Ship-shape sheep and checking cattle...

 

 It's shipping day for the lambs.  We gathered them all up and sorted the wethers (sheep steers) from the ewes.  The wethers were shipped to town via horse trailers today.  When the guys unloaded them they were weighed at the sale barn averaging a hefty 123 lbs. per lamb which was really terrific.  They were beautiful, and the sorter at the sheep barn was impressed.  He said they were the prettiest sheep he had seen so far this year.  We decided not to ship the ewe lambs, but instead, we will wait on them for a few weeks and decide how many to sell and how many to keep and add into the herd.

 We de-wormed the remaining lambs and then weaned the May lambs from their mothers. 

 

Hubs is counting sheep.

 

  

We sorted the bucks (above) and sold the undesirable fellows along with a few cull ewes.

 It's a good day when we can evaluate our herd and spend some time appreciating the lamb crop which has grown and flourished so well despite the hot, dry conditions this summer. 

 

After we had the wethers loaded, the guys left for the sale barn in horse trailers while I stayed home and checked the cows.  This is buggy is what we drive out in the pastures -- a Polaris Ranger.  It's easy on the grass and it can go anywhere.  We check cows every day and make sure that their water tanks are flowing and that the herd bulls are healthy and doing their job.  We also look for bogged cows or calves or for any problems that might happen on the range.

There's the bully right in the middle of this photo.  He's not too busy on this cool, cloudy day and most of the cows and calves are lying around while some of them quietly graze.  We had a lovely rain over the weekend.  On Saturday night we tallied up 5/10 inch of rain and then on Monday night we measured 6/10 inch of rain.  The amount may seem small to some of you, but to us, it is a big blessing.  The grass is washed clean and it's a little softer to eat, there are puddles of fresh water to drink, and the dust isn't blowing in the pastures.  It's so refreshing.

The range has a lot of healthy sagebrush growing, but there's a lot of good grass in between and in the low places.  There is just something about the smell of sagebrush that I love.  I think it's because I like it out on the range watching contented cows and calves.

Isn't she a beaut?

On the street where I live....

 

Miss Turkey came down the street where I live early this morning. The waddle under her chin is bright red with the sun shining behind her.  I wonder what she's thinking about when she walks around the place alone?

 

Cows were trailing out to pasture on the street trail where I live.

I was driving the feeder truck and the cows were following behind.

 

 

It's time for a big drink before we finish the long walk to the Nine Mile Pasture where the other cows are grazing.

It's called Nine Mile because it's nine miles from our little, bitty town.

 

Here's where I leave them off.  The guys will take the cows a good two miles or so down this trail before they reach the pasture gate where that dot-of-a-tree is.  You'll have to click the pic to enlarge it and see what I mean.

 

Gray clouds mixed with blue sky and sunshine where above the street gravel road where I live.  I enjoyed a windy, brisk daily walk to the mail box.

 

 

Big Sky Country is what it's called.

It is the Heavenly Ocean above the street where I live.

Out and about and a Monarch Paramount....

 

I drove to town today to do some grandmothering (I don't like the word babysitting)  with my little Cuppycake.  These are a few pictures of the homesteads, old and new, along the drive there and back.  There used to be a very small town just 6 miles down the road from our ranch where the gravel meets the pavement.  I know that part of it perished by fire years and years ago,  and the rest of it disintegrated from the dwindling rural population.  Albion had a post office, a store, a livery, a grade school, a community hall and a few homes.  This was one of the old sheds from that small town.  The school and hall still stand.

 

Our neighbor passed away a week ago.  He has lived in our community all his life and attended the grade school just a mile down the road.  This is his ranch alongside the highway.  We don't know what will become of it since he had no family of his own to pass it to.  It's a beautiful ranch along the river.

 

Isn't this picturesque?  This old set of corrals and barn have been here a long, long time.  I asked Hubby if he knew who had it or if there was a story behind it.  He said he didn't know, but his dad was sure to know.  The small river nearby sometimes floods right up to that bank that is cut out next to the corrals. There are beautiful finger buttes in the background.

