Brice + Callie

About a week ago, we had the distinct honor of taking pictures of our good friends Brice and Callie. They are getting married in April 2011. These two were a blast to hang out with and we were so happy they were our photography guinea pigs!

So... here's our first "official" photo shoot (with someone other than cows, Beans, Buttons, or Wilma.)

Let us know what you think! Plus, Brice and Callie would probably like to hear your comments on how absolutely adorable they are, too!

Vacation Bible School

This week Catherine and I have been teaching the 4&5 year olds at the Vacation Bible School that our church puts on. Today we had 18 of those little buggers in our class and we really enjoy being around them. They are so fun and energetic. And some of the stuff they come up with!

We also have one of the best co-teachers in the world. Anne McCain also is one of the teachers with us. Actually, she is really the teacher and Catherine and I just do what she tells us to. She is a real life teacher, you see. Anne can really lay down the law to these kids, while Catherine and I are kinda like "Don't make me come over there," and Anne says things like "Are you waving you pencil in the air because you want me to take away your smiley face for today?"

On Tuesday, Anne was visiting her grandmother and not able to help with the class. One of the kids asked "Where's the other teacha?" Catherine told him that Ms. Anne was visiting her grandmother in the nursing home (which she isn't) and she would not be here today. The little angel sat back in his chair and you could tell that he was thinking "It's me versus the pushovers!" Ha! Pushover nothing! Later in the class he kid was being rambunctous and Catherine yelled out in her meanest voice "If you do not sit down in that chair RIGHT NOW you will be standing in the corner reciting memory verses for the rest of class!" Needless to say, the child sat down and did not say anything the rest of the class time.

Another fun story happened today. A sweet innocent little girl came up to Anne and I today and said "Can I be moved. I do not want to sit next to so-and-so anymore." Anne in a very concerned voice said "Why would you like to be moved?" The little girl replied with "Because he keeps kissing me." I think that she meant "kicking," (how could we have missed the kissing?) but we relocated her so she wasn't next to a boy who was trying to get fresh with her.

Perhaps one of the most jarring experiences of the class was for me. Catherine and I were doing some last minute shopping at Hobby Lobby for decorations and Catherine was reading out of the teaching manual. She casually said "We need 10 lepers." I about fell out. I shouted "Where are we going to find 1 leper, let alone 10!" I was really beside myself. I thought it was ridiculous that we needed to find lepers and expose children to them.

Actually, we had to turn the children into lepers. Our lesson was about the 10 lepers that Jesus healed and how only one came back to say thank you. This may have been the highlight of the week so far. I have never seen so many kids as eager to be turned into a leper as our class was. We stuck white labels all over them. Each kid got to participate in being a leper and also in a townsmen.

Here are a few pictures of our lepers!



Jarrett (striped shirt) is playing Jesus and healing the lepers. He is removing the white spots and has a real potential in the medicinal field.


The little leper belongs to a fellow blog reader. Mrs. Ramona Petrosky (best chicken spaghetti cooker I know!) is the mother of this guy, and Dillon must read our blog too. He reported that his teachers were the ones that have the "Cute dog named Wilma."

One final story. A grandmother of one of our students came into our class yesterday and asked about the story we taught about the Irish. Apparently her granddaughter went home and reported that she never wanted to be turned into an Irish-man again. The youngster said that we (Catherine and I) put stickers all over her and turned her into an Irish-man and when she took off the stickers it pulled her arm and leg hair and she never wanted to be Irish again! How funny!!

How Smert Er Ya? Vol. 2

So since yesterdays brain teasers were answered correctly in just three attempts. I have decided to add a few more today. I think that these are a little harder. At least Catherine thought they were.

I was trying to help Catherine get better at these type of puzzles by drawing them and then working them out with her. Have you ever watched When Harry Met Sally? Do you remember the part about "Baby Fish Mouth?" We had a similar episode today when she was trying to guess one of the following puzzles.

If you have not seen the clip from When Harry Met Sally, you can watch it here!



Now that you have seen that, try out some of these puzzles. Again I will buy the winner an Ice Cream Cone or Hot Chocolate. It kinda depends on the weather, ya know.

