It ain't pretty.

That's the thing about ranching. But... it sure can be funny.

As I'm sure you've figured out by now, Luke and I aren't at a loss for humor. We find something to laugh about in even the most boring of all situations.

We have 3 head in our little pen right by our house. We have 143/6, who is the alpha cow of the group, plus two younger heifers that we bought earlier this year that we are 'growing out' until they are ready to be bred. 143 is so nice to us... she lets us pet her and stands at the gate morning and evening at feeding time. However, she's a big bully to the two younger heifers. They want to be friends, and they want to get pet and scratched too, but 143 isn't letting them. Anytime the little heifers inch towards us, or stretch a curious neck out thinking about giving us a sniff, before long, 143 comes a-runnin' and butts them out of the way, as if to say, "Hey... if you're giving out the petting and scratching, here I am." It's not her most attractive personality trait, but hey, I'm sure we've all known people just like her who push others around to get in the spotlight. And just like those situations, we let 143 manipulate us into getting what she wants — we begrudgingly oblige and give all our petting to her. As I'm writing this, I feel guilty.

Anyways, these 3 lovely Brahman ladies needed some hay the other day and since both Luke and I are SUV drivers, we usually have to borrow a truck to go to the hay barn (which is only about 200 yards from our house, I should mention) and get them some square bales. We used to have our own round bale circle hay rack thing, but it got stolen by my dad an unknown thief.

None of the ranch's trucks were available and we had to... improvise.

My husband, the yard man, got on his trusty red lawn tractor (okay... it's not a tractor), drove it down the road to the hay barn, loaded up 2 bales in the "foot" area of the mower, and headed back to Our Little Ranch. Now... he is getting really creative with the hay moving, because if you'll remember, last time he loaded it on top of his Jeep. This time, he was already mowing the yard and I'm guessing a light bulb went off. Hey, whatever works.

I could NOT miss this. I took a break from laughing hysterically at how ridiculous this hay transportation was to run inside for my camera.


Luke The Expert Driver had to finagle his way through a very tight entrance. The angle just doesn't do it justice, but the tiny gate from the yard to the pen left only centimeters on each side. Nice concentration face, Husband.



Taking the long way around. 143 is probably running my way right now, thinking, "Oooh, pet me!"



But sorry, 143, I can't pet you, because I'm always distracted by evening sunset photo ops.

The two little heifers in the pen probably saw this and high fived (or is it hoof-fived? high hoofed?) and said, "Haha, 143! You are losing your touch, loser!"