Cowboys and Romance

Women of all ages like romance.

After I typed that I thought maybe I had better just speak for myself. If any of you have read THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES by Gary Chapman, you know that "receiving gifts" is one of the five languages. It is a fun book to read and I think that I like all of the five at different times.

My Cowboy came home from riding one day with some miniature iris tied with horse hair that he had found at an old homestead where he is taking care of the cattle. I just loved the gesture and loved him for thinking of it!! He probably got a pie out of that sweet gesture! Need I say more...
Bill has brought me a posy now and then but it had been awhile!

He is riding Big Blue, but we have sold him. He is a really nice horse. He is making Scott E. a great horse.

I have tried packing things horseback and it isn't all that easy! I did find some broken glass that was purple, so it is in my garden collection. I am trying to make an area for flowers, interesting items, and for contemplation, but My Cowboy is worried about the water draining away from the house and the sloop of the ground before I get too carried away... See my dilemma?

Amy goes to the vet tomorrow, so have been burning up the tires the last two weeks with Dr. visits and vet visits for family.

Flowers, Gardening, & Deer

My good word for the day is: "I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content." Phil. 4:11

I was repeating that verse as I was bouncing over the ground mowing weeds and thinking about how hard we ranch girls work to have some flowers, trees, garden "stuff" and maybe a little grass. Gumbo is a dirt (is it dirt?) of it's own kind. It is as hard as a rock when dry and comes out in big clumps when dug and when wet, it sticks to one's feet like deflated tire inner tubes!! I have been known to "lose" a shoe in the stuff!
This is my new lawn tractor from My Cowboy! We wore the other one out in three years! This one has 24 + hours on it so far! It mows a little bigger swath, which is good! We mow lots and lots because I hate snakes!!!
This iris grows in gumbo in spite of itself. This picture was taken this spring before the deer found the blossoms!

This picture of my moss roses is to show that deer will eat them whether I have wire on them or not. If you look closely, you will see chicken wire secured by my lawn ornament made by Wayland. They were also hanging their head into the planter to the left of the moss roses!!

This is an early morning picture I tried taking of two bucks in Grandma's yard! One is eating her Chinese elm tree and the other one is lurking around, since there really isn't anything to eat except in our yards. Granted, they were beautiful to watch and then I came to my senses and clapped my hands and hollered at them (after trying to get a pic).

I wonder if I would be called a red-necked gardener as I have wire around my flowers to keep the critters at bay. It also keeps the cats out of the planters too! It isn't esthetically pretty, but if you squint your eyes you don't see the wire as much! There is also wire on the pansies if you look closer.
The trees, the deer love the leaves on the trees. Both of these trees are struggling for survival. The wind blew the wire off of the tree at the right of the picture. It happened in the spring and all the leaves were eaten off, but after the wire was installed one more time, the leaves came back! Another thing the deer like to do is rub the velvet off of their horns and they do that on our trees without wire rather than the trees along the creek. Plastic sacks looped over the branches works. Does red-neck come to mind??

We work so hard at having a few things grow. My Cowboy put in a 1500- gallon water tank behind the garage for me to catch rain water. The other day I watered the trees on a trickle. When I turned the water off, I had turned it the wrong way. The next morning My Cowboy told me my water tank was empty BUT the good news was that the trees all got watered! They are good until fall!! I know, I know--lefty loosey, righty tighty!!!

So, you can see why I was repeating my Bible verse this morning! My flowers are pretty, the weeds get mowed, I have water for the flowers and veggies, there is gas in the mower and My Cowboy loves me. It can't get much better than that...

