live with us on the farm. What a hoot! This bottle baby was raised with the grandkids and the dogs and she still loves to run and play like she's a dog. Unfortunately for the dogs, Button's longhorns are growing and she doesn't realize how they hurt. We had to pen her up with the feeder calf for months because she was too friendly. It's pretty freaky to be walking the orchard and have a longhorn calf come running up behind you. She's better now about rubbing up against my leg. She'll come running and stop about 2 feet from me.

You can see our latest addition to the family in this picture with Button and Jasper. Gussie is a red heeler or Cattle dog. She is now 5 months old is my compadre.

Shortly after my last post, through a lot of prayer, Buddy started his own dozer business. God has blessed us richly. Looking back over the year, God has put in black and white our direction. In the past, I would wonder if we're making the right decisions but not now. God has been closing doors and slamming wide open others for His direction. With the dozer business, it has allowed Buddy the freedom to do God's ministry and, without a long drawn out story, Buddy is a cowboy church planter and is pastoring the start-up of a cowboy church in Navasota. It is amazing to see God's work being done. Buddy's old rodeo and roping buddies are pretty much taken aback when they find out he's a pastor. How often we hear "You're a...pastor?!" God works in mysterious ways. He's the potter and we're the clay! This is certainly not something we set out to do.. it is definitely a calling.

This is a pretty quick post to cover several months but I have a dirty house calling my name. Ugh.. I will try and keep up with this.

Happy Trails...

The Three R's

Not to be confused with Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmatic. But rodeo, rain and recuperation. Everyone at church put so much into our ranch rodeo for the church kick-off and now we're all pooped! I didn't explain in my last post about the WRCA..my sister called and asked me what that meant. It is Working Ranch Cowboy Association. The events in the rodeo are similar to what a working cowboy would typically do on a ranch..bronc riding, team sorting, branding, cow doctoring and wild cow milking. Each team is made up of 4-6 members and these teams came from all over..some from Nebraska and Kansas. They were qualifying for the world this past weekend. As soon as I get some pictures, I'll be posting. Should have some pretty good ones.

With all the rain we've been having lately, which by the way is wonderful, it has made the grass just start popping up. It's not so good for Bridget, the little horse we have for the grandkids, because she founders so easily. That's a term for laminitis, which is really too much blood flow going to the horses feet and it's very painful for them. So we have her put up in the round pen to keep her off the grass and out of the mud, which irritated them more but with the rain this morning, she was in more mud than the others. Poor Bridget, she's such a sweet little horse.

Then there's Jess and Cinch...see how clean they are? They are two compadres and are always leaving out Bridget. It's funny to watch the hierarchy with these animals.

Speaking of animals, have you ever seen such an ugly dog? He's got eyes like a mule.. very sad eyes. I hate to admit it, but he's so ugly, he's kinda cute. Gosh, did I just say he was kinda cute?! Living in the country near a college town, we are the ones that end up with the critters that someone has no use for anymore and they dump them. This is some kind of chow mix..not quite sure what he's mixed with though! Haven't had the time lately, but this guy has to find a new home. He's on the unpredictable side. We've had three dumped out here this year.

Remember when this one was dumped last year? Yep, this is Jasper. We ended up keeping him. The second dog dumped out here, my neighbor ended up keeping. So this new dog will have to go somewhere. I'm not trying to be cruel but we are not a rescue and cannot keep taking in these animals. It makes me angry when people dump them out here to let us deal with the guilt and the feed and vet bills. If I could, I would keep them all but that's hard to do.

Now that the rodeo is over, I'm looking forward to getting back to normal around here. As soon as I get the pictures, I'll be posting again.

Happy Trails...

Just a story

In the early hours of the morning while it's still dark and the sun just has it on it's mind about coming up, I grab a cup of coffee and sit at my computer. It's my time to catch up on other's blogs and try and post comments. I have learned so much from others. Lisa over at Laughing Orca Ranch has been taking me on road trips through New Mexico...places that I know I will never actually get to visit in person. So I'm sitting here trying to post a comment on Lisa's blog and I look up and out the window to catch a glimpse of a beautiful coyote as it's cutting through the orchard. As the early light catches it, I can see it's grace as it moves with purpose towards the road in front of the house. As I'm watching it move, I'm thinking "where are my dogs? and why aren't they barking and alarmed that something has entered their territory?" It continues to move through the orchard and around the front of the house and hits the road, running along it's path between our house and the huge open cotton field out front. I get up from my desk and move out on the front porch to watch it continue it's journey. "Where are my dogs?" About this time, Harley is out front and catches a glimpse of it (remember a past post about her vigil watching the sun come up) and she's up on all fours now. With lightning speed she leaps out towards the coyote and the chase is on. She doesn't even waste precious breath to bark. The dust is flying. They are both running for their lives at top rates of speed. "What's going to happen if Harley catches up with it? Where are all the other dogs? I've never seen Harley run so fast!" ...then they both stop. The coyote turns and they face each other. "Oh, my gosh, they're going to fight!" The coyote runs towards Harley and they meet and greet each other with an affectionate show of play and then the coyote turns and trots off leaving Harley standing there wagging her tail. "What just happened?" Harley watches it as it disappears against the horizon of the cotton field and then goes about sniffing the trail left behind. About this time, here come all the other dogs barking and carrying on as if to proclaim they just chased away a monster.
Happy Trails..