#1 - NO STONE LEFT UNTURNED


#2 - FANCY THAT


#3 CROOKED LAWYER


#4 TRAVEL OVER SEAS


#5 THREE DEGREES BELOW ZERO


#6 THE SEVEN SEAS


#7 WEST INDIES


#8 APPLE PIE


#9 NEON LIGHTS


Look forward to hearing your responses! Feel free to embarass yourself, no answer is off limits!

How Smert Er Ya?

So since tomorrow is Friday and everyone is looking for things to speed up the day until they can call it quits and start to celebrate the weekend, here are a few Brain Teasers to get you through.

I will post the answers tomorrow and you can see how you did.

#1 Answer: Head Over Heels In Love
\
#2 Answer: He Came Out Of Nowhere


#3 Answer: Open and Closed Case

#4 Answer - Green with Envy

#5 Answer: Think Outside the Box


Ok so this last one cause some big time chuckles at Our Little Ranch. You see, Catherine is a very competitive person and always prides herself on being very intelligent. Her famous quote is "I will challenge you to an IQ test!" Well she did that to me once and she lost, but that is another story. Anyway, I love these types of puzzles. I am also rather good at them. So I was trying to get Catherine to guess what the one above was.


Bless her heart, she could not get it. She kept guessing "Cubed Think," "3D cube," "Box on a Board!" She was getting so mad, and I kept saying "How are you so dumb that you can't get this!" That really made her mad and she finally had enough and got real mad and said "I am not playing your stupid games anymore. Those are retarded, no one plays those past middle school. You're so dumb!"

Basically what it boils down to is that Catherine was mad that she could not get the puzzles. I think that they are very easy, but someone doesn't. What a loser. Anyway, leave your guesses in the comment section.

Also, if you cannot get these it does not mean that you are King of the Stupids or anything, you just arn't as smert as me! If it makes you feel better, I simply cannot get the stupid triangle/golf tee game that they have a Cracker Barrel. I am always "Just Plain Dumb!" That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. A dumb piece of wood just told me how much I suck at life.

Now go leave your guesses! First person to win gets a Free Ice Cream Cone the next time I see them. How about that!

New Stuff

Now that the subterranean Mole People have released me, I will get back to blogging on a somewhat regular basis. Since the last time we talked, Catherine and I have had a lot of developments in our life.

First, I got a new truck! That's right, the old red hornet (my P.O.S. Jeep) is gone and now look at what I get to ride around in. (P.S., the tagline of Neumayr+Neumayr Ranch Photography is a joke. Just wanted something a little different than the Our Little Ranch photo treatment, today.)



Now I can get hale bales and put them in the bed of my truck and not throw them on top of the Jeep. I can also pen cows with reckless abandon thanks to the fancy Ranch Hand bumper on the front of the truck.

Other developments in our life include: new calves, new knee, new decor, new job, new computer, new business, new spelling of name, new picture subjects, etc.

Stay tuned for the stories behind all of these developments. Right now, I'm out the door to go work some recips, paint their tails, and last but not least, sweat through every layer of clothing that I have on. I'm going to try to convince my partner in crime (Catherine) to come along, because she loves painting their tails. We'll see.

Livin' It Up La Vita!

I know that many people will be able to relate to this blog. Well at least I hope so, it will make me feel better.

How many of you have been belting out a song in full confidence that you know the words and then someone hears you and politely (or not) tells you of the correct words. Then you 1) are horrible embarrassed or 2) just go with it and claim it as a new version.

I am notorious for not knowing the words to songs. I just say what I think it sounds like and go on. But my wonderful wife is one of those people who actually listen to the words and think of what the meaning behind the song is. She is also one of those people who takes great pride in pointing out my "new lyrics," and then telling me the correct ones. I usually have to have a second opinion which involves a Google search for the lyrics to a particular song.

I should mention that I hate to sing in public. Well....not necessarily hate, but more like horrified to sing in public. I mean I can carry a tune with the best of them, it is the releasing part that is difficult. I do not know what the deal is, but when it comes to singing in public I freeze. I. Freeze. I have just got to the point where I can kinda mumble songs in front of Catherine and we have been together for how long, something like almost 5 years. Then she makes fun of my incorrect words and all those years of therapy trying to get over my fear are down the toilet.

Do you know who shares the same phobia of singing in public. David Beckham that's who. I found that on Yahoo News one day and that made me feel a little better about myself.

