"Family" Time

Today was a little bit out of the ordinary...in contrast.

After morning chores, I took a four wheeler out to check electric wells. I headed down to the dry cows (a few miles down the road) and then over to the red cows. I found the first one with the dry cows in good condition...but didn't has as much luck with the others. First, I had to (of course) turn around like three times to find the right gate- but I finally did (after following the electic line (duh!) and managed to find the first well. It was running over. It appeared that the float had just jammed so after some tinkering around I think I got that problem solved. I followed the trail to the second well...this was more of an issue. It was leaking - I couldn't tell if the tire itself was leaking or if it was coming out the bottom- but either way it was leaking so fast that it just pumped constantly. I couldn't get ahold of anyone so I just decided to shut it off- that seemed logical. It's pretty close to the full dam anyway in addition to two other wells int he pasture. Then, on to the third well. I had to kill some substantial time (of course) because I couldn't remember where the darn thing was. That well wasn't in too bad of shape- just had the guard knocked down on the other side of the fence where there were no cows so I wasn't too concerned. By this time, it was getting late for me to make the 10:00 Memorial Day Service just south of Martin so I four wheeled my butt home fast.

I quick changed and headed into town. The memorial day celebration is quite the deal here. They had over 40 (I think) full sized flags that commemerate all the vets who haved died within the community. They had a nice presentation with a poem, singing, and a new memorial/honorary wall dedication, etc. It was really nice- and I got to seem some folks that I haven't run into since last summer as well. It's nice to see people actually observing Memorial Day and taking part instead of just treating it as a good day to camp or the first day of summer. Again, I love the sense of community out here that people have- it's really nice.

After the service I tried to kill some time in Martin- which I learned is next to impossible. I went to the new familiy dollar store- but could only kill 15 minutes so I just drove over to Ross and Marva's. I, along with most of their real family, was invited to tag along for dinner. I felt bad because I didn't bring anything (just found out this morning)- but was really glad that Adrienne did- lol! I told her that she could be our regional representative! :) It was great food and good company. We ended up sitting around all afternoon and talking and playing with the kids that were around. There were probably 25 ish family members there- so we had lots to talk about. Harvey's son, Jared flew him and Carol down from Sturgis so Jared ended up giving a ride to three people during the afternoon. All in all, it was fun just to catch up with people and hang out with someone other than myself! I'm super glad they are so nice to me and let me in on their family functions!

Afterward I just headed home and did chores and set out my lawn sprinkler for the summer. WallE (the bucket calf from last year that is now a yearling) was the highlight of chores. He has figured out where the water comes from at the hydrant and wastes most of it playing in it- it's pretty hillarious! Then, I didn't have enough hose for the sprinkler so I had to go down into the crawl space of the house...that was interesting. The hole is in my closet so it was a little weird entering a whole new room from a tiny door in my closet! haha, but I was not attacked by any killer mice or anything and made it out with some hose alive! haha

Since then I've just been getting some odds and ends done. It was really a nice day- but back to work tomorrow. I think we are going to start farming! Off to shower and bed...

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss

Shop until you Wal-Mart

Today was a nice change of scenery.

I got up and did chores this morning and had some extra time to haul down some new bags of pellets and put out some mineral blocks for the fat cattle.

After chores, I headed up to my house to change clothes and grab everything I needed to go to Rapid. By 8:30 or so I headed for church. The priest was back today, so it was nice to sit through a normal service with a pretty funny sermon about Trinity sunday. I went down to the basement afterward and answered more curious questions and met some more people- I love little old ladies, they are so smart yet funny! I had never gone to Rapid from Martin, so I asked on of them adn she said the fastest way is to probably go through Allen and Kyle and then on to Sharps corner where you could turn and meet up with HWY 44. So, I ate my bar and cookie and headed that way. Most of the time I was "hoping" I was headed the right directino because there isn't much for signs and I haven't been out that way but once or twice and that's been over a year ago. But, low and behold I found myself in Rapid City and I only had to turn around once in Kyle (only because I wasn't paying attention to which way the road went east and which way it led west) to get there!

I spent most of the afternoon shopping for all sorts of things- upcoming weddings and showers and some stuff I needed at home, and oil change (cuz I'm too lazy to do it myself when you can just pay them $20 and it takes 15 min) a bunch of pictures developed, and a few extra little things here and there. It was nice to finally buy a cordless phone with an answering machine too- now I can get messages! yey:) So, all in all the day in Rapid was good minus the fact that I hate shopping and had to wander through stores forever looking for things on the gift registry...oh well, guess that's life. In addtion, I severely dislike the wal-mart parking lot and anytime they are busy (which is basically anytime you go before midnight). In fact, today there was a screaming child at teh entrance by the check out counters. As I walked to the back of the store to electronics...I could still hear the 4ish year old screaming. Seriously? What is wrong with people- tame your children! ...why is that ok these days? (yes, I jsut said these days). Then, while I'm in the store they loose two kids and announce it like 60 times over the intercom...then announce that they found them three more times. O Walmart... I got what I needed and that made me happy. Halfway through the day Merle called to tell me not to come home jsut for chores- that was nice, because I could keep on getting things done- so I did. I took the hyway back home, unpacked all of my purchases, and am now ready to take a long nap until morning!

Otherwise, things were pretty uneventful. I'm not sure that much got done here at home as far as work goes. I know that Merle fit a bunch of family into his pickup and they went prarie dog hunting- I bet that was fun! :) I can't wait to get out and shoot some p-dogs! The small ones are starting to come out and move around.

But, it's about that time- don't have a whole lot of news today but I'm sure there will be more to come.

"Anyone who belives the competitive spirit in America is dead has never been in a supermarket when the cashier opens another checkout line." -Ann Landers

Ordinary Day

Today was nice and laid back.

I went down and did morning chores- we finally got out the trough style feeder for the calves and found out that it goes faster. (Basically you can feed five or six at a time instead of 3! After getting them all done Merle and I started in a small project. My fire pager hasn't been getting good enough reception to understand what is being said on the radio- but after going through the iron pile and finding a piece of angle iron that fits the roof and adding a few holes- we got it up and magnetized and the reception come in great. If you can picture me feeding a cable through the wall from inside of the house and Merle outside trying to find it in the wall while yelling through the wall at each other you would get the picture...apparently this house is pretty insulated cuz we couldn't hear much! But, after the 6pm page test I learned that our work was successful and it comes through great now! As soon as we got that project done we went down and put everything away and Merle said I had the day off to do whatever I wanted. So...I went home and sat aroudn watching a movie for a while and then decided to work on some bookwork. At 11 or so I ran to town to mail a letter just to find out that the outgoing mail went out at 10:45 and the lobby closed at 11. Just my luck. I grabbed some groceries and headed back home to eat some lunch (fried egg sandwich- I know you're jealous) and planted some flowers that I bought in town. I couldn't get any of the one gajillion keys hanging on the hook in the house to match up with the lock on the shed door so I just carried water to my flowers until I later stole Merle's key.

After doing some cleaning and catching up on old mail it was chore time. They took a little longer than normal because I did them by myself. Adrienne and Merle were having a heck of a time changing the oil on her new pickup. Since she bought it in November she had never changed it before and they learned that it's more difficult to find a wrench that fits than they thought! But, they got it done right as I finished chores so I gave them a hard time about their impeccable timing! The rodeo started at 5 tonight and I had thought about going but I didn't get done with chores until then and it started to rain shortly after so I just decided it was best to go home. So, here I am.

Merle was going to go and pick up the drill today so we could start donig some farming- but I think that's now a tomorrow task. I am planning a trip to Rapid tomorrow afternoon to pick up some things that I just can't get in Martin. (imagine that) O- and Delbert saved my butt today! They went to check steers yesterday and found some bags of salt on the trail and were going to give me crap for losing them on our way out yesterday but just before anyone go ahold of me Delbert called and said that Tyler (or some of his help) had lost a couple bags going through their. HA! I win- it wasn't me!!

