COWS!!!!

These pictures are from two weeks ago, so if you can picture more grass and a lot greener, that would be more accurate to today. We've been crazy busy with baseball, branding, the stomach flu, yard work, etc. I just wanted to share some calf pictures because, well, calves are kind of the only thing that get us through the winter. They're beautiful!

   Here are some girls running through the sweet peas, looking for some cake pellets. 

And here are some babies who are also running, but they have no idea why. 

"Mama runs, I run!" 

This little heifer can't find her mama, but she hasn't realized it yet.

Now she knows!

"Maaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

I felt SO bad for this mama.

Her calf is only sucking out of one teat, leaving the others....

OUCH!

The cow in the middle hasn't calved. 

It's pretty obvious. 

I'm sad that this isn't a picture of a pair, but it's another mama cow with one of the bulliest bull calves I've seen in a while. 

(Today, though, we branded a different bunch with a couple calves that looked just like this....like someone had shrunk a bull down to miniature size.)

This may be one of the best cow pictures I've ever taken! I was squatted down, taking pictures of that bully calf and 028 couldn't figure out what in the world I was doing so she came in for a closer look. It was funny and intimidating all at the same time because these are older cows which means they're much bigger, smarter, and less scared of us. If she had decided I was trouble, I'd have been flattened and stomped. 

Look at her funny face, though! Same face they make when a cat walks through the corral...

See how his mama has neatly cleaned the star in the middle of his face? And his center parted Dapper Dan hair? And the adorable chin whiskers?!?! AND the eyelashes?!?!? 

I never get tired of looking at the details. That's why I tell you they're beautiful. 

Checking to see if it's her baby....

See the different tag numbers and colors? That's because this is one of the two year olds who calved their first calf this spring. The blue number is their dam's number, their baby ID number, but the yellow is the new "big girl" tag. We'll replace all the blue ones with a matching yellow one this fall. 

This baby was napping when we got to the gate, but stood up and is taking a wee bitty stretch.

That's all for now!

Some year I'll get branding pictures. There's just no way, most of the time, because there are so many jobs to do and we're trying to get them done quickly to reduce the amount of stress on the animals. Also, because there's nothing worse than taking 5 hours to work and brand 30 pairs. 

And if you're interested, today was sunny, light breeze, 82 degrees.

A GORGEOUS DAY!

HAPPY SPRING!!!

Prairie Hike

We had a beautiful prairie hike before the rains and snow hit this week.

Looking to the east from a high butte.  Tessie explored as hard as she could, saying (I'm sure) "This is the most GLOOOO-RIOUS day of my life!"

Twilla, on the other hand, is not high energy. We were a long ways from her couch. She still had fun, but it was probably not the most glorious day of her life. (She is a glamour girl stuck in a redneck world. Very trying...)

Loved the feeling of being on top of the world!

See those little white buildings off in the distance?  That's the shop, my in-laws' house and garage! We spent a lot of time looking for distant buildings, like the pellet mill in Jordan, which you can actually see from this point!

You're going to get plant pictures. That's all there is to it. Everything is about to turn grey and tan, so I am soaking up the little bits of color!

Angus found big mounds of clay and would climb up on them to make clay balls which he DESPERATELY wanted to chuck at someone, but no one would let him. Shocking.

I'm always fascinated by the lichen on the rocks. Isn't it stunning?

And the currant bushes echo the same colors...

A muddy, gunky, yucky little reservoir to swim in!  Talk about stinky dogs after this!

A whole day spent with Dad, just exploring, is a big treat.

Oh! Check this out! My Gramps used to tell us to always look at anthills because they excavate all sorts of things like Indian beads and shells. This little anthill had a couple sea shells...see the white one next to the ant? I was kind of astonished that my camera was able to focus and clearly shoot this.

I think sagebrush is beautiful.

We found another reservoir and the kids went to frog hunting. 

See the little swirl in the water? That's a frog. Angus totally missed them, and was dejected after half an hour of amphibian-less efforts.

The sand rocks are sculpted by the weather; rain and wind hollow and shape them, unlikely artists but faithful. 

We always look for initials and carvings in the rocks. It's irresistible, scraping one's name and date into these stones! I don't know who P.M. is. Nature is wearing away the details...

The grasses are graceful in their last days, aren't they?

The Farmer found a wee pile of purple glass and porcelain chunks scattered in the grass. 

I always wonder about who lost precious things out here. And they WOULD be precious, because it would have been so very far from any town, hauled out by rough wagons or carts. 

