Seems like theres alway something to do.. move cows to fresh pasture, worked on some waterlines. the new well is hooked up to the old well, so anywhere, there can be two wells pumping or we can shut off either well also.. going to put a tank in, Addy Bear and I took the big forklift down and got an old tire tank at a windmill we no longer use and brought it home.. I took the skid steer and tried to level a place for it.. hooked a waterline, above ground, to one set of trees… we needed to let the new well pump for several days to clear up.. when he dug it, he used bentonite and evidently it settles to the bottom or at least part of it, and you have to keep pumping until you get it all pumped out.. Chance and Hope fought it in their new bathroom,, plugged a screen.,, Chance was pretty hot, but finally figured out the problem and got it fixed… I had to work on a coupe tanks, one needed fill around it as it was all worn out and then something got in it and broke mthe float off.. also the over flow pipe so it didn’t make a mess, but I will need to get a replacement part for the float…the other tank was shut off art the curb stop, so I had to make some of them, seeing as someone stole the ones at the tanks.. I’ve got some big ol’ sucker rod from an oil well and the joints are just the right size to cut a notch in them and use them for a curb stop key… grandsons been helping move cattle every few days, rotating pretty fast, leaving quite a bit of feed behind, but trying to get all these pastures with crested wheatgrass, grazed while it’s still good, then if we catch a rain or two it may green back up.. either way, it needs chomped and grazed down about to 3 or 4 inches height.. the cows are getting better about the moves. They are finally figuring out to get their calf and go to fresh grazing… I mowed grass with the skid steer this boring, been building a new fence next to a tree planting.. We went in to the Ordination of two new Priests for our diocese last night. Always exciting to see these young men dedicate their lives to their people and God. One is somewhat of a neighbor, as he grew up south of us, not too far.. his sister goes to our church… everyone around here is trying to get ready for activities around the 4th.. we have a late bunch of calves to get branded real soon. Going to let the kids do most of it, with us to back them up and instruct and hopefully it will be fun for all.. got a few hot days so Gramma bought another cheap pool for the grandkids but I think I might go share it when it gets real hot again!

Gus and I were down tearing out some old fence by Tates yesterday when Tate came and asked if I would take him to town to do some things and get his pickup that was in the repair shop… so I did.. while in the Hills, I went down and watched a supper show my friend Paul Larson puts on with another feller I know.. they take people on wagon rides then give them a nice show and a good steak supper.. I enjoyed it. Then this morning, Tate dropped Lige and Gabe off to help me move some cows, but there was a threat of rain and lightning.. seeing how I don’t enjoy riding while it is lightning out, we worked on the fence.. they were good help, as was Gus.. we got the posts all set and a couple wires strung and clipped but ran out of clips.. we came back to the house and called Hope and they had run to town to get a sheetrock lift so they could get their addition rocked.. her brother was out so they wanted to make the most of it… they picked up the clips for us, we ate and had a nap then i worked on leather stuff until evening and then we went and moved the cows.. it drizzled a bit but never did really rain or lightning.. never trust a lying weather forecaster!

Cindy dropped off the Nitro awhile back, to get the damage fixed from a deer collision… they called and said it was done, so I rode to town with Chance and Hope and they dropped me off to get ti yesterday, when I got home, I picked up Gramma and we headed for Philip for the annual bronc match.. good watching.. some of tyne first string horses didn’t buck as good as they should, but out of 30 guys they got several bucked off, a couple missed them out and a reride or two… then they had the “wild ride”.. it wasn’t real wild, had the guys dressed up in super hero costumes, most of the horses just kind of ran, tho’ one bucked so hard he threw himself… then they had 8 of the best scores come back for a final round.. the group I was setting with all thrower 20 bucks a piece in the hat, winner take all in the final round, each picking a rider.. I said I’d take JJ Elshire.. guess who won? That’s right, JJ! So I gave them a 20 for beers all around, as we headed out… it had been threatening rain all evening and building to the northwest. didn’t happen while we were there… but when we got over by the Ridge, it started too rain and the further we went the more it came down.. maybe 3 to 5 bolts of lightning all at the same time and the wind really howled… I was down to 20 mph and having a hard time seeing the road, by the time we got to the river it was letting up a bunch.. the Cheyenne was up full and running… the further war went west the less there was, when we turned north on the gravel, you could see there’d been some rain.. didn’t appear like a lot.. tho’ the road was greasy, but what can you expect when they won’t put gravel on the road and when they do they mix so much dirt in for binder, it’s always greasy….when I got up this morning, I see there’d been place with softball sized hail and Cindy just mentioned a tornado over by Hereford… I think we got about a half inch.. now hail from the sounds of it.. me and Gabe sand Lige rode out this afternoon and moved pairs and sure didn’t notice any damage… just lots of horse flies, nose flies and some skeeters to pester us and the horses… it’s building off to the southwest right now and looks like someone is getting rain… it’s a green, wet ol’ country, I tell you!

