Wordless Wednesday ~ Dance of the Ravens

Post Number 701...But Who's Counting...

No posts for two weeks...here anyhow...but I have been posting my Photo A Day HERE. I have to confess that it's not easy for me to have two blogs going.

My Man and I took a day trip a few weekends ago to the south end of Harney County to visit my Ol' Man Toby...and his family. He and the kids are doing fantastic!!!

Monte riding Toby with his pup in chase. The beautiful Pueblo Mountains are in the distance. I wish I could have grown up like these kids...they're amazing!

Our route took us from Princeton to Diamond and then Frenchglen. This photo is taken at the top of P Hill above Frenchglen. The Malhuer Wildlife Refuge lies below. The scorched trees are from the devastating Miller Homestead wildfire from last summer...but look at the beautiful green grass coming up!

The land will recover from the fire...the juniper trees are a noxious weed that suck up 30 gallons of water a day taking moisture that is needed for the grasses to grow and sustain cattle, wildlife, and wild horses.

We traveled the length of the Catlow Valley seeing nothing but cows and wildlife. I saw a small herd of Big Horn sheep but couldn't get a photo. Hart Mountain is in the distance.

We arrived at Fields which is just a few miles from the Nevada border. It's beautiful, rugged, and desolate. I think I could live there! Steens Mountain in the distance.

After our visit, we headed back north to home via the Alvord Desert...a huge alkali desert running for miles along the east base of the Steens Mountain.

As with any trip...it's good to go, but just as good to get back home!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Boing!

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Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday Bloggers

Rurality Blog Hop

Wordless Wednesday ~ Winkin' at You Babe!

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Wordless Wednesday

and

Wordless Wednesday Again

Love That Sweet Smell of Hay

Not much can beat the sweet smell of freshly mowed, curing in the field alfalfa....ahhhhhh~

Ann Mare drives a pretty mean swather ;~)

First cutting is on the ground...good to see the results of all that irritation irrigation.

Green hay and blue skies...crossing our fingers that the clouds stay parted.

We had visitors last evening...looks to be a bunch of yearlings. There were three spikes in the bunch. They were eating weeds in the barn yard while the field of newly mowed alfalfa was just behind them...eventually they moved on to the alfalfa. Can't stop 'um!

Evening Visitors

The Rebel ~ There's One in Every Family!!

It's hard to get the three owlets to get together on the same limb...and once they do, one's gotta be a rebel about the whole thing!!!

A family portrait...including the rebel !

Maybe he was sleepin'...Oh well...they're still cute!

When I go out in the evening with the dogs for the night-time potty, there's owls flyin' every which way...it's really pretty cool!

Sunday Stills ~ Music Groups or Song Titles in Pics

Well, I just couldn't pass this Sunday Stills photo challenge up...fun!!!  The challenge was to take photos that would represent either a music group or a song title.

I opted to go with song titles on my photos...the first couple should be pretty simple, but the others are a bit more difficult. Give 'um a guess...but I've put the titles in the comments.

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Check out the other participants for this week's challenge at Sunday Stills!!

Mallard Duck on the Silvies

This female Mallard Duck was enjoying the afternoon in the Silvies water shed on the Bell-A Ranch. I like the mirrored image...it's very peaceful ~

Mirrored image

My entry in the Weekly Top Shot...check out the other participants HERE~

Sunday Stills ~ In Honor of Ed

It's a potluck photo challenge today at Sunday Stills in honor of the photographin' truck driver...Ed at Thoughts From the Road. It was his birthday on the 18th!

Instructions are to use any of Ed's past challenges...well, I'm sure there were "birds" in there somewhere...so, knowing that these are one of Ed's favorites...may I present this year's brood of Great Horned owlets that live at the Rough String Ranch!

Momma owl looks on with pride.

Let's crop this off and get a lil' bit closer

I see three!! There could be more back in behind.

Sorry for the bit of a blur...that's all my camera can do with it's 20x!

