Evening Fun in the Junkyard

 We've visited the junkyard equipment yard a few evenings in the past few weeks. It's a good place to take our rather hyper puppy and explore. The kids love building forts. They have one in the old cattle truck. And another in the back of a pickup bed.


Sometimes I wander around taking photos in the gorgeous light. This is a Say's phoebe.

And the many colors and patterns caught my eye for this tractor wheel.

To the east we saw the mountains that to some look like an owl, and to others a bat silhouette.

Sunflowers are my weak spot, I love these flowers! Some backlighting made this one glow.

The cogs on this wheel caught my attention. It's tied down so can't turn anymore.

My husband often perches up high to keep an eye on the kids. Desert Girl climbs no matter what she's wearing.

 This old car looks like it wouldn't mind going for another ramble.

When friends get to come along, it's even more fun. 

 Any guesses what this is? It's hard from the closeup...

...it's an old hay wagon, with cogs to move the hay off the back to feed the heifers in winter. And now you know!

A Hot Day for Branding

A couple weeks ago I took the kids to check out the last branding of the spring. It didn't feel like spring, it was approaching 90 and windy. About 270 calves had to be processed, and the cowboys and cowgirls were doing it the old-fashioned way. The calves were sorted from their moms, then they were roped individually.

Each calf was ear-marked (instead of an actual brand), an ear tag put in, vaccinated, and for males, a rubber band was applied to a delicate part to restrict blood flow (let's just say that too many bulls are trouble). It took about a minute or two for each calf to be processed. Then it was marked with chalk and let go.

I find watching the roping to be fascinating. It takes a lot of skill and practice to be able to get a rope around a calf's back legs.

I'm told that the elbow position is extremely important.

When the right moment is spotted, the lasso is thrown out.

The slipknot is tightened...

...and if all goes well, a calf is caught. Oftentimes it takes multiple tries to catch a calf.

Several ropers were out there working their magic.

Meanwhile the calves were moving around. Did I mention that it was windy? The kids weren't so fond of all the dust. I found sunglasses a necessity to keep grit out of my eyes.

 The horses are so well trained. They were fun to watch along with the riders.

Baylee kept pulling calf after calf.

It was kind of neat getting down low and seeing what it all looked like from there.

In this corral, a metal doohickey called a Nord Fork is put on the calf's head to keep it from moving during the procedures.

The next corral over didn't have those, so a calf was held by two ropes, each attached to a horse on either end. I hadn't seen that before, so it was neat to check out.

It took about eight hours, but they got all the calves processed. Way to go!

You can see more about moving and processing calves (and other things about ranching) on this fun blog, written by my sister-in-law.

Rambles on the Ranch

 One Sunday in early April we went out to explore an old homestead on the ranch. Part of the barn was in good shape.

Desert Boy was eager to climb it.

Inside the kids used the metal detector to look for "treasures." They didn't really find anything, but they liked using some different technology.

For some reason there was part of an airplane nearby. I liked the patterns.

Then it was time to walk along a ditch and search for more treasures. I was hoping to see some wildflowers and interesting birds, but it was a little early in the season.

We found some old irrigation structures that aren't used now.

Seeing these old homesteads makes me reflect on our lifestyle. Even though we live in a place most people would consider really remote, we have it easy. We have Internet access, good roads, and UPS delivery five days a week. The pioneers lived such a different lifestyle, as did the Native Americans who first came to this area about 12,000 years ago.

I don't think I could live much more remote than I do now, I like to interact with different people. Although a few months out in the total boonies would probably be okay. How remote a spot do you think you could live?

Farewell, Sweet Henry

It is with great sadness that I say that yesterday we had our sweet dog Henry put down. He was full of cancer and each day was having a much harder time. He's been such a part of our lives the last eight years. It's going to be difficult not to see him when I wake up in the morning or come home or go for a run or eat the scraps after dinner or go for an adventure walk. We will miss him a lot. I wanted to remember the good times with him, so I started going through photos, pulling the older ones from my blog and the newer ones from my computer (some have also been on the blog).

We got Henry when Desert Boy was one year old; we wanted them to be buddies. And they sure were. Henry helped Desert Boy walk a little faster so that he wouldn't get caught.


Desert Boy tried to ride Henry. That never went too well.

Desert Boy fed Henry his dog food a lot during the years. Desert Boy also fed himself the dog food.

We had a lot of apricots one summer, but they kept disappearing. It took me a while to realize that both Desert Boy and Henry were eating them.


Henry always loved to chase the cows. But sometimes he would be calm enough to have a moment with them.



As a black lab, Henry loved the water. He was in it a lot.


It didn't matter if the water was ice cold, he still enjoyed it.

Along came Desert Girl, and Henry helped protect her too.

Henry was part of the family, ready to be in the family photos.

As he grew bigger, we built him a bigger dog house.

He liked it.

So did the kids.

We honored Henry by making a new dinosaur and christening it Henryosaurus.

Henry like to be with us for bike rides.

I think he would have liked to have gone on the school bus when the kids headed off to school.

Henry was an outside dog, and he loved nature. Here he checks out a little snake.

And although he loved to chase rabbits, when he encountered this baby one, he just sniffed at it.

Henry came on walks with us all the time (photo credit: Peter and Sarah Schenk).

He loved swimming and fetching sticks.

And although he wasn't so fond of work, he went along for the company.

Henry went hiking with us high in the mountains, delighted when we found patches of snow.

He summited several peaks, including Mount Moriah and the North Schell Peak.

So high up!

He sure saw some spectacular scenery.

He also went into slot canyons.

He came on numerous camping trips and when I would get up in the morning to take photos, he came along. Here he is stretching out on Ibex.

And he was part of my shadow selfie.

For the last year, he hadn't been moving quite as well, but up until a couple months ago, he could still do a 3-mile run with me. Except that he just ran three miles, whereas in the past he would run about double that as he sniffed in the sagebrush and made loops and played. He was such a loyal dog, always there for us.

 Last weekend we took him for his last hike. It wasn't easy for him, but we could tell he really enjoyed being outside and with his family.

So long, Henry. 

Thanks for being there for us. 

It's been a great run. You will be missed.