Spic and Span

Years ago, Hubby’s brother, Ronnie Arthun, managed the Montana State University’s Red Bluff Ranch. Hubby recalls that in the summer, the ranch ran about a thousand head of Targhee ewes on the Taylor Fork in the Gallatin National Forest.

A herder named Thomas watched over the ewes and their lambs. With the indispensible aid of his sheepdogs, Thomas kept the sheep in a bunch, moved them to fresh pasture, and bedded them down at night. The dogs also alerted Thomas to predators like cougars, coyotes, or bears. Thomas loved his dogs like family.

Once or twice a week, Ronnie “tended camp”, which meant taking provisions up the mountain to Thomas. Sometimes Thomas bagged a deer or grouse for supper, but Ronnie also brought groceries like cured meat, sardines, potatoes, bread, cheese, eggs, and lard.

Thomas was more gregarious than most herders. When Ronnie, sometimes accompanied by his wife and sons, came to tend camp, Thomas was happy for the company and enjoyed cooking dinner for his guests.

Once when Ronnie tended camp, Thomas served him some homemade stew along with his staple, slices of bread with lard spread on them. After they had eaten, Ronnie asked Thomas if he needed any dish soap.

“No need for that,” Thomas said, setting the plates on the ground. “Shep does the dishes.” Shep, of course, was Thomas’ favorite Border collie.

Illustration by Jenny Robinson, jennyrobinsonstudio.com

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"All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. For after all, he was only a human. He wasn't a dog." ~Charles M. Schulz

Full Figures

it seems like the expectant mothers are getting rounder by the day. (See Exhibits A, B, and C below.) Their calves should begin making an appearance around March 10!

Dazzle, top, and Angel

Pansy, top, and Peaches

Marigold, top, and Cupcake

Shed 'n' Breakfast

Goats are hardy creatures. Minnie and most of the other goats come outside for breakfast, no matter how many degrees below 0... 

...with the exception of Blueberry and Jubilee, who take their breakfast in the shed and don't come out until the sun has had time to warm things up a bit. 

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"For the Lord God is our sun and our shield.

He gives us grace and glory.

The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right." 

~Psalm 84:11 NLT

Moxie

Hubby used to have a registered Tennessee Walking Horse named Mariana. She had the rocking-chair canter and running walk typical of her breed, but Mariana’s sturdy build, agility, speed, and cow sense rivaled that of any Quarter Horse.

Quick and quick-witted, Mariana sprang into action the split-second that a cow made a wrong move. She read the situation and controlled a cow’s trajectory as handily as any competitive working cowhorse. Riders didn’t have to understand cattle because Mariana did. This was just as well; most were too preoccupied with staying in the saddle.

Not even the orneriest cows and bulls could bully Mariana. Hubby says that could be worrisome, seeing as he was aboard a horse that wasn’t going to back down from an angry bovine that often outweighed her. One particularly unpleasant old mama cow, #99, once hit Mariana’s side and nearly knocked her over. The experience might have intimidated some horses but only made Mariana more determined.

Mariana was never nominated for cowhorse sainthood, however, because she was difficult to catch. Hubby would have to haze her into a small corral or bribe her with oats before he could halter her.

One morning, Hubby was surprised to see Mariana not only out of the horse pasture but trotting up to him. Then he saw the blood. A mountain lion had left claw marks on her rump and had run her through a 7-wire barbed wire fence that ripped deep gashes into her neck and chest. She was a trooper, though, and stood calmly while Hubby treated her wounds and administered penicillin twice a day for weeks.

Hubby and Mariana logged many miles on mountain trails. She was the first horse he knew that wasn’t scared of moose. “The only thing wrong with her was that I didn’t have two of her. Even other gaited horses couldn’t walk as fast as she did. Packhorses had to jog to keep up, which was very uncomfortable for them. I had to keep stopping to let the packhorses rest.”

Hubby figures that Mariana was the best horse he’s ever owned, even though he didn’t pay a dime for her. He’d plowed 25 acres of ground for a neighbor, who gave him Mariana in payment. “I definitely came out ahead on that deal,” he says.

Marianna

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“I don’t want to be remembered as the girl who was shot. I want to be remembered as the girl who stood up.” ~Malala Yousafzai

The Sport of Breakfast

Cupcake is almost seven years old, which, according to age-converter.com and several other online tools, corresponds to 38 in human years. That and the fact that Cupcake has raised four calves and is expecting her fifth, might lead one to conclude that she’s a mature cow.  

Hmm.

Draw your own conclusions.

 

 

Breakfast time is serious business for the rest of the herd, but it’s fun and games for Cupcake. Her mama must have forgotten to tell her not to play with her food.

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“Even if there is nothing to laugh about, laugh on credit.” ~Author unknown

The Mountaineer

Jubilee is a purebred Nigerian dwarf dairy goat—nary a mountain goat in her pedigree—but she has mountaineering aspirations. Even when she was a kid, she was jumping and climbing up on anything or anyone she could find.

Well, Hubby hauled home a load of wet, frozen barley straw bales the other day. The cows love to snack on them, even though they look unappetizing to us.

 

But Jubilee thought that Hubby had brought her a mountain of her own. At sundown, the other goats had headed home for supper, but Jubilee wanted to stay on her mountaintop. I shook a can of her favorite food, oats, but even then she came reluctantly.

By the way, Jubilee and the other does will be kidding in May. Stay tuned for cuteness!

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"The One who is high and lifted up, who lives forever, whose name is holy, says:

I live on high, in holiness, and also with the crushed and the lowly, reviving the spirit of the lowly, reviving the heart of those who have been crushed." ~Isaiah 57:15 CEB

New Frost, Old Steel

This vintage 1942 (we think)  International truck cab rests in peace on a neighbor's place. In its day,  it was probably some farmer's pride and joy.

I'm not sure how old this pitchfork is. Its tines are asymmetrical and bend too easily now, but it vies with my special irrigating shovel for the title of Robin's Favorite Tool.

This wheel is off a horse-drawn manure spreader, which actually required a team of horses to pull. Our manure spreader is tractor-drawn, so the wheel is a landscaping piece.

Hubby used these shearing blades to fit his sheep for the fair (see below).

(No frost in this picture, but it's vintage and goes with the shearing blades one.) Hubby won the 4-H showmanship class at the fair with this fat lamb from his Hampshire herd. He says that he'd card out and trim his lambs around 15 times over a two-week period prior to a show. 

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"God is the God of 'right now.' He doesn't want you sitting around regretting yesterday. Nor does He want you wringing your hands and worrying about the future. He wants you focusing on what He is saying to you and putting in front of you...right now." ~Priscilla Schirer