11/29/06

Brrrr! I came home last night from Gillette, as it was cold and windy there yesterday and supposed to be the same today. It’s pretty hard to do much dirt work, when it gets that cold. Oh, I guess you can do it, but the guys who do the cement work, don’t want to pour walls on frozen ground, so there is no sense in digging the basement and then having to cover it back up, until it warms up enough for them to pour cement.

Dusty had dug three basements, side by side and we had to go in and cover up some of the places about 6 to 8 inches deep, with dirt or straw, to keep the ground from freezing. Did you know that straw bales cost 6 a bale?!

Now we will have to go back and re-dig and repack the ground. Wonderful! It’s always fun to do over something you’ve already done.

I did go down and help dig some ditch on Sunday afternoon, over east of here. I think Chance is going to go help them for the next couple days, until he has to leave for his new job down in the hills.

Stay warm!

11/25/06

OK, maybe it’s time to re-think the big Tonka toys.

I have just spent the past two days, setting in a backhoe and digging up cable, from the old missile base sites. I started at 7 yesterday morning and didn’t quit until 7:30 last night. Then today I started at 8 (slept in until 6:30 as I waited up for Cindy last night and so didn’t get to go to sleep until about midnight) and I quit this evening at 6. I was going to go until 10 tonight, but I was almost out of fuel in the backhoe and the guy who brings it wasn’t around. Oh well, 22 1/2 hours in 2 days ain’t bad.

But I think maybe I need to go back and help Dusty, cuz’ when I run his equipment, I get to get out and do other things, once in awhile.

Less setting, less boring.

I guess you just can’t please some people! 🙂

Chance and Hope borrowed my pickup and trailer and moved their stuff to Hill City, to an apartment they will be renting from Hopes Dad. Chance starts work as a framer on Monday of next week. So we have two more, farther away. Life goes on.

Hope you had a good day.

Thanksgiving evening

I hope you all are in as much discomfort as I am, at the moment. I’m almost 50 years old. You’d think I would be smart enough to know not to eat so much! Oh well, it’s just a good thing Thanksgiving comes just once a year!

All of the kids came home and we ate our meal about 5 or 5:30 this evening. Tate, Kass and Gabe came about 10 this morning, so we hauled the trash out and drove around and checked on the horses and cattle, as it’s been awhile since I looked at them. I guess we need to set a date and sell the few calves we have. I’m kind of sorry we didn’t sell them earlier, but as they were later born, they were just too small to sell, when the prices were better. Oh well, I never figured to get rich raising cattle, and so far my plan has worked out exceedingly well!

Hope you all had a wonderful and Thankful holiday with friends and/or families. We sure did.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Hope you had yourself a happy one. We are supposed to get all the kids home today, and of course the grandson and the grandson to be, will be coming with his mother and father.:)

I spent the first 3 days of the week in Gillette, again. Sounds like I might become a resident, this winter, as long as the weather and the work hold up.

I’m getting more used to it. Even getting to know where and when to eat, for faster service.

Gillette reminds me of an old town in the west, or at least how I assume it would have been, in spirit. A lot of hustle and bustle and almost twice as many men as women. Everyone is in a hurry to get something done, or to be somewhere. Traffic is kind of fast and furious, and you soon learn to drive like they do, or get left behind.

It’s good to be home and away from the hectic life. I guess that is what I am most thankful for, today. That and living in a country where we get to come and go as we please and pretty much do as we want and say what we want.

So Thanks, all you past service members, and also the present ones, who have worked and died for us, to be able to live in such a grand country. Even with all of it’s flaws, I think it must be the best one out there. Otherwise, why would so many be trying to get here?

And as to the person who wrote me and said I should update this blog daily, well all I can say is, I’ll try, but it’s pretty hard when I don’t have access to a computer, in Gillette. And I still want some of those big Tonka toys, for Christmas, if any of you have me on your list, this year. LOL And remember, when it comes to Tonka toys, bigger is better! 😉

Hope you had a great day!

11/18/06

It’s been a long week. Dusty called and wanted me to come to Gillette and help him out for a couple of days. A “couple of days” turned into a week!