Anyway- that's all I've got.

"The ordinary acts we practice everyday at home are of far more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest." -Thomas Moore

A Breakdown and a Fence-down

Another very...interesting day on the ranch.



I got most of chores done before everyone came around this morning and we managed just fine to have no disasters by 7 o'clock. Dean headed out to go fence and Merle and Stephanie and I went up to the shed and I used the air compressor to clean out the newer grain wagon that Merle has. The best part about the whole deal is that when I was done I asked his opinon on what he thought I should do with the nest that was built inside the box. He said....knock it down and find out! Haha- easy for him to say! I grabbed a rod and knocked it down and lucked out. The wasps or hornets or whatever they were still looked like larve...no chance they were gunna get me. But, the whole thing was kinda funny.



By that time Ross was pulling in with a ton of salt in his pickup. It was time to load up and get back at it. It took us a while but we got his pickup unloaded and enough bags put onto the flatbed to head out and string salt and mineral. We had just made it to the big unit and only strung to one or two troughs in there in addition to a couple that we skipped in the steers the other day...when Ross stopped the pickup and it died overlooking a nice little hill... After some investigation, I discovered that the pin that hold the clutch pedal in place was out and was not at all interested in going back into place. I moved the pedal every way possible and banged on the pin about 100 times but could not get it to budge...Ross did the same but had no luck. Our radio wouldn't work because we were so low in a hole so I walked up the hill a ways and tried to make a call. After some yelling at my phone and lots of steps later I was able to get ahold of Merle and kinda sorta describe where I was before we got cut off. Then, I quick ran down to Ross to make sure I knew what I was talking about and ran back up the hill to call him again. While he was on his way out to rescue us (and keep me from ripping the pedal out all together) I was able to pushe the dumb thing into place long enough to get it started and backed out of there. When we got up on the hill I slipped it into gear and off we went. Merle me us about halfway and opened the gates so I didn't have to stop for them anymore. Ross and I had stopped for a couple but we were definitly taking chances on my free shifting/using a crappy clutch skills. Somehow we managed to get out of there and I got the dumb thing backed into the shed at home. Talk about a morning...and I had to laugh at Ross. When we first headed out he was telling me that he thought Marva had "flipped her lid" when she told him there was a baby in the house this morning. One of Nancy's daughters, Megan made it in really early this morning and Marva was watching the baby for a while. But Ross told me he was pretty sure she had lost it until he got the whole story! lol



So anyway, we parked the uncooperative pickup and went in for some dinner. We were all sad because Adrienne was in Rapid and we had to cook it oursleves! Haha, treats us right! But, we faired alright. After dinner Merle and Stephanie kept working on the wagon and brought it into town for some repairs (the darn thing is brand new :( ) and Ross and I took off on four wheelers to go put nine steers that got out on Risse's back into the timber reserve. To make that simple...we went a long ways from home- found the steers about halfway through the pasture along the fence of Merle's black cows, chased them very slowly back to the gate- and got them in. We actually had them right at the gate when they decided they might want to turn around- but we managed. Then, of course, we rode the fence to find the hole that they got through- fixed it and paved our own path back home...which is pretty interesting when you follow Ross. I swear (For real now) he had three wheels on the the ground like three or four times. I just drive far enough back that I can avoid such things...or drive ahead so I can find them myself! AFter going over the river and through the woods we made it back home in time to meet Stephanie, Megan and her husband (who I can't remember the name of at the moement :s ) It was nice to meet them and chat for a while but it was about chore time so Ross and I sent them with some eggs to take to town and did chores. Boy were the calves thirsty after a hot day! Once everyone was fed and happy we went up and unloaded the load from the flatbed that we put on this morning minus only a couple bags. Guess you gotta do what you gotta do!



After decided that I was plain exhaused (which didn't take much convincing) - I went home, showered, and watched a movie. I decided the movie was better then bookwork or anything else constructive. Today should not have been that tiring but after breaking down- holding our breath back home hoping that I don't kill the darn pickup and chasing steers around in addition to the lovely heat the result was tiredness!



Although we didn't really take any steps forward today, we still got something done. It sounds like the rodeo in Martin is tomorrow-not sure if I will go or not but either way I'll be sure to fill you in ;)



"Sometimes a hard day's work is a lot easier than a lot of things you can meet in life." -Chris LeDoux

Gate after Gate

Another day...a much better day.

I thought I would start out with some things that I probably left out last night becasue I was so disgusted with my day. For starters- just to top the cake, when I hopped into my pickup when we got back to do chores and go home last night the key was left on. I never do that and have no idea how it happened but thank goodnes it stated anyway! I can't think of a whole lot more bad things except Delbert giving me a hard time about working me too late so I couldn't make my hot date at home. What a surprize...Delbert giving me a hard time- it was pretty funny. I told him yep, the guy was fresh out of the housing and thanks to Delbert I was gunna miss the whole date! Later, he told Merle that it all worked out well- Merle can work his help all day and Delbert can work them all night! haha, it wasn't even that long of a night- but leave it to Delbert to make some comment! I can't remember if I typed this or not but while we were pairing off a couple of the little kids who were supposed to be helping us hold hte cattle pretty much fell asleep with their heads on the saddle horns...it was soo cute! I will have to get the picture off of my cell phone and get it on here when I have reception sometime. After it was all said and done Delbert called and thanked me for helping which helped improve a bad day- that was really nice of him and not neccesary- it's in the job description:)

But, enough with yesterday- on to today. After morning chores, which went well, Dean went out to fence and Merle told me to go with Ross and string salt and mineral. Some of the family came into town so Ross was a little late this morning so Merle and I moved some bales around and cleaned up some feeders until he got there. When Ross came he brought Stephanie (his grandaughter) along. I met her last year and we had a great time. She spent the day with Merle and is staying out here for the week so hopefully we can have a lot of fun:)

Ross and took off with the salt and mineral that we had left over from yesterday and put salt out with the Dry Cows, at the Pow Wow Grounds, and on Duck Creek. That was a pretty good hit, but we ran out of salt and mineral too early so we just came home for dinner with the clan and then loaded up another 15 bags of each and blocks and headed back out. We spent the entire afternoon in one pasture- the Timber Reserve. (That should give you and idea of the turf and amount of ground we had to cover.) It got pretty interesting because some of the trails have gotten really washed out and hard to judge from a distance. Since I'm not the best with directions and don't know the trails that well and Ross has a hard time seeing the trails we were quite the pair. I would point him in the direction of where the trails looked liek they were going and he would manuver around the hills and valleys and canyons. We had to turn around a few times and ran just barely ran out of salt at the end but we made it and pulled in home around 5:30 or 6. The ridiculous part about the afternoon was that as soon as we drove into the pasture (which took about a half hour just to get to) we realized that we were on the E for fuel and had the whole afternoon to get through! There was no turning back then so we jsut gambled. Somehow we managed to make it through the entire afternoon and never run out...but it was close! I'm not sure what we woudl have done if we ran out of fuel down in a canyon...someone would have had a long way to come to pick us up!

We had to pick up a couple big troughs on our way out and that got interesting. They were both super full and really heavy but we managed to use the hydraulic arms on the hydrabed to get them up halfway and then lift them the rest of the way. Considering Ross is almost 80 years old and shouldn't be lifting that much anyway and I'm just not as strong as I would like to be- it made a good compensation.

When we got home the chores were already done so I jsut went home and showered and had planned to eat a sandwich and go to bed. But, I got a phone call asking if I wanted to head into town to have dinner with the rest of the family. I was excited to go do something different and see some people I haven't seen since last year. We had a nice supper and had some birthday cake to celebrate Nancy's birthday. All in all, it was a good night. Adrienne even made a haul with some baby gifts :) I'm always thankful that I'm invited and feel welcome at a lot of faimly things. It would be just as simply to leave me behind but they never do that. I'm super luck to have found this place and this family! :D

All in all, it felt like a more laid back day it seemed but the wind whipped like crazy again and we had to stop and pick up things that blew off or fell off of our load quite a few times. We managed to get quite a bit done but I wouldn't doubt that we will go do the same for the spayed heifers and the cows up at Techs and Hisle Dam tomorrow. Guess we'll find out. PS- I'm starting to get a little better with pastures and where I'm at...but just when I say that I'll probably get lost!

