Who's Got the Rain?

Not us I can tell you.  We have hit 'survival' mode in the drought.  Today hubby and #1 Son and Daughter-in-Law spent over 8 hours in the saddle and doing fence repairs -- Emergency Fence Repairs on the leased pasture.  Pasture we had been counting on to take us into October.  The Big Rancher next door apparently isn't watching his cattle -- they were out of water and grass.  Thirsty and hungry.  There went the fence and in a matter of a day -- there went our grass.

Discouraging - you bet.  Hubby thinks now we will be out of grass in August.  But we can't bring them home.  Because we have these:

Green Cockleburrs -- the cows will eat them and they are poison.  Over the years we've lost at least 2 cows to them.  They aren't dried up until September.  They grow in our sub-irrigation ditches and pop up in August when the water disappears.  We've thought of trying to kill them but then you spreading MORE poison on your grasses so we've managed it by keeping the cows over on the leased pasture until the end of September.

So what will we do???  Probably pay for pasture that has no grass AND cake them.  With Cake that will cost well over $400 a ton (as opposed to the $240 it used to cost).  Corn prices are going sky high and that will affect all grain products because corn is like Santa Claus -- It's EVERYWHERE!!!  Rather it's in EVERYTHING.  It will affect the human food prices too.  Ca-Ching!  Those cash registers will hit everyone in the pocketbook!

On a happier, Hubby was so glad #1 Son and DIL were there to help.  They said they had a grand time but they sure looked pretty exhausted from the heat/work/riding when they came in at 5 pm.  DIL said she was so glad she had on this:

It's a Troxel riding helmet.  She came off Ember when Ember dived right out from under her turning a cow.  The cows were pretty bad I guess as they had been ATV'd herded and they can be real pigs and disrespectful of a rider on a horse. They are always trying to outrun the horse like they can a ATV. (all terrain vehicle -- you know four-runners).  BUT a horse can stop 'em.  DIL said she lit hard and the helmet THWACKED when she hit.  A head injury for sure without that helmet.  A Good Reason to Wear One -- ALWAYS.

Here is Ember, the Hero Horse of the Day, on what our pastures SHOULD look like this time of year.  Instead they are brown and sparse.  We did get some good news today though.  Ember had pulled a tendon last year; and when we tried to use her lightly re-pulled it.  So we turned her out.  This was the first time she had been written since then and today was a HARD ride.  She had nary a limp and worked all day.  That was a silver lining for sure!

But cuts need to be made.  So today I posted Ember's daughter for sale.  She is two years old, registered Morgan, and will wind up at 16 hands like her mother and her sire.  She's a nice filly, one of the better ones I think that we've raised.  Here is her photo from today.  She wouldn't perk her ears up for me.  I think she thought it was toooooo darn hot to be PERKY!

The babies had been at #1 Son's place while he & DIL took them through their Manners #101 courses.  They didn't think it was too hot when they were turned out for Hi-Jinks though!

AFS Hi-Note and AFS Ryder Hi Brida; our 2010 filles enjoying a run and just being a horse!

My Day today had consisted of being the Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.  I prepared lunch, no body showed up.  Uh-Ohh; that means things are not going well.  1:00 nobody here, put away lunch type stuff and prepared a nice side dish of cukes and onions and a fruit salad.  2:00 no one.  Put a large kettle of corn ready to boil on the stove.  4:00 -- still no one, hamburger is thawed, prepared lots of patties in the pan ready to fry when they get in.  5:00 here they are -- we had potato salad, hamburgers, cukes, fruit salad and fresh sweet corn.  They all said it was a great meal but I just think by that time, not eating since breakfast, they were just ravenous and anything would have tasted good.

Our hay guy told us he thinks he is going to be way short on our hay order for winter.  No surprise there.  We had been expecting that.  Sooooo maybe we can supplement the cows with some cake and reduce their hay comsupmtion (ca-ching! on the cash register) or we might have to just sell them and buy back when the drought ends, risking losing the lease pasture.

Choices - hard choices.  I just hope we don't make a Porch Horse (poor choice) in all this.  Fortunately this isn't our living.  It's just a hobby-farm but I REALLY do think we should be able to declare these cows and horses as dependents!!!!! on our income taxes.  I mean fair is fair.....................we have to pay taxes when we sell them.

News commentators are starting to compare this drought with the Dust Bowl.  But I KNOW it's not that bad here yet.  2004 - 2006 was a LOT rougher here in the most recent drought.  I think it was 2006 our grass never even came up here at Horse Patch and one of the elderly ladies in Outlaw City told me the Dust Bowl years were worse than that!  Man I thought how in the world could that be possible??? Bare dirt is bare dirt but she assured me it was worse.   On a good note, bare dirt don't burn!  So far no fires at Horse Patch this year and that is a darn scarey thought.

So Who's Got the Rain????   Apparently nobody in the Lower 48.

Just sign me MeridethinWyoming ,where a LOT of Discouraging Words On the Plains were Said Today!

Kids and Ponies

Of Kids and Ponies -- We looked a long time for a nice pony for the grandkids and found Jeannie.

She's as cute as a bug's ear don't you think?

Jeannie is 18 years old and has a raised a passel of kids -- in other words she is PERFECT!
I think she is a Shetland/Mini cross and is a whopping nine hands tall.  Last weekend the grandkids were introduced and Jeannie is a HIT.  As we knew she would be.

