Meanwhile, Waiting for the Water Trough to Fill...

Smile!

What else would you do...but have a photo shoot!

Let's chase bunnies!

The "Get Up" command in action!

"Hey Mom...I feel stupid up here!"

Awww...but you're so handsome Rastus!

And...other stuff...

Boulder & Sage

Tumbleweed Corner...yes, in my arena...gotta get to cleanin' that mess up!

Have a wonderful Fall weekend!

Mornin' Ritual

Unless I'm heading off to help a rancher work cows or working at the PostOffice, every mornin' is sort of the same...

Watch the sun come up for another beautiful day~

Feed some hungry critters~

Listen to the lil' birds chatter on the electric lines and fence lines...
wondering what they all have to say~

Checkin' to see what the owls are doing. Momma owl is on the right,
but we still don't know if it is Pappa owl or one of the owlets
sitting with her...I'm beginning to believe (and we hope) it's Pappa owl~

It was a serene, pretty mornin' an hour ago...but now it's snowin' 'n blowin'...we'll see what the day will bring.

Happy Friday everyone!

Participating in Skywatch Friday ~ Farm Friend Friday ~ Farmgirl Friday!

Farm Photo Friday~A Day In the Saddle

~Young 'uns are better off farmin' than schoolin'.~ 

~Pauline Hunter 1910~

Yesterday was a good day in the saddle helping the 3J Ranch gather, sort and move cows. The calves had already been weaned off and moved to their other ranch.

Ty on Cole...the dried grasses and the sun shining through
 the low, thin clouds make for a pretty photo.

We gathered over 150 head and brought them to the corrals. Then the fun part begins...sorting! Cows like the red one below are old and not productive for the ranch and need to be culled out. Colt got to use some fancy moves on those old, wise cows that didn't want to go out the gate.

My fav view. You can see by Colt's mane that the wind was blowing.

After sorting out the culls, taking them to a field by the house, it's time for lunch...and warm up! The wind was unmerciful and eventually drives the cold right through your winter clothes.

Then it's time to move the herd to a winter pasture where they will stay until it's cold enough and the feed is too sparse to sustain them and their unborn calf that they're carrying. They'll then be driven back to the ranch and be fed hay.

Counting...the cow boss always does a lot of counting...
it's important to know how many cows you turn out to a field.
When they come back a few months later, you hope you have the same amount.
It's not always the case. There are predator and illness deaths...and cows
seem to think the grass on the other side of the fence is better.

The whole trip was probably only 2 miles. But the cows had never been to this field before. Cows have an amazing sense of direction once they've gone there before...they will draw a line across the desert in their mind and start walking...most often they're right on.

So, we had to keep adjusting their course when they wanted to go left and they needed to go right.

Across the flat...up and over the ridge.

At the top of the ridge it was an awesome view, but the cloud cover was increasing...and the temperatures were dropping.

Father and son...and a few good workin' dogs.
Notice the butte in the background?
That's Hat Butte from the SE...it's out my kitchen window from the SW.

Cows love to run downhill...they do it every time!! Behind the little rise there's one last downhill stretch where the water source is. If you don't show the cows where the water is, they'll tear down the fences back to where their last known water source was.

It's a downhill cow race!

We arrived at the ol' homestead where the water trough had lots of cool, clean water...I wish I could have tied Colt up and explored the old buildings...but, there wasn't any time to dally.

The ol' homestead...imagine what it looked like in the early 1900's.

Water...everyone takes a turn...

Ahhhhh...good stuff!

We left the cows milling around the ol' homestead and the water trough...hoping they decide to stick around there and not try to come back home...you never know with a cow!

Happy Friday everyone...have a great weekend!!!

Linking into Farm Chick's Farm Photo Friday and Farm Friend Friday ~

More Fall Photos~Farm Photo Friday

~I've won more bets than any man I know.~ 

~Alberta Canyon 1886~

This post just kinda expands on yesterday's post...fall activities from the past few weeks...pics I liked, but didn't get a chance to post. I thought today would be a good day to get 'er done!

I'm participating in Fresh from the Farm's Farm Photo Friday...check out the other farm photos!!

My expanded raised garden beds gave us a wonderful bounty this year. I don't think anything tastes better than food grown in your own garden.

