On Friday night, Cindy and Gus and I decided to make a quick trip to Medora, for the annual poetry gathering. So we got up and ate a quick breakfast on Saturday morning and were out of the house  before 7 am. I set up in the saddle and nudged White Lightning (Cindy’s little Ford Ranger) and he grabbed the bit and tried to run away for quite a spell! Sure was a good thing we didn’t see any cops around as I am afraid they wouldn’t have been mounted well enough to catch us and slow down the run away! Finally, quite a ways north White Lightning ran the edge off and we could slow him down a bit. He was frothing a little but still running steady. We got him stopped in Hettinger long enough to give him a good feed and we were off again and headed towards Bowman. Got there and spurred him in the left shoulder so he would turn and head north. At the turn off for the Burning Coalvein road, I covered his right eye with my hat and got him to turn down that gravel road. He spooked and shy’d at all the new scenery in them breaks of the Little Missouri River , but we managed to get into Medora and tie him up to think about it.

We strolled into the gathering headquarters and started seeing people we hadn’t seen for a long time. And most of them had got old on me! Not sure when that happened, but it was still good to see them and get to visit a little. About noon we headed over to the Cowboy cafe and took on a bait of feed. Saw a young man I had met before and set next to him and his young lady friend and had a good meal and chat. 

After lunch we headed back to the central area and they had put me and Gus in the first session. We tuned up and when it was time, Gus did a great job on a song and I told an old story about branding with my Dad, many years before. The crowd seemed to like it and we sat down and listened to the rest of the performers. I eventually got DW Grothe of Bainville, sorted off and we had a great visit and caught up on all the news. Then the lovely Jeri Dobrowski showed up and we had some more fresh conversation, which eventually lead to the ice cream shop across the street. ( My diet got all blowed to hell!)

We decided White Lightning had gotten enough rest, so saddled back up and headed for home. We took a slightly different route as we thought somebody might be laying in wait to catch us on our back trail. It was threatening to rain on us all the way and when we turned south of Bison on the Bixby road, by golly it did! We drove in rain and wet road the rest of the way home and when I checked there was 70 hundreds in the gauge that was from the past 24 hours. Great!

So I guess we had a good time. Got to listen to music Gus picked out on the way home. I even handed him the reins for a little spell until the lighting started crashing and White Lightning starts spooking a little so he handed me the reins back and I swatted him on the butt and settled him down. You got to ride with a pretty firm hand as he is still young and in training. White Lightning that is, tho’ come to think of it, that fits Gus who is 16, big and stout, himself!

Sure was good to see some old pals and I hope to get back another year. Anyone who wants to take a short vacation should go check that part of the world out. Right now everything is green and most of the waterholes are full and things just look great.

Other than that, life is good. Oh, by the way, we seem to have an over abundance of little grasshoppers, so if anyone is needing any, just let me know and we can loan you some of ours!

Went out this evening and played catch with a grand daughter. Man, I am old and out of shape!

Green grass is popping. Brandings are underway across my country. We got a fresh born foal the other day. We weren’t really expecting it, but that’s what happens when young stallions run with mares! And that is fine. A new calf, colt, grandchild or rain are always welcome around this place.

Been fixing some fence and about have the corrals all fixed up from all the past wrecks. New loading chute looks great and should last a long time. I doubt I will ever have to rebuild it. 

Pretty soon we will have a bunch of fresh high school graduates around the area. I hardly remember what it was to be 18 and bullet proof!`I soon found out I wasn’t bullet proof and maybe my dad was smarter than I had given him credits for. As Mark Twain said, “When I was 18 my father was the most ignorant man I had ever met. By the time I was 21, I was amazed at all he had learned!”

The summer I graduated my Dad went to the Mayo and was gone for several weeks and got a heart worked on. ( and all that time I had wondered if he even had one!) I was left in charge of the ranch. Looking back, I am sure he was worried to death, but he really had no choice as he couldn’t afford anyone else and I wouldn’t have listened to them anyway! 

