Yesterday, I spotted Stubby - who was mentioned in the Manx post. Our dries (uncalved cows) are in the pasture closest to our house. They have access to the lot where we feed silage in the bunks. There’s also a feeder with hay right outside the feelot. It’s a bovine all you can eat buffet - and it shows.
The Sugar Beet Baron tries to take off a few hours once every summer. Yes, once. We’ll take a drive to Cooke City. Usually we’ll take the Chief Joseph Highway and return through Red Lodge on the Beartooth Highway. I was able to take my Mom when she was here last summer, but the Baron wasn’t able to stop at that time. Even just for a couple of hours. This year he was determined to go.
This is what we did on Sunday:
The Baron took Highway 308 south to Wyoming 120 then west to the Chief Joseph Highway 296. We found a dog friendly place for lunch.
Sugar was able to sit out on the deck with us.
What a lucky dog! She was well behaved in the car. She was frustrated with her first leash experience. I suppose we’ll have to practice. After we ate I drove to Highway 212 and then through Cooke City to Silvergate.
I turned around and we came back the same way, since the Beartooth Highway out of Red Lodge is under repair. Since I was driving I did stop a couple of times to take photos. All were taken from the side of the road.
You can see more at my flick’r site.
We were home in time to change water again.
Craig informs us that we’ve:
Hit the Big Time
Prairie Mary presents her explanation of:
Blackfeet Rhetoric
A.J. Tooley and his wife’s memorable anniversary near Old Faithful is recounted in:
Dances With Bison
Dave Knobel commands:
Let’s Rock and Roll
Jamie Melin reminds us that:
Dreams Stay With You.
Goatopolis gives us an exciting rundown of:
Chasing Fire
Honorary MT Blogger - The Red Neck Diva - who happens to be my one & only blogsister, shares a story about critters not encountered in Montana:
Ahhh. . . Country Life
Dave, AKA Mr. Better living Through Blogging asks for suggestions:
All is not Vanity - Plates
At Watermark, Sharon shares one of her wonderful poems:
Clark Fork River
At Bitterroot and Bergamot, an incredible photo blog - Edith shows us:
The Swans
Alicat’s blog with its photos and food always makes me hungry - so relish:
Today’s dish
David Merriman - A Different Lemming - shares his thoughts on:
Real ID
Randy gives us something to:
ponder
A lovely lady who knows her way around a sugar beet field, Pandora - offers us:
Sugarbeets 201
Sarpy Sam gives us:
Something to Cry About
From one of our Honorary Montana Bloggers, Moosekahl presents:
Why the “Big Sky”?
Updated missing link! Lisa introduces us to:
The Sweetest Girl
Marc, my fellow double fish shares the bittersweet:
Morgan and Tristan
Babs - whose honorary MT roots run deep - gives us something to ponder and something to laugh at with:
Slide Out of the Saddle
Osbasso suggestively requests:
Let’s Get Nekkid!
Kara (of the fabulous photographs) has a recipe - with photos that will leave you drooling:
Recipe for Anja
Honorary Montana Blogger Sam Johnson wrote a piece especially for this Rascal Fair - and it’s incredible:
A Georgian in Montana
Better late than never, here’s Levi’s lesson:
Ramblin’, MIPs and Fireworks
And my post? Hopefully, you’ve just finished it.
All the images are from Aeclectic Tarot.
Mine’s typical. We woke. The Sugar Beet Baron began the pet manuevers. I stumbled from the bathroom, back to the bedroom to get dressed. By the time I grabbed a tee shirt, the pup had an end of it. Once freed, I pulled it on. Went into the kitchen. Prepared home fries with poached eggs on top; tea and toast for the Baron. Don’t get excited - sometimes he gets cereal or donuts. I wasn’t eating - a medicine morning - have to wait a bit. Sugar was at my heels in the kitchen while my husband perused the paper.
I did more pet wrangling, feeding and separating. Put the coffee on. Thought about how I’m going to manage when the vet gets here. Shots for all! Put milk in my coffee. As I put the milk back in the fridge, I noticed the front of my shirt. Harley Davidson, Topeka in big white letters. Uhhhh - that’s the back of my shirt. . .
More coffee, please.
Here’s the view from our door.
