Great horned Owl

This guy was camped in a Ponderosa Pine in the back yard. As you can tell by his tufts, the wind was howling! He paid no attention to me or the dogs. Just eyes closed hunkered down in the tree. They are so awesome looking. He can stick around as long as he doesn't take too many of my quail! :)

The one eye glance..hahaha

Its cold and windy out here!

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Quail in the snow

When the weather gets cold the quail show up in the yard. We had a good hatch of quail, wild turkey and pheasants this year. I feed the quail in the yard. They are such fragile little things. And so fun to watch!

                                                 Female

                                                  Male

                                         Hunkered down under a table.

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Shadows

Check out more shadows here.

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Reflections

Some reflections from around the Ranch. Check out more reflections from all over here.

Reflection on one of the lakes here.

Rainbow reflection in the window.

Reflection of Two in the rearview mirror. Yes, her name is Two!

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Sky Watch

Some sky pictures from the channeled scabland. Enjoy. Click here for more sky pictures.

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Frosty Fences

The other day we had frost and fog..it was quite pretty. Click here to see some other fences.

Bandit and Spook checking out the frozen fence.

Fence and a gate down at the corrals.

Don't forget to head over to check out some other fences and gates.

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Christmas in the Country 2014

We’re glad you have decided to join up with us and participate in the gift exchange. If this is your second time, welcome back. If it’s your first time, get ready to have a great time!
As a refresher, here’s the important dates that you need to know:

• November 30th – Signups end.

• December 1st – You will receive the name of the person you will be sending a gift to from one of the hosts in an email. If you haven’t heard from anyone by December 3rd please let us know.

• December 17th – Send your gift by this date!! You are welcome to send your gift earlier if you like, but please, please try to get it sent by the 17th at the latest so everyone gets a gift before Christmas. After you receive a gift share about it on your blog or social media pages.

• January 7th – Come back to the host blogs and link up your posts about your gifts!

Before you sign up, please read through these simple rules:

• Please head over to Facebook and if you haven’t already done so give each of the hosts pages a “like”. We really appreciate your support and this is the best way to stay up to date on the exchange and all the happenings! Here’s the links: This Uncharted Rhoade, Country LINKed, The Ranch Wife Chronicles, and Diaries From the Dirt Road.

• After you sign up, please take a minute to share about the swap on your blog or Facebook page, feel free to link back to one of the signup blog posts. The more the merrier so encourage your friends to join!

• If you decide to participate, we ask that you please write a blog post (or if you don’t have a blog then on Facebook or other social media) about the gift you received no later than January 7th. Then, on January 7th you need to come back to the host blogs and link up to the party. Linking up is easy and we can help you if needed! We want everyone to be able to see what everyone else got so it’s important that everyone shares!

• If you join, YOU MUST SEND A GIFT! We really don’t want anyone to be left out. If something comes up and you cannot continue to participate after you have signed up, please let one or more of the hosts know ASAP so we can work something out.

• You must get a tracking number for your gift that you send, and you must send that tracking number to the host who emailed you your gift exchange name. Please send these to us as soon as you get them. I’ve found one of the best ways to send packages like this is to use the Priority Mail Flat Boxes from USPS. You can pick up the boxes for free from your local post office, and they ship out for one flat rate regardless of weight. You can either print off a label at home and leave for your mail person or take the filled box back to the post office and ship it off there. Either way, be sure to get a tracking number for your package.

• Please use the linkup below to add your blog or Facebook page. This way, all who are participating can look at the linkup and see everyone else who has joined! (quick instructions on how to join the linkup)

• For the sake of fairness, we’ve decided that bloggers will be pair with other bloggers and non-bloggers will be paired with other non-bloggers. That way those that blog will get a chance for their gifts to be featured on someone else’s blog. Those that don’t have blogs are more than welcome to join and still share their gifts on other social media.

• Please tag all posts (whether on Facebook/blogs/Instagram) about the gift exchange with #christmasinthecountry2014. This will hopefully make it easier for us to find everyone’s posts.

