Wordless Wednesday ~ October 1st

Wordless Wednesday ~ Pool Time Already?

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Happy Spring Equinox!!!

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And The Melting Continues...

I blogged about the melt down back on January 9...and it's still going at it! It's warmed up, gotten cold, snowed, warmed up again...but, most of the snow is gone now except for the piles.

But the ice remains in the shaded areas, so the horses are still confined to the barn. The sun rises and shines on the north side, but the strip along the rim rock is quickly in the shade by noon.

One slick sucker!

So, Pierce, Colt and Whiskey are confined to the barn area. It was 24* this morning and the afternoon high is 40*.

The water fall was really strong on Thursday. I love hearing the sound and watching the water make its way through the rocks and sagebrush...then heading under the snow to come up in a small stream flowing toward the gates.

The temporary water fall...maybe we need to name it!?!

Being in the high desert, I miss having water like over in the west part of the state. But, I'll just enjoy this when I can...every two to three years.

Flowing water over the rocks and under the snow.

We've got ditches made now (since the top layer of soil has softened up somewhat) so, that is keeping the majority of the water out of the barn.

I turned Colt into the round pen with Pierce yesterday afternoon, and they had a great time kickin' up their heels. The footing was good enough that they didn't slip.

In a couple of weeks, we'll be moving cows from Princeton to Diamond for Rancher Dan, so I've got to get a couple of horses legged up at least a lil' bit...I'm ready to get back into the saddle again!

In other news...

It looks like moma owl has taken to nestin' in the Hole in the Rock. Both of them had been gone for a couple of days and now, for the past two days, only papa owl is in the tree...which leads me to believe that Love is in the Air!

The Hole in the Rock Nest

Can you spot the owl? Mother Nature's camouflage.

Papa owl will have to work double hard...hunting for himself and her...and then for the lil' ones when they're born. They've had 3 to 5 owlets in the past...wonder how many they'll have this year?!

Papa owl...waiting patiently...

Flowing, Flowing, Flowing...

...keep those waters flowing...

The worst part about snow is after the snow.

I loved my clean dogs and horses in the snow.

Now they are almost unrecognizable...and definitely NOT photograph worthy...sigh...

And this time around, because we had such a long cold spell, the ground if frozen down many inches, and the melting snow (and yesterday's rain) has no where to go...except where we don't want it to go of course!

There's 6 inches of standing water inside the front of the barn for about the first 12 feet. My Man tried to get a ditch dug for drainage with the tractor, but the ground is too frozen to hardly make a scratch...so we wait...

Yesterday's mornin' feedin'...slick!

It's been about three years since the "water fall" off the rim rock behind the barn has happened. When there's enough melting snow and rain along with the frozen ground, all the water has to go somewhere...downhill of course...

Many years ago, there was a mud slide from a similar situation, and the story we heard is that the mud made it into the house that was standing there at the time (not our house). So, to prevent that from happening again, a berm was dug on the topside of the rim rock and it directs all the water past the back of the house to a spot behind the barn.

The waterfall off the rim rock.

It was getting dark yesterday afternoon when I took these photos...sorry for the blurry focus.

The beginning of the "creek."

The flowing water heads on out behind me through the two horse pastures then into the alfalfa field.
There's about two inches of water where I'm standing.

When we had done what we could to divert water and finished feeding, the water fall was coming down twice as much as the photo.

This morning, it's but a trickle since it's almost freezing again and the rain has stopped. There's been some snow flurries this morning, but I don't think it's going to amount to too much.

I've got Colt, Pierce and Whiskey all paddocked separately, and I feel that they are safe from slipping on the ice...that's my main concern.

OK...one more photo...Rastus was bored yesterday...

Hmmmm...flower beds make good dog beds too it seems.

I'm going to have to keep an eye on him when planting season comes...but he is awfully cute!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Ruby Springs

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Have a great Wordless Wednesday and see more participants HERE!

Feelin' Like Fall

~A woman's skin doesn't take to weather well.

She can get wrinkled by a hard day's work in the sun.~

~Frances Wright 1900~

It was bad enough when the horses started shedding their summer coats a few weeks ago...yesterday morning there was ice on the alfalfa under the wheel lines! We couldn't move (or turn off the water) until the ice melted. If you do, the leaves will turn black...sort of odd, but that's how it works. So, I had to wait until 8 AM for the ice to melt.

But the good news is that our 3rd cutting alfalfa is up past our knees and lookin' great! Hopefully we'll get better tonnage with this cutting than the first two...we can definitely use it! Both first and second cuttings are sold too...Amen!

Today, it's supposed to be 88 degrees and tomorrow a whoppin' 94 degrees and by Saturday it'll be down to 73...well, it's just that time of year!

Next Thursday/Friday Colt and I will be at the Lakeview County Fair for their stock horse show. And the week after that is our Futurity here in Harney County where Gus gets his debut in his 2 year old halter class and Colt will show in the two-rein. I'm a bit nervous about the two-rein thing, but we worked cows out of the herd last week at the Bell-A in the two-rein, and we did pretty good...it wasn't a wreck! So, we're going to just do the best we can.

Gus and Colt are Best Friends Forever.

Another beautiful, sunny mornin' in SE Oregon...

Reflections in the water tank.

Feelin' a lil' up side down?

That last photo makes me feel like I'm standing on my head!

I have a list of things to do today that's a mile long...I better get at it instead of playin'!

Macro Monday~2/1/10

February?!? It's already February!!! But the weather is just kinda crazy...snow storm on Saturday, almost 50 degrees on Sunday, this mornin' was 18 degrees...but the sun is shining and it's a beautiful morn!

I took these shots while out feeding the herd this mornin'. Just some raggedy ol' tumbleweeds stuck in the snow...

And I had to play with the camera and see if I could catch some drops...

You can catch some more Macro photography by going here!

I hope everyone has a great day and a fantastic week!

A Drive Down Sodhouse Lane

All the snow and ice is gone and things are back to normal. We've been having highs in the upper 30's and lows in the mid 20's, but it's been cloudy.

I really feel for you folks that have all that snow. But, I would much rather have snow than ice.

January brings on the stack of cattle ag surveys that I do for the National Agricultural Statistic Service. One of the nice things about this job is that I get to see a lot of beautiful country. One of my visits this past week was to a ranch that is in the middle of the Malhuer Wildlife Refuge. It may have been a cloudy day, but it was still beautiful.

These photos were taken along Sodhouse Lane which is a 17 mile stretch of gravel road from Princeton to the Refuge headquarters. As usual, I never met another vehicle either coming or going that day.

The buildings on the horizon are part of

the Refuge's headquarters where they

have a visitor center and gift shop.

These cattle are grazing on private land

which adjoins the Refuge.

This two track leads off to a set of corrals

where they gather and brand calves.

This looks like a black and white photo, but

it's in full living color... courtesy of a

grey, cloudy day.

Even with the missing blade, this windmill

draws up plenty of water year around

for the rancher's cattle.

Thanks for comin' along for the drive. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Sunday Stills

This week's Sunday Stills Photo Challenge is "Water." That opens up a lot of opportunities...none of which seemed to work out for me the way I had the photos visioned in my mind.

Middle Fork John Day River
Grant County Oregon

Colt enjoying a drink.

I finally got a drop coming off of Colt's chin.

But, this is what Colt thinks of photography!!


See more "water" photography here.