Rocking Seven Mile Ranch

Animal Tracks

2012-02-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

The other morning when I stepped out the door, this is what I saw on the porch. We received just a skiff of snow the night before, which, I've realized before, is perfect for seeing tracks. These are from the magpies that come by every morning to check for any dog or cat food that might have been dropped.

Down by the barn there were wing marks in the snow, also from magpies cleaning up left-over grain.

Mr. and Mrs. Wu were out and about.

They looked like they were on a mission.

As I walked down the driveway, I noticed Cante walking along dragging his nose on the ground. Not sure what he was doing.

I went a little further and heard a cat calling. I turned,

and saw Esmay following along behind.

These little rodent tracks were down by the road,

as were these, left by a cottontail.

I had seen lots of cat tracks up by the house, but these were pretty far away. I decided they must be from a neighbor's cat, although I didn't think any lived at the closest house.

Then I saw Esmay again.She was still following.

She went into one end of this culvert and all the way through. I tried to catch her coming out the other end, but she was too quick for me.

Back up in the yard I noticed these. It looks like something ran through on their toes.

Now I have the song, "Animal crackers in my soup..." running through my head. Except my version goes, "Animal trackers..."

Also, you will be happy to know, I have disabled word verification. All this time blogging and I didn't know it was on. Thank goodness someone let me know.

It should be much easier to leave a comment.

My Days

2012-02-19T19:00:00.001-07:00

As I wrote a few weeks back, my goal is to finish my second novel this spring. That means that this winter I am hunkered down at my desk. As far as blogging goes, I am living a boring life.

Since I am a person who resists routines and schedules, writing is a good occupation for me. I enjoy having the freedom to write on my own time. However this winter I am attempting to keep to some kind of a schedule in an effort to be more productive. The following is roughly how my day goes.

I don't wake up at a set time since it depends on how late I sat in front of the computer the night before. I complete a crossword puzzle while I wake up and get the cogs in my brain turning. Since another goal is to exercise regularly, and I have to get outside daily to keep my sanity, I go out for a daily walk/run/hike. This time of year, what time I go is dependent on the weather. I prefer to wait for it to warm up, but if the wind is expected to pick up or a storm is coming, I go early. I always take my camera, but it's basically the same scenery.

After breakfast I sit down to write. Depending on my discipline that day and what else is going on, my plan is to write until at least noon. I take frequent, short breaks though, as I have a hard time sitting in one place for hours at a time.

I try to sit at the computer most of the afternoon, but once again, if the sun is shining and it's warmed up... it's easy to get distracted.

Oftentimes evening and into the night is my most productive time since the house is quieter. Lately I can be found typing away after midnight if I'm really on a roll.

There are always chores, errands and other mundane tasks, but if I whine loud enough, sometimes I can get Tom to do them all.

Today I went out to exercise around noon. I went to the end of the driveway and got a decent shot of the Beartooth Mountains, off to the south. Lately they've been obscured by clouds when I've looked that direction.

The peak in the center is Granite Peak, at 12,799 feet, the highest point in Montana. Behind is the Beartooth plateau, the largest continuous area over 10,000 feet in the United States.

I squatted down to catch the grass in front. Since the wind was blowing both me and the grass, I expected it to be one big blur. To my surprise, it turned out kind of cool looking.

I am really limiting the amount of time I spend reading other blogs. Occasionally I take a break and catch up on a few. But don't feel bad. Except for daily pets, my animals are being ignored also.

I really appreciate everyone who reads my blog and I enjoy reading the comments. Recently one person wrote, in part, "The mountains are absolutely gorgeous. I breathe easier just looking at the picture."

That is how I feel and I hope that, when people look at my photos, they pause and take a deep breath before going on to enjoy their day.

Horses and Snow

2012-02-13T17:25:00.002-07:00

Here are a few photos from the past few days.

The other morning there were some odd ice creatures crawling down off the barn roof.

Their tentacles reached out as they made their way down the side of the barn.

Later on I took a walk in the fresh snow. I climbed a hill for a better view.

Wakan took a break,

as Cante,

and Huka, chewed the ice from between their toes.

The peaks were mostly obscured by clouds.

I took a few photos of the horses, but uh oh, here comes Xena Rose. She always hogs the shots when she gets close.

Today I went out about noon. It was a gorgeous day. The horses were enjoying the warm temperatures by napping in the sun.

Sixty-Six looks pretty content. I like the grass hanging from his mouth.

Cole and Sixty-Five were also down.

Napples stood by her son, Hooper, watching for wolves no doubt.

On the way back up the driveway I climbed the hill again to get a better view of the Crazies.

They looked magnificent as usual.

Snowball, Part 1

2012-02-07T18:48:00.003-07:00

Snowball

I 've been wanting to tell the story of my first horse for a long time. After I got going I decided to include some of my early riding experiences as well.

My older sisters and I were born horse crazy. We watched westerns on television and one of our favorite games was playing Rawhide. Our parents didn't share our enthusiasm, but that didn't stop us.

When I was five my oldest sister talked my mom into riding lessons. There was a woman named Vivian Goodnough who leased the barn at the old race track. She taught English riding and had a riding ring and jump course in the infield of the track, which by then was just a large oval meadow. The only other riding options for us were two dude strings, but neither of them gave lessons.

Mrs. Goodnough was hesitant about taking me on as a pupil because she had never had a student younger than six. Mom must have talked her into giving me a try though as she knew I would be devastated if I had to stay home while my two older sisters rode. We had a one hour lesson one day a week.

I still remember those group lessons. Mrs. Goodnough was old school. Although a nice person, she definitely put us through our paces when we were in her care. I remember the time she had us drop our stirrups and then pick them up again without using our hands. There was no way I could pull my little legs up and stick them into those English irons, so I cheated. She had a loud voice and boy did it carry in my direction that day when she busted me. Eventually I got good at it and I still can pick up a lost stirrup in all kinds of situations.

Mrs. Goodnough downsized after the first summer and the next year she had only one horse for lessons. My two sisters and I would take an hour lesson and each of us got a twenty minute ride. We didn't complain though as we still got our weekly horse fix.

The third summer she was back up to three lesson horses, so we got to ride for a full hour again. We continued our lessons into the fall and rode after school one afternoon a week until the weather turned cold.

I had a lot of horseback riding firsts the three years we rode with Mrs. Goodnough. The day I trotted all the way around the half-mile track was a proud moment. One beautiful fall day we took a trail ride down along the river for our lesson. The aspens were in full color and I was riding a palomino named Sunrise. For some reason we got behind the rest and Sunrise decided to catch up. He broke into a lope (oops, canter, since we were riding English) and I'll never forget that feeling of floating through the golden trees. It was the first time I ever rode faster than a trot.

After the third year Mrs. Goodnough stopped giving lessons, but the school started a summer program and riding was one of the activities. It was out at one of the dude ranches so we started riding Western. Two mornings a week our Mom hauled us out there for our eight am lessons. It was mainly circling an arena at a walk and trot with a large group of school kids. We got very little one on one instruction as the wranglers mainly supervised, but it didn't matter. Unlike swimming and tennis where we spent most the time waiting for a turn, with riding lessons we were on a horse the entire hour. After two summers the school program was discontinued.

Then the summer I was twelve, the daughter of the stable owners on the other side of town started a drill team. By then my oldest sister and I were the only two still interested in horses and we eagerly joined. We rode our bikes across town to the stable with friends who had also become members. One girl who lived down the road from us would come by and the three of us would set off. Along the way we picked up two others, so nearly half of the Daisy Dozen Drill Team would arrive together for our twice a week practice.

The stable was owned by former ranchers, Bill and Hildur Anderson. When they got older, they sold out, moved to town and started giving horseback rides. They are part of the local history where I grew up. Most of their ranch was developed as it's near a ski area, but the ranch headquarters became an artist center. It's still known as Anderson Ranch.

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson doing what they loved.

I don't remember riding that first day as a member of the Daisy Dozen, but I remember afterwards. We had returned to the stables and were unsaddling horses and another group came back from their ride. I looked over at them and there was the prettiest little black horse. He had a heart shaped star and two white socks. His rider had gotten off of him and was feeding him sugar. I'm telling you it was love at first sight.

The daughter who directed the drill team, Margie, thought it was funny, naming a black horse Snowball, so that was what he went by. Snowball had come to the stable the year before as a three year old. He was really young for a dude horse, but when Margie first rode him, he was so good they they went ahead and bought him.

I only rode him a few times that first summer. Even though I wanted to, it wasn't to be. You see we were riding dude horses and there nothing fancy or well-trained about them. Since I was one of the better riders and Snowball was so well-behaved, another girl got to ride him. My mount was Molly the Mule. Yep, I rode the only mule on the drill team. She was the only other black animal on the place and Margie matched same colored horses, so we were paired with Snowball and his rider.

I haven't ridden a mule since then, but I really liked Molly and we got along well. She was sweet, gentle, a little bit timid and really hard to steer. I had to direct rein her and it took most of my strength to get her to turn. We used what Mr. Anderson called an army bit on her, with a high port and long shanks. I never had trouble stopping her. It was just really hard to get her to bend her neck.

We really were a raggedy bunch, but we got to perform at a rodeo and everyone had a great time that summer.

The following spring my sister and I asked the Andersons if we could work for them. I was thirteen and my sister fifteen. We hired on as wranglers for three dollars a day.

Five days a week we rode our bikes to the stables. Our day started at seven-thirty in the morning. Mr. Anderson drove us out to the pasture where we each caught a horse and, riding bareback, drove a herd of twenty-five to thirty horses a couple of miles along country lanes, out onto the highway at the edge of town and finally down the driveway and into the corral at the stables.

Once the horses were all haltered and tied to posts, we began saddling horses for the eight am ride. Mrs. Anderson took the reservations and worked out a daily schedule. We followed it, swapping saddles when needed and having the horses ready when people showed up. One or two of us, depending on the size of the group would go with them as guides. Around noon she fed us a quick lunch and then we hurried back out to prepare for the first afternoon rides. After taking the horses back out to pasture in the evening, we rode our bikes home and never got home before six o'clock. They were long days, but finally I was getting my fill of horses and riding every day.

Snowball and Margie with Chip on Billy.

The picture above is typical of the type of thing the fun loving Andersons did. Chip also worked for them and one day she and Margie decided to dress up and put their sidesaddles on a couple of horses. This photo ended up on a Christmas card and is the only one I have of Snowball when the Andersons owned him.

My sister and I worked at the stables for two summers. The second year we got a raise to five dollars a day. I rarely got to ride Snowball during that time as I rode a guide horse and he was part of the dude string.

That September after my sister and I went back to school, Mrs.Anderson was out helping prepare for a ride. As she led one horse behind another one, the mare standing tied kicked at the gelding being led and nailed Mrs. Anderson, breaking her hip. That was the end of Anderson Stables. They decided to retire and sold off all of the horses.

My sister and I immediately began working on our parents as I wanted to buy Snowball and she had her favorite, a Morgan named Little Joe. My dad, although an animal lover, had had bad experiences with horses and didn't like them. He told us no, but Mom wasn't opposed to the idea. Finally Dad relented. I guess he didn't want to be the bad guy. And it didn't cost him anything since we had been saving our money for two years. In fact that was the deal. We had to pay for them and for their upkeep if we wanted to have horses.

For one hundred and twenty-five dollars, I finally had my own horse.

Exciting News!

2012-02-01T18:27:00.003-07:00

I have something really cool to tell everyone, but first, here are a few recent pictures.

Sampson, the donkey is still here. One morning one of these three knocked a rail down and Emmy Lou, the milk cow on the right, and the steer, jumped the now two and a half foot fence into his corral. Sampson was glad for the company, but those other two just considered him competition for hay.

This morning Tom put Swanee in with Sampson. Swanee is a hard keeper. Last winter we had to put him in a corral to make sure he got enough to eat. I recently noticed he was losing weight, so we brought him in again. Sampson thought he had a new friend,

but Swanee wanted nothing to do with him.

"Why do I have to bunk with a donkey?"

Yesterday we moved the Wild Bunch onto fresh feed. It wasn't very dramatic, just through a gate, but I decided to use the burst function on my camera to take a bunch of rapid shots as they went through.

I got a few ok shots. Here's Sixty-Five, one of the mustangs, and Cole. You can see the mustang's freeze brand on his neck.

And here's the Peepster.

But a lot of the shots, at least the ones that weren't blurry,

looked more like this.

Tom has to haul water out to them now, which isn't a problem, unless it gets really cold. So far we've had a mild winter.

Now for the exciting news. For the months of April and May I am doing a virtual book tour. Instead of hauling copies of my book to stores and then having to hang out and sell them, I can do it all from home through the internet and reach a lot more people. A company called Pump Up Your Book was recommended to me and this morning we sealed the deal.

Virtual book tours are done through book review blogs with author interviews and guest posts. Some of the blogs are syndicated to major newspapers and are a great way to get exposure.

A while back, a blogger posted a review of A Story of the West on her blog that made me cry. I reread it today and teared up again. Here's a link to it:

Emma Michael's Review

I am busy writing a sequel to A Story of the West that I hope to have published to coincide with the end of the tour. I'm planning on posting an excerpt, one that I read at the local library last fall, in the near future.

So, I'll be really busy this spring, and did I mention how excited I am to have this expanded coverage.

Silly Cats

2012-01-26T10:24:00.001-07:00

I'll get to the silly cats in a minute.

Last Saturday I had an opportunity to go over to the Paradise Valley. The Yellowstone river flows through this beautiful valley after leaving Yellowstone Park.

We had just gotten over a foot of snow, so I expected the driving conditions might not be the greatest. I almost talked myself out of going, but decided to brave it. As I drove west on the interstate, which was dry, the snow began disappearing. It seemed odd to me, but the storm apparently missed a large area.

Once I headed south, there was no evidence of the huge snow storm that covered eastern Montana.

Here is a shot of the western edge of the Absaroka Mountains and the Yellowstone River.

My friend said they only received an inch of snow there and it quickly melted.

The peaks looked quite dramatic, don't you think?

Now on to the cats.

Sammy, what are you getting into now?

There must be something good in the bottom of that jar.

He's going to get every last drop.

Actually we set him up. Well, he came up with the idea. He stuck his head down in the jar and looked so funny that Tom poured in a little milk to set up a photo op.

