News From the Ranch, Episode 1517

Posted on September 29, 2016 by prairiemoonquilts in Prairie Moon Ranch, What's New

After pretty much ignoring my blogs for the entire summer, I think I’ll fill you in on a little of what’s been going on around here. I’ll try to keep it short, and tell you all the other stuff later.

Thank you to everyone who’s been checking in with me, wondering if anything is wrong. My Cowboy hasn’t been sick (any more than usual), and I’m doing all right, too. I’ve just been super super busy with more deadlines than ever. It’s been crazy! I need to learn how to schedule better.

Actually, what I really need is to become a better estimator of how long it’s going to take me to do something. I can never remember to take into account all the interruptions I’ll get while trying to do something. Interruptions! The bane of my existence. But here on the ranch, it’s par for the course. You’d think I’d have learned by now.

We got a new kitten:

stormy

Someone dumped this darling little boy in the parking lot where my sister works, and she brought him to me. My intention was to make him another barn cat, but his personality! He ended up indoors. We named him Stormy. He’s already doubled in size — he’s gonna be a big boy.

Which has worked out OK, since we lost our Miss Kitty in August, at the age of 13. She’s been with My Cowboy longer than I have, so it’s been quite an adjustment to not have her around, bossing everything we do . . . every day . . . all day long.

This is what I miss the most — my handwork helper:

mk

And speaking of barn cats, there is a brand new litter of four in our barn, so there will still be plenty of mousers outside.

One day not long ago, My Cowboy came home with two new goats:

frankiendottie

Goats love buckets! The one in the bucket is a male, and needs for his voice to grow into his body. He sounds absolutely hilarious when he bleats, so we named him Frankie (after Sinatra). His sidekick is a little nanny, and she has big white dots all over her, so we named her . . . wait for it . . . Dottie. We’re so original!

And it’s calving season! We have several new babies on the ground, the first of which was born on Labor Day (appropriately). His mother, Molly, is a great-granddaughter of Bodacious, the famous bucking bull, so that makes this little fella a great-great-grandson of Bodacious, so I named him Bodie. (Bodie’s half-sister, Mini-Moo, demonstrates the bucking trait quite often!)

mollynbodie

My Cowboy also helps his friend keep an eye on his momma cows while they’re calving, and sometimes I ride along for that. Sometimes I can remember to take pictures, and other times, I’m too busy squealing over all the cute babies, and I forget!

redcow

In other news, I’ve been doing some family things. I went to church Homecoming with my sister and Daddy, and then we all also went to a tractor show together. It was a Gathering of the Orange, and we are an orange family!

acshirt

I traded in my truck (a multi-day ordeal I don’t wish to repeat anytime soon). In a couple months, I’ll get some new tires. Once it gets snowy/icy, I’ll need them to be able to get up the hill to our place. It’s a bugger!

truck

I’ve been to a couple of quilt shows, visited a couple of guilds to present trunk shows, and gone to a couple retreats (and marathon sewed).

I’ve also spent many many many long days at the longarm this summer. LOTS of custom quilting has been going on around here. And lots of late nights at the computer, pattern writing. I’ll show you the results of some of that soon.

computer

I’ve not had much time to work on things of my own, but I’m trying. I’ve started a Halloween quilt:

halloweenfabric

I have lots of things to catch you up on, and to show you, so I hope you’ll check in! I’ll be back tomorrow with the 350 Blocks Report and I’ll start up the organizing tasks again on Monday. I’ll also hopefully have another Creativity Challenge for you next week.

If you’re in the Brunswick, Missouri, area this weekend, be sure and catch the Brunswick Pecan Festival. Our guild, the Pecan Valley Quilt Guild, is having a quilt show on Saturday, from 10-3, in conjunction with the Festival, which is always a lot of fun. Maybe I’ll see you there!

Note: This post was written with only three interruptions!

14 responses to “News From the Ranch, Episode 1517”

  1. I noticed your silence, but remembered all about the deadlines, so wasn’t worried. Look forward to hearing all about those deadlines.

  2. Wendy says:

    I, too, was curious what you’ve been up to. It looks like it’s all been good, except for the loss of your kitty. Stormy is a handsome dude though! I don’t know what to think of your orange family — my dad was a John Deere parts man all of his life (almost), so we are a green family. Green and orange are complimentary, though, right?? Looking forward to more posts!

  3. randy says:

    Can I tell you 16 blocks here or should i wait.

    5 quilts completed and bound this momth. ( okay they of the tops were done earlier)

  4. Mel says:

    I’m a foster in KS MO. I got involved shortly after retirement. Didn’t know what I was missing. Cats only. Enjoy your wonderful new companion I have a female to go with him. About same age LOL. We became foster failures last year when we added to our family a beautiful even division of orange and black down her nose Torti named Callie and Grayson one of her brothers a Russian Blue. Our plate is full and wouldn’t have it any other way. Totally 5 indoor kitties. Sometimes I get to sew other times it is just sit and pet kitties and groom. Rescue group called them the QTRIP kids. Left in a box and of course at the right time of our lives.

  5. Rose Marie says:

    I loved attending one of those quilt shows with you!! Big day for me. Also I am going to stitch like crazy tomorrow because I only have three blocks for the whole month of September and tomorrow is the deadline. Quilting and cutting apparently don’t count for anything – which is what I did this month! LOL

  6. Amy Milne says:

    “Goats love tubs!” kills me. Sweet update, Shelly. Hope to see you in Housont!

  7. Kari says:

    Agh, Shelley, so good to hear your news….I was getting worried and started checking all your blogs for news…cute animals that I am sure will provide you and the cowboy with lots of laughs!

  8. Lori East says:

    I’m awfully glad I got to see you during one of those whirlwind quilt show trips! But sheesh, slow DOWN, woman! You make the busy ones of us look like slackers.

    I’m sorry about the loss of your kitty. That’s always rough. I do all I can to ignore all of ours, but am still so sad when they die. Calving season…if those mamas would just go into labor when it was convenient for their humans, life would be so much easier. But hooray for baby-anythings. They are such fun! I love watching all of them (okay, maybe not baby possums, because they stink, but even they are sorta cute)…

  9. Meloney says:

    Awesome to hear from you again and all is well. Life sure is busy at times.
    I have so many things almost done around here, but I hope to focus more after I get this test quilt finished.

  10. Swooze says:

    Glad to see you posting

  11. Janet Smith says:

    Always enjoy your adventures. Did notice you have a Ford truck. Ron will be proud of you..lol
    That helps toward our monthly income…
    Was good to see you last month.

  12. Susan says:

    Wow, it does sound like a busy summer! Thanks for the update. Those cows and goats and the kitten, oh my gosh, so cute! I’m sorry for the loss of your good kitty friend, though. That’s hard to accept sometimes.

  13. Scarlett Ragas says:

    Good to hear from you, Shelly! Can’t wait to see your new pattern. Love the animal pics! Nice truck, too!

  14. katie z. says:

    Knowing you’ve been insanely busy, I hope this won’t seem rude. I was wondering if you are going to make another cowboy Christmas stocking this year. You see, I’ve finally stitched up all the previous ones and need one more for the new baby! If you are, I’ll happily wait for it to come out, and if you have no such plans, I’ll reinterpret a previous one. Thank you for all the delightful patterns and blog posts when you have time.

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