Reporting in....

 

This once was a road house in between small towns. We see it along the road to town.

Man, this week has been crazy!  First off we pregnancy tested our mature cows Sunday evening and the rest of them on Monday.  323 cows.  Full days.  Cooking days.  Working-at-the-barn days.  I enjoy it.  I really do, but I get so worn out.   The good thing is -- sleep comes easy.

The next day Hubs and I went to town and left the ranching behind.  We did take the pick-up and horse trailer to town, unhitched it, and had the fellas at the lumberyard load it up with new windows for our house and new windows and siding for our son & DIL's house.  We aren't replacing ALL of the windows, but just the ones that were damaged in the August hailstorm.  We had a few other windows that were in need of replacement so we tacked those onto the bill too.  Thank heavens for our insurance this summer!

Since we were unhooked from the trailer, Hubs decided we ought to take a nice drive through the Canyon.  It's a autumnal tradition we have.  I picked up a few colorful leaves while we were there and took some nice pictures, but our internet (another story) has been either  extremely s l o w  or non-existent so the picture uploading has not been working well for me.  Really, hardly anything interwebby has been working for me.  It's frustrating, dealing with this crappy unreliable Willie Nelson DSL.  Don't mark my words, but I wonder if dial up might be better at this point?  Back to the drive through the Canyon.....it was lovely.  Beautiful colors, beautiful scenes and peaceful.

Today the carpenters showed up at 8:00 a.m. to install windows and siding.  Wow, were they a hard working bunch of guys!  I was so impressed.  It was loud in the house, but I was so excited about the progress that was happening, that it didn't bother me too much.  I paid some bills and then when they needed to install the office window, I moved downstairs and spent some much-loved time embroidering a Hereford bull on a tea towel.  I know.  It's an odd thing to put on a tea towel, but not if the newly-married couple receiving it love Herefords.  The young man has been a long-time bull customer of ours and his wife....well, I don't know her, but if she married T., she must be open to Hereford bull tea towels.  I did stitch a towel for each of them.  The bull for T. and a dancing apple towel for his wife.  I'm hoping they have many happy years of drying the dishes together.

Tomorrow we pick up our Yougest Child at the airport.  He's flying in from AZ for a weekend visit.  He just HAD to come home, and I'm glad.  It'll be a long stretch from now until Christmas break when we can see him again.  We will have plenty of family here this weekend to visit J.  It'll practically be like Thanksgiving!  (What will I cook?)

That reminds me.....I tried out a new recipe that you really ought to cook.  It's pretty basic.  All you need is a skillet, a flipper, some butter, beef, onions, buns and worchesteshire sauce to make it -- that's my style of cooking!  It's called The Marlboro Man Sandwich and it's delish!  The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond) designed it.  She also made a jazzed up version too.  Try it, you'll like it.

Well, my friends, I just thought I'd stop in and say, "Hello!"  Have you noticed how much shorter the daylight is now?  I have to be out to shut the chicken coop door by 6:30 p.m. or else I'm afraid the raccoons will beat me there, and we can't have any of that!  Enjoy the fall days.  They're slipping by, aren't they?

In the Land of the Northern Lights...

In The Land Of The Northern Lights from Ole C. Salomonsen on Vimeo.
You might like to click on the link above for a larger view of The Lights.

This video is a real-time experience of thousands of still pictures and 6 months of work capturing the Northern Lights in Norway on camera. This is what it's like to actually experience the Northern Lights in motion. If you've never seen the Northern Lights *in real life*, this is your chance. Thank you Ole!

If you want to be updated on the next big display of the Northern Lights, keep watch over at Sky & Telescope.  You can also find updates on what you are seeing in the night sky by clicking their side link called This Week's Sky at a Glance.

Thin as the curve of a raccoon's whisker...

Tonight on the horizon

"How dark is the dark tonight?" asked the little raccoon?
"Not so dark," said his mother.  "There is a new moon tonight, thin as the curve of a raccoon's whisker in the sky above the tree tops."
"Can I see it?" asked the little raccoon.
"No," said his mother.  "You must wait.  Wait till the moon is full."
"How big is the night?" asked the little raccoon.
"Very big," said his mother.
"How big is Big?" asked the little raccoon.
"Wait," said his mother.  "Wait till the moon is full."

~Excerpt from Wait Till The Moon is Full
By Margaret Wise Brown
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I gave myself a crash course in night photography yesterday after reading the short version booklet that goes with our big camera.  I don't know if I learned anything, but I tried.  I waited and waited last night for the midnight hour  when the next wave of Northern Lights would come upon us, but......there were clouds.  Strangely, I could see the lighter night sky glowing behind the clouds, which was very cool because there was no moon last night. Hubs and I drove out to our spot to watch, but we couldn't see The Lights.  I woke up a time or two in the middle of the night to see what I could see, but all that I could see was Dark.  It was cloudy.  Rats!  Maybe tonight.  I don't know how many more nights in a row of this I can do, but I'm livin' large.  I'm trying to live large.

Northern lights seen from Kennebec, S.D. on Monday, Sept. 26, 2011. (Photo courtesy Randy Halverson)

Click to enlarge

No, this is not an ad for Toyota....