A Quiet Morning

Yesterday morning Harley and I were out taking one of our many walks around the place, enjoying the cool crisp start to the day. Of course, she had to stop along the way and chew on a pecan wood stick while I snapped a few pictures.

The dill in the garden is blooming and smells wonderful..

The quiet was interrupted by the cropduster spraying the cotton field out front.

Such is my morning...

Happy Trails..

And.......Action!

In the still of the dark, the new morning on this flat quiet farmland is interrupted with a continuous line of headlights making it's way towards RiverBend Farm with still sleepy-eyed workers waiting for the activity of pouring concrete. They sit in a line of trucks, waiting for their turn to dump their load for at least nine others to spread and even out. Once they start, it is all business and they act quickly all working in a synchronized action.

Got that picture? Now, picture this...

Here I am with three big dogs, including my neighbor's in the mix, attempting to get them all tied out to their appropriate spot, getting completely tangled in leashes and cables with Jasper flipping upside down every chance he gets and grabbing the leashes in his mouth going the complete opposite direction I'm trying to take. I was one tangled up mess and I'll bet all those guys got their laugh for the day! I'm sure that woke them up!

Moving Along, Making Progress

Hello...I'm still here. It seems like everything is needing my attention all at once. We've had some absolutely beautiful weather here so the house is coming along. It's 77 degrees, the sun is shining, a breeze is coming in off the land and it's an "open the windows" kind of day.

Concrete is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 7am. Today the guys are working high on scaffolding putting in soffits. Poor Jasper is having to stay on the chain today because he loves running and playing on the plastic layed down under the rebar. Then when he plays on it, the neighbor dog comes running over to play and I'm scared they are going to trip one of these guys...that would be worse than bad. All of the dogs will have to stay tied up tomorrow or we'll have a bunch of little doggy footprints in the concrete. So, while Jasper is tied out in the back, the DirecTV goes out...well, duh, the cable is lying on the ground. I take one look at Jasper and want to lay the blame on him. Then he looks up at me with those "What? no beans?" squinty-eyed look like Jake on the Bush Beans commercial. Okay, it couldn't have been him. His chain doesn't quite reach. All I know is that it's loose as a goose and I can't a signal...so now I wait til Monday for that serviceman. I am not so mechanically inclined but I might give it a try later and see if I can fix it.

I've also been working on the online store...yes, it's still in the works and will be up and running, hopefully, very soon. I am not computer savvy so am working with someone who I think is going to give me a great website. I'm pretty excited about it. I can't wait to show it off to everyone. I'll have to have some big grand opening special for sure.
Tomorrow's a big day so I'll have the camera battery charged up and ready to go.

Happy Trails...

Peep Day!

I trekked over to Cameron this afternoon to pick up my day-old chicks from Ideal. At first, they had misplaced my order but they soon came out with my little box of chicks. This day has been long awaited.

Are these not the cutest little chicks you've ever seen? Okay, all baby chicks are cute...just little puff balls of soft down. The little black ones are sooo tiny. If you're wondering why the picture has a pink cast, it's because they're under a red heat lamp.

After sitting and watching these mice in my kitchen crawl out of the stove and hop in the plastic live trap, eat the baited peanut butter cracker and turn and get OUT, thumbing their little nose at me....I resorted to calling my friendly exterminator ...."HELP!" He advised me to find the hole where they're getting in...are you kidding me?! Other than that, out comes the black box baited with poison (no more peanut butter) and snap-traps. The black box sits outside so, hopefully, they will go off and die and then the snap-traps are right next to my stove. And, of course, just as soon as I crawl in a nice warm bed last night...SNAP!..okay, out of bed I go, get dressed and go out and pitch the little sucker. This is gross but in the last 24 hours, my pitch pile is getting big. Yuk...

I have to show you this picture of Gretchen..she's a very mini dachshund. Last week we had cold weather with sleet and snow and she just couldn't warm up. I went looking all around for her (keep in mind, there's not too many places to get lost in an RV!) and she finally stuck her head out of the dirty clothes basket. Aha! There you are!

Isn't she cute? I went out and bought her a little pink sweater with pom-pom's on it. What you don't see in the picture is the fact that she really doesn't like it. She's just not a sweater-girl!

I guess I'm gonna have to get with the program and put up some Christmas lights or something. Everybody's been posting some wonderful Christmas thoughts and pictures. My friend, Robin, has her house completely decorated with a Christmas tree in every room in her house. She could give Martha Stewart a run for her money! Your house looks awesome, Robin!

Happy Trails...

The End to a Thanksgiving Holiday

Yum, yummmm....


I hope that everyone had a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. I did manage to get my pecan pie baked and indulged in a slice and it was wonderful. There's nothing better than homemade fresh pecan pie. Well, okay, there's homemade vanilla ice cream or a 1 lb box of Whitman Samplers. Now who doesn't like chocolate?

It's been a busy four days going back and forth between Caldwell and San Antonio so will leave y'all with some pictures.

Harley, the one on the right, seems to have a daily vigil watching the sun come up. This morning I had to catch a picture of her out the window. Jasper is trying to get her to come play but she is steadfast on her vigil.

I am thrilled that so many of you from around the world have stopped by to visit my blog. I thought I'd take a few pictures out my truck window as I was driving today and share with you some pictures of this great state of Texas.

Happy Trails...