Somewhere below zero this morning… my new Chinese made thermometer had some snow on it so i couldn’t read it very well… Rod Nelson posted it was 40 below up in NoDak where he lives.. that is chilly, I don’t care who you are…I finally bundled up and went out to feed and it wasn’t that bad as there was just a slight breeze out of the south…team started right up, didn’t need to plug them in or use starter fluid…Tate and Kass and kids were out yesterday for Arrabelles 3rd birthday.. we also ran all the new cows thru’ and marked their ears.. thank goodness we didn’t try to brand them, we need a bigger and longer chute for quite a few of them, dang modern big cattle… mostly pretty nice cows and they didn’t fight or get wild…one or two were a little put out but mostly they had a good attitude… when I got out to feed them, some of the new ones were headed west, must have heard the neighbors tractor and decided they were tired of waiting for me… so I had to haul part of a bale clear to the south west corner to feed them… then Cindy and I ran to Punkin Center and mailed a package, ate a bite, bought some stuff and came home… she had plans with a couple other merry elves and they took Christmas presents to some of the older folks around the country… supposed to get up in the 40’s in a few days… I can hardly wait!

Took off this morning and stopped in Sturgis and had them mount the new tire and rim on my trailer and put a new tire on the other side to match, headed to Belle and stopped in where i left the logs to see how the guy was getting along with making lumber out of them… he’d cut one but broke a blade and was sharpening another one.. headed out to the sale barn, picked up the last , load and came home as I was supposed to get a load of small bales in… he left a message he would come next week as he had too much snow and ice to load and get away from the stack…I found some more hay and made a deal to take a load of big bales and got several other deals in the works.. I just came in from feeding… Tate, Kass and kids are coming either tonight or tomorrow, for Arrabelles birthday and so the boys can mark these new cattle for ownership… might just ear notch them for now and wait for nicer weather to brand.. Mass this evening…

Chance and Tate went out on the miserable day yesterday and ended up getting some cows bought at a fair price… much higher than usual, but then every thing is higher and sounds like they got these bought right for what they are… so I went and fed this morning and then stopped at Punkin Center as I had a tire going flat on the trailer… turns out there was a leak in the rim, so they put a tube in it…dropped of a Christmas present I been working on, trying to surprise someone… then headed out… Dean drove his pickup and trailer… we got to Belle and ate a bite then took some logs to be sawn into boards, went and picked up 2 loads of the cows and came home…. got  them unloaded and fed them some hay… the float got knocked off the tank last night so I had to fix that this morning and now we have a lovely skating rink out where the cattle walk up to drink… I’ll go back in the morning and get the other load… there were eough that we couldn’t haul them in two loads very handy, especially on slick roads…I guess if i wasn’t such a weenie and didn’t worry about flat tires and not being able to stop we could have gotten them in two loads… but better safe than sorry, in my book… supposed to have a load of idiot cubes coming in tomorrow afternoon, so Iwill have to hustle…

Went from 50 yesterday to about zero out right now… snow and some wind… Cindy and Hope stayed in town because of the road… Gus and Sam are here with me and Tate and Chance are at a cow sale… we had pancakes and eggs and bacon for supper..now they are watching silly TV shows… me? I’m just killin’ time ’til bedtime… got my Christmas projects done, now I can slack off a bit in the leather shop… or better yet, get some ash sawn into rough cuts tomorrow and got to re-building my bobsled… supposed to be up in the 20’s by mid-afternoon tomorrow and not much of a breeze, stay like that for a day or two and then cool off again…

Well, it’s in the books for this year. I went up Friday afternoon so we could rehearse…had a great bunch and we worked at getting it right late into the evening, then on Saturday at 1 pm we kicked it off… had a nice crowd, almost all the seats were full… then I went to the motel and picked up Cindy, we went back to the venue at Deadwood Mountain Grand and ate a bite and on to the evening performance… great crowd and there was a live and silent auction. Paul Larson who heads it up told me later we raised more money than the past years and everyone he talked to said it was the best one so far. Hope I get to go back next year…on Sunday morning Cindy and I went to Spearfish and listened to Fr Tyler saying Mass then on to Wyoming to wish Marie Packard a happy birthday. She lives at Pine Haven, next to Keyhole lake and they’d had a big party for her the day before. We had a great visit and then headed back to SD. I went to Belle to get a new tank heater for the tractor as Chance had told me over the phone the one we’d put on was not working, we’d put it on backwards the first time I guess and ruined it..I also got a new bigger and better battery charger..so we ought to be set for the next crisis.. Cindy helped me put the new one on this afternoon, so I will hook it up tomorrow and see if it’s working.. don’t really need to use the tractor and haven’t fed any hay the past couple days as it’s been in the upper 30’s to lower 40’s… supposed to stay this way another day and then drop into the zero range for a night and part of a day and then back to the 20’s…I found a guy with a sawmill to cut some rough 2 by 6’s or 8’s out of some ash logs we have so will take them to Belle on Thursday and go to a cow sale, Tate is wanting to buy some and Chance needs to buy a few more also.. I need the lumber to replace the runners on my bob sled…they need to be 6 to 8 foot long, but I will use what I can get, for no more often than I use it.. I worked on leather most of the day today and need to stick with it, Christmas coming and all..oh, and I got me one of them big thermometers that look like a clock so now I will know just how cold out it is! Not sure if that is a good thing or not!