I was ecstatic! 

Man, now I could show him how he had been holding me back all those years and I could put into practice all I had learned from school and other resources that he said wouldn’t really work. It took about a week before I wondered how he figured out how to get everything done and when. I had 4 things that all needed done at the same time! And I had to figure out which was the most important. Overwhelmed? I should say so!

I also hired a young man to help and soon found out I wasn’t much of a boss. At one point, we had a bull in with the neighbors cattle. Nice guy that I was, I allowed him to go get the bull while I continued to put up hay. I came in about noon and pretty soon saw him ride into the years with a real sweaty horse. He went to the barn and eventually came to the house. I was just putting lunch on the table and as we ate I asked him how it went. He went into a long explanation of how he fought and fought this gentle yearling bull to get him out, with no luck, so he roped him. “How did that go?” I asked. He said it didn’t. “What?” “Well I couldn’t drive him and my horse couldn’t drag him.” “So what did you do?” “Well, I left him.” “So you didn’t get him out huh?”  “Yeah, I left him there. Figured you’d have to help me.”

Huh…”Well, I suppose we will have to go back, How did you get your rope off?”’ “I didn’t.”

“You didn’t?” “Nope, had to leave it on him.” “You rode off and left your rope on a bull?!!” “Yup.”

Oh man I was on the fight. So after lunch we went and caught up our horses and saddled, rode down a mile and a half to the gate, found the bull and I got off, walked up and took the rope off the bull. Wasn’t much of a task, the bull was plumb worn out. No big deal getting him back where he belonged. He was plumb worn out!

I decided this kid wasn’t earning his keep and had decided to fire him, but he beat me to the punch and quit before I could. Man, that was a good day!

Anyway, I had a whole new appreciation for my Dad after that summer!

Go enjoy the spring. It don’t last long in this country!

Still building on the chute and corrals. We got some continuous fence put in where old planks had broke and rotted off. Looks good. I used to make all my corral fences like a windbreak, but then cussed the drifted snow in the corrals. So now I make them fairly open. They stiff drift in some snow but not as bad.

We got all the posts set for the chute and the lower sides in, but still have to fill the bottom half at an incline with dirt, Some of them posts are 14 foot up off the ground, so finding a way other than a shovel to fill in the dirt is an interesting prospect! Our son who has the locker in Newell, Ryan, has a little telehandler, and he has a scoop and pallet forks for it, so we hope it will go high enough to dump over the side. The posts are all on 8 foot centers except right at the front, where they are 4 foot apart so we can put a trucker gate in, so it don’t leave much room. And of course we put it close to a shed, so you really can only dump from one side. May have to hire a neighbor with a back hoe! Or resort to shoveling. I have used a shovel a lot in my life. Even dug a hole by hand the other day. The ground was wet as far down as you wanted to dig. And I sure hope it stays that way with some additional moisture 

All my little purchased first calf heifers calved and seem to be doing good, but they all seem to have a hard time remembering who’s calf is whose. That must be why most people tag. I am glad I didn’t have to tag these. They seemed to be REAL good mothers! 

This evening a couple girls showed up and played with the ponies in the corral. Their older brother was helping us, so when we played Chance out , Gabe and I went and hung a new gate and then he worked with my little two year old colt. Nice horse. Seems smart. Gabe did good. I rode out and checked the cows. Seen all the calves and they looked to be well fed, so came home, ate supper and now I am thinking of a hot tub of water and then bed.

Sure have been enjoying the spring weather, tho’ the wind gets a bit tiresome, but I just keep telling myself at least we don’t have 2 feet of fresh snow for it to blow around!

Be sure to take some time and go listen to all the birds and look at that wonderful grass that is coming ever so slowly!

We are in the undertaking of rebuilding our old loading chute. It was originally built by my father and then repaired and added on to over the years. It has gotten a little scary to use,  tho’ one of the owners of cattle we summered last year, told me not to change a thing as it works great. And it has, so far. But the posts are no longer straight and plumb and some of the planks are weak. So it is time.