Fresh from the Garden

When the weather forecast predicted night time temps to get down into the teens, I decided I better get the last of the onions pulled and save anything else I could from the freezing temperatures. The Walla Walla Sweet onions proved to be quite a wheelbarrow full!

I've got them in a cool, dry, dark place, and would like to make onion braids. Has anyone done them before and have any tips? Please leave a comment and let me know!

Onions anyone? I think onion rings!!

Fruit trees aren't real common here in SE Oregon...with the short growing season, cold springs, and it's been known to snow in July, some years you just don't get a crop...but this year was the best I've seen in the six year's we've been here. We just have the one apple tree; a Northern Spy we think. They made wonderful apple crisp and applesauce!

An Apple a Day

We're late in getting our two calves weaned...but this weekend the deed will get done. Number Three and Black Calf will go over to a friend of ours and pasture with his 50 head of calves. After 30 days, we'll bring Number Three back home to be part of our cow herd...Black Calf will go to Producers auction...he'll make some mighty fine beef. Goof sure makes nice calves!

Number Three is growing nicely...she'll be a nice lil' heifer!
We're excited to expand our tiny herd.

Fall time is a busy time for the ranchers. I always like getting a phone call for help. On a day ride, we gathered Rancher Dan's first year heifers off of Moon Hill and trailed them down to their ranch.

Gathering first year heifers for Rancher Dan.

Heading down into the canyon.

Here the heifers are home at McCoy Creek Canyon...
one of the prettiest places in Harney County.

On another weekend, we helped trail his mother cows north to their winter pasture...a two day drive.

Me and Colt...trailing the herd.

It's about a 23 mile trip. As we drive the cows along the county road, pickups with horse trailers come through...off to do the same thing on another ranch, and livestock semi trucks come through loaded with calves heading for market...like I said...everyone's busy getting things done before winter sets in.

Arriving at winter pasture.

These cows will calve here next spring...the calves will get branded...and we move them back south to summer pasture...the circle of life goes on~

Farm Photo Friday~Hay & Hollyhocks

Come along on the Farmchick's Farm Photo Friday Linky Party!!

With the dry weather, it took a few days longer to get the hay baled...no moisture. Yea, I know, folks say that they usually have too much moisture...not here on the high desert. We pray that the night or the morning brings in enough moisture to get some baling done.

Cindy Sue says "I love farmin' wiff  my mom!"
As I drove the backhoe stacking the big bales into twos,
Cindy Sue has to co-pilot of course!

We were extremely lucky that Hay Man Rudy was able to get the baling finished on Wednesday. My Man and I got the big bales off the field that same day, and Rudy came over with his hay wagon yesterday and picked up the two-string bales and got them stacked...just before a huge storm came through!

It started with distant thunder...then we could see the lightening coming in from the east...and then it started coming in from the west...the wind took off blowing huge clouds of dust (quick...close all the windows in the house) and then the rain followed that...and it rained for a good three hours!

I know there were lots of ground strikes, but no reports of fires yet...hopefully the rain put them out. But a hay stack was hit and burned...bummer.

Second cutting...two-string and 3x3 bales in the field.

My Man and I got all the wheel lines up and running before the storm came in too. So, we're back to the early to rise and late to bed schedule...only one more cutting to go!

Then there's my pretty Heirloom Hollyhocks. And I'm calling them heirloom because I found them in the alfalfa field close to where the old farmstead used to sit. I dug them up and transplanted them to spots around the house.

Heirloom Hollyhocks

They look gorgeous at this angle...but then look at the whole plant...

They're dying on me!!!

It started about two weeks ago with these cobweb type things encasing the shorter plant tops...and then the leaves started dying. It's slowly working its way up to the top of the plants.

I've looked for bugs and didn't see any, but I sprinkled Sevin on them anyway. I hope the problem doesn't kill the plants forever.

Does anyone know what the problem is? How did you treat it? Thanks for any info you can give me!

We're off to the last cutting show tomorrow...see ya! Have a great weekend and do lots of fun stuff!!

