FINALLY SOME RAIN

We have been really dry around here for too long.  But it has rained off and on last night and today.  We got about 3 tenths of an inch, which is good for us here in western Montana.  Our pasture was really dry and this will make a big difference.  Some of our flowers are starting to bloom also. 

Connie is over in Seattle helping her sister Wendy baby sit Rob and Heather's daughter Maisy and their dog Gus.  Sounds like they are having a good time. 

Wendy and Maisy on a field trip to the Aquarium.

HIGH SCHOOL RODEO

Connie and I went up to Darby today to the High School Rodeo and watched Duston compete in calf roping, steer wrestling, and team roping.  He is a senior this year and doing very well.  He is leading in the all around cowboy and tied for first in the calf roping and steer wrestling in the overall state.  This will be his last year to go to the national high school finals.

We had some really crazy weather up there today.  It snowed, rained, sleeted, and there was even a little hail for a while.  Got to talk to some old friends from the Dillon and Centennial Valley areas.  Don't get to see some of those people but once or twice a year.

Teresa and Connie talking before the rodeo.  Teresa is the District 5 Rodeo Secretary and Greg is one of the directors.  It sure keeps them busy.

A young bronc rider making a good ride.

I guess this is what you call a flying dismount!

Duston catching his calf.

Greg, Duston, and Teresa - a rodeo family.

APPLE PIE NEXT FALL?

We are having some nice days around here.  Although we did get some rain last evening - but not much.  It is really dry in the Bitterroot this year.  Our lakes should be full this time of year but are not.  I am trying to get our meadow irrigated for the horses, but Willow Creek is not producing much water.  There is some good news though - our apple tree down in the meadow is literally covered in blossoms this year.  And our plum tree has more blossoms on it than ever before.  Might be a good year for apple pies and plum jelly.  But we will not have any choke cherry syrup - not a blossom can be found on the choke cherry tree.  Below are a few pictures I took of the apple tree while irrigating today.

We are now locking the horses up during the day so we can ride them, they don't eat so much so don't get as fat, and we save on hay.  They come in and have a little grain then take a long nap.  Which is what they are doing in the picture above.  Horse butts is what Connie calls this picture.

AI AT THE RANCH

We went over to the ranch last week to help with the artificial insemination of their yearling heifers.  They heat sync them so they can inseminate them all in a span of three days.  In mid February of next year they will really be busy calving most of their 250 replacement heifers in a span of about two weeks.  But that gets it all pretty well over with in a short period of time as heifers are notorious for being hard to calve out.  Semen from low birth weight bulls is used so it makes calving easier.  It was a pretty busy time and we got lots of riding in.  We took Baylee (of course), Jack, and Stryder.  They had some hard days sorting out the "heats" to take up to the corrals to run through the chute.

All the Martinell kids were home for the weekend so it was really nice to visit with them and their kids.

We had great weather while we were over at the ranch.

Rachael and Connie watching for heats.

  Jack waiting for Connie to go riding.

Kristin inside the chute inseminating a heifer.  Kiley and Heath watching.

Calen and Taryn riding the barrels.

Maren in her MSU Bobcat sweatshirt.

Some of the bum lambs. They seem to be saying feed me from on top of their house.

More bum lambs.  You can see one is sucking on the automatic feeder - much better than feeding them with bottles.

GETTING HORSES IN SHAPE

We are busy getting ready to go over to the ranch to help inseminate their replacement heifers.  So we have been putting shoes on the horses and trying to get them in some kind of shape.  Connie and I rode Stryder and Baylee today up east of our place.  Yesterday we rode Jack and Bill Cody.  I put Jack's hind shoes first thing this morning so he is ready to go.  Baylee will get her hinds on and Stryder will get all four when the farrier comes tomorrow.  I don't shoe the young horses or Baylee's hinds anymore.  Anyway, we have been riding the horses pretty hard to get them ready for some easy riding over at the ranch.  The weather is much better today.  We even had some sunshine and not much wind.

