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.

Hendry's Creek Pronghorn Trap

After we looked at the burned area in Hampton Creek, we drove across the bench to Henry's Creek.  We didn't have a specific destination, and while my husband and I were talking, the subject of the Henry's Creek pronghorn trap came up. I had found some information about it for my guidebook of the area, but never had had the chance to investigate it.

According to pioneers, the Shoshone Indians built a V-shaped trap between a couple ridges and would herd pronghorn into it. About fifty Indians were needed to make this work, and they would smoke themselves with sagebrush to hide their scent.

We decided to hike over to the trap, as my husband knew where it was. I looked it up on Google Earth later so I could see it better. I outlined the trap with the red line below--look just inside it and you might be able to see the rock wall.

The boulders were still in place, but the willow branches my husband remembered seeing in his youth were no longer there.

The bottom didn't look much like a V to me, more like a U. I'm guessing the boulders used to be higher, or at least the branches, because they aren't very high walls now.

 

It was pretty cool seeing this remnant of a different culture out on the landscape.

Are You Ready for Valentine's Day?

Valentine's Day is right around the corner! This year, my husband and I are going to try something a little different. Instead of focusing just on one day, we're going to spread out the love. For the whole week before Valentine's, we're going to write a love note to each other every day. (I wanted to do it for two weeks, but I wasn't organized to start the beginning of February, so for this year, one week will be our goal.)

I like the idea of spending more time on each other. In today's world, it's so easy to get distracted by the Internet, TV, and little gadgets and forget that people are what make the world such a great place. It will be nice to put a little more emphasis on the romantic side and go back to those courting days (while still happily married!).

Another benefit I see in trying this is that Valentine's Day this year is in Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday (February 13). I usually give up sweets for Lent (it is not easy, but that's part of the point of it!), so I won't be eating any Valentine's chocolates on February 14. February 12--that's another story!

I bet some of you have some neat Valentine's traditions. I'd love to hear about them!

White Pine County Fair 2012

This weekend is the White Pine County Fair. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I love county fairs! We drove into town Friday night to go to the big Cattlewoman's BBQ. Several hundred people went, and we had to wait in a long line, but it was worth it. The food was delicious! The kids were getting a little tired (meaning whiny) so we had to leave before the band got going. Maybe some other year we can hear the band!

The next morning Desert Girl woke up so early. Arghh! This was a morning we could sleep in a little. We did a couple errands and then headed to the fairgrounds. We were in time to see the cousins show their animals.

Megan had a nice-looking lamb.

She had to work hard at getting the lamb to mind her.

Kayli had a lamb too. She also had some eye-catching pink cowgirl boots!

The judge had them all line up in a row.

My husband watched intently while Desert Girl just enjoyed climbing.

When the judge touched Megan's and Kayli's lambs, they jumped! They ended up getting blue ribbons. Nice job, young ladies!

We went and visited Melanie's lamb. She was busy with last-minute grooming. Then we went over to see the pigs. They were so fascinating that I didn't even get any photos!

Then we went in search of the cousins and found Alyshia preparing her steer. She and her steer have had quite the battle of wills. Her first steer cleared the fence when he jumped away from her, so she had to use her alternate steer. The alternate steer apparently didn't have quite as good jumping skills, but it didn't want to be around anyone. During the last few weeks when it was supposed to be finishing, putting on that last weight, instead it lost weight. That still won't keep it from going to fair and getting sold.

I'm not sure who dislikes this more--Alyshia or the steer!

She led her steer into the show arena without any problems.

Smile, Alyshia!

Caleb's steer had had some of the same problems, but still made it in the heavyweight class.

Caleb has gotten so much taller and stronger this last year! It's fun to see photos of Caleb at Desert Boy's age, as there is a strong resemblance.

While we were watching, Desert Girl found her new friend from the night before, little Kate. They had fun in the grass and then climbed the fence.

That was enough time to be fast friends, hold hands, and go for a walk!

We headed over to the exhibit building. Both Desert Boy and I had entered some projects.

I entered five photos, all of them in the photo above (although one is displayed sideways!). Can you spot any?

I was so excited to get a Reserve Grand Champion for my portrait of Desert Girl!!

Desert Boy found that he had received a blue ribbon for one of his pictures, a train and the Big Dipper.

He also got a blue ribbon for his artistic flower arrangement, and another for his jewelry entry of California floater shells from a nearby reservoir (I still have a bunch of photos to post from that excursion!).

Those girls were just so adorable!

Next it was time to wander about the booths. One of the mining booths had this sandbox with some simulated mining structures. The kids absolutely loved it!

Desert Boy did an art project involving a hammer at the Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition's booth. That was another winner!

Ely's Hometown Band played some wonderful tunes.

We really enjoyed watching the puppeteer and clown make balloon creations for the kids.

Then it was time for some games. The first was the water balloon toss. Desert Boy paired up, and I figured he was going to get drenched because he hasn't had much practice throwing and catching.

Looking at this photo, I now understand why he has some problems catching--closing your eyes doesn't make it easier!

The next game was a watermelon eating contest. I'm not sure if Desert Girl was unhappy about being in a light drizzle or being woken up from a nap or something else. When the starter said, "On your mark," she started eating. We told her to wait, and she burst into tears and didn't eat any more. She did get to take her watermelon with her and eventually ate some of it. It was really good watermelon. I tried it.

Desert Boy went to the table with the next age group.

He did an admirable job munching away at his watermelon.

While I was nibbling at Desert Girl's, they announced that the last category was age 13 through adult. A sudden flash of inspiration hit me. I was an adult (well, technically, maybe not mentally!), and I could enter. I still had room for more watermelon, and it was REALLY good watermelon. Plus I have all these terrific memories of blueberry pie eating contests and watermelon seed spitting contests from when I was a youngster and my parents took me to the fair. I tried to round up a few more people to enter, and found one willing young friend.

The rain was pouring by now, but I had a rain jacket and decided to go for it.

We had two picnic tables of people competing. We had to keep our hands behind our backs and eat as much as we could.

The starter said go, and as we bit into the sweet melon, the rain continued to pour. About half way through, the guy next to me got up and went over toward the watermelon cutter. I wondered what he was doing. The next thing I saw was a man giving him the Heimlich. Yikes! I wondered if I should get up and help, but the person assisting him was doing just fine, so I kept on trying to get down to the rind. And then our minute was up, and I was surprised how well I had done. In fact, I had done so well that I was declared the silver medal winner! And my young friend was the gold medal winner!

Here I am with my medal! Yippee!

I'm still waiting for those endorsements to roll in. I'm sure my phone will be ringing any minute now.