When it Snows in Wyoming; you know its Spring!

It seems like it's been f-o-r-e-v-e-r since the sun has shone but I really think it's been more like a week.  We've had snow almost every day since then.

Wet and Muddy April 24

Deeper and Muddier April 26

April 27th and MORE snow.  This is a view of our old barn on the hill in the pasture.

On the 28th, the snow has melted to about an elevation of 5,000' -- you can see the snow line in this picture.  This is called Pine Ridge.  We live on Pine Ridge so we got snow not rain.  (our elevation is 5,500')   Yep we live in that white zone.................

On the 29th it warmed it a tad so it melted as it snowed and ditto for today, the 30th.  We still have patches of snow, but it's warmer by a few degrees.  Not warm enough for grass to grow well.  We need sunshine for that and warmer temps.   Sure to be just around the corner.   I mean tomorrow is MAY!!!

The moisture was needed so it's welcome.   In our neck of the woods,  it isn't spring showers that bring May flowers ---it's usually SNOW.

This all started at the end of March when it dumped big time on the mountain---like FEET of snow.  Up to then it had been very dry and not near the normal amount of snow we receive every winter.  I was beginning to wonder if drought wasn't returning!

Here's our mountain lot on the 31st of March when #1 Son and daughter-in-law skiied in to see if there was any damage.

I think they said they had 3 feet of snow on the Mountain when this picture was taken.  It's at least that deep around our trailer in this picture.

The wild flowers will be spectacular this year.   I love seeing fields of lupine on the mountain. It always reminds of what I hear about the bluebells in Texas.   

They were about at the end of their bloom stage when I took this picture but this is lupine that was blooming in the front of the trailer in the above picture.  They will cover that whole hillside and their color should be intense this year with all that water!

May snow come in April and Flowers in June in your neck of the woods!

Fun with Genealogy DNA

or Grandpa Dick and Grandma Jane may not have been who you thought they were.....

One of the big questions in our family genealogy search has always been if there was native americans in our ancestors.   My husband's mother distinctly relayed on numerous occasions, the tale of the "Indian Princess" who was adopted into the family.  In my own family, my grandfather who descended from French Canadian Fur Trappers, told me there were native american ancestors.  Given the bloodline, I thought it was true.

Joseph Maxime DeSotels (1834 - 1927) the last DeSotel ancestor born in Longue Point, Montreal, Quebec Canada.  Does he look part Native American?  That was the question.........my gr great grandfather.

Burley Austin Dye (1893-1988)  my husband's grandfather who was a descendant of the "Indian" Princess.   Does he look part Native American?   That was the question....................

We decided for Christmas for ourselves we would buy each other a Ancestry.com DNA test.  Both of our kids were pretty excited to see the results.

And the results were:

Hubby -- NO trace of Native American ancestry.   Busted myth of the Indian Princess.

Me -- NO trace of Native American ancestry.  What?  My line of DeSotels have been in North America since the mid 1650's and were fur trappers....

It would appear that every generation I trace back on the DeSotels, I am descended from a French Canadian wife right back to Catherine Lorian Dit la Pointe DeSautels in the 1600's.   No native wives.  Quite the surprise

For Hubby, obviously there was no adoption of a native american girl and the princess myth is totally untrue.  How did that rumor come to be????   And where did the family features come from in the Dye family line -- men who were tall, dark haired and did not go gray nor bald in old age.  Faces that aged and looked native american. My husband is often asked how much native american blood he has when he goes to a public function.

Turned out the Dye family has been in North America since the founding of New Amsterdam (now New York City) in the 1600's.  And the physical features we had attributed to Native American ancestors were in fact, probably Dutch.

One of the interesting things dug out of Ancestry.com was that the first Dye (then Duyts) was a "Great Foot" Hans Lauren Duyt who was called that due to his stature and foot size.  Apparently a big guy and also not very nice.   He was banned from New Amsterdam and had his left ear cut off for selling his wife!!!

Was I satisfied with my subscription to Ancestry.com.  Yes.  However you must use the data with a caution.  A lot of people have errors and it's easy to copy and pass along those errors.

Was I satisfied with the DNA tests.  Yes, up to a point.  Don't expect detailed information from this.   You will get a generic area from where you descended like Northern Europe, Spain, Southern France, Etc.  So if you expect what you get, it's okay.

Am I glad I did it?  Absolutely.   Warning - it's addictive!

Happy Genealogy Hunting!

A Gift from My Daddy.......

Almost sixty years ago this summer (about fifty six years ago to be precise) I received a WONDERFUL gift from my daddy.   He took me along......to Clearmont to have shoes put on his Morgan mare, Lady.

