Creek Day

Spending time at the creek is still one of my favorite things to do here at the ranch.  Dynamics have changed since we first moved here 11 years ago. Spencer and Katelyn, my oldest 2, were off in Utah doing teenager stuff: EFY for Spencer, and spending time with my parents and cousins for Katelyn. 

This was my nephew Ethan's last day working at the ranch and he joined us for a picnic. When we sat down for lunch, we couldn't find the sandwiches.  Then we saw Brit, our Pyrenees, a little way off chowing down on them. We filled our drink container with ice cold pink lemonade. It got good and mixed shaking on the 4wheeler on the mile over.

Ethan is such a great young man. We are going to miss him. Jonah especially attached himself to him. He could even almost say his name. It was cute. 

There were a couple boys that liked using my camera, so I got to be in some, too.  See, change of dynamics.

Tired from playing, ready for a nap - after he gets cleaned up a bit with a fresh diaper. :)

January on the Homestead

January in the northern portion of the United States is snowy, of course.

Our little homestead in the middle of the ranch is beautiful amidst all that snow.  And things slow down, but they most certainly don't stop.

Cookie the Milk Cow has a calf, named Tibby (named after the tibia bone that Jiles broke the same day she was born).

Cookie the heart head.

Oliver came with me to check out the new calf.

"Is dat Tuh-ties talf , Mommy?"

We stopped in the barn to see Brit the Pyrenees' puppies.

And to climb the ladder in the loft.

Grandpa was feeding his Percherons Fred and Phillip.

A new calf of course means milking. Spencer and Ezra are great buddies to do it. Brother bonding time.

We love the butter and buttermilk that we get from all of her cream. She produces a lot of cream in the beginning, then it gets less as the calf gets bigger.

And, oh yes, whipped cream!!

Zoe and Oliver are great chicken feeders. The ladies are always happy to see them.

A few escapees trying to catch up to give themselves in just to get some grain.

One early morning, when it was below zero out, Katelyn came running up to the kitchen door (the ends of her hair were frozen) breathlessly exclaiming that there was a bobcat in the hen house. It was killing chickens and ducks just for sport. It had killed at least half of our brood. The still-alive chickens were huddled up together in a corner. Weston was not around, so Spencer grabbed the gun and ran out.

He got it on the first shot, but I made him shoot it one more time, just in case, before we went in there. It was a sad scene. Chickens and ducks were laying dead all around. The bobcat was biting and breaking their necks, then moving on to the next prey, leaving that one for dead. Our favorite duck Lucky, who had survived a skunk attack as a duckling, was in bad shape. We took him inside by the fire, but within the hour, it was apparent that he didn't have a chance. Sooo sad!

Brit's puppies fatten up so fast. And their hair is half of it.

The pivots get a nice rest all Winter. 

We got so much snow in December and January, and it was sooo cold (-16), that the roof was needing to get scraped off. It wasn't slippery at all, so Weston had the older 3 kids help out.

They helped for a while...

...until one of them jumped off into a big pile of it. (Not sure which one of them did it first.)

Lots of plowing to do. I think the purpose behind this plowing (below) is to make a sledding hill.