A Winter Getaway

Katie and Phoebe will be spending the winter up Bear Creek enjoying a nice barn and running creek. Wish this was our place, I just love it.



We also got to see Bob. He got big! He just turned one this month and is looking like he will be bigger than any of us thought.

New house

We went to look at a new place this week. Joe will be working for himself now so the house we just finished building will no longer wok for us. The place we looked at has something like 900 acres with a pivot and a shop on it. We will have a lot more room for all the horses and Joe will work from the shop. That means more time at home together.

Taters

We finely got around to digging the taters. We had trouble seeing the rows but we enjoyed using the tater digger. We really needed more horses as the ground was so hard and dry but they did alright for no more than we had to do.

Canning time

More Fun in the Field

Random pictures form our adventure.

We had the paper come out and interview Joe and Don. I think we had half the little town of LaGrange drive by or stop and watch us. Crazy how something that used to be normal has now become such a novelty.
Me and my big hat. This was Joe's idea. I looked, well, different, but it sure did keep the sun off.



My view.




Don Richards on the rake. We are so greatfull to him and his wife for all they did for us this year. We learned so much, had a great time and made friendships grow.

Horse Power

is all this needs to work. Our three girls could do the job but not for long. This thing still pulled to hard.

So Joe put them all on it. This worked much better. Problem was all five girls had never been hitched together. After some schooling for all involved things started to go fairly well. We ended up pulling the baler with the tractor to finish things up. Back to the shop for the baler for some adjustment and next year we should be in business.

What a day

Yesterday was a beautiful day to start making hay. We were in LaGrange at the Ward Trenching shop and when this little bit is done we move into Nebraska. Don Richards has been kind enough to let us hay half his circle and try out or ground driven baler.

All My Pretty Horses

Well, some.

Well, I asked for water!

Joe said he would get water to the garden one way or another by tonight. I was sure he was just saying this to keep me happy, kind of like the last dozen times he has said it. But this time him and Mother Nature got in agreement and they gave me water! Way to much water! I'm trying not to complain, rain is always good and we always need more. But this came down so fast it turned the side yard into a river, washing away all the grass seed that I had just planted. And because Joe and I are known for our procrastination we had still to dig the drainage ditch that was to run down the middle of the garden. Yes, the rain came up and the garden washed away. Well, part of it did. I spent the evening picking up onion sets and making rows so I had a place to put them and this morning I gathering up pea seed. The good news is my garden has been watered! The peas I picked up were sprouted and the beans, as far as I know, are save in the ground. The grass seed I am sure will have 100% germination, in the ditch, but any grass is good grass. I love spring rain in Wyoming!
The sounds are the best. This storm had a lot of lighting up in the clouds. The thunder was a soft to strong rolling rumble that never seamed to stop, it just rolled into the next one. I love that sound as it is not the kind that wakes you up in the night but rocks you to sleep along with the rain on the roof. It did stop raining before bed but not before dumping 1 1/2 inches on us. When I went out last night it was still raining lightly. The air had the wonderful clean smell and you could hear toads talking all over the place. I'm not sure where they come from but I remember the first time we got a big rain, it was the first spring we were married, and our front yard was full of toads. The made so much noise you could hear it in the house but the next morning they were gone. Only one or two were still sitting a puddle. Same thing happened again, where do they come from? Where do they go? Who knows.

Cowman saves the day

Yesterday our pony, Dutch, was left out as Joe plowed the garden. He was doing his thing being good until Brody decided that he needed to go back in the pen. The whole thing went something like the following.


Joe and I are at the garden and Dutch comes running by. Then Brody comes running by dragging the rope. "Brody what's going on?" "I'm getting my horse."


I help him get the rope picked up and he tries to do rope tricks.
Or maybe he was just trying to walk and not drop the rope again."Come on Mom, I got to get that horse." He is so cute!
Look he did it! Well Hank caught Dutch by the mane and when Brody came running over yelling at him to let his horse go so HE could catch him Hank put the rope around Dutch's neck.
"He was wild. I got my horse all myself. I a cowman Mom!"

2nd day on the job

The field is about 150' x 200' and Joe got the last of it plowed today. He said he probably should have waited a few more days to let it dry out but rain is in the forecast and time is of the essence. It feels good to have this much done on the garden!

First time behind the plow

Oh what a beautiful morning

Oh what a beautiful day. Today we started to plough the garden. Joe took us on a wagon ride before he got started just to calm the girls down and because we all find it enjoyable. You couldn't have asked for a nicer day or better weather.