Sunday, January 31, 2010
Signs for a modern woman
I got these in an email yesterday and just wanted to share. They would fit in with my "decor" around here so well! Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Friday, January 29, 2010
This and That
Okay, basically I'm just trying to get back in the habit of posting more often again. So, hopefully I don't bore you to death with everyday "stuff".
Dustin is taking fiddle lesson's and is riding up to Rapid City with my dad for one today. Brady plays the guitar and dobro and my dad plays those as well as the banjo. Dad LOVES having grandkids that want to "jam" with him now. Dad and Brady are especially fond of Bluegrass and Gospel. Dustin thinks anything by Charlie Daniels is the greatest.
Winter has been long in our country again this year. Seems like it's been rough for a lot of people though. Our livestock are all doing well though so we really shouldn't complain. We still do from time to time, but we really shouldn't! The next 10 days are forecasted to be in the low 30's for highs and the teens for lows so at least it's not brutal cold for now. A welcome reprieve from the -35 windchills we had for 2 weeks around Christmas.
The procession of calves coming in has finally begun. We've been feeding calves for another producer for the last couple of years. He buys them in various load sizes and then we process them and they stay here until going to grass at our cousins. It works well for us. Lots of work but enjoyable work. I wish they could all come in at once so we could have one really big branding day and then just go on with feeding every day. Alas, that's not how it financially works best for the other guy though.
So, I was looking forward to all this cattle work again for our young dogs this winter and spring. Rock and Bet are at a perfect age to be a lot of help and I'm thankful for that. Dustin's young dog, Speck, has already proven to be a good cattledog but unfortunately he will be out of commission the whole time these calves are here. He was going way to fast around a corner and clipped a metal gate with his hind leg. He ruptured his ACL and has surgery early next week to repair it. He won't be able to return to work until early summer. Huge bummer for us!
Jag is also out of commission right now and we're not sure what's going on. He's non weight bearing on his left front leg. It appears to be in his shoulder but my vet can't find what would be causing this much pain on xrays. They've been sent to the University and hopefully they can give us something to go on. We've started him on Adequan and if that helps we know it's joint related. He was moving some calves from one pen to the other and went to jump off a snow drift (there are a lot of them here) and took a pile drive into a metal feedbunk. It wasn't pretty! He seemed fine right afterwards but it's progressively gotten worse. Keep him in your prayers please as we'll be lost without Jag's help this spring. Not to mention I hate seeing him in pain!
Okay, I'm sure I've bored you to tears now and for that I apologize. We're preg checking cows and moving another bunch tomorrow. Then the Black Hills Stock Show on Monday. So hopefully I'll have more interesting stuff to report on next time.
PS - If you made it this far, way to go!
Dustin is taking fiddle lesson's and is riding up to Rapid City with my dad for one today. Brady plays the guitar and dobro and my dad plays those as well as the banjo. Dad LOVES having grandkids that want to "jam" with him now. Dad and Brady are especially fond of Bluegrass and Gospel. Dustin thinks anything by Charlie Daniels is the greatest.
Winter has been long in our country again this year. Seems like it's been rough for a lot of people though. Our livestock are all doing well though so we really shouldn't complain. We still do from time to time, but we really shouldn't! The next 10 days are forecasted to be in the low 30's for highs and the teens for lows so at least it's not brutal cold for now. A welcome reprieve from the -35 windchills we had for 2 weeks around Christmas.
The procession of calves coming in has finally begun. We've been feeding calves for another producer for the last couple of years. He buys them in various load sizes and then we process them and they stay here until going to grass at our cousins. It works well for us. Lots of work but enjoyable work. I wish they could all come in at once so we could have one really big branding day and then just go on with feeding every day. Alas, that's not how it financially works best for the other guy though.
So, I was looking forward to all this cattle work again for our young dogs this winter and spring. Rock and Bet are at a perfect age to be a lot of help and I'm thankful for that. Dustin's young dog, Speck, has already proven to be a good cattledog but unfortunately he will be out of commission the whole time these calves are here. He was going way to fast around a corner and clipped a metal gate with his hind leg. He ruptured his ACL and has surgery early next week to repair it. He won't be able to return to work until early summer. Huge bummer for us!
Jag is also out of commission right now and we're not sure what's going on. He's non weight bearing on his left front leg. It appears to be in his shoulder but my vet can't find what would be causing this much pain on xrays. They've been sent to the University and hopefully they can give us something to go on. We've started him on Adequan and if that helps we know it's joint related. He was moving some calves from one pen to the other and went to jump off a snow drift (there are a lot of them here) and took a pile drive into a metal feedbunk. It wasn't pretty! He seemed fine right afterwards but it's progressively gotten worse. Keep him in your prayers please as we'll be lost without Jag's help this spring. Not to mention I hate seeing him in pain!
Okay, I'm sure I've bored you to tears now and for that I apologize. We're preg checking cows and moving another bunch tomorrow. Then the Black Hills Stock Show on Monday. So hopefully I'll have more interesting stuff to report on next time.
