Well where to start......  I guess I can say we are in the monotony of feeding cattle seven days a week here. It a heck of a work out, on the tractor to drive, off the tractor to get gate and and make sure the bale is square before lifting, on the tractor to move it, get off to close the gate. I think you get the idea. Cow's are wintering good, looking happy. Don't know how they look happy when its 0 and below. They look happy to see the hay coming to them though.
   I took Sharon out to dinner last night......Well the Vigortone Mineral rep had a dinner and some speakers on the mineral cows need and herd health. Learned about the horn fly and the damage they do to cattle. I won a ball cap and a pocket knife. It was fun I got off the ranch for awhile and got to see some neighbors. It felt so nice to put a hat on that didn't have ear flaps and wear boots that weren't  pac boots. Here a pict of me putting out mineral in the spring. Look there is green there!! Until next time take care

Wordless Wednesday

Morning

  Here's the sunrise I was greeted to this morning. Notice the two rainbow on either side of the sun? Kinda pretty if you ask me. I hope two rainbows is double good luck!

We got over 0 for a couple minutes today.
The yearlings following Lee in the cake truck. Is amazing how active they get when they hear the siren on the cake truck calling them. Well that about all I have today, kinda tired. Still trying to figure out how to post pictures where I want them on this deal. So i guess we will learn together.  Remember these pictures were taken with my broken camera. I could only see about a quarter of the screen. Not to bad. I guess its really a point and shoot camera now. Until next time take care

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Books

   I got a gift card for Amazon from the in-laws for Christmas. So I put it to good work. I ordered the new Mackie Hedges book and Arnold Rojas book. Went over budget on them but,  I know I will enjoy them. Man oh man do I love books. There is just something so nice about holding a book in your hand. The weight, the crispness of the pages of a new book. The silky soft whispering sounds of an old books pages being turned. I like to think about how many people have read and talked about the book in my hand. If the book could talk, what it would say? Where has it been?  Was it a comfort to someone on a plane trip, a boat trip? Did it change the way a person looks at the world? Did it just sit on a book shelve and look into the room begging to be read one more time? Was it read and reread time and again? I enjoy just looking at our book shelf and trying to decide what I what to read. Some times I walk away with no book in hand, but comfort in my mind know my friends the books are still there. Until next time take care

Here's a couple pictures of my wife and I. The first one is us at the Mission San Antonio on one of our first dates. We had a picnic lunch in the rose garden. We just took a drive up Hwy 1 and I showed Sharon some of the area that I worked. Terrific day! When I spent a summer on a U.S.F Wildland fire crew. Not often do you see me without a hat...   

Here Sharon and I are on Easter Sunday in Arizona on our way to my Aunt and Uncle for lunch. Sharon met my Grandmother for the first time. Sharon now wears my Grandmothers wedding band. Its a pretty cool deal. Well I want to post more pictures but the computer is loading sooooo slow. Until next time take care

Coffee cups

  Who has a favorite coffee cup or mug? I  do! My's is just a green plastic to-go cup. I got it for free at the Range Beef Symposium. It advertises scour protection by Guardian. It holds just enough coffee and it really keeps the coffee at drinking temperature. It goes every where with me in the mornings on the tractor, in the pick-up and to the shop. At the end of the day I sometimes need to find my friend who has fallen on the floor on the pick-up and is being abused by the grease gun,  a can of oil, an old throw rope, fencing pliers, a couple water jugs and a couple jackets trying to smother it. When it is brought in the house I have to put it in a special place or Sharon will wash it. The cup gets washed maybe twice a month. It has water in between the outside wall and the insulation from being washed. Washing takes the coffee taste out of the plastic and will wear the cup out faster. Haha
   I also have a coffee cup I like to use at night for tea or hot cider. I got it when I took my Grandfather on a fishing trip in '99. My grandfather was 89 years old on that trip. We went to the Sierra's so he could show me all his old fishing spots and places he took his family trips. That was the trip of a life time!! I have traveled all over and none of the trips can hold a candle to the trip with Gramp's! He was spinning tales ( I think most where true) with a twinkle in his eye. He showed me where him and his Mother camped in Red Rock canyon on Hwy 395 when he was 8 I think. They were moving from Provo area Utah to San Berdo Ca. He said the trip took 4/6 days on a three track road. He was telling tales about growing in mining camps it Utah, My Great Grandmother ran a boarding house in the camps. Writing this is just dredging up tons of great memories! I think I will have to write about that trip some time. Gosh I wish I could remember all the story's he told me. I just remember bits and pieces.
   There was one about him and a friend landing a plane at Edwards air base because they ran out off fuel flying back from Bishop. I'll try and remember more and write it down it was kinda funny.
 Well until next time take care