I'm ready for bed~

"The greatest accomplishment in life is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall."
-Vince Lombardi

Ugghhhhh......

Have you ever had one of those days? Ya know, the ones where everything seems to not go as planned...well enough said.


Ok fine, I'll explain a little.
Everything started out pretty normal. I got up and ready to go, ate a bowl of cereal and headed out the door to do chores. Chores were fine-got our new orphan calf to suck down a bucket of milk again so that was a plus. Dean and Ross and I loaded up four wheelers into the trailer and Merle drove us to the red cow pasture to look for our missing bull. After spreading out across the pasture and wandering around in an "easterly" direction, I managed to find two bulls. After a while I called Merle in order to figure out where to go next after I made it to the opposite fenceline. He told me to come back so I did and helped poison prairie dogs while Ross and Dean were on their way back. After a short conference we realized that we only had seen four of the five bulls that are supposed to be in the pasture- not to mention that we were hoping to find six there to make up for the missing one. We decided that there were probably five in there and we missed one and at this point we were ready to take off and headout to the next pasture. I'm sitting on my four wheeler and put it in first and realize it's not moving so well... Come to find out I had fun over an open five gallon bucket of Rosall (prarie dog poison oats) and put a huge dent in the pail. What a dork- blonde moment. Strike 1. Regardless we headed off to the next pasture to look for Mr. Bull.

In the heifer pasture we spread out again and this was the interesting part. I did my section and then headed down the creek to find the culvert to cross. After finding it and crossing it I wandered around the hillside and didn't see any cattle so I wandered until I saw someone else. When I met up with Ross he was on the other side of the crick and didn't hear me so he just took off...super. After a few minutes I finally caught up with him and we made a plan to go in opposite directions and meet up later. Part of my path was to cross the creek at the other culvert- after passing it once because it is pretty washed out, then coming all the way back after realizing that I mistook it for deeper water than it looks I crossed the dumb thing. Then, I ran through some heifers and foudn no bull and headed for the gate. I had to go the wrong way up the fenceline first of course. After turning around and going through the gate I realized that Dean had already been through this spot that i had been tryhing to get to for fifiteen minutes. Strike 2. I went up to the pickup and got some directions from Merle for how to get into the next neighbors pasture and headed out. Before I could go the complete wrong way he came up behind me and told me that they had found the bull and were headed our way. So, I backtracked and caught up with them and the bull. We were able to run him in and load him up ten times easier than yesterday's bull.

We loaded up the Ross's four wheeler and Dean opened the gates ahead of the pickup and I closed them behind the pickup on our way out. We let off the bull with the dry cows and loaded up our four wheelers and went to check the well. Electricity was coming to it but no water was pumping. As we are all fidgeting around with different parts and pieces, Ross gives the electric well box a hit and the dumb things starts pumping- it was kinda funny.

After we got all unloaded and got home Dean headed up for dinner and was off to fence afterward. Ross and Merle and I cleaned out the trailer and fixed the mats and then Ross and I went and put the dual tire back on the fire truck. Afterward we managed to think of the inside valve stem...super. We weren't about to take it off so I just hope I'm not the next person who has to air up that tire! Then, we headed in for lunch.

We finished the last of Adrienne's left over steak- and it was tasty. After lunch Ross and I loaded up 20 bags of salt, 20 mineral, and some blocks and headed out. We went through Techs, Chief Bears, and Hisle Dam but were short on troughs basically everywhere and didn't get near as far as we wanted to. On our way home we also managed to loose a lick barrel and had to backtrack a couple miles to find the thing- it's worth $10 so we figured we better go find it! :) While we were up on a hill my phone rang through and it was Merle. Delbert was wondering if we could help move some cows at five. We said no problem- he has been having trouble with loosing calves in the water tank because the darn thing can't keep up and some of his calves weren't feeling good so we suspect they may have been jumping in because of fevers- in addtion he helps us all the time. Either way- five o'clock rolled around and we were already out there with the four wheelers.

I followed Ross out there and when we got to the gate of the pasture he went into he said someting to the effect of - he was gunna go check the south gate to know wheather we should move the cows from one pasture or two. I assumed that he mean the pasture we were in and that he would open the gate if it wasn't already so we could push the cattle that way. Ross had taken off and Dean showed up right as I was closing the gate so we rode the pasture that we were in. About 20 minutes later my cell phone rings (amazingly)- it Adrienne. Delbert didn't have my number so he called her and she called me to tell us we were in the wrong pasture. STRIKE 3. Seriously...who does that? So things started making sense about what Ross said in my head and we headed out and found that Ross had rounded them all up and Delbert and a small crew (with a lot of little kids) we there beginning to push them out. The move didn't go too bad- but it was long. We went from the steel windmill pasture to Levi's Camp- I'm not sure how many miles that is but when you have lots of cattle with young calves it takes a while. The move went pretty decent and they paired out alright. We had one calf the had to be hauled but other than that everybody made it. I really don't like four wheelers much but I certainly got my fair share of them today. The people on horses when we were moving cattle had an advantage in all those ruts- but we could sure move on the four wheelers too. Moral of the story: we got the cattle where they needed to be and went home.

Chores were already done so all I had left to do was feed Bart and shower. Now, I'm headed to bed. In heinsight- the day wasn't so bad, it just felt stressful. Everything I touched broke or went wrong. Oh well, tomorrow is another day!

"Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."

Not so Handy Man...

Today was full of lots of little jobs.

I started out chores as usual and went through the morning loops. I fed Bart (my fish) then went down to the corral where Ross came and joined me followed by Dean later and Merle and Adrienne. Our first task of the day after chores was to sort off a calf that had gotten into the neighbors pasture. It wasn't far from home (just between chief bears and the first housing house) but the Dean and Ross and I took off cross country on four wheelers to find the little fart. Adrienne had spotted him from the road last night- so we weren't really sure if there was a cow with the calf or not.

Well after finding a red calf within a sea of black we found out that it is Merle's orphan calf ...the mother was dry. So I cut him out of the herd and the chase began. With three of us it wasn't too terrible to get him out of the pasture- once we did everything fell into place because a couple of yearlings in the next pasture over convieniently placed themselves in our path. We ran them all home and dropped off the calf at the barn to add to the bucket calf herd...it's now up to 11! We ran those yearlings back to their pasture and then headed home to saddle up.

After letting the ponies eat some oats we grabbed our horses (I grabbed Tanner today- I really like him:) It was also a day at the barber shop for the horses- Merle went around and trimmed bridle paths and feathers- we are sure lookin sharp around here! haha! We loaded into the trailer and headed down to Dicks to load up that lame bull we left there and find the missing red bull. Well we didn't have much luck with the missing red bull so I just pushed the black bull towards the corral. Then, things got interesting. He was huffy and just plain mean. After taking Joe, Ross's horse, and about taking Ross with him, and randomly running whatever direction he felt we finally got him in the corral but the fight was on. With a slick throw of his nose he threw a gate off the hinge and tried to take Joe again. We all got out of the corral and managed to get the sucker into the tub but didn't get the gate closed fast enough and he got out. That led to plan B. We backed the trailer up to the end of the alley way that he wanted to go down so badly and chaned and strung ropes from gates in hopes to make things work. After some serious coaxing and chasing him on horse from outside of a corral that he could have easily run through we got him in! At that point Merle decided to take him straight to Gordon to the salebarn...and so they did! I had to note that Tanner was deathly afraid of this bull from the start- I mean we could chase him, but he would never let him take after him - Ross used to ride that horse quite a lot and admitted to me that a bull had banged him up once or twice...apparently he didn't forget! It was kinda funny because I had tied him up by the reins (which we do a lot when you're doing three things at once) and came over to find him untied and munching on grass. Well he was withing ten feet of the corral and Ross had to untie him before he broke his reins... o Tanner!

