Jon Speyers came this past winter and took a bunch of photos. Got some cool shots. This is one he sent me recently so thought I would share it. I wasn’t aware I could so easily, so I may share some more. These photos all belong to him so please, no one use them without his express permission.

We just had another group here yesterday, where two people were teaching others about photography. Hopefully when I get a link to them I can share them on here.

We had a good one. It’s always good when all the kids and grand kids are here. Noisy, but good. Dustin and his Lady, Sarah and her daughter were here. We had prime rib and ham and all kinds of other stuff, most of which I didn’t eat. And snow, we had snow! Ended up with about 4 or 5 inches , but it was hard to tell as so much of it melted when it hit the ground. All good stuff. Moisture, we love it!

Habits are hard to break I guess. I used to write in here a lot, but things changed and now it just dawned on me that I haven’t written for quite awhile!

We have had a pretty nice winter and now by the calendar it is spring. We are getting some of that equinox weather as I write, trying to snow a little. We used to always plan on some stormy weather at this time, when we had cows calving. We only have a handful now and they pretty much take care of themselves. We are supposed to get some snow Saturday evening and thru’ Sunday so I will take them and the horses some hay on Saturday.

Fr Tyler is going to college this fall to study Cannon law (church law) in DC so needs a place to store stuff for a couple years, so he had me gather the material and now Gabe and I got started building a small 8×12 building. My back gave out on me so we quit pretty early. We got the floor laid down on a couple metal I beams for skids. We are building it out of thick pressure type board that come in 4 x 16 foot sections. So the walls will go up fast with very little for wall studs.

A young neighbor has been coming over and helping as I had a large order for knife sheathes from an old friend who now lives in Texas and makes knives. We are about half or better done and shipped them off to make sure they suit him and are sized right.

I have been building quite a few flower carved belts this winter and a full flower carved saddle. Saddle is about done and a couple belts to finish and ship off. I need to be done by the time guests start to arrive. Books are getting pretty full up with guests tho’ Cindy worries every year we won’t get many. It’s doesn’t pay great, but she likes feeding and taking care of people and I like to show them how and why we live the way we do.

That about catches me up for now. I will try harder to remember to jot some stuff down in here more often.

It’s been a bit since last I posted on here. I no longer have a column in a local paper and that was what I was posting in the past, with a few changes to better suit this site.

It is 4:30 in the morning and the wind is howling! A touch of snow, so winter is coming back thru’. Looks like it will be a short duration and lots better by tomorrow, evening. It was 65 yesterday as we drove home from town. Only supposed to get up in the teens today with high winds that will slowly drop during the day. I haven’t fed the cattle and horse on pasture for some time as there is lots of old grass, tho’ I did put out lick barrels for them, but looks like I better take some out today. I imagine they will all be standing behind a windbreak, waiting it out.

Always amazes me how patiently they will do that. Normally we don’t have them mixed, but in the past in certain blizzard conditions, we have had them together and they all seem much more tolerant of each other. And of humans. I have walked close to them and even thru’ them and they barely move to get out of the way, for the most part. Just hanging out, conserving body temps and waiting for life to get better. We humans could learn a thing or two from that. I am kind of trying to do the same thing, this election year!

Hope you’re all doing well and I will try and remember to post on here more often. Seems I always have a bunch of things going on and have a hard time remembering to come here.

Look at me! Look at me!

Listen to me!

Me.

Have we always been so starved for attention that we always said these words in some form or another? Is it something we learned as little children to get our share of the attention? Is this a new or old phenomena?

We especially see it now with cellphones and social media. Maybe some of you older ones, or even some younger, don’t partake of this much. But I do a lot on the internet. With my home computer or my handheld device which I still ignorantly call a “phone”. Yes, I am on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. And most of what I see on Tik Tok, especially, are younger people saying, in essence, Look at me! Listen to me!

I tell myself I am on there to watch entertaining and interesting videos. And to spread a message of what I do, as advertising of sorts for our Airbnb and my leather work. And it works. We get quite a few visitors who found us in that way. I try to keep it entertaining and hopefully someone can learn something from some of the lessons I have learned in life.

But I wonder, how much of it is just me saying, Look at me! Aren’t I interesting? Ain’t I cool?

Not sure where any of this thought process is going. But I also am doing it with this column, I guess. People once in awhile tell me they enjoy my thoughts. And for those of us who watch movies and TV shows and read books, are we all just looking to be entertained? Yes, we can sometimes learn things. We can get info and then spread it among our friends and family. And mostly it’s enjoyable. 

