CONNIE'S KNEE SURGERY

Connie had a total knee replacement on her right knee yesterday.  She is doing very well and should be home tomorrow. 

ROUNDUP 2010

We got back from the roundup over at the ranch last night.  Moved cows for four days and spent quite a bit of time in the saddle.  In fact, one day we rode from sunup to sundown.  And we could really tell it – we are not getting any younger and are out of shape as far as spending hours and hours in the saddle.  But we sure had a good time.  Caught up on the lives of a lot of people we don’t get to see very often.  And as always, ate some really great food.  I gain weight over there – desserts are my weakness. 

The first day we gathered what is called the state ground - a very large pasture with over 14 sections.  All of it hilly and some of it very steep.  We had nine riders to gather it on nine horses.  Some real tired horses at the end of the day let me tell you.  Most of them were not used to being ridden that long either.  We put the cows in a smaller field and the next day gathered that and took all the cows and calves down to the middle cow camp.  There seemed to be a lot of “foot rot” (bacterial infection in the hoof area) which makes them very sore footed.  These had to be roped and doctored.  The next two days were spent taking the herd mostly down the road to the lower cow camp.

We did not see any elk or deer while gathering the cows.  Ten years ago we would always see them when gathering the state ground.  I did see two wolves at the head of horse creek though.  A black one and one that I would describe as brindle colored.  Also saw a couple of coyotes.  The Centennial Valley is where we gathered the cows and it is very close to Yellowstone National Park (less than 30 miles) so they do have a wolf problem.

 Some of the remuda.

View of the Centennial Valley's east end from the high country.

Getting ready to gather the second day.

Getting the herd together.

Allen and Yvonne Martinell's grand kids on their horses.

Lunch break.

Gary and Margee.

 A herd of the Matador's cattle we had to go by.

The herd coming up the Kennedy hill.

LOTS OF WILDLIFE

We have been seeing lots of wildlife around here lately.  Yesterday on our walk we ran into a herd of about 25 elk with one large bull with them.  He was really a dandy.  Made the one at the top of the blog look small.  There was a small calf with them that was crippled and had some problem getting through the fence into Carl's place. He won't last the winter. Of course we also saw deer, but it is unusual NOT to see them.  And a snake, coyote, turkeys, and fresh bear tracks/scat rounded out the day.  Had to do some major repair to some of our fence where some elk really tore it down.  Something must have spooked them and they just ran through it.

We are getting ready to head over to the ranch next week for the fall roundup.  Will be getting the cows out of the high country and bringing them down to the lower cow camp.  That is always a fun trip unless the weather is bad.  Forecast is for a nice week though.  We have really been having a great fall around here.  Lots of sun and not to cold.

LOWER & UPPER BEAR LAKES AND FISH LAKE

Connie and I went for a hike yesterday (Saturday).  It involved two states - Idaho and Montana.  We drove up Lost Horse Creek until we crossed a saddle into Idaho where the trail head is located.  We hiked past Lower & Upper Bear Lakes which are in ID, then it was up over the divide again (although further south) and back down into the Montana side where we had lunch at Fish Lake.  Of course we had to repeat the hike coming out.   Total trip was over 8 miles, but was a lot of up and down.  Weather was really great and the fall continues to be warm and pleasant.  The colors are pretty spectacular also.  There is a new forest fire in the Camas Lakes area I was in the first part of the week and smoke is drifting into the valley.

We didn't get to relax much when we got home as we had a dinner engagement with Ike and Brenda at a restaurant up Sleeping Child Creek.  The food is unusual in the fact that they grow just about all of the entrees.

  Fall colors are our favorite.

 Not much wildlife though.  This spruce grouse was about as wild as it got.

 Our lunch spot - notice the sharp rock to Connie's right.

If you click to enlarge, you can see the sharp rock at our lunch spot.  Picture taken on the trail back up to the saddle crossing back into Idaho.