Cindy’s car thermometer sez it’s 20 above… real good brisk wind coming from the west northwest…I lured the cows into the corral with some hay, locked them in, saddled up ol’ Beav and sorted off the butcher steer and the little bull… well, actually I had to rope the little bull as he wouldn’t sort and didn’t drive worth ahoot on the end of my rope so me and the Beav just drug him into the corral with his mama bellerin’ and followin’… got him tangled up and down, stepped off, throwed my slack off the horn as I jerked the loop off his neck then got him sorted off from mama…he has the butcher steer and the team and Beav for company and I imagine mama will stick around the corral bellerin’ for him for a bit… we need to get these other calves run thru’ and stick blabs in their noses one of these days, but they are mostly all later calves and their mothers look good, so they really ain’t hurting anything yet…left the tractor shut off after cleaning snow this morning but plugged in, it started right up and never even had a hiccup so I don’t think we need to replace the fuel filters…. Chance can if he wants, he needs a tractor to feed with this weekend, I can feed with my team and if he don’t want to use them he can fight a dumb ol’ tractor… I ain’t going to! I got some idiot cubes ordered in but they won’t be here for a couple weeks…I have enough snow moved around these stacks I believe I will be fine if my bale unroller for the team don’t break down and if it does, at least I can get into the welder in the shed to fix it.. life is good…now, on to some leather work…

With a “doodle” by LE Stevens…

The Perfect Christmas tree
Gramma wanted a Christmas tree
and it’s got to be big and nice
Me? I’m thinkin’ of the cost
tree’s like that are high priced!
But then I have an idea
I’ll get one just like she wants
I’ve seen the perfect Christmas tree
while out riding on one of my daily jaunts
I saddles up my good ol’ horse
and take along my rope and ax
Head to where this tree is at
I’ll even save on payin’ sales tax
We ride up to the perfect tree
it’s a real beautiful wintry day
Just me and the tree and Mama Nature
my ax, purty scenery and ol’ bay
I finally get the tree chopped down
tie my rope on and head back home
I’m dallied to the perfect tree
it’s just like a cheerful Christmas poem!
As we top over a ridge
what do you suppose I see?
There’s a big ol’ furry bobcat
and he ain’t even noticed me!
Who wouldn’t rope a bobcat?
How can you pass up that chance?
It’s not often these things happen
Like America bein’ rescued by France!
We built to him hard and fast
Bobcats ain’t got much speed
Snow is flyin’ like a blizzard
Never weaken is my creed
I realize my rope is occupied
It’s hooked on to that perfect tree
Can’t slow down to unhook it
or ol’ Bob will get away from me!
So I starts to hand to hand it
pullin’ it closer to my saddle
I’ll slip it loose on the fly
We’re fixin’ to win this battle
Ol’ bay is closin’ on the prey
I’ve turned my reins plumb loose
My horse is duckin’, dodgin and trackin
I’m tryin’ to unlatch from that spruce
As the tree reaches our heels
Hits a rock and starts to sail
Just like a guided missile
Jabs bay underneath his tail
Then that tree goes flyin’
Hit the cat on the head
As I flew by I seen it all
Hopin’ I wouldn’t wind up dead
Next thing I kind’a recall
I’m stretched out in the snow
beside a badly battered bobcat
and ol’ bay’s limpin’ home slow
I staggered to my feet
I let the cat go free
I caught ol’ bay, we headed home
with a crumpled up christmas tree
So now my horses is scarred and scared
Bob is short some fur
Neighbor lady’s on the fight
Guess that lawn ornament was special to her!

Words by Robert Dennis
Art by LE Stevens

Just another day in paradise!

Had to ether the tractor even after it was plugged in all night… me thinks maybe the block heater is no good…and so lovely to change out even when the weather is nice…

It didn’t drift real bad around here, made a track for hope and Cindy and they took off, late… I fed and came in and been putting around and working on leather…

10 inches of snow, blowing winds and about zero … cows seemed to real enjoy their hay today… Cindy attempted to go to work and came back because of drifts and icy road… there are mutterings of the women attempting to go to town tomorrow… of course they need me to dig them out with the tractor and probably drive Cindy home in the evening, oh joy! Winds are supposed to gust into tomorrow evening and no warm up for a few days at least.. I do believe winter has arrived!

Supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow and dip down below zero and not get real warm for awhile and the wind is supposed to howl… welcome to wonderful wintry South Dakota! Probably have to go give the cows a little hay, I hate not feeding cattle when it’s cold and windy out, even tho’ they have bean and grass… just an ol’ softy, I guess…

Tate, Chance and I went to St Onge on Saturday to a cow sale. Cattle sold well… Chance got one older cow bought but anything else he was interested in went higher than he was willing to pay…We loaded some ash logs we cut into the back of my pickup and I was supposed to haul them to a sawmill today, but Tate couldn’t get a hold of the guy…I have a trailer load of hay coming in in the near future… the yearling guys are paying for it to pay me back for the hay I fed during the blizzard… Fr Tyler came home last night and spent the day but scurried home this evening when he saw what the weather was doing in the Hills… rain that was going to freeze and then snow on wind on top are not a fun combination… I tried to work on some leather but didn’t get too much accomplished… we had Sam and Gus after school let out so their Uncle Tyler had fun with them…put your long handles on, it’s gonn’a get cold for a spell…