The Tragic Tale of Pooki and Patti

We made it through another Fair. Everyone made weight and prices were pretty decent. Will showed his Black Giant rooster to much amusement at the Poultry Show on Wednesday. It's quite hilarious to see a small 7 year old boy wrestling with a chicken half his size. Emma's steer did not bring a great price, but price support brought it up to the profitable range. (Thank you Shasta Valley Billionaire, whoever you are.) Overall, despite the exhaustion, stress, blood, sweat and tears (and I mean that quite literally) the showing of animals at the County Fair appears to be a wortwhile endeavor. Sorry if that isn't quite a ringing endorsement. Ask me in a few months when the memory has faded a bit.

In an earlier post,I mentioned Pooki and Patti, the home-schooled lambs. Theirs is such a tragic and potentially cautionary tale, I thought it should be elaborated on. For never was there a story of more woe than this of...Pooki and Patti. Okay maybe not, but it is pretty sad. Enter Chorus: Two households both alike in dignity, in fair Etna, where we lay our scene.. Our dear "citified" friends, the Fleeners have whole-heartedly jumped on the farm life bandwagon and chosen to raise animals through 4-H and FFA. Being chefs from Seattle, their experience with livestock was limited to how to cook them. (And I might add I have never had better beef than that prepared by Bob Fleener.. it's like buttah!) When their daughter, Allyson, decided to start a sheep breeding project through FFA, they naturally turned to us as mentors. We happily delivered two bummer ewe lambs to be raised at their home and then returned for breeding. Four months with Halli and Allyson left our ewes a little, how shall I say, socially challenged. I should have known something was amiss when they would come storming onto my front porch, follow me into the house and bleat incessantly to be hand fed. Pooki and Patti were never able to adjust to the rigorous social hierarchy of the flock, and instead spent their time with each other or following me around, giving me a new appreciation for the childhood nursery rhyme, "Mary Had a Little Lamb." This would have been relatively amusing (except for the constant cleaning of sheep manure off the front porch and carpet), had it not ended in tragedy.

The realities of ranch work don't leave as much time for fence maintenance as we would like. Hence, our sheep were able to break out of their pasture into the alfalfa field. Alfalfa is a highly rich plant that can cause bloating in ruminent animals. The other sheep seemed to be aware that alfalfa was an appetizer, not the main meal, and would only stay out for short periods of time. Pooki and Patti, having been ostracized from the group, apparently did not get the memo. Maybe they weren't on "Sheepbook." Anyway, they stayed out grazing in the alfalfa for too long before we spotted them. Despite our best efforts, Pooki (or maybe it was Patti) succumbed to the effects of bloat. Patti (or was it Pooki) went into a state of depression at the loss of her best and only friend. The good news is, we repaired our yard fence and she was forced to assimilate with the flock.

The end of the story is even better. We attach a device to our bucks that has a crayon-like marker on the belly. This allows us to know which buck has bred which ewes. Imagine my surprise when I noticed Patti (or Pooki) had a suspicious red mark on her back. Which just goes to show you...well, I'll let you draw your own conclusion.

Poop Happens

I have to confess something: I'm kind of a slacker mom. I'm not talking about truly shocking maternal behavior. I'm not a meth addict, I don't strip on the internet or gamble away the grocery budget. Nor am I one of those drunk mommies who downs a bottle of wine before breakfast, carts her kids off to school three sheets to the wind and then passes out in her bed for the rest of the day. But when it comes to certain aspects of mothering, I just tend to fall short. It's not that I don't want to do well, it just sort of escapes me as to how to get it done, especially when it comes to the area of health. I'd like to think of myself as a health-conscious person, but realistically I'm not.

Maybe it's my heritage. I come from a line of people who live extremely long, healthy lives, despite their atrocious habits. I grew up hearing the four basic food groups were Beer, Beef, Bacon and Bourbon. My great-grandfather was one of a relatively few centenarians when he died in 1967. His second born son followed his lead and died just a couple months after his 100th birthday. My grandfather died "young" at 86, having lived on a diet of well- marbled beef, eggs and potatoes fried in bacon grease, buttermilk and a fifth of whiskey pretty much every day of his adult life. That doesn't include the pack- a- day smoking habit he maintained for close to 50 years. My aunt and grandmother were well into their nineties when they passed as well, although both had quit smoking in their eighties. It's not like they were overweight, confined to wheelchairs, carting around oxygen tanks or bed-ridden either. These were people who maintained their mental and physical capacities well into old age. My great uncle rode a horse in the Rodeo Parade at the age of 98. My grandmother played bridge, cleaned her own house and kept up her yard until shortly before her death. My grandfather worked on the ranch, cut firewood and helped us with our animals until he was hospitialized with cancer. My 74 year old father seems embarrassed that a 16 hour day of packing and fighting fire is just a bit too much for him lately.

