Nov 6, 2008

The last few days, we finished fencing the corn field. It is now ready for the cows to be transfered over. It will take a few trips to get them all over to the new field.
Gary has been installing a new gate in the lamb pen. I helped him with a couple of posts as well as Elton. We had to take turns tamping the dirt in. I am really out of shape for doing much of that.
Another project was to shovel all the stuff away from the wind breaks. That I can handle and I had an audience of 53 bulls watching me.
Today I wanted to just hitch up the 5th wheel and head to Arizona. We had 35 degree weather and wind with gusts of 50 mph and SNOW! I am not ready for that. While scooping hay into tubs to feed the sheep, it was blowing so hard and I couldn't keep my eyes open. I probably ate 2 pounds of hay and another pound in my eyes. The second trip to get hay, I put on goggles. I may have looked ridiculous but they were very helpful. This afternoon was a little less windy, but still blowing snow and biting cold.
I had to go to the store that sells coveralls and coats (the lumber store) and get a coat today. My zippered sweatshirt just won't cut it in this weather.
I also had to give a 300 lb. calf some pills today. They were the size of peanuts before you break the shells. But hope he feels better tomorrow.
Bob got 1/2 day off today. The whole town was without power from about 11:30am till 2:30pm. The house sure got cold fast without heat.
We're not going to get a break in the weather till this weekend. Another cold windy day tomorrow...
Sure wish I was in Q!

Daylight savings day

Did you all make it thru Halloween? Bob had carved a pumpkin and put a candle in it so the trick or treaters could see it when they came to the door. But--we had zero come to the door. Bob was happy about that--now he gets to have the candy he bought.

Yesterday at work, chores came first and then Gary-the other hired hand worked on getting a grinder apart. New parts were ordered and should be here on Monday. We use it to grind corn and mix feed with it for the bulls and heifers. Today a load of feed came for the bulls and heifers to tide us over till the grinder is repaired.
I worked on painting some poles that they will use to finish building a fence at the entrance to their place. I also ran to town and picked up a 55 gallon drum of oil for the tractors. I filled some feeders with salt and mineral for the sheep and still need to get one more feeder for the heifers mineral and salt.
A couple days ago I had to milk Bessie, she had too much milk for just 2 calves. I was able to take it home and use it. My cereal never tasted so good! Sure brought back memories of growing up on the farm.

Today, I went out and did the morning chores and then went with Elton to check the cows with calves. No new calves today! We did have two calves on the other side of the fence we had to move over. After that was done, they sent me home till 4pm.
I stayed busy cleaning the house, doing laundry, made lunch for Bob and me, ran to the grocery store (twice), the first time I forgot dish soap. Then to top off the afternoon, I made a cranberry orange quick bread. I just took it out of the oven and it smells heavenly! Toasted with cream cheese is the best way to eat it.

It's about 70 degrees here today. Bob got the leaves raked up in the yard and hauled off. He got out trailer parked to the south of the house yesterday and winterized it. He told me that next fall we will be back in Arizona. I'm happy about that.

This is Daisy nuzzling up to the lambs.

If you look to the SW there is a crescent moon with Venus close by. I'll try to enclose a photo.

Another day at the office

This is Tony Llama..

We had to say goodbye to Scott today. He was here for 2 weeks helping out on the ranch and he will be missed. He was great to work with and always found the fun in the job! But...I don't think he will miss the sheep too much.

We have been vaccinating sheep & calves that have gotten sick. We moved some cows to a pasture just west of Oshkosh yesterday.

Today we got back to fencing a cornfield where more cows will be turned into probably later in the week.

Lauren, the owner, has Tuesdays off and yesterday she made sloppy joes, pistacio salad and these wonderful date bars for lunch. She is a wonderful cook and we look forward to Tuesday lunches! Thanks Lauren!!

We had to wean 4 calves off of the milk cow today to make room for 2 more calves that need a nurse cow. They were crying all day.

I took some pics of some things on the ranch. Enjoy a bit of Nebraska!

Pumpkin patch

I had a day off on Tues. and I drove to Chappell to pick up a friend to go to the pumpkin patch with me. We drove to Big Springs and had a great time. There was acres and acres of pumpkins and gourds. We collected some and then headed back to her house. She and her husband had me join them for lunch.

