It was over 105 degrees today! Wowzers, it was hot. I didn't get much accomplished. My calves got out AGAIN and our neighbor found them, so I had to hook up the trailer and go get them, and then I got some water for the calves and our new horse.

Let's get caught up. I started buying calves from a local dairy in March after I was laid off, and gradually got up to 8 of them. The plan was to get them on grain and get them up to 1000 lbs or so and then sell them. I had them on milk replacer for a month and then weaned them onto grain. I also had bought an angus calf, had three given to me (but one died) and took care of one where the mom had stopped giving enough milk. Just last week we had another cow die so I am taking care of that one too. When I knew I had the job, I needed to sell the calves because DH would NOT feed and water them for me. He thought they were a pain and didn't want to add those chores to his list. So, I called a cousin of my dad's (which I call an uncle) that bought dairy calves as well to see if he wanted 8 calves. He didn't want 8, but wanted 1! Sorry, that doesn't make sense...I might as well keep them all. But he did say his nephew was starting to feed calves and might be interested. So I called my (second? or is it third?) cousin to see if he wanted 7 calves (I would let my "uncle" have the one he wanted). 4 of them I had been feeding since March/April and 4 of them I had just got about 2 weeks ago. I got $200 for the older 4 and $110 for the younger 4. I bought them all for $80, so a small profit, as we had the grain to feed them.

So, now I just have 5 Angus ones left. I have them in our corral because they kept getting out of the grass with the electric fence around it, and the gate on the corral is such that it rests on a piece of cement, but then we have a chain to put around it too. I have been just putting it on the cement without the chain, but I think the wind blew so much yesterday morning that it blew it open and they were gone. DH tried to find them when I was at work, but couldn't. This morning, he got a call from our neighbor, and they were in with his calves, so I went and got them.

DH mentioned tonight that his uncle took a calf to the sale barn last Monday that were about the size of ours (which doesn't make much sense, because they are all different sizes! lol) and got over $300 for them. After commissions and everything, it was about $280. I think he wants to sell them on Monday. Ok. I'm not able to take care of them anymore what with working, so if he doesn't want to take care of them, that's fine. I just thought we only had a few more months before weaning our other calves and he would be feeding all of them everyday then anyway, so we could put these in with them and it wouldn't be another chore. But, he wants to get rid of them and it isn't worth a fight, so ok. Like I said before, I bought one of them for $200, and two were given to me and two were from cows that were too old/died, so I'll make a profit on them too.

As for the horse, we've been looking for one since before we were married. My family is a big horse family, and his dad is, but DH just isn't. Or maybe he just wanted his own and didn't want to have to go get the one I own (that my dad has) 10 miles away to do anything. He rides pretty well, though hasn't ridden a lot ever since I've known him.

But he had been looking for one on our local craigslist-type website, and the broke ones were all over $1000. Well, he came across a 4 year old gelding quarter horse the other day that was $400 (down from $500) and it said "experienced rider needed." Usually, this means the horse is greenbroke. But he called and asked about it, and instead of being greenbroke, it had been used in a feedlot (which means REALLY well trained...those guys are in the saddle 8 hrs a day on their horse. I think they eat, drink and pee off the top of the horse without ever getting off) and it had spunk, so it is definitely NOT a kids horse - thus the experienced rider par. The guy DH was talking to had bought the horse from the feedlot worker so him and his wife could go trail riding, but they only had the same day off 1 time a week and never rode him. He was really skinny because this guy was feeding him rye grass that looked like straw and it had no nutritional content at all. The horse is skin and bones, really.

But, we got him for $400, and a saddle, blanket and bit for another $125. The bit itself is worth over $100 and the blanket is worth like $70, new. Don't know about the saddle. I bought mine a few years ago at a pawn shop for around $200 but it looks little more heavy duty. My sister trains horses and has bought 2 year old, not even halter broke horses for $400, so this is a great deal!

We have him in a different part of the corral and are giving him sweet feed and brome hay for a while to try to fatten him up a little, and then he will just go out in the pasture. We don't have a headstall yet, so we can't ride him until we go somewhere to get one of those, but I am excited to ride him. Apparently he neck reigns very well and knows leg cues (although I don't know leg cues, so I'll have to learn that!) He is very friendly and comes up to us to pet him and hasn't spooked once. I'm pretty excited!

Anyway, I just fed all of them and watered them today and moved some bales. That was it, all day. DH built some fence with a landlord and the landlord's daughter, and he was pretty exhausted when he came home. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and it tasted salty!

I've started running lately. My sister is turning 35 in February and got a wild hair up her @$$ that she wanted to run a 5k before she turned 35. She found a running program called "couch potato to 5k" and invited all of us to run with her. We were going to do the Komen race in Wichita, but we found out that Komen donates some of their money to Planned Parenthood, and we didn't want to support that organization at all. So, we found one in KC (where 2 sisters/1 brother live) that is for Parkinson's research. My Grandpa died of Parkinson's disease in 2001, so we decided to invite our first cousins to see if they wanted to do it too. All of my family (mom, dad, uncle who lives with them, all 9 of us kids) are doing it, as well as another uncle and his daughter and an aunt and 2 of her sons. We are getting bright blue t-shirts that have "in memory of eptacek" (my grandpa) on it.

I was on week 4 of the running program when last week my knee hurt so bad I almost couldn't finish the work out. My left knee hurt, my right shin hurt because I was altering my stride to compensate, and I came home crying. I wasn't getting any sweat or cardiovascular work out at all because I couldn't even strike the ground with my left heel. That was on Tuesday night. I went to the chiropractor on Wednesday after work and he did some magic on my lower back and my knee started to feel alot better. I waited until today to run again because I wanted the ligaments to have time to heal from the stretch I had put them through. This time I was out of breath and sweating for sure! I'm starting week 4 over tonight, and hopefully I can go every other night instead of 3 times a week and make up for the lost time. Our last week of workout was supposed to just get us to 5k, so I'm worried about not finishing.

Because of this, I've lost a bit of the "baby weight" I had put on from when I was pregnant. I've lost 6 pounds last time I checked, which is not a lot but at least is going in the right direction. People don't realize that even though I miscarried, my body was going through a lot-lot-lot of changes, and I've had to deal with that too. It wasn't just over that afternoon, physically or emotionally. I went through the entire labor, I was fully dilated, delivered everything myself, and didn't get to bring the baby home with me when all that pain was over. I'm back on track cycle wise and hopefully we can try again really soon (maybe tonight? Oh, was that TMI? LOL)

Tomorrow I think we are going to Hays because I need to get two prescriptions filled at Walmart and we need to get that headstall for the horse. DH needs some parts for his pickup too. Hope to not spend too much money!