Saturday afternoon/evening we went in to a wedding. We went early and took Chance as Hope made the cake and wanted him in there to help set it up. she and her sister build cakes, mostly out of her sisters house in Rapid. They have been extremely busy this time of the year….

Sunday we went to Mass and then headed to hill City where I had a gig and then rushed home for company coming in early for our branding on Monday. Mick and Raymond both came in that evening as did Dusty and Tris and Tate and Kass and family…we had a great jam session that evening, up real early the next day. Cindy made biscuits and gravy for a whole passel of folks and started serving at 6 or a bit before. We got all the local help and a few from quite a ways off and went and gathered, sorted cows off and dry’s and steers, then we went to branding. we were done about one and had a blast, maybe the best crew ever…Cindy had Indian taco’s for lunch and 4 of our crew had left early for one reason or another, so there sure was plenty and lots of cool drinks. The last one finally left about 9 last night. Raymond and Dusty and Tris stayed over… after a light late breakfast, Raymond and Gabe ad I rode out and looked at the cattle. Every thing seemed fine…when we got back Dusty was catching colts he’d brought along so he caught Brody, my colt from last year I started so he could top him off for me so i could get to riding him…sure glad he did as he is bigger, stronger and had some buck, he caught Dusty off guard and got him bucked off… I worked him with the flag pretty hard as he wasn’t just playing and I don’t want him to get the idea he can do that…Dusty got back on and worked him some more and I rode him a bit. Dusty took him with him and will ride him for a week for me.. he does a good job so I am anxious to get him back. I sent Crackerjack home with Tris for some riding.. he’s been doing a good job helping Dusty and is almost as big as Dusty… funny how them kids grow when you ain’t watching them!

I have a gig this Friday/Saturday at Hot Springs..Gabe and I will probably move the pairs back tomorrow… need to get more salt hauled out also…for some reason, I am guessing lack of sleep, I am tired tonight!

I worked on a pair of Armita’s for a friend and then this afternoon, Gabe and I caught up Patrick the pony and he rode him. I rigged up a heavier bosal and jury rigged a britchen on the saddle so it wouldn’t pull over his front end when he was pulling on his hard, stubborn little face. Gus showed up so after Gabe had him going good, Gus got on him, Gabe caught up Charlie, I caught Mijo and switched Gus to Beav and  we rode out to move all the yearlings back into the pasture south of the house they were supposed to be in.. not sure how some got back, but we moved them back… like herding cat’s trying to keep them two boys lined out and riding their horses right, but when i had to lope off and leave them, they handled their end well…Hope is having a party so I have the boys and I fed them pancakes… none have rushed into the house in awhile so i better go check on them…..

We got it done. Gabe and Sam and I rode up west and moved all the pairs into the lower part of Harry’s. then we rode back, got the gates all set and brought the crazy spayed heifers into the corral, at which point I took Sam out of the game as he was more hindrance than help, but what can you expect from a 5 year old on a horse who can’t hardly feel him kick or move the reins? 😀

We got Hope and Cindy to guard the road on either side of our gates and I set the gates, Gabe brought them out slow and easy and it went incredibly well, seeing as we had a little run with them getting them out of the pasture… oh well, when you’ve got a good plan, good help and the Lord is smiling on you, it’s amazing what you can accomplish! 😀

Gabe is doing a real good job on the little bay [pony and learning a lot in the process. Both boys were good help at the branding yesterday. I can hardly wait to cowboy with my grandson’s when they all are ahorseback and handy….

Saturday morning Gabe and I cleaned up, loaded up in Cindy’s outfit and headed north to Sentinal Butte to do a benefit gig, trying to help raise some money for Lon and Cathy Davis. Cathy had breast cancer and has it on the run but no insurance….we had rain the night before and road north of Red Owl was 4 wheel drive traffic! It was wet and rained on us several times on the trip up. We got there about 2:30 with a stop in Medora to peddle some CD’s and Books at the book store there….and some food at Cowboy Cafe…Drove out to Steve and Deb Wenigers and had a short visit, then met up with Paul Woods back at the hall in Sentinel Butte and had a short but good visit. an old highschool chum, John Hall lives close so he stopped over and I got to meet his bride and have a short catch up…hope to see more of them at an upcoming reunion at some point. Of course I saw quite a few folks I knew from that area, Kim Shade, George and Sid Hegge and met some new ones. The sound sucked and my voice was weak so I didn’t play very long, which was fine as most just wanted to drink and visit….we left about 6 and got home about midnight…stopped and fueled up and got more food when we turned south of the Interstate…then we got up early and loaded horses in the trailer and went and helped the McTighes brand yesterday. Chance and Gus went along also… I slept good last night! And long! We got the wall tent up for our branding this morning and done a little fencing, more to do and maybe move some cattle around after dinner….

