Hunting/Sewing

Ahh!  The Weekend our family has looked forward to for a long while!  The boys as they are going hunting in Tucumcari at Dad's parents ranch, while the girls are staying at home sewing, watching movies, and just plain ole enjoying each other! 

Thankfully everyone is feeling well and no one else has felt icky.  So, have a wonderful weekend- I am off to finish watching Bleak House!  (It is a story by Charles Dickens that Mom and I both read, so now we are watching the movie) 

~Rebecca

Prayers

Alright, now it is Sarah's turn to not be feeling well!!!  We must have had a bug going around.  :(  Yuck.  So please be praying that she gets to feeling better soon!!!! 

Be praying that everyone is feeling well by the weekend as the boys are going hunting, and the girls are staying home and having their "girl time".  No one wants to be sick then.

In Christ,
Rebecca

Pictures of Weaning

Here are some pictures from our weaning this year.  Mom was sick that day :(  which is why she isn't in the pictures.  We sure missed her. 
Yes, it is a long post of pictures, but I couldn't delete any!!! :)

The first two pictures are of Josh after he cleaned out our chimney.  :)  It has been so nice to have a warm fire going on cold evenings. 

Josh and Dad cooked us breakfast Saturday.  It was pretty good, too.

Feet!

Caleb working gates.

Sarah working the sweeptub.

Lady doing..... nothing.  Lazy dog...

Sarah and Joshua.

That's all folks!

Rebecca

Anwered Prayers and a Tag from Lauren!

Howdy dear readers!

Thank you so much for your prayers. Becca is feeling MUCH better this morning and is her old chipper self. :-)

So, quite some time ago, Lauren over at Least in the Kingdom, awarded/tagged me with the Versatile Blogger award!  Thank you so much, Dear Lauren, for tagging me! I have always enjoyed reading your blog and encouraging words that you post. I glean so much from your modesty posts, biblical posts, and love all the pictures and stories about your life!

It comes with a tag as well, so here goes!

The rules:

You must tell 7 random fact about yourself, thank the person who gave it to you, and pass it on!

1. I love anything old fashioned. I have even ridden a cow (hey, some people used to ride cows.. who is that one character in the Andy Griffith show that used to get drunk and ride his cow down the streets? Can't remember his name... )

2. I HATE grasshoppers.  If any one wants to see me scream like a I don't know what and watch me run like the wind, hold a grasshopper in my face. lol! I am serious, but, um, don't actually do it, k? lol!!

3. I LOVE long comments! Either writing them, or receiving them.  Like Lauren, if I have nothing to write, I will just write random thing.. half the time it is practicing my cursive on a random piece of paper, or writing a length letter to someone I had just seen the day before!

4. In all the years I have been ranching, I have only been kicked by a calf twice, and never fallen off of a horse. Dad says I just don't have much experience yet.. lol!!

5. I don't wear shoes unless absolutely necessary. In other words, even in the dead of winter, I run around in bare feet on the cold floors. The only time I put on shoes on is if we are going somewhere, or I have to venture father than the front yard.... (or her Momma makes her.....posted by the Momma :))

6. I have a random reading habit. I read like 'crazy' (or my opinion of crazy.. I am sure lots of other people can read more than my 'crazy' and consider it normal! lol!) for about 2-3 months, and then I cannot pick up a single book for about a month. After that month I WANT to read a good book. It kind of feels like needing some water after running for a long time... yup, I know....

7. I am extremely random person. My letters, emails, posts, etc, usually have no organization to them. No flowing of subjects. I just jump from one to another, as most of you probably know (or as you saw in the random facts above..)!! Because I am so random, I absolutely love this tag! I love learning other random facts about different people.

Ok, I tag:

Samantha at Simple Delights!  Samantha is one of my dearest friends, although I have never met her. We have been pen pals for about 2 years now, I Think (right, Samantha??)...  Her blog is so lovely! I hope you go and visit and follow if you aren't already!  She has tons of fun stuff; events, pictures, posts about herself, fashion shows, and is even going to possibly host a recipe contest pretty soon!! I always feel so encouraged and uplifted after visiting her blog.