This is a Gumbo Lily post about empty-nesting.
Yes, it is! We don't even own a Toyota.
We drive a Malibu! (and dirty old ranch pick-ups)

Did you see them? Northern Lights...

 Northern Lights, similar to what we saw last night.

Last night after the Ten O'Clock News, Hubs told me that we would be able to see the Northern Lights for the next couple of nights round about midnight.  These sorts of things excite and thrill me.  I'm a watcher of the sky.  So after we snuggled into bed and talked about the day for an hour, I asked if he would like to join me outdoors to see The Lights.  We pulled on our jeans and sweatshirts and walked out through the crunchy cottonwood leaves in the yard to see what we could see.  There they were!  The greeny-blue curtains of light on the northern horizon.  We decided we might have a better view up on the hill towards the mailbox, so we drove up there and watched some more.  The lights would spike and send green runners up into the sky and then fade away.  It was lovely, but not as impressive as some other Northern Light Shows we have seen in the past.  Maybe tonight it will be even prettier.  I wish I could have taken a picture of them for you, but I am not that savvy with night time photography so I'll share a few pics from Google with you.  Here's a little blip on the Geomagnetic Storm that causes us to see the Northern Lights.

This sky is similar to one we saw back in the early 80's when we were just married a year or so driving home from Canada.  We stopped and got out of the car to take it in.  We really did think that Jesus was coming back, riding on the clouds of light.  Imagine streaming red, blue and orange through the ribbons of light and you would get an idea of what we saw back then.  I hope you're up with us tonight watching the sky!

September....

There are lots of things about September to write down in the journal...

 *The turkey.  She is still with us.  She once had five other friends, but now she is one.  I caught her enjoying the flower garden through the window one early morning.  She likes to hang out with the chickens sometimes during the day.  I've seen her roosting in the old Cottonwood tree by the pond near our house.

*The hollyhocks are appreciating the last of the hot days left in September and the bees are thankful that they remain.  The moss roses are still happily blooming in their buckets and only a few Black-eyed Susans and purple coneflowers are left blooming.

*The grass has turned from green to mostly brown.

*Only Daughter turned 25 this month.

*The bucks were turned into the ewes on September 20th.  The gestation for sheep is five days less than 5 months which would make it February 15th when we see our first lambs.  Do you see the big buck peeking over the ewe's back?  The sheep herd is grazing the alfalfa re-growth in the hay field and they are FAT.

 

 The buck is bringing up the rear.

*The big Poplar tree in the yard has turned from green to gold this past week.  H. Peach loves to walk in the crispy, crunchy leaves, and M. Toodles likes to eat fallen leaves.

*We must shake out the clothes after hanging them on the line now that the wasps are out.

*The spiders and crickets are everywhere.  My dad told me that when you see lots and lots of crickets on the ground, it's a sign of a cold winter.  O dear, there are lots and lots. 

*I hear the Great Horned Owls at night.  "Hoo - Hoo, Hoo, Hoo, Hoo - Hoot"

Looking way up high.

*The Folks have been here this week.  We've had a good time.  Dad's been disking up the old hay field, Hubs and Son have been fencing while L. and I have been painting the family room.  

*I have more paint for the guest room.  

*I'd like to paint the granary before winter comes.  The paint is peeling.  

*The hay has been hauled in.

*The pullet hens are laying!  

*Something got into the coop the other night.  One hen is missing and there are white feathers all around the door.  Another hen has been grabbed around the neck as her comb is torn and some of her neck feathers are missing.

*Must shut the chickens in way before dark.  The critter will be back.

*The sun is shining into the dining room and kitchen windows since the Fall Equinox.  I like that.

*The Indian Corn and the dried sunflowers are at the front door.  Welcome!

 

  

Prairie goes to the mountain,

Mountain goes to the sky.

The sky sweeps across to the distant hills

And here, in the middle,

Am I.

~Kathryn and Byron Jackson

from Open Range

Tacking up fences and standing firm...

I wrote this some years ago, but after fencing with Hubs just a couple days ago, I remembered it again and thought I would look it up and share it with you.  Here's a little rambling with the prairie winds.

................................

T. asked me to walk the fence line today and take my hammer along with several fence staples to do a little "tacking up."  It was such a gorgeous day, that I was eager to do the chore for him.  I think of these walks as "spiritual walks" when I can spend a good deal of time to doing some thinking of my own.

As I walked along the fence line, I thought about what I was doing and why.  Besides doing something useful like fixing fence, I figured there might be a lesson in it too. There's just something about doing ordinary things that makes me think about what God might be teaching me through it.

I was focusing so hard on each post as I walked by--checking to see that all the staples were firmly tapped in, checking to see if there were any loose wires where staples had got free and were left them dangling.  I also noticed places where the wires had broken so that I could tell Tom where to go fixing them since I didn’t carry any fixing tools besides a hammer.

Post hole cleaner

I thought of the posts as people.  Each one had a job to do.  Some posts were very old and had been set in the fence line some 40 or 50 years ago.  Even though they were very old and weathered, they were set firmly in the soil and did their job nobly.  They stood.  They were firm in their foundation even though aged.

