For today's Wordless Wednesday... 

A rusty chain holds the gate closed...

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February 1, 2011   Feeding One Video (wow... I win on creativity with this title!)

February 1, 2010   No entry.

February 1, 2009   Wild Calf Video

February 1, 2008   No entry.

I believe this is getting fun!

If I could afford it... I seriously would just GIVE them away to EVERYONE.  But I do have a budget... and a bank account that must stay in the black!  

It's great to see this interest in them though!  Keep on spreading the word!

For the last day of January... I was going to paint a tshirt to give away... I've been wanting to paint a tshirt since last August! and I still didn't get it done.

Argh!

(though I have been working on a "family tree" project... pics coming soon)

So... I looked around... and figured that if you're fans of this blog and ranchlife... that I should help you look like a rancher!  

I can't give you a horse or saddle or pickup or chaps or cowboy hat... there's that budget thing again... but I sure can pass along some brand new baseball caps!  

We all wear them here... great for shade and bad hair days and for keeping your hair outta your eyes on windy days!  I've been a fan of hats since I was a kid.  Part of it was that I was just so fair skinned and this Wyoming sunshine was hard on me! Ditto for long sleeve shirts and jeans... covering up was the name of my game.

Here's the deal...

With the Calendar Giveaway and Coffee Mug Giveaway... they're just random.  Just luck.  So... this giveaway is for those Creative People out there.

If you'd like to win these...  a Northern Livestock Video Auction cap and a Tractor Guys, Inc. cap... and whatever else I might be able to find...

write me a story for Red Dirt

Photoshop a photo of mine

sew a Red Dirt pic in cross stitch

write me a poem/limerick/haiku

paint one of my photos in watercolor

sculpt Lucas out of mashed potatoes!

I don't care!

BE CREATIVE!

Written entries can be posted here on the blog or over on my Facebook page... photos of your other creative entries can be posted on the Facebook page.  I'll choose a winner based on creativity and presentation.  It'll be fun to share your ideas about Red Dirt!  

Be quick about it... the deadline for entries will be Thursday, February 2, midnight Mountain Time.

Holy cow, you better get crackin'!

OH... By the way... WE HAVE A WINNER IN THE 100th SUBSCRIBER CONTEST FOR THE WYOMING WILDFLOWER COFFEE MUG!

And the winner is... NanNan811!  Send your snail mail address to Red Dirt In My Soul at GMail dot com (minus those spaces!) and your coffee mug will be on its way!  Thanks everyone for playing... you did that FAST!

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January 31, 2011   Sundogs

January 31, 2010   No entry.

January 31, 2009   Yearning for Green

January 31, 2008   No entry.

There's still plenty of time to enter the calendar giveaway!  

Let's keep on celebrating...

For the 100th person to subscribe to this blog (and I'm within shouting distance of 100!) I'll send you a Wyoming Wildflowers coffee mug!  Covered with photos taken by yours truly... you can drink from a Red Dirt cup every morning while reading Red Dirt In My Soul!

Seriously, folks, it doesn't get much better than that!

At least around here.

I'm on a budget!

Look over on the left sidebar... for the SUBSCRIBE box.  Type in your email and then hit the "Subscribe" button.  It'll send a message to your email from "Overlook" (my old nickname for this blog!) that you want to get each blog entry in your mailbox... YOU MUST CONFIRM THROUGH THIS EMAIL YOU WANT TO SUBSCRIBE.  Otherwise, it won't be complete and you won't be in the running! 

This contest is open until I get to the magic 100th subscriber!

Cool?

Cool.

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January 30, 2011   What I Have To Work With (good for a giggle!)

January 30, 2010   No entry.

January 30, 2009   English Shepherd Rescue

January 30, 2008   North East South West Facing Dogs

Time to have a contest!

I'd like to give away a 2012 Red Dirt In My Soul Calendar... because... gee, I have a few left!!  To make it even better... I'm giving away two!

Let's make it easy...

Leave a comment here (limit two per person) and I'll choose a random winner.

ALSO

Leave a comment on Red Dirt In My Soul on Facebook (limit two per person) and I'll choose one of those entries to be a winner as well!

Two chances to win a calendar (or four depending on how you look at it!)

It's just my gift to you... and, hey, there are eleven months left in this year... plenty of photos to enjoy in that calendar!

Tell your friends and family and enter today!

(Contest ends Wednesday, February 1, 2012, midnight Mountain Time!)

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January 29, 2011   First Night

January 29, 2010   No entry.

January 29, 2009   Photo Editing

January 29, 2008   Sundog Morning

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In Memoriam

D. Geraldine Underwood Burton

b. July 9, 1931

d. January 29, 2010

Always you are with me.  I love you, Mom.

You know... Dodge pickups, horses, my Durango...

Oh, the memories that brings back!  My kids played basketball and football and track...

Small towns love their sports!  

