Holidays? What Holidays?

OK, so Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone...as quick as Santa's blink of an eye. I was here, but I'm not sure what I did since I didn't get the Christmas letter done, any cards mailed, or all of my crafty gifts finished...

Sigh...

I'm not really into the term "resolution" as in New Year's Resolutions...but I hope to be here blogging in 2015 more than I was in 2014...I may have said that last year too...

Sigh...

What else...I'm gonna pick up that camera more often too!! The world goes by all to quickly...and I really didn't see any of the details!!! That's why they call it a "capture"...right?

So, I'll leave you with a capture of Rastus in the fresh mornin' snow today~




Belated Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas~

Wordless Wednesday ~ Mt Washington, Central Oregon

Wordless Wednesday ~ Morning Breakfast Call

Muddy Monday

Pierce looks cute even with his mud mask on!

 ~

We have an inch of snow this mornin'...and it's going to be 70 degrees on Thursday...CRAZY!!! It won't last...but with the higher temps, the permafrost is going to make the ground interesting.

 ~

Have an awesome week!!

Sunday Stills ~ The Letter "F"

This week's photo challenge for Sunday Stills...The Letter F

FIRST...I have a question. OK...those of you that use Blogger and are uploading your photos directly through Blogger, are you have any clarity issues?

My first photo is "Flooding Fence Posts." There are two copies below...the first through Flickr; the second through Blogger. Look at the clarity, and I had the same problem with every photo that I loaded through Blogger today! I don't know what the deal is, but Blogger seems to be having issues!

This photo uploaded to Flickr then imbedded to Blogger

This same photo was uploaded directly to Blogger

If you know what might be going on, please email or leave a comment.

Onward!!

Fruit
An Orange That Isn't An Orange.
This is a Moro Blood Orange...juicy, but not too sweet.

Farm Equipment
It's been sitting in the same spot ever since we moved here...over seven years.
I bet it hauled a bunch of hay in its time!

Flowers
A surprise from my Geranium in the dead of winter!

Check out the other participants at Sunday Stills...or come along and join in yourself!!


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On another subject...flooding from yesterday's post...I need to clarify things a little bit...visuals are best I think!

Flood water routes

The water fall that's created from the berm comes off the rim rock on the right and goes down hill to the pasture gates and on out to the alfalfa field.

The center arrow shows the direction of the water flow from all the snow and rain that drains from that area, my circus pole and round, which goes into the ditch behind the barn.

The arrow on the left is the direction the water flows from that area which goes in front of the barn...and was too frozen to dig a ditch.

The little brown run-in shed located at the middle of the barn is a high spot, so everything drains from about that point toward the barn.

Long story short, builder (before us) didn't put the barn up on a pad like he should have; he built it level with the ground. Time has taken its toll and low spots have been created at the front and back sliding doors.

The hay storage and tack room have been built up to the correct level. The stalls are about half way built up (need to add more fill), but the aisle down the middle needs to come up 6-8 inches, and I want rubber mats wall to wall in the aisle. We'll put a small culvert at the front and the back of the barn...LOL...when we have money and time...so, it's a work in progress!

Today, everything's all froze up again and we've got to decide whether to leave Whiskey out in that rim pasture on the right or try to get him up the a stall in the barn without falling...it's a sheet of VERY slick ice. So far, he's staying off the ice and has a pool of water to drink from. But that pool will be froze in the next day since the forecast is the mid teens for at least the next week. I hate this part of winter.

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!

A Lil' of This ~ A Lil' of That

If you take photos for your blog, I'm sure this happens to you; photos you like didn't get into a blog for one reason or another.

So, here's a miss-matched set of photos in no particular order ~

Cold Paws

I don't think I've ever seen CS's ears up like this winter...maybe it's the cold...maybe it's her age. She sure loves being out with the "big dogs"...but the wood stove is her best friend, besides me!

Stetson's Long Ears

One frosty Stetson on a chilly morning.

Sunset on the Rim Rock

My favorite rim rock. This was at 4 o'clock in the afternoon; here from the back side of the barn, the day cools off quickly as the sun disappears.

Water Trough Sauna

Tumbleweed's head looks a little fuzzy...from the steam coming up off of the water. I love tank heaters!

Rastus; Doing what he loves most

Work, work, work...that's all this cow dog wants to do!

Garden Pond in Winter

This year-round water fall/pond is in the yard of the home where I get my hair cut. They tell me they have a heater in it to keep the fish alive during the winter...and the deer come in on a daily basis to water, so they have to fill it up quite often. I'd love to have one of these in my yard...the dogs would love it too, but I don't have the time to take care of it.

I've been researching tabletop water falls...I think something on the deck in the summer would be nice and then bring it into the house for winter. Have any of you made one? I found this "How to make a tabletop water fall"...sounds pretty simple, and Lord knows we have enough rock around here!

Oh yes, welcome to some new readers: Jenny, Wendy, Paula, and Lori! Nice to have you along for the ride.

Hey, Happy Friday!!!

On the Run

OK...got 5 minutes before I need to get out the door for a day at the Post Office. Just checkin' in to let you know I'm still here...really!