I also did some geocaching and found 2 caches.

Thurs. was a busy day at the ranch. We have an extra hand for another week. Scott lives in Omaha and came out here for 2 weeks to help out. He purchaced some property from the owner earlier in the year and comes out to help on the ranch when he can. We sorted sheep, placed rams in pens with ewes, seperated cows and calves, vaccinated calves, moved cows and calves to a different pasture. It kept us busy all day. I hopped on the horse and rode her, I hadn't been on a horse in about 8 years. When I was leaving, a ewe was having her lambs.

We did get a little snow yesterday and it has been bitter cold with wind for the past 2 days. It is supposed to be warmer today

Lambs, lambs and more lambs

At the ranch, where I'm working, we have babies all over the place. Also a pic of the water tower with the beautiful sunset.

23 ewes have lambed and we have about that many left to lamb. We've had to pull 5 lambs and have lost 3 lambs. Also lost a calf the other day.

We're doing fence rebuilding now so we can wean spring calves and get the cows onto new pasture.

One of the hired hands will be leaving the end of the week for a month so we are trying to get all these things done before he leaves.

I have learned how to drive the bobcat and the tractor now. It was a little intimidating at first but now, it's just fun!

I got a phone call from Phyllis who is in Quartzsite last night. It was good to talk with her. She said the count of people coming in is down about 25 from last year.

Today, I have the day off and I'm headed to Chappel to pick up a friend and we are going to the Pumpkin patch. Need some decorations for Halloween...

Oct 12

Hello from Nebraska! We won't be going to Quartzsite Arizona this fall due to having to reclaim our house in Oshkosh Nebraska. The renter failed to pay rent and we had her evicted and are now living in the house. Breaks my heart to have to stay here and not be with my friends in the south. During the month of August and September, Bob came over and spent a lot of time at the house. I came over several times and we spent a lot of time in the court room trying to get some of the money back that was owed. The judge ruled in our favor so now comes the hard part, getting the money. If necessary, we will take her to court again..
My sister, Donna, and I spent a lot of time this summer on hikes. We only completed one overnight hike. That was the tough one! We each carried about a 33# pack on our backs and the hike was tough. But we made it and I felt good about it. Our longest was the Thursday before I moved over to Oshkosh. We went on an 11 mile hike. It took about 6 1/2 hours. One spot was tricky, we had to cross a ravine that had been washed out and only a small log across it. I froze in the middle but eventually made it across. The next 2 days were kinda tough, the muscles I hadn't used in a while sure talked to me.
Since moving to Oshkosh, I got a job working with a rancher and his wife. They were friends before and asked me to help them. I am helping with lambing, calving, chores, fencing and general ranch stuff. I am dog tired at night but sure sleep great.
I'll send pictures when I get some of the lambs we are getting every day.
Miss everyone in Q!

We're back

It's time to start posting on the blog again.

We have some changes this year. Bob and I are going to be moving back into our house in Oshkosh, Ne in about a month. We had to evict our renter and now have to get it back in order to put back on the market to sell. I will miss going to Quartzsite so much. Hopefully we won't spend too much time there and can still get down there. Bob thinks that we will spend the whole winter there. I don't even have any winter clothes and we will encounter quite a bit of snow very soon.

We had snow flurries at 8500 feet a couple days ago. At Woods Landing we are at 7600 feet. We also have been having a lot of rain and cooler weather. This morning it was only 37 degrees.

A couple weeks ago, I went to Cody WY to help my sisters with a surprise birthday party for my mom. She turned 75 this year. She was not expecting it and really enjoyed the party.

I also met up with a couple old classmates that I hadn't seen since 1972 and we got reacquainted. We had a great time, taking a 6 mile float trip down the Shoshone river. We got totally soaked since we were in the front seats of the raft.

Here's a pic of my sis and I before we headed out on a 2 day hike. Also a pic of the Snowy Range above Laramie, WY.

I'm headed over to Oshkosh, NE tomorrow to take a few things over to the house. We have to go to small claims court for the 2nd time to get some more back rent owed by the renter. Seems like it never ends.

I'll be posting more now that I will be getting Internet all the time.