Life on the Ranch

    What a way to start a beautiful, cold morning at the ranch. The long-awaited, big & fat doe finally had her babies. All theories that she just had a tumor went out the door! Three little girls to our happiness - although my 8-year-old son was trying to convince us that boys are better. Here are some pictures of the excitement. We should have a youtube video up about it also sometime soon. Our youtube channel is  http://www.youtube.com/oklahomaranchlife - come see our videos and subscribe to stay in the loop of ranch life with us!

Just a quick update from around the ranch. Things have been busy around here with auctions, listing things on Ebay, soccer practices and games and just everyday life around the ranch. Here are a few pics one of the kids got the other day of some of the animals. See the picture blow of the VERY large goat . . . the debate is whether she is pregnant or has a tumor (haha! Just kidding on that). We are awaiting her  "popping". Jewels, the resident French Black Copper Maran roo: Peek-a-boo sheep! Two of last year's kids fighting for control of the little house. This little rooster is the coolest little guy around. Small but MIGHTY! :) There was an unexpected event the other day with a BIG wild hog - but I'll save that for later as I am running late right now on getting the chores done!

   We brought in a new Livestock Guardian dog just today. She is 7 weeks old and we are hoping she will grow up to be a good guardian for our animals. She is out in the goat and sheep pen with our other LGD. Hopefully she will learn from him as she grows up.

 It's that time of the year when it starts to get cold. I had 4 layers of sweatshirts on and my jacket this morning. I like to layer so that I can strip the sweatshirts off one-by-one as I go about feeding all the critters in the morning. Usually by the time I get back to the milking barn I have taken several layers off. the only problem with this plan of action is that I have sweatshirts all over the yard on various fenceposts and other places! Thankfully, I have a big pile of sweatshirts I have collected from all of the auctions we have gone to!!      The first water buckets had to have ice broke out of them!

31 for 21: The "R" Word Controversy Being in the special needs community for almost 8 years now, I am fully aware of all the 'Politically Correct' lingo that should be used. You know, you say "a child with Down syndrome", not a "Down syndrome child." And there are also certain words which just are not supposed to be said, the word "retard" being at the top of the list. It took some getting used to for me, because my family has never been very "politically correct" :). Over the years I've seen the issues that come up when certain popular individuals use the "R" word, when someone who has a child with DS has a friend say this word in a conversation, or when it's use is discussed on a forum. I've never said much about it, because I think a lot of people will have a problem with my view on it. Last week though, Ann Coulter called President Obama a "retard" on Twitter. There has been a ton o

     New lives in the midst of our busy lives . . .     My mom is leaving tomorrow to head back to CA so much of this evening was spent just hanging out with her . . . cutting stuff up for green salsa, playing a card game and sitting by the campfire. More later, Lord willing.

we went to the soccer field as usual for a Sunday game. Our team (Revolution) won today. Here are a few pics of that:      After the game we went over to our friend's (the Youngs) to record the Change dance that we are working on. You'll just have to wait for the finished music video to be done (my daughters might work on it tomorrow). Anyway, after that we headed back to our house. One of my daughters was sitting in the way back of the truck and managed to snap some great driving home pics.      Sunset tonight at Liberty Ranch!    Here is the moon rise over the ranch tonight. More tomorrow, Lord willing!

   As usual, we had another busy day doing things. So, I am just going to post some pics of a few big bucks I bought the other night. More tomorrow, Lord willing!

    Most people have friends. We have some very close friends that have been with us for years. They were at the hospital when I gave birth to my twins (the girl without Down syndrome and the boy with Down syndrome). They were right there looking things up online about Down syndrome for me when I was still in the hospital with little O. They were there to help us along this path of having a child with Down syndrome. They are such close friends that we actually refer to them as family.       The Young's run a sign shop and were a big part of the Tulsa Buddy Walk last year and this year. Here is a link to their Facebook page - Tahlequah's Sign Shop Here are a few pics of various things we have done with these special friends of ours.     Hair jobs!     Volleyball! Ice skating!  Yearly pictures! And, of course, the BUDDY WALK!