Hoten Holler!

19 March 2020 – Overcast and windy but 34 degrees

I reread my last post on the 3rd of March and at time the CoronaVirus News was just a whisper of background noise.  How things have changed in 16 days. Life is really no different here on the Holler.  We are self-quarantined most of the time anyway, working on the ranch and only going to town once or twice a month.  We always keep a stockpile of goods just to avoid extra trips for things like toilet paper or dog food. The small towns here in the Black Hills are always ghost towns in the winter months.  Most restaurants are only open from April to September and a lot of small business owners close up shop and head south.  Consequently, life here is  quiet and slow in the non-tourist season so it  feels like we are far removed from the crazy happenings in the rest of the world and just watching a science-fiction movie whenever we do turn on the news.

I know this is not like watching a movie for most of the country, and Dave and I have been in touch with family and friends that live in more populated areas (just about anywhere else).  The shutdown of businesses, schools, and normal life sounds extremely surreal.  All we can do is pray that people stay safe, be kind to each other, and don’t panic. This is still the greatest country in the world and we will beat this thing.

So what have you more social people been doing with all of your “stuck at home” time?  I have to brag about a good friend of mine who sent me a picture of teaching her kids how to build a fire.  They are working on survival skills at home and I thought that was a very neat idea.  I imagine not everyone is enjoying self-quarantine, but as a person who spends quite a lot of time in self imposed isolation due to geography and general hermit-crabby-ness, I have one piece of advice.  Do NOT sit around and watch or listen to the news all day.  You’ll go nuts.

Here in the ops-normal Holler, we have been busy with spring chores. We will be moving cows to different pastures once they calve and that requires fence inspection and mending.

We are still heating with wood and our wood shed is starting to look a lot less full than it was a few months ago.

We also have an area we call the “maternity ward” where we plan to put our pregnant cows as they start to look like they’re about to deliver, so we can keep a close eye on them.  Part of our life lately is trying to keep that area clean and picking up poop.  I read that cows can create 65 pounds of manure a day and after Dave and I hauled 7 tractor loads of poop out of the maternity ward, I believe it!

Thank goodness the bovines don’t use toilet paper or we would definitely be in trouble. They keep us busy feeding and checking on them. We are expecting the first calves mid-April, but one cow in particular already looks like she is getting milk in her bag.

We hope she holds off, it is still pretty early for her to calve. The other bred cows just look really big and slow right now, and the heifers that are not bred are loving spring.  They get in a lot of play fights, run around and headbutt each other, and for some strange reason they are particularly fond of sprinting up and down the side of the stock dam. They are crazy. They spent too much time this winter sitting around watching the news.

We  had a few spring blizzards which lead to busy days full of snow removal.  One day last weekend we had the most snow we’ve seen since we lived here, but the next day we were wearing short sleeves outside.  It’s likely winter isn’t done with us yet as April and sometimes May can be the snowiest months, but the 10 day forecast looks like 40s and 50s so we’ll take it!

Lots of snow on the Holler!

Snow removal day

I’m glad I found the shovel

Big drifts on the front porch

We continue to feed the cows because it there isn’t anything for them to graze yet, and the barn is starting to look empty again as well.

The blue birds and the turkeys have returned, and occasionally we have some geese flying north.  Sheriff Joe is quite pleased to see the turkeys are back, as one of his favorite activities is scaring them off.

The bees have been pretty active on the warmer days and while I am feeding them I won’t be completely convinced they survived the winter until I can open up the hive and see if the queen still lives and starts laying eggs. Long live the queen!

And that is about all there is to say for now. Dave and I are really wishing the very best to everyone out there in the strange and crazy world.