On our way back home, we checked salt'n'minral and jumped a little bunch of mule deer. This picture was taken from the moving side-by-side Honda and is not the best.  The deer were in good, fat condition and they didn't run very hard.  

COWS!

We stopped to look at tipi rings, too, but the crew was pretty played out by that point.  It was hot. We were dirty. The dogs smelled. The tween girl was barely able to tolerate another minute with her brother and mother. 

So we went home. 

Today it's cold and wet and grey. There's snow in the air and we're pulling out the winter clothes, sadly. I'm grateful we had a day of sunshine together before this hit!

I Might Have to Move to Australia...

...just so I can meet the people who put together and are featured in this magazine.

I was packing my "bag of wonders" as the kids call it for the trip to Billings and was just about to put these magazines in when I thought, "OH! I haven't blogged about THESE!" So everything came to a skidding halt so I could tell you about this incredible publication that my friends Myron and Ada subscribed to for me...

I know.

Focus.

But this is really, really special.  You'll be glad I'm a flake when you look a little closer...

The periodical is called "graziher" and it's about/for/of women in Australian agriculture and LIFE. It's independently published and is one of the most gorgeous things I've ever seen. The paper is thick and sturdy, good quality, so it can bounce around in a farm truck or have a pie set on it to cool and you'll still have a good read. The photographs...oh, it's like they took my camera and captured the images I would have, except probably more professionally. Either that or they have amazing photo editors who spiff up the scenes.  

I love the fonts.  Yes. Even the typography is well done!

It shows women making a difference in their communities and branching out to impact world culture...

It portrays the tricky beauty in ranching. Not everyone appreciates a good cow picture, but I do! (And I think you all are starting to as well, as much as I inundate you with them.) Even the sheep in this magazine look good. I'm not a sheep person at all, so that's saying something big here.

There are recipes, too, but only a couple and they're really practical and fresh. Nothing with frou-frou ingredients that would be hard to get your hands on or keep in the pantry. (I'm going to do this tart, but I need to convert the measurements!)

Poetry (and book reviews)...

FASHION! But just a little. It's almost an afterthought....as though the editor said, "Well, we'd probably better have SOMETHING fashion-y..."

This particular ensemble is one that i'm going to try to copy, somehow, for this fall/winter.

There's art, too....not just photographic art, but watercolor and pottery and metal and screen printing art! 

One of my favorite features is the article they include in each issue (so far...all two that I have) about the "pioneers"; the women who preceded them in Australia, those who you look up to and say, "Someday, I want to be like HER." 

I wish a magazine such as this existed for women in Montana. 

Nothing political or with an agenda, but a good strong read that encourages and motivates us, that portrays us as we really are. 

If you'd like to look at graziher in person, you're welcome to drop by and have coffee (and perhaps the tart), look through and have a visit! 

Due to the fact that they're from Australia and basically irreplaceable, I'm not going to lean them out but I WILL share them here. 

(Yep. That's the way to get company!)

Myron and Ada, thank you so very much. 

When I opened the first issue and leafed through about 10 pages, I got tears in my eyes because I thought, "Finally. Someone 'gets' it. Someone made a magazine for us..." 

And then "But I'm not AUSTRALIAN!!!!"

Even so, I love it and it DOES encourage and inspire me here.

Okay, NOW I'll finish packing...

But not to move to Australia. 

I'm just going to Billings.

(Grandma came through surgery fine, as of noon today and now we can tease her about being into heavy metal because she's got a plate in her hip and a rod in her arm.)

Heartwarming

The blog challenge assignment today is to write about five ways to win my heart.

I'm changing it to five things that warm my heart.

It's my blog. I'll do what I want! 

1. There's something very dear to me about children's hands being held by old people's hands, or vice-versa. Actually, now that I'm typing this and getting it out of my head, I think ALL hands warm my heart! So much of your life story and personality is right there at the end of your arms.

2. Genuine, happy laughter!

It's just the best!

3. Special songs from good times in my life warm my heart. Especially if they show up from out of the blue.  Yesterday I got in the car to head over to Vern's to work cows and a song from Grease was on the radio...it was like a gift, and it made my heart happy! Here it is, so your heart can be happy, too: (click here)  (Go ahead and dance...no one's looking.)

4. Baby calves. Baby anything, but baby calves have big, curious eyes with 2 inch eyelashes, sweet little noses covered with feeler whiskers, knobby knees, big stick-y out-ie ears....little heart warmers, right there.

5. Oh, man...I can't decide between a fish on the line or homemade bread, here.