We didn't dare load up the horses with this bull in the front of the trailer for fear that he woudl bang up everything so Dean and Ross and I stayed and rode the heifer pasture and the neighbors pasture to put five back in that had apparently jumped the fence. We didn't find an extra bull but we were at least happy to ride the fences and get those five back where they needed to be. Then we were able to lock our horses in the corral and take Johnny's pickup home with plans to bring it back later.

After a late lunch Dean headed out to Techs to fence and Ross and I took the inside dual off of the fire truck to send to town to get fixed. Then we stared in on parking feeder wagons and jacking them up to avoid flat tires in the fall. After the first one Ross had to leave for home for something so I stayed and did one more. Backing the double axled sucker up was probably the most obnoxious experience of my life...but after some time and patience I got it where it needed to be and proceeded to jack and block the wheels up. In the process the "not so" handyman jack (as I like to call them) kept on jamming up in the pins. Handymans tend to do that alot so I would just mess with the pins until the dumb thing dropped or raised. Well, on one particular occasion I was not holding the jack bar and managed to get smacked in the head pretty darn good- but I"m pretty sure I'll live. I'll bet that would have been funny to watch! After that one I parked and locked everything up for the night. I quick swept out a wagon that needed sweeping out and went and did chores. It takes a little longer by yourself but it's not too bad. Dean showed up from fencing towards the end so he was able to help hold down the new orphan calf and we got him to suck a bucket of milk down so that was good. Afterward I radioed Merle to see if he wanted me to meet them down at Dick's with Johnny's pickup but apparently they had tried to get ahold of us all day and couldn't and they had already picked up the horses so I guess we'll have to take it back another day.

We unloaded the horses and chatted about he day over some leftovers while watching Adrienne's show, The Biggest Loser. By the time the season finalle was over we were all ready to hit the sack. I think that's just what I'm gunna do!

"Common sense is the collection of predjudices aquired by age 18." -Albert Einstein

Nuts and Bulls

Another interesting day on the Ranch.

When I woke up this morning the sky appeared as though it was slowly becoming a lovely shade of grey...but it held off for quite some time. I did the ususal and started chores, people slowly trickled in and we got them done pretty quick. Today was bull moving day- and that is exactly what happened.

After chores Dean and I saddled up Merle, Adrienne, Dean, Ross and I (with Nelly and Andy and Ross's four wheeler) loaded up and headed down to Dicks (the other place down the road) to meet Lee and take on the task at hand. We all had some pretty good timing and got there at about hte exact same time he did. First, we pulled in one bull that needed to be sorted off and loaded him up. The rest of the herd was up to us. There were supposed to be 28 in the pasture total...we left one that was stifiled and loaded one up, which left 26 for us to find. Yet, we only found 19 after rounding up in the bull pasture...which means we are missing a few. But, apparently we are only missing four according to Merle - I don't understand that, but I'm sure he knows what he's talking about!

After we got everybody (or what we thought was close enough to everybody) rounded up and out the gate the games began. With Ross ahead of the three of us on a four wheeler we never had to worry about opening gates- that was super nice. We had to go through the red cow pasture for a bit and leave five red bulls there. This wasn't too bad considering we had 19 all together- but they did manage to start one big huge ridiculous fight there. Usually there are any two bulls fighting pretty much constantly but this was just the whole shabang...all the boys were pissed! But, they got over themselves after some pretty serious growling by me and some rope throwing by Lee- and we moved on. We had a minor difficulty because we only let four bulls go with the cows we saw and kept on in hopes of seeing another group to put him with. We got all the was to the far end of the pasture and finally saw 6 cows..only 6! But that was better than none, so we sent the last one that way. After crossing a few more pastures we had made it to the road and stopped to give them a chance to drink. Merle and Adrienne met us there with the pickup and brought some pop. The whole time we were moving bulls they were hauling others out.

After a quick break Lee and Dean and I sorted off the reds from the blacks and headed back out towards home with the red bulls and Ross ahead of us again. We got home pretty easily and sent them to the corral to get loaded out after dinner. We loosened our cinches and headed in for some steak! After eating too much, we went back at it. Merle and Adrienne hauled the red bulls out in different directions while the rest of us rounded up the black bulls from the smaller pature we left them in and headed toward the black cows. It was a long and extremely windy treck out there- but we made it. At one point we had a bull the waded into the creek and wouldnt' come out so I just headed into the water with Nelly...but when by boots got wet she decided that was deep enough so we spent some time yelling at the idiot from across the creek...he eventually gave up and got out! It was pretty funny!

We made it there with the black bulls and started down towards the creek with a few of them to find the cows. As we are doing this we can all tell that Ross is getting nervous about he weather (you could definitly see some nasty clouds rolling in). So, after trying to get us to stop pushing them and just leave he turns and looks at me from his four wheeler and says "Shut the gate behind you, I'm going home." And he left...it was hillarious! So I got them down the creek and the other two pushed some young bulls over the hill and we shut the gate and headed for home. We played our cards right and rode slow back to the trailer (which was at about the halfway point) this way we didn't get hailed our rained on. When we got back we loaded some high strung newer, younger bulls into the trailer with horses and did chores. It was an early night - like 4:30 and the wind was howling like crazy- but I didn't want to quit so early so I went up and finished sweeping out the shop with the doors closed. After dusting/humidifying myself to death (but finishing the one stall of the shed) I called it quits and went home. Right after I pulled the pickup and my car onto the lawn by some trees and went inside it started to rain and hail- guess the timing worked out well.

I think the worst of the nasty weather has gone by now but it sure has been windy and still is. I don't even care anymore because I'm going to bed:)

"So, if anatomy is destiny than testosterone is doom." -Al Goldstein

'Day Off"

Sunday- chuch day...with this particular afternoon off!

I woke up bright and shiny this morning (figuratively of course) and headed down yonder to do chores. There was nothing to extraordinarily out of the ordinary. Everyone was on good behavior and ate up! After chores I had to go through a short hunt to find out what time church was because I couldn't get ahold of Marva last night- but Merle did this morning and it's a 9. So, I had a little time to go home and clean up before hand. I went back to the little Episcopal church in town with no concern of being kicked out...unlike other places I may have gone in the past! haha I enjoyed the service and went downstairs (as instructed) afterward to eat with everyone. I believe there were 21 people there total, including the lecator...and all 21 were downstairs. But, I was not the youngest one there for a change- someones grandson who was about 1 year old sat in front of me and played with me the whole time- haha it was entertaining.

So anyway, I left church and grabbed my long past overdue mail and got some groceries. I was also hoping to pick up a few other things but couldn't find any other places open in Martin on a Sunday. I actually hunted around for a greenhouse the ladies at church were talking about but I couldn't find it either so I came home. After unpacking the groceries, changing clothes and cleaning up the house I decided that I had better mow the lawn...not exactly what I had in mind for a day off but I'm not exactly a pro at relaxing and it needed to be done.

I went down and got the lawn mower and filled it up with gas, then hunted for oil. I put the closest thing we had to the right oil in, and tinkered aroudn for a while and eventually it worked! I hauled the mower up to my house and ran it for about two hours until the dumb thing ran out of gas...well I couldn't find the gas can in the shop (which was probably hidden in plain sight) so I loaded the dumb mower back up- drove it to the fuel tank, filled it up, and came back home with it. When it was all said and done I had mowed like four hours. During that time I also foudn a ginormous rabbits nest and managed to avoid mowing it...that would have been nasty. Not sure that I want all the rabbits around but I know I don't want to run them through the mower!

By the time I was done mowing it was time to do chores so I loaded the mower up, put it away back where i got it, and did chores with Merle and Adrienne. Afterward I came home- cooked (yes I cooked!) a couple hamburgers and watched "A River Runs Through It". Now, I want to learn to fly fish! haha...perhaps I should work on just plain fishing period.

