21 June 2019 – Sunny and forecast to be 60
Happy First Day of Summer! This is my favorite season and I am really looking forward to some warm weather and some hot working days. It feels like we skipped spring altogether because of the late May blizzard and the cool temperatures we have had in June so far. Still, the oats are growing, the calves are growing, the weeds are growing!!! Spring flew by!
We woke up this morning to four bull elk in our back yard. Got to love South Dakota!
My sister and her son and my Mom came to visit last week. We had fun driving the tractor, shooting guns off the deck, checking cows, and doing some touring. We went to Keystone where my nephew got to go into a gold mine and pan for gold. We all had ice cream and enjoyed the boardwalk. We also went to Sylvan Lake and hiked the mile around it. My Mom did great, despite some very rocky and steep trails.
The weather was perfect and we drove along the Needles Highway on the way home. We went to the infamous Hitchrail for a burger for supper.
Of course you can’t come to the Holler without doing a little ranch labor. We put the crew to work at building an H for a gate we’re putting in between our pasture and our neighbors. My sister especially liked breaking rocks out of the post hole using the 30 pound spud.
My nephew and Mom did a great job picking up rocks to fill in around the post and again, my sister enjoyed tamping the rocks back into the hole using the spud, her new best friend. I offered to let her take the spud home with her but she graciously declined.
Their hard work helped us get a good start on this H. Dave and I dug the post holes for the H on the other side this week, and today we finished the wire gate.
Thanks for the help, family! We’ll try to find something more fun for you to do when you come back. Throw hay bales, maybe? Anyway, their visit flew by!
Dave and I have been busy just keeping up with the yard and weeds, cleaning up the barn, maintaining equipment and of course, checking the cows. Our herd is grazing on the neighbors very large pastures while we grow oats, so checking cows takes a bit more time. We spend the early mornings driving around looking for them. When we do finally find them, I have a list and take “roll call” so we can make sure everyone and their babies are present and accounted for.
Three days ago, we found everyone except for one of Cowboy’s girls that was STILL expecting. After driving around another 15 minutes or so we saw some of the neighbor’s herd. Rancher Dave shut down the Mule and I hiked down into a ravine where I heard some strange mooing. Sure enough, there was Diamond with a brand new little heifer calf that was still steaming. She must have just been born and she was a big bright eyed girl.
I stayed to make sure she would get up and nurse while Rancher Dave went back to the Holler to call Cowboy and Linda and let them know they had a new calf on the ground. About 15 minutes later, I heard a Mule (Cowboy and Linda have one as well) and I ran up the ravine to show them where the new baby was hidden. I must have been 30 feet from them and I was yelling and waving my shirt over my head, but they didn’t hear me over the Diesel engine and went flying by! Another ten minutes went by and I heard them coming back on the other end of the ravine. I ran down to the bottom but it was pretty tree covered so again, they didn’t see me, and again they went flying by! Finally, Rancher Dave came back and they saw his Mule and followed him to put eyes on their newest herd member. Never a dull moment out here.
Switching gears, I have been doing a lot of running and hiking to train for an upcoming bucket list trip. My brother and I are going to hike the Grand Canyon, North Rim to South Rim, in August. The time of year isn’t ideal, but somehow we secured reservations at the very hard-to-get dorms at the Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Canyon. See the link below for some fun information about the place.
The only dates we could get were in August, so we will brave the heat and do this once in a lifetime trip. It is 24 miles of hiking so I have been trying to put in some miles. The other morning I was running on a trail near the Holler. I heard something go flying by my head and saw it was a diving black bird. Then it came back to reattack. If anyone was watching me from a distance they must have thought I was having a seizure or was being possessed by some evil dancing spirit as I tried to shoo the crazy bird away from my head. The bird followed me for about a quarter mile, swooping and attacking the whole time. I thought about picking up a handful of rocks to defend myself but eventually it left me alone. The only thing I could think was that I was wearing a bright yellow shirt and that bird had some sort of vendetta against Sesame Street and mistook me for Big Bird. Things flying by….ha ha!
This week I also hiked to the top of Harney Peak, the highest point east of the Rockies in the continental US. It was a beautiful day and a tough hike, but I wasn’t hurting too bad the next day so I feel like I’m making some progress in my training.
That’s about it for now on the Holler. We are looking forward to cutting, raking and baling hay in the next few weeks. The oats are getting tall and the alfalfa looks like it could bloom at any minute.
We are expecting some normal summer weather, high 80’s, in the next week and that will really make things grow. We are about to get really busy, and I’m sure we will blink and say, “Wow, summer really is flying by!” And shortly after that, “Look at all that snow flying by!”
Have a great summer, everybody!
Leave a Reply