Would you look at that?
I got busy with ranch life and totally ignored my blog for a month but when I finally checked in the first thing I noticed was that it has topped over 10,000 views. Is that exciting or what? I guess I better get busy and write some more stuff!
We have been busier than heck back here at the ranch so I’m dragging butt. We have gathered cattle, sorted cattle, worked cattle, doctored cattle, preg checked cows, weaned calves, shipped yearlings and calves ( 2 very full trucks of them) and finally sold cattle.
Life has pretty much revolved around cattle for the last two months and I have literally been ‘candy coated’ with manure for a very large share of that time. Hubby has had something scheduled for every weekend and evening for so long I wasn’t sure which way I was going. But the yearlings and the calves have been sold now so it’s a relief to be down to just the bred cows and the bulls for the winter.
Even though there wasn’t much rain and we barely saw a green blade of grass all summer the yearlings and calves did very well. We were lucky that there was grass left over from last summer that they were able to graze. And even luckier that we didn’t lose any of it to the many fires that were going all summer long. We figured our yearlings gained an average of 1.9 lbs. every day. They looked pretty fat and sassy when we gathered them up for the trip home.
I have to admit most of the yearlings we get are the wildest and dumbest critters you could ever meet up with but this batch was great. They may have spoiled us but I’m betting next years herd will bring us bouncing back to reality in short time.
With no new growth this summer the pastures are looking pretty bare. Normally, we would graze till the snow piles up but this year we will probably have to start feeding before that happens.
Everybody I talk to is praying for snow. After a long summer full of drought and fires it’s been nice to see the ground white a couple of times already and we’ve even had to scrape a little mud off your boots once or twice. I like mud.
After gathering this fall we are still short one bull off of the Forest Service permit. Hubby has spent quite a few days on the mountain looking for him and has had no luck so far even though some of the hunters we’ve talked to have seen one. He’s either a very elusive little bugger and has moved in with another herd or els he has died somewhere back in the woods. In that case we might never find him.
It has been another wild summer so I’m thankful for a little break. I did manage to squeeze in a couple of community education classes in my free time. All of them were in Rapid City this year so I ended up driving like hell after work to get there in time and then getting home around midnight. It made for some long days but the classes were great and well worth it. I usually try to sign up for a few every year just to try out something I’ve never done before and this year was no exception – beekeeping, scuba diving and pistols. I’ll have to tell you about that weird combination next time.
And one final thought for today – My prayers go out to the crew and families of the HMS Bounty which sank off the coast of North Caroline early Monday morning. I got to tour this beautiful old ship last March when it was in port at Old San Juan Puerto Rico. She was built in the 60’s for the movie ‘Mutiany on the Bounty’ starring Marlin Brando. They followed the plans of the original Bounty when they built her but she was enlarged by 1/3 scale to accommodate the large movie cameras used at the time. Originally, they planned to blow her up for the final scene of the movie but it seems Mr. Brando fell in love with the ship and threatened to walk off the set unless they changed their plans. So they blew up a model instead and the ship was saved. Over the years it has gone from used to neglected to restored to sold and then used for movies again and was currently up for sale for 4.6 million. For the last few years she had traveled to various events and even was used as a summer camp for kids on occasion. If I had got to go to summer camp like that I would never have come home!
After I saw her she was scheduled to leave port to work her way along the east coast and arrive in time for several events all along the coast before turning back mid summer so she would arrive back to Puerto Rico where she would remain through the winter. It sounded like a wonderful way to spend the summer. When I jokingly asked about any job openings they might have the young man giving me the tour was pretty quick to inform me that they were looking for a new cook as the last one had just gotten a job on another ship. He appeared almost desperate enough to eat my cooking and even told me how to get an application. I made sure to mention my new job opportunity to Hubby when I talked to him on the phone. He wasn’t exactly thrilled by it but it was very tempting to me. I have always been facinated by the tall ships.
The last report I’ve heard was that 14 of the 16 crew members were safely rescued shortly after she sank. Unfortunately one crew member was found dead and they are still searching for the last member of the crew – the captain. Since they were all well prepared for emergencies and the waters average 70 to 80 degrees there is still hope that he will be found alive. I hope so.
She was a beautiful ship and I am glad I got a chance to see her.
RanchDaze 