The "MEN" in our Lives

The "men" in this picture are Spider, Ace, Duny, Joe, and Cash. This was on Friday, August 14th. We had two horses in the corral, Joe Jack's Big Mac and an unnamed gray horse. Joe Jack has a swollen knee and he is getting acquainted with the gray and keeping him company. Also missing from this picture is Art (the big BOSS) and Ted. We didn't think too much about that. We had had an electrical storm plus about 1/4" of rain and didn't give it much thought that two were missing. Art and Ted hung pretty close, being the "older horses at 25 and 17 respectively


The horses at this ranch are the backbone of our horse work. They are cared for and loved. They are fed usually each day, so they come easily when my Cowboy calls them. They know they are special and they even actually act like they want to be "picked" for the day's work when they haven't gone for awhile. They come up for their head rub... Then when the work gets heavy, they really don't think they want to be the one to go! How typical of us all!
Here is the same bunch of horses. Sometimes they will come up to the fence, which is near the house to make sure that Bill sees them so he will go to the barn and give them just a tad of grain!
Here is Kamryn on Joe. When she was little she thought that Joe was really her horse and she called him "My Joe" which we called him that a lot of the time too! He is a sweetheart and has packed me a few miles. I really like his little jig as it covers a lot of ground and I don't get too sore. Joe now is lame part of the time, so will be only for kids...

Next to Kamy on Joe is Cowboy PopPop riding Ted. Ted is probably one of the best horses Bill has ever owned according to him. He is such a beautiful bay. Cowboy says he is such a "cowy" horse. For those few city folk that read this, it means they work cattle very well. Cowboy said sometimes he had trouble staying on whenTed would cut back after a cow or calf. When I rode him he knew that it was a rather cushy job, so he took VERY good care of me and we did our work but I didn't require the same level of expertise as my Cowboy!

Typing this is even hard to do, you see Ted got struck by lightening Thursday night, August 13th. The reason Art and Ted weren't in the top picture is probably Ted's buddy Art was standing with him hoping he would get up. We were both so thankful Ted wasn't standing there with a broken leg and that more horses weren't hit also. We had one crack of thunder that shook the house Thursday evening, so it was most likely that one. There weren't any trees close where he was struck either.

I hope there are horses in Heaven...



This is Foxy, another beautiful horse. Cowboy Bill calls him his "circle horse" and he went MANY miles on Foxy. I thought he was such a beautiful sorrel. Amy just loved to get to go "work" when they went horseback. Foxy got a cut on his shoulder which turned out to be a much bigger problem than a small cut. Long story condensed, it was bad, he wasn't going to heal, something broken and he had to be put down. Tapateo was another old horse that Cowboy put down with Foxy, so it hasn't been our horse summer. We also had some that got wire cut but did heal. Ace got a hairline crack in his hoof earlier, but seems to be healed...

Our best and prettiest and youngest of horses get their legs broken, wire cut, you name it, it happens with horses. We get new ones and they become part of "the men" and we go on, but once in awhile for those fleeting seconds we think of Tap, Foxy, and now Ted. We think, oh, what a horse...

FAIR TIME!!

It was Fair Time in Garfield County and the weather was perfect!!!! Cool...

4-H kids showing their livestock...

A picture I started when Baylee was a baby. I love "redwork" and had never done any until now.

This is a block-of-the month quilt I did from The Plaid Square in Glasgow. It is batiks and was challenging at times. This quilt goes to Dad and Bonnie and the green will go with her Irish red hair!
This is my "Dick and Jane" quilt. I learned to read with Dick and Jane, so when this fabric appeared in the stores, I knew I had to have some. Carousel Quilting quilted it. She did a fabulous job. I told her it was whimsical and to have some fun quilting it. I am sure because of her quilting I won the purple ribbon in that division. I was super excited as that is my first purple EVER! It is still fun to get them...

The one on the left is a wall hanging or table topper and I liked the flowers. The one on the right is the one that makes me laugh out loud when I see it! I am not really "into" Halloween, but this wall hanging was one that I just had to do. I am crazy about that old witch!! You can't see it in this picture but her leggings are purple to go with her red heels. Maybe I have a thing about red shoes!!
What would the fair be without the sandbox by the fair building. They were super busy and it was a little wet, but most of the "youngins" were there so Moms and Dads could find them. I am sure that after a little pink cotton candy the sand stuck like glue...

