Confident

Confidence comes from experience.

           https://youtu.be/mXyp0e8D67w         

Senses of Scripture

There's two: literal and spiritual. The spiritual is broken into the allegorical (not the analogical), the moral, and the anagogical. 

           https://youtu.be/6M3Jx737T88         

Dialed In

The HydraBed on White Horse was a huge improvement to our operation, but she took some fine tuning to get her really working good. 8 cows later, she's running smooth.

Once we've shot our critter, we load her up and haul her to the pasture. 

The lift arms make gutting a breeze. 

Next, we unhook and extend our arms to grab the back legs.

Probably the greatest improvement was the hooks on the lift arms. This was our third try. What makes them tricky is that they have to rotate, keeping the chain vertical, while the arms travel a total of 180 degrees. Looks like they do the trick. 

With the arms fully extended we can get her skinned without kneeling down. 12' is a minimum height needed to string a cow.

The great thing with the HydraBed is that we can also swing the carcass into the truck bed. Once there, we quarter the front shoulders.

Then lay the hinds in and lop off the the final two hooves. 

Giddy up.

With White Horse dialed in we can operate as a one man band. This is helpful because I'm running out of cowboys that want to shoot a cow with me. Such is life I guess. It's hard feeding American by yourself, but the mission must continue. Thankfully I have my trusty caballo by my side to do the heavy lifting.

Doing What I Love

Find what you love to do and you won't have to get paid.

           https://youtu.be/2m5t3ftWAik         

 

 

Tall Grass

Wyoming is known primarily for its short, stocky, prairie grass that packs a punch of protein. However, there are a few areas with tall grass, and the Blacks Hills of Wyoming are one of them. Planning to celebrate Mass in Hulett tonight, I blew out early to check on the cows.

Chief sure didn't mind getting out and about. He didn't have to bow his neck to get a mouth full of Smooth Brome. 

The girls have enjoyed it too. Sitting around getting fat is hard work.

Of course I had to stop at the Gulch for a burger and beer.

Here's why we have tall grass this summer. Our Father truly provided in our need. Thanks Dad.

 

Priestly Disciple

The Church needs pastors who are first disciples.

           https://youtu.be/Z-MsDoAZ3pk         

Mud Flaps

Back when I used to put flatbeds on trucks, the mud flaps were the crowning jewell. They had to be the right length and width for the bed. If fit correctly, they would compliment the truck. If not, they looked like high waters on a teenager. 

Helena Trailer Sales was our business back then. No better billboard then hanging from the back of a truck.

White Horse's flaps were riding a bit high, so we put some chrome extensions on them. Now we're ranchin in style.

Snake Homily

We can walk on snakes through a Good perspective.

             https://youtu.be/xCF7gP3hSmg           

Intention

Bring your prayer intentions to our Lord at Mass.

           https://youtu.be/AevsJ87bD2I         

Dirt Work

One thing that never gets old is playing with dirt. And if there's a purpose behind it, even better. Such was the case the past couple of days. Before we can start driving some posts for the corrals, we needed to level the playing field. 

The tool of choice was obvious: JD 450 with our recently purchased box scraper. 

Safety first around this ranch. 3 days without a reported injury.  

The mission was simple: level off the back corral so that is is more accessible and user friendly. 

The scraper is slick. Lower the box to scrape dirt into the bucket. Then lift it up when the can is full. The gate had a hard time closing with a big load, so Gerry and I welded on some hooks to hang tractor weights on. Seemed to help.

Once you've hauled the load to where it needs to go, just tilt the box up and turn it loose. You can turn really sharp and put the dirt right where you want it. 

While we were at it, we built a new road to access the back corral. 

There she be.

The right equipment makes a hard job much easier. But let me tell ya, it takes a lot of work to move a little dirt. Thanks be to God for hydraulics and horsepower. Without it, America would not be what she is today. May God continue to bless her.

A Creek Runs Through It

With Fr. Steve here to take Fr. Cliff's place, there really wasn't much need for Gerry and I this Sunday. So we went fishing.

Southern Big Horns was our place of choice.

And Mahogany Butte in particular.

Getting down to Deep Creek on public ground was no easy chore.

In fact, it got pretty western.

Every cowboy has a clutch, though few use them. We, unfortunately, had to use ours. This was as close to the water as we could get.

But we didn't give up, we just shifted gears to another part of the creek. A place we could drive to.

Gerry caught his first trout in the US on his first cast.

He was super excited.

In fact, he limited out.

What a fun day of true recreation. We took every back road we could find, which ended up being 125 miles of dirt. Little can make a father more happy than watching his boy catch fish. Well done ol' son.

Tear Down in Order to Build Up

With the pivot sprinkler in its permanent place it was time to tackle the corrals. But before we can build new ones we had to tear down the old ones  

For Grandpa, this barn yard was a labor of love. I lost count of how many fence post he stuck in the ground. But the weather and wind had taken it's toll on the wood. It’s time to start fresh. 

It was also an opportune time to teach Gerry some down and dirty ranch skills. 

Here's how you roll up wire.

And pile it in a truck.

Along with the fence, there were also some unused lean to's that needed to go.

Nice ranch truck, partner.

I pretty much stuck to the dozer work. No sense in getting dirty if you don’t have to.

Piling up the old posts, lumber, and weeds for burning made me feel like king of the mountain. 

Gerry too.

Looks nice.

The next step is a little dirt work and then pipe and panels. No better way to spend vacation time then cleaning up the barn yard. I know Grandpa would be pleased. He always loved to see men working and was all about moving forward. Thanks Grandps. We'll make you proud.