We were finally able to get a group of cornstalk cows home.  Good heavens, what a pain in the butt.  The snow and ice cover had us going up there everyday to not only pump water but feed hay, and once it started melting, the roads proved even a bigger challenge.  We were waiting for a day of freezing cold temps, and got one last week that was just enough I could haul a couple loads out and home.

The cows cooperated really well, and the biggest problem we had was just setting up the Rawhide corrals on the snow and ice.  Hopefully I can get the rest of the cows home this coming week. We are rumored to have another 10 inches or so of snow coming in, but every day it keeps changing so fingers crossed it misses us as we really don’t need it right now.

The later part of the week was sorting beef and more beef.  Grace and I tore the reefer apart and went through every box of product we got last week to sort by cut and also by weight.  The website that we currently use is kind of a pain in the fact that if you sell by the pound the buyer is required to put a deposit down and then once you get the order filled and the weight entered you go back and charge them again for the reminder of the balance.

It was definitely extra work, and there was a time or two that it was confusing to the buyer.  This time around, we are selling everything by the package, which will hopefully clear up some of the confusion and streamline things more on our end.  This round of product looks amazing though, and the processor continues to improve with each group.

The fun of the week’s sorting will conclude with an evening brat grill out. We’re trying to figure out what lines of brats would be the best to offer. There were a couple that were really good, and a couple that could use a tweak or two, but we’ll continue to work on it.  I’d love to hear input on what your favorite flavors of brats are.  I’m really tempted to see if we could do a Guinness beer brat. We also have flavors like original, south of the border, and parmesan garlic. Yes, this is what my life has become, talking about cows and brats.

I forgot the other excitement from last week. I went to Colorado Springs to take the Four-Legged Holy Terror to the Colorado Canine Orthopedic Clinic.  She has been gimpy on a front leg for a couple months and after a couple of trips to our vet, they decided to send us there as it’s become a cutting edge destination for help with our best friends.

I originally wondered if Jemma was doing a sympathy limp since I was gimpy also, but the verdict seems that she messed up a rotator cuff.  Fortunately, it sounds like an ultrasound and injections might help with that problem, but does anyone have a clue how far out one must book for a canine ultrasound?  Try the end of April!  The pet field is becoming almost as big of a challenge as the human medical field is to get into the good ones.

On the route home, we stopped at a really nice dog park in Castle Rock, where I let Jemma roam while I was catching up on a couple calls before an appointment.  In the process I was not paying any attention and somehow the next thing I know, I ended up hard on my butt on a sea of ice.

After the obligatory glance around to make sure that no one had watched my gracefulness, I sat for a moment and pondered how the heck can one be skating on ice and snow for the last three months but placed in a different location and fall flat?  Spring and green grass can’t come soon enough!