Happy Birthday Ed!!

Check out the other Sunday Stills participants in the comments HERE.

Sunday Stills ~ New Beginnings

The definination for Spring should be: "New Beginnings"...which happens to be the theme for this week's Sunday Stills photo challenge.

Dawn is the beginning of a new day

New beginnings of life come in spring...like cute lil' calves...Paddy was born on St. Patrick's eve.

Milk Face Paddy

Tumbleweed arrived three days later...and tumbled into this world as you can see on her previous posts of when we witnessed her birth and how she got her name.

Tumbleweed bats her pretty Jersey calf eyes for the camera...look at those eyelashes!

Robins have arrived, but we haven't found any nests yet. The photo below was through my dirty kitchen window; yes, it snowed last Wednesday. He's sitting in the Lilac which is just getting some leaf buds.

All Puffed Up

The elm trees will be a while before the leaves start budding out, but they always get these brown, round things in early spring (not sure what they are).

Elm tree in spring

And the beginning of our farming year...the alfalfa is finally coming out of dormancy...it won't be long before we're back to irrigating!

Frost on the Alfalfa

Well, this happens to be my 600th post...I have no idea where I came up with that much to say...I'm actually a pretty quiet person ;~)

Thanks for comin' along on this ride...I appreciate your comments and friendship...you all sure have made it enjoyable...we'll see if I make it another 600!

Rural Thursday ~ Despite the Snow & Wind

...life's got to get goin'!! I've got a bit of a sore throat because of it, but it will pass.

I'm on a roll with Colt and Gus...I got them worked three days in a row! We were supposed to sort pairs at the 3J Ranch today, but after yesterday's snow, they're holding off until Monday when it's supposed to be 68 degrees...I'm good with that!! Last year we pushed a small herd into the wind and snow, and it didn't go too well...we got them there, but once we left them at the watering hole, the cows and calves 'bout beat us back to the ranch!

We had about 2 inches yesterday mornin', but by noon it was meltin' off pretty good. As usual, the snow makes everything look pretty.

Lookin' for Shelter
This lil' one should have been inside instead of under the birdhouse!

Snowy Mornin' 7:00 AM
The sun was just starting to come up while I was out feeding.

It's nice to see some green in the pastures finally. Now, a lot of that green are weeds comin' up, but the pasture grass is gettin' green too!

Pastures are gettin' green!
1:00 PM Snow's almost gone.

I decided to put my good saddle on Gus yesterday for the first time, and I'm glad I did. My rope was coiled up on it like usual, and when he started to trot around the circus pole, he thought it was a boogie man that was gonna get him. It only took him a couple of minutes to get used to it floppin' and making a slappin' noise. I've worked him on the circus pole all three days and rode him two days in the round pen. I think we're ready to get out to the arena today.

Wind in the Mane
We're headin' out for a long trot to the end of our property
then back to the arena for some work.

Lookin' across the alfalfa field you can see a tinge of green!!! It's truly spring here in the high desert!!

I'm linking up with Nancy and Lisa today for Rural Thursday.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Mule Deer

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It's Wordless Wednesday again!!!

Sunday Stills ~ Birdstalking

This week's Sunday Stills photo challenge is birds...spring is always a good time for finding birds.

Located in Harney County is the Malheur Wildlife Refuge which is the freeway for migratory birds. Our biggest event of the year is the John Scharff Migratory Bird Festival.

I saw thousands of Snow Geese, numerous Bald Eagles and even a few ugly Turkey Vultures. But, never had a good enough photo op to do them justice.

But I did find these Sandhill Cranes in a cow pasture. There were at least 50 of them...very impressive to see!

Sandhill Cranes

And I got a few good shots of a pair of Northern Flicker woodpeckers in the elm tree in our yard. The day was really blowing as you can see by the feathers!

Wind-Blown Feathers
Northern Flicker woodpecker

Check out more feathered friends at Sunday Stills!