This is the desk I work, or attempt to work, at. These two are always jumping up on the desk, trying to walk across my computer, you know, generally bugging me.

When I glanced up the other day, they were just sleeping.

I snapped a few photos and then Sammy put his little arm over Penny. But you can see she woke up and had had enough. She left immediately after.

I took a break and when I came back, they were both snoozing away again.

The Pitch

2012-01-23T12:02:00.000-07:00

When I first published A Story of the West, someone else wrote the back cover synopsis. I know nothing about the person, man? woman? no idea. I just figured that if a professional wrote it, it must be good. That was a bad assumption as I later realized that person hadn't actually read the book, but had only skimmed through, read a few pages here and there and then quickly scribbled something out.

Before I ordered additional printed copies, I redid the back cover. But I didn't take what it said too seriously. More than once I've read a book and then reread the back cover and decided it wasn't a very accurate description of the book's contents. I usually read a few pages to determine whether I'm interested.

Recently I had to change the way I view back covers.

This morning I entered a writing contest. It's called the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. It's open to anyone, with certain guidelines, who has written a book that's not under contract with a publisher (I self-published A Story of the West, so there is no contract). They accept five thousand entries and the first round of judging is based solely on the back cover pitch. Only one thousand entries (twenty percent) make it to round two.

The reviewers use the pitch as an indicator of the author's writing style and also to determine whether or not we actually know how to put sentences together, in three hundred words or less.

After reading advice from different authors on how to write an engaging pitch, this is what I came up with:

Pitch for A Story of the West

Matt Daly’s eyes narrowed as he faced the stranger in front of him. “I know I don’t have a quarrel with you because I don’t know you,” he growled.

“But I know you,” the menacing outlaw sneered back, clearly ready to use the Colt revolver hanging from his hip.

Only a few years earlier Matt and his father had trailed a herd of longhorns north from Texas into Montana Territory. Upon arriving, they decided to stay and raise cattle on the fertile grasslands.

Shortly after the Northern Pacific rail line was completed and it became easier for people to head west. Lavina Lavold stepped off the train in Miles City with her family and immediately caught Matt’s eye. When they fall in love, Matt’s life seems perfect.

There are unscrupulous men, however, determined to build cattle empires. A ruthless neighbor decides he wants the Daly’s claim, and he will stop at nothing to acquire their ranch. Since the entire area is undeeded land, it is up for grabs and there is no law on the rough frontier to prevent a range war. When Matt refuses to back down, his life takes a dangerous turn.

Forced to abandon his family, his travels take him down a long road of misery. An encounter with an Indian medicine man helps him to regain his sense of self, but not until after he gives in to his desperation.

A Story of the West depicts life during the open range ranching days of the Wild West. Besides plenty of action, I have added a women’s perspective to settling the American West. I researched the era to ensure historical accuracy and have written an accurate portrayal of life during this time, as well as an exciting read.

So, after reading the above, are you curious? Does it make you want to open the book and investigate further? Does it hook you?

The one thousand entries that make it to round two are then judged on an excerpt of the book. Two hundred and fifty entries are chosen for round three, where the entire manuscript is read and then a single winner is decided. The whole process takes until next June.

Even if I don't make it past round one, I've learned a good lesson in marketing my books.

I like this pitch a lot better than the one I'm using now. Let me know what you think.

Feed Lines and Winter Scenes

2012-01-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome back. I really appreciate the good wishes! I figured I would be long forgotten after all this time.

Yesterday morning I went out for my walk. As the sky cleared after the snowfall the night before, this is how my world looked.

I just love this view. I wish I could paint like this.

The sun poked through the clouds in the afternoon and these antelope found a south facing slope just behind our house to absorb what little heat there was. They napped there all afternoon. As evening approached, they moved off again.

Last night it snowed even more. There's more than a foot on the ground now. It's light and fluffy, perfect for the powder hounds (skiers, for those who don't know).

This afternoon we went out and fed the cows first.

Munching away, they never noticed that the clouds were lifting off the peaks.

We got to the horses just as the sun sunk below the hill.

Hooper and Peepster waiting for their dinner.

Chowing down.

Melly walked on past on her way to another pile of hay. She had no interest in getting a pet.

If you enjoyed these winter pictures, you might also like these posts:

Breaking Ice

Good Dogs

It barely got above zero the past couple of days, but change is expected. The forecast calls for a warm up, which here means a chinook is blowing in. Tomorrow it could look a lot different out as the wind will blow all this fluffy snow either away or into drifts.

New Critters

2012-01-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in quite a while, ok, a really long time. I've just been doing other things, so I guess I better get caught up. First of all, here is a shot of the Crazies taken a month or so ago. I think I could take a picture of these mountains every day and come up with something new.

Next, we've added to our menagerie of animals.

This is our first addition. He's a Brown Brahma rooster, commonly called a feather foot, and you can see why. We traded a duck for him last summer. He was only a couple months old when we got him, but he fit right in with the girls. His name is used to be Biff, but now it's Timmy, both names because of a certain sports team. Any Denver Bronco fans out there?

I took these two photos while he was out foraging last fall. In this one he had been disturbed by a certain someone lurking in the grass. (See last animal addition below.)

Our second addition was Bru. He's a ten to twelve year old half lab, half rottweiller. He belonged to a friend. She had two dogs and I would took care of them when she was away. Bru's buddy died last summer, so he was really lonely. When our friend left town for ten days in September, I went and got him and brought him to our home. When she returned, Tom and I told her we wanted to keep him. We just couldn't stand the thought of him having to go back to his previous existence. She agreed because at her house he was stuck in a kennel most of the time since she's rarely home. Here, well, here is animal heaven.

Except for the Bru drool, which flows freely from his jowls at certain times (he'd make a great Pavlov dog), he's a wonderful pet.

Number three is Sampson. We had him for a month last summer when Tom brought him over from the neighbor's to breed three mares. Then he went home. Last fall his owner asked if we could take care of him for a while as he was moving and hadn't yet found a place to keep him.

We've had him almost four months, but his owner called last week and said he would be coming for him any time. This is good because here he has to be in a corral all by himself here. He gets along with geldings, but we have unbred mares in with our wild bunch.

Sampson is a Mammoth, gaited jack with spots and is a real character.

He has the sweetest personality. Although he chases dogs out of his pen, he didn't mind Hazel being there.

There's a photo of him playing with one of his offspring at the bottom of this post:

Sampson with baby mule

And here's number four. Sammy, the kitten, came to live with us in October. Some friends moved and couldn't take him with them. Tom went over to their house one day not long before they left and came home with him.

Unlike our other cats, he has a very outgoing personality. Whenever we have company, instead of hiding, he ends up in someone's arms.

Here he is stalking chickens. Remember what was bothering Timmy above? Well it was little Sammy.

Winter finally hit here. It's snowing and 10 degrees out. According to the satellite weather pic, it looks like most of the northern US is getting slammed. As usual, the precip is welcome here.

Better go put a log in the stove.

Hope everyone is warm and dry and having a great start to 2012.

Swallows and Wildflowers

2011-06-08T15:43:00.001-06:00

One evening as Tom and I drove up our driveway, we came to an area that was still flooded and saw these swallows. We sat in the pickup and Tom tried to take pictures. He couldn't see the birds in the view finder, so I watched over his shoulder. When it looked like the birds were in the right spot, I told him, "Now," and he'd quickly take a picture.

Here are some of the results.

There were two or three of them, and they'd come swooping down this narrow stretch of water.

They were almost kamikaze-like, except they were diving for bugs.

They kept coming and coming as we sat and watched.

We had company over Memorial Day. When people come to visit, there's one place I usually take them. It's only twenty miles or so from town and it's a cool thing to see.

The water goes down into the rock here,

and comes out down below. There used to be a natural rock bridge that went across that dry dip up above. The bridge collapsed in the late 1980s. During high water, the over flow forms a waterfall. Just to the right the water goes back underground again.

With all the water we've been getting, this is the beginning of a great wild flower year.

There were bunches of Arrowleaf Balsam Root growing along the upper edges of the river banks. These, along with

the Mountain Bluebells that were growing along the trail we walked on, were the first flowers out in the spring where I grew up.

When we were young, my older sisters and I would get up early on Mother's Day and go looking for these two kinds of flowers flowers to make our mother a bouquet with. Some years they were blooming profusely that early in May and other years we'd have to figure out another gift for our mom.

The Pasque Flowers were also out that day, although they're already looking a little faded.

On the way home, along our driveway I found these Sand Lilies next to some Prickly Pear.

Tractor Repair and Flowers

2011-05-29T11:51:00.001-06:00

On Thursday, Tom drove over to the John Deere dealer and picked up the parts to repair the tractor.

Once the water went down enough that he could get to it, it took him only a short while to put it back together.

And then he easily,

drove 'er out.

I've been taking a few pictures of the flowers that bloom around here.

These low-growing phlox are some of the first to bloom on the hillsides.

A couple days ago we walked up to repair a fence and I found these larkspur. The flowers are a little out of focus, either because there was a breeze, or because I didn't hold still. Both these things seem to happen frequently. But I really like the color next to the sage and grass.

The locoweed is also out in full force.(This time I think it was the breeze causing the blurring. Look at the old grass seed heads leaning in the foreground.) It and the larkspur are poisonous to livestock, but they have their merits also. First of all, they aren't a preferred feed, so livestock only eat them when there's nothing else. Secondly, they are both legumes, which means they fix nitrogen in the soil, which rangeland soils need. So we leave them alone and don't hold our cattle and horses very long in areas they are blooming. After that they aren't a problem.

I also saw these little flowers, which I don't know the name of.

In the yard the flowers were much more spectacular of course.

Our little apple tree might have apples for the first time. The big apple tree is way behind this one. If they bloomed together and pollinated one another, they'd produce more fruit. Both trees were here when we moved in and I don't know what kind they are.

This is a corner of my yard. I can't help but feast my eyes on the bright colors of the tulips and bleeding hearts every time I walk by.

Here's another shot taken from the other side after this spot was in the shade. I think the colors are even more vibrant.

We had a couple nice days and I weed whacked the over foot high grass in my yard and weeded my flower beds. As you can see in the photo above, I left the dandelions that were blooming since they are so pretty right now and they aren't crowding anything.

Now it's raining again, but it's supposed to hit the seventies by mid week.

It looks like we'll be spending most of Memorial Day inside getting ready for company. Let me know how you are spending the holiday.

Weather

2011-05-25T19:11:00.002-06:00

I was all set to write a kind of bad things-good things post about how one day Tom parked the tractor in the strangest place,

the ditch.

Actually something broke on the front end (Tom told me what, but apparently all I heard was, blah, blah, blah, because I don't remember what he said) and it's sitting there until the parts that had to be ordered arrive. Tom gets to put it back together where it sits. Bad thing.

And then the next day,

a friend gave us these morel mushrooms that he picked. I sauteed them in butter and added garlic and lemon juice. The finest delicacy, and they grow all around here. Good thing.

But things continued before I got the post written. And it's not really bad things, more like life happening.

We got a reprieve from the cold, wet weather we've been having, at least long enough to get the cattle moved. Look, I'm actually riding in a t shirt and you can see blue sky.

Then it started raining again. It poured for days and the already saturated ground couldn't hold any more water.

When we got home yesterday afternoon, this is what we saw.

There was no way the culvert under the county road could keep up.

The normally dry creek bed near our house.

The irrigation ditch overflowed, and the water hadn't even been turned on yet.

The water flowed over the driveway as that culvert couldn't handle all the water either.

Remember our poor broke-down tractor?

This is what it looked like yesterday evening. Good thing Tom ordered front wheel bearings to replace the old ones while he had it apart, 'cause I think they might really need it now and it might be a while before it's repaired.

I posted pictures of the flash flood we had a year ago. Compare the pictures here. That flood lasted only a few hours. With all the rain, this one has been building.

Our basement had close to a foot of water in it yesterday. We have one pump down there running full time and another one set at intervals to keep up.

Today, since it hasn't rained, the water pouring out of every drainage has slowed a little, but it's still coming in the basement just as fast.

We've had record rainfall in this area. There is extensive flooding east of here with road closures, people stranded from their homes and irrigation systems wiped out. It could get a lot worse when it warms up because the above average snow pack in the mountains hasn't really begun melting yet.

And there's another big storm on the way. Yep, life is definitely happening.

I was rereading some of my older posts and realized that I write about the weather a lot, but, as you can tell, it's a big part of our life here.

More Bug Control and Gardening

2011-05-18T00:47:00.001-06:00

This is an Epps Fly Trap that I've read good things about. It works because apparently when flies approach an animal, they first fly all around and underneath it. The contraption above, a large dark object, attracts the flies as it's made to resemble a horse or cow (at least to a fly). Underneath is clear plastic, which the flies bounce off of and into a tray of soapy water, where they drown.

We've never tried one, and only have one first hand testimonial. Some friends say theirs has drastically reduced the fly population around their place. The traps are a little pricey and I have no idea how long they last. It looks like you could make your own fairly easily.

A couple of people commented that they use garlic for fly control. I've tried it before, and while I like the idea; it's just not practical for us. First of all, we have a lot of horses that we don't handle every day. Secondly we don't feed much grain. It's more like a treat when they are ridden and the amount of dried garlic needed to be fed each day takes a lot of grain or other feed to mix with. But then Shirley said she buys crushed garlic and the horses eat it straight.

Springtime, Inc. is the company I ordered garlic from. They carry high quality, all natural supplements for horses, people and dogs. I've used a few of their products and was happy with them.

I've tried a few herbal fly sprays. The one we had the best results with is Equisect by Farnam, but the only place I've looked are in the feed stores in this area. Typical of most herbal sprays, it doesn't last long, so I spray, then get on and keep moving. Sometimes I spray afterwards also. Our horses mainly use the buddy system of two standing head to tail to swish one another for fly control.

I did buy some Neem Oil, The only time I tried it was on myself at an outdoor concert near the river last summer that was thick with mosquitoes, and I didn't get bit. I just rubbed a bit of the oil on my bare skin. I'll have to make a spray and try it on the horses. It's been so cool here that the flies aren't bothersome yet.

Tom and I have been making raised beds in our garden for growing vegetables. We're filling them with soil and lots of compost. I planted the first one a few weeks ago to cool season crops and have spinach, kale, lettuce and radishes already up. We finished the second bed today and I planted it to sugarsnap peas, more lettuce and other greens, plus a different variety of radishes.

