We made it through the sale and were lucky to have another great day. It wasn't 70, but it wasn't miserable either, so we won't complain. I think I am stressing MORE with each year's sale instead of less. I thought it would get easier, but it doesn't. Generally, I'm not much of a worrier, so this is kind of new for me
After the sale, it looked like the weather would stay nice, but then in December, it started getting cold. And it stayed cold. Right after Christmas, we went up to Michigan, where my parents still have a home. Last year, we went and enjoyed all the winter sports; ice skating, sledding, skiing, etc. Had a lot of fun so we thought we'd do it again this year. As it turns out, we would have had more winter weather if we'd just gone out to western KS. We could have hauled a 4-wheeler out there and had more luck with the sledding and skiing than we did in Michigan! We managed one day of skiing at a place our family used to go when I was a kid. Talk about memories flooding back! We would always go up with our good family friends, the Klumpps. All of us kids were of similar age, so it made for great times. I remember one time, Chip (their oldest son, who I MIGHT of had a little crush on) found a trail through the woods he thought I ought to try. I followed close on his heels. When he took the turn for the trail, I was right behind him. So right behind him that my skis went between his, I slammed into his back, grabbed on to his waist and that's how we took the entire trail. The trail was too narrow to try a snow plow stop, so we had no choice but to continue as we were, gaining speed the whole way. I couldn't see a thing, but I'm pretty sure we both screamed all way down until we finally shot out into the open at the end of the trail. That's when we crashed. We were both laughing so hard that it was some time until we could get up.
At this same resort, but on another trip, we were staying at the hotel and had gone to the main lodge for dinner one night. Our parents used to torture us by sitting after dinner drinking interminable cups of coffee. Since the Klumpps were with us, they were most likely having after dinner drinks too. That was usually worth sticking around for, as my Dad and Mr. Klumpp could be pretty darn funny. But for one reason or another, we kids got bored and a couple of us started exploring the lodge. Normally hopping during the ski day, it was quiet and deserted, save for the restaurant where we'd had dinner. We found ourselves upstairs, at the cafeteria that was the big lunch spot. It was also deserted at this late hour. But right inside the door, was a HUGE stack of cafeteria trays. Hmmmm....... right outside was the big face slope. I had been garbage bagging before (where you climb up a hill, sit yourself in a Hefty bag and slide down, totally out of control). so we figured cafeteria trays might do the same thing. We grabbed a stack, found the rest of our group of kids and headed out. Had an absolute blast! Since you could see the face slope from the restaurant, we had an audience. Since it apparently looked like fun, we soon had plenty of others out there. We told them where they could find the trays and soon there were about 30 of us traying the slope. You'd sit on your tray, lift your legs up and go. Shortly after, you'd spin around and be backwards. Shortly after that, you'd be out of control, lose your tray and slide the rest of the way down on your back. It was great fun.
The next morning, going up the chair lifts we noticed countless trays in the woods. Remember, I said you'd lose your tray pretty quick. Well a number of those trays would shoot out to the side and land in the woods. Trays everwhere. I'm sure for those who weren't out there the night before, it was hard to imagine just how those trays came to be!
Where were we anyways? Oh yes, it's 2006 and my family is at this same ski place. Only this time, there's no natural snow. However, they'd covered the place with man-made snow, which actually wasn't bad. The incongruous part was the green fairways right along side some of the easy runs at the bottom. You could have had your pick; golfing or skiing. We went ice skating too, which the girls love, but that was it for our winter escapades.
Like I said, they had more snow out in Western KS. Too much snow and cold and our hearts go out to those poor folks and their cattle. Turned out to be a disaster like I hope we don't see again in my lifetime. We too ended up with snow, fortunately not like out west. But it turned off cold and stayed cold for extended periods, which is unusual for KS. We had one of our biggest snows right in the middle of the synchronized heifers calving time. I've included a couple of photos below. When the winter weather was all said and done, we did lose 3 calves in the mature cows. They are out on range and there wasn't much we could do about it. However, we lost none of the heifers' calves. The folks that took the calve out option in this year's sale really got their money's worth!
Click either photo to enlarge
Joe shines a light into the heifers at about 2 am (L); one of the calve out sale heifers (R)
The rest of the winter went well and our short hay supplies lasted. We knew we'd be cutting it very close, but as of today (April 5) we are going to be fine. Thank goodness! Hope your winter didn't bring too much bad weather and hay supplies are long!