Inner Redneck...

Yesterday was the annual branding party out at the grandparents'. It's too bad most of you would not appreciate how much better this year was than last year. And I'm not just talking about the 4 applications of SPF 45 sunscreen that kept me from turning into Lobster Man this year. It was actually organized! No, that's not the heatstroke talking. The calves were actually calves and not small cows. Apparently regulating conjugal visits can help prevent 1-yr old calves at branding time. The biggest shock was walking over to the arena and seeing the new sorting pens with fully functional metal bi-directional swing gates. Slap me and call me Bessie... that made life so much easier.

For those more intimately acquainted with the proceeding of previous years, here's a quick overview of the layout... click here for the video (approx. 1.4 MB)

Gone were the shouts from Grandpa, "Get the big one.... No! The big one! The big calf!"... The calves with horns as long as my arm were but a memory (which was a good thing because Grandpa didn't have a de-horner)... No more calves big enough to force their way out of the squeeze, sideways. Just 120 calves, started at 10 AM, finished at 3:30 PM.

Mom was a little disappointed that we didn't get any video of her roping, but we did get a picture of it...

(click for full-size image)

The highlight of the day had to be as we were heading back to the house after it was all over. Grandpa said, "This is the only way to do branding." Really?? So, we're keeping track?... starting... now?

The other beneficial side effect is that- thanks to my sister's apparent fixation- we have a lot of footage of the bull calves getting their "preventative maintenance" (including a couple of extreme close-ups thanks to the 50x zoom on the video camera). I am going to put those together on video (maybe to music) so when Terina and Alaina start dating, I can play it for the young gentlemen as they wait for my daughters to get ready. Before they leave the house for the date, I will simply tell the young men, "You mess with my girls, and I'll mess with your boys..." I think that'll get my point across.