Carter Cattle Company

Carter Cattle Company

Well, I spent last Saturday trimming cedar out of the fence line behind the house, so I could run a "hot wire" to keep the dog in. It worked (so far), but my arms look like I tried to bathe a wild cat. ho-ho. Bear is still pouting. But, still in the yard!

Found another chicken snake in the other coop, Sunday morning. Just my luck, I didn't have the camera with me. Not quite as big as the first one. HE won't be back. About an hour later, I looked out the window and a HUGE bull snake was stretched out across the driveway. HE won't be back, either! Funny, I had just mentioned to Deb a couple of weeks ago that this was the first spring that we haven't found a snake, usually around the barn. This makes three in two weeks. I held the last one by the tail, up over my head, and there was still about 6 inches of the head end dragging the ground. Over 7 feet long. We've been real lucky, we've never had a rattler, yet. Garden still doing well. Could use another inch or two of rain for the fields.

My sister, Cathy had a bad spell and ended up in the hospital. Gave us all a scare! Not sure if it was a gall stone that caused the enlarged bile duct or what. They'll do more tests on her pancreas in a couple of weeks. She's home, now. She gets her last dose of CHEMO today. Thank God that'll over. The last dose messed up her stomach pretty bad. Her Dr put her on Protonics. That's what Deb was taking, until her insurance company cut her off. They said it costs too much. The Dr started her on another medicing a few days ago, but so far it's not working too well. Now that the CHEMO is over, Cathy will have to endure the radiation. Probably start that in June.

Her husband, Jerry, said the fishing trip went well, lots of black bass and blue cats. Still waiting for pictures. Thinks his camera may have went home with one of his brothers by mistake. Gotta go, lunch break is over. Later, Rick.

Carter Cattle Company

Carter Cattle Company

Well, I spent last Saturday trimming cedar out of the fence line behind the house, so I could run a "hot wire" to keep the dog in. It worked (so far), but my arms look like I tried to bathe a wild cat. ho-ho. Bear is still pouting. But, still in the yard!

Found another chicken snake in the other coop, Sunday morning. Just my luck, I didn't have the camera with me. Not quite as big as the first one. HE won't be back. About an hour later, I looked out the window and a HUGE bull snake was stretched out across the driveway. HE won't be back, either! Funny, I had just mentioned to Deb a couple of weeks ago that this was the first spring that we haven't found a snake, usually around the barn. This makes three in two weeks. I held the last one by the tail, up over my head, and there was still about 6 inches of the head end dragging the ground. Over 7 feet long. We've been real lucky, we've never had a rattler, yet. Garden still doing well. Could use another inch or two of rain for the fields.

My sister, Cathy had a bad spell and ended up in the hospital. Gave us all a scare! Not sure if it was a gall stone that caused the enlarged bile duct or what. They'll do more tests on her pancreas in a couple of weeks. She's home, now. She gets her last dose of CHEMO today. Thank God that'll over. The last dose messed up her stomach pretty bad. Her Dr put her on Protonics. That's what Deb was taking, until her insurance company cut her off. They said it costs too much. The Dr started her on another medicing a few days ago, but so far it's not working too well. Now that the CHEMO is over, Cathy will have to endure the radiation. Probably start that in June.

Her husband, Jerry, said the fishing trip went well, lots of black bass and blue cats. Still waiting for pictures. Thinks his camera may have went home with one of his brothers by mistake. Gotta go, lunch break is over. Later, Rick.

Carter Cattle Company

Carter Cattle Company

Back again. Just a quickie update. All the baby chicks drowned in the waterbowl. Won't happen again. I got the tree pulled back away from the fence, so that isn't an issue for now. Dogs are still getting out. Guess I'll be stringing "hot wire" this weekend. The rain was nice, but we could use MORE. Haven't heard from Rinehart, guess the trip to the High Bridge went OK. Garden is starting to take off. Got a few tomatoes, peppers and squash. Should have some blackberries, soon. Not much else going on, just HIGH gas prices. Guess everyone in Midland and Odessa will be buying new trucks, ho-ho. Gotta go. Rick

Carter Cattle Company

Carter Cattle Company

Well, I got home yesterday evening and Deb and I went out to feed the chickens. We now have 6 new babies. Also had an unwelcome guest in the coop. As you can see from the attached photos, it was a five foot chicken snake. Had a belly full of egg shells, too. Deb was just about to go inside to fill the water dish when I pointed it out to her. She almost had a runaway. I hauled him up to Hwy 281 and sent him on his way. So much for having 2 guard dogs in the yard! I also took a picture of the tree leaning over the fence. Never a dull moment. Later, Rick.

Carter Cattle Company

Carter Cattle Company

Sorry for the long lapse. Was on call last week. Fun and games. Deb went to Corpus for her Dad's birthday, last weekend. When I came home Friday, one of the baby chickens was dead on the ground and the other was dead in the water bowl. But, by the time Deb got home Sunday evening, there were four more hatched. Getting quite a bit of rain, too. The drive washed out again, but, a friend (Bill Callaway)borrowed the tractor. Maybe I'll get it back someday. Gotta get some dewormer cubes for the cows. I usually doctor them before I turn them out of the trailer when I bring them home. This time, one was so close to calving, I didn't want to take the chance. I did get them treated for "black-leg" before they came home. Kinda quiet around without the ducks and geese. (a nice quiet) The garden loves all the rain. So does the creek. I knew it would fill up as soon as we got rid of the ducks and geese. Oh, well. I think I mis-named our place. We only have two pair of cows, but a million hummingbirds. Should have been "Hummingbird Hollow." Man, the humidity is bad! I think it's getting about time to spend some time in the desert (Clark County, Nevada), if ya know what I mean. Guess I better get off here for now. More as it becomes available, Rick.

Carter Cattle Company

Carter Cattle Company

Back again. Get a gooood rain Friday nite. The guage shows 1 & 3/4", but a lot of what we got came sideways. The creek caught some water, first time in over a year. Unless we get more, it will probably dry up this week. A lot of folks around got 3+". Had to re-do the driveway, but I don't mind, as long as we get the rain. We have three baby chickens, so far. Two other hens are setting, too. Friday nite, when the rain came, I went on the front porch to check on the cat. We got her one of those little round cat houses covered in carpet, for the winter. I noticed some of the floor material was hanging out of the door and the cat was hunkered up under one of the chairs. When I reached down to replace the flooring, BAM!. There was a hen in there and she nailed my hand. I tilted it over some and could see that she was setting on 8-10 eggs. I waited till after dark on Saturday nite, and transferred her and the eggs to one of the nesting boxes in one of the hen houses. When she woke up Sunday morning, she was none the wiser. As of this morning, she is still setting. So far, we haven't lost anymore ducks or geese. If the creek keeps running, I may move them to there. Brent said Cordon wants them, but they never came to pick them up. I bet if they were goats, they'd already be gone! ho-ho. If this spring is any indicator, looks like we're in for a long, hot summer. Maybe we'll get some rain off one of those hurricanes. Deb goes back on the 18th to get her Potassium checked, again. She seems to be doing ok. Well, gotta go. More later....