Oh we can make it....

How many more miles Potter?..........

I'm not sure how many times I heard Michelle ask me that from Tyler Tx to Oklahoma City.....So this is the Crazy, Fun, Fast, but Successful Road trip we had!!!

Last August... the Rockin P girls were chasing the Year End Saddles pretty hard so we had to go to each and every rodeo to pick up points. Tyler Tx, it was a Saturday afternoon rodeo that started at 1.

But for Me, Michelle and Bobbie we had bigger and greater plans of getting together in OKC at the WRCA Range Round Up Ranch Rodeo on Friday to watch some friends and drink a few beers. Michelle always works the rodeo by caring the flag and pushing cattle, for years I made fun of her for it but I stopped once I found out she got paid and a free motel room......so that is a Great Fun Free Weekend for the Cowgirl, laughs are on me now.....So the plans worked out for once and we all had a great time Friday night, and were loaded and ready to hit the rode by 7 am Saturday Morning....



Fatty, Me, Michelle, and The Nice Sub that had never been to a

 ranch rodeo.....but she hung with us!!



I'm sure you are wondering about our 4th person??? Well Kelsey (our team mate) had something come up last minute and we planned to rodeo with the 3 of us, but Michelle got a hold of a friend and we picked her up East of Dallas on our way! Just so happened when we loaded her horse my truck died (which was the feed truck if you could imagine...Dallas, backed up in traffic, feed truck and the WRCA trailer....look out Tyler here we come) The gas gauge didn't work, so I'm guessing we need diesel, Thank God it started and we burped it over to the pump. After the Dodge got a drink and we all went to the "potty" as Fatty calls it, we were back on the rode. At this point Michelle calls back to OKC and tells them that she will be back for tonight performance at 7:30 pm....I'm sure I gave her some kind of look when I heard her say that.......Are you kidding me?......its 5 hours at least from Tyler to OCK.....our rodeo starts at 1, it will last 2 hours....that puts us in the City by 8.....at the earliest, which is after 7:30 dork!!!!

"Oh Potter, we will make it"........(let me remind you I'm driving, not her)

Well....we started thinking how in the Hell we were going to make this work.....Just so happened that we pulled into Tyler 30 minutes before the rules meeting so we decided to fill up the Running Machine, that would be one less stop we would have to make on the way home......And this is when Fatty comes up with the master plan.....



Here we are, not at Tyler.....but some where coming up
 with some kindof a Master Plan!!!



She had a guy friend coming up to watch the rodeo and planned on going back to the WRCA rodeo in the city afterwards.....Bingo!! We were saddling ponies when the poor guy drove up......"Ok here are your Choices 1. You drive the Feed Truck and Trailer back to the city for us and we drive your truck or 2. You pull our trailer back for us so we can drive the Feed Wagon faster"......after a strange look on his face and "Hi, nice to meet ya" he pick option #2!! Wonderful, it was all looking great....not to mention that when I checked us in I begged the book keeper to make us first in the last event!!! So as the rodeo went on things were great, and the nice little sub that Michelle found us fit right in the mix.....(I'm sure she thought we were Crazy)!! After we tied our steer down the the Muggin, Michelle and I ran to the trailer, went to unsaddling horses but the teammates assured us they would take care of it and to get our buts on the rode. Fatty's nice guy friend had already unhooked the trailer, so we were free to head for the City. At the rodeo we talked to a few locals and found a way back to the interstate that cut off 20 miles for us (at this point 20 minutes was gold)....and it was only 2:45!!!!! Just out side of Dallas the team calls to let us know we won the rodeo and Michelle had won Top Hand and Top Horse.....(of course they had to jack with her a little first and tell her somebody else won it....lol which was funnier then shit to she the look on her face when they told her who...lol)!!

 Well we made it at 7:28.... 2 minutes to spare....after fine calculations on miles per hours and construction, we knew we had to drive 85 all the way to make it......so I drove 90 just to make sure!! Michelle had a horse saddled and waiting on her in the tunnel and the Grand Entry was fixing to start......everyone looked at us kinda funny when we rolled out of the truck.....I still had my tie string in my belt and Michelle still had on her leggings!!! And for the other girls, they dropped off the sub, Fatty and they guy friend had a nice long trip home having a flat tire on the trailer and all.......needless to say they missed the Saturday Night Performance of the Range Round Up!!!

Well there ya have it.....The first of many exciting Rodeo Trips we have made over the years!!!

Oh ya....we won those Saddles we were Chasing.....but there is more to that story later!!

Meet the Girls of the Rockin P.....

Being a Cowgirl is something I dearly love…..and growing up in the rodeo arena during my childhood has made me very competitive and really close to the rodeo family that I have come to love very much. For the past 5 years I have been showcasing the ranch industry through the Women’s Ranch Rodeo Assoc (WRRA). This is something I have grown to love and enjoy it very much, there isn’t anything better than a group of girls that make Cowboying look easy…..so here is a short but sweet introduction of the girls on the Rockin P Ranch Rodeo Team…..I wanted to give you all a face with the name, I am sure I will write about our life on the rodeo road in many upcoming post!!

Bobbie…..we all call her “Fatty” as you can tell we have a very hard time keeping her off the buffet line and out of the Dairy Queen……don’t let this pretty face and tiny body fool ya….she is tough and will put her life on the line to chalk a steer when needed. Bobbie is a full time Cowboy for the Chain Ranch in Western Oklahoma and like I said she is tough, not everybody could handle working with a full crew of men. A couple of years ago she wrote a story for the Western Horseman magazine about being a Ranch Hand, if you haven't read it go look it up!!  Fatty and the girls…..Bobbie is always mounted on nothing but the best and has a couple of really nice mares she drags around with her, they are her best friends and traveling partners.   Last summer Bobbie got me a spot in a Western Movie, we had a wonderful time together…..….this is a blog post all by its self….which she has promised to help me write. Bobbie is a great assist to the team, and it never hurts to have good looks on our side either…… haha!!