Tho’ I tried to get the biggest one killed.. he was riding Peaches, who has ridden this spring and got along fairly well with… we got done moving pairs and my pup wasn’t listening about hell and stay back.. so I took my rope off the fork and held about 5 coils and waited until she got close and threw them at her while hollering “Back”… she jumped sideways and back, right at the horse Gabe was ridden, she jumped a head and the saddle Gabe was riding has a low cantle, so off he went onto her butt and then on to the ground.. he landed pretty easy, but I was worried… I finally got the stupid horse back for him, but he had to walk aways.. Molly decided maybe she ought to listen and Gabe paid more attention to me and the pup… There was a roping clinic up an]t the neighbors for the 4 H kids, so Kass and I took Beaver and all the kids up.. they learned a lot and we learned Beaver needs work on riding up to a plastic roping dummy, especially one that is moving!

Friday afternoon, Sam and I loaded a couple horses and headed up to a friends in North Dakota to help him brand… we set up the teepee and slept in outs bedrolls and of course had a lot of fun visiting and playing guitars and singing with a bunch of the crew who did the same as us.. got up this morning way to early and set around waiting for food and coffee… finally had to go get the boss and he brought the stuff out to camp, ate a hurried breakfast and then gathered and worked cows and branded calves.. we got back about 6:30 this evening.. had a lot of fun, met some new friends and Sam sez he’s ready to go back… he’s a pretty good traveling companion but cheats at I Spy with my Little Eye while traveling along… everybody bragged on what a good kid he is.. yup, he’s got them fooled! 😉

Not sure how many we planted, but a bunch… some down at Tate and Kass’s and the rest up here… if they all grow we might just have some good wend protection someday… lets hope so…Tate got my well going the other day, so I need to go get all the waterlines rigged up so I can water the trees.. wet and cool, yesterday.. rained on us going to Faith to get trees and the planter and on the way back, but let off when we were planting.. Had 4 grandsons stomping tyne roots on these trees, I hope someday when they are grown they will remember the day we planted them and say, “Look at how huge these trees have grown , we helped plant”.

Got up to 90 or so today, supposed to be in the 70’s tomorrow and some rain in the forecast… Cindy went with me and we went and fixed the creek crossing between the rocky hill pasture and Harry’s.. it ain’t pretty but it ought to work. Amazingly, there weren’t any skeeters..Then we fixed some other fence, drove around and looked at grass and found 2 of my calves, dead.. I blame it on the vaccine, but really don’t know for sure what happened.. 1300 to 1500 for them this fall and then 400 lease payment on their mothers and the grass to feed the cows all summer.. it adds up.. hope the rest bring a good price to off sets it… but … them as has them can lose them and them as don’t, cain’t! 🙂

We took pipe back to CRS and got salt for the cows and scattered it.. went south to set up the big tank and was reminded I need to fix the mill before it will pump water… we ran the horses in, no sense in them just standing around getting fatter… supposed to go help a neighbor move some cows tomorrow, if he calls and tells me a time to be there..

I hauled more rock in this afternoon and put the new to me dog kennel together this evening.. Molly got into something really stinky so she got a bath tonight.. then I got a shower… we both needed it! 😀