"It's a Matter of Pride"

It's official. I'm enough of a part of the livestock business I have my own official brand. I put in for it in January and now it's paid through 2011. For now all I'm using it for is my Horses as a freeze mark. This means I'll dip a specially made brand in liqued nitrogen and 'burn' the image on the horse. The hair grows back white. For those of you unaware of what a brand is:



Brand: identification mark on skin, made by burning; burn with a branding iron to indicate ownership; of animals



Livestock rustling is real and alive!
This reads as: Quarter Circle Diamond D

It Can't Be Over!

I'm staring at the last weekend of Spring Break. It was relatively calming. I got a lot done, but not really that much from my list. I need about 3 more weeks to catch up. Hmmmmm.....

What did I do?

Reinforced and rebuilt the Chicken house, inside and out (this was like a 3 day job). I also added on a feed room.

Bought my baby chicks, ducks, geese and turkeys and kept them alive for a week so far.

Got my truck washed.

Slept in everyday.

Rode Maggie almost everyday.

Worked Rebel almost everyday (he's learning to lead like a champ!).

Helped bring in a herd of Longhorns and cut out the bulls and yearlings for sale.

Read a lot. Really a lot.

Moved about 2 tons of hay.

Went to the sale barn and was talked out of buying 2 pygmy goat kids during the auction by Shane. I was mad. They were cute and only $15 each. Did I mention they were cute? Really cute? They were like as big as a cat.

Got a job putting miles on a young horse while at the sale barn. Made up for losing out on the goats.

Took some afternoon naps.

Lost Maverick and Dixie who took a run. After looking for them everywhere, all day, Shane found them almost 8 miles away at 11:30 at night trying to make their way home.

Watched "Chuck and Larry". Ha, ha, ha!

Chopped wood, but decided it really is a better job for the boyfriend.

What I still have to do?

Start riding my 'job'.

Ride Maggie more.

Work about 300 head of calves (vaccinate, ear tag, brand...).

Grade papers? Probably a good idea...

Post some pictures...

Spring Break Here I Come!

It starts at 3:30pm today. I'm not going anywhere and expect I'll be doing the ranch thing, but there are a few things I'd like to get accomplished above and beyond feeding out 700 calves every other day and taking my turn on calf watch. THE LIST has been posted!

Oh The Stress!

It's giving me migraines! I woke up yesterday with a pounding headache. Literally. I made it halfway to school before I had to pull over 'cause I couldn't see clearly out of my right eye. It felt like somebody was jabbing a screwdriver into my temple. Ouch! I slept until 1:30 in the afternoon and by then it was just a dull pain. I have been getting tension headaches lately, so I wonder if this is related. Hmmmm...

I think it's because I keep stalking Alanna and it's stressing me out.

On another note: I Love Oprah's Book Club List. I always choose books from her list but I'm disappointed today about one choice. I picked up Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman. Looked good. Began alright, but it started to sound like another book I've read...a classic in fact. I read farther, thinking that maybe she was inspired and used this other book as a jumping off point. Not so. As the plot thickened it thickened into downright 'borrowing' of somebody else's idea. The other idea? Non other than Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I'm kind of mad about this. Here I am trying to instill in my student's minds how using ideas and materials that are not your own need to be recognized. And here is a well-known author making bucko bucks off it! Great Role Model Folks. This is SOOOOO not right and I e-mailed Oprah. Seriously. Here was a woman who wrote, along with her sisters, under men's names trying to breakthrough into the literary world. They wrote some of today's classics and somebody is taking advantage of this. Sorry, I just feel really strongly about this.

Seems I'm not the only one concerned with 'borrowing', 'copying', 'lying', 'cheating', 'plagerizing','not giving credit where creidit is due' or in other words, 'being lazy':

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