I was a really horse crazy little girl.  I ate, slept , BREATHED horses.  I remember sitting on the front step of the house when I was three going on four and Daddy asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I remember telling him.  I NEED a pony.  Not I wanted a pony, not I would like to have a pony but I NEED a pony.   I asked every year and for my sixth birthday I got:

Heidi.  She was my best friend.

I think I was six turning seven that summer, maybe a year older.  And Daddy looked at me as I got into the truck and he said "I want you to remember today.  You won't see this anywhere else.  It's like stepping back one hundred years.  I'm worried you are too young to remember it well but I want you to see this and remember it."

And was it ever something to see.   He took me to Reigel's Blacksmith Shop  (link to story about shop) go to gallery to see photos.

When we pulled up to the shop, the doors were wide open.  It had a horsey, smokey, metallic atmosphere and it was dark inside.  There were no other horses there, just us and our one horse.

                                                The Clearmont Iowa Blacksmith Shop 

Interior of Clearmont Blacksmith Shop with blacksmith tools on the bench

Both From Clermontia.org website gallery

There were rings in the bricks all along the one wall and the blacksmith told Daddy to tie Lady to one of the rings. 

The Smithy by John Sargent Noble

I don't remember the blacksmith as a tall man but he was a Powerfully built man with Big muscular arms, bald head, and a leather apron.  

A painting of Burkhard Riegel who ran the shop from 1931 to 1967.

From Clermontia.org website gallery

I remember him holding a hammer in his big hands and there was a circular brick 'firepit' with a hood over it.  It was rigged up to a big bellows that he could 'pump' the fire up with.  First the blacksmith (who I now know was Mr. Riegel) trimmed each hoof and then took a horseshoe off a wall, which had hundreds of shoes hanging in rows on it)  and measured it on the newly trimmed hoof.  Lady was a perfect lady during the process and did not give him any fuss. Then he took the shoe over to the forge.

Charles Grant Beauregard "The Blacksmith"

He pumped up the fire and heated the shoe till it glowed red hot and then shaped it to exactly the shape of the hoof.  The shoe would still be hot when he put on the horses' hoof and it would sizzle.  I asked Daddy if it hurt the horse but he said she didn't feel it.  

Bellows for a forge

Daddy, I wasn't too young.  I remember EVERYTHING, how it looked, how it smelled, the bricks, the shop, the smithy.   It was one of the greatest gifts you ever gave me.   And thank you to Mr. Riegel for explaining what he was doing and letting a small young girl watch him at his craft.

Sometimes very special gifts come in surprising packages.

If you are ever near Clearmont, Iowa, you must stop.  I know I will.  I would love to see it again.  I got to go again one other time with Daddy a year later but I've never been back since.

                                              Horse and Buggy Days by Paul Defletson

Whose at the Gate?

Recently we began to notice that Someone has been rubbing this bush right at our gate.

See that volunteer sprig right at the base of this cottonwood?

Look closer.............................

Closer Still........................................

Someone has been rubbing their antlers to shed them.  Now the WHO remains a mystery.  We have between three and five elk bulls that hang around every winter and also four huge mule deer stags. These guys have scared the bejeebers out of me several times by trying to commit suicide in front of my car!

 Last spring our daughter in law found a very nice elk shed on our place.

So to the WHO, we hope you leave us an antler or two!

Definitely, wildlife is one of the greatest things about living 60 miles north of nowhere.

Norm the bull

I wanted to share the tale of Norm our bull.  We acquired Norm as a young bull when we leased him as a two year old.  We liked him a lot, mostly because Norm stayed home!  A highly desireable trait in a bull who tend to wander over to the neighbor's (or further) on a regular basis.

So we purchased Norm.  He wasn't known as Norm in those days, we called him 'Little Bull'.  But he really did not stay little much longer.  And he did not stay home either.   He did not wander off as much as some bulls we had in the past; but he tended to leave once he had all 'his' girls bred.

Hubby would have to saddle up and go find him.  Sometimes it took days and days of riding.

Since the one pasture just north of us contains 10,000 acres that could involve a lot of time to just locate him.  Hubby tried to shorten the time required by first locating Norm with the pickup and then going after him with a horse.  See the rope on the saddle?  Well Hubby 'pops' Norm on the rear end all the way home with the end of this rope.  Understandably, it stings and Norm is NOT fond of this. Hubby thought it would reinforce to Norm he was to STAY  HOME.

Last summer we discovered it worked better than we could have ever hoped.  It pickup broke Norm.

