Saturday, October 08, 2016

Work and play...

THE WORK...







Gathering cows from the far North pastures takes time.
The pastures, as you can see, are terrible.  There has been less rain up there.
We probably should have brought the heifers home sooner.
We've been working cows, boosting vaccinations on all the calves, sorting into bunches,
and weaning some of the calves.  We've had several days of this.  It's fun to go through all the cows and calves and see how they are doing, but it's a lot of hours of work too. 
 Cowpokes like me feel it in the shoulders and hands.

We also worked the bred heifers to see which ones we will add in to the herd and which ones we will sell in November.
154 head averaged 949 pounds.
(a tally we need)
We DID get some rain!  
About an inch, which is wonderful for us.
No water running into stock ponds, but moisture nonetheless.

THE PLAY....


 When I'm helping trail cows, I am always looking for interesting things along the way.  I find feathers and plants, rocks and bones.
On this particular day, I found a pile of bones.  An old cow died.
This was her skull.
Evidently she had a lump jaw.  
I thought it was cool how the lump turned into a kind of calcium coral reef.
Ugly and beautiful.

Below is more of my playing...
...fiddling with watercolor paints.
I've been having fun with some video tutorials.
They are very inspirational!


 The sketchbook on the left is my nature journal.
When I homeschool our kids, we all had nature journals to keep.  I've kept one on and off since retiring from my teaching job, and I've decided to start up again.
I tried to plunk a little watercolor in on my sketches.  It works ok.
I like it, but the paper is not so great (for watercolor) since it's just sketch paper.
I might look for a watercolor journal next time.

 Do you know the movie:  
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown?
I grew up watching it when I was a girl, and our kids grew up watching it too.
Now it's time for the grandies to love it.
Well, my pumpkin watercolor above is a tribute to that Charlie Brown story 
and a tribute to my pumpkin patch
which is very sincere.
My grandkids had fun picking their very own pumpkins -- for decorating
and for carving jack-o-lanterns.


Sunflowers and a chickadee.
The chickadee is in my nature notebook too.
They've stopped by to feed and water in my backyard.
I do hope that some of them will decide to stay with us through the winter.

I've pulled up all the tomatoes now and have the green ones setting beneath newspaper in the garage with great hopes that they will ripen as the days pass.  The kids helped me pick all the pumpkins and those, too, are stored in the garage.  I'm leaving the potatoes and carrots underground and will pull them up as we need them.  They store best in the earth....until it freezes.
We did have our first freeze last week.
It's turning.
Fall is here!
Guess what?
I'm getting 33 eggs per day from the hens!
It's an EGGstravaganza!
Omelet anyone?

Are you taking a little time to play this fall?
Please tell me about it.

12 comments:

  1. Play? Well nothing like your play that results in such beautiful creations on paper. Love your watercolors and other sketches. It's been a long time since I've watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Maybe I should get us a copy to keep around...Happy Sunday to you!

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  2. Thank you for the lovely and encouraging painted postcard, dear Jody. Gorgeous! Next week I'll have some time to think, create, ponder and create. I have been knitting but today I might take a break so my wrists/hands can rest (and I'm no cow poke😂)
    Love to you! Yay for Linus and the GP!
    Your painting is fantastic!

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  3. Your journals and your sketches and your drawings are wonderful. I tried to keep a sketch book too. In fact when I go through the boxes I have so many sketch books left from the kids. I think they are valuable the kids don't. That is an interesting skull. That is quite a nice bunch of cows. I hope you get some more rain soon. We might get a few sprinkles this week.

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  4. Hi, Jody! I love your watercolors! They're just lovely. I will be creative this fall by (no surprise) making quilts during my spare time. Love to see those cows!

    xofrances

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  5. I never made myself keep a nature journal when I made my children do it. And they never called me on that ;-) You are an inspiring example of a lively empty-nester, or post-homeschooler, all those things you are or will be! The watercolors are lovely.

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  6. Love your watercolor paintings! They are so much fun to make. I still have my kids' sketchbooks from homeschool, and tons of other papers, lol. I keep them with mine on the shelf. :) You're a busy gal! God bless you and your family!

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  7. Oh wow -- you've had a frost already! Our trees are late turning this year -- I've barely noticed that it's fall. I love that you're playing with watercolors -- something that I've always wanted to do. I especially love those cute little pumpkins!

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  8. I am in awe of the lump Jaw skull! Poor things. I always felt bad for them. I love the pumpkin and sunflower paintings. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. I am in awe of the lump Jaw skull! Poor things. I always felt bad for them. I love the pumpkin and sunflower paintings. Thanks for sharing.

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  10. It's always exciting to find things in pastures. Work and play must even out nicely or there's imbalance, eh? Your art is Fabulous...I love each piece!

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  11. Does a cow with a lump jaw find it difficult to chew? Is it in constant pain. The skull is quite fascinating.

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  12. Jody, your painting is absolutely glorious -- I didn't know you painted? What other wonders are you hiding out there on your ranch :)? Just love the pumpkins and fall leaves. You make me want to pull out my paints too. Maybe soon. And that cow skull -- ewww! Kinda scary.

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