It rained that night, buckets, which is no exaggeration and hailed some places. It rained 7/10 at our place. I didn't look at the sand box on Saturday but it was undoubtedly busy. I was trying to stay warm during the stock sale so didn't think about the little ones as we didn't have any visiting. My friend Jane brought a blanket for our laps, what a friend! Who would think in August it would feel so cool.

RED, RED HIGH HEELS!

You have heard where truth is stranger than fiction...do I have a story for you! It all started when we picked up Rosie O'Grady to come to the ranch. Naturally, we had to do a "little" shopping in Billings before we headed to the ranch. One of the stops was Dillards to look at shoes for the family reunion. After the "flip flops" were picked (I am still of the "thongs" generation and saying that tends to get one into trouble!) we were looking at other shoes...


Rosie spotted the red shoes with the bow on the side, the three-inch spikes AND the cute little ankle strap. Of course, she tried them on and I must say they were "darling" and she didn't even teeter on them!! We laughed and wondered where one could wear them, church maybe. They would be too high and hurt our feet after too long a time so it had to be a short duration, knowing our age...

Then I spotted a pair that I had to try on. YES, they were RED too, and patent leather. Can you believe my good fortune?!! They were just great and I had a little more support and I didn't teeter either. We did a lot more laughing and a couple of ladies trying on shoes had to come and peek.

We did NOT buy the shoes, but talked about them all the way home. Rosie's were even on sale! I awoke at 2 a.m. thinking of all the things I could wear those red shoes with (I know, I know, the preposition!!) and where. My daughter M.M. told me if I was still thinking about them maybe I should buy them.

On the day before flight day for Rosie, the Farmer's Wife called and said she wanted to buy them for a present for Rosie. On the way to Billings I asked Rosie what size she tried on. She told me she would likely look for a pair in Texas.

Yikes!! What to do? As soon as I had purchased said BEAUTIFUL red shoes and of course, my pair, I called the Farmer's Wife and said she had better see how she could stall Rosie on her shoe buying!!!
Grandma got in the mix as she LOVES shoes too and came for coffee and tried on Rosie's shoes. They can't take the girl out of the woman! Although she didn't want to "walk" in them!


Oh, Rosie's shoe size is an 8 and mine is 9 1/2. When I got both pair home, mine were an 8 also. A phone call later, they would ship me a new pair, no postage and I could take the "8" back.
Texas cousin came and she happened to wear a size 8 also, so we had another fashion show...and she bought the original size 8 that was my shoe. Dilemma solved there. Isn't life wonderful??




The best part is that men really like red high heels on women, Rosie told me so, sort of like red toe nails. Cowboy actually agreed. There are my shoes in one of my favorite things, flowers. No, I haven't worn them yet, but I will...

Kittens,Busy Kittens!

We have changed the name of "Cleo" to "Fancy" as she thinks she is pretty fancy! For any of you that have read and bought the FANCY NANCY books by Jane O'Connor it fits this kitten. The Farmer's Wife got me started buying FANCY NANCY books for some of the grandchildren and it doesn't matter what age they are, they like them. Even Baylee who turned two in April likes her FANCY NANCY book. I hear there are more to buy...humm...

She does not stand still, so it was hard to get a picture. She has really grown in two weeks. It would be fun to have two to watch, but they would be terrible trouble. Cowboy says the ones at the other place are getting bigger all the time. This little Miss Fancy probably realizes that she has it made at this ranch!

She doesn't get to come in much, but we are trying to tame her down. I am still allergic to cats...and she wants to bite and claw me and those little claw marks swell right away!

Cowboy is having fun playing with the new one.

Border Collie, Bandages, Breaks...