After driving around for HOURS, trying to locate Norm after he had missing for a number of days, we declared defeat and went home.  Only to discover Norm was HOME and back with his cows!  We think he heard (or saw) the pickup and not wanting to endure a butt popping return home, came back on his own!   Well that was success!

Why do we call him Norm?

Norm's normal spot is right where the buckskin mare is standing.  He is standing in the middle in the back waiting for her to vacate HIS spot.  The chestnut standing next to him is the same horse Hubby is riding in the photo above, Melody.  

Remember Norm in the sit-com Cheers?  He always sat at the same spot at the bar.  Well Norm is always at the same spot at the feeder 24/7.  Unless one of the horses ursurps it when he goes for water.  Which is what happened in the above photo.

And now you have the complete story of Norm our bull.

I did not Shoot My Eye Out but....

I knitted my arms off!!!!  I literally gave myself tennis elbow from knitting!!  Who knew you could do that?  I didn't.  I DO now.   Tennis elbow is pretty painful for quite some time.

I made quite a few knitted gifts this year for the Holidays.   I made a lot of the Fisherman's Wife cowl from Raverly.  I love this pattern.  Its by Kalurah Hudson.  She has a knitted version and a crochet version.  I made the knitted version.  It knit up quickly and who doesn't love Aran knittting? Everyone who received one said they loved it.  I had trouble finding enough buttons.  It called for the braided shank button and I could only find 3 sets at Central City.  I bought out one bin of yarn at Hobby Lobby so went to a polyester yarn with alpaca fiber woven in.  It seemed to work out okay.  

The cream Fisherman's wife cowls.

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Also Ravelry patterns.  The owlet sweater and Owlet hat.  See the buttons? those are the eyes of the owls.   I learned a different way to set in my sleeves with this sweater.   Gray for a little boy.

And in pink for a little girl.

3 more Owl hats for more children.

Blocking some of the cowls.

Surprisingly, I am NOT a fan of natural fiber knitting.  I find the colors tend to bleed, usually you have to hand wash and line dry and phooey! Who wants kid's items like that?  Plus natural fiber is very expensive.  I vastly prefer polyester, machine wash and dry yarn.  Even I was surprised at this since we used to raise sheep and wool.

I find knitting to be a great de-stresser and very addictive.   I love to knit.  I self-taught myself in high school (now that was a few years ago!)  Did half of a fair isle vest front and did not knit again.  I liked it but had other fish to fry at that time of my life :)   Last fall in 2014 I took some lessons and it came back quickly and I've been knitting ever since.  I really enjoyed the knitting lessons.  They have a group on Tuesday evenings I would love to attend but alas! distance is one of the limiting factors here 60 miles north of nowhere.  Very limiting in the winter.

I decided to get back into Knitting when Nancy at Wyoming Breezes sent me a pair of her hand knitted socks, which I loved.  So Nancy, YOU were the cause of my painful Christmas elbow!  

Christmas was a white Christmas here and COLD!!! very cold in Wyoming.  And it's stayed cold since with sub zero wind chills.   Weatherman says it will stay until the New Year is rung in.

As I get older, I don't get out in the sub zero temperatures much any more.   I worry about falling on the ice with no one else home and injuring myself.   I don't have chores to do since I got rid of my chickens so it works out.

Well now I think I should start earlier than September with my holiday knitting.   So have been thinking of doing slippers next year.  Like maybe felted ELF Slippers?

or

Grinch Slippers?

So many patterns!!!!!!

HAPPY KNITTING!

And a Happy New Year.

After A Brutal Snow

After a brutal snowstorm where we got 7" here at North of Nowhere and 16" where Son #1 and Son #2 Live....with winds up to 50 mph......we are talking Nasty, Cold, bad bad roads (we were snowed in till noon the first day until they got the road plowed).  And to think I thought we were going to have a brown Christmas.   Foolish Woman.

There's a car under that snow...................AND I DON"T WANT TO LOOK AT THIS SORT OF STUFF

instead let's look at:

#2 Son on his horse, Freckles when he was four years old (the boy not the horse)

#2 Son getting on Freckles by himself when he was about six

# 2 Son twenty years later on Fizzy

Hubby bringing in the mares

#1 Son on Melody and Hubby on Ratchet

Our Wedding Photo

We did not get married horseback just rode away from the church horseback.  They had ribbons and CANS tied in my horses tail.   Don't you think it would have been rather undignified if ol Pepper had bucked me off???????

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH much better than looking at snow pictures.    Thank You.

 Merry Christmas to you all.

May your snow never blow and your feet never freeze to the ground.