Martha Joy!!  I met Martha through our giveaway and am so glad I did!!  She has such a sweet personality and is fun loving and full of... Joy!!  Her blog is so very cheerful and she is always posting neat things. You'll need a Wordpress account to visit, but I highly recommend that you get one! You won't want to miss out on her blog On the farm with MJoy!

Johanna at An Old Fashioned Girl!  Johanna and I have only known each other for a few months, but already we have found out we have several things in common (like sharing the same birthday!).  Johanna is such a sweet, lovely, caring, gentle, and beautiful young woman of God! I love reading her blog. She has so many different kinds of posts. Daily life posts, pictures, bible studies, recipes, fashion show events that she is participating in, and so much more! I am sure that once you visit her blog you will want to visit it again! Johanna has encouraged me in my walk with the Lord in so many ways, and I hope she will encourage you too!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!! It is freezing cold at our house, so we have a nice roaring fire in our wood stove and kittens to snuggle with!! :-)

Enjoying the fall weather,
Sarah

Prayers please!

Howdy readers!

I would like to ask for prayers for Rebecca.  She was up last night sick and isn't feeling much better this morning.  She has slept for most of the day, which is good, and thinks she may be feeling a little better. However, please pray that she gets well and no one else around here catches it!

Thanks so much,
Sarah

We are here, we are here, we are here!!!

Ok, a little "Horton Hears a Who" humor.. lol!!

However, the Herd IS here.. we have NOT fallen off the face of the earth! :-) lol!  Actually, we just had a rather busy weekend weaning calves and preg checking cows.  Becca was out there snapping pics when she wasn't busy, so you can look forward to a better post coming soon.
 
I will let Becca share some of the exciting highlights (injuries that occured, cows on the freeway, etc) when she posts pics. :-) I must say, though, that I am rather dissapointed.  I got kicked right in the thigh by a 650lb calf. Yes, it hurt. The bummer is that my bruise is already fading away.  Ok, maybe most girls don't like battle scars (or as one friend put it "cattle scars"), but when something unusual happens like that, it is fun to have something to show, right? Well, I can't exactly show my bruise, but it is fun to 'say' things about it; how big it got, what color is was, etc.  Oh well!!  My dad saw the whole kick thing happen and he said there was a perfect hoof mark on my blue jeans before I brushed off the dirt. lol!!

So, is any one glad they couldn't volunteer? lol!!!

Hope everyone is having a good evening!

Your limping authoress (ok, I am not actually limping.. lol!)
Sarah

Busy, busy, busy!!

Howdy folks!!

Well, the Herd is startin' up on their annual busy season.  This here season comes 'round every year, been like that since I was knee high to a grasshopper.  Any hoo, we got them cattle all rustled up and shipped out to some other part of the county.  Yes, sir, Friday mornin' was a beautiful one, it was.  We woke up bright an' early, even afore the sun was up, to get things movin'.  While Ma, Becca, and I started rustlin' up some grub for the cattlemen, workmen, etc, them boys (our boys) were out pitchin' hay and getting ready for the big day.  People started arrivin' and coffee cups clinked as everyone gathered for a bit of chat before the work began.

    Now the sun is just startin' to peak over the hill.  It stretches red and gold fingers of warmth on the land and brightens the sky for a promising day.

    The men thank us for the coffee and breakfast cake, put on their hats, and jingle their spurs as they walk to their horses.  Now their off!!  Ridin' straight and tall towards the distant pasture that holds the cattle. 

    Ma and I start cleanin' up the dishes and get to work on lunch.  Green Chili Enchilada's, beans, sopapillas, salad, apples, and mint chip cookies!  We work all morning long baking, cooking, cleaning, washing.

