March 2010
Hello & Welcome to our Diary page. The purpose of this diary is to record our adventures, folks who stop by, travels and events at the Thorne Ranch. It was primarily meant for family and friends in the beginning, but we have grown a large number of faithful readers over the past years. Over 100,000 from all over the world have visited us. We don't intend to offend anyone or to glorify our life here. It's pretty boring most of the time as you will see! We are pretty common folks trying to make a living doing what we love, breeding and raising cattle. Our wish is that someday this Diary will be enjoyed and appreciated by our grandchildren and great grandchildren. In the mean time we hope you get a few good laughs at our expense. "Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself."
Welcome to the Diary &
"The Adventures of Dear Abbie's Wife"
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD..
Remember to welcome strangers, because some who have done this have welcomed angels without knowing it! Hebrews 13:2
Copyright © 1998 - 2010 A. W. Thorne Land & Cattle, Inc. All rights reserved.
"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Proverbs 16:3
A.W. Thorne Land & Cattle, Inc.
435707 E370 Rd
Adair, Oklahoma 74330
Office 918.783.5477 Joan 918.284.0175 A.W. 918.527.2002 joan@thornecattle.com
March 1-5 We got out off the ranch at 11:00 Sunday morning and picked up the cattle at Brian's where they all got megga baths and hair cuts the day before! David was left in charge of all the critters and herd! We had one memorable highlight on our trip to Houston. We picked up a hitchhiker... Yah you say, I bet you did. Yes really we did.. we were traveling down highway 19 south of Bradford TX when we saw a truck pass us from Alaska. Abbie said, "Wow they are a long ways from home." So we never thought anymore about it until we stopped at a Shell station just north of Palestine to fuel up. I walked around the trailer to check the cattle and saw a man with his hood up on the truck and noticed right away it was the Alaska plates.. So you know me I asked what was wrong with their FORD? He said they eveidently had some bad diesel so I offered some of our diesel additive we had left. He poured it in and the man in the truck was talking on the phone.. He proceeded to tell us that he was headed to Houston and that his Doctor friend in the truck was also from Alaska had to be a certain place by a certain time tonight and if their truck wouldn't run they were not going to make their deadline. So you know us, we offered him a ride to Houston. He looked like an honest dude and he sure wasn't packing a gun! ha He took us up on the offer and grabbed his gear and bags and crawled in the back seat.. We had a great conversation and found out that Brad Webb was a Real Estate Agent for Century 21 and also has his own Auctioneer service in Alaska. We also found out that he was originally from Illinois and had rodeoed high school, college and pro rodeo. He bull dogged, calf roped and had won a lot of saddles and honors. He just missed the National Finals when Tom Ferguson was dogging when he tore up his knee untimely. So knowing several of those cowboys from our area I asked him if he knew Chip Whitaker? He said, You have got to be kidding yes we traveled together all over the country. It really is a small world isn't it? I do believe that the good Lord drops folks into your path for a reason sometimes and this was one of those chance meetings that came full circle. He spent the night with us at Flying I. Where the cattle pretty much stood in mud all night long as it poured down rain. We had washed all the Oklahoma mud off the day before so I didn't get much sleep thinking of the mess they were going to be the next morning! Brad rode along with us and helped unpack our gear in Houston on Monday morning. It was dreary and cold.. and right after we were done unloading it poured down rain. I got soaked in the tie outs! ha Abbie took Brad to the airport so he could catch his flight to Denver to see his son. He left us with the offer to visit Alaska anytime and he'd show us places in the state that few get to see. I got to see nephew Clay this time. He works for Priefert Company. Bryce met up with us that morning and he was welcome help since our other helper texted us a couple of days before and said he couldn't make the trip. So that left us very short handed. Everyone wanted to know where Tiny was? ha We got along with the help of some of our friends. You know the song, "You find out who your friends are?" That pretty much described the show. I was sick show morning from where we ate the night before, so I'm not going to be eating any mexican food for awhile! The Houston crud not the Denver crud! ha So that slowed me down but I finally felt better by 11:30 show time! Thanks to Madison Abbott, Wanda and Sydney Paul for helping us show cattle. Patrick helped us numerous times as did Mark Richardson. We managed to get them all in and out timely even though they messed us up after the Purebred show and told Abbie that they were going to take a picture break in between so you guessed it the percentage cattle were still in the stalls. The judge Mr. Williams changed their minds and said bring them on! I did my triple A run and we got them there finally. Of course that is when all the carts and crazy people were in the aisles too. Malinda spooked once trying to get by a rattling cart and I hung on for dear life. You can see the results at the News page. We made the show! ha We are home and calving like crazy! Nine already on the ground. Thank heavens David was here to hold down the fort! Today it's 70 degrees! What a welcome change! We will all have a heat stroke!
This page was last updated: July 2, 2010
The Best Days
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'To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.' When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence... 'The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.'
There comes a point in your life when you realize:
Who matters,
Who never did,
Who won't anymore...
And who always will.
So, don't worry about people from your past, There's a reason why they didn't make it to your future.
Friend and customer Harold Broom came to visit on Tuesday! Great to see him! He is itching to get back into showing some steers even though his kids are all grown up.
Our Hitchhiker...Brad Webb from Alaska.
Click on picture to enlarge.
March 6 - 9 Happy Birthday to our grandson, Phillip! Wow a whole 12 years old! I asked him if he was ready to drive a tractor this summer in the hayfield? Of course I added that it has a airconditioner, a radio and tape player! He thought that sounded like the real deal! ha
It's been looking a lot like Spring around here finally! I hate to hold my breath though because we can still get some bad weather. Including tornado's..yes the first one hit in Elk City yesterday. When we get the warmth from the south and the cold from the north look out...we are right in the middle. Temperatures have been in the high 60's and almost 70 the other day. We could still get a good frost that will set everything back a month too. The clouds are rolling in from the west today and the wind blew like blazes out of the south. We had rain all day yesterday and it's running across the road like a river.
