Summer Brain Challenge ~ Day 8 ~ Get Every Little Bit

First things first...My Man has been busy today as usual...first it was the Escape, then the Dodge pickup...and now the tractor!!! He says that the big horse trailer is next!!! What a guy!!

OK...on to the challenge!

Last week, Dr. Perlmutter focused on nutrition for the brain. This week is exercise and movement. 

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The assignment for today was to pick a friend to join me on a short workout. Short is better than none at all...and for some, it's better!

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I chose my dear husband John...and all four dogs!! We broke out the cruisers for a back road country spin! We can't go too fast when Mindy Mae is with us...her little legs can't keep up!!

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But, great fun was had by all. And I always feel energized by getting outside in the fresh air!

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What is your "go-to" lack-of-time exercise?

In Health & Love~ 

 #DoLifeBetter 

 gtyyup

Summer Brain Challenge ~ Day 4 ~ Eat For Your Mental Health

Dr. Perlmutter writes: “Pay attention to how you mentally feel after you’ve had an indulgent meal. That regret isn’t just sociological - processed and fried foods full of sugars and refined carbs can cause your mental health to suffer. If you’ve got an indulgent meal coming up this week, take note of how you feel after it.”

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For me, it’s been so long since I had an “indulgent meal” that I can’t really remember what I felt like mentally…but, I do know that my “brain fog” has lifted over the past year of not eating any processed foods!! Duh, probably why I can’t remember!! BTW, I literally threw everything in my pantry that was not “real food” into the garbage!

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Being petite, I’ve never had a weight issue, but more depression and mood. After getting off the “after cancer” medication, eating “real” food, hydrating myself and getting enough sleep, I’m slowly finding purpose again.

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Everything is connected…eating real food brings better health to every area of your life!

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Love your family and friends…4 legs or 2 legs!

In Health & Love~ 

 #DoLifeBetter 

 gtyyup

Throwback Thursday~March 2014

March 5 years ago...great memories!!!

Awwww...the newborn calves! How I miss them.
We sold our little herd two years ago in preparation of moving.

Red Dog & Rastus...running and chasing each other as spring is coming.
Not much has changed with these two! 

Sweet Martha Jo~we adopted her so she could live out her life with love.
She wasn't with us long, but it was a very special time.

What precious memories do you have in your heart from 5 years ago?

In Health & Love~ 

 #DoLifeBetter 

 gtyyup

Discovering the Nifty Fifty! (50mm lens)

And another Random 5 Friday!

I'm doing a couple of weekly photo challenges on Facebook. This week, one of those challenges was to use the 50mm lens...shoot whatever you want, but use the 50mm lens or something as close as you could get to 50mm.

Well, when I bought this "used-new to me" Canon DSLR, it came with four lenses...including a 50mm which I've never used! I LOVE IT!!

Say "cheese!"

It's light weight and takes consistently good quality photos with little to no post-processing.

"Awwww Rastus...I luv you!" says Mindy Mae

I like that the lens shoots more closely what your eye sees (distance wise)...there's no zoom, it's a fixed lens...you have to do it the ol' fashioned way...move your feet!

"Is it dinner yet?"

I can't explain this part, but I was able to get this shot out the back barn door...I'm standing in the dark barn and the bright sundown light is shining onto Colt. Usually the gate boards are black or he's all over exposed. Shrugging my shoulders on this one!

Love the fine detail...this is SOOC...no processing.

And, action shots were really impressive!! I set the camera in Action mode and I got more consistent shots than with the zoom!

The Boys...and just outside of the frame
 is Mindy Mae trying to get in the middle of the play!

Summary...I'm going to use this lens a LOT in the future!!

My Random 5...

1. To clarify my statement from last week about being concerned with My Man's retirement...it's mainly the health insurance that's bothering me!! And My Man sure won't be lettin' any grass grow under his feet after retirement...he just won't be working for the lumber yard anymore!

2. I got my hair cut yesterday...My Man didn't say boo about it...he sort of ticked me off...guess it's a bad cut.

3. Pierce needs lots of ground work before I get on him again...he's got issues with someone being on him...he's not happy or relaxed like he should be.

4. It's home made Egg Foo Young and a movie tonight...all at home!

5. Italian at our friend's house tomorrow...I'm making bread sticks and dessert...yum, can't wait!


Have an awesome weekend!!!

