Saturday date

    I got Saturday off, so Sharon and I had a date afternoon. It was a great day!! We went to the hardware store got some needed supplies. Then went over to the Pizza Place for lunch. They have great food!! Then we just kinda wandered around town. Went into the Radio Shack and got a emergency weather radio. So we can stay updated on the weather in our area. We then ambled over to the town museum and looked at the history of our new home, Lusk. Boy there was alot of thing that happened here. The museum is just full of old pictures and just nifty old stuff! Like a two headed calf!

Here's an Iron lung machine. I don't know how they worked..........But here one is.

Here is the stagecoach that ran from Deadwood to Casper.

  When we got home we were gonna BBQ and eat outside on the front landing. Just a nice dinner and enjoy where we live. Mother Nature had other plans for us. She opened the show with a thunderstorm. Which knocked out the power so we fired up the weather radio. Guess what? It didn't work very well at all, It barely pulled in the station from Douglas. So we will take it back. Sharon light the lanterns and we listened to Festus tell us everytime it thundered. We got 3tenths of an inch of rain in the storm. It only rained maybe ten minutes. I asked Sharon to dance with me outside on the front patio and we watched the lighting blast the sky apart east of us. It was a great lighting show playing off the clouds.
  So much for our romantic dinner outside. The power came back on a little later and we made a steak salad with leftovers and rootbeer floats. Still a great night!!
Until next time take care

100th post

  It was hot here again. Sharon said it was 95 in town. I was fixing fence today, the neighbors steers tore down a corner of the fence. So  my boss and I set railroad tie corner posts. That should keep them on their side. I took this picture going into my yard this afternoon. Hope you all can see the rabbit it the shade.

   I made a joke about how skinny I am and that there was plenty of shade for me under a barbwire fence. The rabbit is thinking along those same lines.
    Here is a picture of the prairie with a thunder storm rolling in.

     Until next time take care

Week of the 4th

I tried getting some pictures of the fireworks........ But with my camera that the viewfinder is broken, I think I'm still getting good pictures though. It just makes it more of a challenge. I might break down and buy a new camera. So here is a firework shot.

  Tuesday we branded some calves that were around 550-600 pounds. They were fun to rope!! We headed and healed. We had some smaller ones also. We did about 50 calves. There was just four of us roping, so we had three roping and one to work the ground. Kevin's wife came over and helped. I learned alot! I just need to do more of it. Saturday my boss and I went over to his friends and helped him brand some calves. We healed them there. Boy, do I need practice healing calves. Then we went up to our Lance Creek pasture and got a calf out of the neighbors pasture.
   Lusk has a really cool production the town puts on every year. It was started in 1945 it went on for a number of years then stopped and they started it up again in 1986. Its called the Legend of Rawhide. It the story of how the Rawhide Buttes got their name. If your ever in the area in July make sure to see the show!! I'll let the picture tell most of the story. Heres the Indians are playing games and living the life.

 Here comes the settlers on their way the goldfields of California. That wagon is being pulled by oxen. They are BIG!

Indians attacking the wagons.

Thats about all I have for now. Well almost. We went over to Scottsbluff on Sunday for shopping. We took the long way over. We stopped at the Agate Fossil beds. Its a really cool place. If your into fossils check it out. Until next time take care.

Happenings

     Well summer got here and its hot!! Not as hot as other places but its hot enough for me. We are gonna start haying here this coming week.
   My horse Bart cut his shoulder so I took him to the vet on Wednesday. He got a drain tube put in, and I've been DR'ing him everyday. He is healing fast so thats good. He is a big wimp when it come to getting his shots or just about anything. I am learning tons from him though.
    We went to a new church today and met some people in town. We are looking for a good place to worship. We have gone to a church in Torrington but its just under an hour from us and we want some thing a little closer.
   We are looking forward to the 4th of July fireworks in town tomorrow. I hope everyone takes a minute to remember the reason we are celebrating tomorrow. Until next time take care.

Branding

  Sorry I have been posting much lately just been really busy.
This last weekend we went to a friends branding at the ID ranch and had a GREAT time. It was so good to see old friends and make some new ones. I took my camera but never took a single picture. I was to busy working. So the pictures Im posting were taken by my wife. I don't know what I would do with out her!
Here is a picture of holding rodear, we are gonna brand in the open. We have a weak 4 wire fence on the right and some panels set up. There is nothing holding the cows but guys on horses. The ropers ride in to the cows and rope a calf and drag it to the fire by the truck at the bottom of the picture.