So when it comes to my kids health, I've taken a, shall we say, "laid-back" approach. Once, when my kids were little, we went to a lake with Jim's sister. She has children that are a few years older than ours, so she viewed herself as the parenting expert. There she sat, laughing hysterically at my lack of concern when my one year old baby was eating sand. I remember thinking, "that's a problem?" Well, who is laughing now? Now that her children have grown into extraordinarily good-looking, hardworking, intelligent, polite, gifted young adults and my sand-eating baby is...well, nevermind.

Oh, I try to pretend that I maintain a rigorous standard for nutritional intake. For example, the other day I found myself loudly proclaiming "We do not eat chips for breakfast!" at the sight of my 7 year old with his hands and face covered in an orange goo reminiscent of fire retardant. He looked up at me with one brow cocked as if to say, "Well, clearly that is not true as it is not even 8:00 a.m. and I've already consumed 1/2 a bag of cheetos." I know, I know I shouldn't even have cheetos in the house, but they are just so ...yummy!!

So it was with a sense of pride and relief that I read of a health-related practice I have unwittingly followed. It seems that the great increase in food allergies and asthma that is sweeping our nation's children is directly related to the extreme sanitary conditions we pracitice in the United States. Our lack of exposure to germs and bacteria is actually causing poorly developed immune systems. Here is where my slacker house-keeping skills turn out to be a benefit. Specifically the article mentioned exposure to animal, uhm, excrement to be helpful in building a healthy immune system. Score! We have no less than 7 forms of poop within a 100 foot radius of our house on any given day. Between our vain peacocks who love to see themselves in the front windows, Will's "free-range" chickens, our home-schooled lambs, Pooki and Patti, the dogs and our neurotic cat, we've had all types of droppings on our front porch, which inevitably get tracked into the house. That doesn't even include my daughter's show steer, my Dad's mules, our herd of well-fed deer and the random raccoon/fox/possum/skunk that shows up in our front yard from time to time.

So there you have it. I can see myself on the lecture circuit, touting my book on the health benefits of being a slacker mom and a daily dose of poop , sand and cheetos as the key to longevity. Someone call Oprah.

Getting Ready for Fair

Ah, so much has happened since my last post. In June, we made it to New York and back and had a blast. I'll have to wait to post pictures until I get them from Veronica as my camera wasn't working.

In July, Emma was a feautured author at the California State Fair, where she sat for two hours signing autographs. (I don't think the acclaim has gone to her head.) We were also able to make it to the poultry building, so Will got some tips on how to show Jack, his Black Giant rooster.

A couple of weeks ago, Emma, my Dad and I went for a ride up to Russian Lake to clear trails with the Back Country Horsemen. We had a great time, despite my literally passing out cold when I got off my horse, and a flat tire on the pick-up on the way down. Fortunately our delays meant we stopped back at the BCH campsite just in time for a delicious tri-tip dinner!

Ben was able to spend a few days at Shasta Camp above Lake Siskiyou with his friend Eli. Maddie, our blue heeler, had seven puppies and our Pea Hen had four chicks. Two of them have survived so far. As Will says "Everything has a baby!" (Except me, thankfully!)

Earlier this week we had the FFA and 4-H Beef project kids out to fit their steers and heifers. It's hard to believe the Fair is less than two weeks away. We'll be busy with a chicken, a lamb and a steer!

In the ranching world, we've started cutting 2nd crop. The transformer on the pump went out, which means we are completely without water. I made a quick trip to Medford to pick one up, so we're just waiting for it to be installed. It sure makes us appreciate running water when we have to haul water to the animals. I'm also waiting to mop my floor, which is suspiciously sticky. So life on the ranch is essentially back to normal; something is broken and awaiting expensive repairs.

See you at the Fair!

Tractor Tipping, Chicken Plucking and Cable

While Emma has been in Montana, we've been busy! We've cut all of 1st crop on the east side of the river. Alex took the swather over to the westside at the whopping pace of 5 mph. Fortunately our neighbor lets us use his bridge, so it cuts the distance in half. Everytime we move equipment I think of that Craig Morgan song " I'm a God-fearing, hardworking combine driver,hogging up the road in my p-p-p-plower, chug-a-lug luggin 5 miles an hour in my International Harvester". The line "I make a lot of hay for a little pay" is sadly appropriate as well. Basically, that song describes our life.