I went down today and started moving junk, that had gotten piled up over the years and almost in the way. We plan to move the chute further west, so it is handier for truckers to back up to so all that needed to go. I found out I am old, fat and out of shape! Imagine that!

Chance had went to do some dirt work with his skid steer and showed up about the time I was finishing up. I had a grandson who was working here and he had went and fixed fence. So we all gathered round and discussed how to set up the pens leading into the chute as they are getting rickety also.

I have seen some great things with a Bud Box and we have something similar on our working chute that works good so we will need to change some fences. Sounds like the plan is now to use free standing panels and if everything works well, then put in permanent.

I read in one of Spike Van Cleves book a statement that I agreed with. He said, “Seems like I have to rebuild corrals about every twenty years.” Yup, me too. And many folks are now putting in pipe and sucker rod, which make a stout, pretty good looking corral. But what I have noticed, when ever I rebuilt some, I had discovered that maybe they weren’t situated to be the handiest and by moving some fences, you could get cattle to flow better. I am plumb anal about that. When things are set up right, cattle will smoothly pass thru a chute or gate with minimal interference and thus they have less stress as do the people working with them. So I am not a fan of permanent, permanent corrals, until you are sure they are the best. I would sure hate to have to tear a bunch of that pipe fence out and rebuild it.

About the time they came out with the tub system for working cattle thru’ a working chute and everyone had got one set up, someone discovered that a double alley actually works better. Most wouldn’t mess with a double alley as they already had invested time and money in a tub. I have worked around both and when set up right, the double alley is my preferred system. So I’m sure glad I never made a tub. Tho’ I did somewhat mimic one, and it never worked as good as it should have.

I also like to have things set to where it is handy to use whether you are afoot or horseback. Gates that latch at the corner so there is no room to get to them while on a horse, especially with chains, is a personal pet peeve! 

I have got most of mine set up to where they are easy to open when on a horse or afoot. But I haven’t yet found the perfect latch. Easy to operate and stout! 

So, we strive on. I know I am sore and tired and perhaps a stiff shot of Who Hit John just might be in the cards!

Enjoy this lovely spring weather, and if you get some snow, just remember, it can snow about any time in South Dakota. Mother Nature don’t always pay much attention to the calendar!

Yup, we had one!

Sure didn’t get as bad as it looked like it could’ve. I think we got almost a foot of snow. Kind of hard to tell when the wind drifts it. Probably one of the easiest ones I have been thru’. A large part of that is because I didn’t have a bunch of cows calving in it or a bunch of scatter brained yearlings who tend to like to drift with the wind.

I am sure there were lots of red eyed folks who didn’t get enough sleep, because of it, keeping watch on cattle and sheep. I can remember the after effects very well, when I did have a bunch of cows or yearlings around. But then, most stock folk know what they are signing up for. 

Its does always amaze me when I hear or read of folks complaining of the snow and wind. Do they not know that is the norm for this country? Is it fun? Well, maybe when you’re a kid. But it comes part and parcel for living in this area.

I have seen a few snow falls in my 60 plus years where the snow fell straight down and didn’t drift, but very few. I am not to sure what that must be like. I think it would be enjoyable, until I think of all the grass snowed under that the wind didn’t blow free, so livestock have to be fed every bite they eat, until it melts off.

I used to think it would be great to live up where there are all them trees to stop the wind like in the Black Hills, but then I hear about pine needle abortions, and that doesn’t sound like much fun.

I guess I am a prairie boy. I get up in the Hills and get a funny feeling and finally figure out it is because I feel closed in. Most days I can see Fox Ride, 30 some miles away, pretty clearly. If I go west just a bit, I can see the Black Hills, off 50 to 75 miles away, pretty clearly. No, I guess I will stay on the prairie and put up with wind and the dust storms and blizzards. I don’t have to deal with venomous snakes too many months of the year and it has got to where it is a rarity to see one around here. No alligators. Not much for tornado’s, tho’ I have seen the tail of one or two in my lifetime, tho’ not real close to here. Yeah, we get heat in the summer and cold in the winter, but it kind of breaks up the pace of things a little. Usually not real bad for humidity and so far we are far enough out from any larger towns or cities we don’t have much troubles with people like they do where them folks are crammed together. 