Today I learned that I am terrible at taking a day off and that I need to find a new place for the fire pager because I can't understand the darn thing when it goes off! Otherwise I think I'm ready for bed. It sounds like rain tomorrow but I guess we'll see.

"Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another." - Anatole France Quote

Horses and Heat

O what a day.

Adrienne and Merle had to be in Rapid City for most of the day today- so it was just Ross, Dean, and I.

I had originially thought that we were all going to go in different directions and get the odds and ends on the place completed...but not so much. Ross had another plan. He decided that we would move the late calving pairs that we branded the other day.

So...the they helped me finished chores and the three of us caught some horses. Today we took Andy, Nelly, and Joe. Ross admitted that he hadn't been on a horse for like 3 months and that this could be interesting (because of his back). As if that doesn't make a person nervous! So he managed to get on fine and we took off to round up the red pairs and take them out to pasture up at Techs (I think...I'm sooo bad with which pasture is which). We had a little task at first...Risses cattle were right in our way so Dean and I were opening the gates and moving them while Ross was pushing our cattle up. We managed to make it work and moved them about three miles across country and over two creeks. We managed to get there with everyone (31) we left with!

But then came the fun part- we had to walk the whole way home...the long way too. There was a gate left open on the far end of the pasture so we had to go at least a mile or two out of our way to shut it and then head home. For a stretch we took the road ditch and that got super interesting. I was riding the mare and there is this obnoxious stud colt that was following us around for a while- then a dog...then a kid. Then, we ran into some neighbors and chatted with them. All the while it was getting hotter and hotter.

We came back to the ranch, unsaddled and headed in for lunch right around noon- ate- then saddled up the same horses and headed right back out again. We probably should have switched horses but they were all out to pasture because the pen we hold them in has fats in it so we just kept on a pluggin away.

This time we rounded up the black cattle (14 pairs) and in a round about fashion sent them out the gate. (the round-about part was mostly due to me not being able to control all of them in addition to not knowing what gate! haha) We moved them about 7ish miles or so (according to Merle) and didn't have too much trouble- other than the fact that is was wayy to hot. When we left the house after dinner the outdoor digital thermometer said it was 91 degrees- and it only got hotter. Besides the fact that the cattle were hot- Nelly thought I was trying to kill her, and I thought I might die off myself- we made it. Then, walked the whole way back. When you have a small crew you don't have a trailer man! We proabably should have brought one up ahead of us- but it worked.

After we got home, we did chores with no major problems and ended up being done just a little after five- which was super nice. I decided that was a bit too early to quit so I went up and got some bags of feed and such that we were low on and brought them down to unload in the corral. Dean helped unload, so it didn't take too long. By that time Merle and Adrienne had showed up so I stopped and talked to them and then headed home. Since then, I have showered the dirt, sweat, and suncreen off, done laundry and dishes and eaten.

Today I learned that Ross is the toughest old guy you will ever meet (not that I didn't already know that). He is 79 and still riding and made me look like a panzy in all that heat! His horse that he rides, Joe, is in is mid twenties- meaning he is tougher than a nail as well. Dean talked wayyy too much and tells too many stories. And lastly, I need to wear more sunscreen or be better at putting it on- I have this nasty heat rash on my hands- if you know how to get rid of constant heat rash you should really call me!

It was a productive day- super hot and lots of work- but very productive. It was quite the three man crew~ I better go to bed so I can be bright eyed for church tomorrow!

"Never miss a good chance to shut up." -Will Rogers

NaCl

It seems that the earlier I go to bed the harder it is to wake up...therefore I have waved the go to bed before 9:30 rule! :P

Today was not nearly as productive in quantity but we sure did get some quality work done. I started out with chores which included no major disasters...but the big bucket calf, Charger, did learn how to drink out of the pail containing all of the milk for the other calves who haven't been fed yet. So there I am- bascally beating her with a cattle paddle to get her head out of the milk bucket. Let's just say it was pretty funny. Later, I watched as they all went out into the lot and went straight for the cats milk, which they drank up as well! O...and I how could i forget. We have this wild orphan calf in there now and this morning I wasn't thinking and let him out with the bucket calves into the lot (which is really easy to get out of). We managed to get him back into the barn in time- but it could have been bad! Guess someone was lookin after my butt this morning!

After chores, Adrienne, Ross, and I all hopped on four wheelers and went out to sort the late cattle that we branded yesterday. It actually went better than we thought. We managed to send the black pairs one way, the heifers and crippled cows into the lot, and all the reds got left where they were at. After sorting them out we came back in and Adrienne and I sorted what we wanted of our crippled and heifer group and sent them in various directions. Later, Adrienne and Merle hauled they out to where they needed to be.

While they were doing that Ross and I headed out to pick up troughs at the home pasture, then came back to get salt and mineral, and put them out at the Pow Wow grounds pasture. Then, we stole the troughs from the 80 and put them out at Baldy for the Fall Calvers. In between time we managed to run to town, eat at Ross and Marvas, wash the sand out of the wheels on the pikcup that was making it sound like the ball bearings were gunna fall out any second- and of course picked up another ton of salt and a ton of blocks.

We felt like real winners because the first pasture we went over we had to make due with the parts and pieces of used salt block we had because we forgot to load some up. But, this time we just bought a whole pallot! We ran the 2 tons home and unloaded. Let me tell you...I do not make an efficient skid loader! But, we got the job done and went out to string more.

This took basically the whole afternoon. By the time we poured the last bag we were in the Baldy pasture clear down in the corner by the timber reserve and it started raining. Then, it hailed, then rained some more. There was even some lighting and thunder involved. But, we managed to get out of there without getting stuck and made it home to help with chores. PS- a note on the Baldy pasture- Baldy is the highest hill around the area- we drove on top of it and the view is pretty much spectacular!

After chores I was gathering up my stuff (somehow throughout the day I always end up with a coat here, sunblock there, water over yonder...) and Merle and Adrienne invited me to go fishing. Heck yes- something other than bookwork! So we went fishing out on the dam. I used Adrienne's pole and managed to catch a couple bass and some sunfish- 5 all together I think. But, Adrienne caught a few more than that, and Merle had three hooks and live worms and he just kept on catching them! Needless to say, we spent the evening cleaning fish. We had some bullheads in there too- so it was fun to see them get cleaned. I have never really fished much or cleaned a whoel lot of fish, so I really enjoyed being able to learn something fun and valuable.

Adrienne and I also decided that Merle and his fish eggs that he keeps are just plain nasty! Otherwise, I just headed home and am now contemplating bedtime! Sounds like tomorrow will be filled with odds and ends as Dean will be back after a day off and Merel and Adrienne will be in Rapid all day. Sounds like Ross and I are covering the odds and ends on the place- guess we'll have to wait and see:)

"Always take a good look at what you're about to eat. It's not so important to know what it is, but it's sure crucial to know what it was." -Unknown

The First Real Day of Work!

I went to bed early last night so that I could jump out of bed this morning...well regardless- I didn't jump.

But I did get up after the second alarm and headed down to do chores at 6:30. Since no one was around quite yet and I don't know who all gets what I ended up hanging out with the cat and the bucket calves- and let me tell you, they're quite the company. But, eventually Merle came out of the house and showed me how much to feed everybody and such. ...hopefully I can remember that for tomorrow morning. So, we did chores and Dean ran the horses in for oats.

As soon as we were done I picked up Bart and brought him home- on my way in the door I managed to drop the clay flower pot that I keep his food in (random, I know) and fish food and clay pot pieces went everywhere....always a good way to start the day. After cleaning that mess up, Merle came and picked me up and dropped me off at the shop to sweep the floor.