My Cowboy's right-hand Border Collie dog got stepped on by a bull June 16th. We made a mad dash to the vet's office and the x-rays didn't show anything broken but some pulled/torn tendons. We came home thinking she would be out of commission for about 12 weeks.

Back to the story, they were moving bulls and they were trying to get them through a gate and those bulls can move so darned fast. I am scared of them myself! One ran back and Cowboy went to head off Mr. Bull. The bull turned back and Amy was lying in tall grass, couldn't see anything and got her left hind leg stepped on. Hence the phone call to me to see where I was in my journey home and therefore we could go together to said vet.

After approximately four weeks I thought she should go to the groomers to get rid of the belly hair because of needle grass and other "stickers." I helped them and we were very careful. Cowboy and I noticed that her foot sometimes would turn sideways. It made us hurt to look at it. We were due at a family reunion on July 24th in Miles City, so we decided on a second vet opinion (this is 5 1/2 weeks after injury). X-rays showed breaks on both sides of her bones just above the foot. Dr. Ryan Rienstra said it wouldn't heal without something done. He said it was more complicated than he wanted to handle and recommended Dr. Ken Brown to do surgery. We were given an approximate cost--she is a working dog besides our family...we said go for it.

Dr. Ken Brown is really a pet/people vet. He put us at ease and we left her in their care for surgery. That was done on August 4th. Today was a followup check and new bandage with Dr. Rienstra. He said it is looking good. We can get rid of the t-shirt unless she starts licking the shoulders where bone chips were taken for the plating. We see him next week again and will go to Dr. Brown in three weeks for followup x-rays. She is on a leash when we go outside.

She is now lying on the cool basement floor, shoulders down sleeping hard!

Our dogs and cats, and horses too, just trust us so much.

Plays, Popcorn, Padding!

I have been watching the plays that were being performed at the Fort Peck Theatre. I have never gone to one and have always wanted to attend one of them. This year they were performing GREASE. So, even before my cousin got here I got reserved tickets for the Sunday matinee. I don't like to drive that narrow road after dark with all the critters!

When she got here I asked her if she was game to go. Realize I only gave her one day to catch her breath before I whisked her away. She arrived Friday evening after her plane had been delayed out of Houston and she missed her flight in Denver by about 15-20 minutes! Fast travel...hummm.

We went to church, had lunch, and took off. My Cowboy wasn't at all interested in going with us and was doubly glad I had a partner to go along. There was a lot of visiting being done and the trip went fast. We got popcorn (with butter, of course) for something to do until they opened the doors. Then we were like little kids, we had to have water next! We even paid 25 cents for a pad to sit on. I was actually dreading going into the old building, but once in there it was air conditioned! Thank you, Thank you! We were in the fourth row on the aisle in the middle section. I couldn't have picked better seats.

WELL, to say that we were impressed is putting it mildly!! Besides being such a fun play to watch, I was trying to figure out who had more fun--them performing it or us watching it!! The quality of their music and acting was superb. I can see why the auditorium was full. It isn't really a secret how good they are, the word must be out, but I am doing a little more spreading. I could go watch that one again. My cousin thought Rizzo stole the show, but I would be hard pressed to pick one over the other. Great performance!!! If you ever get the chance, go! We were so excited visiting about the play on the way home.

We made no stops so we were home within two hours from leaving Fort Peck.

Montana Pioneer Women

We gave the tour of the homes in the banks. One is cut out of a bank of dirt and the other one out of a bank of dirt and rock. It makes me so VERY THANKFUL for the house I do live in. Pioneer women had to be brave and strong and many more adjectives that I can even think! We like to show visitors these places and it is such a reminder of how far we have really come in 100 years!