On Friday morning, I headed to the back place to check cattle. Sugar rode along. A gutty pup - with no qualms about jumping in the water or going after cows. I’m the one having anxiety attacks. The cattle were in the irrigated part of the place, below the canal. They were fine. I opened the gate at the plank bridge and calculated the best route to avoid the holes in the boards. Once across, I closed the gate behind us. I’d never seen this much grass here before. I wandered through the brush until I finally picked up the road again. We got in and out a couple of times to take pictures. Sugar has learned to get down to the floor to exit the pickup. She kept getting into this nasty needle grass. It looks like hair or wire and has a sharp point on the end. The dogs picked some of it up a few years ago. We weren’t familiar with it before that. It seems the weather conditions for this grass were perfect this year. It is all over the place.
I carefully climbed the furrowed brow concentration part of the drive - in granny in 4WD. It’s not high, but the road is washed out. You have to avoid the ruts that have become a couple of feet deep. Finally past the toughest stretch, I relaxed a bit. Sugar jumped towards the window behind my back. I took one hand off the wheel to put her where she belonged. Uh oh - bad move - now we’re high centered on a steep hill. Can’t roll back, can’t go forward. I got out and discoved that there wasn’t a shovel on the bed. I had post pounder, bars, fence stretcher, posts, wire, clips, staple and tools - but no shovel. I began trying to free the rear end with the bar. This was not going to work.
Do I have a cell phone? Of course. My husband insisted when I drove back east that we get them. They’re both sitting on one of the bookcases in the dining room. It wouldn’t have helped if I had mine. I could have left a message at the house for The Sugar Beet Baron to find when he came in for the noon meal. I had, once again - committed the first deadly sin - not leaving a note as to where I was going. I was only going to be gone a little bit. I did however have the digital camera with me to document the fun. The first thing that went through my head when I knew I’d be walking had been, “I’m glad it’s not Lucky”. Lucky is heavy, old and stiff. A lot like me. We’re both accustomed to walking, and Lucky has a lot of heart. I’m concerned about her overdoing it. But Lucky was home. More than likely on the sofa or in my (our) recliner, dreaming about rabbits.
“Okay, Sugar - we have a walk to take.” She was thrilled until we hit the first patches of that nasty grass. Ouch! I tried walking on cow trails instead of the road. It didn’t matter. When the grass bit - she’d panic and roll around. Picking up more of the stuff. I’d scoop her up, pull out the needles and calm her down. The cow trails weren’t helping, so we went back to the road. The grass and brush were so thick I decided against any shortcuts. Sugar was carried through the stretches of the nasty grass, cactus and yucca. She’d squirm and cry, “I want to walk!”. For two months old she did great. A few times she needed to take a break, so I took some photos. Or maybe it was the other way around. She tripped over a rock once. She picked herself up and looked at the rock as if to say, “Hey! What did you do that for?”. I checked her pads every time I pulled grass from her coat. She was doing fine.
We made it to the county road. I picked her up again, since I knew where she was headed. Into the ditch. I let her drink and carried her the rest of the way. We made it home just before noon.
I thought that she’d sleep all afternoon. I wasn’t lucky there either.
Click on the photos for them to open in a larger window.
According to Rocky, who’s shady and cool in this photo.
It’s Finally Friday and time for cat blogging. Rocky thinks that it’s about time, too. He weighs at least four times more than the new pup.
Rocky has been - well, not thrilled - but tolerant.
So far. . .
Danger! Danger! Warning! Warning!
I received no entries for the Rascal Fair yesterday. However, I did receive messages that the forwarded mailbox overflowed - or is that overflowarded?
I’ve been assured that the problem has been corrected. So, if you did enter the Fair yesterday - please resend your entry!
Yes, it’s been a while, so I thought that it might be time. Today’s offering was taken in a sugarbeet field on Tuesday by my husband. Bonnie thought that a red neck would make a good photo. My ears look red, but not my neck. It’s actually a better shot of the hair, though.
Doesn’t Look Red to Me. . .
Learn about Half-Nekkid Thursday - and see all the entries. Most are usually more half-nekkid than me!
Here the Sugar Beet Baron is backing the trailer up to one of the gated pipe stacks. The stack on the left side is 10″ pipe. On the right is 12″ pipe. They’re 30′ lengths.
We’ve loaded some gated pipe. He’s putting a metal pipe on the side of the trailer to keep the load from rolling. There are two of these on either side of the trailer. Note the hitch on the back of the trailer. It has hitches on both ends.
Here’s the hitch attached to the 4 wheeler. We’re in the beet field now. For now we’re just dropping the pipe in the field.
This is my view.
And the view behind me. We drop the pipe, and go back for more. We started with the 12″ pipe and then load up the 10″ and do the same. Once all the pipe is set up, we go back to the field and put it together.
You can view these photos and more at my flick’r site.