In my spare time I have been working on a web site for our friends Tom and Pam Munk from Springview NE. They are a really neat couple that loves their horses, cattle and animals, so am excited to get them more exposure for their stallion named Buck. We are just starting to put it together and we are gaining! Please visit their web site and leave them a message of encouragement or just say "Howdy"
We are calving like crazy and so far so good! Knock on wood we have had some really nice babies. We are catching up on the bull calves now. It didn't look good for awhile. But we have filled up a balanced sheet of bulls and heifer calves. This little baldy is fancy and we have several with some color this year. They are the first one's that everyone wants of course. We have been getting several calls for bulls, wish we had more to select from but that presents it's own set of problems. Bulls can eat you out of house and home real quick. ha I'd sure rather have two cows with calves at side compared to one bull...ha We have our share of bulls in our paddocks.. Guess we should get rid of the old herd sires but they don't owe us much and besides they are living proof of the history around this ranch. All our old herd sire are big pets.. I know you shouldn't get so attached to a bull or cow but what can I say it happens! ha
I am chomping at the bit to get out and drag the pastures. One of my most favorite things to do...bust cow turds. It means Spring is here thank heavens! ha
Tom and Pam with Buck their stallion.Munk Quarter Horses
March 10-15 I have been working on Mom and Dads' 60th Anniversary Memory Book and yes I am out of memory and my cylindars are knocking.. I have been staying up nights working on it until 2:00 in the morning. It's peaceful then and the phone isn't ringing. So I am ready to try and not look at it for a few days so that I can get a new perspective on it. I will probably also find all kinds of mistakes. I loaded it on my facebook so several can see it. I am using the Creative Memories Program that Shareen got me for Christmas and so far it has done pretty much eveyrthing that I have asked it to do. I just read a book named " Bob Fudge Texas Trail Driver" Montana Wyoming Cowby 1862-1933 by Jim Russell. It's an awesome true story about a cattle driver back when they had to swim the herd across rivers from Texas to Montana. Interesting read if you find time to want an interesting book to read. www.BobFudge.com It's about $30.00 and a real neat book to give to your cowboy and cowgirl friends. No it's not a cookbook either.. I am into a new cookbook that lets you stop using sugar. It's called, Wholesome Sugarfree Cooking.. by Choice Books. I made banana bread the other day and it's darn good. Today I whipped out some Gingerbread Muffins for breakfast. Of course I made enough to freeze some too.
The census folks are starting to come around. We pay those folks how much? Where do all the illegal aliens go when they drive in or knock on the door? In doing my research for my family I used several census takers info and you would be surprised how accurate some are and how bad other were. It depends on the messenger that is for sure. Calving is going good and we have some really fancy babies this year. We had some sunshine today but it wasn't long it clouded up agan from the north. I went to Renita's and picked up show feed today and we took a tour of their heifer pasture where the Cory calves are looking good. Their log cabin home is looking spectacular and cozy! Sure glad I'm not building a new home. I am not sure our marriage could handle that added stress. ha They say it's one of the best things to test a marriage. ha At least her and Roger are still speaking to each other! ha That's a good sign!
Banana Bread
2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 Cup Ripe Bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1/2 cup Honey
1/4 cup Oil
1/2 Tsp. Vanilla
1/2 Cup nuts, chopped
Mix wet ingredients together, then add dry ingredients. Mix well, pur into greased large bread pan. Bake at 275 degrees for one hour.
This recipe is very moist and tasty..
TLC Rock Star looking good this Spring.
March 16 - 21 Congratulations to Brock, he won the Oklahoma Youth Expo Junior Showmanship Showmaster Showdown and then went onto win over the Intermediate and the Senior Showman for the innaugural event. He called me and as usual he was cool about it and he knows we are proud of him whether he gets first or last. Winning is something you learn to handle and loosing is something that makes you work harder so you can really appreciate winning. He has worked hard to get to this level. He doesn't expect Dad to do it all for him either he gets up early to feed and take care of his cattle before school and after school. They don't buy $20,000 animals from the judge and expect him to pick them. Some will do anything to win at any cost. They abuse and sacrifice their jobs, backstab, borrow or utilize judges they have done business with. That one bit of glory will pass but negative impression will last a lifetime. All the money in the world cannot buy all the judges in life. When the money is all gone so will they be gone. Great job Brock we are extremely proud of you. We waiting to hear how Katie did with her heifer. We heard through the grape vine that Reighly had Champion Maine Anjou heifer. Way to go!
Okay so we made it through the Irish all green day and then on the first day of Spring we get the white out day? Something wrong with this picture. On Thursday and Friday the 18th -19th I was dragging pastures and running the air off and on just to stay comfortable. It got up to 73 degrees that day on Friday. Then Friday night we got a west wind and rain that turned into sleet and snow. Today we still have a wind and 34 degrees out with snow drifts 2-3 feet tall in the front of the house on the north side. I almost finished up the north side of the ranch and decided to hit the lower ground before the blizzard hit so I drug down the ruts and piles in the calving pasture and then made it to pasture 17 where all the new pairs are camping. I drug with lights on until 9:00 that night just to try and get ahead of the moisture that was coming. So as you can imagine my turd draggin days are over for awhile! ha Something relaxing and theraputic about knocking off cow turds.. I can't quite put a finger on it but you know it's better than the alternative. ha If you visualize those clumps of waste you can truly take your frustrations out on them and they don't really give a crap anyway. ha
Brock -Over All Showmanship Champion OYE Showmaster Showdwon 2010. At the largest livestock show in the world held in OK City, OK.