• After you sign up, please grab the button below and add it to your blog if you have one. Feel free to use the large image above as well when you share or for your blog posts (you should be able to right click on the image and download).So now on to the fun part, THE GIFT! Here’s some guidelines:
  • We encourage you to spend some time thinking about what your person might like, and send a unique and creative gift. Use their likes and dislikes that they listed (your host should email the list to you). Also check out their blogs or social media sites (without letting them know who you are) to get a feel for what they might like.
  • We’ve found it’s nice to focus on locally and homemade items. If you can support other farmers, farm wives, and country folks that’s great. If you’re crafty think about making something special to send to your person, or include some of your famous Christmas cookies in their package. If you’re not the crafty type see if maybe you can support some local artisans with your package.
  • Because we like to encourage local and homemade gifts, we don’t set a spending limit. However, if you’re one of those people who really need a number we’ve found that somewhere around $15 to $25 spent on a gift is a nice range, but you can’t put a price on homemade goods. Many people like to include a few different smaller items in their box, but some also just send one larger item, it’s up to you. If you still need more ideas check out the link up party from the 2013 Christmas in the Country to see what everyone from last year sent and received.
  • Remember, this gift exchange is a secret! That means that you only know who you will be sending a gift to – but you don’t know who your gift will be coming from. Please be careful NOT to let your person know that you are sending them a gift. However, when you do send your gift, please include a note revealing yourself so they know who their goodies came from. You can let them know a little about yourself and why you choose the items that you did. The person that you send a gift to is not the same person who sends a gift to you, so you will have the chance to make two new friends.
  • And remember to please get that tracking number on your gift! Makes it easier to make sure everyone got their gift.

Click Here to Sign up for the Christmas in the.

As a reminder, here are all of the hosts for the Christmas in the Country 2014 gift exchange, you can find our contact info on our blogs if you have any questions or need help. Thank You for your support and participation of this gift exchange. We hope you enjoy this project as much as we do!

Frozen

Seems like winter has arrived to most of the nation....Some with moisture, some without...We were the without group.
Our high was 25* and the lows around 10*. With the wind, it felt like -4!
Today was beautiful! Blue skies, a light breeze and COLD! A perfect day to hop in the razor and check the stock tanks for ice.

Me and my buddy all geared and getting ready to head out..

Frozen creek.

Ice cubes....Created by water splashing outta the water tank....Kinda cool looking I think....Everything else checked out fine. And I had a wonderful ride!

Hope everyone is staying warm out there!

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Thank You to OUR Veterans

 

                        Thank you for your service and sacrifices.

This is my Dad. He was in the Navy. He died on Veterans Day 7 years ago. He ALWAYS made sure there was food on the table and a pony under my butt no matter what.....I sure do miss him.....Love you Dad!

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I'm gonna take up drinkin!

                                          
Hay hauling has been going well....Until today when the fuel pump went out in the tractor!

 They won't have one in until Wednesday afternoon...

I tried to make homemade hot chocolate in the crockpot - OMG what a disaster! LOL! Oh well won't be makin that anymore! :)

Its been cold here. Highs around 50* low 30's over night. They are suppose to drop big time! Highs in the 20's, lows in the teens! BRRRR! I like the blast of cold air in the morning. Its refreshing and wakes you up in a hurry!

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Cow Chow

Yesterday we started the longggggg, tedious, time consuming hay hauling. We had our blue grass hay delivered. But, we have to haul our own alfalfa. Took the big John Deere to the stack yard and keep the little tractor at the hay barn to unload. The John Deere can handle 2 bales at a time, the little Ford can only handle 1.

The day was beautiful. Blue sky, fluffy clouds about 60*. Then the winds kicked in. I like the winds when they work in my favor and whoosh all the fallen leaves outta here!
With the black sky and sun out. It made the trees light up! So pretty!

Big ugly coming in with a load.

Into the hay barn.

Bandit and Spook waiting too look for rodents! Spook wasn't a happy camper, she had porcupine quills in her face again! grrrrrrrr!

Black clouds and sun.

I don't know why the tree looks like its leaning. It was windy, but not that bad!

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amazing weather

The past 10 days or so we've had some amazing weather. Its rained a little bit everyday! The old range ground has a tint of green. Hopefully the grass keeps growing and we go into winter with green every where. The daytime temps have been between 50 and 55*. Over night right around 40*.
We've been "remodeling" the front of the barn in preparation for a new hydraulic chute! An upgrade!

Here's a few pictures of the sky the past few days. Its been so pink at sunrise and sunset.

A foggy morning and day.

Pink sunset. Looks like northern lights in the south!

A "pasture" we call The High Rocks.

Tonights sky.

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