The first top picture shows the chimney and this picture shows the room. The roof has caved off and so the depth doesn't really show, but I am such a sunshine person, what in the world could it have been like to live similar to animals. This woman was a mail order bride. Her husband dug coal there for a living. The legend goes that he took her shoes away but one day he had to be gone. She walked to the Ingomar Road which would have been about a 10-mile walk and caught a freight wagon to Ingomar and got on a train. Did they raise the funds for her to go home there in Ingomar? Did she have a wee small stash hidden to be able to get away? Was she very young like many brides of that time? Was she frightened? Did she have family to go back to? What in the world did they eat when she lived with this man? The story continues that he went after her but never caught up with her. I alway like the happy endings so I am cheering for the bride!!
Here is a picture of the other "house." This one appears to let one stand up inside. My Cowboy didn't recommend going inside and he mentioned snakes, soooo...just a peek in the door.

We are such brave young girls! We peeked around the door and it looks like there is another room back there. There still are no windows... It makes me wonder how long this bride and her groom stayed in this home of stone.
It is a beautiful view from the doorway south. This is looking west. I should check with the Cowboy since I do get my directions tangle up.

Once again I am so thankful for running water and all the many comforts we take for granted. My Texas cousin and I have been going through papers and pictures for long ago--back to Great Greats and forward. Their life wasn't easy but they came "west" to make a life for their families and here we are...thank you God for their perseverance!

More about the Grand Boy

This was too good to not snap this picture. While sister was riding Grand Boy was looking over Cowboy PopPop's pickup. PopPop said Grand Boy is a machine man and wants to know how "stuff" works! I would like to think Angus is saying, "I know I can fix this for you, bring me a wrench!"

This got left off of the blog last night and just needed to be on here.

The description "ten gallon hat" just fits for this little cowboy!

Kids, Horses, Kids

We had Mary come over with the kids to meet my cousin, Roberta. Two Texas Robertas how blessed are we!!! We had made homemade ice cream yesterday sooo...Grammy was ready for Grandies. But, alas! Tis not I they wish to see, it is Cowboy PopPop with the horses you see!
Oh what fun! We had bought a new saddle so the first one who happened along was the ONLY grandboy! We had a little excitement when his hat flew off!! His hat is a size 7, need I say more...I turned around (I was hurrying to the house for the camera!!) and caught Art jumping and Angus was hanging on and Cowboy PopPop was doing some serious horse whispering!


Angus looks pretty serious. This is important and he wants to get it right and goodness, it is a long way down and this is a pretty big horse!

This is one proud PopPop! His favorite saying is, "The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man." I think one could put boy, girl, or lady too.

Art, he really is one good looking horse!
This is about the third ride. It is getting easier BUT he really would like his hat!

Now it is Maggie's turn to ride and she was the one that asked Cowboy PopPop if they could ride today...

Art is not happy. He was hoping to dump one or the other of them and then he could go back to being the Alpha horse (do they call it Alpha with horses??). Anyway, he is the boss and keeps the other horses in line. He is still boss at 25 years old! Bill said with a little practice, Maggie would be a good cowgirl and be at ease horseback. It is far away to snatch her for a couple of hours here and there...dang!


By the way, Miss Who's It has been named Cleopatra, Cleo for short. The names I came up with were discarded. By the way, I did like the one you picked, Marisa, but My Cowboy wanted to pick the name. It may change before she gets to be two months old!

We had some "training" going on today with the kids here! She needed to be worn out and Angus wanted to catch that "Baby" and just love on her!!

He did a pretty good job. I contemplated sending her over to their house for at least a week, but Cowboy PopPop...

The finishing touch for the day for us (besides the kids being here!!) was Angus's reply to PopPop. Bill is BIG on BEEF and is always trying to get the grandies to say, "Beef, it's what's for dinner!" To top it off, he eats chicken occasionally but doesn't let many people know that! He is always saying something derogatory about chicken. SO, Angus said, "Chicken, chicken, chicken!" We wondered if he had been prompted, but Mommy assured us no! It was such a good laugh!!! Bill was flabbergasted!! As they say, out of the mouths of babes...

Kids...they make breakfast, lunch, supper interesting and entertaining. Why wasn't I writing everything down!!!?