So to me, the good out weighs the bad. I have traveled all over these lower 48 states and never seen anywhere I liked as much as where I live. It’s always fun to travel and see other country, but when we top the hill and see this old ranch come in to sight, that is the best things I have seen on any trip so far.

I guess I am just too stupid to know how bad we really have it. They say ignorance is bliss, so I guess I am blissful. 

Pull your hat down, the wind may just come up!

Awhile back the locals had a fund raiser for Chance, the son who broke both wrists and then his house burnt down. A fine young lady from Belle Fourche, Naomi Bennett ,donated a custom made, 100 % pure beaver fur hat, to be auctioned off, that she makes at her business, Put A Lid On It. I happened to get it bought and then when in Belle not long after made arrangements to stop in and get measured and get all the particulars down. I have known of her for quite some time and have watched her build her business, building hats. 

This past week we had errands in the Hills and she notified me that the hat was done, so we stopped in and picked it up. Man, she did a nice job. Looks great, feels great and just what I ordered. I would highly recommend her and her hats to anyone. She has a little, log cabin on the north side of town, up by the water tower or tank. If your thinking you would like a hat, swing in and talk to her. Might want to call her first or look her up on Social Media, as she is a busy lady. She has been night lambing for a neighboring rancher and commented on helping to calve heifers earlier in the season. If I remember correctly, she told me one time that she and a friend had built the cabin. It’s way cool!

While in the fair city, we stopped in at Cowboys Too, to harass the help. Sadly, Michell was out with sickness, but that cranky ol feller that ramrods the place was in there, and was fun to pick on. Even found me a shirt I decided I needed. I usually get into Pete Boots and Western Wear also, but we were getting pressed for time so didn’t get to stop.

I wonder if people in the local area, just take these and most the other businesses for granted and their stock of wares. We live far enough away, Belle isn’t our regular shopping area, but I always enjoy stopping in any of the shops there. Friendly and knowledgable help who seem to be happy to see you and treat you like a friend and not just a customer. Thats the kind of people I like to do business with. When I need shirts or pants, and am in the big city of Rapid, I dread it, as there don’t seem to be many shops that have what I want and most have the exact same items as the other, and many times, you have to basically wait on your self. I hope Belle always remains small town shopping. It used to be that  way in all these towns. But like most good things that used to be, it is getting to be a thing of the past.

And also, what about this weather? I read people complaining because it is cold and wintery. But I also see they are shutting down the snow mobile trails in the Hills. Seems to me like the end of March to first of April usually is kind of a mixture of cold and warm around here. I don’t think the ol’ boy who made the calendar and wrote down March 20 as the first day of spring comes from around here! I would say it is closer to May first to the 15th anyway. I guess it all depends on what you call spring weather.

In the mean time, lets hope all the fog we got awhile back, that was foretelling moisture around here, comes as warm rains. But even if it comes as snow, we will take it! After all, we ain’t got much choice. Might as well like what we got, we can’t change it, tho’ I read the government is trying. If it is like most things they try to “improve”, watch out!

Hope you get to wear your slickers a bunch in the near future with warm rain coming down!

On Tuesday last, my bride and I made a flying trip to Billings, almost on a whim. That is where I get all my leather for saddles and chaps from, mostly. I do have a couple neighbors who usually have some chap leather on hand and I can run up to their house and buy some, and actually see the stuff. Color, weight and thickness. Pretty handy, but for the stiffer, thicker stuff, I just call up Montana Leather in Billings and they ship it. 

I had ordered a hide and when I got it, I noticed it was a bit thinner than I thought I wanted. I cut out a couple small pieces for a set of chaps and tooled them, and just wasn’t real pleased with it. So, for what it cost for me to ship it back and the cost of getting a different hide shipped down here, I decided to just take it back and exchange it. We were needing a road trip anyway.

