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~

Jenkins' Ranch to Jackrabbit Flat

...been busy for the past three days with Rancher Dan. We sorted and moved the older cow pairs and all the bulls that wouldn't go to Jackrabbit. Day two we trailed them to Jenkins' Ranch...day three we took them to Jackrabbit Flat; their home until the end of summer.

Dawn at Jenkins' Ranch

Off the County Road and crossing the desert.

My two best friends.

By day three, Rastus is gettin' a bit tired, but he's still got some spark in his eye and a smile on his face!

Rastus and I are holding back these Tree Top Ranches heifers so they won't get into our herd.

The pairs are lined out nicely...and the first ones are at the gate leading into Jackrabbit Flat.

Livin' the dream...

Trailing Cows ~ Day 2

The weather forecast was correct this time...cold, snowy, and windy.

We pulled into the Jenkins place where the cows were left overnight expecting to see 8-10 newborn calves, but there were only two! As we separated the pairs from the herd, the snow was pelting our faces...I thought to myself that there are buckaroos out here doing this on a daily basis...this was not the glamorous part of being a buckaroo!

But, we got the lil' calves loaded into the trailer and Rancher Dan's wife (G) drove them to the ranch and put them in the barn under a heat lamp to wait for their mother's arrival. The momma cows were not too happy with us, but they joined up with the rest of the herd and headed on down the road.

A rural traffic jam

The early mornin' snow was just a shower thank goodness...the sun came and went all day with a few snow showers here and there, but the wind picked up it's pace as the day progressed.

Yes, those are red ears in that photo...Rohan is going to get his fair share of riding this year. He's been left to sit in the pasture and get fat far too long! He'll never be the cow horse Colt is, but gathering, trailing and a bit of sorting will be really good for him. It's always good to have a back up horse ready to go when needed.

Rohan is my cow pony for the day!

Today's trip is about 13 miles, and like the day before, the cows were making good time with a nice, steady pace headin' for home.

Overlooking the beginning of the Diamond Valley toward the west.

About 5 miles from the ranch, we saw one cow laying down along the side of the road...we figured she might have her calf right there. But when we reached her on horseback, she got up and headed into the middle of the herd. Shortly after that, we turned onto the road going east and the wind was to our backs with tumbleweeds rolling along with us...I felt like a tumbleweed! The wind was pretty gusty!

We took the herd through a neighboring rancher's field and then onto the 2 mile driveway...everything was going smoothly!

Almost to the ranch and the sun is shinning brightly! But the wind was still rippin'.

Rancher Dan was in the front opening gates, and My Man and I were bringing up the rear closing gates behind us as we went. By the time we got to the ranch and into the field with the end of the herd, the cow that had laid down along side the road was already giving birth...such a good ol' girl!

Just in time...this cow laid down immediately and had her calf. Yes, those are snow flakes dotting the photo.

We had to sort out the two mother cows from this morning and reunite them with their calves; they mothered up nicely. And there was another calf in the barn that had been gathered up the day before; that calf was too cold to be left behind with its mother, so G took him to the ranch (riding on the floor board of the pickup) to get warmed up and bottle fed. They locked that cow into the barn with the calf...after two days apart, the momma cow may reject the calf. But, last I heard, they were starting to mother up.

Rastus is getting a bit of cool refreshment from McCoy Creek.

We moved some heifers around for Rancher Dan, and then tied the horses up on the trailer. G had an awesome lunch for us...the end of a great day! For D & G it'll be a 24/7 job until all the cows and heifers are done calving...hard work, but well worth the doin'.

Thanks for comin' along on the drive!

Back & Forth, Up & Down, North to South

The seasons go by quickly...it seems like we just moved Rancher Dan's cows north to Princeton for the winter, and now we're already moving them south to Diamond to calve!

Day One:

The temperature was in the teens, but the sun was shining, and the wind kept itself to a minimum. We started early so we could get the cows across the desert before the ground surface got greasy and hard to travel on.

Four new calves were born that night, so we had to cut them out and leave them behind. Many of the cows looked like they were ready to pop any moment! Today's trip is about 14 miles.

Starting out across the desert...the sage brush sea.

The cows were moving out really good...they kept up a steady pace and stayed on track most of the time. Their internal GPS was pretty much on target!

Looking back at where we came...between the two buttes.

There were spots of snow under the sage brush and ice covered the water holes. But by the time we reached the county road, the ground had started to thaw out and it was mucky.

Counting cows through the gate...the numbers are all recorded in the Red Book.

I was bundled up from head to toe...including insulated bib overalls, wool railroad cap and hooded sweatshirt...I didn't look like much, but I stayed relatively warm. We started the cows out at about 8 AM and arrived at the half way point around 3 PM.

On the county road...we walked our horses to keep our ol' bones movin'! This is the view from Colt's eye.

Rastus got to help some when a few cows would decide they needed to veer off track...and he did a very good job...I was proud of him since he's been off all winter with just a few practice days on our cows. When we got onto the county road, there's a fence on both sides, so there wasn't much need for his help. But Rastus was content to just be there.