We were taught to read as small children. My Mom taught me by reading the Sunday comics and then when I could do it, she would no longer do it. My Mom and Dad both read to me. It opened my mind and I went on lots of adventures by being able to read another persons thoughts put down on paper. When I got to school and started to read things that were assigned to me I would get praise from my teachers. Words on paper taught me many things and much of it interested me to where I had to go and try and do similar things to see what it was like.

And now so many, especially of the younger set, get much of their information from the internet. Like most things in life, I think there is good and bad in it. 

Information is always useful, it seems. But can also get us into trouble if we don’t have the right foundation to use it. Think of those people who watch a few videos and then think they know how to do certain things. Like work with animals. Problem is, so much of the times, they either misunderstand or didn’t get enough info and they get themselves and the animals into trouble.

Ask said before, I am not sure why any of this matters. But, you read it! And if you are one who uses Facebook or Instagram or Tok Tok, look me up and let me know you read this, please. Might be interesting and I like interesting things!

Keep reading. And remember the old adage, only believe half of what you see and not much of what you hear! And be sure to look and listen to Me! Me! Me!

Man, things been happening since last I wrote!

As you may know, we have an Airbnb on our ranch and some people come for a night and others for longer stays. July proved to be real busy and then things looked like they were going to slack off in August. Gramma told we should take a trip. Sounded good to me. Now, where to go? She and I have always wanted to take a rubber boat down some rapid moving water in a river. Her grandmother had done it years ago and she was on crutches, so we figured we could handle it. I had ordered some leather from Montana Leather in billings and it wasn’t quite what the customer wanted, so we decided to just take it back and find what we did want and so left for Billings. We had just had the had White Lightning (Grammas little Ranger) reshod in the back and they warned us the tires were bigger and the speedometer might not be quite right. (Keep this in mind as it plays into this tale, further along.)

We got to Billings by way of Sheridan and of course had to stop at Kings. I don’t think it is possible to go to Sheridan and not stop at Kings Ropes. Spent some money and headed out and spent the night in. Billings. Stayed in what Gramma considered a sketchy motel and ate a very unsatisfactory supper at a chain restaurant. Ask me some time and I will tell you in person!

Got up the next morning and went to Montana Leather and spent way too much! Headed west and were trying to find  somewhere to white water raft, which we were told you can do all over Montana. Got to Columbus and Gramma wanted to go to the Montana Silversmith store, so we did and left with more money out of our pockets! But she did get some nice stuff and seeing as her birthday is pretty soon. I got her a nice bracelet.

Headed west, with thoughts of stopping near BozeAngeles, but man, there are way too many people and it was hot and smokey so just fueled up and headed for Three Forks. Got there ad traffic was backed up a mile on the interstate so taking that as a bad sign we kept going. Took the next road south west of there, that lead us by Harrison and on to West Yellowstone. I had found out we could raft at Cody Wyoming and we have friends there so went thru’ the northwestern part of the Park and spent the night at Gardiner, Nice motel and good food.

Next morning we drove back on a trail we had taken the evening before as far as Mammoth and then headed east and eventually south to Cody. Found a rafting place and got geared up and had a blast! Met with our friends for supper and had a great timerand had a nice motel. The next morning  I visited with a couple young ladies from Germany who were spending time in the States. Wouldn’t surprise me to see them show up here some time in the future. Sunday morning we headed east and got across the Bighorns via Tensleep and when we got across the state line and almost to Spearfish, I saw a Hiway Patrol car alongside the hi way. I knew the speed limit changed somewhere close to there so dropped down 5 mph to follow the laws, which I had done pretty much the whole trip. Trooper followed me, turned on his lights and when I stopped he walked up and informed me he had me clocked at 87 mph! Wow!

I informed him I had been running with traffic this whole trip and always just set my cruise control at the speed limit the whole way. Well, he said, it ain’t right, or words to that effect. I was really puzzled as I knew it had been set at 80 mph, which was the legal limit, but then he explained that it had changed at the state line. With all the construction I hadn’t seen the sign, but even so, would have been going too fast. He was nice enough to give me a warning and we drove slower the rest of the way home. And have ever since!

Anyway, we had a nice trip and sure enjoyed it and if you ever want some fun, go white water rafting! Heck, you get a little wet, but neither of us melted or even shrunk!

Why, yes, yes it is! Tho’ from what much of the rest of the country has been getting I suppose we shouldn’t complain! But it is in our nature.

Reminds me of the story about the one farmer that always complained. It was always too hot or too cold or too wet or too dry. He never was satisfied. One year, they had the perfect year. It rained right when it should, not too much and not too little but exactly what it should and when. That fall they had the best crops they ever had and a wonderful harvest season. One of his neighbors who saw him asked him, “Boy, it’s sure been a great year, hasn’t it. I don’t see how anyone could find anything to complain about.” The other guy, the complainer, said, “ Well, it sure was hard on the ground!”