    Soon the big trucks start to arrive.  12 semis lined up along our long driveway as they wait for their turn to get a load of beef. ;-)                 
                                                       

    As Ma and I just barely get lunch on the table, the men start comin' in. They wash up and sit down wearily, thankful for a hot meal after a long mornin's work. They have gathered all the cattle, weighed 'em, and loaded 'em into the trucks.
    As we finish eating, I can barely keep my eyes open. I sit quietly by while the men laugh, joke, and tell stories from their younger days.

   Now the meal is over, clean up has begun. While we children clear the table, the men continue their business talk.  Soon, all is over.  The men have gone.  We sit with grateful sighs and enjoy a moment of rest before supper prep begins!

     Yes, this really is how Friday was.  A neighbor rancher of ours leases some of our pasture for his yearlings. They stay there getting nice and fat for most of the year.  Then, on one day, they are gathered, weighed, and shipped to some place (probably a holding yard where they wait until it is their turn to be hamburger.. more than likely the patties you eat at McDonalds.. lol!)

   This time, however, we had a slight break. We were able to sleep in a little later and didn't have our usual morning service.  The men were late and had to get right to work, so they didn't have time for coffee and breakfast cake.  However, they did have lunch, and my that was a lot of work! lol!

   We also didn't have as many semis as we shipped quite a few yearlings out early.  So, this time we only had 4 or 5.  It was kind of sad not seeing all the trucks lined up! :-) That is one of my favorite parts! Next year I will have to get some good pictures.

    So, that is what the Herd has been up to!  Today is a nice resting day, tomorrow we will work around the place, and next weekend we will be working our own cattle.  Weaning calves and putting all cows into their respective winter pastures.

    Any volunteers? lol!

Well, off to clean and get the house ready for another weekend!

Hope ya enjoyed our lil' update. :-)

Sarah

** all pictures, except very first, from Google images

Happy Farm

Sarah found this "Happy Tractor" and told me to get a picture of it.   It is pretty cute. 
~Rebecca

Not a good time...

to view recipes!!!!  5 pm after a hard days work is NOT the best time to look for recipes!!!  I thought I would share a link for my new favorite recipe place.  http://www.recipe.com/!!

It has absolutely ALL the best recipes ever! One evening when I was totally out of ideas, I went online and found this. Our supper that night was super yum! lol!  You can even narrow your search to "hamburger" (all the recipes tha require hamburger), "pork", etc! It is great!

Any way, I was needing calzone dough today for supper. Poor man's pies! They are SOOOO good and cheap to make too!! Cabbage, hamburger, some swiss cheese, and mustard. We have our own hamburger, so we never have to buy from the store.  Cabbage comes from the farm for free, so it is a pretty good deal! Lots of mustard, though.. lol!!

Hope you all try it and let me know what recipes you find!

Love always, Sarah

PS don't those pictures look SO good!!! I am SOOO hungry!! ;-) =P

October

Can you believe it is already October? Wasn't it just spring?

Things are going well at the Heckendorns. We are getting prepped for shipping yearlings out, and weaning, tattoing and weighing the calves. The cows are looking good, too. The grass has been wonderful and they are slicked off. 

It is thundering and raining!! There is nothing like a rainy day to make you want to curl up with your family all around. We are all looking forward to winter with fires, cocoa, and cozy family time. Did I say I have a cat in my lap? Cats are such good lap warmers….especially when they are purring. I think a couple of us have sleeping cats on our laps. (It is raining outside so we felt sorry for them.)

We are all done with harvesting at the Schwebachs. It was such a blessing while we had it; but we are all glad to be done. It makes for some long days. Now it is getting ready to work cows.

 Our family is looking forward to the end of October. The guys are going to go hunting and the girls are staying home and sewing, quilting, watching movies, eating foods the boys don’t like.... The guys are taking some little bulls to Tucumcari to the bull test there. They will stay with my grandparents and hunt deer on their ranch.

These are pictures I took at the Market of some pumpkins.   Doesn't the first one look like an old man?

 

Blessings!

Rebecca