Hummm, where did the time go?

 So summer came and went.....

 

 I found myself back at boot camp.....

The dog ditched me for the couch and I got an iPad, that is not blog friendly.... Need less to say I have joined Fred in the desire to update.  That is until this week when I wanted to share the story of Sunday the longhorn on the wall and forgot that I had this amazing blog.  Time to get back after it..



A day of fishing!!!  Sometimes you just gotta take a break and go have some fun!!

Ok so the longhorn was is the house, but the image was of it just before we mounted it on the wall... Pretty good hun!!!

I swear this was not edited.... The longhorn was in my living room!!

The question is, can you guess the outcome of this moment??

I came across this picture and it brought a smile to my face, this was Carlee's first show heifer and with a little assitance from her dad, she was taking her heifer for a confidence walk.. I'm not sure who was building the confidence, Carlee, her dad or the heifer?  Either way, it was a Kodak moment, I could not pass up.

OK, so the sale is coming up and the catalog has gone to print, everything looks so business like. Now to share some of the candid moments that fill our days!

Carlee wanted to help set up the bulls to try and get a few photos for advertising purpose, all LOT 28 wanted to do was follow her around and have her scratch him... Never did get a picture of him that day, he was too busy with Carlee.....

 

So picture taking requires fairly clean animals for a good shot, note the black bull in the background who has decided to go mud bogging!!!  I just turned around and went back to the house...

2012 Black Hills Stock Show Grand Champion Gelbvieh Bull

Brent's Gift...

Brent made me a couple of momento's of last winters adventures... Since I got a job in town he wanted me to remember how much fun last year was... How very talented and clever he is.  This is how I spent last winter....

Honda gets more miles than my horse.... He's just pretty to look at... I think the spots confuse the cows.  Is it black on white or white on black???

Tomorrows goals.....

Get all the weaned calves fed in the morning early enough to get to town for a early basketball game for Carlee... (so much for sleeping in on the weekend)..

Forecast calls for 50% chance of snow...need to get the cows in and sort of the first calf heifers for shots in the afternoon.....(hummm, looks like I need to get the crock pot out).

Good thing I got the Christmas tree up over Thanksgiving weekend with the girls...

Lemon Slushies?

Well the weather has turned cold, I was hoping that we would continue to have more good weather but than again you can't have everything..... So when life gives you lemons, we make lemon slushies =)..

So this is how we make good use of a calf sled pre-calving season!!! Can you count how many girls we can fit in the sled??

Gearing up for winter!!

Hard to imagine that a week ago we were wearing t-shirts and shorts!!

I wonder why I have not update blog for so long?

Sorry about the delay, but I have to give you the day in the life of the Ranchers Wife!  

4:00 am - Move 4-H Bee Hive to new location so can fence old location for 4-H sheep project

7:00 am - On phone trying to rechedule the rest of week between appointments and girls projects, realize need to get sheep fence moved or they will starve if leave another day.

9:00 am - finally outside moving fence, thinking about all the things on the list that need to be done in and out of the house and where to find the time.

10:00 am - Oldest child comes back from feeeding show heifers to inform me that she brought in her little sisters horse because he can't see out of one eye.  Called Vet clinic, said to bring him in today and would try to get him looked at between a very full schedule of appointments.  Can't go yet still have that fence to move and  sheep now all over the place beause it's half way up.

11:00 am - Youngest calls from Camp in Custer, says her ride is leaving now will meet us in Spearfish, need to pick her  up. (Great, juggling act!!)

11:30am - Rush to finish the fence, gather the flock, hook the trailer, load the blind horse, round up the oldest child and hurry to town to get youngest child. 

1:30 pm - finally made it to the Vet clinic, now we sit and wait and wait and wait. Cell phone service having issues, can call in to my phone just can't call out, so much for trying to get some business done on the phone.

3:00 pm.  woo hoo, vet free, great we can get some salve and go home....... nope.....Eye is bad 2 hours later, horse has a cathater and IV  to admister drugs to eye and I have a bag of medicine to give every waking hour for the next week!!!!   Husband calls, needs someone to bring his pick up home 9 miles in the opposite direction of home and follow him in the swather...

