Family Fun

Desert Boy and I recently visited with family, including a bunch of uncles who were hoping to teach Desert Boy "bad" things. Now look at how sweet Desert Boy is in the photo above, riding on the shoulders of one of his uncles. Doesn't he look slightly angelic?

Then his uncles decide to twirl his brains on the merry-go-round, pushing it as fast as they could. They ended up dizzier than he did.

He got sent down the slide--upside down--into Grandma's waiting hands.

Then his uncle took him down to the creek to throw rocks and sit in mud.

So it's no wonder he looks a little zonked out in the swing, with his shoe missing. Next to him is his younger cousin. Apparently she is ready to imitate Desert Boy.

She's usually a wonderful, charming baby.

See how she grins while Desert Boy squirms?

And she coos while Desert Boy puts his finger in his mouth. At least it's not up his nose. But she doesn't have long until her uncles decide it's time to teach her "bad" things. I can hear them scheming now. 

Desert Boy and Santa

Yesterday was the Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas when the three wise men reached baby Jesus with their gifts. So the Christmas season is now officially over, despite the many Christmas decorations I still need to take down and put away. But I couldn't resist posting one more Christmas photo, this one taken by friends who witnessed Desert Boy's first encounter with Santa Claus. Do you think he got what he wanted for Christmas?

Desert Boy Learns to Ice Skate

Our recent cold weather has produced a sheen of ice on many surfaces, including this lake. I let Desert Boy go out and find out what ice is like. He slid around...

...but liked to stay out on the ice.

But he found it's not easy to walk and crashed. He can say the words "ice" and "crash." He got to practice them a lot.

A fall doesn't faze him, he's up and at it again.

Until the next crash. Nevertheless, he didn't want to leave---until his hands got cold. That's another word "cold," usually accompanied by whimpering. We've tried to explain the use of mittens, but he thinks they're just in the way. 

Desert Boy's New Fashion Statement

I like to have light-hearted posts on Sunday reflecting family fun, and Desert Boy sure cooperated this time. He's developing more of a fashion sense, despite his flyaway hair.

He pulled on some cowboy boots and wanted his "monkey on his back" put on. But something was missing, and he went in search of it--his hat.

This isn't any old hat, it's his Fire Chief hat. I mean, what else would you want to wear with your glow-in-the dark backhoe pajamas, cowboy boots, and monkey leash?

He was totally confident in his fashion statement.

He even modeled the back so we could get the full effect.

And then it was time to get to work in his outfit--reading. What a good boy.

Weighing Calves

It's that time of year to weigh the calves and see if they've put on enough weight. Our ranch raises calves until they're about 850 pounds, and then they're sold to a buyer who will finish them, or raise them until they're between 1,200 and 1,300 pounds. Because we live in such an isolated area, it's not economically feasible to finish and ship cows from here. 

First the cowboys gathered up the calves and herded them into holding pens. Then about 50 at a time were send to the scale.

Here's our oldest cowboy, Lee, working on the frigid morning. Not even cold weather keeps him away from rolling out of bed at 89 years and getting his horse ready to work calves.

And here's my sweet-faced nephew Ryan holding the gate open. He probably wouldn't like me calling him sweet-faced, seeing as how he's a college man now. You can see it's cold by all the layers he's wearing, including his thick green hoodie, work jacket, and warm wool cap with ear flaps. Those ear flaps are really nice, they keep your ears nice and cozy.

The calves run past my hiding spot and towards the scale.

The cowboys make sure none run in a different direction. The scale is huge, it weighs semis with trailers full of hay. Once all the calves are on the scale, they close the gate.

Then my brother-in-law Dave goes into the scale house to weigh the load of calves.

It's an old Howe scale, 1930s vintage, and it still works great today. The state Scales and Measures comes out and inspects it every year.

Then it's time for the calves to get off the scale and go to the next holding pen. My brother-in-law Tom tells the calves where to go. (And they actually listen!)

Once a few calves lead the way, the rest are ready to follow.

He's carefully counting as they go by, as are other cowboys. It's important to know how many calves are in each load so the total weight can be divided by the number of calves, and the average weight per calf calculated. On this particular day, the average weight was about 800 pounds.

Here's Kate, ready for the weighing to conclude so she can help move the calves back to the area they came from.

This horse was particularly friendly and let Desert Boy pet her quite a bit.

After the last load of calves has been weighed, Lee and Ryan come out, along with border collie Heidi, and they are all ready to move calves. My husband told me in advance where the next good camera angle would be, so Desert Boy and I started walking in that direction.

Only Desert Boy found a distraction and took off at a run towards this John Deere tractor.

I don't help him climb up--I figure if he wants to get in the tractor bad enough, he'll figure out a way. And he did.

Getting up on the driver's seat was a little tough, but he was determined.

What are you looking at, Mom? Of course I can drive this big tractor even though my feet don't reach the pedals and I'm really bad at steering.
Our little detour didn't let me get in a great spot for photos, but I did manage this one with Lee herding the calves on the other side of the equipment yard fence.

And a few minutes later, all the cowboys were heading back to the trucks, mission accomplished. They know the calves need to eat for a few more weeks before they'll be leaving us. At this stage, they're gaining about four to five pounds a day. I mean the calves, not the cowboys, although hopefully they all had big holiday dinners!

Desert Destination: Walking to the Cows

Desert Boy decided to take a trip. Only he headed out without me or his Daddy. Fortunately he had his faithful sidekick Henry with him. Where did Desert Boy want to go? To the cows. Where else?

As I zoomed in on Desert Boy, I noticed he was carrying something in each hand--a white shoe in his left hand a pencil in his right hand. Useful things to have when you head out for a hike through the pasture.

I think Desert Boy would have kept going, but I called him back. He took a few more steps...

...but eventually turned around and started coming back.

He still had the pencil and shoe in his hand. This grass is dry so it isn't exactly soft. He didn't seem to care.

In the meantime, the cows kept grazing in the background. They didn't even know that a little guy wanted to visit them.

Fun with Water

We've been having fun with the icy stream near our house. Desert Boy will throw rocks into it until his hands turn into frozen icicles (he won't wear mittens).


And Henry likes to chase ice.

It's kind of funny when it's someone else's kid misbehaving, isn't it? We have some work to do!

Trouble

Desert Boy has been having fun lately. He can skedaddle under a fence faster than you can say skedaddle, and if he sees Henry go somewhere, he wants to go, too. Never mind if it's into a horse corral full of big horse turds. Or through a cold, muddy puddle. They're buddies, and Desert Boy is ready to explore.

Sometimes Desert Boy has to be inside, but he still finds ways to have fun. Like grabbing a permanent marker and drawing all over his face. When I saw him, I inwardly groaned and laughed at the same time. And then I grabbed my camera.

Here's a better view of Desert Boy's artwork. I hope he doesn't decide he needs lots of tattoos later in life--especially on his face.

Eating is always an adventure, and one day the pudding was just too much fun. Desert Boy quickly tired of using a spoon and tossed it on the floor. Then he grabbed the container and started slurping away, with the expected results. He was happy to pose for pictures with his new look.

Life is never boring with a toddler around!