We got two extra grandsons last night as their mom had to run their sister to the hospital as she has rsvp or something and she wasn’t responding at home (she is back home now, looks like, I left them alone as they probably both need the rest), so….we got the calf fed on a bottle, she was up and around and leaving all kinds of tracks in the kitchen…then we hauled her back to mama, another cows was there also and the calf was having problems figuring out who to suck, but we left them to sort it out as mama is a touch wild…..we got home and found a yearling out, so we chased him in and then went and opened gates so they could go to fresh grass, then headed to the house and scrubbed and mopped the floor and then pancakes and bacon were demanded by the crew, got them all fed, dishes washing and they are watching a movie while I collect my wits, a full time job, it seems….

Spayed pasture heifers yesterday morning , then Gabe and I took off for where Dusty works to help them brand their heifer bunch… we got Gabe on Sunday.. not sure how long he’s staying but I intend to get lots of work out of him! We got home a bit before midnight this morning… I went to town this morning and did some appointments, got home this afternoon and we went and checked on the spayed wild heifers, one is missing, but then she went AWOL yesterday when they turned her out of the chute. These heifers seem to be a cross of Saler, Limmy and antelope!
Then we drove up to check cows, found a dead calf belonging to a heifer and looks like she was at it quite awhile, maybe backwards, he was laying there with his head underneath of him.. then found another young cow with a weird calf who keeps trying to flop on his one side and won’t stay on the other. we have her in the house now, put some milk and fake colostrum down her, but if she doesn’t improve I bet she dies… not a great day for calving….but only a few left…there was one with a nice normal calf, alive, so one out of three is batting 333 I guess….it’s so green around here it almost hurts your eyes….

Tee came out yesterday and today and we got a lot done on his saddle and also the one I am building. I rode out this evening and looked at cows and kicked some pairs out..windy cloudy and overcast, we had another 1.25 inches out of this last rainy spell..it’s sure green and wonderful out there!

I picked up the grand kids on the way to check cows and they hung out with me until the tree planter came. We got them planted except for a few hand plants and then I went to get watering drip hose at CRS, but they were out. so Cindy will have to get me some tomorrow in town, I guess…we planted several rows on the upwind side of Chance and Hopes house and a couple rows out behind our house..we just sod them in and then put a drip hose on, so we don’t have to farm up thew ground.. as long as you have access to water, it’s a great way to do it…got a new calf today, not many left to go..grass has really been growing… we are supposed to spay heifers tomorrow if we don’t get rained out..Buck and I gathered them into a small lot this evening, well Pilgrim helped too as I rode him. 🙂

Gramma and I picked up Hope and the kids when we went to check cows this morning and the boys just ended up staying with me or us all day…we went and fixed on a tank Cindy and i had worked on the other day and had a blowout when we turned the water on,m on top of the dry cement, in the strips. So me and the boys finished fixing that,. went to Punlkin Center where they coerced me into buying them an early lunch..I was trying to get in a nap after wards when we got home when Cindy hollered and told me I had a horse breeding a mare ion the corral. That woke me up real good! I went an sorted off the yearling stallion who is to be gelded on Thursday when the vet comes to spay… I sure hope he wasn’t successful… and that he didn’t breed any others, but by the way he acted, I’d say this was the first one… I rebuilt a bit this late afternoon for the tiny ponies…we’ll see how it works first chance we get…

 

I posted on the blog roll on the side of my blog….Rod and Denise Nikkle are saddle tree makers. Lot’s of info and easy to go find their older posts dealing with many subjects. This is very good reading for anyone who rides saddles and/or builds them. Check it out!

http://www.rodnikkel.com/content/index.php/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/