Maybe there is such a thing ads too much of a good thing….Chance and Hope had a party on Saturday afternoon, I had a coupler friends come out to join in…. one brought Gin and Tonic and the other Whiskey and pickle juice….. I am afraid that the combination wasn’t very good, tho’ the G$T tasted good at the time and the W$ PJ wasn’t bad, but in the future I shall not mix the two… I seemed to have a sickness the next morning, even to’ I did not imbibe too much and quit early (I had Mass on Sunday at 8 and had to prepare the music) I wasn’t real sick, just a bit off…..We have a young neighbor who came over with a swather last evening and made a round on a field he is going to hay for us… we got about a half inch of rain, at least, so it was a good thing… should have cut some quicker! I got the old 756 running and the mower on it… I am not liking this Case tractor, wish someone would come along who does like them, I would sell it and start looking for something more my speed…the mower needed a new guard and hold down so I ran to CBH at Punkin Center, but they didn’t have the correct guard so I welded the old one… hopefully it will work until I can get a new one ion town somewhere…had a guy haul me out a load of bigger pine logs on Sunday afternoon that I am going to use to fix on my corral… they still have the bark on so i tried to take it off with a pressure washer as I had been told, some do… evidently they have a much larger and more powerful pressure washer, so I went out with a flat nosed spade… that is a lot of work! So I think they will go up with the bark on and let the horse help to remove it and work on the bark removal bit by bit after the logs are up…the horses got into the saddle barn so I ran them out, picked up a bunch of stuff that was knocked down and went looking for the culprit who left the gate open, all evidence pointed at Gabe so he went to clean it up, until Chance showed up and took the blame, seems he had got some wood out of it and forgot to latch the gate, so an apology to Gabe was in order and then we older guys clean a bunch of dried manure and junk on the floor out, while sifting thru’ it for odds and ends that got knocked down…when we got done I was hot and dusty to stripped down and jumped in the pool… all the little boys joined me and even Gramma for a bit but she is kind of a wussy and don’t like splashing of cool water… so she quit us. I cam in and showered and shaved and am trying to figure out a slick way to haul all these bales we are going to get, with my team… I think it would be an excellent job for them young ones, especially as Roz has a bad eye, she hurt it slightly a couple weeks ago and I have been doctoring her every day and putting her in the barn out of the sun, but it is a slow healing process and I don’t think she will regain full sight, tho’ it looks like she will be able to see a little out of it… time will tell…

When Fr Tyler was out the other day he introduced me to Gin and Tonic….a fine drink! So yesterday evening, i was hot, so almost filled a glass with ice, poured the last little bit of gin over it, and the tonic water and some lime juice..Excellent! then I decided to go ride….. man, I was about half lit! I had a new bit to try on Pilgrim, he loved it so I do too….there were some yearlings where they were not supposed to be, so we put them where they were supposed to be. Then this morning Chance and Hope told of seeing yearlings in our pasture which isn’t supposed to have yearlings… so me and Gus and Gabe rode down and put them back. Again, Pilgrim likes the bit….Cooler with a south east breeze. Gramma brought home a used inflatable pool for the kids and they are all clammering to get to use it, but do not understand how cold the water is…they shall learn, I am sure…. 🙂

The new bit..

America…

As Nations go, you are still in your infancy…and you act like it… having fits because you can’t get your way, needing your diapers changed, no discipline, so to speak…

You are being led by selfish people who only think about right now, me, I want, wah wah wah….

But hopefully, as you get past your growing pains, you will learn discipline, to put off today so you can be better tomorrow..

You have great potential…so much to give and to achieve…you just need to mature and find God again and let him lead…

As he said in the movie, “Here’s looking at you, kid..”

Is fine… the mechanic called and the last place to change oil hadn’t tightened the oil filter enough so it was leaking around it a bit…I paid the bill then took the receipt to the oil changing place. they right away said they’d pay that bill, I told them, I already had, and that I would need more than just that, seeing as I had to make two trips to town to get her and take her back, we are waiting on the boss to come back from vacation to settle it up…..damn right we will settle it up! So then afterwords we went to get my new phone going, but they people at Verizon couldn’t do it and gave me a number to call… ended up having to go back to Wally world to get it taken care of and no one can swap over the old phone numbers I have in the old phone to the new one…. guess we will do it by hand, the hard way. I had some stuff to get to Dusty and Tris, so they met us in Spearfish, we had a nice supper, gave them the stuff then headed over and visited with Fr Tyler and Monsignor for a bit then home…we have to meet up with an insurance guy tomorrow as we are insuring the market for the calves this fall… new to us, but sounds alright to me and chance… the girls ain’t to sure….sure been feeling like summer the past few days, up in the 80’s…lots of hay getting rolled up around the country…