I started tomatoes and peppers inside, but they won't go in the ground (or beds) until after Memorial Day. That's also when I'll plant squash, cucumbers, melons, and other things that cannot freeze.

Plus, the asparagus I planted last year is coming up, so we'll be eating that before long.

I can't wait for fresh vegetables from the garden. I'm hoping that within a month I won't be buying any more vegetables for the summer.

And guess what? I got a sunburn on my back and shoulders working in the garden. It's not bad, so don't feel sorry for me. The sun felt so good and I didn't keep track of how long I was exposing my white skin. I seem to do it every year.

Leave a comment and tell me about your gardening experiences this spring. Also, share any other bug control tips you have.

A Few Things That Have Been Happening

2011-05-14T22:05:00.001-06:00

My daffodills are blooming three weeks later than last year.

Our white horse is turning yellow again.

The clouds were acting weird one day, leaving strips of blue sky. The pattern started dissipating before I got a photo taken, but you can kind of see what was happening. You can also see the leaves coming out on the willow.

Bug season is here. Here are a couple of ways we deal with them.

First of all, we worm all our animals using diatomaceous earth. Here's a post I did about it a while back. I've read on other sites about people wondering how to get away from chemical wormers because of the problems they can cause, and here's the answer. If you don't want to mix with other minerals like we do, you can sprinkle it on grain, or just mix with loose salt.

Secondly, I found an herbal collar that works really well for keeping ticks and fleas off of the dogs. It's made by Pet Guard. Legally they can't make claims about it, but we're using them again this year on our dogs because we liked the results. I like the way it smells and I am happy not to be subjecting my dogs to toxic chemicals.

I'd be interested in hearing about other natural products that anyone uses, so leave a comment and tell me about it.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'...

2011-05-06T20:53:00.001-06:00

Though the creeks are swollen,
Keep those dogies rolling.
Rawhide!

I think that's how the song goes.

But this isn't about an old cowboy song. It's about what happens when there's a nice, freshly tilled, clean piece of dirt around here.

There's a lot of rolling going on.

I tried to get these two rolling together, but Hooper went down as Wahpeeua came up.

A while back I showed my round pen just after Tom groomed it. I used it once, and then it started raining and snowing. When it finally quit, there was standing water in it. I dug a trench through to drain it. It was a huge mess. Now it's finally dried out again and re-groomed.

And nobody can resist rolling in it. Esmay,

and Abby got in on the action.

But the horses, who are in full shedding mode, enjoy it the most. Here's a sequence of Hooper enjoying a roll.

Oh, yeah.

A good shake to finish it off.

An equine chiropractor once told me that it's important to let your horse roll after being ridden. The things attached to the vertebrae (I don't remember what they're called) become compressed from carrying the weight of a rider. A good roll and shake helps realign the spine.

Everybody knows to count the number of times a horse rolls over on its back to determine its worth. You know fifty or a hundred bucks a roll. I think there's some truth to this bit of folk lore. First of all, it seems to me, after watching a lot of horses roll in my lifetime, that the more athletic ones have an easier time getting over.

Also, horses with sore backs either don't roll, or go down and only rub on one side. Both these things help determine a horse's worth.

Of course, the real deciding factor on how a horse rolls is where the itchy places are.

But give your mount access to a nice loose patch of dirt after your ride to help maintain his/her health.

I'd finish with more Rawhide lyrics, but that's all I remember.

Read more about Wahpeeua here.
And here's more on Hooper.

More Calving Adventures

2011-05-03T08:55:00.001-06:00

We had two cows left to calve. One looked like it could happen anytime, so we weren't surprised when we went out to feed and found her standing off from the rest of the herd looking vigilant.

And ornery.

I worked my way around.

Sure enough, down in the ditch protected from the wind and hidden, lay the new calf. The cow pawed the ground in warning. Tom called the dogs, which the cows consider the bigger threat. They usually aren't as concerned about humans.

With the dogs gone, the cow settled down, so I got even closer.

What in the heck is that? This calf's first view of a human.

In fact I'm not sure what that is. Mom, where are you? See how his ears (yes, it turned out to be a bull calf) are going in different directions.

Here I come.

Let's get out of here.

Don't you just love the image of a cow moving off with the little one at her side?

We visited with our little herd for a while. My crusty ol' cowboy always gets a smile on his face when he pets his cows.

The two cows who calved most recently, still feeling very protective, moved their calves down to the corner.

Get back over here. One calf went under the fence where there's a gap over the ditch.

Not knowing how to get back, he started up the fence, while his mom worried.

Tom went to help.

The cow didn't like this situation one bit.

But it all worked out.

Nap time after a busy morning.

Still Catching Up

2011-04-29T07:16:00.001-06:00

The weather around here has been gradually changing. The temperature actually reached the 50s for a couple of days, but there's also been a cold wind, lots of clouds, and showers, both rain and snow.

These pictures are from last week, when the sun finally came out to warm our poor little calves up.

In fact everyone wanted some sun.

Bitty Buddha and Pretty Penny found a warm spot on the tractor fender.

Some of the snow melted off by afternoon.

Since the light was so nice, I took a walk up the hillside.

The Rock People were out and about.

There was a whole line of them facing the evening sun.

These two made sure they caught the very last of the rays.

The next morning was sunny and warm.

The ankle joints on the spotted cow's calf didn't seem to be getting stronger. We straightened them using pvc pipe cut lengthwise. After lining the pipe with towels for padding, we taped the leg from the hoof to above the knee.

Deb H recommended making toe extenders to help the calf rock back onto his heels. It sounds like a good idea. Tom called the vet and he suggested the pvc pipe. Since Tom had seen the pipe way used before, and we had a piece we could use, we went with that, for three days.

We let the smaller calf back out. He was still looking a little humped up, but we decided, that since it was drying up, he'd be better off out on the rangeland than in the muddy pen.

This is a recent picture of the two 'stangs. It's like they never left. Read their story here.

Finally, a picture of Susie, the mare we got last fall. Read about her here.

More Weather

2011-04-28T07:44:00.002-06:00

Well, it happened again. On Tuesday, it started snowing. We watched it come down all afternoon and decided we had better check the calves that evening.

This is what we found:

How pathetic is this? This calf was born on the day before. So far, on his first day here, he had only experienced cold weather. Since his mouth was warm and he didn't seem cold, we left him alone.

Of course, his mother was there taking care of him.

All the other calves were fine.

It snowed more during the night and Wednesday morning it looked like this. The spotted cow was out in the weather,

but her calf, the one who was having trouble walking, was warm and dry in the shed.

We went out to check on the others. The newest one was wet and shivering so we went to get the sled. We loaded him onto it to take him up to the shed with the other one.

Sixty-Five wasn't too sure what was going on, and all the horses were keeping an eye on things.

They all followed us up to the yard as the cow traveled alongside.

I'm surprised this photo and the previous one turned out since I was bouncing along in the tractor looking through a dirty window.

Sixty-Five must have been feeling photogenic because when we got to the gate, he acted like he still wasn't sure about the whole thing.

It isn't unusual for it to snow this late in the spring here, but usually we at least get warm weather teasers.

The sun came out in the afternoon so we brought the cold calf out into the sunshine. He spent the afternoon snoozing in the sun on a cozy pile of straw. I didn't have my camera to take a picture, but his black coat soaked up the heat and he looked happy finally.

I wrote this a week ago and never posted it for some reason. Looks like I have some catching up to do.

Ranch Work and Calving

2011-04-18T15:15:00.005-06:00

We've been getting some spring work done. It finally dried up enough to drive on the hay meadow, so that's where we focused.

First we pulled some posts from an old fence line. Here's a handy device Tom made.

He throws a couple half hitches down low on the post with the chain, pulls it up over the metal tube, and fastens it to the back of the tractor.

When the tractor is driven ahead, the chain tightens, and the leverage lifts the post out.

We pulled maybe twenty posts and filled the holes, then moved on to the next job.

(These next pictures have a blue tinge. Somehow, my camera gets on some weird setting that does this. Guess I have to pay more attention.)

Tom hauled compost down to the hay meadow, while I went to dragging.

It went from looking like this,

to this.

The spotted cow disappeared over to the neighbors to calve again. The next day we went looking for her and the calf.

We found this sleepy little guy.

When he stood up we realized he was having problems. As you can see he can't walk very well. His ankles bend over and he ends up walking on the joint with his hooves bent under. Since he was other wise healthy and nursing, we left the pair alone so he could get stronger.

The next morning the cow had rejoined the herd, but the calf wasn't there, so we went looking for him. He had tried to follow his mother back, but couldn't get very far before he had to stop as those front joints are so weak. We decided we better bring the pair up and put them in a pen.

Tom found this little sled at an auction. It was made to pull behind a snow machine, but it works well as a calf transporter also.

Normally this cow is pretty ornery, but she realized her calf needed help and cooperated with us.

Yesterday evening more storm clouds rolled in. It began raining shortly after, then it turned to snow. Poor little calves, but their moms are good at keeping them dry and their bellies full of warm milk.

Still Waiting

2011-04-12T12:00:00.001-06:00

The crocus survived a week under snow,

although some of them are a bit bedraggled looking.

The tulips and daffodils continued to grow while under the snow.

Once it dried up, Tom groomed my round pen so it was ready to go,

but then it snowed another four inches. Since then it's melted off again, but it's still soggy and cold out.

The horses are feeling frisky. Wahpeeua is already pretty slick, but Hooper has some shedding to do.

Is Wahpeeua stalking ducks?

This little pool of water only appears during wet times of the year. It's quite shallow and these two have to wait for the ducks to get out and the mud to settle before they drink.

We have three new calves. As you can the sun has been peeking through from time to time and the little ones are doing fine.

This morning when we went out to feed, it was snowing again. Yep. we're still wearing heavy coats, wool hats and insulated gloves.

The shower didn't last long, and you can see it's starting to green up, so spring is just being slow.

I have to admit, this is my hardest time of year. I like snow and I don't mind the cold, until April. Usually we at least get teases of warm weather before now. This spring has been nothing but cold. Of course when it's warm, that usually means it's dry, but what I wouldn't give for 65 degrees, blue skies and no wind. Is that too much to ask?

Yesterday I bought another couple packets of seeds, but planting vegetables isn't going to happen until the ground warms up. Sigh.

Ok, that's my whine. Hope you all enjoyed it.

Overnight

2011-03-24T10:45:00.002-06:00

Last week I took pictures of the first crocus of the year. The yellow ones always bloom first.

Just before I went to bed Monday night, I stepped outside. Specks of moisture fell from the sky. They were so fine that I couldn't tell for sure if it was rain or snow.

Tuesday morning we woke to this:

There were all kinds of cool shapes, like the goat's water tank.

This is the snow that had slid off the roof by Tuesday morning.

By Wednesday morning the pile was at least twice as much, as it snowed all day Tuesday.

The power was also off all day. After calling around, we discovered it was out in our general neighborhood and at least part of town.The snow was so wet and heavy that power lines as well as tree branches couldn't take the weight. All around town there are broken tree limbs in yards and lining the streets.

Around 8 o'clock in the evening I had lit candles and we were enjoying the ambience when the power came back on.

I now have an even greater appreciation for wood stoves and gas grills.

Wednesday the storm had cleared out and it was simply beautiful with bright sunshine and no wind. There was also around 18 inches of snow on the ground.

The cats were stuck in the barn as the hole they go through to get in and out was blocked with snow.

It wasn't cold enough to freeze the pond, so the ducks and geese were happy.

It was a spring winter wonderland.

Wednesday night as I was writing this the power went out again, and since the battery in my computer is shot, I had to finish this morning. But the power is back on and we have a lot of moisture. Since the ground was already pretty dry (I watered my flower bed where tulips are emerging a couple days before), this should set it up for things to grow once it warms up.

Around here we'll take moisture any way we get it.

Moving Day

2011-03-15T14:13:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we decided it was time to move the horses onto an area that wasn't grazed last year.

We drove up to where the Wild Bunch spent most of the winter so they would follow the pickup down and onto the fresh pasture. Here's Tom parked at the top of a STEEP hill which was the only way to drive to the gate we wanted the horses to go through.

I decided to get out and see what was taking so long, and to take pictures. I walked back and found them.

"Ok, what's going on here?"

They stayed to the top of the ridge while I started down, hopefully to find a good spot for pictures.

Tom didn't wait, but rolled on down the gully, so I didn't get a good shot This is at the bottom where it was already leveling out.

Once on the new pasture the horse's heads immediately dropped to eat.

A short time later they ran up to drink.

Star, the palomino, kept order until they settled down.

Good stuff, fresh spring water.

They drank and immediately headed back down.

Wakinyan and Sixty-Six were the last to drink. "Hey, wait for us. I think there's a wolf hiding back there."

This post looks a bit ragged. Blogger seems to be having spacing issues. It wouldn't let me put the comments right underneath the photos like I usually do.

Signs of spring

2011-03-02T18:52:00.001-07:00

This morning I decided to look for signs of spring.

The thermometer read 10 degrees when I first looked, definitely an improvement from a few days ago, but not spring weather.

The goat pen and beyond, the horse pen, are covered in snow.

This is my round pen.

The critters are still wearing their winter coats.

There are piles of snow the wind blew into drifts, that then had to be cleared.

Spring hasn't come to the pond yet.

There it is! No, not the cat on the fence.

Can you see it?

Here's a closer view. This time of year the yellow willows turn vibrant.

And that's the only sign of spring I've seen so far.

I have some exciting news. My book, A Story of the West, is now available on Kindle from Amazon for $5.99. This ebook version can also be viewed on iPhones, iPads, PCs, Macs, Android devices and Blackberries. Here's the link:

Kindle bookstore

So what signs of spring have you noticed?

Another Anniversary

2011-02-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

Today is our sixth anniversary at the Seven Mile. A year ago I wrote a post about how we found our wonderful ranch. Here's the link to that post.

Five Year Anniversary

Last week it was in the fifties, temperature-wise, beautiful weather. This morning when I woke up it was -21 degrees. The last few days the high has been around 0. So all you people getting ready for spring, I'm happy for you, but we're getting frigid air and snow coming down from Canada, and it's expected to continue into next week.

I haven't been outside much and I haven't taken any pictures, so here are a few from before.