Twelve Photos from 2014

These are not chosen as my best quality photos, but as some of my favorite photos representing events and life changes in the year 2014.

Miss Cindy Sue starts the month of January. It's been a year now, and her PRA (progressive retina atrophy) has left her almost blind now. Her eyes are a milky white color. She still loves to go to the barn, but we have keep a close watch on her. It's been hard watching her eyesight fail, but dogs are amazing...she is adapting quite well.

February ~ Ah yes Mr. Red Dog...I do love this photo of him!

March ~ This photo just makes me laugh. Our brandings are so NOT traditional!! We had three bull calves and one heifer to vaccinate and brand...and of course castrate the bull calves.
No horses...just brute strength man power!

April ~ Our beloved Martha Jo, a VERY senior Chihuahua, came to live with us in April as a friend for Cindy Sue since CS can no longer go on trail rides or irrigate. My Man and I both just loved this lil' lady to the moon. She was picked up as a stray in Madras Oregon, and we adopted her through Three Rivers Humane Society. We gave her the best we could to make her life meaningful in her golden years...but we lost her in October. Her lil' spirit lives in our hearts. Rest in Peace Martha Jo~

May ~ We were blessed to be invited to numerous brandings for our friends and neighbors. My Man took this nice shot of me and Colt at the Thompson branding in Diamond...the branding with the most wind and dust of the year!!
My camera will never be the same :( 

June ~ We had a pretty good year for our hay. Our decision on when to cut second cutting should have been about a week later. The hot weather during the growth of third cutting made it grow faster than second cutting...really abnormal for that time of year. We could have gotten a fourth cutting, but opted not to take the chance. So, now in January, we have lots of deer feeding in our fields which is nice to see.

July ~ Off to school goes Pierce! He's not the perfectly willing, forgiving horse that Colt is...I will have to step up to the plate on his training. I'm glad that I decided to do the Mike Bridges Project with him...it'll help me keep focused...and our friend/neighbor Brian will also be in the same Project...that'll be great support!

August ~ Trailin' Cattle...gather and trail with Colt and Rastus = Awesome!

September ~ The beautiful Indian Summer lasted well into November...VERY unusual for our area. My planter of hummingbird flowers bloomed on and on despite the deer who kept trimming off the top blooms!

October ~ My sweet boy Rastus. We spent an exciting two days at Crowley Ranch in October gathering pairs and moving them into fields close to headquarters just prior to their shipping date. It's the most remote ranch I've worked on...loved it!!! We passed the test...because we're invited back this spring to help turn out onto summer grazing...can't wait!

November ~ Our Kids! I'd been looking for a good day to do a family photo shoot and finally got one. Hard to believe that the Nasturtiums were still blooming in November!! The blooms made for a wonderful background.
Shortly after this, we had a major freeze, and they were done. 

December ~ On the 20th, our newest lil' treasure came into our lives. We are pleased to introduce tiny lil' Mindy Mae. At 4.7 pounds, she's just a drop in the bucket compared even to Cindy Sue!! Mindy Mae is another stray out of Madras which we adopted from Three Rivers Humane Society. She's just 3 1/2 years old and is in very good health! She LOVES the wood stove obviously, but she also loves Cindy Sue, Rastus and Red Dog.
My Man and I have lost our hearts to her~

OK...let's make it thirteen!!!

My Man is always here to support me...so, this one gets my vote for favorite photo of the year!

Thanks for ridin' along...happy trails~

Fun in the Snow!

WoW...a balmy 42 degrees right now! The thaw is well underway, but by tomorrow night, it'll be 19 degrees with snow again...highs in the 20's. So, the heat wave is going to be short lived.

But, I'm being VERY cautious of spots of ice. We lost Carina a few years back to an accident on ice, and I don't want to experience that again.

Yesterday afternoon was a good day to take a hike with the pups. And, it's time to get started working Rastus with the cows again too!

That's Rastus in the flying snow! He was more than anxious to work cows!!

Where the cows are, it doesn't get much sun, so the snow is still pretty deep. But the footing was good, so Rastus and I worked on commands. We haven't worked cows since last fall...we both need work!

The look of satisfaction. Rastus says "I did good!!"

Red Dog has his fun too running up and down the hill side in the snow!

On the look out...checkin' for varmints of course.

Lots of melting...