The cows are lined out for over a mile.

Rancher Dan's wife showed up with refreshments and food. Even though it was cold, the beer I had tasted pretty good! We waited for the sandwiches until we got to the destination...too cold to take my gloves off!

My two good boys.

Everyone arrived safely and the cows went straight for the hay that had been laid out for them...except for one cow who went straight to the fence line, stopped in the corner and burst her water...the first of how many calves for that night?

Tomorrow...day two~

Participating in:
Rurality Blog Hop #4

Sunday Stills ~ Circles

The braided reata is not only a working tool, but a beautiful piece of art. Buckaroos who use them to rope livestock take pride in them and care for them as a treasure...they are expensive!

The coils of the reata form beautiful circles...there are other circles in the photo too if you search for them.

Neatly organized coils of a hand braided rawhide reata.

Below, another buckaroo uses a nylon ranch rope; personal preference, economics, and sometimes the weather dictates what the buckaroo will use on a particular day.

Either way, a loop is thrown to catch the calf's head and another one to catch the calf's heels for branding, vaccinations and castration if it's a bull calf.

The circle loop is thrown with practiced accuracy and lands around the calf's neck. It's branding day.

(Yes, I cheated and used my archives)

Check out other circle photos at Sunday Stills!

Another Case of "Who Left the Gate Open?"

Actually...it was "Who was the dumb a$$ that cut the lock off the gate and left it open?"

Not to stereo type, but most likely it was some damn city slicker hunter. Locals don't do that sort of thing without telling the land owner...because they would have had a reason to cut the lock to get through the gate...but locals would have shut the gate behind them!

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday trying to straighten out the mess.

About 10 bulls and 50 pair (who had gone out the open gate) came back to the 3J Ranch when it snowed a couple of weeks ago and were in the bull's winter field.

Bull winter field...we spread out to gather the field.

Viewing God's Country...my fav photo of the day.

I ended up with most of the bulls and of course they split. Rastus was good help in kicking the one group down the hill to Jerry then he came back to me to help drive the others.

After everything was gathered, we sorted out the bulls and some older cows. There was a newborn calf too (one of those surprises that you really don't want to happen), so we sorted them off.

We drove the rest back up into another field that had good feed in it still.

Taking the herd threw the grassy low lands...then up
a hill to another field.

Mineral tubs were put out...hoping the cows would be happy enough to stay there and not come back down to the ranch. The weather is fairly warm with no snow in for forecast, so they should be pretty happy. I had to take my jacket off in the afternoon and just had a vest on...it was a beautiful day!

Headin' back to ranch at the end of day one.

Day two, we trailered the horses and took another trailer for cows about 5 miles south to a neighbor's place. Cows had been seen in the hills behind that ranch when it had snowed. So we started there hoping to find some close enough to take them to the corrals on that ranch.

Looking south to Steens Mountain off on the horizon.

All we found were lots of old tracks. So we split up and road north with the plan to meet at the canyon of Curtis Creek.

From high up on the rim rock, Ty saw some pairs down on the creek. So, Jerry and I rode down Curtis Creek, and Ty continued north up a draw to close the gate. We met up again at Rifle Spring.

Riding down Curtis Creek...one rocky son of a gun...but very pretty!
It was a cloudy day and looks a bit dreary. My little point and shoot
just doesn't capture like a good camera.

We found the pairs and got them heading north.

They first wanted to give us the run around, but after we got them bunched up, they decided to be good cows and herd!

We got them up and over the hill toward the ranch then turned them east through the low lands where we put the cows from the day before.

Actually, we were expecting to find more, but believe that the other cows went back into their field through the open gate. After combing the field where we found these, they're pretty confident that we got everyone back.

Two long days in the saddle, and my knees were killing me, Colt's hooves were getting sore...but wouldn't miss it for anything! Rastus...he was ready for another day!

The Grass Sea

Fall is here. The alfalfa is going dormant after a few hard freezes. Lots of cattle are being worked; gathered, sorted, weaned, those that got missed in the spring are branded and castrated, and some are being shipped to the sale yards. It's kind of like the end of the cycle.

Last week, I helped the 3J Ranch move pairs from one field to another. I hadn't ridden in that area before. The land is on the edges of the Malhuer Lake and there are numerous sloughs...which made it quite interesting and a little more challenging.

Can't beat this view! The sun just lit up the grass heads.

Moving cow/calf pairs through the slough waters of Malhuer Lake.

As we move the cows through the sloughs, the base gets deeper and deeper.
We chose to cross where the cows had not been, and it was still plenty deep.

Rastus had a ball in the water!! Yahoo!!

It looked like a grass sea with the cows moving through...sometimes
you couldn't even see the cows!

It didn't take long for Rastus to dry out in the 75 degree heat.
One happy cow dog...I'm getting better with my commands...
it's a lot of fun to have a good horse and a good dog!

It's been unusually warm this fall, but there's snow and rain in our forecast! I guess I will sadly put away my patio furniture this weekend...sigh...