12/19/09

Another nice day. The wind hardly blew. I wish I had burned my dump. Sounds like we got some snow coming next week. So far we are still pretty white. The snow hasn’t melted and crusted too much so the cows can still graze.

My big tank at the corral has been running over and it finally dawned on me today why. The rubber ring that is on the float gets worn and the float can’t quite seal the water off. On the bright side, I have a lovely ice skating rink. Now, if I could just get the colts and calves to lean how to ice skate! Come to think of it, I guess they are!

Here’s some pictures from the other day when Teri came to take pictures. Hooks was waiting to attack some unwary passersby!  I thought my silhouette in the snow with the team was pretty cool.

How’s that?

While visiting with a man who was born and raised in Poland and who’s parents still live there, he mentioned that his father was in the hospital for the last 3 weeks with pneumonia.

This brought up socialized medicine, as our country is trying so hard to get, evidently.

You remember Poland. The country who fought to have a democracy and who is working hard to improve their country while still some of the old commnist ways are hard to get rid of. Like the part where the government can do all for everyone, supposedly?

Anyway, he mentioned that his fathers hospital stay was not that good, but that his mother kept the doctors coming to see her husband by “sliding an envelope with money under the door for the doctor” often.

I asked if there were plenty of doctors in Poland and he said there was, but most did not want to work for the state run hospitals as they could not make as much as going into private practice. So if you want the best for your family while they are in the hospital you must pay extra to get it.

Hmmm, yeah, there is a great plan!

Lets do that over here too, don’t you think?

Great news!

A friend and neighbor has been on trial and I just read that he won! It’s nice to know that justice can prevail!

Chance and I shot and dressed a big steer this morning and hauled him to Newell to the butcher. We ate a bite after dropping him off and then stopped back at the butcher shop and picked up the hide as they are not worth much, so I nailed it to a barn wall to clean up and I will make it into rawhide and braid a reata or something with it.

Ysterday Teri, a young neighbor lady and friend who is a artist, came down and went with me to feed with the team and took pictures for material for her art work. She does such nice work, I am anxious to see what she comes up with.

Been real nice last couple days. Up to 40 or close to it. I suppose it will just stay warm enough to put a crust on the snow, but maye it will melt it enough that it won’t effect the winter grazing. I hope to get my bale unroller worked on tomorrow and get it up to snuff. I have been feeding with the bobsled, but with these warmer temps my sledding snow is going fast.

That’s okay, I can use the bale wagon or pitch onto the other wagon, for that matter! I will take warm weather!

Chance helped me put the wider bucket on the loader the other day and also the chains and bale unroller, so I guess we are ready, come what may.

12/14/09

Yeah, I skipped posting for a day. Hey, even the Lord rested on Sunday!

Dropped down to the single digits again, but supposedly it’s going to warm up into the 30’s and maybe even hit 40 by Thursday. Thats good as Chance and I need to butcher a steer and haul him to the locker plant that day.

I didn’t do much today. Just worked on some Christmas projects.

I’ll probably hook up the team and drag some hay out tomorrow.

Carry on.

12/12/09

Cindy needed to have some work done on her car so she left it in town the other day when I was in and rode home with me. Then she drove my old wreck until today. I had to run her in and then came home and started my day. Caught and hooked up the team and fed calves then caught Beaver and rode up into Harry’s and brought Chances new black anti-social cows who want to stay up there where the water isn’t open and they have no bean to eat with the dry grass. Me and the dogs got them kicked back with the other cows and shut the gates so they can’t go backup there. Damned anti-social rips!

I am going to put a taller front on the sled this afternoon and also a back end so I can pitch a bigger load of hay on. Heres some pictures from todays activities, so far.

Friday 12-11-09

I went in to Rapid City yesterday and did some shopping then on to Sturgis to pick up Cindy. Her car had a warning light on so she left it at a garage to get fixed. We headed over to Spearfish and did some more shopping and got some planks to work on the bed of my bob sleigh. Hey, if it is going to act like winter, I want to be ready!

I got a few bags of pellets to throw on the planks so they wouldn’t move around and fall out of the pickup. A 2×12 plank cost less than a 1×12. I find that odd. I am going to blame it on the Liberals, cuz I can! 🙂

Seems to be plenty of people out and about shopping. Maybe they aren’t spending as much, but they are spending.

I hate to bitch about the price of food, but it seems like so many of the groceries are getting to high. I feel like my Dad. He always complained about how much higher priced everything was when he got older and I am feeling the same way. I tell you, a hundred bucks don’t go very far anywhere, anymore!

JJ got bucked off last night, dammit! And he was doin’ so good. Oh well, maybe them other guys will get bucked off and he will be back in the running for a world title.

Still cold

Sounds like a headline from Alaska, tho’ we were colder than them the other day!

December of 84 or 85, it got down around 25 below and stayed there for some time. I remember on Christmas eve, it was 24 below and the wind was blowing. I was trying to pitch hay onto a wagon pulled by my  team and the wind was blowing the hay off. Dad finally got the tractor started just before dark and went up the creek and got the cows fed some hay while I took the manure spreader and hauled them a load of ear corn.

That was a long cold winter. I sure don’t want to see another one like it.

Just sorta coolish

“Baby, it’s cold outside” as my Mom used to say!

9 below out there as I write this at a quarter to 8 am.

I plugged the tractor and the pickup in, tho’ I should go harness the team and pitch some hay on or unroll a bale as they will run with out being plugged in. I am sure it will warm up a little as the day goes on, but I haven’t checked the weather.

One thing about it, this kind of weather keeps a lot of the crazies down south! 😉