On Saturday morning, we headed out west for the Katy Prairie Conservancy's annual Ranch Roundup at the Warren Ranch. The Katy Prairie Conservancy is a private nonprofit dedicated to preserving the Katy Prairie. There are 14 different preserves covering nearly 20,000 acres of land west of Houston.
The morning started out chilly and cloudy, but clouds dispersed and it ended up being a lovely day to be outside at the ranch.
Warren Ranch is a true working ranch,
so first we watched the cowboys separate the mama cows from the babies.
The calves were not happy so there was quite a bit of mooing going on.
We watched as the mama cows were vaccinated.
Then we gathered around the campsite while Jaime read us a Texas tall tale,
Henry was Devilish Dick.
His part involved falling on the ground!
After the tall tale, we were free to visit the other stations at the ranch. We saw a branding demonstration.
The boys ran a branding relay (they "branded" a hay bale cow with a mop head dipped in flour!).
As I said, it was a working ranch -- check out the dogs
and the boots next to the beer!
We checked out the ranch gear.
And everyone got outfitted properly.
Will could have been Grumpy Gus in the tall tale!
Jaime and Katy -- Jaime was the mastermind behind the Ranch Roundup and did a fantastic job.
Will was excited to try his hand at roping a hay-bale cow. It's harder than it looks.
My cowboys.
We peeked at Warren Lake with our binoculars.
Some other shots from the day:
The morning ended with a delicious barbeque lunch. You can't tell, but we're all sporting our new "I'm a Wild Thing" KPC t-shirts. The backs have pictures of different animals that need the Katy Prairie.
Before we left the ranch, the boys ran the branding relay race a few more times.
Our last stop was to check out the Matt Cook Memorial Wildlife Viewing Platform.
And then it was time to head out of the country and back to our home in the heart of the city.
It was a beautiful day to be outside and I'm glad we were able to finally head out to the Katy Prairie. I know we'll be back!