We passed thru’ Belle and on down the trail. On our return trip, we took the interstate, down to Sheridan and around thru’ Razor City, into Sturgis, turned east and headed home. So we made a pretty good circle, considering we didn’t leave until a little after 10 am. 12 hours of almost straight driving!

She, “who must be obeyed”, got us, a new to us, Ford Ranger, back on our Anniversary and it was the first longer trip we had in it. 

Oh, your wondering why she would get me a pickup for our anniversary….well, that’s easy… I deserve it! I tell you, I treat that woman like a Goddess! All my life I have slaved and sweated to make her life better and happier.

What?

You don’t believe me?

Well dang! A man can’t even lie to you people and get you to believe it!

In actuality, her old vehicle, tho’ in good shape and nothing much wrong with it, other than it was getting some miles on it, was still serviceable. But…..it was one of them smaller SUV’s. She loved it. I, not so much. And around here, it’s kind of a remake of the movie Driving Miss Daisy. She is Daisy and guess who that makes me? Yeah, the driver. It was hard for me to get into, kind of noisy as far as road noise and again, was getting quite a few miles on it.

So, I thought about it long and hard and started in about a year ago, complaining about her car and how many miles it was getting, and how much better a pickup would serve our purposes. Finally got her to go look at them, then we drove some and finally she picked this one out. A white, Ford Ranger, 21 edition.. No, not 1921, 2021!

It had low miles and heated seats. Two of her many requirements. 4 door so she can haul grandkids and ride back there when we are hauling someone else with us. And lots more head room, for me and my hat. And you set up higher and can see the road better. It even gets pretty good gas mileage. She spent more than I would have, but then again, I am pretty easy to please….she is making the payments, so what the heck. If she lives long enough it will be all hers and by then, if I am still alive, I can use it for a ranch vehicle! Win, win!

She even took off and drove it to town and back for some errands, all by herself, the other day! Oh, yeah, and got her plates for it.. and guess what she did? Yup, ordered Vanity plates! 

When she came home and told me what she had done, I couldn’t believe it! And she thinks it’s quite a joke, as they say, GPAANNI…..That supposedly spells out Grampa’s Anniversary Present, I am told…..I think she needs to go back and take spelling another year or two!

The day we got it was our 44th anniversary, so I teased her that it sure was a nice, tho’ expensive, anniversary present for me. She thought that was real funny…. Ha..ha..!

So if you happen to see a 4 door white Ford Ranger, with those plates, be sure and wave. Heck, even at our advanced age we still see pretty good, as long as we have our glasses on! If we ain’t arguing about something, or trying to figure out where we are and where the next turn should be, we will wave back. It’s what we do in this country!

By the way, I call it White Lightning. It’s pretty smooth and seems to have a little kick, if you step on it! And pretty comfortable to! “Mighty, mighty pleasing…..White Lightning!”

Here is an old memory. We had been calving and were kicking some pairs out of the calving lot. There was about a foot of crusted snow on the ground. Dad had been feeding with the tractor and I was along to open and watch gates. My older brother was on a horse. I was about 10 I suppose.

As we kicked the cows out into a lane leading over the hill, we kicked up a skunk. Dad decided we would just herd him along and get him away from the buildings and dispatch him, so sent my brother after a gun. Dad and I walked a long, driving the skunk after the pairs. He wanted to be away from us, but must have gotten tired of us, as pretty soon, he dove into a cow track in the snow with about half his tail sticking out.

Dad grumbled about him still being upwind from the barns and house and was wishing he had kept going. He turned to me and said, “Just reach down and grab him by the tail and pick him up.” I was incredulous! “NO!” Was my reply. “Oh, go ahead,” he said, “If you don’t let him touch his front feet against you or anything else, he can’t brace himself to spray.”