Here's the some of the ground crew waiting for a calf, watching the fire.

Me dragging one in and Will got the heels. This is on the second day. We branded at a different spot.

A scenic picture.

On the way into the branding.

It was a great time. I hope these pictures help explain why I love the life I have. Until next time take care.

Good day

Spent most of the day horseback under breezy blue Wyoming sky's. We moved the pairs we branded last week to another pasture. I got to rope and Dr. a calf that was sick. I'm learning so much. My boss showed me a way to build my loops faster. So I will be practicing that along with roping the dumby.
   Then we moved some yearling bulls in the trailer to my house. Jumped our horses out of the trailer and moved the yearling heifers to another pasture that has more grass. My boss and I talked about moving heifers and the best way. I'm learning so much about stockmanship.  Sometimes I get so much information my mind swims. Haha At least its swimming and not sinking. I finished the day off by trimming one of my horse's. So really good day.
   Got home to my wife who was working on the garden. I love driving up to the house and being greeted by the dogs every evening. It's good to see the "kids" happy to see me.
  Until next time take care

Book review

  I just finished reading a great book. I would like to share it. The book is "Pulling Leather by Reuben B. Mullins".  Reuben writes about the five years he cowboyed in eastern Wyoming. He talks about the area that I live in. So that is really cool. He talks about gathering cows in the Lance creek area, which to me is something kinda special. We summer some of our cows on Lance creek. It is cool to think I will be riding cows the same way that Reuben did over a hundred and twenty years ago. One of the differences is there are fences everywhere now.
    Its just a really good book and it is one that I will reread again, probably a couple times. It is an inspiring book. I had all kinds of things to write about the book but my mind is going flat. Hope you all get a copy and enjoy it as much I as I have. Well until next time take care

Branding

  We have been busy the last couple days. We branded a big bunch of calves yesterday on the calf table. It gets the job done. We have limited man power here. So we do what we have to to get things done. Make do and improvise is kinda our motto.
      Today we roped and branded. It was great!! The day was perfect, blue sky's with some puffy clouds floating around. We had a gentle breeze and warm temperatures. I'm getting better at roping just need to practice more. Here's a picture of my boss and me roping.

    Some more pictures.

The photo credit goes to my talented wife! She took all of these and more. Until next time take care.

Cow work

    We are getting everything set up to brand next week. So we are sorting pairs and dry's out. "Dry's are cows that didn't get pregnant".
   Thursday we were gonna go sort pairs out of one of our pastures but we ended up sorting the neighbors yearling steers out of our yearling replacement heifers. Jeepers creepers is there is anything dumber than yearlings? It is kinda funny to watch 20-30 yearlings chase a jack rabbit. Poor rabbit.
  Friday we went down and gathered one of our bigger pastures.  Just guessing,  I "we, my horse and I"  trotted 15-20 miles gathering pairs. I felt so good! I love being horseback. I rode my lil mare she still has a long way to go with her training. But dog gone if she cant just step out and travel! I love that she has her motor so so close to the skin. When we got done there we added the finishing touch's on the corral we are gonna brand in.
    My boss had some of his friends come out to help us work cows and brand. They helped us sort off pairs today. It is nice to have the extra help. I got to cut pairs out of the herd today. Pretty cool. I'm learning a lot!
  Sharon and I are pretty excited. We just started looking looking for a riding lawn mower. My wife is AWESOME she found one in Cheyenne. The price is something we can fit in our budget. So unless something happens we will be the proud owners of a Craftsman Riding mower. I am really happy about this it means that Sharon will be able to mower our yard. Hehehe.
  Until next time take care

Wednesday's workings

  Today we worked on building a branding trap. We have an old corral that we are gonna use to brand next week. I'm not saying the corral has holes in it but it holding a tumbleweed is really pushing it. We tightened wires, added wires and put in some posts. It will now hold cows and calves. Woohoo now let the fun begin!
   On my way home I saw some of the prettiest wild flowers I have seen in along time. So I thought I know just the person that if I gave some to would have the biggest smile. I picked a bunch of them for my lovely wife. They wilted by the time I got them home, but the smile was well worth it. Sharon put them in a nice little vase with some water and 15 minutes later there looked great again.
  Finishing the day off with BBQ'd hotdogs, some lame Geogre Clooney movie and my comfy slippers. Life is good. Until next time take care