PS - If you made it this far, way to go!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Denver Stock Show
First, I must apologize for how lax I've been with the blog. No good excuses just busy with life and didn't feel much of it was news worthy. Then I pile things up and don't feel like I can write about everything that's happened in one blog so I just do the big one's. I'll try to do better now. :-)
Just got back from the Denver Stock Show. Spent quite a bit of time with my family down there and really enjoyed their company! I think it's the main reason I go to that trial every year. That and to go somewhere warmer even if it's just a couple of days! My brother Dan rode down with Dustin and I. It was nice to spend some time with him. We ran into a little snow coming home but for the most part it was good driving.
Our dogs did well down there. Can always do better but overall we're very happy with them. Dustin and Kat were up first for our crew in the Intermediate. Kat always handles lambs so well and she didn't disappoint us this time either. She had one that refused to go in the pen and it cost Dustin being in the money but he still ended up 11th out of 49 dogs so he was still happy. Then I ran Cash one last time in a lower class. He did a really good job. Handled the lambs really well and did everything I asked of him. If I hadn't dropped the ball at the pen (let a lamb slip under the rope twice) our score would have been much better. As it was we ended up 5th so in the money.
Then on to Sunday and the Open Sheep. Zac was my first dog to run and he hasn't worked since his surgery back in early December to remove the broken toe. It was like driving a cadillac again!! I just adore that dog and love working him. He put down a good run that could have been better if his partner (me) hadn't pushed on the lambs so hard at the Y chute. He ended up 5th in the prelims. Then I ran Cash in his first open trial. I had planned on running Jag but he's injured and still working on recovery right now. Anyway, Cash wasn't quite like running Zac but nonetheless he was a VERY good boy! Missed a couple of whistles on the figure 8 but still had a fast enough time to come in just under Zac and get 6th in the prelims out of 42 dogs. So, in his first open run he got the exact same place that Zac got in his first open run. Suppose that's a good sign! ;-)
So, both dogs made it back for the finals where both drew up towards the end. Cash was getting a little tired of the lambs trying to break back on him and wasn't listening quite as well but still managed to get them around the course. He is SO good at the pen. Zac was the last dog to run for the day and went out looking good. I've been a bit worried about his foot since it's only been 6 weeks since the surgery. He looked great in his first run but when the lambs broke back on him and he tried to beat them between the fence, something happened. Not sure if he hit the fence with that foot, got stepped on a little or just twisted it wrong but he threw his tail and I knew it hurt. So, I slowed things down for a little bit to see how he was. He seemed to be okay and wanted to keep going so we did. He had a great run despite the limp and ended up 5th in the finals. He was running and playing with Kat outside 10 minutes after his run and has worked sheep again this morning so everything is fine. Must have just been a stinger.
Great trip. Wonderful people to visit with and great dogs to watch. Overall I was thrilled.
Just got back from the Denver Stock Show. Spent quite a bit of time with my family down there and really enjoyed their company! I think it's the main reason I go to that trial every year. That and to go somewhere warmer even if it's just a couple of days! My brother Dan rode down with Dustin and I. It was nice to spend some time with him. We ran into a little snow coming home but for the most part it was good driving.
Our dogs did well down there. Can always do better but overall we're very happy with them. Dustin and Kat were up first for our crew in the Intermediate. Kat always handles lambs so well and she didn't disappoint us this time either. She had one that refused to go in the pen and it cost Dustin being in the money but he still ended up 11th out of 49 dogs so he was still happy. Then I ran Cash one last time in a lower class. He did a really good job. Handled the lambs really well and did everything I asked of him. If I hadn't dropped the ball at the pen (let a lamb slip under the rope twice) our score would have been much better. As it was we ended up 5th so in the money.
Then on to Sunday and the Open Sheep. Zac was my first dog to run and he hasn't worked since his surgery back in early December to remove the broken toe. It was like driving a cadillac again!! I just adore that dog and love working him. He put down a good run that could have been better if his partner (me) hadn't pushed on the lambs so hard at the Y chute. He ended up 5th in the prelims. Then I ran Cash in his first open trial. I had planned on running Jag but he's injured and still working on recovery right now. Anyway, Cash wasn't quite like running Zac but nonetheless he was a VERY good boy! Missed a couple of whistles on the figure 8 but still had a fast enough time to come in just under Zac and get 6th in the prelims out of 42 dogs. So, in his first open run he got the exact same place that Zac got in his first open run. Suppose that's a good sign! ;-)
So, both dogs made it back for the finals where both drew up towards the end. Cash was getting a little tired of the lambs trying to break back on him and wasn't listening quite as well but still managed to get them around the course. He is SO good at the pen. Zac was the last dog to run for the day and went out looking good. I've been a bit worried about his foot since it's only been 6 weeks since the surgery. He looked great in his first run but when the lambs broke back on him and he tried to beat them between the fence, something happened. Not sure if he hit the fence with that foot, got stepped on a little or just twisted it wrong but he threw his tail and I knew it hurt. So, I slowed things down for a little bit to see how he was. He seemed to be okay and wanted to keep going so we did. He had a great run despite the limp and ended up 5th in the finals. He was running and playing with Kat outside 10 minutes after his run and has worked sheep again this morning so everything is fine. Must have just been a stinger.
Great trip. Wonderful people to visit with and great dogs to watch. Overall I was thrilled.
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