Getting Orientated

I wonder how many schoolteachers shuddered when reading that title. It is actually a pet peeve of mine. When people are going through orientation say that they are being orientated instead of saying they are going through orientation. But, after looking the word online, I am more confused than ever. Orientated is indeed a word! I am not exactly sure in which context it is to be used, but I am sure it is not to describe going through orientation. Do you have words or phrases that drive you crazy when you hear them?

What made me think of this word this week was when I was transplanting trees. Little pine trees as a matter of fact, from one part of our property to another. The neighbor cattle are about to move onto our property, and I saw two small trees that more than likely would not survive 100 head of cattle trampling them. So, I moved them. 

We have moved dozens of trees some successfully, some not so successful. But we learned something that increased our transplanting success dramatically. You have to orient the tree in the exact position that it originally was. Makes sense when you think about it. The branches and roots grow in such a manner to give them the best success to survive, so if you switch that up, it will for sure impact the success of the transplant. We have found that most of the roots of our trees go north, while the branches go south. In fact, many of our pine trees have no, or few branches on the north side at all. 

So, when I transplanted them, I oriented (or orientated?) them in the exact position they were in the ground originally. 

Speaking of being orientated, our son Forrest and his traveling family are now in Kingsport, Tennessee where Somer has taken a 13-week job at a local hospital. This is location #4 since they hit the road trying to find where they want to live next. Gold Beach OR, Greencastle, PA, Savannah GA and now Kingsport, TN. She went through orientation this week and will begin her regular shifts starting next week. 

Sunday, I woke up and got to thinking about our rancher neighbor John. We lease our property to him to run his cattle on after the newborn calves are all branded. If you recall this post from last year, planting season was so late that we got to help out at the branding. This year, I was going to miss it because I was at the farm. Or was I? I texted him and asked him if he branded yet. No response. 

A little while later I went outside and heard his cows a bellering. Today had to be the day! So off we went!

Yup, we got there, and he was just getting things set up. The calves were already separated from the cows, if you have not been around cows and calves when they are separated, this is what it sounds like. 

The cows were up first. We ran each of them through the chute each getting a shot in the neck and a dose of ivermectin on their backs. 

It is a process; everyone has a job. 5-6 people run the cattle through the alleyway a half a dozen at a time. They are then run through the chute one at a time. I was on the rear gate, opening and closing it as each cow entered the headlock area. Once they received their medication they were released, and I let the next one in. One by one each of them was run through the chute. Barb's job was very, very important. To have coffee and Kahlua with Amanda, the rancher's wife.  

Once those were all done, it was time to move onto the calves. If you recall last year's branding they used a table, this year they decided to wrangle each of them and hold them down for the branding, neutering and medication. 

It was pretty interesting to be a part of; two people on horses roping. 6 people holding them down, two people giving them shots, one neutering and one applying the ivermectin (that was me). Oh, and one kid that held the bucket the results of the neutering go in. Yup, they save them and have a feast at a later date!

Three hours later we were all done and headed to the shop where lunch was waiting for us. A true country tradition that we were happy to help out at and be a part of. 

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. It rained pretty much every day making it hard to get out and do anything. We did sneak out between showers and get a few things done, like move trees. Barb is pretty much done with her stairs, still looking for a couple stones to finish it off. Dan and Bonnie were over the other day admiring the stairs when Dan out of the blue says, "I have a big one". We all turned around and looked at him and I say, "We are happy for you Dan, but what does that have to do with the stairs?". He say's "A stone, I have a big stone that you can have", bringing clarity to the entire conversation. 

A couple days later Kevin delivered what is now known as "Dan's big one" in the back of his truck. And boy, is it a big one! Barb is going to reorientate (see what I did right there?) and put "Dan's Big One" in near the bottom.

We went out twice this week to celebrate Dan's birthday, once on his actual birthday and again on Wednesday when we all were able to get together. Barb, Dan, Bonnie and I went to the local VFW one evening to play pool and have a couple of celebratory drinks. At one point, Barb went to get another round. She came back with an entire tray of drinks. We were a little confused as to why she would be coming back with 12 drinks when there were only 4 of us. She explained that 4 were our regular beers, 4 were Dan's birthday shots (fireball of course), and 4 were mystery shots out of a brown paper bag that were "Only $1" as she excitedly explained. There is a reason they were only $1 each. The bartender would not tell us what was in the bag until after we took the shots. Who knew that Snoop Dog had his own line of gin. We now know why they are basically giving it away!

Who were the big winners for the night? Well, Barb and Bonnie of course, when they picked up a couple of trophies off the window ledge and declared themselves the winners!

On a sad note, we got an email this week that Blog2Print is going out of business. They have 60% off right now with just a few days left in business. Barb got our latest book done (2023) so we are as far as we can get right now. If anyone knows of a good replacement, please let us know. 

The nice thing about being gone for so long, is coming home. Everyone was happy to see me, and I was happy to see everyone. Zoey was especially happy to have her favorite comforter back.