Last summer I saw this caterpillar crawling up the outside of a window. The camera wouldn't focus on it from that distance, but I still think it's a neat photo because of the curtain and the reflection of the sky.

This is a 100 year old spring house. Water was diverted from the river to inside of this stone building. There's a cistern to hold water, although the water keeps flowing through to stay cool. This is how people used to cool and keep milk.

People are always asking our friend, whose place it is on, if they can take pictures of it, and I couldn't resist one beautiful day last fall. High school seniors have even had their year book pictures taken in front of this photogenic building.

I took this picture last November. As you can see, the light was almost eerie.

It's now five below, but Tom got the tractor started so all is well.

The Mustangs Are Back

2011-02-14T22:32:00.001-07:00

Sixty-Five and Sixty-Six 'Stangs

A few years ago, I think around 2002, when Tom and I were still living near Dillon, we ended up with a couple of mustangs. Here's how it happened.

There was a woman working in the Safeway in Dillon who we got to know a little bit just from talking to her in the store. One day she asked us if we wanted these two mustangs. She and her family were moving out of state and didn't want them any longer. We declined because we already had more horses than we needed and that seemed to be that.

The following winter, over six months later, we received a phone call from the woman. She was no longer working at the Safeway, and we knew the family had moved. Once again she asked if we would take these two horses. It turned out that she and her husband had sold the twenty acres they were on and just left town, abandoning the horses. The new owner of the property was from out of state and had finally found out that they were still there. He wanted them off immediately.

Envisioning the horses would be pretty hungry since they hadn't been fed all winter, I immediately loaded up some hay and drove the thirty or so miles to the pasture. It turned out the field was sub-irrigated with a stream running through it. There was still grass on it, so they were doing fine feed-wise.

But one of them was gone. He had gotten lonely and jumped the fence and was over at the neighboring ranch. We got them both into the corrals there, used the chutes to load them into our stock trailer, and took them home.

We named them Sixty-Five and Sixty-Six because Tom had Mustang cars of those years way back when.

Their previous owners had moved to the country and of course needed a couple of horses to complete their experience. So they adopted a couple of mustang weanlings, thinking it was going to be like raising puppies. They found out differently and that it was going to take money to train them. We got them as six year olds after the people had given up on them.

We put a little time in on them, but we had other horses we were training at the time, so we didn't get real far. Tom rode Sixty-Six a few times, but that was about it.

We brought them along when we moved of course, as they were part of the Wild Bunch. They lived here for a couple of years, but we really wanted to find them a good home, which we finally did. A woman we met here decided she wanted them as pets. Perfect, we thought. She took them home on the condition that if she changed her mind, we wanted them back before they ended up at the sale barn.

A month or so ago we got the call, and now the 'Stangs are back.

Home On the Range

2011-01-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

Oh give me a home

Where the buffalo roam

Where the deer

And the antelope

play.

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,

And the skies are not cloudy all day.

You rarely hear old cowboy songs anymore, do you?

Wakinyan has a Girl Friend

2011-01-19T15:04:00.001-07:00

I didn't mean to toot my own horn for so long (see entry below this one), but I've been distracted, so haven't posted for a while. And sometimes I just need a break from the computer.

Of course it doesn't help that I deleted all the pictures off my camera before getting them on the computer. I've done it twice now. Instead of deleting a single picture, I deleted them all. I think those episodes qualify as brain wrinkles.

We decided to turn Wakinyan (Tom's red Appaloosa) and Susie out with the Wild Bunch since we don't ride much in the winter. Susie has been in a corral by herself with only sniffs over the fence to get to know the other horses, so the first thing we did was put her and Wakinyan together in a corral for a week or so. It was love at first sight and they quickly became inseparable.

These first pictures were taken the day before we turned them out.

The Wild Bunch gathered around the pickup looking for treats when we drove up to check on them and the spring.

Not a thing to snack on.

What does it take to get something to eat around here?

Our biggest and smallest horses were standing next to one another. Tom lined them up so I could get a picture of them side by side.

Xena Rose, the Belgian, is on the left. Cole, who believe it or not is a Thoroughbred, is on the right.

"Aw, jeez..."

The following morning we turned Susie and Wakinyan out with the rest. There was chasing and kicking, as well as squeals and studly grunts. I stood there watching, while fumbling with my camera.

Suddenly Susie ran by,

followed closely by Wakinyan. We decided this is his sexy, "say baby" look.

Star, the palomino, is the dominant gelding. He tried to cut Susie off from Wakinyan.

But she stayed with him. Tom figured it was time the ol' guy got him a girlfriend.

The others moved up the hill and out of site, but Susie and Wakinyan stayed down near the house all day. The next morning they were still there. We put halters on them and led them up to the spring because they didn't drink the day before. Wakinyan of course knew where the water was, but Susie had no idea. They drank and then loped off together as the rest of the Wild Bunch came up to drink.

And now I have to toot my own horn again. Cheyenne wrote a wonderful review of A Story of the West. Click on the link to his blog to read it.

Cheyenne Chronicles

Thanks Cheyenne! I am so happy you enjoyed it!

You can read more about Susie below.

New Mare

New Mare Part 2

I'm just so danged full of myself.

Toot Your Own Horn

2011-01-06T13:44:00.001-07:00

Did you ever wonder where the term "toot your own horn" comes from. I do. In fact I wonder about the origin of a lot of phrases. There are two that I can't for the life of me figure out how they came to be negative phrases.

The first one is "full of yourself." I'm sure a lot of people can hear adults, telling them as children, "Well, aren't you full of yourself?" Like you're doing something wrong.

My question is: Who should I be full of? You? Or that person over there? Shouldn't we all be full of ourselves? It seems like the healthiest way to live.

The next expression I wonder about is along the same lines. It is "being self-centered". Who should we be centered on? If you climb on a horse and you're not centered, you're not going to be on for long.

Which gets me back to "toot your own horn". Should I be tooting someone else's horn?

Well not right now. Today I am tooting my own horn and I'm being self-centered and full of myself.

As most of you know, I wrote a book titled A Story of the West. I thought I had a good story when I decided to publish, but of course I needed people to read it to find out for sure. The feedback has been incredible and I could tell stories, but listening to people toot their own horns while being self-centered and full of themselves could get boring in a hurry.

But I am going to let you read what a guy who recently read my book wrote:

"I am an avid reader and truly love a western. A huge fan of Louis L'Amour, I enjoy details that educate, define and describe, without bogging down the story. That is exactly what this book gives the reader. A very well written, readable and enjoyable book. The story line was easy to follow, believable, entrancing and very enjoyable. I got lost in the story and didn't want to put it down. True to life emotions and concerns prevailed and this was a true page turner!
More, please!" D. S. AZ

Reading this review made my day.

I also like to acknowledge, not only people who read my book, but especially people who read A Story of the West and take the time to give me feedback. Thank you. I am truly grateful for all of you.

Now I think everyone should go out and toot your own horn and be self-centered and full of yourself. It's fun.

The Next Day

2011-01-03T15:33:00.003-07:00

It cleared up overnight, which means the temperature began dropping. The horses stuck to the south facing slopes, catching as much of the low lying sun as they could. They store an amazing amount of heat. There's nothing like hugging a sun-warmed horse on a cold winter day.

When I grabbed my camera and went outside the following afternoon, the horses were all lined up with their right sides to the sunshine. You can see how the snow has melted off on one side. I went back out a couple hours later, and sure enough, they were facing the opposite direction, so that their left sides faced the warmth.

The sun was getting low and they were moving off so I followed them.

The dogs and I startled them as they followed the sun on the side slopes.

None of these shots are as good as they could have been because my fingers were freezing.

This shot is kind of cool, but it was time to put my gloves back on.

Of course the gloves came right back off when I saw this. I don't know if the Wild Bunch was enjoying the scenery like I was.

They were just moving along searching for grass.

Grass looks sparse here, but they're doing fine. The dun sisters are perfectly content grazing through the snow. They'll let us know when they get hungry.

My fingers got so cold that I couldn't even work the camera. Thankfully I still had to walk home. There's nothing like trudging through snow for a good work out. And to warm up.

I got back just as the sun was setting.

What a beautiful day, except here's the rest of the story.

Soon after we woke up, we realized the power was out to the barn. That meant the heaters in the water tanks weren't working, so the water was frozen over. Obviously we're trying to do too much with the electrical system because with the four heaters, plus the tractor plugged in, we blew a fuse.

Around here there's always something to go to town for, so once morning chores were finished, Tom headed to the hardware store for a replacement fuse.

Also, since diesel engines need to be plugged in during cold weather, there was no way the John Deere was going to start. Once he replaced the fuse, Tom plugged the tractor in and waited to see if, between the sun and the heater, it would warm up enough for the big engine to turn over. The high for the day was only 2 degrees F.

Here's the John Deere at sunset around 4pm just as Tom got it started. After letting it idle for a while, we finally went and fed the cattle.

Just before I went to bed I checked the outside temperature, -15 and the wind was picking up. The weather forecast was predicting mean windchill readings.

Oh well. The howling wind also means a temperature change, which is exactly what happened. It's now a couple days later, the highs are back up into the 20's, and the forecast is for the 40s by mid-week.

Paradise.

North Wind

2010-12-30T14:29:00.001-07:00

The wind shifted and began blowing out of the north this morning. We got around four inches of snow overnight and the temperature is expected to keep dropping.

On days like this you just have to stay hunkered down with your butt to the wind.

I decided the chickens were better off locked in their house than out in the snow. Tom put fresh straw down for them and I brought them out some lettuce.

It doesn't take much to keep a chicken content.

While I was feeding them, Esmay slipped in for a drink of water.

On days like this everyone pretty much keeps their heads in the feed bunk.

Had to make sure the tank heater was working.

Yep, on days like this we pretty much keep our heads down,

in the hay.

Happy 2011 Everyone!

Winter Solstice Full Moon Lunar Eclipse

2010-12-23T10:34:00.002-07:00

How many people saw the lunar eclipse early Monday Morning? It was a total eclipse of the full moon. On the winter solstice. I read this hasn't happened since 1554, so it's a rare event. I resisted hibernation and, after only a short nap, stayed up to watch. It was awesome.

First I went out as the full moon rose. The horses were right there, so I figured it was the perfect photo op.

Ok you horses, look photogenic.

"You mean like this?"

"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do."

"Seriously, what do you want me to do?"

It turns out the moon didn't need much help to look good.

Next I drove down to the end of the road and saw this.

The eclipse started here just before 1am.

It took a long time,

over an hour to fully cover the moon. The moon is almost completely in shadow in this shot.

Happy solstice! It just has to be a good year coming after this awesomeness.

And Merry Christmas. Everyone have a good one.

Winter Weather

2010-12-11T21:11:00.001-07:00

The weather around here has been doing a lot of changing. Winter came with cold and snow. Things froze up, and then the wind blew. At our house the drifts weren't too bad, but a lot of people were stuck at home until they could get cars and driveways plowed out. That and a power outage ruined some people's Thanksgiving plans.

Now it got warm again and the snow has been melting. I can't wait to see what happens next.

This is when the wind was blowing, although at this point it had died down considerably.

The horses on the hillside in the late afternoon sun.

They're still there.

Of course I've been snapping photos of the mountains. They're my perfect subject. They always hold the perfect pose, and it's really hard to take a bad shot of them.

I don't often get a shot looking north across the Yellowstone.

These next photos were also taken looking north.

It took me a while to realize that the blurry ridge lines are blowing snow.

Below, something is brewing to the south.

December Giveaway

2010-12-02T14:15:00.000-07:00

It's time to give away more copies of A Story of the West.

This time I'm going to make you work for it.

But only if you want to. You see, since I self published, I am also on my own promoting my book. That means no agent, and no advance from a publisher. What I do have is you guys, my followers and others who read my blog, which I am really grateful for. That's why I won't feel my work is done until everyone has a copy.

I might not be so adamant about pushing A Story of the West if it wasn't for people who have read it and told me how much they enjoyed it. I thought it was a good story or I wouldn't have even attempted publishing, and readers have affirmed it. I mean the feedback has been absolutely incredible. I have heard repeatedly how the story draws people in and that they can't put it down.

Even from people who don't normally read novels. How cool is that?

Click on the Book Review button on the right to see what the book is about.

Back to the giveaway. Some of you may have noticed that I now have a website. What I am asking for is feedback on it. I'm posting a link below to the page on it that contains an excerpt from A Story of the West (not the excerpt from the Book Review button).

To enter the contest:

-For one entry simply leave a comment below.

-To have two entries, go to my website, writing-ranching.com, read the excerpt, then come back and leave a comment. I really want to know what you think. Does that brief taste make you curious to read the book?

-If you want a third entry, read the excerpt, look around the website, then come back and also comment on what I've created so far.

I am asking all of you to help me out. And I so much believe in A Story of the West that you may as well enter because eventually you will have a copy. Besides, you can never have enough books on your stack for wintertime reading.

I am going to pick five winners so all you people who never win--you've got a pretty good chance.

I'm leaving the contest open for a week, so the drawing will be on December 10th. Make sure and check back as I'm not going to track the winners down.
Here's the link: A Story of the West Excerpt

I'm really looking forward to your comments.
And did I mention that I sign all the copies I give away?

Winter is Here

2010-11-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

What a difference a week makes. After a beautiful fall that went on and on, the weather changed in a big hurry. For the past four days the daytime high has been right around 0 degrees. Things are freezing (the water faucet by the barn and the tractor), and animals are hungry. It snowed about a foot over the weekend and this afternoon the wind picked up. Now they're talking -25 degrees with the wind chill. Hawaii anyone?

We went out to feed at about 4 the other evening and it was already getting dark.

Tom got to drive while CJ and I tossed hay off the back of the pickup.

Yep the cattle were hungry all right.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

And thank you for the comments on grassfed beef. It's nice to know there are aware people out there.

Grassfed Beef

2010-11-16T14:33:00.002-07:00

There seems to be misperceptions about grassfed beef. So let me clear things up a little bit.

First of all, there is a difference between grassfed and grass finished beef (even though I usually say grassfed). Most cows are on grass in the summer with their calves, and then are fed grass and/or alfalfa hay in the winter. After all that is what ranches are all about, growing grass and putting up hay to feed their cattle. So the calves get off to a good start.

Seven Mile pairs on green grass last June.

