Hello & Welcome to our Diary page. The purpose of this diary is to record our adventures, folks who stop by, travels and events at the Thorne Ranch. It was primarily meant for family and friends in the beginning, but we have grown a large number of faithful readers over the past years. Over 100,000 from all over the world have visited us. We don't intend to offend anyone or to glorify our life here. It's pretty boring most of the time as you will see! We are pretty common folks trying to make a living doing what we love, breeding and raising cattle. Our wish is that someday this Diary will be enjoyed and appreciated by our grandchildren and great grandchildren. In the mean time we hope you get a few good laughs at our expense. "Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself."
Welcome to the Diary &
"The Adventures of Dear Abbie's Wife"
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD..
Remember to welcome strangers, because some who have done this have welcomed angels without knowing it! Hebrews 13:2
Copyright © 1998 - 2010 A. W. Thorne Land & Cattle, Inc. All rights reserved.
"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Proverbs 16:3
A.W. Thorne Land & Cattle, Inc.
435707 E370 Rd
Adair, Oklahoma 74330
Office 918.783.5477 Joan 918.284.0175 A.W. 918.527.2002 joan@thornecattle.com
This page was last updated: August 25, 2010
The Best Days
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'To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.' When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence... 'The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.'
There comes a point in your life when you realize: Who matters, Who never did, Who won't anymore...And who always will. So, don't worry about people from your past, There's a reason why they didn't make it to your future.
August 2010
August 1-2 Hot days of summer at Thorne Ranch now! We got up before daylight on Sunday morning and gathered two pastures that got gates open and they were mixed up. Pairs with Yearling Heifers. We needed to get the heifer pasture in anyway as we had severe pink eye in about half of them. We finished up about 10:30 and cleaned up and went out for breakfast at the truck stop! We dropped Phillip off at Grandma Thorne's and we headed home to prepare for the last day in the hayfield at the lease place! We finished up raking and baling about dark. It was a pleasant trip to bring the equipment back home for another year. This could be the quickest we have ever gotten the hay up. Usually we are fighting equipment and weather. We only had to stop a couple of weeks due to rain but not bad. We sure could use a cool rain about now as the grass is so used to a fresh rain shower that it is starting to stress. We got up over 820 bales this year. A whole lot better than last year. Always someting to be thankful for if you look for it. ha We had customers on Saturday. The Powell family, Kylie, Connie and Norman. Great folks and we sure hope that we can provide them with a show heifer if not a couple!
Phillip standing by one of the crepe myrtle bushes..full of summer bloom.
August 3-7 A busy week of working cattle and cleaning the barn and stalls... Gerald and Clay Stotts came on Thursday night and we looked at cattle until dark. We grilled up burgers and made homemade ice cream with brownies. They spent the night and we started bright and early with biscuits, sausage and gravy. We looked at more cattle in the morning. We had a good time and sure enjoyed their visit. That Gerald is a kick in the pants kind of guy! He makes you laugh all the time! They could not believe how much grass we had and Gerald said he didn't even want to go back home to look at his cattle after seeing ours! ha I think he was just being nice. ha They got left about noon on Friday with semen in their tank from several bulls. I started a web site for them and it is coming along nicely! Of course we still need some family pictures and cattle pictures to get it really started. Check them out at Stotts Farms. We finished up working the last bunch of spring calves this morning. Thank heavens! It got hot before we got done! Sorted off a couple new recruits for the show barn and they are enjoying the fans and misters this afternoon! Tomorrow morning they will get the Ole Thorne halter treatment. Abbie made a dozen for a guy and mailed them and still hasn't seen any funds for them. He is just too darn nice sometimes. People take advantage of nice people in this world if you let them! I guess I am the hard ass one of the family! You know the good cop and the bad cop routine? ha We sure could use a good rain. I didn't mow the yard this week due to it burning up. Katie and Donna Farris came and picked up their heifer Annie that we bred for them this morning. They couldn't believe how much weight she had put on from just being in the pasture. Phillip is starting to figure out sorting cattle and swinging gates..ha Poor kids doesn't know where to jump next when we are in the alley sorting! ha He is learning several new tricks of the trade! He is getting pretty good at getting the heavy bar behind the cattle in the chute. He has come up more than once with green uckum pucky on his hands! Good for him to learn that cow manure does wash off! Abbie is still spraying pastures to get rid of the weeds and it sure has helped the good grass this year. We can't complain that is for sure, God is good!
TLC Turks Jill and Phillip. He showed her in Nebraska last year and she came up to him in the pasture and started licking his leg!
TLC Buds Zone and Abbie down at the pond dam. He just stood there and let him stratch him. Disposition is key on this ranch! It's bred into them and highly inheritable!
August 8 - 17 We have been busy preg checking and working cattle. We finally got a rain shower on Sunday the 15th. We made a fast trip to Tupelo MS to deliver grandson Phillip back to his family. Delynn, Clay and Olivia met us there and we spent Saturday afternoon at the indoor pool in the motel! It was blistering hot there too! Funny story we started visiting with some folks and they were from Inola OK. Small world huh? They knew several people we knew too! We had rain again today and it is giving us the much needed relief from the heat. Pastures were starting to look pretty dry and burnt up! Now it will all come back and grow again. We had customers from Kansas last night and Ellie picked out a couple of steers she liked for her project. Really nice folks and we are glad that two of our fellas will get a good home. I baked up four pans of cinnamon rolls today. I plan on freezing a couple of pans for later on when we get company and I don't have anything made up! It is a long process as I make them from scratch. The bread dough is called Lighter Than Air and I will try and remember to put it on so you can make some too! Abbie went to Kansas City today with some guys for a seminar on cattle nutrition. He left at 4:00 a.m. and got home about 9:00 exhausted. I did the usual barn chores and washed Bart and Jacki today!
Sky looking west in Tupelo MS.. Anniversary of Elvis death celebrated that day. He was born in Tupelo MS. Notice the funny sky with streak down the middle?
TLCC Hello Dolly a heavy bred heifer we showed for couple of years.. She is due the end of August! She sure didn't fall apart after the March Houston show. She is an easy keeper!
August 18-25 Gosh we have been busy with lots of projects around here! Doesn't seem like we have gotten anything done but we are at least still kicking around. We did run up to Miami on Saturday night to watch our friend Jack Thompson's grandson , Cutter Thompson show the bucket calf Jack is so proud of! He is out of our Tracker bull and one of his first calf heifers that didn't milk good enough so he just fed the calf milk replacer. The calf looks pretty darn good for a bucket calf. Katie spray painted him up to be checker board and glitter with a big red bow on his tail. Cutter led that calf in like a champ and they were sure cute! All in all I think they must have had at least 24-30 little kids with buckets calves at the show. There wasn't many folks without a smile on their faces while it was going on. It makes breeding and raising cattle and kids worth it's weight in gold!