There's a nice thick layer of dirt that has developed there and it was past due for a cleaning so I started in and Dean came later. We swept for about a half hour and then headed down to saddle our horses. Today's task: bring home the fall calvers and work the calves and preg check the cows. Merle's cousin Lee came down and him and Dean and I rode out. I rode Nelly today- she's pretty much the boss mare of the ranch. I have never been able to ride her before so that was fun. She's basically smarter than I am, so it's a good fit...at least I think so! I had somehow managed to never formally meet Lee before, so I had a chance to get to know him- he's a really fun guy.

The three of us went and rounded everybody up- it didn't take long as they were only a couple pastures away. We didn't have much trouble bringing them in and getting them into the corrals, but the fun had just began. Then, we sorted out cows from calves and steer calves from heifer calves. After moving everybody around into the right holding pen we realized that we were about an hour ahead of the vet. Delbert had just showed up with his hired hand, so, we went out and set up panels for branding the later calvers in the close pasture.

By that time we were right on time. The vet showed up at 11 (amazingly) and we got right to it. I worked in the back pushing cattle up with Delbert's new hired hand, Mike, and Dean. Mike and I sure did get an earful...we decided that we might need some waders! (If you don't get it- it's probably best that way).

After getting everybody sent up the alley way and worked we decided to go in for some dinner. There were only a couple open cows- so that was a good deal. Adreanne Had made some pretty good dinner in the crock pot and we sure liked it:) But, back to work!

After dinner Lee and Dean and I rode and Delbert and Mike took forwheelers to take everyone out to grass to the Baldy pasture. This is a few pastures away, but it didn't take us long- some of the old cows knew where they were headed.

We dropped them off and loaded into the trailer that Merle and Adrienne brought out and headed home. I felt pretty good about where I was at and having by directional bearings straight- but we'll see how long that lasts! We came home and went straight out to grab the late calvers. Ross had come while we were gone and had already started rounding up with the four wheeler. We were able to get them all crammed into the branding panels except one annoying little calf. But, after a time we managed to coax him in with his mamma and sorted cows off. Then, came the fun part.

Mike came over with his two boys and Dean brought his two kids down (who are too small to wrestle by themselves but can still watch the gate) and we heated up the irons. We ended up with Lee roping by himself and Dustin and Brady and Mike and I wrestling. I'm not sure how many calves there was but we didn't have too much trouble. It was a good way to break me into the summer! We gave Lee a pretty hard time evertime he missed a loop...but then Mike and I once let one go without a fly tag and later I went to flip the rope on a calf that was roped at the hock and it just slipped and let him go back into the corral- so we pretty much last that battle! ;) After an hour or two we had them all done and back out to pasture.

I unsaddle Nelly and ran up to eat some pizza that Merle had Matt bring in from town. After eating quick I left early to go help Ross with chores and such. Then, we tied up the day by unloading an orphan calf from the branding and loading up a couple open cows that Merle took out. I unhooked old homemade (an old pickup bed trailer) and shut the shop doors and headed home.

It sure is nice to be back. I often am nervous about my ability to do things but have decided that it doesn't matter becasue I've got to do it anyway! It was fun to see everyone again, and I'm glad the last couple days have been pretty productive for Merle. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring- but it'll come soon enough.

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and puts itself into our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." -John Wayne

Back at the Ranch

Today was clean up and move out day.

We woke up and went down for breakfast at the lodge (which opened especially for us) and started packing and loading up horses. Martin, Bob, and Kay ran into Sturgis to get the trasmission on Kay's truck looked at, but they didn't do anything to it so they just turned around and came back.

We just packed everthing up and headed out at about 11. I got dropped off at Interior around 1:30ish and headed for the ranch. When I stopped at the Cowboy Corner for gas there were some motorcycle guys heading east from Michigan looking for food along hwy 44. All the bars were closed and there isn't food for quite some ways down the highway so I hope they didn't starve!

I eventually made it home. I quick unpacked and threw some clothes in the washer and headed down to the other place. It was obvious that they were out riding but I had no idea where or how long and didn't know how much to feed everybody for chores so I felt kinda helpless. Since I couldn't mow because of the weird half rainy weather and couldn't get ahold of anyone I just came home and kept on doing laundry, writing in my blog, and wasting time doing random things aroudn the house. At about 7:30 I decided that I would like to catch up on Grey's Anatomy but I can't because my internet is too slow:( That's a crappy deal- I may have to upgrade!

I'm not sure what I missed around here over the last couple days, but I'm sure I will find out in the morning. I'm super glad I went on the trailride. I'm not sure who in their right mind goes on a trailride with their mom and her firends at my age but hey it was a lot of fun! Hopefully I have broke myself into the saddle and won't be so sore now!

I talked to Mom a while back and she said that they made it back with minimal problems- apparenly one flat trailer tire had to be fixed but considering all the tires on the road and how many miles they went that's not too bad! Virginia had ankle surgery today and I guess all went well- I'll probably hear more about that tomorrow. But, I'm exhausted and don't have a whole lot of exciting new to write about from today. I think I'm gunna head to bed early.

And the Ride goes on...

Horray for another day of trail riding.

Tuesday:

We got up and headed down to eat breakfast at 8 o'clock to find that the lodge wasn't open! oh no...we're all going to starve! ..yeah right. So, we headed into Deadwood and found that the Tin Lizzie Casino had a breakfast buffet for just 4 dollars- heck yes! We stopped and ate breakfast there and then a few people played the machines...but the only winner was Bob. He doubled Kay's money! Woot woot- big winner of 6 dollars! How can you go to Deadwood and not gamble I mean really?

After we made it back to camp, got our act together, and tacked up it was already 11 o'clock. The four of us from Tuesday headed back out on a fire trail. The plan was to take the fire trail until it eneded and then meet up with the others on the Mickleson Trail.

See, the originial plan was to ride the Mickleson, but we couldn't get the permit to ride because it was too wet- but by Tuesday we were able to do so. It didn't make a while ton of sense because the trail is really well gravelled and taken care of- but whatever they say! So, we took of and followed fire trail number 7 in a totally different direction. We came upon lots and lots of mud in a "road contruction" area- yeah so imagine this...you're riding through the middle of the black hills in the forest of a trail and you come up on an orange sign the reads "Road Work Ahead"! I'm not kidding...haha it was funny. But, we saw some snow and water and all sorts of things again. The trail wasn't quite as steep becasue there was no huge peak to climb but we did see plenty of hills. We stopped once and got off for a short lunch on a log and then headed out. We had to laught because Bob was able to chill his water in the snow- it's not real often you can do that on a trail ride!

We hopped back on and kept on riding. At one point we thought we had found the road that lead to the Mickelson, but upon further investigation it only led to a private driveway...crap. So we turned around and headed the other way just to find out that we had taken a wrong turn and gotten off of our trail number 7 for just a few feet which led us the wrong way. Eventually we got back on the trail and it did finally lead us to the Mickelson. Kay was pretty convinced that we were just giong to have to take the fire trail to Wyoming by the looks of it- but we found it! We got on the Micleson at at the Edgebrook? trailhead and travelled 5.9 miles to the next one where the trailer was waiting. We could see John and Pat's tracks so we knew that they had already come that far and turned around ahead of us. So, we just kept going. Thost last five miles felt forever- we decided that we liked our fire trail much better. The Mickelson was really nice, but too boring! haha :) It was a fun time. There was only one challenging part for Ace- the big bad bridge. He was pretty darn sure that he was not crossing a bridge with water running underneath it...no way! But, upon further investigation he decided it was not an HKO (Horse Killing Object: which can be anything from a tarp to a rock, to a non existant horse seeing thing) and crossed it after Rowdie. When we rode up to the next trailhead Mom, Pat, and John were there waiting for us with the other two horses. Mom had taken a nap in the camper while the other two rode adn they only ended up about two miles ahead of us after hauling out the the trailhead and riding to the next one and back. All in all it was a fun ride, but it was nice to get off after 14 or so miles! Kay's funmeter was lowering so it was a good thing we were done ;) We hopped off adn sent a couple of the horses back. Martin, Mom, John, Me, Ace, Rowdie, and Dancer stayed back to wait for the second load to go home. There was some water and grass their to munch on and Mom had brought some chairs out so we just hung out for a few minutes. Well...within just a few minutes Mom's phone rang and it was Bob asking if Martin and I could ride up the hill because the truck could hardly make it up with just two small horses in the trailer. So, rather reluctantly on our parts and the horses we hopped on...then to top it all off Ace had to pony Dance along. He didn't seem to mind at all until about halfway up this ginormous hill. I mean the hill had a name- Simon's Hill. Any hill that gets a name must be ridiculous and it was! This hill was super long and really steep- to boot you couldn't even get a running start at it because there was a really shart curve down at the bottom. So we headed up the hill. About halfway up Dancer and his tiny little steps were falling behind so Ace just pulled harder and Dancer just went slower...it was quite funny! But, eventually they got over themselves and we made it to the top! So hooray for another couple miles for Martin and Sara! We loaded the horses in the trailer and headed back to camp. After unloading and feeding we went straight to supper at the lodge. They had some pretty amazing steaks down there! We ate, designed a dollar for the "Hags on Nags" and had him hang it on the ceiling with all the other crazy dollar bills and headed back up to the cabin. The Campground manger was supposed to bring us some firewood but he must have forgot so we just went down and helped ourselves to a little pile. Pyro Pat started a campfire and cooked someMexican s'mores that were excellent. Then, everyone decided that they were tired and went to bed. Bob and I sat out and talked until the fire died- which took quite some time. Then, I showered the smell off of me and headed to bed.