Cindy called me yesterday when i got home from my gig. Her car had an oil leak. so we decided we’d leave it at her favorite mechanic’s and I’d come pick her up. we ate a nice meal and then went over to spearfish and got a trampoline for her and the grandkids…I also got one of them “smart” phone.. It sure is, it’s smarter than me, tho’ that don’t take a lot…we got it set up this afternoon after Mass. Chance and Hope came along in the nick of time so it went pretty smooth. we all had to try jumping on it except Hope who was a weenie….then Gabe and I rode down south to try and finish up the yearling saga…you know, the two that were out on the road but we couldn’t find. they had turned into a neighboring pasture evidently and I saw them while coming home yesterday and had plans to go get them, but then Cindy called….so, we head down south and when we get to one of the dams, here are a bunch of the neighbors cows and calves. we shoved them back toward their pasture and then shut some gates to keep them closer. Some were real insistent that they wanted to go east, but we got them headed. then we rode around and shut the gates to hold them, rode into the neighbors, and found where the fence was knocked down, letting the cow into our pasture… and finally found the other two steers in another pasture. Got them back into one of our pastures and pushed them on to the one with their mates. When we got to the next pasture, here were a bunch of cattle where they weren’t supposed to be… turned out to be more of the neighbors… so that’s why them cows wanted to go east! Their calves were over there….there were a few calves mixed in with our yearlings, so while they settled, I loped back and let the cows back into the pasture where their calves were, and then loped back..I got most of the calves sorted off and left the last one or two to go back when their mothers called them back, they ought to get back together in the night…just a three wire fence and it ain’t real tight in a few spots… any cow who can’t get her calf back ain’t worth her salt! We headed for home opening gates to fresh grass for our steers and saw Chance who had come looking for us in Purple…we had been quite a bit longer than expected. We got home just before dark and put the horses away and ate a bite then Hope and Fr Tyler- who had arrived about that time- helped me set up the new phone…for some reason I am tired….but not as tired as the horse I was riding….

The southern ones- They and their parents live in Custer- went and moved the steers on to the other bunch this morning. then we rode thru’ them all looking for bad eyes and crips,. didn’t find any…now they are showering.. Man! You didn’t want to be riding down wind of them little boogers! 😉

Oh, I tried to trim Charlies back feet too……that didn’t go so well….so when we got back, we had a training session, you can trim them now!

As in cows with out a calf at their side, for one reason or another. Chance and I and them hooligans running around here, brought the fresh steers in who had the dry’s running with them. We sorted off the cows and kicked the steers across the road. Hopefully I can roust the troops tomorrow and move them on to the other steers. We came back and loaded 3 dry’s up and hauled them to St Onge to the sale. They did well until you go to price a new pickup, or any farm equipment. we are not making any more money, we are just handling more of it and are probably not doing as well as when we thought times were tuff! But hey, it ain’t just about the money, is it? Or is it?

I have a family reunion gig tomorrow afternoon. Short, sweet and hopefully a nice audience…. I just hate it when they boo and hiss, but it is still better than throwing rotten fruit and veggies at me….

The boys been riding them. They wear Grampa out! They boys, not the ponies!

Got a call we had a couple yearlings trotting down the road, south. we looked and looked but didn’t find them. If you see a couple of scroungy little Hereford steers, give me a call.. they have a blotched brand on the right side, probably towards the flank. they guy who owns them isn’t too particular about his brands, for some reason. I guess some forget a brand is a return address….

Took off on Friday morning, dropped Gabe at his folks and rolled on down to Hot Springs. Had a great time, tho’ it got pretty wet Friday night and Saturday evening. I got to sleep in a re-built sheep wagon both nights. Great bed and a handy RV! I went to Mass in Hot Spring Sunday morning and then ran back to Custer, picked up Lige and Gabe and brought them home with me. then this morning I got up early and headed north to help a neighbor pair out some cows and calves for summer pasture. We got done with most of the sorting about 2:30 and came in for lunch then paired a few more off and trailed the smaller bunch north to their pasture. I got home after 6 this evening, doctored on Roz’s eye and have playing catchup on the computer… may have a branding tomorrow…

Gabe and Sam to be exact, moved the pairs back up north this evening…Gabe and I went and got salt and stuff at Punkin’ Center this morning, ate some lunch and then hauled salt out. a friend stopped in this afternoon and visited with me while I did some leather work…one project about done, more to go…I am heading to Hot Springs tomorrow for a gig down there this weekend at the Allen Ranch. Ought to be fun…