So how about a couple of examples of "My Lyrics" and the actual ones. You better be sitting on something absorbent, because some of these are rather funny.

Example #1 - Love in an Elevator - Aerosmith

My Lyrics:
Livin' It Up La Vita, Livin' it up when it's going down.

Actual Lyrics:
Love In An Elevator, Livin' it up when I'm goin' down

-Hey I was partially right.

Example #2 - Breakfast at Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something

My Lyrics:
And I said what about "Breakfast at Tiffany's? She said, "I think I remember the Bellheim"

Actual Lyrics:
And I said what about "Breakfast at Tiffany's? She said, "I think I remember the film, and...

What is a Bellheim anyway!? I did get some good news though, Anne McCain also thought that these were the words.

Example #3 - Faithfully - Journey

My Lyrics:
You stand by me,
I'm forever young,
Faithfully

Actual Lyrics:
You stand by me,
I'm forever yours,
Faithfully

So what if I am forever young. I figured this out all by myself when watching the season finally of Glee last night. They were singing this song and for some reason they (with me as a backup) could not quite mesh on that particular part. Turns out, they had the words wrong. Or was it me, I can never remember.

Final Example - Wizard of Oz

My mom likes to tell the story of when I was younger and would be watching the Wizard of Oz. Apparently in my magic outfit (who knows what this was!) I would stand in front of the television with my staff (the snake staff from Aladdin that Jafar carried. I will say that I love that toy and still play with it to this day when I am back home.) and when the Witch would be telling the Mean Monkeys to "Seize them, Seize them," I would be yelling "Tease them, Tease them," while waving my magic scepter at the tv.

I have many more examples, one that I just discovered while singing to iTunes, but I will save that for another day.

Does anyone have any examples of their own? Let us know!

Have a great day and remember that if you need to do a fact check, just Google the lyrics. Most of the time the stuff that you find on the Internet is true but some of the lyrics I have found are not 100% accurate. So check two different sites to make sure.

P.S. No pictures, sorry. Maybe tomorrow, or maybe later today. It is going to storm (again) so I might get brave and put two blogs up in one day.

**UPDATE**
I just talked to my mother and I believe that my lyric problem is genetic. She gave me an example of messed up lyrics by my sister. Listen to this!

Soul Man - Blues Brothers

Cassie's Lyrics:
I was so mad!

Actual Lyrics:
I'm a soul man!

That's a Bunch of Bull!

That time of the year has rolled around again. The time when we put out herd bulls. Personally, I think looking at cows is much more fun when you have a big impressive herd bull roaming the pastures with them and I get real excited when the bulls are loaded up from the bull pastures and then dropped off at their designated breeding grounds. I don't think that I need to say this, but I think the bulls are a little more "excited" to see their ladies than I am, but you know what I mean.

What really adds to the excitement is when we have a bull that went from being a show bull to a herd bull. They normally make a stop at the bull stud to get some semen collected, so we can breed or flush cows to them, before they get turned out with cows. While they are getting collected we don't get to see them everyday and when a trailer leaves to go pick them up, we all sit by our phones waiting for the call to say that the bulls are getting close. We, normally everyone around the ranch, go to the pasture where the first bull is getting turned out and anxiously await for the door to the trailer to open, and a big herd bull come stepping out.

This particular bull, pictured above, is one that is very special to us. His name is Mr. V8 463/6 and he is the 2009 National Champion Bull. I have a very strong bond with 463 because I was the lucky one that got to show him for most of his life.


Here we are at the Kick-Off Classic in Brenham. He was just a little guy this day, but he did big things. He went home with the Reserve Grand Champion banner. What a stud!

We also like to give our bulls nicknames, because calling one 463 over and over again get a little boring. But we also have some that don't get names. So it is kinda a crap shoot if they get a name or not.

Anyway, 463 did get a nickname. We call him Roany. A roan colored calf is one that has different colors of hair mixed together. Roany has a red tint to him and also black, as well as his grey body. He has parts that it all mixes together and therefore was dubbed Roany. He also has some snowflakes on his backside. Look below, those are pretty cool, huh?



This was the big man when he was National Champion. What an exciting day!

So back to turning out herd bulls. When 463 was turned out, Catherine's dad called us and said "Come look at 463, he looks like a million bucks!" So we grabbed our camera and headed down the road to the backside of the Donaldson to check him out. Sure enough, 463 looked like he had just came out of the showbarn.