In the fall the cattle are gathered and the calves are weaned. The cows are usually turned back out to gestate until they calve again. But what comes next for the six month old calves is where the difference between grass finished and feedlot finished beef happens.

On most ranches, the steers, and any heifers not kept as replacements, are immediately shipped to feedlots.

Sadly most of the beef produced in this country comes from feedlots, where cattle are fed all kinds of horrible things, have unsanitary living conditions, and are generally treated poorly. These things destroy their health and produce the crap called beef that you buy in supermarkets, restaurants, etc. When you hear the horror stories about unsafe beef, it is because of what happens at the feedlots, not on the ranches.

See my rant about that here.

Grass finished steers however are treated, and fed, much better.

These are our calves just after we weaned a couple weeks ago. They are being fed only what you see here, grass hay. After a month we put them back out with the rest of the herd where they grow for approximately two more years. They live with their extended family out in the open eating their natural diet. Then the steers are loaded up and taken straight to the butcher.

Last August we took five steers in to be processed and below is a sample of what we got back.

I dare you to find any steak that is better looking. The meat is well-marbled and has fat around the outside. Not only does it look great, it tastes great.

Many people think that grassfed (and finished) beef is poor quality. They say, "Maybe it's healthier for you, but it tastes like game and it's tough."

All I can say is, take another look at the picture above and tell me what you see. I see prime steaks. In fact these steaks were so tender they easily tore apart. (Hey, I live with an uncivilized eater who doesn't believe in using a knife. You should have seen the juice running down his chin.)

And the flavor is exceptional. I always used to think that my taste buds must be different because I never thought our meat was gamey tasting. And I've eaten a lot of game.

But then I learned a few things. In fact it's kind of a grass finished beef 101.

First of all the steers have to still be gaining weight when they are hauled off. You can't look out and see that your grass is gone and then decide it's time to ship because they will have started to lose weight by that time. That is where the gamey taste comes from.

The second thing is the age. Feedlot operators want to push steers through quickly to make their money, which is why they pound corn and other dense feed into them. They force them to gain quickly and consider them finished at eighteen months, as opposed to twenty-six to thirty months for quality grass finished beef. Unfortunately some people producing grass finished beef have the same mentality.

But steers eating their natural diet haven't yet matured at 18 months. A recent analogy I heard was that it's like eating a teenager. That might be a little coarse, but think about it. A teenager's muscles haven't filled out. They're bound to be tough and stringy.

I won't go into all the health benefits of grass finished beef because if you google it, there is all kinds of information.

If you didn't read the post I linked to above, here it is again.

Read it and you will understand Tom's and my frustration. We really were ready to quit. What we ended up doing was keeping ten cows.

All I can say is, if you truly want safe food, stop supporting the corporations that are producing slop and lying to you about it. Know the people who produce your food.

Also, leave me a comment because I really want other people's input on this subject.

One more picture of Susie

2010-11-13T13:46:00.003-07:00

Well maybe a few more.

I meant to post this a week ago, but it didn't happen. I thought with the colder weather I'd be working inside more.

Oh well.

Here are photos of Susie in harness.

The first day Tom put only the surcingle on her, along with the headstall, and drove her with light lines.

Look at her eye and how her head is up in the air. She wasn't used to the blinders and wondered where Tom was. It can be a scary thing for horses not to be able to see their leaders. That's why it's important to keep some life in the lines while driving them so they know they're not alone. They say that's why horses run off when something breaks or they manage to rub their bridles off.

The following day Tom put Susie in full harness and just let her amble around the round pen while becoming accustomed to the feel.

Here was my ride that day. Wahpeeua, or Peeps for short, is turning into quite the horse.

Here's a post about Peeps when he was being started last winter.

Starting the Colt

The temperature finally dropped enough to kill the petunias on my porch. It has to be a record - flowers outside into November.

I really appreciate the comments about Susie.

Also, here's what was written recently on Facebook about A Story of the West.

New Mare, Part Two

2010-11-04T22:31:00.003-06:00

Tom's really been having fun with Susie, our new mare, the past few days. Here are some more pictures of what he's been doing with this wonderful horse.

This first exercise is one we call "Changing Eye." What you do is run the lead rope along the opposite side of the horse from where you're standing, and around the butt. Obviously the horse has to be comfortable with ropes, with people around their hind end, and soft on a lead rope. And Tom is standing where he can't get kicked.

Staying out of the horse's way, pull on the lead rope. The first time can be confusing to the horse. As you can see here, Susie is leaning into the rope a little bit.

Continue pulling and the horse will follow the rope around. There's a moment where the handler is lost from view in the horse's blind spot. It can freak them out when the handler reappears in their other eye. After a few repetitions the horse usually becomes comfortable with this.

Here Susie has come all the way around. Once she realized what she was supposed to do, Susie did fine. Tom repeated the exercise on the other side.

Another exercise Tom did was driving with invisible lines.

Susie had a little bit of a problem letting him go to the other side initially.

But once again she figured it out.

This is just showing off.

Susie did so well that Tom put a friend who was visiting up on her. This guy had only ridden a horse once before, when he was a kid. It looks like we have a new dude horse.

Here's Tom on Wakinyan and our visitor on Susie going out for a short ride at sunset a couple days later.

Today I rode Wakinyan and Tom rode Susie. Both of them love to walk out. Gotta love a horse with a ground covering walk.

Another Horse

2010-10-31T23:07:00.002-06:00

A few days ago we acquired another horse. She's a Belgian Quarter Horse cross. I'm not sure how old she is, probably not over ten. Tom wants to breed her to a jack and get a mule baby.

First he wanted to see how much training she's had. She's been ridden, but never driven, which is what Tom wants to use her for. He started at the beginning, as if she was an unstarted colt, to see how she acted.

Which meant he put her in the round pen. This is the short version of how it went.

He had quite an audience. Our visitor got a ringside view of the show,

and the goats kept an eye on the situation also.

Tom turned the mare loose and asked her to move.

It didn't take her long to hook on.

And she really wanted some attention.

Tom asked her to move off again and she was momentarily confused.

But now Susie has a new best friend. Yep, that's her name.

Tom put the halter back on her,

and without much effort he was circling her at a walk and a trot.

Notice the slack in the lead rope. She didn't lean or pull, a soft well-behaved horse.

Tom next saddled Susie without any problem. That's a saddle he made. We might need a longer front cinch, and look at the back cinch. It's tight against her belly. We don't yet know how much of that belly is draft horse, and how much is good pasture. But she had no problem being saddled, so he turned her loose again.

Occasionally there was slight resistance, but for the most part she didn't have any problem with what was asked of her.

Tom stepped outside the round pen to change his boots and Susie checked out the boys over in the next pen.

Using only a halter, he walked and trotted around the round pen. She took everything in stride. In fact she has a great stride. Tom says her trot is really smooth. He was a bit worried, having started draft horses under saddle before, that they can have big bouncy gaits.

All in all, he was pleased with the first ride on his new mare, Susie.

Next post I'll show a couple of exercises that Tom used working with Susie on her first day.

Here's another horse training post you might enjoy.

Hooper's First Ride

Tibetan Singing Bowls and Chimes

2010-10-28T13:50:00.001-06:00

These bowls and chimes are used in Buddhism. I think they have many uses. Clearing the mind before and after meditation is the only one I know of.

No, I don't meditate regularly. The reason I have them is that years ago I heard the chimes and loved the sound so much that I wanted a set. When Tom and I were in Colorado one time, we saw this little store that was run by a woman from Nepal. She had all kinds of neat things from the Nepal-Tibet region. Not only did we buy the chimes, but the bowl as well.

The bowl works by holding the bowl on the fingertips of one hand, and then taking the wooden deal (don't know what it's called) and running it around the outside rim of the bowl. It produces a ringing sound that is unlike anything I've ever heard before. You can feel the bowl vibrate. It's really cool.

The chimes are held by the leather thong, one in each hand, and then you hit the rims together. It's the same kind of harmonic sound. I can feel these sounds resonate throughout my body.

I'm not sure what the metal composition is. I looked online a little bit and there are all kinds of shapes, sizes and metals used in both the chimes and the bowls.

I hadn't played with them for a long time. When I was looking for something to use to draw a name from, I spied the bowl sitting on a top shelf covered in dust. Now Tom and I have been playing with both the bowl and the chimes every day and even showed them to company.

Giveaway Winners

2010-10-24T17:01:00.000-06:00

I wrote all the names on pieces of paper and put them in my Tibetan singing bowl.

I decided to give away two books instead of one.

The names I drew were:

Linda Benson

and

aint for city gals

Contact me to claim your copies of A Story of the West.
Thank you everyone for entering and welcome new followers.

A Giveaway

2010-10-17T15:14:00.010-06:00

Uh, oh. There's something in the tree.

It's moving around, and I can't quite see what it is.

It's Pretty Penny and she has an announcement.

(Look at how the leaf color changed when the camera focused on the cat.)

But first she has to get out of the tree.

Come on Penny, we're waiting.

"First of all, I prefer my full name, Prettiest Pretty Precious Princess Penny. And what I have to tell you is that my mommy is giving away another copy of A Story of the West. Just leave a comment and you're entered. Leave a comment and become a follower and you get two chances."

"And just in case you don't think I'm the cutest cat around, here's a picture of me and my brother, Bitty Buddha, sleeping in a box."

So there it is from the mouth of Prettiest Pretty Precious Princess Penny. The deadline is a week from now, so leave a comment and/or become a follower and I'll announce the winner next Sunday. I'm not going to track the winner down, so remember to check back.

Click here for a review of A Story of the West.

Check out other reviews and an excerpt by clicking on the Book Review button up above on the right.

Here's another post about Pretty Penny.

Monkey Feet

2010-10-14T23:50:00.000-06:00

Blogging is one of those things where I can reveal only the things I want to about myself. I can keep blogger people at a distance, unlike when friends come over to my house and see my dirty kitchen and uncombed hair. Or worse.

Well today I'm going to let everyone in on a little secret about myself. (Whatever you do, don't look at the picture below before reading this.)

You see, I'm weird. Not just a little bit. I'm a full blown freak. At least that's what I imagine people would say about me if they knew me better. I do things that could be considered on the fringe. Like:

I don't wash every day and I'm not very sociable.

I could go on like this, but that's not what I want to reveal.

You see, it's about my footwear.

Ok, go ahead and look.

Yep, when I go out walking or running this is what I have on my feet. Tom calls these my monkey feet. Actually they're Vibram Five Fingers.

All I can say is, laugh at how they look all you want, but don't knock them until you've tried them.

There are people who run barefoot (even marathons). Others wear minimal footwear, which is what these are. I first read about Five Fingers on the website of a guy who is a long distance runner. He was having foot problems and of course the sales people at the running shoe store told him he needed more support.

I fell for that line of thinking for a long time also. When my feet hurt I bought more expensive running shoes along with orthotics. Well this guy tried the opposite approach and his foot problems went away.

A year ago I decided to order a pair and give them a try. I travel on pretty rugged ground, but it didn't take long to adjust. I had to learn to land on the ball of my foot instead of the heel, which is the way most people run and walk anymore. Also I had to toughen up the soles of my feet somewhat.

But this way is a lot better. My stride is more natural, which means there is less stress on my joints. And my feet love them. You can't see the bottoms, but they grip really well and I can climb rocky hillsides using my toes.

And as you can see, it's possible to collect cute little bouquets between your toes.

They do have their drawbacks of course.

You know how in the movies the woman rubs her foot on the man's leg and says something like, "Hey, Big Guy..." Well I don't get anywhere with Tom doing that when I'm wearing my Five Fingers.

Also, I've never let the neighbors see me wear them. Imagine the stares. I don't need that sort of gossip going around.

I dare everyone to reveal a secret about themselves.

(How many of you peeked at the picture before I told you to?)

Fall Along the Yellowstone

2010-10-12T22:37:00.006-06:00

This has been by far the most awesome fall since we've lived here. What seems typical here is that the leaves start to turn and then the wind blows the colored ones off. Then they turn some more and the wind blows again. So we only get glimpses of autumn.

Last year got really cold really early and the leaves went from green to brown before dropping off. It was so bizarre that some trees couldn't adjust and died.

A couple days in a row I took a drive along the river and got these shots.This was a couple weeks ago before the colors were peak.

The first day Tom and I were on our way back from Billings. We got off the interstate and onto the frontage road that ran along the river. This first shot is of some trees surrounding a cemetery.

Tom was driving and he was really patient as I kept saying things like, "stop here," and "back up," and "turn around and go back." It was such a gorgeous day. The sun reflecting off the water was incredible.

This is a creek we cross on our way to and from town.

This picture was the following morning when I went off by myself. I headed west and found a road that I had never been on before.

I stopped at a fishing access and found this one red shrub all by itself. I have no idea what kind it is, but isn't it beautiful?

Standing on the edge of the water I looked down, and the pool was filled with little baby fish. They were too fast for me to get a very good shot.

The irrigated alfalfa meadows were still bright green. These antelope looked well-prepared for winter. I took a bunch of shots, but mostly got butts as they are wary since it is hunting season. Actually they must realize they are safe on private land. Usually when you stop near them this time of year they quickly take off.

The water was so blue.

I was playing with the light exposure and this isn't a great shot, but I like the outline of the mountains.

Heading home I saw this lone cottonwood beneath the rimrock.

I think this is the latest I've ever had tomato plants still alive.

Yesterday the wind blew, and it rained yellow leaves. It was pretty cool. The temperature dropped last night and we got our first hard frost. No more tomatoes.

Showing Horseback

2010-09-25T01:32:00.002-06:00

On a blog I follow there was a post recently about competing on horseback. The author's child is beginning to express an interest in showing and she explained her feelings about it. She discussed the reasons she no longer competes and I pretty much agree with her that competing can bring out the worst in people.

But I believe that performing can still be fun. The main thing that you have to do is be true to yourself and know what you are and are not willing to do. Are you needing to win at all costs? Is your ego on the line? That isn't conducive to developing a partnership with your horse. I believe the person that takes the time to develop a true partnership with their horse can win out over a trainer that forces a horse to perform.

A couple months ago I was at a cutting. Although I've never ridden a cutting horse, they are incredible to watch. I also admit that I am still figuring out all the intricacies of scoring and don't always understand why a horse and rider receive a certain score.