The root of the righteous will not be moved.  ~Proverbs 12:3

Other posts were old and slightly broken in their places.  The wires were still partially attached, but the poor post was left swaying in the wind.  Even though this post was broken, because it was standing in between two firm posts, it still served a purpose.  We ranchers call this post a "stay" because even though it was loose, it still provided something for the wires to hold on to and still gave a little support between the firm posts.  It wobbled, but it could still give a little support.  Isn’t that like us?  Sometimes we think we don’t have much to offer.  We’re wobbly, but we can still give what we have.  

There were new posts in the fence line that were planted deeply and whose wires were stapled firmly on.  They didn't waver nor did they totter.  Some of the new posts however, did have a loose staple and some had a few staples missing.  They were doing their job of standing, but needed a little tacking here and there.  They needed my gentle tapping to firm up their hold on the wires.  Sometimes I need a little tapping, a little assistance in doing my job.  It might even hurt a little when God needs to send a sharp staple into me, but it’s for the good of the whole.

I thought how important it is for all the posts to be "in line."  If they were not in line with one another, it caused undue stress upon the wires which were to keep cattle and sheep either in or out of the pasture.  And what was the main job of all the posts?  To stand.  To stand firm and hold fast, keeping in line with the others where the Fence Builder had set them.

“Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with the truth..."   

Ephesians 6:14

 

I could see that in areas where the posts were set in low places, the snow would tear the wires off or would cause the posts to be loosened from the soil.  The cows would sometimes rub on the wires and loosen them too.  How often are we loosened from our firm standing?   Sometimes it's a cold snow bank we are standing in.  Sometimes it's a big Hereford bull that rubs us down relentlessly.  Sometimes it's a spring creek that rises and floods through the fence and loosens the staples and causes our standing to be fairly useless  until someone (a friend, a stranger, God) comes along and tacks us up, presses us back into the soil where we were set, and anchors us down with a little wire and another stub posts here or there.  Those of us set in hard places like that need a little more support around us to keep on standing and holding up the fence.

"To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, 

for the Lord is able to make him stand."  Romans 14:4

Some fence posts are put in less stressful places where there is less pressure from the cattle or the weather.  There’s a lot less fence fixing in these areas.  Not all of us will be required to do the same job or to stand under the same pressures.  It’s all in the hands of the Fence Builder.

Some posts were made of steel rather than wood.  Some ranchers make entire fences of steel and add a wooden brace every so often, but at our ranch, we consider them less than "the best."  Steel posts certainly are easier to set, but they tend to pull out more easily than the wooden ones that require more labor to set.  Some of these posts lose their place in the fence much faster than the long, hefty wooden posts that can be set more deeply.  Steel posts do the job, but their life expectancy is shorter.

"Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, 

act like men, be strong."  ~1 Corinthians 16:13

 

A pic I took in western Montana

Then there are what I call the dead posts.  I don’t know if everyone calls them that, but I do.  They have come totally free from the fence line.  They are sometimes found lying flat on the ground.  Some are falling close to the ground, hanging by a single staple.  One little push from a sheep would topple them over.  Some are old posts that have been tacked and re-tacked and then end up breaking and leaving holes in the fence.  Others are simply poor quality posts that can’t stand up under the pressure  and some posts aren't set deeply enough to support the fence.  There are perfectly good posts that get into accidents where one cow pushes another into the fence and the post snaps and breaks. I'm fond of the very old, gnarled and twisted cedar posts that have so much character.  I often bring them back home with me and put them around my gardens. Others end up as firewood for winter.  When their time has come and they have fulfilled their purpose, we gather up the old and dead and put in new posts to stand in their places.  Does that sound like a life cycle?  I think so.  See how much thinking a girl can do when she's left to herself to walk a fence line?

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to tear down and a time to build up…." ~Ecclesiastes 3:1,3

Art harvest....

Farmer on the Tractor

Robert Riggs (1896-1970)

Filling the Biggest Lumber Order Ever

Robert Riggs

Slopping the Pigs

Robert Riggs
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In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
~William Blake

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.

Foods I'm eating....

Open-faced tomato sandwich

Recipe:

Toasted bread, spread on mayo, add a thick sliced tomato, sprinkle salt & pepper.

 Soft Molasses Cookies

The FF (family favorite)

Sent a couple dozen to J. in Tucson.

Ultra-Thin Crust Pizzas

This is the "before" shot.

The recipe calls for sauteing the onions and veggies.  I did not.

It's a great recipe for kids to make since you use flour tortillas for the crust, and it's a quick supper for two.

Next is the "after" baking.

 

I don't have a baking stone (as called for in the original recipe) but instead, I use a regular cookie sheet.  Set the timer for 10 minutes and check pizzas.  Mine are usually done by this time.

I'm alone tonight so I made me a Garden Pizza -- all veggies & cheese -- tomato, onion, green pepper, olives, fresh basil and flat leaf parsley from the garden.  Make it Your Way!  Eat with your hands.

"Chow!"

(that's good-bye and good eating in foodie language)