It was kind of fun. I sure like playin’ with them “Tonka Toys for big boys”. Especially the trackhoe. I do believe I could comb someones hair with it now!

Dusty had me take it to a spot where someone had dumped a bunch of piles of dirt mixed with broken up rocks and asphalt. I got on top and pushed and pulled it until it was all level. Sure helped my finesse.

I don’t imagine I could keep up with him, but I can sure hold my own. I got to dig up a water line and of course, it wasn’t where it was supposed to be, so I cut it in two with the backhoe bucket. Good thing it wasn’t hooked up to the water yet!

Gillette is about like an anthill that someone has kicked over. Too many people and not enough cafes and restaurants. You wait in long lines wherever you go and wait to be waited on and served. It gets old, fast!

The weather was real nice. Had to take my coat or vest off during the middle of the day.

I’m supposed to go back on Monday, so maybe I’ll get to work with horses for a day and then back to the coal mine! LOL

Hope you’ve been having good days also.

Oh, and I’m supposed to say Hi to Becca, in California. So HI, Becca! LOL

11/1/06

Vetern’s day.

I hope we all remembered to give thanks to our vets. Without them and their sacrifices over the years, we would not be enjoying most of the privledges we do.

I always try and remember to thank a vet for their service, whenever I meet one. I got to talk to an old Marine last summer, who was in some of the bloodiest battles of the south Pacific, when he served during WWII. He acted very surprised when I told him I would like to shake his hand and thank him. That’s to bad. It meant that no one else had done it. At least not for a long time.

My father and one of his brothers were turned down from the Army during WWII because of disabilities. Funny, they always seemed to be able to fight pretty good, as I remember!

The younger brother, Wayne, did serve and was awarded several commendations and medals. No one in my family ever told me about this. Just that he had served. What a shame. A hero who I personally knew and never had the chance to discuss it with him.

So if you know a vet, whether from WWII or any other war or conflict, thank them. They served so we might have freedoms. I wish this country would treat them better!

On the lighter side, we awoke to 3 or 4 inches of wet snow Friday morning. At this writing, it is about gone. I’m sure thankful for the moisture and hope it keeps this cycle up, this winter. A little snow, a little sunshine to melt it. Then in the spring, it can get real nice and just rain a whole bunch! LOL

I went to Vermilion and had a great time. If any of you are in the area, I advise you to stop in at Valiant Vineyard, on the west side of town. A real neat place, whether you drink wine or not. (I didn’t as I had to drive afterwords.) It’s also a B&B. Wish I had know that earlier, I might have gotten a room and sampled all their wines! LOL

Had a great crowd and a good time. Sold lots of books and really enjoyed the ladies of the WIFE group, who I was entertaining. A very good group who are trying to improve and lobby for, agriculture. Any of you who are involved in ag, should look into this group. If we don’t speak up for ourselves, no one else will.

Thanks ladies, I sure enjoyed your company!

And I had a great time. And thanks Bob and Sue, for putting up with me and saving me the cost of a motel room, with a hard bed. Like Goldilocks, my bed at your house, was juuusssstttt right!

Hope you all had a good day. 🙂

11/9/06

We had some snow on the ground this morning, but it melted off pretty quick.

I’m headed out to Vermillion, SD tomorrow to do a show for a group. Should be fun as we are holding it at a vineyard! And there is supposed to be a wine tasting! 🙂

I worked with some of the colts some more the other day. We are all learning a lot. They are getting better and the job is about done. Then they go home and I get paid. It’s a wonderful incentive system!

Thank you all who responded. It’s easier to write these things, when I know someone is reading them. I sure appreciate it.

On cowboypoetry.com they have a deal that is called the Art Spur program. They have a picture or painting and everyone is supposed to write and submit a poem about the picture. It’s intended to “spur” you on, I guess. I was the subject in the last picture. I was leading a spare horse behind me so they called it, “Leading a spare.” They got some real good poems for it.

This time, the picture is of a guy on a horse who is dragging a Christmas tree home. Here is the poem I submitted.