 

I'm considering hauling this old Monarch Paramount range home.  It would need some cleaning-up, some  repairs and some renovating, but I think it would be lovely in my country-ranch kitchen someday. I have been poring over magazines, books, and web pages trying to get just the right ideas for remodeling our kitchen.  Hubby decided for our 30th anniversary that we should give ourselves a newly renovated kitchen since it has always been the hub of our family life.  Every holiday and every gathering when all the kids come home with friends and husbands, wives, and girlfriends, and grandchildren, we find that the kitchen is literally stuffed with people standing around talking.  We want a bit more room for family to participate or just yak over the counter and into the kitchen where all the bustle is.

 

Hubs and I have lots of ideas, and that is sometimes the difficulty of this project, for we must narrow down the good ideas to just a few that will fit into our space.  Before the actual work is to be done, there is a pile of work just in the planning.  It's fun, but it's a job too.  So many choices.  So many decisions.  So many little details.  Maybe one of these days I'll share some picture-ideas here with you.  If any of you have ever remodeled your kitchen, I am open for suggestions that start with... "The Best Thing we ever did was..." or "The One Thing I'd do in my new kitchen is...."

I hope you'll share.

This and That...

Today Hubs and I needed to make a trip to town to pick up a few sundry items before we fly away on our trip to Sunny Arizona.  We leave Monday and will be gone for a week to visit friends and to check out a college that Youngest Child is planning to attend.  We are all looking forward to a week of mild, possibly even warm temperatures for a change. This was the view from our car as we drove to our small town and then we went beyond it over near those mountains to the big city in the Black Hills.  Isn't this picture a lovely combination of blues?  God is so good to give us delights for the eyes, if we will just take the time to notice. 

As we were in our small town, we met up with the Only Daughter and she and I took a little drive to our favorite store, The Bakery, where we browsed the fabrics and then sauntered to the other side of the store to Bluestem Studio.  This lady has lots of handcrafted items that she and other locals create as well as a few antiques and vintage items.  I found this vintage table lamp that I couldn't resist for just $15.  You can't really see it, but it has a crystal piece just underneath the switch.  I think I'll paint the bottom part, but for now, I need it on my side of the bed for reading.  The lamp shade was not pretty at all but I liked the shape, so I used some adhesive spray and put a white piece of muslin around it and then tucked this piece of lace over it.   I may change the shade again, but for now, it suits me.  This old teacher's chair, salvaged from a country school from days gone by,  serves as my night stand.  It's really not much good for sitting in.  I tried it.  I don't know how teachers did it.  Surely there was a cushion or some padding in this rigid chair?  It's terribly uncomfy.

I have been enjoying a very good book most nights before I turn out the lights.  It's called Pilgrim's Inn by Elizabeth Goudge.  I read another of her books a long while ago called The Scent of Water which I just loved so I figured I couldn't go wrong reading another of her novels.  I was right!  The story is presented against a background of fragrant English countryside, magic woods, and the healing grace of the old house itself, whose history as an inn for pilgrims provides one exciting adventure.  All the elements which Elizabeth Goudge's vast following expect in her books are here:  humor, compassion and understanding; the vivid descriptive passages and the sharp characterization; and above all, the rich satisfying story, beautifully told. (as quoted from the dust cover)  The family in the story continuously refers to the book The Wind in the Willows which I own, but have never read.  I am now certain that I will make it the next book on my reading list.  Or maybe I'll just begin now and read it alongside Pilgrim's Inn.  If you are interested, Fraise Lachrymose has invited a few guest bloggers to share their thoughts and ideas about The Wind in the Willows.  Pom Pom also has a nice blog post about annotating The Wind in the Willows here.

Not only have I been reading a good book, but I've been playing with Sharpies and color crayons every evening too.  Pom Pom piqued my interest in another book called Creative is a Verb If You're Alive You're Creative by Patti Digh.  It is so refreshing to someone like me who enjoys being creative even though I don't think I'm very good at it.  There are many exercises that require the reader to draw and write on index cards which are very non-intimidating.  It's doable, isn't it, to scribble a small bit on an index card?  I've decided that I will kill two birds with one stone:  I will sketch on the cards and send some of them as postcards to friends.  The idea of sending postcards was another inspiration from Frances at Left-Handed Housewife.   Thanks, ladies, for your encouragement and inspiration!

A quote I copied down from Pilgrim's Inn:
"Struggle is divine in itself, but to ask to see it crowned with success is to ask for that sign which is forbidden to those who must travel by faith alone.  Each fresh leap of the flame from the charred wood lights your footprints a little further through the dark."