Before I close this blog I have to tell a story I forgot about. When we first got to Mystic, John decided that he needed to get some gas so we stopped at a station on the way into Deadwood for supper that first night. John has this "speed pass" for Mobile stations that is just a little plastic thing that hangs on his key ring. He waves it over this little red horse on the pump- it lights up, and automatically charges his Mobil credit card and allows him to fuel up. Well, Kay (the one who absolutely loves tchnology...not) saw this and decided that "that damn little red horse" was probably the coolest thing she ever saw. You had to be there to understand it but it was hillariouse and referenced all weekend long.

On more thing- Pat had this idea that they must now be called the "swingin hags" because she rides with John and Kay rides with Bob...wow. What can I say- I decided to go camping with my mother...what did I expect, drinking games?! haha

Custer Peak

We woke up Monday, fed horses, and headed down to the lodge for some pretty tasty breakfast! After chatting and eating we went up and saddled all the horses. We had planned for the six of us (John, Martin, Bob, Pat, Kay, and I) to ride out on a fire trail wich lead up the the peak that day. After starting the ride, we ran into quite a bit of mud and trees. Pat didn't like the super closed pathway and John and Dance weren't real fond of the mud so they went back. This didn't turn out to be an all bad thing because Mom then had someone to hang out with (she can't ride due to recovering from surgery) and they were able to find a more open fire trail that was easier riding later in the day.

The four of us that were left took off on this trail number 7. The map that we had didn't even have this trail on it and was designed for four wheelers or something...so it wasn't exactly the most helpful. We just kept on following our trail and all the forks in the path. The horses were really funny- at first they acted like they had never seen a stupid mud puddle, but within a few minutes they learned fast! It was a super fun time, we went through mud, water, snow, rocks, climed lots of hills, and did all sorts of random things that morning. We ended up taking this path that wound to the top of Custer Peak and led us to the look out tour. This tour was pretty awesome to see- in fact we found out later that it is the only one that is still manned in the Black Hills. When we got to the top after a few hours of riding we tyed the horses to a tree and checked out the view while eating lunch for about and hour. It was pretty awesome, we could see for miles, and even found our campsite. Later on we found out that we were higher than 6900 feet and supposadly you can see the Canadian border from that peak! They said that it is all run by one person and satellites now, but that's still pretty neat! The originial geographical marker in the ground said that it was first built in 1925! Wow...that's a while back. There were a few reminants around of an old outhouses...and one new one, and a couple other outbuildings that were locked up. But, what a cool find! It was a lot of fun to look out on the hills from that spot and eat lunch with our squirrel and chipmunk! But, of courses we had to get back on and climb back down the mountain!

We took a different way back that was a little shorter and looped us around to the other side of camp. We could see that Pat and John had ridden their eariler as well. By the end of the day we figured that we had ridden somewhere around 11 miles- not bad for the first day. I'm not really used to riding just for the sake of riding so that was fun too! When we got back and just hung out for the afternoon then decided to go and eat at the Rochford bar that everyone was told we had to go to by some friends...and what a place it was. I cannot really describe it in words- lets just say it was "quaint"...and packed completely and entirely full of stuff like nobody's business. When we first pulled up to town we thought the bar was named the Sidewinder- so we see this place called the Moonshine Gulch Saloon- John says well, that's not the name of it so let's tour Rochford and see what we can find. I say "Pretty sure we just did...". And yes, after going left and going right everyone soon learned that the Moonshine pretty much was Rochford! It was quite funny. There we met up with Pat and Bob who had gone back to visit their daughter for the afternoon and Kay's friend Bobbi and her fiance to eat at this infamous place! Well..I will post a few pictures for you to get the point, but I have never seen a building with so much stuff in it. There was just one woman who was waiting and cooking- it appreared as if she must own the place and live upstairs or something. There was a dog and a couple cats wandering around as well- lol! All in all, they had good food and it was super entertaining just to look around the place and check out the sites!

After we left and took the windiest road that was ever constructed back to the campground Pat realized that she must have left her cell phone there- I made the joke that she better call that lady quick because it might not ever surface to the top of that place!

When we got back we checked up on the horses again and just sat around and chatted and watched tv. Then, we all headed to bed to get ready for another day of riding.

Camping with the Hags!

It's time to catch up.

The last time I typed I was just getting ready to head out to Interior to meet up with my Mom and John and head out to Mystic to go trail riding. That's just what I did!

After dropping Bart off at the other house, I took off down the road to Interior. I decided to take the back BIA road there just to see how pastures and crops looked and to check out the awesome view. I already knew that in order to meet Mom and John I had started a little late, but that didn't change my mind. I knew before I started that the road would probably not be the prettiest- and it wasn't-but I took it anyway. I will have to upload the pictures I stopped and took of some bucking horses and colts and the skyline view from a high point on the road. When I hit Cedar Pass they were doing some road construction, so that slowed me down a little bit- but I got there. After leaving late (because I was writing in this thing!), taking the backroad, stopping for pictures, and road costruction I made pretty good time. They had only been waiting five minutes for me at the Prairie Dog store- and of course they had to feed the prairie dogs!

We transferred my bag to John's car and took off for the hills. I took a nap in the back for most of the way until we made it to Keystone. We had to stop at the taffy shop- because let's face it, it's pretty much amazing. Then, we stopped for some root beer floats and walked up the boardwalk for a few minutes- then took off for the campground. Within less than an hour we were at Mystic Hills camground moving in to cabins three and four. Don't know where Mystic is?...well neither did I! When we got there Kay and Martin were unloading Ace and Dancer (John's horse) so we went and helped with that. After getting them all settled in and moving our own stuff in we decided to go find some food in Deadwood. We all piled in John's car and took off. We ended up eating at the Buffalo Steakhouse- which later became known as the Buffalo Bistro because we couldn't remember the second part of the name...duh! The food was good and Deadwood is always fun to check out. After eating we headed back to the campground to feed horses and met up with Bob and Pat who had been visiting their daughter and her family for a few hours. We just hung out for the evening and watched some tv before heading to bed.

As it turns out I was super impressed with the new cabins and their furnishings at this place. They have a really nice lodge with a restuarant and all sorts of different types of campsites. They (the riding group mom is in called the "Hag's on Nags") picked a great time to do this as well because most of the schools arent' quite out yet so it's quite and being there during the week helps with this too. Everyone seemed pretty impressed with the place and enjoyed our little conjoined cabins! So, we had something to look forward to the next day!

Norden Dance!

I'll pick up where I left off yesterday...

