Monday, September 30, 2013

Long-Billed Dowitcher.

When we irrigate the meadows by our house, these cute little creatures show up. They are also a little south of us on what we call the goose reserve. The reserve is just a small lake that stays open all winter. It has a warm spring that runs into the lake. These Long-Billed Dowitchers are a shore bird! A shore bird in the scablands? Yep. We get a lot of shore birds that show up here. They  come and gobble up aquatic invertebrates in the mud. They have no idea what people are. You can walk right up to them and they keep pecking in the mud. There were probably about 20 of them.






Looking East. I just love when the sun light hits the hills. So pretty. Our house is down there in the canyon.


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Saturday, September 28, 2013

Workin' calves.

We vaccinated all our steer calves today. They are now ready to go to their new home at the end of October. They averaged 580 pounds. Not too bad. It rained last night so we didn't have to water the corrals which was nice. We did water the inside of the barn. Helps so much to keep the dust down. It rained in the morning too. Nice too have rain and green grass! Grow babies grow! :)

Pairs coming into the lots.


Cows & Calves


Lotsa calves.



Back up the canyon we go.


If I don't look at them, maybe they will turn around.


Smokey keepin' them going.


Up along the creek.


Walking bridge across the creek.


Ummmm - you better get moving.


You didn't listen.


Until next time babies. You were well behaved today!


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Thursday, September 26, 2013

Petroglyphs?

We rode the Sheep Springs pasture today to move the steer pairs closer to the corals. It was a gorgeous evening to do this.

Looking south down the canyon in the Sheep Springs pasture.


Looking east from Sheep Springs.


A petroglyph? Nope. Just me and my horse's shadow.


Riding into the sunset.


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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

A seat with a view

We spent most of today in the saddle. Moving cows and steer calves outta the way so we could move the replacement heifers and bulls down the creek. They will be going across the railroad tracks in a few days. Then we went and got an old Angus bull from the Lake pasture. I swear Angus bulls are born with a snorkel! Riding again tomorrow to bring all the steer pairs down to the meadows so we can vaccinate them on Saturday.

The Old Guy across the creek so the heifers and bulls don't go onto the island.


Here come the heifers and bulls.


It was a beautiful Fall day.


Cameron getting the Hippo. Smokey making sure he stays outta the Lake!


A long day.


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Saturday, September 21, 2013

Whats up with Mother Nature?

Last Sunday, we had another vicious wind storm come through here. And along with the wind, came the dust! I was sitting on the back porch looking to the west. It looked like low laying fog on the meadow. The wind all of a sudden kicked in to high gear. I gathered up the dogs and cats and headed in the house. Sounded like rain hitting the house. WRONG! Dust. Lots of dust! Our home is a 50+ year old farm house. Its not sealed real tight. UGH! We did the best we could to shove towels around the doors.
There was thunder and lightning also. And  just enough rain to make the dirt smeary. The reason there was so much dust here. The wheat farmers just disked up their wheat stubble! We came outta the storm with a shattered tree, and debris everywhere. The neighboring towns didn't fair so well. They had power lines down, trees thrown everywhere, power out for 2 days.
Its not that unusual to get summer storms through here, just not this severe.

This purple ash tree crashed into the other ash tree and broke limbs off of it.





Cameron's dump truck.


My dump wagon. :)


The dust on the outside windows. I had to wash the whole house!



Tonight's sunset. Looks like fall.


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Saturday, September 14, 2013

Swimming pools need a hitch

Yep. As the Old Guy says, " If you get a swimming pool, make sure it has a hitch so you can get it the hell outta there when it causes problems"! LOL!
Our pool (which is 35 yrs old), has been leaking from a jet, that we know. Then, the flower bed started getting wet. Soggy wet. Thought it was a sprinkler line. Started digging up the line. Nope. When we turned the pool on, water leaking everywhere. Could ya all hear the cussin? LOL! We called around and found this wonderful place called American Leak Detection. The kid came out, hooked some stuff up and wham! Told us exactly where the leak was, what was leaking, and how much of the concrete we needed to cut out. He was right on the mark. Saved us a whole lotta headaches.  Since my "pool boy" had fixed the big leak, he kept the momentum going and fixed the jet too!  When he uncovered the big leak, he came unhinged! They used poly pipe instead of PVC! DOH! And a nylon "T". So he replaced it with steel fittings. He is such a genius! We are now filling the pool back up and will test the repairs. (fingers crossed).

All put back together.


Tools of the trade. Knee cushion and saw.


Pool boy putting them to use.



Pool boy taking the cut up concrete out. Yea, my pool boy wears cowboy boots and wranglers! :)


Tonight's sunset.


I darkened this one. I kinda like it! Looks like fall.



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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Over the Hump

Today we took the "old guy" to Seattle for his yearly physical. All his tests came back good! YEA!
We went from the dry, dusty desert thru the gorgeous Cascade Mountains to the hustle and bustle of a busy downtown Seattle, with its tall, tall buildings, traffic, and people everywhere. Did I mention traffic? Yea, lots of traffic. And people watching. Lots of interesting people. All photos taken from the car.

Windmills in Vantage. There are thousands of them. Quite a site.



Mount Rainer. Seen from Rye Grass. It has to be at least 500 miles from this spot.




The jagged Cascade Mountains. Not long and they will be covered with snow and skiers.






Crossing the 520 floating bridge. Heading into Seattle.





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