Since we're making so much hay, someone has to haul it and that would be Jim. (He also rakes and bales; a multi-talented farmer!) Thursday, the cable on the balewagon broke, tipping him straight up in the air. It reminded me of the movie "Cars" when Lightning McQueen goes "tractor tipping" with Tow-Mater. I was sent to town to get a new cable, as in at 4:25 I get a call : "Can you go to town (30 miles away) and get a cable before the shop closes at 5:00?" No problem. Of course I'd been working in the yard all day and hadn't showered for who knows how long. That is why God invented baseball caps. Thankfully, parts guys don't seem too judgmental about appearance. We also stopped at Wal-Mart, where anything goes as far as appropriate shopping attire. I realize when most people say they are going to get cable, they are referring to something else, but our cable only cost $7.47 and should last for some time.

We also processed 20 of Will's broilers. And by processed I mean we cut off their heads, dipped the carcasses in boiling water, plucked all the feathers, clipped their feet and necks off and stuck them in freezer bags. Sorry if that's too graphic for non- farmers, but this is how we get our food, people! Will was a little upset at first, but he got over it when he realized we weren't going to kill any of his Black Giants. Ahh, life on a ranch... so very glamorous. I will get a little culture next week, though as my friend Veronica and I and our two boys head off to New York for a broadway play (Lion King) and a Mets game. More about that in a later post. Until then, Happy Ranching!

Graduation Week

8th grade graduation was on Thursday. The decorations were beautiful and the kids looked amazing. The next night was an emotional high school graduation(two members of the class had died) and then Emma was off to Montana for a mission trip with members of her youth group. It's been an

exhausting, but great week. Summer finally arrived, with blue skies and temps in the 80s and we are cutting hay like crazy.

Skinny Sheep and Poor Grammar

We sheared our sheep on Wednesday and they

are looking very good (although much smaller). We have a cool shearer who trades for hay. When we do it ourselves it takes about 45 min per ewe. Multiply that by 80 and it would take us approximately 60 hours to get through our flock. I think. I'm an English major... you do the math.

Jim is on his way right now to pull the bulls (sounds scary) from the cows. We'll cull off a few open cows (not bred) and sell them. Then they are off to the neighbor's pasture for about a month until it's time to take them up on the range where they will spend the summer.

Our guru explained how to keep the internet from kicking me off every time I post or download a picture (Thanks Dave!). That should help to keep me blogging. Which I've found is surprisingly therapeutic. And hopefully, not terribly annoying. (I know those are incomplete sentences, but I don't care.) (I also know I am using too many parenthetical statements, and again, I don't care. I'm freeing myself from grammatical correctness).

Happy Ranching

Kids and a puppy

This is just too cute. Who can resist kids and a puppy?

Sheep and Teenagers

My friend, Amy, and I and two of our children went to San Francisco last weekend with 60 some 8th graders and parents. First we went to a Giants game (they beat the Diamondbacks 5-0), then rode Hummer Limos around SF for 3 hours. The next day we drove down to Pier 39, had lunch and then took a boat out to Alcatraz. As you can tell from our sunburned noses, the weather was beautiful. It took us almost an hour to get from the parking lot at Pier 39 to the Bay Bridge. We are just not used to city life! (Getting flipped off twice on our entrance into the city should have been a clue!) The kids had a great time and the parents are almost recovered.

Today Jim & I took our lambs to the sale in Orland, a 3 hour drive. I'm becoming quite familiar with that stretch of I-5. Unfortunately the sale is not on Tuesday, but Wednesday. Jim had called the day before, but, in typical male fashion, asked "Is the sale still on?" Not, "Is the sale still on for tomorrow?" The person on the phone, undoubtedly a male also, responded "Yep." Not, "Yes Wednesday is lambs and goats and Thursday is Beef and Pigs," as the female receptionist informed us usefully today. While we were standing in front of her. After getting up at 5:30 to load lambs and get our kids to school. Fortunately they penned our lambs and will sell them for us tomorrow. We took 61 lambs and 3 cull ewes. We hear lamb prices are up, so we're hoping to get a decent price.

Interestingly, hauling 64 sheep is actually quieter than hauling 5 8th graders.

"Imagine This" Winners

Here are the winning authors and illustrators from the 2009"Imagine This" story writing contest . This was taken in Arnold Schwarzneggar's office (although he wasn't there). We had a great time touring the Capitol, meeting with our representative and attending Ag Day on the Capitol lawn. We also attended the CFAITC (California Foundation for Ag in the Classroom) fundraising dinner, where Emma and one other girl read their stories. The little girl with the blue hat is the 7th grade winner. She was re-diagnosed with brain cancer in the Fall. You can read about her at the following website: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ciarachiesa. She had just been released from the hospital following a 12 hour brain surgery the day of the Awards Ceremony. She and her family are quite an inspiration.

