New Cow Pony?

 Joe wanted to move the cows today to the field across the creek.  It is sometimes one of the more difficult rotations, making sure all the calve come with the cows.  I would usually pick Otoelene to ride.  But today, I decided to give Hugo a try.  I have ridden him through the cows but never really asked him to do anything other than walk past.  

Joe was on the 4 wheeler. 

He went up to the gate we wanted the cows to go though as started calling them.  I rode through the woods and to the end of the bottom to push the stragglers.  Not really a high energy task, just steady walking.  

I went back to a different area and found a couple of strays.  When I got them near where Joe could help we were at a steep hill that heads toward the house.  Hugo decided that it would be a good time to take off running.   Sometimes it is better to run than to risk circling on a wet slick hill.  He has never bucked with me so I was pretty confident I could stay on and get him stopped.  And I did.  And he was fine after.   Occasionally, you just may want to run up a hill.

Anyway, we were successful in rounding up and moving the cows!

Looks like I put in about 4 mile of Hugo walking and not me.  Maybe I have a new cow pony. 

Day Lilies

The day lilies were starting to bloom before our trip to the beach.  I was a little worried that I might miss the peak blooming. 

But I didn’t. 

I love the long sweep of color along the driveway. 

They usually last for about 3 weeks.

Aren’t they gorgeous!

Then I was surprised when Virginia and Mike came over with Sadie and Allie.  Yes, we picked flowers.  Sadie is always picking them for her mother.  Then she will ask if I want to pick some for my mother.  She is so thoughtful.

I asked Sadie and Allie to stand in front of the day lilies for a picture.  Sadie cooperated.

But the only was to get Allie to was to ask her to give Sadie a hug.  Sweetness overload.

Jaws

When Joe and I went for a walk on the beach last night, we passed a man that had just hooked something surf fishing.  He had some heavy duty equipment.  The line was running out and he put on a harness like captain Quint on Jaws was strapped into.  He commented to his partner, “it’s not something small.”  As much line as we saw run out we thought it would be awhile before he got it reeled in so we kept walking.  When we came back we saw this…

He had caught a shark.  

 There was a group of kids around wanting their picture taken with it.

Afterwards, he released it back to the ocean.  Just remember that next time you are swimming out there. 

I managed to get up early enough to see the sunrise again, beautiful. 

After that, one more trip down the beach to the pier.  

We are home now and back to the real world.

Beach Life

 We have been doing a lot of walking.  Walking up the beach and down the beach. 

Is it a vacation when I walk more than at home?

The answer is yes!  I saw a beautiful sunrise. 

We walked to the end of the island.

There has been considerable erosion up there.  Joe wore his boots so his feet wouldn’t get sore. But you can tell he is on vacation because his jeans are shorter. 

Having a happy time so far.

Change Of Scenery

I managed to get Joe to go on an impromptu trip to the beach.  But only because there were only 2 cows left to calve, no hay needed to be delivered and most importantly, Mike was available to check on things. 

 We made it down in time to take a walk to the pier. 

Looks like we are in for some good beach weather. 

Last Monday

I meant to post about this last week but there were too many other things. So I have pushed it to this week. 

We worked our cows up the road Monday. 
 I was happy that Mike was able to help. 

At one point we had to take a break and put a gate back on the hinges. 

Everything went smoothly after that. 

We did the calves first so we wouldn’t have to deal with the cows crowding the headgate waiting for parent pickup. 

After we finished I went to open the gate to turn them all back out. I think Joe has gotten more paranoid. There was the regular gate chain, two wires and an extra heavy chain. He said the cattle were hard to get up and he did not want them getting out. 

Back out to pasture and ready to turn the bull out soon. Thanks for your good help Mike. 

Two Horse Day

I had a chance to ride Otoelene this morning. 

I had her shoes reset Friday. She started out sound but started walking pretty tenderly  by the time we made it to the gravel road.  

It was tough getting through the field that the cows are in. The seed heads were right at Oroelenes mouth level. 

                         

Joe has spend a lot of time the last few weeks backpack spraying.  He said the other day that nobody would ever see all the work he did.  So nobody rode through the gorge to appreciate the dead and dying rose bushes the Joe had sprayed. 
             

It looked like the cattle on the rented land were doing well.  They knew how to relax anyway.

 

Then in the afternoon, I took Hugo out for a ride.  He actually let me catch him out in the open without running around much first.  He was pretty energetic on our ride but stayed under control.  I have been happy with how he does after some time off.  

Sadie Saturday Mt Rogers

Allie was a little sick so we decided to take Sadie for an outing. 

 Joe wanted to take her hiking to see the ponies at Mt Rogers.  

Unfortunately, my pictures downloaded in reverse order and I am too lazy to fix it.  So I will start with the end.

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After the hike Sadie came back to our house. After super we fed the goats and dogs. 

She has really gotten brave around the dogs. 

When we started the hike Sadie just wanted to pick all of the flowers she saw.  We finally had to tell her she couldn’t pick any until we were headed back.  It was just too difficult to hold flowers and her hand to keep her from falling.   But as soon as we were back at the picnic area she went to collecting more flowers. 

We were lucky enough to see about 13 adult ponies and several foals.

It must have been nap time because all of the foals were sleeping.

The weather was beautiful.

As were the views. 

We took a little break for a snack. 

Joe was in his element.

At one point during the hike Sadie said “these rocks are really bumpy.”

We made it about 2 miles before turning around to go back.

Joe had backpacked Sadie some and I took a couple of turns at it too. 

But she walked a lot on her own, usually with me holding her hand.  We also saw some long horn cattle. 

Sadie liked trying to walk on all of the rocks instead of staying on the trail.  We kept trying to get her to not waste her energy climbing more rocks than she needed to but we finally gave up.  Sadie always seems to get what she wants anyway. 

When we got to the park we had a nice picnic lunch before heading up the mountain. 

Back at our house she was helping me in the yard and just randomly said, “I love you Mimi.”  She sure knows how to melt my heart.