Crystal Lights

Wednesday we had quite a bit of moisture in the mornin" (another 0*F mornin'), but the elm trees looked like they had clear Christmas lights strung through them. This photo picked up a few of them, and you need to look close. They're the spots that almost look like sun reflections off of a dirty lens.

OK...off 'n runnin'!

Have a super Friday!

The Meltdown

With 42 degrees and sunshine yesterday, the snow is melting away. It was a gorgeous day for a quick walk with the pups, so we went down to the old building of Princeton which is on our property at the end of the driveway.

I posted a couple of photos in my Photo a Day blog for day #8 of Old Princeton. Slowly the building seems to be blowing away...literally. I find shingles in the alfalfa field quite often, and the insides are falling in and the insulation of newspapers and magazines on the walls are becoming very sparse.

Cindy Sue of course...bundled in sweater and her infamous red coat.

This door to Old Princeton made a nice frame for the photos. Red Dog was too busy sniffin' for varmints to capture him!

Rastus with his "look." His eyes are my favorite.

After wasting time in the sunshine...even though it felt Oh So Good...I decided that I better go check the main barn. Dang, it was not good.

The usual flood behind the barn...which flowed into the barn at the front and the back...sigh.

So, I spent the next hour and a half, digging (chipping ice) ditches for water to drain, shoveling some of the remaining snow away from the barn in the runs and scooping water out of the aisle and one of the stalls with a large flat shovel.

Every year, My Man and I say we're going to fix the problem, but finances are always needed somewhere else...so the project gets put lower on the priority list...and we get to do this every year when we have a large amount of snow. Fun! Not.

It's already drying up inside the barn, so it'll be back to normal soon. Nothing is ever damaged; it's just a pain.

And life goes on...with a beautiful sunset...

Shadows from the hill behind our place cast its outline on Hat Butte.

A Pocket of Sunset

More snow is forecast for today and tonight...but not enough to amount to much.

Happy Hump Day!

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!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

(been humming that song lately)

We've been having a long spell of cold weather, but this is more normal for SE Oregon than we've had in the past few years. Global warming? I don't know...you get what you get I think.

But Christmas Day and the day following, we got 8-10 inches, and it's not going anywhere.

It takes 10 minutes to get dressed to go do chores...of course Cindy Sue is another couple of minutes. She's wearing a fleece Snuggie under her coat...she really wants some booties I think!

Quite a Pair of Hooters!

The owls were totally lookin' awesome yesterday! They don't normally sit next to each other in the tree...they had positioned themselves so the breeze was coming toward their back, but they had the tree trunk behind them to block some of the wind...and they seemed to be snuggling. So very cute!

The herd is getting lots of extra hay to keep the internal heat turned up.

Yesterday's high was 15 and this morning it was -5. Forecast is a high of 23 by 11 AM (I'll believe it when I see it) and will go down quickly in the afternoon with a breeze picking up.

Afternoon Snack

Pierce had an accident yesterday afternoon. I didn't see it, so I can only surmise...Colt and him have been turned out together during the day, and I think they got to running and playing...of course Colt is a lot bigger than Pierce. Pierce ended up going over/through a fence made of field fencing in a corner spot, caught up both rear legs in the fence and got scraped and cut pretty good. Doctoring in sub-freezing temps is not fun.

He's pretty swollen and stiff this morning. I thought I was out of Bute, but I'm not...so I'm going back out now to give him a dose. He should feel a bit better with the Bute, but I'm concerned with the cuts and scraped hide in these temps. Any suggestions?

A Photo A Day ~ The Challenge

New Year resolutions?

Nah...it's a daily thing...stay focused and get more done. Period.

But, I am going to attempt the 365 day challenge of A Photo A Day. January 1 is a good day to start, but I had to decide how I was going to post the photos...I didn't want to tie them into this blog.

Facebook? No, I'm trying to stay off of there.

Another blog? Yep...but I'm going to give WordPress a go and see how I like it.

So, here's the link to JKS Photography. I've also put the link at the top of the right side bar and in the blogs I'm following. I only plan on posting the daily photo with just a simple description (trying to make it quick and easy). Also, the daily photos will  not be posted on this blog.

Knowing that I can't always post every day, the post title will be the day the photo was taken, so I may post numerous photos on one day.

If you have time, please drop in and see how it's going...I have a feelin' that I'm gonna to need your support!!

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Meanwhile...back at the ranch...

-10 degrees F here this mornin'...my photo session didn't last long!

Another chilly mornin'

Have a great day as we begin the New Year!!

Freezing, Frosty Friday

Today was the first day this season to reach below 0 F. The official low temperature on our thermometer was -6 F. Last evening they said it was going to be a low of 12...they were just a lil' bot off their mark!

After ten minutes of dressing Cindy Sue and myself for the cold, we venture out to feed the herd.I had a feelin' there might be some good photo ops!

Sunrise through the frosted elm tree

Oh my, it was a glorious mornin' despite the cold!

I say the girls are happy this mornin'...they have plenty of hay to keep cow smiles on their faces!

I left all of the tank heaters plugged in, which I hate to have to do because of the cost, but I want to keep everyone hydrated.

Tracks in the snow

After making quick work of getting everyone fed, I took a few shots, and we (all the dogs and me) were ready to get into the house and stand by the wood stove. Ahhhhh...lovin' that wood heat!