Steers and Stillettos

Abby & Allyson came over to take pictures of Allyson's FFA projects. They were so adorable, I had to post some. What is it about Scott Valley girls that they can be gorgeous and glamourous and still jump in a pen with an angry steer or a pen of just-weaned lambs and hold their own? Not only can we raise great hay, cattle and sheep up here in the mountains, but some pretty great kids as well :)!

Christmas in April

Here's a picture from the 4-H Live Nativity Scene back in December. I'm having a hard time getting pictures to download; my computer keeps kicking me off the internet. Guess I'll have to get our computer guru to come help me out! (Luckily one married into the family recently :) )

Emma is now a published author and her story was beautfiully illustrated by some high school students from the Sacramento area. We got to see Arnold Schwarzneggar up close. He's surprisingly small! I think he's shorter than me.

We had a wonderful "White Easter" with my sister Michelle and her husband Orlin out from New Jersey. Then we celebrated her birthday the next day. Right now it's sunny, but who knows what's coming? Life in the mountains is always unpredictable! A sunny Christmas and a snowy Easter just doesn't seem right.

In other Ranch News, we sold some cull cows/heifers and one bull. Hay has been moving somewhat steadily and Jim is getting ready to plant wheat in a field we are rotating out of Alfalfa. He is also meeting with our Farm Bureau attorney and local farmers/ resource managers about a disturbing Fish & Game regulation which is now being enforced. We'll see how that goes.


Until next time,


Happy Ranching

Siskiyou County Farm Bureau Dinner

Emma read her story, "Late Night Lambing" at the Siskiyou County Farm Bureau annual dinner. Despite a cold, she did a great job! The dinner was well attended and raised a significant amount of money for future scholarships. CFBF president Paul Wenger spoke about the need for farmers to band together and make their voices heard in Sacramento.

"Eat Lamb, Wear Wool" ... and "Eat Beef, Wear Leather"

We're up to over 100 lambs now and I've had several in the dining room. Two ewes appear to have quadrupled, which is pretty rare! I decided to include a picture of branding from last spring, as we do have cattle too. Our acquiring the sheep is a funny story. We were at a California Ag Teachers convention in San Luis Obispo a few years ago and they were giving out door prizes. There were some cool prizes like flat screen TVs, power tools, vacations etc. Jim ended up winning license plate covers that said "Eat Lamb, Wear Wool." So we put them on our car as a joke, (after all we're cattle people!). Two months later we purchased 40 ewes. We took those license plate covers as a sign from God that we were to go into the Sheep business. :)

Farmbook

My daughter and I attended the Siskiyou County Cattlewomen luncheon/meeting today where we we were encouraged by Jeff Fowle to join the agricultural social networking craze (who knew?) and I remembered that I had started a blog. Facebook and Twitter are still beyond me. It turns out there is actually a name for what people like me have: " Facebook Anxiety Disorder" or FAD. I'm serious. Blogging seems a little more my pace. Well, considering it's been 5 months since I've posted anything, maybe I'm exaggerating my skill in this area. But I was encouraged to know that keeping a diary of ranch events online is actually a "thing".

So what's been happening on the Bryan-Morris Ranch since August? First, I have to brag slightly. My daughter, Emma, was attending the SCCW luncheon with me because she is the 8th grade California State winner for the "Imagine This" writing contest. You can check out her story, "Late Night Lambing" at http://www.cfaitc.org/. The fun aspect of her story is how authentic it is. We got the ultimate seal of approval from Melanie Fowle, who told Emma she could tell she really knew about lambing.


So speaking of lambing, that's what we're doing right now. The first set of triplets came last week and we're up to 23 lambs already. So far no fatalties and I don't have any lambs stinking up my dining room. We band the tails and that smell of rotting flesh curbs even the heartiest appetite. I grew up on this ranch, but livestock in the house is still a bit much for me.


The cows made it home from the mountains looking better than ever. I'm jealous of how our cows get to spend their summer: up in the Marbles overlooking the valley, with a view of Mt. Shasta no less! No wonder they look so good when they come out. If happy cows come from California, then ecstatic cows come from the Northern California mountains!


We sold our yearlings at the Cattlemen's Sale in early January and got a fairly decent price. Hay is selling better than last year (although that isn't saying much), so things appear to be looking up in the ranching world.

Emma is switching to beef for her Fair project this year, so she and some friends were just out working with their steers. The boys just took their dogs to shut in the sheep and now are back to playing X-Box. Sometimes I'm so amazed at what we take for granted living here. There are plenty of times I wish I lived on concrete, next to a mall and a Starbucks, but then there are days like today when I realize there's something special about ranch life and it seems to get inside of our kids in a way that can't be replicated anywhere else.



Hopefully I'll remember to blog more often. Until then, Happy Ranching!