To be part of the community... I really think you need to attend these games... whether basketball or football or track... otherwise you are missing a large part of the social experience of rural lifestyles.

Sure, half of your neighbors are there, watching kids and grandkids play their hearts out... but you see the insurance agent referee... you see the ambulance crew volunteer their time for standby... you see cowboy hats and muddy boots and work clothes and Pioneer Spirit tshirts... you see donations of blankets and cakes and gift baskets to raffle... you see kids rotating through their job as student council reps manning the concession counter and then playing their games... there's the teacher/sponsors volunteering to support their high school classes.

Little kids run up and down the hall under supervision of rotating mothers... the rest are watching big brother/sister play for a few minutes until taking her turn with the little ones.  Bigger kids are behind the bleachers or outside of the gym doors, running and jumping and sliding in snow or mimicking the sport of choice.

Middle school girls grab babies out of mothers' arms and wag them around like puppies.  

"Wanna ticket?  C'mon, buy a ticket!"  Doesn't seem to matter what you're supporting... you'll buy a ticket because someone bought a ticket when your kids were in StudentCouncil/FFA/4H/Scouts/FBLA/HonorSociety/SkillsUSA.  Doesn't matter what you're winning, a half a pig /basketofgoodies /cake /rifle /cookies /leather rifle scabbard (which we won a couple of years ago!) You buy one or "6 for $5!" because it supports our kids and our future.

You watch your teams play hard... Eleven man football with twelve kids.  Five girls on the high school basketball team.  Boys basketball with eight boys was tonight's numbers... easy enough for the opponent to rotate in 4 or 5 at a time out of his 15 boys, not so for us!  But we won anyway.  So many times we don't... but our kids play with heart!  You watch the development through the years... the freshmen that trip over the painted lines have a sweet nothing but net shot as seniors... the scrawny boy lifts weights and blossoms at 16 into a linebacker at the All Star Game.  You knew that kid.  You babysat him and changed his diaper and remember his Halloween costume that one year...  Making the team is not the problem... getting enough kids to MAKE a team is the problem with the high school...

Sure... you say you live in a small town.  You enjoy the quiet and the peacefulness you can get here... people will leave you alone if that's what you want... but to me...

Rural living is not just the fact that you can be independent and alone... but that you know your neighbors and the bad call your insurance agent made that one game and the kids at school by name and you volunteer and you help and you give of yourself, no questions asked.  

Then, when it all comes to an end, as it does for everyone, there will be Sadness in the Community, because, at some point, you gave Happiness to the Community.

Poke your head in the door... you might just have some fun and meet some nice people along the way!

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January 27, 2011   Yeehaw!

January 27, 2010   No entry.

January 27, 2009   Clues

January 27, 2008   No entry.

With pitchforks and feeders, tractors and hay wagons, wheelbarrows and four-wheelers, they haul breakfast to their anxious audience.

They pitch alfalfa hay or peanut hay, "cake" and corn, grain and grass.

With methodical precision, breakfast is chewed and gnawed, ground and crunched, each animal to its own.

Nevermind that you're tired, sick, sore, or freezing... they are yours to care for.

They don't care if it's the weekend, a government holiday, your birthday, or Christmas.

Whether ewe or pig, horse or chicken, you don't ever want to fail them, so we wrap ourselves in another layer, and head out to feed some bovines breakfast!

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January 26, 2011   Wordless Wednesday - "Dirty Bird/Dirty Look"

January 26, 2010   No entry.

January 26, 2009   Snowy Photos

January 26, 2008   test for video (aka, PUPPY SOCCER! one of my favorites!)

The cows enjoy their hay buffet!

Today in Ten Sleep, we celebrated a 90 year old matriarch's life.  Her family and friends will miss her.   Her presence will echo in Ten Sleep for years.

You think about her life and how it has changed over the past 90 years... NINETY!

A tip of the hat to you, M., may you rest in peace.  

Thank you for everything you did for your family and friends and community and country... you were a treasure!

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January 24, 2011   No entry. 

January 24, 2010   No entry. 

January 24, 2009   Mailbox

January 24, 2008   No entry.

Wow.  Thank goodness for 2009, eh?

Why are Muck Boots called Muck Boots?

I wouldn't know.

Neither would anyone who worked our corrals today... all seven of us were so outfitted in those nice tall black boots...

Surely it had nothing to do with the inches of liquified manure that was spread over the thick ice.  

Or the snow that stood in soggy triumph outside of the corral.

Or the puddles of melted snow huddled in pockets.

Perhaps I should ask the bucket frozen solid in the pool of muck?

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Muck Boots does not know who I am, nor do they care, nor have they paid me for this "promotion".

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January 23, 2011   Maybe Next Time

January 23, 2010   No entry.

January 23, 2009   One More Time

January 23, 2008   Heat Wave

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Thanks for all your comments... the past entries are back as you requested!