Though this week has been a busy one, today’s job was our first day of gathering in our “badlands” pasture, and it has been a long day. Gone are the days when we woke up at 3 AM to eat a hearty breakfast and we were on horseback riding out before the sunrise. Now we leave…
Author: Carol
Branding
Some of the girls on the crew…………………………………….some of the guys……………………………………… Our first branding of the year took place last Saturday. Branding is a stressful day. For my husband, he has to gather cattle, branding supplies (vaccine, medicine, barrels, irons, wood, and all the little details) and arrrange the time and place for friends, neighbors,…
Blizzard
My daughter has completed college and a semester of working as a substitute teacher. She now has applied for various teaching positions around the state, hoping fora small rural school 5th grade position. Since they were almost doubling her rent at the end of this month, she elected to move home and work on the…
So Much to Tell
It has been forever…and there is so much to tell. I guess I can start with some of the latest news and work backwards. It has rained and rained and rained and rained and snowed and snowed and rained here… We’ve had 2 weeks of wet weather, but the last four days have been phenomenal. …
Horses
So much of what we do on the ranch has changed radically from a few years back. Where 3 or 4 families could live and be supported on this place when it began, the ranch supports now supports two. Where the work in the fields were done by teams of horses, large blue tractors have…
Photo of “Cuteness”
A couple of weeks ago I wrote an entry about “Cuteness”. Lucas and I attended school for the last time this spring, and once again, we had the pleasure of listening to kindergartners read. This time the weather was cooperative and we managed to be outside among the shade of playground equipment. “Cuteness” was her…
Spring days
The days are mixed…glorious sunshine, pouring rain, lost flakes of snow drifting down, rising creek level, unfurling stems of Indian paintbrush, hard work, relaxing walks, dogs chasing rock chucks, picking rocks from the field, cleaning house, watching my lawn grow ignoring my broken lawnmower, welcoming home children from school. Every few hours the plan changes. Today…
Mountain trip
Just a couple more notes about our drive up the mountain… 1. Taking those wildflower photos was a challenge. Yes, the snow was gone and the soil was warm, but it seems like whenever I sit down (or lay down ) I am surrounded by my English Shadows… and they don’t lay behind me, they…
Yellowbells
Though the first flowers of the season seem to be phlox…it is a plain white flower which lays close to the ground… and though welcome, never seems to inspire. Yellow bells lead the way for celebration. Their mustard color and sweet shape ring in spring. The first to see yellow bells, blue bells, or a…
Up the mountain
We have had multiple snowstorms blow through… some have hit us, some just barely over the top of us, as we can see the snow line just a few hundred feet up the mountain. Today, though, has been a gorgeous day. Fairly warm… just hear that grass grow! Ironically, I spent most of the morning…
Small moments
Guess I had spring fever, I wanted to be outside, but wanted to do something more fun than yard work, so me and my crew grabbed my metal detector and headed to the hills. About a mile and a half from my house are the remains of a dugout. I’ve wandered around them before, but not…
Quarry
We stepped over the prickly pear cactus and avoided the tall sagebrush. Every few steps our jeans accidentally brushed against the sage creating a seemingly loud *scrrrrrritch*. We pointed and whispered, our quarry lay ahead in the dim light. We could hear them and see their white patches in the the deepening gloom. Unfortunately the…