6:30pm - finally made it home, in time to unload blind horse, administer medicine, feed show heifers, bulls and finish taking care of the sheep.

7:45 pm -  hummmm, what for supper, I know I'll nuke something quick!  Microwave decides to die..........

8:30pm - Finally dinner is served, just in time to go back to the barn to treat the horse..

9:45pm - trying really hard to unwind, so I can focus on computer project been putting off that now is past due.

11:55pm - still at it, bound and determined to get to bed before midnight, need to be up early to feed and doctor a horse before running back to town for oldest childs golf practice and doctor appointments....

 

 So I made this little ad for the Tri-State Livestock , kind of neat, goes with the ad that I made of Taylor and the bulls.

Husband asks, has the newness worn off, you have not updated your blog for a while!   So calving has started, I'm a little bushed....  But I'm back and do I have stuff to post!....wooo hooo......

Carlee asks ---  Where do Snowmen keep their money?   In a snowbank of course! ----  (Get me a shovel I feel like shopping!)

Here is proof that Carlee does come out to help...... (When she runs out of Doritos in the house) Taylor thinks she's not much for help, but she does try.

Here she is feeding the herd bull (we don't usually feed him extra but he came to the gate)

Carlee trying to convince this young bull that he is going to get this big!

Holding the bucket down!  Makes a great seat..

Cleaning out the bunk for the steers, she did a great job and Fred did a good job annoying everyone!

And at the end of chores, gotta take some time to show the love to her favorite ewe (Bubble Gum).

Some kids get a dog for a pet, some kids get a cat, lizzard or fish...... My kid gets a cow...  Taylor and her Precious. 

LOVING DOG...

NAUGHTY DOG WHO ATE MY SHOE!!

Brent told Carlee that "Mom made an appointment for Fred (Loving Dog)  at the Vet Clinic to have all his teeth pulled out."..  I've decided not to spend the money on the vet, I'll pull them myself and spend the money to buy a new pair of  KEENS online.  He could have at least picked a cheap pair of shoes....Stinking dog... 

All that lovely snow makes it look so pretty, than you get out of the truck which you left in 4 wheel drive, to get blasted by 15 below 0 temperature.....  Should have just stayed in the pickup..

How do ranchkids entertain themselves.....   Remove the tractor, rearrange the grain sacks and bring on the referee...

SERIOUSLY!!!

We went to a bull sale and guess what we got!!!

Good help is hard tocome by, good thing we made our own!!!   She has a vested interest since she owns the sheep, 2 1/2 heifers (1/2 of one belongs to Carlee) and a couple of cows.  Hard to not help when you have investements out there waiting to eat!!! 

ICE HOLE!!!   Still there and still frozen everyday! Thankfully the good husband has volunteered to chop ice when he feeds cows.  Still leaves me with 3 other tanks to open but I'm grateful for this one as sometimes it snows in and you have to play "where's waldo" to find the hole before you can chop.

What does one do on the ranch on a Sunday afternoon!!!   We clean the barn to get ready for calving.   The weather indoors was nice, the weather outside, not so much..   This is a picture of the calving barn at the end of cleaning it, now time to set up panels and bed stalls.  Then let the babies come.... (ok maybe after stockshow when we get home) .  

I'm trying not to whine too much about the constant snow and cold weather, but even the neighbor is whinning about it....

So when the girls wanted goldfish for pets, I said they could.. They picked out six of them and were excited to bring them home.... Excitement ran out when they discovered that the fish bowl would be a stock tank!   (Not like they would be cleaning it anyway)..   The fish are thriving and we have lost none of them.  We do not feed them, they live of the green growth and all the feed that dribbles from the livestock when they drink water.  We put in tank heater under the float to keep it from freezing and when they get too cold they hang out by that. 

NOTE TO SELF --- Do not whine about the weather, it will only get worse!!  Here is the proof...(yea, that is a negative sign before the number).  That was the temperature for most of the morning. 

A happy moment !!   When the feed truck comes to deliver pellets, it means I don't have to shovel feed to the auger anymore.   It might have been 20 below but that gave me a warm and fuzzy!!  