Connie and her favorite horse Baylee.

SOCCER

Watched a couple of soccer games today.  Riley and Haley are both playing soccer this spring on an independent league.  Riley's team last year won the state tournament.  They really have some good players, many of them are either exchange students or kids who were born in other countries and moved here. 

Riley has grown so much in the last few years.

Riley and his friend Oscar who is an exchange student from Mexico.

Ham is getting pretty good with her footwork also.

And she can kick the ball pretty good!

GREEN GRASS AND STIR FRY

We had a pretty busy day around here.  Got the tree cut out of the fence, put front shoes on Baylee, Connie worked a few horses, and I was just - busy!  The weather has not changed much.  Still frosting at night and lots of wind with high temps in the 40s.  A few snow flakes were falling today also.  But there is rain in the forecast instead of snow so that is an improvement.

We have deer in the yard daily now.  Best green grass in the area I guess.  Two small bucks were here and one was pretty skinny.  They are all losing their winter coats.

When this guy left I really got to see how skinny he was. You can see how his hip bones are sticking out.

This one is not as skinny, but he is sure losing his winter hair.

Stir fry vegetables and brown rice was supper tonight.  I had to stop cooking the veggies just to take a picture of the colors.

GUSTY WIND EQUALS WORK

We had some pretty bad winds the last few days.  When I went for my walk this morning around our place, I found an big old Ponderosa Pine that had blown over in the wind.  That was no big deal, but it happened to fall over the fence on our northern border and take out the fence.  Will have to get that cut out of there before we head over to the ranch next week since we will be turning the horses out when we leave.

We also woke up to snow on the ground this morning.  Just a skiff but it sure made it colder during our walk.  Our highs are in the 40s now instead of the normal 60s.  And with the wind, it sure seems colder.  But the hot summer will be here before we know it and will be wishing for cooler temps!

This tree is pretty old.  It died a couple of years ago from just old age I think.  I am sure when I cut into it, it will be hollow. 

MAGGOT FEST RUGBY

Yesterday (Saturday) Ike, Brenda, Doug, Connie and I went up to Missoula to the Maggot Fest Rugby tournament.  Our American Legion Post has been feeding the referees and the Army team for this tournament for three years as a fund raiser for our Post.  We get paid for the referees, but the Army team just donates whatever when they come through the line. Doug and Ike cook up some pork shoulder and beef brisket and Brenda cooked up 30 pounds of beans.  Plus Doug makes his grandmothers coleslaw which is a big hit.  We serve it after the games on Saturday.

Rugby is a different sport.  The comparison I hear most is it is football without the pads.  And that is pretty close except they have different rules.  And it gets a little rowdy.  There are teams from Australia as well as all over the states come here for this tournament.  There is a lot of beer consumed by the players as well as the fans.  It was the first time Connie and I had been there and were impressed! We did have a good time and made some money for our post.

Doug, Brenda, CJ, & Ike setting up for feed the troops.

Part of the troops.

Brenda and Connie heating everything up.

The serving line.

Some of the Rugby.

LOTS OF ELK

Got call from my brother first thing this morning and he told me he had a bobcat going by their house and 40 elk.  Called again and said the neighbor was down changing his sprinkler pipes so the elk turned back and were headed our way.  I went over and sat on the cabin porch and took a few pictures of them going by.  Don't know where the bobcat ended up. That is the first one we have seen around here.  

Looking a little ragged as they are starting to shed.

They were pretty much in single file as they went by.

After we fed the horses we went for our walk up to the east of our place.  We saw elk, don't know if they were just part of the original herd or some new ones.  They were just above the power lines and there were only about 20 head.

Part of them still grazing along.

On our way back to our place we came upon a pretty large bunch on Jenkins Lane.  They were in the thick trees so don't know how many there were.  So we don't know if we saw two different bunches or just one that had split up.

A couple of them watching us walk up Jenkins Lane.

A little cottontail was also watching the elk.