TO FIND PEACE 23

ty rode though the paires in the corral they had cut the fresh branded slicks back out to the eight acres . he decided the cows didnt look to bad after the rain. he knew that cleve only wanted to see a few of the cows. but they were showing age.there were better, younger heifers in the fresh branded cattle ty rode over to katey and said as much. why not sell all of these and replace them with the fresh branded cows?there wasnt a lot of differne in the quality as the branded cows were the mothers of the slicks.. as far as numbers were concerned they would almost be a straight trade. katey listened to tys argument chewing on her lower lip. " i am a partner huh?" she asked. " if we sell them all we can buy more hay and pay DEA off. after its done there isnt a lot he could do but yell. and we can afford ear plugs." katey and ty started laughing. after lunch they drove to the closest phone and called for a inspecter and made arrangments for two cattle trucks. the cows were stronger but still poor. but it was a close trip to the auction barn after makeing all the arrangments katey had called the hospital to check on cleve. he came on the phone and before hello he asked about the cattle and the works . katey assured him everything was fine. a good rain with another predicted tonite. she told him to rest and they would be there to see him in a day or so.cleve had katey put ty on the phone and for another 5 minutes quizzed him on the condition of the cows since it rained. also if the dirt tanks had filled with water from the rain. ty had done a masterful job of painting a solid picture for cleve. finally a nurse took the phone and told him to rest. and hung up the line. ty and katey laughed all the way back to the ranch. but one thing ws perfectly clear, the bed roll was back on the porch. neither said a word about it. the next morning two tavasi trucks rolled up into the corrals with a brand inspecter following . the inspecter wwas running late so he had ty start loading the trucks while he wrote out the papers he didnt look at all the brands . he trusted them. when he was done katey handed him the state citation and explained the dates. the inspecter fell over backwards laughing. " he s citing you for over grazeing a empty pasture? i guess he could get a judge to look at it if the dates matched . but as i understand it the kj is empty. the people he needs to cite is the DEA. cleve took the cattle off the ranch.. if he pushes this call me ill testify for cleve."the inspecter went to his truck shakeing his head and laughing. the cattle trucks loaded they pulled out for the auction barn. ty and katey loaded the hay trailer to feed the fresh branded cattle then followed along to town they wanted to see cleve.