Jan 14, 2009

Today was COLD. The temp was in the low 20's and later in the day it started snowing. Henry and I worked on a fence in the lower pens. The ground was frozen about a foot down and it was hard to dig post holes. We only got 2 dug and it took a long time.

We had another lamb born this morning. The ewe didn't want to accept her, but after I got her in the barn and penned up in a smaller pen, she finally did. The lamb is black with a few white hairs in the face.

We have some more ewes that are going to have lambs soon. We will sort them tomorrow and get them to the barn so we can watch them closer.

I will go to Julesburg, CO tomorrow about 40 miles away to get chicken feed. After that, who knows what will happen.

Lauren said she is going to get some Muscovy ducks tomorrow. These ducks don't have a Quack. They just kind of squeak. I used to have a bunch of them and they are fun to have around.

I made a beaded hummingbird and here is a picture.

Jan 5, 2009

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This will be a short post tonight. It was 0 degrees when I got up at 5am. But during the day, it warmed up to about 36 which was tolerable. I was again dressed in coveralls, gloves, hat, etc. I cleaned out the barn this morning, fixed fence this afternoon in 2 different sections, helped fill the grainary from the grain truck with the auger, did chores 2 times. It was a good day.

When I first arrived at work, I checked on the ewe that was lambing when I left last night. She had 2 beautiful lambs. I tried to take some good pictures but they kept moving too fast. Finally got one when Henry came in the barn and asked, "Are you playing with the lambs again?" I said "Yes ,I am", and had him hold the lambs while I got a still picture. Here they are! Enjoy...

Sunday Jan 4, 2009

It is a bit frosty out right now. It got down to 3 degrees in the night but warmed up to 30 degrees during the day.

When I did chores last night a ewe had a lamb in the frigid weather and lost it. She had one soon after, I ran it up to the barn and got them into a pen. Everything was fine when I left, got her fed and watered and she was taking care of her new lamb.

I went out this afternoon to do chores, checked on the lamb and it had been buried under the straw and was gone. It broke my heart. She is crying for the lambs tonight and nothing can be done about it. Another ewe was starting to lamb when I left. I did get her into a pen in the barn and hope all goes well. I plan on getting the barn cleaned out tomorrow with new straw in case we have some more lambs coming. It will be about 42 degrees tomorrow, so it will be a good day to get that done.

Bob took a picture of downtown Oshkosh, NE today. This is a quiet town on Sunday.

Also a local mascot for the town that claims to be the goose hunting capital of the world. The North Platte river valley is home for lots of migrating waterfowl and hunting seasons are always productive. It also has lots of cover and vegetation that provides good habitat for numerous flocks of turkeys and deer.

Much of the North Platte river valley is leased for hunting purposes and many non residents purchase property here to build hunting lodges and have a place to go during the hunting season. One such non resident that has purchased land here is Steve Farris. He was with the band "Mister, Mister", in the 1970's. He is a great person, friendly, always willing to help out when needed.

Anybody wanting his autograph, let me know and I can get it for you.

We also have a Roastery here. The town smells so good when they are roasting coffee beans. I get my caffeine fix that way without drinking coffee. They sell the coffee in the small shop for about $9.00/lb. It does taste exceptional. You can also buy it off the web at Mark Ferrari.com. It is well worth the price!

Jan 2, 2009

Hello all,
Today started out with the usual chores at the ranch. I drove up north to the corn fields where some cows are pastured. I filled water tanks and came back and worked on some fencing projects. We had to dig post holes in the frozen ground, only about a foot was frozen so it didn't take too long. After lunch we continued with fencing. I moved cable from down on a bunk line so calves wouldn't escape the corral. Chores were once again done in the evening with the sun setting and making a beautiful sunset. Of course I didn't have a camera with me. Not as good as the Arizona sunset but really nice.
Today the temp got up to about 55 degrees but by tomorrow it is supposed to be down to 25 degrees again. Sure am looking forward to spring!

Happy New Year 2009

Happy New Year to all!

We spent from Dec 21st - 31st at Woods Landing Resort. It is the spot where we work in the summer just outside of Laramie WYO. The owners were away for the holiday and we were able to house sit for them. It was great to be back there. But the weather was cold, windy and snowy. I didn't like that part. I helped out in the cafe and cleaned cabins that were rented out. Bob was running the snowplow when needed. We hauled all of out Christmas presents over from Nebraska and opened them over there. Picture of several deer roaming around Woods Landing.

Bob and Carley with their matching coats.

We had a steak and shrimp dinner for Christmas. Bob cooked and it turned out great.

We took Carley with us too. Before we left she got an ear infection and didn't seem to be getting better. We took her to the vet in Laramie and he gave her an Rx that started working in 6 hours. She is doing so much better. She lost her appetite and didn't seem interested in anything. Glad to have her back to her old self.

Here's a picture of my sis, Donna and me by her Christmas tree.

My sister, Donna and brother in law, Jim.

I went back to work today. We vaccinated some lambs and then I went home until chore time tonight.

Dec 17, 2008

This is Lauren, one of my bosses and a great friend. She was decorating for Christmas!

So many days have passed since my last post. I've been busy ranching! I've had a couple ewes have some lambs, been pushed under a gate by an angry cow. Got some bruises on the backside and leg with that one. Also that day a heifer ran by me that we were sorting out of others and kicked me on the right thigh. It was a rough day at the office.

Our birdhouse decorated with lights!

We have had bitter cold here the last week. It is below zero at night, we have been plugging in our trucks and putting in diesel additive to keep the diesel from gelling up. During the day the temps have not gotten above 15 or so and with the wind chill, it is very cold to work outside. The water tanks for the animals are freezing up and we work all day to thaw water.

Thanksgiving dinner- left to right is Gary (ranch hand I work with, Bob, Jim (brother in law) and Donna (sis).

We have to get some cows and heifers bred tomorrow so we will be working them thru the chute. I just hope I don't have a run in with cow K577 again.

Loading bags of wool to take to Scottsbluff.

On Sunday, Bob and I and Carley will load up in the truck with all the Christmas presents and head to Woods Landing, just 25 miles SW of Laramie, WY. We are going to house sit for the owners of Woods Landing thru the 30th. It will be nice to be over there. We'll get to spend time with Justin, Karl (Bob's sons) and their families,as well as my sister, Donna and family.

Our house with Christmas lights.

I am also going to work in the cafe and clean cabins while I'm there. So it will be a working vacation.

Dec 3, 2008

Since it has been a while since I posted, I tried to post some pics, but couldn't do it. Maybe next time...
Over Thanksgiving, my sister, Donna and brother in law, Jim came over for the holiday...They got her last Wed. evening, we had dinner and enjoyed some time together. The next morning, I woke them up at 6am to go out to do chores with me. They went with me and I think they had a good time. Jim had his camera and got some good pictures. Donna pitched in and helped me with chores. After chores, we went and checked cows on the cornstalks, noticed some cows that had gotten out. Henry showed up and said we should take a trip south of town to check out the elk. After we picked up Jim and Bob, we headed south. There is a herd of elk that we got great pictures of.
We headed back to the house to find it filled with the wonderful aroma of turkey baking in the oven.
Gary showed up before dinner and got to meet my family. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks to everyone who helped...

This week has been busy. We had to fence another 2 circles of cornfields to pasture cows. We finished that today and trailered 5 loads of cows, approximately 40, to the field today. We also moved cows and calves from one pasture to one closer to the place.

The weather was wonderful the past few days, in was in shirtsleeves yesterday. This morning, a cold front moved in and it didn't get above 30 degrees. It was so cold. Days like these, I sure miss the warm weather.