I can however spot a happy horse. When riders enter the cutting pen and have to "wake" their horse up to get its attention, something isn't right. I've never understood the spur your horse, then jerk it in the mouth approach to making sure your horse will obey you or else. But then the wild eyed horse that throws its head in the air as the reins are jerked to force it to stop hard has never been my style.

At this particular cutting there was a little black mare who has caught my attention before. On Saturday I watched the pair work together. They did reasonably well.

Sunday morning I again watched as they entered the pen. There was no tuning on the mare. The young man just eased her into the pen, then into the herd and the two of them calmly went to work. It was beautiful to watch as she gave it her all, wowing us with her moves. When it was over they had earned a seventy-six, easily winning the class.

I watched as the rider unsaddled the mare and then took her over to the wash rack. I could tell he enjoyed being with her. He slowly walked her around the grounds, allowing her to nibble the green grass, the picture of contentment.

I hope all people have that sort of relationship with their horses. If, as adults we have forgotten how to just be with our horses, we can look to children.

A couple years ago I was at a 4H clinic, watching as a group of teenagers participated in various classes with their horses. There were all abilities of both horses and riders. But it didn't matter. The clinicians were patient and took the time to work with each individual.

I looked around from atop the bleachers and started noticing something. All these horses were relaxed and happy, with a purpose. I could almost see them smiling. It didn't matter when novice riders held onto their mouths with a death grip, restricting movement or continuously thumped their sides as they ran barrels. For the most part the horses did their jobs, adjusting to any handicap as best they could.

The horses' main job was to take care of their kids. They were happy to do it because they were loved. I watched as the young owners brushed and pampered their mounts. The horses received a lot of attention. There was pride as the young riders climbed into their saddles.

Remember when hanging out with your horse was something you did just because you enjoyed it? Instead of running around doing chores, you fed your horse then stood there and just watched him eat, keeping him (or her) company.

I remember one time after school, my sister and I went out to the horse pasture. One at a time we caught each horse (probably around twenty head) and brushed them. It was spring time and they were shedding. We each took a side and brushed the long hair away. The horses were in heaven having two energetic girls scratching away at their itching hides.

We did it because we had nothing better to do that warm, spring afternoon then hang out with a bunch of horses.

I really do believe the rider that truly enjoys their horse will win over others that don't, and that is what I hope all parents are encouraging in their children. Actually I think kids already know this.

A couple years ago I was at another cutting. I sat on the bleachers and talked to a woman whose daughter was competing. The woman told me that her daughter had been to a cutting clinic earlier that year. The clinician encouraged the participants to jerk their horses around to keep them on their toes.

When she returned home from the clinic, the daughter was training her horse one day and an old cowboy saw her. He asked her why she was treating her horse that way. The girl told her mother she immediately felt bad and that she had never liked being so hard on her horse. She was just doing what she had been told to by an expert.

I believe it's important to focus on the positive aspects of life. Recently I house sat at the ranch of some cutting horse competitors. They are truly nice people and care a lot about all their animals. There was a small herd of mostly lame and geriatric horses that were getting the best care as they either recovered from their injuries or lived out the end of their lives. I doubt these people would ever discard a horse that wasn't considered useful, and have rescued horses from undesirable circumstances.

These are the things we need to focus on and allow our children to stay focused on as they pursue their horse dreams.

See another horse training post here,

and one more here.

I love to read about other people's enjoyable times with their horses, so tell me one of your happy horse stories.

Western Scenes

2010-09-20T22:13:00.002-06:00

After no precipitation to speak of for months, it finally rained, like three inches worth. In between storms it's been gorgeous late summer weather. Here are a few shots of some of the places I've been in the last couple of weeks.

The peaks have received snow a few times already.

This is the same shot as the first photo, pulled back to catch the clouds.

These horses were enjoying the sunrise one morning.

I saw this shot a year ago while cruising down the interstate. The light wasn't quite right when I caught it last week, but I love the four distinct colors.

The left side of this photo is the edge of the Derby fire, which burned a few years ago.

This was looking to the west just before sunset.

Oh, yeah...

Here's my favorite western scene, watching my cowboy riding off on his favorite horse .

House Sitting

2010-09-05T10:46:00.002-06:00

Last week I spent four days on a ranch east of here. It's a beautiful place to hang out on.

This is just before sunset as I drove out the first evening.

Shortly after I arrived the full moon rose.

Here's the old barn. It has space to feed eight horses. The mangers and grain boxes are still intact. Up above is the huge loft that no longer stores hay and is mostly empty.

I took pictures of the garden. These hollyhocks didn't turn out great, but the background looks neat.

Yellow and orange aren't my favorite colors, except during the late summer and fall.

One of my jobs was to check on the horses. They were all turned out, but came down for water every day. Here they are making their way down to drink.

Something caught their eye.

There were three horse breeds. The sorrel on the left is a Quarter Horse. The gray is a Highland Pony, and the dun is a Norwegian Fjord.

This is a Highland Pony filly.

The final morning of my stay there was a fire. It wasn't close by, but we still got the smoke. It made for a beautiful sunrise.

I love this time of year. We had a light frost a couple mornings ago, and there's been snow on the peaks a few times. It means winter is coming, and I love the feeling of change that fall brings.

Let me know how this time of year makes you feel.

More full moon pics.

Cattle Business, The Hard Part

2010-08-29T21:56:00.001-06:00

Last week we brought our small herd up to the pens to sort off the steers. It was time to harvest.

Tom has a hard time with the term "harvest" as it applies to animals. It seems too polite. He wants people to fully realize that we are taking animals in to have them butchered, and I agree.

I looked up the word harvest in the dictionary and part of the definition was "a quantity of animals caught or killed for human use."

That pretty much sums up what we're doing.

One of the main reasons vegetarians give for not eating meat is that they love animals. I hope people who eat meat also love animals.

The way I see it is that those steers are dying so that we can live. To me that is the ultimate sacrifice.

That's why we treat our animals with the utmost respect. A friend told me that she said a prayer for our steers the night before we took them to the processors. I thanked her and told her that I appreciated it.

People need to be fully conscious about what they eat and why. And to know where their food comes from.

Leave a comment and let me know what your beliefs are on this subject.

On the lighter side, here's another hard part of the cattle business. Breaking Ice

Raising Healthy Cattle

2010-08-22T12:42:00.003-06:00

Tom and I pride ourselves on the health of our cattle. Rocking Seven Mile cattle are bred, born and raised out on the range.

The calves are born within an extended family. Here is Emmy Lou, the dairy heifer, greeting T's new calf the day she was born.

We don't vaccinate and have never used antibiotics. Nor do we use chemical fly dip or wormers. Healthy cattle just don't need those things.

This is our bull when he was a yearling, being a lonely guy. He has to be kept in the corral part of the year so he won't breed the cows just after they calve. We turn him out to breed the cows around the first of July.

I can't say we never have problems. And sometimes we just get lucky.

This pair is heading out after spending the night in the barn. The heifer was born the day before during a snow storm. This is my guess at what happened.

Like all our cows, the mother sought shelter under a tree on a hillside blocking the wind when her time came. Shortly after she gave birth the wind changed directions. Being a good mother, she tried to get the little one to shelter down in some cottonwoods. With the snow driving into their faces, the calf ended up on the other side of a fence and proceeded to wander off away from her mother.

Tom came home shortly after and saw the cow, who had just calved standing out in the open all by herself. This was odd because normally she would never have been out in the open with a fresh calf in a snowstorm. In fact that's how we know they're calving. When we go out to feed and the cow is missing, we know she is holed up in a drainage, protected from the weather. Plus going off by herself is the way it's done in nature.

Tom looked around and saw a white lump off a little ways on the other side of the fence. Investigating, he found the calf completely covered with snow, where she would have frozen to death over night. As you can imagine, she was tired, cold and confused. We brought the calf up in the pickup and the cow followed.

We brought the calf into the house and put her by the stove. That didn't provide nearly enough heat though, so we put an electric heater in front of the calf and put a blanket over both the heater and the calf. It took until ten o'clock that night before the calf was "cooked" (Tom's term). She finally got to her feet and started bawling. This was in the living room, and of course I was sitting right there keeping a close eye on the situation.

We took her out to her mother and as you can see, the following morning she was fine and the pair went back out with the rest.

Our calves are weaned at a minimum of six months, meaning we wait until the youngest is at least that age. They are separated from the cows and spend a month in the corral while the cows dry up. They miss their mothers, but no longer need the milk and we keep hay in front of them at all times for that month to make sure they never lose weight.

The picture above is shortly after they were separated. It was late fall and you can see it was cold. The cows don't need the calves nursing this time of year, as they need to not only keep themselves fueled over the winter, but also to grow the calves in their bellies.

This is a picture from when we turned our herd out on green grass this spring.

Normally they are never confined, but this year was different. We decided not to keep the pasture we had been leasing the past few years, so we had to feed them in the corral for a month or so. Last spring was really dry and it took forever for the grass to grow.

Here's the view from my living room window not long ago. We like having our cattle close by.

This is looking across part of our hay meadow one evening shortly after Tom finished haying this summer. Before we bought it, this land was pretty neglected.

We use no chemical fertilizers even though it isn't the most productive hay ground. Instead we seeded red clover in with the existing grass and there is alfalfa beginning to volunteer over parts of it. We want to rely on a healthy mixture of legumes to provide the nitrogen needed for the grass to grow thicker, plus we spread compost on it in the spring. It may take longer to increase the hay yield, but our goal is healthy soil that will produce without relying on artificial and detrimental means.

Here we are during one of one of our annual cattle drives from a couple years ago. It was the end of December as we brought the herd home from the leased pasture.

Below are links to other posts you might enjoy about our animals.

We really do like our cattle. Petting Naomi
All the lives in our care are special. Baby Doeling
Click here to read about the mineral supplements we feed our livestock.

Also, here is a post I wrote about the sad state of the beef industry.

I am planning another giveaway soon, so check back for a chance to win a copy of A Story of the West.

Pets and Death

2010-08-12T21:14:00.001-06:00

One of our hens died last night. She had been acting poorly for a while, so I wasn't surprised. And chickens die fairly frequently as they're not bred for longevity. It got me thinking about a blog post I read recently about the death of a beloved animal, about the sadness when an animal dies.

I was way too attached to my first dog. I got him at a time in my life when I was lonely and needed a good friend. I relied on him to fill those gaps in my life. When he died, it was devastating. I spent days crying and grieved for months.

Afterwords I realized that I could never let that happen again. It just wasn't healthy, and I made the conscious decision to keep a gap between myself and my furry friends. I have had a lot of animals since then, and it's not that I don't love them as much. I still cry and grieve when they die, but I prepare myself, knowing from the beginning that that puppy or horse or kitten is going to die. It might be from old age, but it also might be from a horrible illness or an untimely accident.

Tom and I believe that all life is sacred. We try our best to save any life, up to a point. We don't go running to the vet anytime an animal gets sick or injured, nor do we believe in the necessity of yearly checkups. Our responsibility is to feed our animals well and take good care of them, but their lives are their own responsibilities. We feel the same way about our own health. We were given immune systems for a reason and a healthy body can and does deal with most illnesses. For the most part our animals are very healthy.

Of course we don't let our animals suffer, and decisions have to be made whether to seek help from a vet or not. We don't believe in doing "whatever it takes " to save a life, especially if it results in a poor quality of life for the animal. We make them as comfortable as possible and let the natural healing abilities of their bodies do the rest. When it's time to go, we allow them to go with dignity. If they are suffering we help them end it.

This spring one of our does had a kid that was very weak and she rejected the little one. We couldn't just let the baby die, so we brought her into the house and tried our best. She was too weak to suck, so we tubed her, first with colostrum, then with milk from her mother. After a few days she was strong enough to take a few wobbly steps. She gave it her all, but soon started going downhill. I knew at that point that she wasn't going to make it.

I stopped feeding her and let her go peacefully. She was wrapped up and warm. Occasionally she'd cry out and I'd go over and talk to her and pet her. Soon after Tom came home she passed away in his arms. On the one hand it seems a tragedy, a little life that never had a chance. But on the other hand, how many beings know they were loved every minute of their lives as that little one was?

The picture at the top is of the little doeling as she lived her entire life of six days in our house.

A friend of mine once told me, after giving birth to her son and being with her mother as she died, that she realized that being born and dying are the same thing. It's simply going from one place to another. I believe that now too. Our souls frequently pass from one plane of existence to another.

Sure it's sad, even painful, when beautiful beings die. But for me, most of the sadness comes from missing those we've known. I think it's only our conditioning that turns death into a tragedy.

I'd love to hear what others think on this subject, so post a comment.

Barnyard Animals: Goats

2010-08-06T12:37:00.003-06:00

This is Gorgeous Gabby. What a smile.

I love my goats. I had never had them before, but a few years ago I wanted to try milking an animal for fresh milk. I decided on goats because they aren't as big as cows, and I figured that if it didn't work out, a doe was not as big of a commitment.

We traded alfalfa hay for a Nubian doe and one kid from a woman who has what she calls "show fever." She's really into breeding and showing goats.

Nubians are considered the least people-oriented milk breed. But mine aren't that way. Melanie, the first doe, died a couple years ago and she was the sweetest animal. She would have made a great pet. Her daughter, Geordie, is now the matriarch of our herd. We have four generations down from her.

Here's Huka hanging out with the goat herd one evening as they grazed on the hillside above the house. The fencing on the right is protecting the fruit trees I planted.

Goats are great for eating down overgrown areas. They eat a lot of weeds. Of course they love tree leaves also. The lower branches of the mature trees here are all eaten back. Goats can wreak a lot of havoc in yards and gardens.

They never travel far from the barnyard, as that's where they feel safe. And during the heat of the day they like a cool shady area to rest in. A cave would be ideal, but here they go in their shed, or other favorite napping spots.

Heading out in the afternoon. Geordie is bringing up the rear. The grass out on the rangeland has put out seed heads and is going dormant. It will green up again in the fall when we get some moisture.

This is the new Melanie. She is Geordie's daughter. At first glance, everything seems normal here. Once you know the facts, you'll understand it's anything but. You see, Melanie is a year old and, although she could have been bred last fall, she wasn't. But isn't that an udder on her? Yes it is, and I'm milking her. The only explanation is that this is a case of immaculate lactation. I certainly don't know how else to explain it.