I took this photo yesterday knowing that the icicles wouldn't be their today...in fact, the whole section slid off the roof about the time I went out to feed last evening.

Pierce is really doing good too! His legs have lost most of their swelling and if the ground would cooperate, I'd let him out with Colt again (we think we have any corners "Pierce proof"). But, for now, I'll leave him alone with the stall, run and round pen...I prefer to play it safe right now.

The plan is to go out and work cows again this afternoon...off we go!

Wordless Wednesday ~ About Face!

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More Wordless Wednesday here ~

Lingering Fall Days

Yes, there have been more beautiful days in the past week, but there has also been some snow...not enough to amount to anything; just enough to make things wet an muddy when it thaws.

A Dusting of Snow in the Foot Hills

Today's set of photos were taken in Manual mode on my camera. It's starting to make a little bit of sense to me...and I'm liking the results most of the time.

Handsome Cowboy

I'm still working on figuring out the action shots in Manual though.  Red Dog and Rastus were havin' a pretty good time while I was raking and mowing leaves last week. The sun was gorgeous and there was hardly a breeze...perfect!

Play Time!

As you can see, I got some of the action to stop, but not all.

Action!

But the fall colors came out nice...and I'm pretty much done with the leaves! Yeah!

My Helper.

Pierce still has a bit of a snotty nose, the cough seems to be gone, but he has some swelling in his rear legs...which I read can be a symptom of Rhino.

Colt had a bout of something yesterday. He had finished his dinner from the night before, but was lethargic and off his feed in the morning. I gave him a dose of Banamine and by early afternoon he was looking much perkier. He finally had a pile, so I gave him a small dinner. I checked on him at 1:30 this AM and he'd had two more piles. At feeding this mornin' he had one more pile. But, he's still not his robust self, so I'm leaving him in the stall and run again today to keep an eye on him.

Pierce got his first hoof trim today and did a pretty good job! There were a few moments of not wanting to keep the hoof up for Pat, but he never got unmanageable. I was proud of him!

My gosh, Thanksgiving is just around the corner...are you ready? What are your plans? We're staying home and will be hosting dinner for a dear couple who will be staying for the long weekend. Lots of food, beverage, games and laughter is ahead!

Not so Shy...

...when he has some moral support!!

Red and Rastus are the best of furiends. Rastus looks quite mean in
this photo...but he's a sweetheart...and he loves to play!

I'm off to help the 3J Ranch gather and sort pairs today. Weather outlook says it's going to be 75 degrees again today...we're all hoping for some moisture soon.

Have a great day!!

Hmmmm...Can I Remember How?

June 13 to today...that's a pretty long blogging break!! Well, Google got me all confused, and I couldn't get logged in...so I said screw 'um...I didn't have the time or patience to figure it out...but with a lil' bit of help from blogger friends, we're up and runnin' again!

Let's just see if I can remember how to post a photo, and we'll go from there!

Rastus, Red (with his tongue in my face) 'n lil' Cindy Sue!

It's been a long, hot, dry summer...glad fall is finally here...now if we could get some moisture to go with the cold. 20 degrees every morning for the past week, and we finally fired up the wood stove.

I'll do a brief "catch up" post tomorrow.  How was your summer?!?

Feels good to be back!!

Rural Thursday ~ Haying is Around the Corner

When you farm or ranch, the year goes by on a different measurement of time than a January through December calendar...it's the life cycle of crops and livestock.

First cutting of our alfalfa is just around the corner...next week...there are just a few blooms out. Too many blooms means it's past its prime for dairy quality hay (high in protein and other valuable nutrients and food value) for the best production of milk. Ten percent bloom is about right...hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Alfalfa bloom...almost time to mow the field!

Last year, we only ran our wheel lines 5 days before 1st cutting...it was a very wet spring. This year, it's been pretty dry, and we've had to water quite a bit. We got a really good soaking at the beginning of this week, and the blooms are coming on. Mother Nature always does a better job at irrigating than man!!

So it's time to quit watering and let the ground dry out enough to get the equipment across the field.

I'm anxious to see the bales on the field and then stacked up in the stack yard...waiting for the truck to haul them to the dairy. The cycle goes on...

Red, head of Quality Control, inspects the field...he's givin' it two paws up!

Check out other rural activities and photos across the globe by visiting Rural Thursday!