OF course one's new pony must be thoroughly approved by the little brother and then properly brushed.

And then for a ride around on her.  I bet by the end of the summer, granddaughter is riding her in the round pen by herself.  Jeannie is not a lazy pony at all and really steps out nicely.  A feature that will be much more appreciated as time goes on; but I think the kids found it a little intimidating at first.

It wasn't all fun and games.  There was some SERIOUS discussion going on here--grandson, grandpa and Uncle -- 3 generations.

Aunt L and Grandson were official supervisors for part of the big foray into Pony Land.

And we will probably never know who wound up being the best roper but I really don't think it was anyone in this picture!!!

It was a PERFECT DAY!

Oh and Grandma is really partial to this pony because

This IS Grandma with her 7th birthday present in 1958! Her name was Heidi and she was PERFECT too!

Special Treat or Why I live on the Edge of Earth 60 miles north of Nowhere

 Today, Saturday, my #1 Son and #1 PDIL (perfect daughter-in-law) came out to 60 Miles north of Nowhere and we went to Buffalo, Wyoming to visit my mother.  It was a fun day, hour and half ride to visit going up, an hour to visit, and hour and half ride home.  Got home mid-afternoon to Beautiful Sunny Warm (well as warm as it gets in Jan-no-airy) so they caught horses and went for a short ride.  I went out and tended my chickens and we all met back up at the front of the house just after they had put saddles away.

This is what we saw - one of the Great Benefits (and they sometimes feel like darn few) of Living 60 Miles North of Nowhere.   ELK -- seven of them.  Only five in the photos because when I put my camera on super zoom it zoomed out two of them.

Now they all told me there WAS no way I could get a picture of them as they were too far away!!  HA HA - I darn sure did get it, guys.

Our mares were eating hay just on the hill in front of the elk.  Now I don't know if they were asleep or what but all of sudden they threw up their heads and headed back to the barn pronto like they had just noticed the elk.  Silly mares.

Hubby thinks these elk have been up there all winter and coming down after nightfall to clean up hay after our cows and horses.  He has seen them several times but this was first time we all saw them.  He says they don't pay any attention at all to his feed truck, like they are used to seeing it.  Well they may be used to seeing US, we are certainly not used to seeing THEM.   We have deer and antelope and other critters who share the Edge of the Earth with us and after seeing them every day, well they are just part of the landscape.  But after all these years in Wyoming, I still get a thrill whenever I see elk.  They are so majestic.  Truly one of our creator's masterpieces.

We ended the day with a nice supper and the kids went home.  End of a PERFECT day and one I'll remember for many many years to come.

Tomorrow #2 son--- elk got in my blogging way today. But I had to share.

Blessed be the Daughter In Laws

I'm such a lucky woman.  My mother wanted a granddaughter so badly.  Everytime either I or my sister-in-law was pregnant, Mom bought the cutest little baby girl dress EVER.  And every bloomin' time, four in total, we had grandsons!!

So no daughters in our household, just two lil' boys who were minature "Hubbys".  And both grew up, survived their young foolish years and married two of most wonderful women on the face of the Earth.

Hubby, Me & No. 1 Son in 1981.

No. 1 Son's wife is Perfect Daughter In Law #1 - and she loves horses.  We have a lot in common and she is just the perfect fit in our family.

No. 2 Son's wife is Perfect Daughter In Law #2 and I nominate her for Best Mother On Earth award.  I hope someday our darling little granddaughter realizes what a wonderful mother she has.  But you know, you never appreciate your own mother till You Are One!

No. 2 Son on his horse, Freckles at age 4.  Wish we still had this old pony for our granddaughter.

The girls have made our family complete.  They are the daughters I never had. They are the cement that holds our family together.  The mortar that keeps the ties strongs.

So girls, please know this.  I will always treat both of you with respect and love.  Because I know it will be YOU and not those boys will wipe the drool from mouth, make sure I take my meds and see I am taken care of in my old age.  Girls are like that!

Affectionately,  Your Mother In Law

More Summer 2009 Photos

One of the things we did last summer was have several family picnics on Casper Mountain. Oh those were so fun and it's about the only time we get together to see exended family. We are thinking of setting a date for each month in 2010 like 2nd Sunday of each month.
Here's some photos of the last one in September which was rainy but we had fun anyway! So we set up the canopy outside the trailer door and it worked well.

Now there is something very frightening in this photo. It's called Pine beetle and it's hitting the forests in the West hard due to global warming. It doesn't get cold enough in the winter to kill the beetles (requires it to get to 22 below zero). They are predicting in the next 5 years 90% of the pine trees on Casper Mountain will get killed by the pine beetle. I find that very very disturbing and wonder what the future holds for us. Also Colorado is now experiencing Aspen die off (the gorgeous yellow trees in the photo) and they do not know what is killing it. That worries me also that maybe we will lose ALL the trees. They do have an insecticide program for pine beetles but it's very expensive and all the forest cannot be treated. But we will treat the trees on our small lot but it won't help the wonderful vistas we now have.

I can only hope that some day our granddaughter will get to enjoy Wyoming and her mountains the way we have. So much of it and the way of life is disappearing. One of the things I used to love when I was a kid was going up to cow camp for the summer. Now a lot of ranching families do not do that anymore. I'll post more on it on the next posts.

Merideth