Early Mornin's at the Rough String~Post #500

~No man can know the thoughts of a woman.~

~Martha Austin 1899~

Unbelievably to me...this is my 500th post! I had no idea how much enjoyment I would get out of blogging...or the number of wonderful people I would meet...or how much I had to say! I started in October of 2008 when a Dogster mom friend mentioned her blog (an awesome artist and her sidekick Rat Terrier Cloud)...I hadn't a clue what the word "blog" even meant!

Well, it didn't take long to figure it out and because of all of you it's been quite a ride!

I want to thank everyone for stoppin' by and reading about my snippets of life here at the Rough String, and I truly appreciate your comments! I will try harder to respond to your questions (I'm very bad at following up in that department and apologize). I've really enjoyed the photo aspect of blogging too...telling a story through photos...well, it's probably 'cause I'm a lil' more of a visual person.

But...


Really what I want to say is...

I'm glad you're along for the ride!!

Well, it's Friday again, and I've enjoyed posting the past few weeks with a couple of blog hops that focus on farming/country life living/ranching. One is Dandelion House (but her blog has disappeared...I hope she finds her way out of the internet black hole pretty soon), and the other is Farmchick's Farm Photo Friday ~ Link Party. Please visit her blog...good food recipes and farm life abound over there!

So...on with today's post!!

This mornin' before the sun came up, we woke to the wonderful sound of a tractor and the squeak of the rake. There was moisture in the air and the heavenly smell of alfalfa filled our home. Ahhhhh...life doesn't get much better than that!!  We hope to be stacking bales out of our field on Sunday!! Second cutting is gorgeous...beautifully green...those dairy cows are gonna LOVE it!

Hay Man Rudy's wife is at the helm...along with three dogs in the cab!
Now that's a Farm Girl!!!

As I make my way out of the house with a cup of coffee in hand, I enjoy the droning sound of the tractor and squeak of the rake at the end of each row, deeply breathe in the aroma (I'll need to remember these days when it's 0 degrees and the snow is blowin' sideways), and watch the sun come up over Hat Butte. The barn is the first stop...I let Colt out of his stall/run to graze on pasture for the day and clean up the manure.

Then I head for the garden. I know there's peas to be picked and hope they're not too ripe. I'm sure glad My Man and I worked so hard at expending the raised beds this past spring...I had room to spare for more plants...OK, next year I'll do that!

The new section of the garden has bush beans, zucchini, tomatoes
cabbage, bell peppers and hot peppers.

Oh good...the peas look like I'm not too late!

A basket full of peas with a cherry tomato on top!
I picked that one tomato before the birds ate it like they did the first few!

Walla Walla Sweet Onions...my best crop of them yet.
I have another section just like this one.
We're gonna have onions comin' outa our ears!

A volunteer onion from last year popped up,
and it has these beautiful seed buds on top...
guess I better pull that onion, it's ready to eat!

Yesterday was another yearly mornin' too...up at 4 AM to get Colt fed...myself fed...the dogs fed...get Colt saddled...Ty would be there by 6 AM to pick us up to help move cow/calf pairs.

Ahhhhhh....it sure felt good to be out movin' cows again!

These pairs are grazing on BLM allotments. They are rotated between three allotments so they don't over graze the land. So, we gather up everything from one field and trail them to the next one. Proper grazing management is essential for the continued healthy growth of grass for years to come. These allotments cover thousands of acres and gathering and trailing by horseback is the only way it can be done.

Colt loves his job!

As you can see by Colt's head gear, I'm still riding him in the two-rein, but am working more and more off the bit. He's doing well...I've got to have him straight up in the bridle by September...just a month away!

Colt 'n I have a lil' bunch moving west. Ty was off on our left pushing more
pairs up to us...our bunch kept getting growing.

One happy, cool Cow Dog! There are water troughs through out
the BLM allotments. They not only supply water to cattle but to
the native wildlife too...and occasionally a hot dog or two!

The view across the valley...Steens Mountain is on the horizon on the right.
Riddle Mountain begins with the rolling hills on the left.

We rode back to the ranch house and arrived by 1 PM...and it was plenty hot by then. Colt got unsaddled and put into a paddock with Ty's horse Cole for a good roll and some cool water. Then a tasty lunch and a cool drink ended another good day in the saddle.

Thanks for ridin' with me...have a great Friday and a fantastic fun-filled weekend!