Chuck Chimes In

Hey all, this is Cherokee Outlaw Arkie.  Mouthful, ain't it?  That's why my people call me Chuck.   As you might have guessed, I was born in Arkansas.   I spent my younger years working as a roping horse on a cattle ranch in Colorado.   It's a long story about how I ended up in Raleigh, but after working hard all my life, I ended up with a pretty soft job.

Headed down the trail with Deuce

My people were looking for a nice, quiet horse.   That Grady feller thought I would do ok, and he understood that my life had been pretty tough and I had spent time with people who put too much pressure on me.  It took a while, but I started settling in here.   Grady worked with me, convinced me that my new home was a lot different than what I had been doing before.  I have a lot of training behind me.   Grady knew that.  But my new person, he didn't know anything.  The Feed Lady, she knows a good bit.  I don't really like when she rides me, and more than once I had to be her riding horse for dressage lessons when Deuce got hurt.  I didn't care for that much.   Now she rides me once a while on the trails.  She says it's to make sure I'm behaving, but I think she just gets tired of riding her squirrelly horse and wants a nice, relaxing ride.   And Deuce really is a hot mess on the trails sometimes.  He says he likes going out with me because he knows he can outrun me.  What he's running from, we never can quite figure out.

My person learning to take care of my feet

My person, he's all right.   I get the feeling he doesn't always know what he's doing, but his intentions always seem good, so I roll with it.  He's learning.   And he's nice to me.  Sometimes he's like a walking vending machine - treats in every pocket.  We go on rides, and all I gotta do is walk.   Like I said, this job is pretty soft.  I know a lot more stuff, but my person seems pretty content with what we are doing, so I go along.   Besides all that, working hard my whole life gave me arthritic feet, so an easy job suits me just fine.  The Feed Lady, she keeps an eye on me, puts some yucky tasting medicine in my dinner when she thinks my feet are sore.  I've learned that if I need something, it's sometimes best to let her know, she's been doing this a while and seems to have a good handle on things.  Like I don't like being out in the cold wind.  As soon as she figured that out, she started putting a jacket on me to keep the wind off.  And my people bring me in out of the cold and wet during the winter.   In the summer they put me in a stall with a fan when it's really hot.   Not bad for an old roping horse.

On hot days, we get a pool!

My job is making this guy look good

Love me some little people

My other favorite thing is because I'm not grouchy like Deuce or wiggly like Willie, when little people come to the farm and want to pet a horse, I'm the man for the job.  So I just gotta stand while the little ones brush and pet me, and then they feed me treats.  The best treats are peanuts, but I'm not real picky.

Babies and Beer

Hey all, it's Willie.  This post is a little late in coming - mom has been too busy to sit with me and let me use her laptop.

Olivia's morning surprise

But anyway...All the babies are here!  Yep!   I got little baby cows on the other side of the fence!   I told you about the first one, baby Lane.   Well, now there's 2 more!  Mom went outside one morning to feed us, and there was a new baby!  Olivia had her baby overnight.  They named that baby Rose.  Then my mom was watching Bobbie, and said you know, I think she's gonna have hers today, too.  So later mom went into the house to have some lunch, came back outside and there was another baby!  I told mom not to go inside!  If she had stayed out with me she'd have seen the whole thing!  They named that baby little Bob.  My mom calls him Bobble because he's got some growing to do to fit into his legs.

Bobbie and her brand new baby

Dad helping to tag Bobble's ear

We were sad, though, because Flo lost her baby.  They took Flo to the vet school when her baby didn't come, and mom said the baby was a breech and didn't make it.  Mom said it happens sometimes, no telling why.  But Flo had to stay at the vet school for a good week and let her belly heal.  Now she's back at the cow farm to recover.

So now it seems like there's cows everywhere!  The mamas call their babies and it's funny to hear them moo and the babies sometimes sass them back and then they get in trouble. I wouldn't want to mess with a cow mama - they are tough!

Mom and baby Rose

The babies follow my mom around - I can't blame them.  Sometimes she has treats, and she always stops to scratch my itchy spots and once those babies figure that out they aren't gonna leave her alone!  My people like to watch the cow babies run around and play.  Sometimes my dad goes out there and has a beer and talks to the cows, and I'm all like "hey, I like beer and I'll listen to you talk all day long!"

Dad and his namesake

Deuce getting baby cow kisses from Lane

Hey, wait - are those my cookies?

Following my mom

Now, the big question is - did I get my beer after the babies came?  Well, it took mom a week or two, but she finally sat and fed me some peanuts and shared a beer with me.   We should have cow babies all the time if I can get some beer for it!

Yay!  Beer!

W.