Then he played dirty warfare and started daring me. Now, this was a man who always said, “Anyone who would take a dare would suck an egg.” But he was also my Dad whom I admired when I was mad or afraid of him. 

He kept it up, teasing and daring me. I got pretty closet that tail and all the time, the skunk just stayed in the hole and the tail never moved.

To, I think his and my amazement both, I reached down and grabbed the tail and lifted my arm! Out came Mr Skunk. And then what was I supposed to do?

He got pretty excited, he wasn’t standing that fr away from me, matter of fact, looking back, I think he tried to back away from me. Big coward!

Now what?

He said” Just keep him out away from you and start walking up the hill. I will get the tractor and pick you up.”

I started trudging up the hill with my skunk, all the while he was turning his head up toward where I was holding him, acting like he’d like to bite me, but never made a sound. Who knew skunks were mutes!

Pretty soon, here he came with the tractor. It had an old style cable Farmhand stacker with a grapple fork on it. He had made a step/seat on the back out of boards. It was easy enough for me to get set down on it and up the hill we went. By now, the skunk seemed to have gotten a lot heavier! I was having to use my left hand to help hold my right arm up and out away from me and every thing else.

We got to the top of the hill and here came my brother on his horse with a 22 rifle. Dad stopped the tractor and told me to swing the skunk out and to throw him as far as I could. I did. I must have been scared or he was lighter than I thought, as I got him quite aways away from us. I figured he would turn and try to attack us, but he just turned and started to waddle off, as if being picked up and carried by his tail was kind of an ordinary thing to have happen.

My brother let him get a little ways away and then dispatched him. He wasn’t that great a shot, but then his target really wasn’t really that far away. I don’t remember much after that. Except I have thought about and told quite a few people about it in the past 55 years and I am sure most thought I was just telling a big whopper. But I swear on all things holy, it is all true to the best of my recollection.

Now, I am not saying I am a hero. And I have done many crazy things since that event. But thinking back on it, I wonder if Dad wasn’t trying to teach me something…. Naw, he was just killing two bird with one stone. He got a problem fixed that was vexing me, and he pulled a pretty good trick on his son! It makes me wonder how this event might have molded me for the other things that went on in my life. I know I have thought back on quite a few occasion when I was contemplating on doing something that seemed kind of crazy at the time and remember thinking to myself, “Hey, I picked up a live skunk  one time and that turned out okay. This probably will too!” 

Last summer, we had a young man from a large city come and stay with us for a month. He was 16 and had never evidently done anything much of a physical sort. 16 and a half, as he was quick to tell you. And also he told everyone we came across his name and where he was from! Maybe some of you met him. His name is Kevin. Smart as a whip, and talking to him was much like talking to someone who had just graduated from college. But, no real refined motor skills. When he left he could saddle a horse and bridle him, get on and off, had learned to fix fence somewhat and had made great inroads into learning to drive a vehicle with a 5 speed!

I learned, I am not a very good teacher. I have little to no patience. I am lazy and when I have to do a job that I thinks someone else is capable of, I get growly, really fast! Just ask my grandchildren!

At one point, after giving Kevin a mild butt chewing, I told him, I would quit doing it if he wanted, but that his parent would then have to pay me for every day he was here. He was supposed to be working for his keep. He quickly told me that no, I shouldn’t change my teaching methods.

He was as friendly as a shepherd pup and eager. I hope I didn’t take advantage of that, and I don’t think I did as he calls fairly frequently and we have great hour long conversations. We both find the others life interesting.

In our last conversation I accused him of being a Woke, Liberal, Snowflake. He admonished me that he wasn’t. I was partially joking, but still and all, his thinking is much the same as so many young city dwellers. In the course of this conversation, he defended himself and said, “after all, young people can do so many things you older people can’t, like work with and on computers.” I defended us old geezer as best I could could and then pointed out we could all drive a 5 speed and read and write in cursive! I pointed out that if there was ever an EMP strikes and it took out all the electrical on everything that has it, he and his ilk would be lost. I asked if he carried a pocket knife. Of course not, not allowed in school. I asked how he would survive with out any electricity to run anything. He was at a loss.