15 degrees below  zero today.... I would have taken a picture of the thermometer but it was tooo cold!!  These are days that I miss my office job!  But than again,  all those happy cows make it OK.....   Soon it will be calving time and the excitement of the anticipation of planned breedings is building...  It is one of the most exciting times of the year but also the most nervous as I want every delivery to go well and uncomplicated.   It is also one of the busiest times with little sleep, as we do constant checks througout the day and night.   Playing midwife is tough, so if anyone wants to experience birth, come on over, I'm sure we can find a late night slot for you....   It is hard work but the rewards are so worth it when that calf is born.  Trust me, it is amazing...

Proof that we are not the only ranchers who's horses names are  Honda, Kawasaki and  Yamaha..

We have enough treeless country and gentle rolling hills that makes riding 4-Wheelers easier sometimes than horses. There will always be a need for the horse, but I can cover alot more ground in a lot less time without tiring my horse by riding my Honda in our neck of the woods...

I wish I could  have taken a closer picture,but this is what I got from the window....   The little heifers were playing "King of the Hill" and "Follow The Leader"....   They were running around and having a great time....

So Carlee decides to come along with Taylor and I to do chores, she has other interests (Sledding) .......  We stop at the heifer's pen,  she greets her heifer Dixie aka "Hogzilla", takes a pass  in the steer pen, helps feed a little and than ride along to the ice hole.  We encourage her to stay in the pickup where it is warm (todays high temp 12 degrees).  No good sledding hills anyway.   I ask her upon returning from prospecting for water under a foot of snow, if she was bored.....  "Nope" she says, "My toes and I were having fun warming up"as she pokes her bare feet at me....    OK!!!  Gotta love her,  she sure knows how to keep a person laughing..

Look no neighbors!!   This is a great view from the dining room...  I have to say I cannot remember the last time I had to draw the shades..... Look you can count the stars on the flag ( a daily occurance on the hill).   Just depends which way the wind is blowing.  It could be perfectly calm in town and we have wind and vice versa, we can watch the foothills get swamped in snow or rain and we get none.

So I was feeding the young bulls and there was the big boy just giving me the puppy dog look, I just had to give him some tummy yummys!   I did not hand feed him, although I am sure he would have taken it, I am not sure I wanted to be quite that close to him. I just really like his expression and patience with me so I could take pictures of him. His name is Western Union, we just call him Union.

Here is a side view to give you an idea just how big he is.... well over a ton and over 5ft tall at the shoulder. I have a healthy respect for his space.

Here is his roommate, not quite as big, but almost....

Brent purchased a young bull, who at first I was probably not quite as fond of as he was (not my pick at the sale) but now has become my buddy.  I'm starting to really like him, he's really a hammy and greets me at the gate when I come to feed and likes to follow me around, here he is peeking at me from around the bale feeder, I was trying to take pictures and he's playing peek-a-boo!

Here he is modeling for the BV Ranch logo, offering his best profile!

Alright enough about the bulls.......

BOOT CAMP!!!    Weather has warmed up, ice chopping just got easier!   Now moving onto shoveling grain bins, need to push the feed to the bottom so the auger can work.  One big scoop shovel, dark bin, dust and two tons of feed to shovel......woo hoo, biceps feel the burn!

When you give the cows the right of way, you know you are no longer living in the fast lane...

Thanks Honey!  Now I know why you were late for lunch!

Whoo Hoo the blizzard is gone!!  But the ice is still here!  The job of the day involved searching for the ice hole under a snow drift....  hummmm now where did I leave that ice hole?   The cows were happy to see us or at least the ice hole when we found it.   We also decided that it was much warmer in the truck than out of it.

Taylor also found a way to entertain herself! Here she is demonstrating how to use a scoop shovel as a sled! (not really working for her!)

Boot Camp Bulletin:   using your equipment in the proper manner maximizes calories burned and helps to boost your muscle mass.   Volunteering at the nearest ranch for this great workout will cost you nothing and bring joy to the poor fellow (or gal) forced to this task daily.