MEMORIAL DAY ACTIVITIES

As many of you know, I am a member of the Corvallis American Legion and we put on a Memorial Day Parade in our little town of Corvallis.  We also do ceremonies at the Corvallis Cemetery and at the Woodside Bridge over the Bitterroot River to honor our fallen Veterans.  We have thousands show up for our little parade (referred to as the biggest little parade in Montana) to honor the Veterans.  I was in the parade this year instead of being the Parade Marshall and enjoyed it immensely.  Connie took most of the pictures below and did a very good job. 

Some great costumes these kids have.  

Here we are lining up for the Parade. The Boy Scouts always carry our banner in the parade.

The view down Main Street.  

Our county Sheriff Chris Hoffman has led our parade for many years.

Our Post color guard. Click to enlarge and see if you recognize the guy carrying the rifle.

The Knights of Columbus have been marching in our parade for at least 3 years.

The Grand Marshall this year was Bob Ruetlinger who is a WWII Veteran and a member of our Post.  The jeep is a 1942 or 43 model.

 Another WWII Veteran of our Post is John Gurtner in the front left corner in his uniform.

Niece Rita in the blue and white carrying the Auxiliary banner.

 

Some of the kids enjoying the parade.

The Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts are always in attendance.

 A close up of John G.  We don't have to many of these WWII guys left.

This is part of our cemetery ceremony.

Ike and Brenda with Bob R.

Bob and I.  Bob was a friend of my fathers and fished with him quite often over at Clark Canyon Reservoir.

The ceremony at the Woodside Bridge.

UPDATE 26 MAY 2013

Thought I would post a few pictures of things that have been happening around here.  Been pretty busy getting ready for the Memorial Day parade and doing spring things.

Connie working Rippy.

Our horses are getting pretty used to deer.  These two yearlings came into the corral for some salt and the horses hardly gave them a second glance.

Connie got some help with Stryder from Parelli instructor Lorri who has helped her quite a bit.  Stryder is a big horse and thinks he can get away from her when she is working him on the long line.

The cabin with Arrowleaf Balsam Root flowers in the foreground.

The view from the old fire pit.

Connie coming back from working Bill Cody down in the round pen.

We saw our first Bitterroots the other day riding.  They are a couple of weeks earlier than last year.

My view when following Connie when I am riding Stryder.  He does not keep up so good.  Zeph just follows along behind Connie.

Early morning irrigating down in the meadow.  I then bring the horses up to our corrals and give them some oats - below.  We leave them in the corrals until late afternoon.  That way they don't get too fat on the new green grass.

Doug and Rita's first foal this year.  Really a nice looking one.

Getting a little milk from mom.

YUM - that tastes good.

Checking out Connie.

REPLACING THE AMERICAN FLAG AT THE CORVALLIS VETERANS MEMORIAL

The Corvallis American Legion, which I am a member, replaced the tattered flag the other day with the help of the Senior Class of Corvallis High School.  We also did a flag disposal ceremony and burned the flag.  I took a few pictures that are below and here is a link to a picture of me on the ladder unhooking the flag.  picture of tattered flag

Here is a link to a related story about our bugle that my nephew Doug Mason is now playing when we do memorial services for Veterans.  bugle article

Legion member Ike Slaughter giving the Seniors a class on the American Flag.

Our flag was getting pretty tattered in all the wind we had this spring.

The students folding the flag.

Nephew Doug showing them how to fold the flag.

The flag waiting to be burned.

The new flag we put up to replace the tattered one looks a lot better.

HELPING THE MARTINELLS AI THEIR HEIFERS OVER IN DELL, MT

We traveled over to the Martinell ranch and helped them artificially inseminate their yearling heifers.  We also picked up Connie's horse Peg who got a little work over there during calving season.  All the Martinell kids were there with their kids so it was really nice to see all of them.  What a great family.   Our trip did not start out on a very good note though.  Our trusty old pickup had the vacuum pump go out so the serpentine belt broke leaving us with no power steering, no power assist brakes, and an engine that was going to overheat.  So we called our nephew at S & S  Auto and he sent his wrecker crew and his pickup so we could take our horse trailer home while the pickup got fixed.  Was able to get our mechanic to fix the truck, and we were back on the road 5 hours after we broke down.  Pretty good.

The efficient wrecker crew at S & S Auto getting our truck hooked up.

Starting the AI at a very early 0630 in the morning.  It was a cool start to the day but warmed up quickly.

Carlen and some of the grandkids bringing us a little coffee and brownies for a mid morning pickup.

Kristen's husband Ryan working the controls of the squeeze chute.

Allen bringing the second bunch of heifers into the corrals.

Could not resist taking a picture of one of the last lambs that were born this year.

The best kids horse ever - Sunday waiting to take Taryn on a ride.

The inside of the horse barn.

Taryn taking Sunday over to the fence to get on.

Riders getting ready to go out and check some cows.

Macy, Taryn, and Calen Martinell.

Sometimes a calf dies and it's mother is a nice young cow and if there is an old cow that is a cull with a calf, that calf is grafted on the young cow.  This is done by skinning the dead calf and putting it's hide on the other calf.  Then the young cow is put in with the live calf which has the dead calf's hide on it.  The pictures below depict getting the hide on the live calf.  

The calf is first put in a pen and roped.

The rope is slid through a hole cut in the neck of the hide and slipped down over the calf's head.

The legs are put through slits cut in the side of the hide.

Rowen watching his grandfather Allen and uncle Heath get the hide on the calf.

Putting the last leg thru the slit.

This is the finished product.

Ryan, Rowen, Kristen, and Connie watching the proceedings.

Kristen and her son Rowen.

One of the barn cats.

 I am putting down some oats so I can catch Peg to bring her home.