We carried on and I pointed out that a man should be able to defend himself and those around him and know how to use a knife or a gun for the tools they are and being respectful of they power it give you. I told him of going to school and having guns in our vehicles and that no one would ever think of using one on a human except in the most dire situations. Or a knife. As I pointed out, our friends would not allow it. We would have been stopped by our peers. It was unthinkable and only the most venal and lowlife skunk would even think of doing so. We fixed our differences with our fists and even then there were kind of rules. You were not allowed to gang up on others. You didn’t hit or kick a man when he was down. Fist were the only weapons you had.

And that was all true. If anyone had tried any thing different that that they would have been ostracized by everyone, including their peers and friends.

I wonder how we got away from that. He was startled when I said every man should learn what it is like to get punched and knocked back down and that you can get back up.We all learned this as young boys and young men. We learned to not lie, because if you did, soon no one would trust you. Your word was your bond. If it wasn’t, you were shunned.

Then came the “kinder, gentler” approach. We see people in high places who were raised in that manner. They no longer follow the rules. But no one shuns them. People reward them for wrong doing. People flock to follow them,

Seems to me, we have gone astray. Some of these people need a good whack in the jaw and knocked down and everyone waiting for them to get on their feet again, by themselves. And we need people to stop rewarding liars and thieves. 

Not sure how we go back, but a start would be to take all the warning labels and such off things and let people learn some hard lessons for themselves and learn they are responsible for what they do and say.

But that is just my opinion. Yours may vary.

I was hoping we were done with below zero temps. One thing about this area, if you don’t like the weather, stick around awhile, it will probably change! 

I fed more hay than I wanted to so far this winter. And don’t tell me spring is almost here. By the calendar it is, but I have lived here 65 years and you ain’t fooling me. I have seen real cold and snow up into May. My Dad remembers when it snowed on the Fourth of July. I remember taking him to the rodeo in Faith in August and of course we weren’t dressed for cold weather. But it darn sure got cold. I went and found a vendor who was selling blankets and bought one to wrap him in, but he sure wouldn’t leave. I hope I don’t get that hard headed when I get old!!!

My wife talks about one of her baby sisters born in the middle of Sepetember and her dad taking her mom to the hospital in Deadwood in a blizzard.

Speaking of old, how come all the people my age are looking old? I haven’t hardly changed, I am pretty sure, tho’ once in awhile I do see an old man looking at me when I walk by a mirror. Sneaky old booger!

Have you all been following any news lately. Man, this old world is in a mess and maybe it always has, but now we have live on the ground coverage and up to the minute exposure, if you go to the right spots.

My family gives me a hard time about it, but I watch a lot of videos on TikTok. Yeah, yeah, it is Chinese propaganda, but what has amazed me is all the stuff they have been showing from numerous sources, who are not part of the MSM and their predictions and what all comes to pass ring true most of the time. Take that oil pipeline that was/is leaking oil in the North Sea. Right away there were people advising it was done by the good ol USA and now we are taking credit for it.

Interesting to me is the different takes on the war in the Ukraine. I haven’t made up my mind and I think there is probably wrong doing on both sides, but it sure isn’t as black and white as some make it out to be.

I remember Viet Nam and the reports that came out at the time, then what has come out since. Anyone who trusts the MSM and the government better not get into any gambling as I think they are suckers and will lose a bunch.

Speaking of gambling, it always amuses when I hear of people who go to Deadwood and sure never say much about losing, but they sure brag when they win. I was taught long ago that those places were not designed to put money in your pocket.

Kind of like ranching I guess, you better enjoy the life as I never met many ranchers who were really very wealthy in money. Sure if they sell out, but then the government just takes it. They will let you hit a lick every once in awhile, to keep you in the game.

Hmmm.. kind of reminds me of them casinos!

To quote the old mountain man, in the old Jeremiah Johnson movie, Watch your topknot, Pilgrim.