Where cowboys stow their hats when attending weddings...

A cowboy'd never wear his hat in church....

Nor at the reception.

But it's the first thing he'll grab when he walks out the door....

....when it's time to jerry-rig the Bride and Groom's car.

Branding and a Birthday...

Mama cows are first separated from their calves. We treated them with insecticide and sorted them into breeding groups. Then they must wait around until their calves are branded and brought back to them.

(I animated 4 pics into one here so you'd get the effect of cows bawling for their calves. I used Animator-9, a free download, to do it. I just clicked buttons until something happened -- my best method in learning a new skill)


Who wants to be first??????


Vaccinating calves and treating with insecticide.


Eldest Son is branding and Hubby does the tatooing (for identification) and I keep the books and set the tatooer with the correct number for each calf. It's a job that I have to really focus on so I don't give a calf the wrong tatoo. I did have one goof-up.


Lazy Y J Bar
The wet, bubbly stuff is a spray that we spray onto each brand to sooth it and to protect it from insects and bacteria.


This is our work table. It has the record book, highlighters to mark off each calf in the book, a vaccine gun, the spray we put on the brands, the tatooer, the green ink that is rubbed into the tatoo with a toothbrush. Oh....and Diet Pepsi.


Taking a break and admiring the work of their hands.


Third-Born Child was 20 on the 20th and he made it over for a special Birthday Supper and Birthday Cupcakes. There's always a competition at our house when we serve Birthday Cupcakes. The object of the competition is to see if you can put a whole cupcake in your mouth at once and chew it without spilling any out of your mouth while everyone at the table tells jokes and makes crude remarks about you all the while you're trying to chew and swallow. The secret to success is to take a drink of water first so your mouth is wet as you slide the cupcake in. I guess you run out of spit when there's that much cake in your mouth at one time.

Gathering cows for branding tomorrow...

The green, green grass of home...


Antelope are playing ...


Git along little dogies!


My cowboy.


Let's get 'em around that water...
(do you see Pete's ears peeking up?)


...and through the gate.


The gate's shut, let's go home.


Early in the springtime we round up the dogies
Mark 'em and brand 'em and bob off their tails
Round up the horses, load up the chuck wagon
Then throw the little dogies out on the long trail

Whoopee ti yi yo, git along little dogies
It's your misfortune and none of my own
Whoopie ti yi yo, git along little dogies
You know that Wyoming will be your new home...

"Git Along Little Dogies"
Songs of the Plains

Still at home on the range....

We are of the "Out-West" variety of ranchers and that means that we're always very aware of our Situation with the federal government when it comes to land and property rights. Most of us lease federal and state lands to supplement our own land for grazing purposes. Where we live, it takes 40 acres per animal unit (cow) to feed her for an entire year due to the semi-arid conditions we live under, so we count on our government leases being there.

About 18 years ago, the Hage family bought a ranch in Nevada that came with a federal land grazing lease, water rights, and of course, property rights. But the U.S. Forest Service thought they could bully them and take those rights away. The USFS denied the Hages access to their own water rights, introduced a non-indigenous elk that became overpopulated and competed with the cattle for forage and water, and they canceled the ranch's grazing permits. (Who does the USFS answer to anyway?) After 17 years of court trials and perseverance, the Hage family has won their case. You can read about it here. This is a huge victory for those of us who make a living and manage resources in the West.

I just thought you might like to know.

Summer afternoon iced coffee...

It's very simple.
Grab an icy mug from the freezer.
Fill it with ice cubes.
Pour the cold morning's coffee over the ice.
Next, pour a little half 'n' half in with it.
Stir and sip.

"... some like it hot, some like it cold..."
~Old Nursery Rhyme

Art and inspiration....

The Artist's Ladies

By James Tissot

"The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us.

~Ashley Montagu

Red....

Sadie Olive at Le Journal had a Red Challenge. It's the last day, so I decided to play.

“God's children and their happiness are my reasons for being.”

~Red Skelton

...down 'n' dirty

Getting down on your hands and knees is what it's all about. Getting your jeans dirty. Getting dirt under your fingernails. Getting wild, ratty hair blowing around in the breeze. It's not a pretty position for a 40-something woman, but it's necessary if I'm going to do a good job. Getting close to the ground is the best way to distinguish a seedling from a weedling, and that's what I've set out to do today, "pull out the tares from amongst the wheat," so to speak. It's a tricky business because weeds try to look like the very plant they are trying to choke out.

I could get the hoe out and stay cleaner and whack weeds down in a hurry, but I'd take out a lot of seedlings in the process. I could get out the Round-up spray bottle, but I always manage to spray something I didn't mean to, and that's really depressing. The best way is the dirtiest way -- down on my knees, getting close enough to really see, being very discerning and careful. It doesn't seem like such a big deal -- pulling some weeds -- but it's what I have set out to do today, and God was in it.



"We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing, that He is preparing and fitting us for some extraordinary thing by and by, but as we go on in grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, in the present minute. If we have God's say-so behind us, the most amazing strength comes, and we learn to sing in the ordinary days and ways."
~My Utmost for His Highest (June 4)

"For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
~Hebrews 13:5

The official "Veil Flip" practice...

I believe this was a practice session of the official "veil flip" which, by the way, went perfectly during the actual ceremony.

These past days I've been basking in the afterglow of a really perfectly perfect wedding and reception. It's been fun to think back to all the preparations, the decorating, planning, the little details and then the Big Day which was so beautiful and fun and happy for all of us.

After the Wedding we packed up ice cream pails full of salads, gallon ziplock bags of meat and cheese, boxes of extra fruit, wedding cake, all of the family crystal, linens, clothes, shoes, copies of important documents, keys and whatnots and unloaded them at home. At this point, the crystal is washed up and back in the fancy cupboard, the linens are still in the laundry basket, and most of the food is eaten or given away to friends and helpers. The Honeymooners are still away and as for me.....it's back to work.

We've had more rain than we know what to do with this year. The past seven years of our lives here on the ranch have been drought-stricken, but this year God decided to turn everything back to rights. In May alone, we've had over 9 inches of rain and our annual average rainfall for this area is 11 inches. We have water in places we never knew it would stand, and it appears that all the stock ponds, dams, springs and wells are filling up beautifully. What a blessing.



I've been mowing like mad (do you see all the beautiful, thick lawn in the background?) trying to beat the daily rain. Today I finally put the rest of the garden in. It's not a large garden, as I had planned, but the big garden is so full of water, that it's literally a bog and I'm not about to muck about in that mud hole. I hope to plant some native grasses and wildflowers down there yet this spring to soak up the moisture. In this spot pictured, I've got tomatoes (Roma and Early Girl), peppers, cabbages, and onions. I'll add some nasturtiums seed soon. It doesn't look like much, but some of it is underground. The raised beds are all planted with seeds so there's nothing to look at except beautiful, black soil. The geraniums are potted on the front porch and the baskets are hanging.

Ahhhhh.....Life is good. God is good.

A blessed joyful day....

Yesterday we gave her away
to a wonderful, godly young man.

It was a beautiful day
In the most important ways....
God has blessed us all.