Melissa…..I have called her “shorty” from day one which was over 20 years ago. Melissa and I are both from Central Kansas and grew up on the same junior rodeo circuit. Her folks and mine were good friends and we all grew up together, all the way up to high school rodeos and on to the college level also. Now that we are mothers, wives, and cowgirls we still have a great friendship and a ton of things in common. Shorty works in town at a Doctor’s office, but helps her husband Andrew out a lot on the ranch. They live and work for a back grounding yard in East Central Kansas, where they spend most of their time laughing at their 2 daughters Mattie and Adley…..which are cuter then shit and I love just like my own!!! The best part of rodeo is the families you meet…..If it wasn’t for the rodeo arena we would have never met and our kids wouldn’t have the best friends that they do. I love her just like a sister, I know everybody says that…but really she is the kind of friend you can be honest with and they will be honest right back.

Michelle…….we just call her Michelle…..lol.  Michelle has been on the team for 4 years now and we have become great friends.  Michelle is a “hand” to say the least; she ropes really well and makes awesome horses. Her and Jared (husband) live in Southern Oklahoma, okay almost Texas!! Jared works for a local ranch and Michelle is the secretary for the schools, ya I had a hard time believing it too….but she does have this cute little voice she answers the phone to, but don’t flatter yourself she still wears pearl snap shirts, wranglers and boots…..lol. In the summer months Michelle day works a lot and rodeos full time. Up until we got her hooked on the WRRA, she Women’s Pro-Rodeoed and was very competitive winning titles left and right. This week they welcomed their first baby into the world….Mr. Ace…which I sure am excited to meet. Michelle was pregnant at out WRRA finals last October but wanted to tell her family at Christmas so she keep it from us girls as well….I never did get to see her in the “big” belly stage and wish I would have. There is a “life on the rodeo road” blog post coming up that is about Michelle….stay turned and I’m sure of many funny stories ahead as my 2 and Melissa’s girls teach Ace all kinds of good tricks of becoming a Cowhand!!

And of course there is Me……they call me “Potty Mouth Potter”……ya well I guess it fits me good…..hehe!!

Well that is the team….between the 4 of us and a few subs here and there we hit as many rodeos as our busy lives will allow us. I’m thankful every day for the great friendships that rodeoing has brought in to my life!

2010 WRRA Year End Champs.....after a long road!! More on this story later!

Spring Processing with the Crew......

It's that time of year again......green grass, fresh cattle and Cowboys that are eager to get out of the winter feed truck life and get their butt's back in the saddle. After a long winter of the same ole day in and day out of stringing yearlings on a feed line and pulling sick cattle......summer prowling is always something to look forward to.  Before cattle can be turned out to summer pasture they all need to be processed, sorted and shaped up. Time is very valuable this time of year so everything must run smooth and steady.....and this is how it goes.

The gather.....Me, Chris, Josh and the bigger kids headed out for the back side (not mine of course because they had to go to school which they were not happy about, but the Drummond kids are regular hands for workings because they all are home schooled).   Once everybody was back to the herd with the cattle they found in their country we headed to the pens with them.  At the pens the work began.

Step by step we worked 200 head and hour....and this is how we did it.......

 



Tim Kill...... who has put in 15+ years cowboying for the Drummond's is in the back keeping the pens full and moving cattle around, but his most important job is to keep the little boys in line and their little bodies busy, which can be a full time job on it's own.....Both kids and traditions are very important to the ranch.



Tim Drummond and Chris.....Tim being one of Chris' bosses was to help Chris keep the snake full at all times and keep cattle pushed up to the Chute Girls......which were Alex and I (Alex is Ladd and Ree's daughter).....She would keep the snake tight and pushed up, and I would make sure there was always a head going in and a tail going out.....with out a steer in the chute at all times progress would be slowed down.

My view all day!!

Then there is the crew in the front......Josh (bub) is a young single Cowboy that has worked for Drummonds for 10 years or so.....he was running the chute today. His job is just as important as the rest of us......and while running the chute he was giving wormer (all cattle got a shot of wormer to deworm them allowing them to gain more weight). 



Hallie....doing her job!

Then there is Hallie.....Tim's daughter.....her job was to keep the syringe full of LA 200 (a medication given for bad eyes) It was hard for her to pull the medicine and hold the syringe all at the same time, but she got creative and figured out what worked for her and by using feet and everything else.. lol......There were several bad eyes from the ash off the burnt grass, so she stayed VERY busy!

Next is Ladd, Tim's brother and Chris' other boss (Ladd is married to Ree, The Pioneer Women).....his job was to implant, which is a small pill like tablet that is put in their ear and absorbs for the next 90 days making the cattle grow and gain weight at a faster rate........this also is a VERY important step to the processing. 

Pete!!

Last but not least is Pete....not sure how long Pete has worked for the T Apple brand but he is a big asset to the ranch.....I love to listen to Pete sing, and he always has some kind of burrito for all of us to eat on.  His jobs was to fly tag, each steer got a fly tag to TRY and help keep the flies down this summer! When steers are not knocking off flies, their heads are down and eating.....so once again this is to help with the gain...

Well when you put all that crew together with all the right tools we can process 200 head an hour.......that is alot of bovine......but when you have thousands to do every year, you get pretty good at it!!



Chris and Hallie kicking cattle out to Summer Grass!!