By: Paige Murray

This is 39! I can’t wait to see what the last year in my 30’s brings. I feel SO thankful for this life of mine with the best family, friends, and animals I could ask for. Thank you to everyone who has supported my author journey and cheered me along. Love to y’all 💜

Rosie the Clydesdale Cowpony! 🐴 Read all about her adventures in “Rosie’s Ranch Rescue!” 🤠 🔗 Www.paigemurray.com #clydesdale #cowboy #ranchlife #farm #horse

When Charlotte’s Web is one of your favorite books, you have to get pigs for the funny farm! 🐷 Patsy & Petunia can’t resist a belly rub. #pigs #funnyfarm #ranchlife #farm

TY Ranch Branding Day 2026. The best part is the gathering. 🤠 Thanks for all the help! #ranchlife #branding #cowboy #clydesdale

Branding Day! 🤠 🐴 It’s so much more than a brand. Brand registration differs by state, but in Texas ranchers must register their brand and re-register every 10 years. It’s for proof of ownership, right of sale, and required for movement. It’s like a fingerprint. We try to keep this day as low stress as possible on the herd. One, we love our animals and try to be a humane as possible and two, we have a financial incentive to not cause any more stress than absolutely necessary because stress affects performance and growth of the animals. We gather, sort and rope the cattle slowly and quietly with the horses. With incredible teamwork, we brand & ear mark for identification, vaccinate for herd health, castrate the bull calves (now they are called a steer) for safer handling by producers, less aggression with other animals, a better consumer product and to prevent mating, oil the brand, spray the castration site with iodine, & dehorn in the calf has horns for easier handling. This is all done in about one minute. This minute is critical to keep the herd healthy and accounted for. Then the calf is up and after we treat the cows with fly dope and vaccinate them, they are all turned back out to graze together. The Bulls are turned out with the cows to and new calves will start being born in December. Very thankful for all our family and friends who come out, work hard and help get the job done! It’s an incredible day rich in tradition and history. I love all animals and we make sure they have an excellent, content quality of life. I also respect our place in the food chain as omnivores and I have to separate companion animals from production animals and I can’t name them or get too close. I feel like ranchers, hunters and fisherman really get to see the behind the scenes of the meat industry and we’re very appreciative of the sacrifice for our health and nourishment. #cowboy #ranching #beef

Patsy & Petunia 🐷 Don’t worry Ty, we still Don’t rent pigs! We’re trying to gentle these little squealers through their bellies 😂 The last photo is the mama (spotted KuneKune) a Daddy (little black potbelly). #pigs #funnyfarm #ranchlife

Patsy & Petunia 🐷 Pete is the best dog in the world. Not many black mouth curs would tolerate little piglets. He accepts any animal that is part of the TY Ranch family. #pigs #kunekune #ranchlife #funnyfarm #farm

Chicken Noodle Soup! Have you ever made homemade chicken noodle soup? I should have known when Oakley fell asleep on my lap, that she was sick! She hates to nap because she doesn’t want to miss a thing. I took her to the doctor today and she has Flu B. It’s going around the school. Poor girl had Flu A two weeks before Christmas. Oh my gosh look at the sweet note she wrote me 🥹 So I made a big batch of my homemade chicken noodle soup! It’s easy and delicious. There’s a little trick to keep your noodles from getting soggy. I found that out the hard way. Recipe here — https://bootsandbiscuits.com/worlds-best-chicken-noodle-soup/ #recipes #ranchlife #cowboy #ranchcooking

In December I found out my literary agent had resigned from her agency. I was going into the query trenches, as they say. Querying an agent is when you send the agent a pitch for your manuscript, a brief bio and the actually picture book manuscript. You hope that out of 1,000’s of queries received- yours will catch their eye out of the slush pile. It can take 8-12 weeks to *maybe* get a response. It’s can be daunting and discouraging, and I felt like I was going into this blindly. For two months, I have been looking. I printed out every rejection to carry with me to schools to encourage kids to never give up. I haven’t counted but I’m pretty sure there are at least 25 rejections or no responses. I met a few really great agents who politely rejected me, as they were afraid they were too busy. I’m thankful for these connections and their time. I was almost ready to give up. When 3 offers came through with some amazing agents. I so appreciate their time! Talk about a boost of confidence. And then— an introduction from @jameswadewriter to his agent @markgottliebliteraryagent @trident_media! Thank you so much James! Mark is the #1 ranking agent for fiction sales. I’m so excited to say I’m also now represented by Mark Gottlieb! Wow! Thank you Mark, for believing in me! I thought I’d share some highlights from my first 2 years as a published author with @zonderkidz! All the hugs from the kids on school visits for Pete and me have been the best! I can’t wait to see what Mark and I bring to the world. And remember, what if I had given up after rejected #25. Ty told me “when someone has a true passion and love for something, it is going to work out.” Find your Grit! And a HUGE thank you to everyone who has supported me and Rosie the Horse! 🐴 I’m so grateful! #author #picturebook