I headed into town to get groceries right after I posted my blog. Let me tell ya- if my car was in any sorts of alignment before I left it definitly isn't now! haha I hardly made it- it had rained more south of here so Toro and I had quite the trip to town. But, I got there grabbed some groceries, checked my mail and scooted right on out of town because high school graduation was just letting out and there were people everywhere!

I went back to the house and unloaded groceries. It sounded like everyone was laying pretty low for the rest of the day so I stayed up at the house for the most part and worked on setting up my computer and internet connection as well as cleaning and balancing my checkbook, etc. It seems as though I can always find something to keep busy with! I got ahold of my friend Carter that I had plans to meet up with that evening. He said that we should meet around 9 or 9:30 in Valentine and then we would travel to Norden for the barn dance together. Horray for barn dances. So...I spent the afternoon setting up my dresser and doing all sorts of random things around the house.

For some reason I had it stuck in my mind that Carter was going to call me when they left their place- so I waited. By eight o'clock I hadn't heard from them so I just took off for Valentine. Since it's about an hour and a half I figured I could be there by 9:30. Right after I left I got a text message from Carter saying that they were almost to Valentine...what!? I was soo confused. Well come to find out- if you haven't already caught on, there is a time change between Martin and Valentine- you loose and hour and enter back into central time about 30 miles west of Valentine. Yeah...Sara didn't know that and Carter never thought of it either. This means that I got to Valentine at about 10:30 instead of 9:30. To top things off when I figured an hour and a half according to map quest I never thought to count the 15 minutes is takes to get to Martin. Since it was high school graduation night around here I scooted right along figuring that the cops were all busy with high schoolers! ;) No Mom, I didn't go "too fast".

But I eventually made it and met up with the boys. Then the three of us (Carter, Roan, and I) dropped my car off at Carter's family's place that they own in town and headed to Norden. We thought it was free so we just walked in the door like we owned the place- come to find out, it's $5! Since neither of us had cash in our pockets we just kinda sat there and felt bad. But, by the end of the night the guys at the door had had a few and the Snouser (sp?) dog was taking money so we didn't feel too bad. We'll just have to pay em double next time! We had a great time! The live bands are a lot of fun and you can dance to every song:D In fact, one highlight of the evening was the two different high school girls chasing Roan around. A little liquid courage and a cute boy sent them a huntin! He wouldn't dance with anyone and by the end of the night apparently I was his "clutch girl" also know as his escape woman! It was hillarious, I told Carter that watching him get annoyed over the evening was worth the drive alone!

With lots of fun having been had- the dance ended at about 1am. Carter and Roan took me back to town to stay in the empty house there and they headed back to their place. Just for background info- a lot of people out here have houses in the towns where their kids attend school and a house on the ranch jsut to save money. So, I got the hosue to myself. The boys told me that just because I got a house to myslef all night doesn't mean I can drag boys through- dang! ...you know me. haha

I got up early this morning and made my way back to Martin. I've been working on the house and tying up some odds and ends since. Now it's time to go drop Bart of at the fish sitters...(hahaha) and meet Mom and John in Interior! Horray for good times:) I will probably not have internet out there so it might be a couple days. See ya!

Back on the Ranch!

I made it back!

So...clearly I'm not very good at keeping promises! I said that I would keep on blogging at random times during the school year, but it didn't happen much. Let's put it this way- when you do schoolwork until 2am there isn't a whole lot of want inside of you to follow it up by writing about how you did schoolwork until 2am! haha But, I made it through. I took 42 credits total (21 per semester) which is wayy too many- but I survived it just fine! My friends Jennifer and Rachel came down to the ranch with me over spring break in March- it actually snowed during that time and was super nasty but we still pulled a couple calves and and had a reall goodtime:) Since that time, Rachel and I had planned on coming back for branding but the date got moved- then we planned to come for Delbert's branding but it rained that weekend too! Needless to say that was a little dissapointing:( But, it was probably a good thing because I ended up studying basically that entire weekend! Since then it's just been school and finals basically. It's nice to be done at this point! I said goodbye to my friends last week as they all moved out after finals were over- put in some work hours last Saturday and since have been packing up and trying to get things done at home. One of the most annoying tasks- mowing, hasn't been done to date because it won't stop raining! Then I come out here and it rains here too! But, I got everything squared away, visited a lot of folks that i don't get to see very often, and headed out. On the way here I was sure to prepare myself for my inadequate "cooking" (I don't cook- in fact when I went home to grab a few things I found a bag of unoped sugar from last summer!), rough rodes, reservation radio, and lots of fun!

My car was a full as it could possibly be...I'm serious- I had to check tires because I thought it was weighted down so much! I stuffed my suffed horse and raccoon in the back and had my fish, Bart up front. He was in charge of watching the guns when I got gas! Needless to say, it was an interesting road trip. I didn't have any trouble driving out here, despite my nighmare about blowing a tire will all of my crap piled on top of the spare in the trunk! This is the second summer out here for me and Bart and we're pretty exicited! When I arrived I let myself in the door and started unpacking. For anyone who visited me last summer...I'm now in the other house- where Merle used to live. It's really nice and I certainly don't mind having the whole house to myself! I left at about 10:45 central time and got here at about 2:45 mountain time so it was about 5 hours exactly- just as I remember it. Like I said, when I arrived I just let myself in the door and started unloading boxes. By 9:00 I had everything unloaded and cleaned up pretty well. There always seems to be an extra amount of cleaning in a house that no one lives in for a couple months but I got it pretty well done.

O! Something very vital that I forgot to mention....I buried my cds in the backseat along with my ipod shuffle so the only thing I had to listen to for about 4 hours of my drive was the Rez station- KINI! And o what a station it is! I thought that this house would have better radio reception because it's up on the hill but it only gets KINI as well...guess I'll be listening to alot of cds! hahaha So, I've now listened to about enough KINI for a lifetime and done my fair share of cleaning over the last week (I had to clean our apt before I left as well).

At about 9pm last night I realized that I didn't really have anything to eat. I brought some food along but everything I have requires some type of milk or butter...you get the picture. So I ate some dry frosted flakes and went to bed.

This morning I got up and headed down to the corral for 7:00 chores. I got to see everybody and memorize the new grain ratios for the fats, bulls, and calves (pretty sure I've already forgotten!). Then, we got out the electric irons and branded the 9 bucket calves. Dean, Merle's other newer hired hand and I wresteled the little farts and Adrienne and Merle gave shots and branded. I decided that was a nice, easy little precurser to the weeks ahead. Afterward, we washed everything out and decided it would be a day off because its doing nothing other than raining outside. It's also graduation day so Ross was headed back to town to go to that and I think Merle and Adrienne are as well. I'm gunna continue to try and situate myself, go to the grocery store and post office, and attempt to shower and get ready for tonight....

I have made some stellare plans to meet up with some friends who live down by Valentine and hang out for the afternoon followed by attending a Nordon, NE barn dance. I'm pretty pumped! We planned this a week or two back so that I could go visit them before I really got to doing much work around here. Therefore, I may not write tonight- but don't panic! I'll return. I was going to write last night but the dumb internet wouldn't work- hopefully that won't be a continuous problem!

After the dance tonight I'm going to stay over at a friends place down there and then come back up here in the morning- pack a different bad and hop in the pickup with Mom and John in Interieor and head out to Mysitc for a three day trail ride. I think it'll be fun- a nice change of pace. It will be on the Mickleson trail if the weather cooperates and we can get a permit to ride. It's like 17 miles or so spread over a couple of days, that sounds pretty laid back after riding about 20 a day up here:) So, I'm definitly looking forward to a short vacation type of thing before jumping into work. I'm excited to be here- maybe a little apprehensive as the situtuation is slightly different from last summer and I will probably be doing a few more things than before- but I know I'll be fine if I just keep my chin up and at least pretend that I know what I'm doing!

Yee Haw for another fun day- I think I'm headed to the grocery store, I can't make my mac and cheese until I get some milk!

TTYL
Sara