Winter beard gone

Here's a before picture of me with the GREAT winter beard.

Now here a picture of me messing with my wife. She is not a big fan of a mustache on me, so I told her was gonna keep it till summer time.

And now the clean face.

Now all I need to get is a hair cut and I'll be all cleaned up for a night on the town with my lovely bride. If my hair gets much longer I'll have to figure out a way to hang my spurs on a pair of Birkenstock sandals. Until next time take care

Work Routine

    The routine lately at work has been great!! It doesn't get much better that what Im gonna tell you. We have been starting at 7 am on these nicer mornings. If it is gonna be really cold or snowy we ride out at 6am or before. We are calving right now so we are checking the heifers 2-3 times a day. It is soooo great to do what I love AND I get paid to do it. Well if you call ranch hand wages getting paid. Hahaha.
  It is really good for my mare to do the work she is doing. I am learning so much from my boss on horse training. We ride out and are checking the calves that were born at night, making sure they are up and not chilled down. Riding out in the mornings with the sun cresting over the horizon, the clouds drifting over head. The horse between my knees feeling frisky and wanting to step out. I enjoy the warmth the trot brings to my horse and myself. Dropping the ear flaps down on the wool cap is a little pleasure I enjoy on frosty mornings. It really makes a guy feel alive on mornings like that. Watching the world came alive and being a part of it not just an observer.
  We then pair out the calves that were born the day before it another pasture. It makes it easy to keep track of whats been born and to who. Cutting out pairs is a good way for a horse to learn cow work.
   When we are done checking cows we start our other work for the day. I have been fixing fence. I like it's great to work by myself with just the dog for company. I love the country we are in, the prairie is so pretty.
Well enough ramblings for now. I'll try not to take so long to post again. Take care

My "Room"

   Here's "my" room. I have always wanted a library or just a room where I can just go to unwind. Here it is. This room has a TV, a nice soft cushy arm chair for reading. A work bench for leather work and drawing. Now all I need to do is build another book shelf so we can get the rest of the books put out where we can find them. The room is kinda of a mess in these photo's it has been organized some more. Now I need to get some pictures on the walls and really make it homey......

Chinks part 1 1/2

    I forgot to put a set of pictures here. We  are missing a step so heres the missing step. Heres cutting out the yokes and side panels.

 Getting some stamping done. Just the start on this yoke.

 

Little more stamping done.

The next set of stamps being used. Almost done with this yoke.

Done with the yoke.

Now we are on to the next step which you have all ready seen. It's posted in chinks part 2. Take care.

Chinks part 2

  Here's an update of how the chinks are coming along. The pictures above are of the side panels and yokes oiled and sealed.  The next picture is with a little blig added.

Here's the yoke and side panel sewn on. Man oh man do I need to learn to sew!!! The last time I think I used a sewing machine was in Mrs. Jeters Home Eck class..... That was jr high. Still got a ways to go to finish these buggers, but I'm pretty happy with them. I know I could do a better job on them but I want to use them and to get them perfect would take forever. So Im doing the best that I can and gonna be happy with them. I really like the fact that I am building them myself and not buying them. Its lat and Im tired so I'll finish these buggers and get them posted next time. Take care

This weeks happenings

   We have been pretty busy here. We are calving heifers out now. We ride through them 2-3 times a day. We haven't had to pull any,  hope we can keep that going. I'm learning so much about cows and training horses. I can watch all the horse training videos and read all the books. But the best way to really learn is to have someone teach and see what is really going on. There are so many small subtle details that can be missed if you don't know what your looking for.
    We roped and branded and castrated  some yearling calves. Im learning a lot. It is so much fun roping. I need so much practice. There is so much going on when you are roping. You gots to know where the cows are, where everyone in the branding trap is, what your horse is doing. The list goes on and on. Man oh man it is fun.
         Been doing a lot of fencing, its the "spring cleaning" of ranch work. The fencing truck is an old Chevy pick-up that has everything needed to fix and build fence.  Heres a picture of fence stretchers working.  The next picture is of the ladies who came over at lunch to inspect the fence and make sure I had packed a healthy lunch.

I have been working on my chinks in the evenings. Stamping the yokes and the sidepanels. I'll post them in an update post.  Until next take care

Wordless Wednesday

Been busy

  I have been busy here. We are just starting to calve. It great watching the lil calves run an play. We have had some nice spring weather. Today was a great day! We moved and sorted of pairs. Changed some some cows out of pastures. Got lots of riding in today. It really felt good.  Man oh Man I love riding. I put some pretty good miles on my mare today. We worked on flexing. I have been working on my chinks every night after work. It is really nice of my boss to show me how to build them. He is really handy with leather. I am learning tons. Until next time take care

Chinks part 1

  I am building a pair of chinks for myself, and will try to get pictures of the building process.

I just finished drawing out the yoke and side panel patterns.

Here is the chink pattern on the leather. I am tracing the pattern on the leather to cut. It is real nice leather.

Cutting out a leg. Its a pretty color of leather, can wait to get blood and crap on them......Haha -It means they are getting used the way they are supposed to be.

 I turned over the leg that was cut out. Now Im using it as a pattern for the other leg. Im just scratching the leather to leave a light line that I can see to make my cuts.

Heres both legs. All of this is rough cut. Thats all I have for tonight.