Click here to see some of the cheese I made last year. (It's below the icicle pics.) I've been busy the last couple of weeks making a stash for this winter. It'll age in the basement for three months, if we can wait that long.

The last few days

2010-07-29T00:08:00.006-06:00

The sunsets have been beautiful. There's a little smoke in the air to color the clouds.

Here's the full moon as it rose Sunday night.

It didn't last long. The color quickly faded as the moon slid behind the clouds.

The last few days haven't been a lot of fun, especially for Tom. There was a leak in the water line at the hydrant by the barn. We called the guy who installed it, and he said he'd come out and take a look. We waited almost a week, but had to do something as we had to flip the breaker down in the basement when we weren't using the water or the pump would run almost continuously. Here's what ended up happening.

Yes, Tom dug this hole with a shovel. He doesn't look very happy does he, poor guy. The water just kept pouring in. We don't understand how since the pump was turned off.

At the end he was scooping mud and water out and handing the buckets to me to empty.

The hard hat was kind of a joke. He found it out on the road a while back, and rarely has the opportunity to wear it. It helped keep a little bit of the mud off of him. I guess you could say it's another one of his bonnets.

Click here to read about Tom's Bonnets.

But it's fixed. At least we think so. Tom decided to leave the hole overnight to make sure. At least he can use the bucket on the tractor to push the mud back in.

Finally...

here's one of my lilies, still wet this morning from last night's rain shower.

Exercise or Nature Walk

2010-07-24T16:52:00.002-06:00

When I set out in the morning to take a hike in the hills, how much exercise I get depends on whether or not I take my camera. If I want to be hard core I leave it at home. Then I continually think, "That'd be a good picture." or "Oh, look at that shot."

If I take it with me I'm constantly stopping to take pictures.

This morning I took the camera. Here's a sampling of what I saw.

The Mexican Hat are out in force.

I believe these are a Fleabane.

I love Purple Prairie Clover. I think there are some bigger plants down by the mailbox that I'll have to get photos of.

There were a couple of Antelope hanging out near the spring.

Oh no! It's a water beast lurking in the water tank. I hope it's not mean.

It's just Wakan with her herbal, tick, flea, and other bug repelling collar. These work really well by the way.

To see Tom scooping ice out of this tank with his bare hands last winter, look at Breaking Ice.

The view down the drainage below the spring.

How is everyone's summer going? Really well, I hope.

Holy Cow

2010-06-01T23:06:00.006-06:00

I haven't been motivated to blog recently, just haven't had any ideas. This evening nature provided me with a story.

It's been really dry here since last winter, scary dry. The grass is only a couple inches high and was already drought stressed in May. Last week it finally started raining and we were happy. The ground is wet and things are growing. But...when it rains it pours.

Seven Mile Creek comes down past our house. It's dry most of the time. In the spring there is usually a little water in it and our pond fills. So far there's barely been any water in the pond this year.

About six this evening it started raining again, and I mean it RAINED!

Then it started flooding.

Seven Mile was really running.

The pond filled rapidly. Here you can still see the drain.

A couple minutes later the water was running over the road.

You couldn't even tell where the pond ended.

The raging water didn't last long, but it left a lot of debris. The ducks enjoyed it.

Afterwards we went out and surveyed the situation.

This wood washed up onto the driveway.

There was no water in the irrigation ditch before, but you couldn't tell as we unclogged the culvert.

I mean the ditch was dry.

The culvert at the end of the driveway was clogged also and more wood washed out onto the road.

There were worse problems over at the neighbors. I don't know where that bridge originated.

Across the road all that was left of the fence was the top strand of wire.

I also got to see the new baby mule. What a cutie. His mama is that black mare.

He loves playing with his daddy.

We had to hurry home at this point because it was getting dark and we still had chores to do.
It floods like this every couple of years, but usually later on. We'll see what this summer brings.

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Ranch Wives

2010-05-22T12:12:00.001-06:00

Zannie Rose checking out where the people live a year ago.

This was in the newspaper a while back. My comments are in parentheses.

Ranch Wife 101 Guidelines:

1. Always load your horse last in the trailer so it is the first one unloaded. By the time he's got his horse unloaded, you will have your cinch pulled and be mounted up and ready to go - lessening the chance of him riding off without you with your horse trying to follow while you are still trying to get your foot in the stirrup. (Tom knows better than to do this.)

2. Never - and I repeat never - believe the phrase "We'll be right back," when he has asked you to help him do something out on the ranch. The echoing words, "this will only take a little while" have filtered through generations of house wives and still today should invoke sincere distrust in the woman who hears them. (So true.)

3. Always know there is no romantic intention when he pleadingly asks you to take a ride in the pickup with him around the ranch while he checks waters and looks at cattle. What that sweet request really means is he wants someone to open the gates. (The joke around here is that the only time Tom asks me to go to town with him is when there are gates to open.)

4. He will always expect you to quickly be able to find one stray in a four-section brush-covered pasture, but he will never be able to find the mayonnaise jar in four-square feet of refrigerator. (Tom wouldn't even know to look in the refrigerator for the mayonnaise.)

5. Count every head of everything you see - cattle especially, but sometimes horses, deer, quail or whatever moves. Count it in the gate, out the gate, or on the horizon. The first time you don't count is when he will have expected that you did. That blank eyelash-batting look you give him when he asks, "How many?" will not be acceptable. (I get The Look whenever I don't do what ever it was I was supposed to do, even if I didn't know I was supposed to do it.)

6. Know that you will never be able to ride a horse or drive a pickup to suit him. Given the choice of jobs, choose throwing the feed off the back of the pickup. If he is on the back and you are driving, there is ample opportunity for constant criticism of speed, ability and your eyesight. (i.e. "How in the *@*# could you Not see that hole?") (I am so relieved that I'm not the only one who prefers getting thrown around on the back of the pickup because hubby thinks he drives more smoothly on rough ground.)

7. Never let yourself be on foot in the alley when he is sorting cattle horseback. When he has shoved 20 head of running, bucking, kicking yearlings at you and then hollers, "Hold 'em, hold 'em!" at the top of his lungs, don't think you can do it without the loss of life or limb. Contrary to what he will lead you to believe, walking back to the house is always an option that has been used throughout time. (I know I have guardian angels after getting myself in this type of situation with horses.)

8.Don't expect him to correctly close the snap-on tops on the plastic refrigerator containers, but know that he will expect you to always close every gate. His reasoning is that the cows will get out; the food will not. (Actually Tom is worse about closing gates and if food is in a plastic container, it doesn't exist to him.)

Always praise him when he helps in the kitchen - the very same way he does when you help with the ranch work - or not. (Let's just say, I do more ranch work then he does housework. It's much more fun.)

10. Know that when you step out of the house you move from the "wife" department to "hired hand" status. Although the word "hired" indicates there will be a paycheck that you will never see. Rest assured you will have job security. The price is just right. And most of the time you will "be the best help he has" even if it is because you are the only help he has. ( Tom's favorite line when he's disgusted is, "If you were working for me, I'd fire you." I just grin and reply, "But I don't work for you.")

From the column Cooking on a Long Trot by Susan Metcalf
Big Timber Pioneer March 25, 2010

And the winner is...

2010-05-16T06:50:00.001-06:00

I wrote everyone's name on a piece of paper and put them in Tom's bonnet. The name I drew out was

Rising Rainbow

Email me at storyofwest@itstriangle.com with your address and I will get a book to you.

Thank you everyone for your support and to everyone who linked my blog from theirs.

Since I don't have time this morning to do a blog post, here's one from last winter: Bonnets

Made Me Cry and Another Giveaway

2010-05-12T12:09:00.003-06:00

I've never been one to toot my own horn, but the things people are saying about A STORY OF THE WEST are awesome! This latest review by Emma Michaels actually made me cry. I thought I had a good story when I decided to publish my book, and now I know just how good it is.

Emma included the link to Amazon, but A STORY OF THE WEST can also be ordered through bookstores. If you order through me I will be happy to sign a copy for you.

The picture I just put as my header was taken the same morning I took the picture on the cover. Don't I have a handsome guy?

Here's the link to Emma's review. emmamichaels.blogspot.com/

Now for the giveaway: Leave a comment on this post and you will be entered to win an autographed copy of A STORY OF THE WEST. I'll leave the contest open for three days (through Saturday) and then draw a winner.

Thanks so much for finding my blog, Emma.

Wyoming, Spring Snow and Another Review

2010-05-11T09:18:00.001-06:00

On April 30th I headed down to Wyoming to sell books. Where the interstate divides near Billings, there was a flashing sign saying that I90 was closed at the Montana/Wyoming line. Hmm. I thought for a second, but kept driving. It had to be weather related as it it was snowing. Since I still had a hundred miles to go, I figured it would be open by the time I got there. I watched for traffic coming the other way as the snow got thicker. I passed a few snowplows, but nothing else.

The road was just wet except for a few places where the wind was blowing snow into drifts across the road. The plows were busy trying to push the snow off faster than it could blow back on, driving back and forth across those few miles, and finally I saw traffic coming the other way.

It snowed all the way into Sheridan, but heck, the road wasn't bad and I never complain about precipitation in our dry part of the country.

I made stops at bookstores, museums and libraries and had tea with a couple of nice women I met.

From Buffalo, I took the pass over the Big Horn mountains, and encountered blowing snow again. Coming down the other side, I finally braved the weather to take a few pictures.

The Big Horns are named for the sheep that used to be abundant on these rock cliffs. At one point they died out due to over-hunting and disease. They've been reintroduced, but I don't know how many live here now.

At the bottom of the pass there were about a dozen deer licking salt off the road. Their coats look really rough in the spring before they finish shedding.

I spent the night in Thermopolis, which is located next to a hot springs. It was too dark to get pictures of the hot springs, but I did get the sunset.

And really urban deer.

The bookstore there bought ten copies of A Story of the West! That's a huge amount as small independent bookstores are usually reluctant to invest that much in an unknown book.

From Thermopolis I went through Cody and Powell, and then headed north back to Montana. I returned with only three copies, a successful book selling trip.

I got home to fiercely blowing winds and scary dry weather. I mean the winds howled. The grass was already drought stressed, which is really scary for the first part of May.

But finally...

Snow! We probably got six inches.

These photos look like mid-winter, but by the next day it was almost gone. The moisture made everyone happy and yesterday we got more rain. We're grateful for moisture. Plants are starting to grow again, slowly, since the temperature has been in the forties and low fifties. Maybe my tulips will finally bloom as it's supposed to reach the seventies this weekend.

Finally, Emma Michaels is reviewing my A Story of the West. Today she is featuring it on her Teaser Tuesday. Check it out!

http://emmamichaels.blogspot.com/

The really cool thing is that she found me!

Thanks, Emma.

Livestock Minerals

2010-04-29T22:29:00.003-06:00

This title isn't nearly as catchy as the last post, but minerals on the Rocking Seven Mile are very important. We feed our animals only one supplement and it is a good one.

The three ingredients are diatomaceous earth (or d. e.), Thorvin kelp and Redmond salt. These are loaded with all the minerals needed for optimal health.

The d.e.'s main purpose is to kill parasites, but it's also high in calcium. It is mined from ancient seabeds and is the ground up shells of tiny diatoms. It feels soft, almost like baby powder, but is actually tiny, sharp pieces. It lacerates the body of any soft bodied insect and kills it. D. e. kills certain garden pests if sprinkled on the ground and around plants. There is also food grade d. e. for human use. Any parasite that has a larval stage in the gut is destroyed by this non-toxic substance. Some vets will tell you that it doesn't work, is dangerous, etc. but studies have been done that prove its effectiveness.

We also know that, since the animals are continually eating d. e., their manure is free of eggs so our pastures and corrals are free of parasites.

Kelp is probably the most mineral rich food on the planet since the ocean, where it grows, is so full of minerals. In my opinion, if you want to improve your health, add kelp to your diet.

Redmond salt is also mined from ancient sea beds and contains other minerals besides sodium as you can see from the color.

Animals love this mixture. I take 50 pound bags of each and mix it in a 55 gallon trash can.

I hang buckets in the corrals for the horses.

You literally can't keep animals out of it.

Man, this is good stuff!

The babies begin eating it when they are about a week old.

Like I said, this is the only supplement we feed any of our animals. I haven't paste wormed a horse in over ten years and no longer believe in the stuff. Besides the fact that parasites build up a resistance to the chemicals, so they have to keep coming up with stronger stuff, also realize when you paste worm you are force feeding your horse poison.

Another common ingredient found in animal feed and supplements that I won't feed is molasses. I first became aware of how bad this is years ago. I have a friend who is a massage therapist. She works on horses as well as people. She told me that she can tell a horse that is fed grain with molasses because the liver reflex point is tender. She says it never fails. If the point is tender, which means a congested liver, she asks the owner about the horse's diet and sure enough it's being fed molasses.

Think about it. Besides the fact that horses and other livestock have trouble metabolizing complex sugars, the molasses they are fed is the dregs. I believe the sugar companies found a way to use up the stuff that is full of all the pesticides, solvents, and other chemicals used to grow and process sugar, and these toxins are concentrated in the leftovers. If it was considered fit for human consumption, it would be in bottles on shelves in the store where they could make a lot more money on it.

Good stuff.

Tomorrow I'm off to Wyoming to sell my book, A Story of the West. Wish me luck.

Tom's Birthday Suit and a New Toy

2010-04-23T21:49:00.001-06:00

I bet that got your attention.

I've been neglecting my blog, but nice weather has arrived and I haven't wanted to sit at the computer. There's too much fun stuff to do outside. I have been taking pictures though and I have some blog stories that will be told eventually.

First, Tom's birthday was a couple weeks ago and I got him a pair of mechanic overalls. It may sound like a weird gift, but he loves them, and practically lived in them for the next few days.

About that time he finally found a loader for our John Deere tractor. Since he's been looking for one for quite a while, he was excited.

We went to pick it up.

Here's the loader being strapped onto the trailer. Notice Tom's birthday suit. You can't tell it in this picture, but both these guys are wearing John Deere hats.

I don't know if any of you have been around men talking about machinery, but they get into it. So I stood there in the parking lot and listened to them.

Here's the loader mounted onto the tractor. Tom did almost all of it by himself. I helped a little bit, but I'm not much good at this type of thing.

