Out of the blue...

I've been going through hundreds of pictures, trying to sort out good images for the family book I try to put together for the grandparents at Christmas, and found some that I wanted to share with you back in October, but life got busy.  So they are chronologically out of place, here, and will seem really strange now that it's November, but I'm going to post them anyway.

Pluhar Ranch (what it was when I married in), now Lang's Fork is opposed to horses on the place. Pretty adamantly opposed, I might add.  Neither Wayland or his dad are riders; in fact, I think Wayland has only been on a horse twice in his life and never cares to try it again.  Some people are born farmers (this is not a bad thing) and are much more comfortable with machinery as means of moving livestock.  I grew up on a ranch that used ONLY horses (and the occasional bumper of a pickup on bulls) and miss them.  I've been here 13 years and have never seen a horse even come near the border of the place.  So, when my father-in-law told me that our neighbors, Jack and Glen, were bringing their horses over so we could doctor some BIG steer calves, I thought he'd been drinking.  This is big, folks! 

Of course, we took the camera.
It was Wayland's little camera, because I was helping with the process, too, and couldn't very well have my big old Canon hanging around my neck, so the pictures are snapshots.  But still....they're proof that there WERE horses on the place.  And nothing apocalyptic happened! 

Sizing up the bunch...the calves are really big, in October, so it's not like roping them for branding in June.

Caught one!

You see the wrestlers, wisely moving out of the way.  They took a lot of abuse that afternoon and had to step lively on several occasions!

Turned the calf to heel him....

Moving in to doctor.

Concerned mama cow, certain that her baby was being tortured, and not happy about the proceedings!

I love this picture! Check out the cows in the background; you see how they stretch their necks out to bawl for their babies? In books, they're always standing there, rather pleasantly moo-ing, but in real life, when they want to make some noise, they use their whole body.  And they can sure make a ruckus!  The cow in the forefront is suspicious of me with the camera, but she has no time to investigate, really.  We had a tough time with her because she kept rushing the gate when we tried to turn the calf back in with the cows. 

This picture has no significance, other than I liked the perspective and the ropes.



I tried to post the pictures in a larger size, but it cuts off a lot of the image and you miss the WHOLE scene...I think you really need the "big picture" for things like this.

Now.

I'll probably be in trouble for revealing to the entire world that there were horses, here; after all, we have a reputation to uphold.  But I'm guessing it's sort of like those comets that only pass by once every 40 years or so, and there should be some evidence of it for posterity.