Draggin’ in the tree

It’s gettin’ to be that time of year again
To be thinkin’ of ol’ Santy and such
To be thankful for what all we’ve recieved
I sometimes wonder how we got so dang much

Oh, I know that Thanksgiving is over for this year
and it’s Christmas that’s right around the bend
No, I ain’t got my seasons mixed up
You must think I’ve lost my mind, ol’ friend

See, some folks think Christmas is all about recievin’
and maybe that’s true for some
But for me Christmas is a lot more about givin’
and bein’ thankful for where I come from

Out here in cow country we’ve sure got some problems
But they ain’t nuthin’ we ain’t faced before
But drought, low prices and politics are the usual
‘Course this time, we got folks off to war

Them soldiers are fightin’ for all of us
and so others might have what we’ve got
Democracy, it’s about the greatest gift we can give
and the price has sure cost us a lot

So I cut this ol’ tree and I’m draggin’ it in
When I stand it up and look at it, I’ll pause
I’ll reflect on all them fine soldiers over there
Passin’ out this gift, playin’ Santy Claus

Hope you all are having a good day also.

11/6/06

Election day tomorrow.

Beautiful weather we’ve been having. Got up in the 60’s today and they are predicting into the 80’s tomorrow! Only way it could be better, was if it was raining! LOL

I’m not real sure why I keep writing here as I don’t think anyone is reading it. Oh well, I’ll just use it as a journal and someday maybe my grandkids can look back and see what grampa was up to.

Chance worked with a couple of colts today and I worked with the hard headed blue roan. He takes a lot of work and I’m not sure if I would take him if he was given to me. There are way too many out there who have better minds and are not nearly as hard headed. It’s hard to want to work with something that fights you at every step. Maybe some of us need to remember this, when working with others, also!

Hope you are having a good day.

10/29

Another beautiful fall day!

I enjoyed it, especially as they are predicting snow and wind for the next day or so.

I worked with all 7 of the yearlings today. Things sure went good. They and I have both learned a lot.

I talked to a young friend who is in California, tonight and sure wish we had more time to talk. It’s good to pick his brain and he’s another one of these good young hands.

He’s out there working with a reining/working cowhorse/cutting, trainer. Learning a lot, it sounds like and I’m looking forward to when he comes home. He’s tried real hard to get some stuff pounded into my thick skull, over the years. About all he’s really ever done is start colts and ride horses. He knows a lot and can sure teach a feller some things, if you’ve got the time and attention span. My problem seems to be with my memory. I sure wish I would have known about a lot of this stuff at his and Eric’s age. They are both so good and do such great work, they make it seem easy. And maybe it is to them. It’s kind’a like magic, to this ol’ boy!

Tate and Kass brought Gabe out to visit with his grampa today and we sailed a small sailboat of Tates. Pretty cool. It runs on batteries and we got pretty good at trimming the sails and not getting it capsized! It’s really neat the way you can get it to go upwind, by setting the sails. Sure makes me want to go on a cruise, on a real sailboat!

Hope you had a great day too!

10/26

Another nice fall day.

Yesterday, Chance and Hope came up and Chance and I worked with some yearling horses. It went well until we started with a blue roan. Eric had worked with him once when we had our clinic and this was only the second time for him to be worked by a man. Very tough minded and wasn’t real impressed with me or anyone or anything else. He was pretty sure that he was the boss of his world and it took a lot of effort and time to get him to acknowledge, that maybe I was the boss!

We made a lot of progress, but I wasn’t real happy with the way it went, so I called Eric and visited with him about what we had done. He told me that he’d like to work with him some more, so he stopped in this afternoon, with his wife and two small children. Eric got a lot done in a short while, as there were some things that I was missing with this horse. Eric has so much patience with these young horses. He’s worked with enough of them that it’s easy for him to see things that I was overlooking. I was making progress, but nothing as fast as he did. When we quit this evening, he was admitting that he wasn’t the boss and plumb willing to let Eric do about anything that he wanted to. I walked up and took the halter off and he followed me around like a puppy. Amazing!

If we just take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves. Such a simple lesson, but so hard for some of us to remember!

Hope you had a good day too!