We have been fighting some foot rot and bad eyes in the pasture cattle, but from what my local vet tells me, so has everyone else. It’s to be expected when you get a wetter year and much of the eye problem comes from the cattle bunching up and swishing their tails to fight flies and whacking each other in the eye when they are trying to shoo the flies off. And the grass is pretty tall, so when they stick their face down into the grass to graze, they can get the grass heads in their eyes.

years back, the cattle I ran for a family of farmers from back east river, always had me cut the bush off the end of the tail, because of that. And it helped, tho’ of course didn’t completely stop the problem.

One of my grandsons has been helping this summer and while chasing a yearling to rope it so we could doctor it, his horse slipped and went down at high speed. Shook him up and knocked the wind out of him and he has been stiff and sore, tho’ he didn’t seem to have broken anything. I can testify that the ground is hard and I am sure it is much harder to a 65 year old as it is to a 16 year old.

Anyway, I am not going to complain if I can help it. Sure seems like it has been a good year for us so far. But I suppose it has been hard on the ground!

Watch your ponies footing and don’t get in a wreck, or you will be moving like an old rancher or cowboy!

Why yes, yes we are!

Amazing what can happen around this country when we get ample rain. And of course, some have gotten more than they wanted or needed and we have had some flooding, which is sad for those effected.

I have been worried that it might drown all the nice little Hoppers we have who have been visiting for the last three year. Wouldn’t that be a shame?

NO!

Dirty , rotten , stinking, little grasshoppers. I hate them! I planted two little Red Currant bushes for Cindy the other day. Looked at them a couple days later and they are sticks! I had been keeping an eye on them and it happened over night. And it’s not like there isn’t other food for them!

They show up and eat you out of house and home, and not just the bread and potatoes, so to speak, they want all the cake and ice cream! Terrible, terrible guests!

Speaking of guests, Cindy and I started a venture a few years back of opening up our home and the ranch to guests and visitors. As long back as I can remember, we have had guests come and visit from all over the country and world. Friends urged us to join a company that finds and advertises for us, and folks are willing to pay to stay.We have had guests come from many places and so far, they all have been good people and we have enjoyed them.

But the company that we are hooked up with, sucks! A guest almost has to know who we are and where we live to find our listing. And the site is a nightmare to try and get around. Some way or another,  we lost the saved site where we set up our listing. In the process of trying to get it back, I accidentally started a new account, but wasn’t aware of it. So when I went to the site, online, it was as someone who was looking for a place to stay, rather than someone who had a listing. And I couldn’t get anything accomplished. So I tried to resolve it, but of course, they don’t want you to call, they want you to fix it yourself. So they keep having you read short articles on how to fix the problem your having. But, and it’s a big but, they really never have any to suit what I am trying to fix.

I had tried to talk to someone on another occasion, but really didn’t have much luck. Yesterday, I had kind of forgotten that and had a problem with our site I needed to fix, but of course, couldn’t get checked in as a host. I finally pushed the right button and got a phone call in on my cellphone while setting in front of the computer. And I got a person who did not speak English very well with a name I couldn’t pronounce. I won’t say from which country, but, and I ain’t certain, but in the country where he lives, I bet his wife has a red dot on her forehead and they have a very large population and worship cows!

He was extremely patient with me and I lost it several times and screamed at him, as he would ask me to log in to my account after I had just explained to him I couldn’t and that was the very problem I was trying too fix!

After raising my blood pressure and almost giving myself a stroke in frustration and anger at the stupid way this company had set things up, we did finally resolve it. I think I might have apologized  for my lack of patience and manners, and he seemed to take it really well.

Anyway, after going thru’ all that I decided maybe grasshoppers weren’t the worst thing in the world. The worst thing would be to have that guys job!

Hope the hoppers are not in your area or are leaving or better yet, all dying!

We have a bunch of heifers here for the summer. The owners bring them out and leave them until fall. They have a bunch, and I mean a bunch, of yearling bulls running with them. This late summer, the heifers will all be ultra sounded for pregnancy confirmation and the date. They will be marked as to their calving date, sorted into groups and then offered for sale.

The owners also raise bulls and so they buy back heifer calves from the people who buy their bulls and most of these are from that. There are also some they raised on their own ranch.

They were mostly wintered in a lot and are very gentle and friendly. Almost too friendly!

When you ride out and around them or thru them, they will come up to meet you. I can imagine their conversation.

“Hey dude, whatcha doin’? Did you bring us some feed? How about some of that good ground corn? Or some salt? Man! I love salt! NO! I really mean it! I really, really, really, really love salt!!!! Dude, why didn’t you bring us some?”