We took a few more pictures and one will be selected as his official photo that will go in our semen brochure, on the web site and used in our print advertising. But we have not selected which one that will be yet. Once we do, I will share it with y'all.

Go to my happy place.

Wednesday morning it was hot and muggy. I wanted to stay in the house and sit directly in front of the air conditioner vent, but when Luke asked if I wanted to ride along and play rancher with him, trying to be the good wife I am, I gladly accepted.

Our family has a lease place about 7 miles away from the house that we refer to as "The Brown," even though I don't know why. My guess is that at some point, it was owned by someone with that last name. If we purchase a piece of property, we almost always refer to it by the previous owners last name. For example, the land right across the street used to be owned by the Donaldson family, so we call it, "The Donaldson." My parents' own about 200 acres that we refer to as "The Livingston." So... anyway... we are driving to The Brown.

The reason we had to go to The Brown was because we had a cow that is close to calving that was in a pasture (in the back forty, I might add) with other cows who were short bred. It was inconvenient to check her way back in the middle of nowhere, and it would be hard to bring her up to the pens if she were to have any calving trouble. So, with the help of *the* most talented cowherd manager ever, Frank, we set out to pen the group of cows, and cut out the recip we needed.

Truth be told, we all love The Brown. Its a huge place with beautiful lakes and plenty of grass, but if you aren't familiar with it, you can easily get lost. We had a few gaps to open (for our city friends, "gaps" are makeshift gates made from fence materials) along the way, and then we found the cow we needed.

I'm not going to lie to you and say I'm a good penner, because I'm not. We had 2 vehicles: Frank (super penner) drives a truck, and Luke and I were riding in my grandpa Gene's truck that we borrowed. We located the group of cows and then started trying to gently move them. I don't know why I get so nervous, but I immediately did. Luke must've looked over and saw that I was gripping the door with my right hand and sitting on my left, with my eyes closed and my head down. I told him, "I'm going to my happy place."

You might think... "Catherine, you're crazy, what do you have to worry about when penning?" Well... I can think of a few things, but in this situation, the main thing I was worried about was........ driving the car off into an unknown lake.

Huh?

Before you think I'm insane, let me tell you that the grass at the Brown was almost as high as the truck. We were penning together and driving pretty fast, and I would open my eyes to look for Frank's truck, and I'd only see the top of it moving about 50 mph. We could only see the grass/weeds directly in front of us. Now, I know for a fact there are bodies of water on The Brown. I also know for a fact that as we're driving fast penning, we've all pretty much lost track of where exactly these ponds are.

So I'm nervous and thinking, "How much longer? How far are we from the pens? Go to my happy place."

Well, before long, we turn the cows into the lane, and I breathe a huge sigh of relief. The lane is the greatest invention ever for penning, because once the cows get in the lane, you're home free and they just walk down the lane to the pens.

We get the cows into the pen, and just when I think all is well with the world and anything I have to worry about is gone, I see Frank running back towards his truck. I say, "Hey, what's going on?"

Frank yells...

"Snake! Maybe a rattlesnake!"

Oh. My. Gosh.

Go to my happy place.

Frank "took care" of the snake, which turned out to be a less-exciting Water Mocassin.

Now all is well. We're almost done, we just have to get the cows back to their pasture. It's Luke and I's job to turn the cows once they reach their gate at the end of the lane.

This is no problem for me, as one of my defining rancher moments and quite possibly one of the best moments of my life happened about 4 years ago, when my dad dropped me off in a similar situation to stand, on foot, by myself, and turn a group of about 75 recip cows at a 90 degree angle to cross a creek. I can distinctly remember seeing the cows running towards me, full blast. My dad was behind them pushing them.

My hands were sweaty, and I was terrified, but it was no time to "go to my happy place," so I started waving my hands and yelling "Hup! Ho!" and sure enough, just when I thought I was going to get trampled, the first cow in the group looked to the left and made the turn. The rest followed. I felt like Queen of the Ranch that day.

Anyways... I got off track with that excellent story.

We got the cows back to the pasture and we have safely separated the soon-to-calve recip.

As fun as all this sounds... I'm not sure I'll be accompanying Luke too many more times to The Brown.... at least not until some of that tall grass is gone OR I get a scuba suit.