Its first job was cleaning out the corral. We had a big manure pile in there composting for a year. We call it brown gold as this is the key to fertile soil. Isn't it beautiful?

Tom hauled load after load down to the hay meadow,

and spread it. Can you see tell what a good time he's having? After all he's getting to play with his new toy.

I'm heading to Billings tomorrow for a book signing at Borders in the afternoon. If anyone is in the area, stop by and say hi.

Spring is here

2010-04-09T21:31:00.002-06:00

Although the temperature is back down into the forties and the the cold, howling wind made it feel like winter today, spring is definitely here. I work at a plant nursery through the summer and after spending a couple weeks getting ready, we opened last Monday. Plants that were overwintered are just starting to come out of dormancy and it's fun to watch them come to life.

Besides that, I've been scheduling book signings. The next one is at Borders Books in Billings on April 24th. Since I'm the one responsible for publicity, I have been contacting newspapers and such. it's keeping me busy and I haven't had time to blog.

These pictures were taken at the nursery last June.

A silly Robin mother made a nest in the fence next to a faucet we use every day, right at eye level.

She slipped between the fence boards and flew off when I went to turn the faucet on, but the babies lay there sleeping.

But when they heard a noise they woke up and did this. The noise my camera makes when it's turned on really got them excited.

I wish I had gotten there earlier that morning when the sun was shining directly on them.

When they didn't get fed, the three of them fell back asleep.

I didn't bother them after this. Occasionally I'd creep up to check on them when I saw Mom was gone.

I wanted to go back with my camera and get photos when they got older, but the next thing I knew they were gone.

Happy spring everyone!

A Little Rambling

2010-03-30T21:51:00.002-06:00

I ran out in my bathrobe to catch the sunrise again yesterday.

My oversize, billowy white bathrobe.

The colt ran to the far side of the pen and refused to come near me. He was sure a monster was coming.

This is Naomi, our "Hairpin Cow". It's an inside joke. You see, we bought her as a weanling. She came from the Hairpin Ranch over in the Big Hole. Cows from that area have a reputation for being mean because there are quite a few predators over there, and they might have to defend their calves. So here I am, petting my Hairpin cow.

Anyway, Naomi had a little bull calf early today. We saw the pair when we went out to feed this morning.

It had started raining earlier. After awhile, the rain turned to snow, then back to rain. It continued back and forth like that all day. We were grateful because it's been dry here. Plus the wind howled all weekend. It was so bad that they closed the interstate a few miles west of here. So, the calm wet air felt good.

Here's Naomi with her daughter Wynonna on the left. They can't carry a tune, but they both have strong healthy calves every year.

A couple days ago we went out to feed the horses. They came storming down the hillside and across the drainage, snorting and bucking. By the time I got my camera out,

they were slowing to a walk.

I did catch the tail end of their shenanigans.

These last photos were taken the same morning as the header picture. The sun had just risen on the hills behind the horses.

The horse in front is Napples, Hooper's mother. She is Mellie's sister.

From this picture, you can see that Mellie still has some shedding to do.

I keep forgetting it's still March. Everything is way ahead here. There are trees starting to leaf out and the Sandhill Cranes are already here.

Corn Dave

2010-03-28T15:06:00.001-06:00

This is Dave, Corn Dave we call him. He grows heirloom corn, varieties that used to be grown by Indians in dry climates. He sells it as seed, but never makes money. He does it because he enjoys keeping these old strains of food going.

One day last summer we saw him out pollinating his corn. I couldn't resist the colors and textures, and I sent him back out into the field because he saw us and came over before I could get my camera out. Then he kept looking up and wanting to pose.

But I just wanted him to keep working.

Tom worked for him picking corn in the fall a couple of times. Although the idea of harvesting corn appealed to him, the reality is that it was hard work for little pay. I'm proud of him for helping Dave out though.

Giveaway Winners

2010-03-22T07:39:00.000-06:00

The judges

have made a decision.

We sequestered them on the feed trailer until they chose a name.

It was a hard task, but they reviewed the entries and decided on:

Maybelline, sent in by Gttyup

The new follower winner is Shirley

Email me your mailing info and I'll get the key rings mailed out.

Thank you everyone who entered the contest, and thank you everyone who reads my blog. My hope is that I bring a little joy to your day and maybe give you something to think about also.

Now I have to get ready for work. That's right I have a job, but that's the subject of another post.

An Especially Fun Giveaway

2010-03-16T10:50:00.000-06:00

First of all, thank you everyone for your comments on my last post. It's nice to know that so many people who read my blog are up on, and concerned with, food quality. Tom and I are trying to figure out if we can keep a few of our older cows.

I haven't posted for a while because I needed a break from my computer. But now I want to give away a key ring. Tom worked on perfecting his horsehair hitching this winter.

He cut the practice strips into pieces and made these. The picture doesn't do them justice. They are really nice.

But here's the fun part. Eva, our Brown Swiss dairy cow had her calf a couple days ago and she needs a name.

Isn't she the cutest little heifer? Look at the eyelashes.

What do you think? Post your choice for a name. The one we pick will get a horsehair key ring.

Also become a follower and I'll have a drawing to give away another key ring to a new follower.

I'll leave the contest open until the 20th. I'm really looking forward to reading the names everyone comes up with!

Quitting

2010-03-06T20:37:00.004-07:00

Yes, the spotted cow came home. And she had a beautiful calf with her.

But they won't be home for long. None of our cattle will be here much longer. Tom and I made the decision to sell all of our cattle. We took last year's calves to the sale barn this past week. Soon we'll be selling the pairs. We're not quitting because we don't want to raise cattle anymore. We love this lifestyle. Getting up on a freezing winter morning to feed makes us feel alive. Life has meaning when we're tending to our animals and keeping them healthy and happy.

No, the reason we don't want to raise cattle anymore is because we're burned out on trying to convince people to buy our beef. I've talked to two other grass fed beef producers in this area who feel the same way.

Seven Mile beef is, as my sister says, beyond organic. Not only is it from grass fed beef, our cattle are as clean as they can get. We use no chemical wormer, no fly dip, nothing. It's also worth the extra money to us to buy quality mineral. Our animals get kelp added to mineral salt and diamataceous earth.

We take pride in creating the best product.

But people don't seem to care.

In addition, because we eliminate the middle man, we can sell our beef cheaper. So not only is it much better quality, meaning healthier, than that found in supermarkets, it costs less.

Why is it so hard to convince people?

I seriously hope it's not because everyone is listening to the government. I've been accused of being anti government. That's not true, but I do believe that "we the people" need to take our power back from the politicians we allow to control our lives. The main reason Tom and I got into grass fed beef is because the meat sold in supermarkets is crap. And our government allows it. The disease (mad cow and others) that has entered the food chain happened because the FDA said it's all right for feed lots to grind up brains and other leftover cattle parts and feed it to other cattle. And some of these parts came from sick cattle that the FDA allowed the corporate slaughter houses to butcher.

Tom and I met a guy who told us about his neighbor, who has cattle and a lot of chickens. He devised a way to get rid of the chicken manure, which apparently has a high protein content, by mixing it with other stuff to make it taste better and then he feeds it to his cows. The guy thought this was so clever and ingenious. The man is feeding cattle CHICKEN SHIT, and it's LEGAL.

I'm not making this up.

Tom and I never got certified organic because the same entity that would certify us is the one who allowed all this to happen in the first place. Huh? They ALLOWED this and they want a large sum of money in order to tell us what we can and cannot feed. Seriously!

Then there's the NAIS. In case you don't know, it stands for National Animal Identification System. What the government is trying to push into law is that all food producing animals, need a chip in them, supposedly to be able to trace disease outbreaks. Every chicken, goat, sheep, pig, rabbit, horse, cow, etc. in every back yard would be chipped if this becomes law. The problem with the chips is that not only do they migrate after being implanted, studies show that they can cause cancer. That's bad enough, but the proof that the government isn't really interested in our health is that the corporate feedlots would be exempt. Huh? This is where the disease originates. It doesn't start with the cow-calf producers. Where would ranchers get body parts to feed their animals? Their animals eat grass and hay that they grow.

I could get into all the hormones, drugs and other dangerous substances that are allowed, but it isn't hard to find information on it. Just today I came across this story. Check it out and then tell me how safe you think the beef in supermarkets and fast food restaurants is.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/03/06/why-does-fda-allow-banned-drugs-to-be-fed-to-livestock.aspx

Ecoli is another is a big concern. We all have some of it in our guts. In small amounts there is no danger. It's only when cattle are fed high concentrations of grain and other unnatural feed that the ecoli gets out of hand. In fact the animals' rumens are destroyed by these practices. Did you know that the average life of a dairy cow in most dairies is only a few years? But three days of grass hay and the ecoli is back to normal levels. And yet scare tactics are being used to pass more stringent laws that affect only the small producers, instead of actually making our food safer.

Some of our cows we bought as weanlings. Their sons and daughters are second and third generation with nothing unhealthy being fed to them. Most of them, like the calves we just sold, will end up in feedlots to become just what we wanted to prevent. It breaks my heart. I wanted to post pictures of my beloved cows, but it's just too hard for me to look at them right now.

Please leave me a comment and tell me what you think. Do people just not care about the health of themselves and their children? They must not or else they would be banging on our door asking for healthy food.

Do they think the government is actually protecting them?

Do you think I'm the one who is full of shit?

Searching for the Spotted Cow

2010-03-02T19:16:00.001-07:00

Our spotted cow snuck off to calve yesterday and we haven't seen her since. This afternoon Tom and I saddled horses and went looking for her. We rode over onto the neighbors. There's a lot of country back there and we can't imagine where she went or why. With the melting snow it was pretty slick. Even though we were unsuccessful and despite the mud, we had a nice ride. Melly hadn't been ridden all winter and she was feeling frisky, but after climbing a few hills, she settled down.

Afterwards Mellie got oats. The goats thought they should get some also.

Come on, just a bite.

Please?

Book Signing and New Calves

2010-02-27T21:32:00.001-07:00

Although taken a couple months ago, this picture shows what I did this morning.

I got to drive while Tom pitched off hay.

This afternoon I went to Bozeman for a book signing.

It could have gone better. You see, next to where I sat was this:

I just couldn't compete with cute little girls and cookies. Dang Girl Scouts.

This was our first calf born this year. Can you believe this little life was still in her mommy's belly twelve hours earlier?

The rest of the herd always gathers around the little ones to greet them.

Five Year Anniversary

2010-02-25T23:26:00.010-07:00

Today is the five year anniversary of Tom and I moving to the Seven Mile. Here's the story of how that came about.

On our first cattle drive here

When we decided to sell our place in Dillon, we had to find some place to move to. We had different realtors looking, plus I spent hours on the computer. At one point we took a trip to Idaho and eastern Oregon to look at property. We saw some new country, but didn't find our home. Tom wanted to check out North Dakota because land is cheaper there, but I don't think I could live without mountains close by. When I first started looking on the computer in May, I saw the Seven Mile advertised. I had our realtor at the time call the listing office, but no one called us back. I figured the place had been quickly snatched up because it seemed like a neat place for a good price. Oh well.

In the mean time the house in Dillon sold and we were about to became homeless. We didn't want to buy just any place because that was how we ended up in the situation we were in. It was nice in some ways, but it wasn't ideal. At the end of November we closed and had to get out. Finally, a few days before, talk about cutting it close, Tom went and bought a travel trailer and we ended up living in it in a friend's hay corral. It actually wasn't that bad because there used to be house trailers there, so we had water, a sewer hookup and even a phone line. We had to get used to the train going through very early in the morning, but it was home for three months.

Meanwhile I was going to the library to us a computer several times a week to keep looking for other property. Lo and behold, one day I found the Seven Mile again, and the price was reduced by fifty thousand! By then we had said "See ya" to the realtors since they were pretty much useless anyway. This time I called the listing office and we made plans to come over the next day.

Tom and I knew when we drove up the driveway that this was home. We both immediately felt it. We made an offer and ended up paying even less than the reduced price since the couple who owned it had had it listed for two years and were ready to go. A month later we signed the papers.

Moving here was quite the adventure as we had so many animals. As I recall we got up early that morning and started throwing cats into the tack room in the stock trailer as we found them (except my old guy, Raphael, who traveled with me). Since we had nine of them at the time, and they were all outside, it took a while. Tom took off ahead of me with the trailer and was already gone again when I arrived. One of the first things I saw was one of the cats in their new barn, so I figured they were all safely here. All but one as I found out later. When Tom arrived he opened the tack room door to let the cats out. When he got ready to leave again, he closed it and headed back to Dillon. When he got to where we had been staying and opened up the tack room again, one cat, Emmett, jumped out and ran and hid. He hadn't gotten out with the others at their new home. Tom thought we would never see him again since he's so shy, but a little while later Emmett showed up again and Tom quick grabbed him and tossed him back in the trailer. So Emmett got to make the trip twice.

Emmett, the traveling cat

We leased a large enclosed trailer for all our household stuff and had some help with the horses and cattle, but the rest we hauled in the stock trailer. Tom made four or five more trips back and forth, one per day at seven hours driving round trip. One of us had to stay here because of the animals, plus I was milking a goat at the time. Tom also had a commitment of helping at the bull sale of our friends in Dillon the first of March, so I was here by myself.

I spent a week alone and loved it. Everything was still packed, but there was a couch with a pullout and I had my sleeping bag. I'm sure I grabbed a few cooking, and other, necessities, but I didn't have a tv, radio, or clock for all that time. I didn't even have a phone. Tom and I don't do cell phones and I don't recall why, but for some reason there was a holdup on getting the phone hooked up. At one point I remember listening to the radio in the pickup hoping to hear the time. Tom would show up with a load, we'd haul it off the trailer, and he'd take off again.

I look around and see so many things I still want to do here. There's the old root cellar with the caved in dirt roof that we want to rebuild. And I really want a new barn. By that I mean an indoor arena, nothing fancy, but it would be nice in bad weather. We have accomplished some things like building up our cattle herd and we've repaired a lot of fence, but not nearly all, ugh. We built a new chicken house and planted over a dozen fruit trees. I put in a vegetable garden and a yard, although now I decided I want to redo it. Slowly we're making improvements, but Tom and I are at an age where enjoying life means more than accomplishments.

Goats and the root cellar

Mainly we're both grateful that we get to call the Seven Mile home.

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