That day....

   You ever just have that day? It's not a bad day it really probably was a good day. But your just tired or worn out? And really for no reason? You got to bed early enough and slept well.
     The morning chores, cows all fed, calves fed and checked over for any sick ones. No sick ones today. Nice warm weather a little snow but nice to be out in. Worked in the shop, serviced work truck. Came home fed the calves in the feedlot again. Walk in the house just blahhhhh, kiss my wife, get out of all the clothes, put on the slippers, play with the dogs for a few minutes. Not really hungry but need to eat, what is the old stand by in this house???? A can of chili with some cheese and saltines with cheese and a couple glasses of water.
  The highlight of the day was watching the feedlot calves tonight running and bucking around. Just kickin up their heel's feeling good. Nice weather makes them run around like a bunch of crazed teenagers.........Ohhhhh they are crazed teenagers. So I didn't have the heart to tell them to enjoy it while it lasts. We are supposed to get an arctic blast and have lows in the -20's next week. Well until next time take care

Sunrise

  The last two sunrises have been just amazing!! I would show pictures but..... I forgot the camera. The pinks and almost an orange color dance and reflect on the snow, as the great warming orb crests the horizon. Bringing with her the start of a new day. A day to start fresh. So breath deep in the frosty air. Clear the mind of the every day mundane junk. Pause, look, listen and enjoy. Remember its the little things in life that matter the most. Hold your wife just that second longer, let the kiss linger on the lips, carry her scent with you through the day and remember the smile for a lifetime.   Until next time take care

  It was snowy and windy today, got done feeding around One.  I was kinda hungry so I made a couple grilled cheese samwichs one with pepperoni the other just cheese, And tomato soup but I chopped up some jalapeno peppers and threw them in the soup. It kinda spiced it up a touch. Who says I aint a gourmet cook?  I can cook and like to cook. Sharon and I really enjoy cooking together its a great way for us the talk and laugh. Some how she is always laughing at me.....
  Gonna spend some hard earned money and buy some leather tools. My Mom got me a DVD for Christmas on how to make chinks and some chap leather. The DVD is from Cow Camp Saddlery. He make some really nice gear. I need a new pair of chinks and whats a better present than making your own stuff? So Im looking forward to the project. I get to learn some thing and will have made my own gear, the way I wanted it. I'll post pictures of the process.  So I think I'm gonna go watch the chink making DVD again. Trying to soak up as much as I can.
  Sharon is a quilting nut!! She is always on the sewing machine. Cutting fabric so she can sew it back together again. She has gotten really handy with it. Now if I can just talk her into fixing my jeans and shirts...... Until next time take care

New Years Day

 We made it another year!!! It a chilly start to the New Year it's -14. The good thing is there is no wind!!! Hoping that doesn't prove me wrong.
  Sharon didn't go into work last night. We had a really nice evening. We watched the Simpson's and chatted had spaghetti for supper. I made it till after 9 I think before falling asleep on the couch. Sharon woke me up a little after 11 and said it was time for bed. Pretty low key here.
   When I was feeding yesterday I saw 2 buck's one had a nice rack and the other was smaller. Anyway they were in the hay stackyard. It's old wheatstraw brown and nasty but anyway the 2 deer where standing on the bales and jumping from bale to bale. It was about dusk so it was mostly profiles I could see. Just kinda cool to see.
   I 'm really enjoying writing this blog. I'm not much for grammar or spelling. That stuff get's in the way of the creative writing process. Well until next time take care