Yeah. Just like a bunch of friendly teenagers. And they are are almost impossible to drive as a group. They take off in a mad stampede and then stop and look around to see why they were running. And just like teenage boys, there are always a bunch of bulls who have a heifer singled out and trying to convince her they are the best thing in the world!

The poor little heifer is bewildered and wants no part of them, but eventually she just gets worn out and has to put up with their awkward advances!

If I had a couple older cows or a good lead steer with them it would help. They act like a counselor on a high school trip. They know where the gates are and if it is a big horned steer or even a horned cow, they don’t put up with any foolishness. Any youngster who gets out of line is put in their place forthwith!

Most people don’t like running yearlings. I do. For one thing, when you move them you don’t have to pair them up after the move. They have never established their eating patterns so will eat about anything put in front of them (Imagine hungry teenagers) so the forage gets mowed down more evenly. And when (there has never, ever so far, been a if, in this matter) when one gets a bad foot or a bad eye, they are not as big and are easier to handle when you rope and doctor them.

We (my son, his two sons and a guest) rode up the other afternoon and roped and doctored 5 bulls. (Yeah, that was about 10 percent of the bulls, they have been working hard!) The older son was riding a horse who is not finished in his training as was his younger brother. So the youngsters got the first go at catching the foot rots. It is a great way to train a horse and gives the kids some great training while under the watchful eye of older and hopefully wiser hands. And sure nice for old fat guys when you got a kid to get off and administer the shot and take the head rope off!

It went well, but we all were sweating when it was done. Except the guest and his horse, who just rode along and watched the show. Seems they do it different where he came from!

Anyway, summer has been interesting and here in another week when I turn my little bunch of cows and calves with them, I am sure the pasture moves will get easier. I haven’t turned them out sooner as I really don’t want cows calving in March of next year!

Don’t let your horse fall down on you and get your head under you!

Which are you? 

And by that I am talking about the two main characters of the TV mini series, Augustus McRae and Woodrow McCall, taken from the book of the same name, Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry. If you have never heard of the show, I would suspect you never watched any television in the past 20 or 30 year. I am sure there are many who never saw it, or never read the book, but I have done both, several times. Yeah, I know.  But I love to read and usually enjoy a good western and according to what I have seen, many think Lonesome Dove was one of the best, if not the best western, of all times. I wouldn’t as I tend to not care about such judgements, but I did enjoy both, as it tells the story of the first herd driven to Montana from Texas. I am too much of a history buff to ever read or watch that sort of a fiction and truly enjoy it as they always get most of the history wrong. But I will admit, it spins a good tale and poses some questions that I perhaps never thought about, from just reading the history books.

In the story, two old retired Texas Rangers who now make a living stealing cattle and horse from Mexicans, as they live right on the border near the little town of Lonse Dove, on the Rio Grande, take a herd of cattle all the way north to the Yellowstone river.

Gus is the leader, tho’ most would never know it as he is the one who hangs out with the men in their employ and likes fun and mostly shirks responsibility, while Woodrow is taciturn and gruff and seems to have the biggest responsibility bump and mostly gives the orders to anyone and all, around them. They have been lifelong partners since young men, when they joined the Rangers.

Gus usually is drinking whiskey and laughing and seems to not have a care in the world, while Woodrow always seems to be trying to get rich and work and protect the rest of the people around him. Woodrow is very black and white in his views and Gus is much more liberal in his viewpoint while still insisting that there are a few rules in life that you can not and do not break, such as respecting  your fellow man. Which he goes to some extreme lengths to point out at times.Very much a “grasshopper and the ant” story from the old fables.

Most think Gus is fun and Woodrow is an old stick in the mud and would probably admit that what this world needs is more Woodrows and fewer Gus’s.

I like to think that I am much more of the Woodrow type. Take care of business, watch your pennies and keep your nose to the grindstone. But if I am really truthfully and take the time to truly examine my life and how I live it, I have more leanings towards Gus. I enjoy fun, and strive to never work too hard unless it is a serious matter. Woodrow tends to allow others to do as they please as long as it doesn’t interfere with him or those he loves, while Gus spouts off quotes and tries to be funny and make people around him laugh and enjoy his company. Quick to make a smart aleck reply and point out peoples foible and flaws, as Woodrow plods along picking up the pieces that Gus would let fall by the wayside.

If you have never seen the show, or better yet, read the book, I would urge you to do both, tho’ as in most shows taken from a novel, the book is much better as it captures more of the storyline and delves deeper into the characters and times.

So, are you a Gus or a Woodrow? Both, in the end, are good men, but they go about life with a different attitude and and actions as to how they treat people and problems that naturally arise in life. At my age I wish I had been a bit more like the better parts of both.