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.

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.

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!!!?