Rope Ready

My favorite season is soon upon us, branding. But there is little room for green cowboys or green horses in the pen. A man and his horse need to be conditioned and ready to go when they cross that gate into the calves with lariat in hand. Chief is old hat. Mollie has yet to have a rope swung off of her. So it was time the two met.

Mollie wintered well. Probably gaining a good 300lbs over the last year. She has brawn. To add to the cool factor as well as keep my saddle in the middle, we added a pulling collar to her riggin. Thanks Paul.

She had seen a rope in front of her during our ground work lessons. But I want her to have as much exposure to rope entanglement now in a safe space, so that in the branding pen when the rope runs up under her tail with a calf on the end of it, Fr. Bryce doesn't bite the dust. 

Once she was good with that, I started to swing the rope from the saddle. The next step is dragging something. I like to start pulling from the front and backing up so the horse can see from what comes the resistance and noise. Makes it all less scary for them. 

This makes the transitions to pulling from the rear a breeze. I think first impressions make a lasting mark in a horse's mind. Doing all of this in the practice pen of the round corral makes for a good experience now. Then when you add the craziness of the branding pen, it won't be as dramatic. 

Mollie is now ready, but we'll see about me. I rope like I bowl, the first one is always a strike. After that is usually down hill. 

I live for May. Branding is my favorite sport. We have our first gig this weekend in Aladdin. This'll be new territory for us. Whether we rope or not, I guarantee we'll have fun. On to the next one..

Show Me the Father

In Jesus we see the Father and the Holy Spirit.

           https://youtu.be/rXQLDhKJ4xY         

Very Important

 ... to get the divinity of Christ right.

 https://youtu.be/JgGIEgJ91sM 

Follow Me

Don't follow regret. 

           https://youtu.be/8zfktY6p288         

Sr. Monica

Sister Monica Suhayda, CSJ and I go way back. As a young deacon I found myself at St. Stephens Mission on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Not sure she knew what to think about this cowboy in clerics, but over time we have become good friends.

Sr. Monica joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden PA in 1946. As an adventurous nun, she came out to St. Stephens in 1974 and has been working among the Native Americans ever since. 

In my three years on the Mission, Sister's most common comment to me was, "What are you doing!!??"

We sure had some fun in the sun. 

Taking strolls around the park with Chief. 

Sr. Monica has always been up for anything. 

Her favorite place to visit in this area is Sinks Canyon. Which makes sense beings she styles herself as having a creation centered spirituality. 

Today was her birthday, so I bought her lunch.

There's some people who's friendship is for life. Sr. Monica is one of those for me. How we get along, I'm not sure. Probably because neither one of us take life too seriously. She has the attitude of Christ. Which allows her to serve people unreservedly, while still remaining a child of God. You continue to be an inspiration Sister. Keep up the Good work.

True Devotion

It is good to entrust ourselves to Mary. 

           https://youtu.be/fA5viDNH7JU         

God is Good

Today we picked up two nice black heifers from Peg and Lee Isenberger. Just so happen Blessed Sacrament in Wright was a good swapping point. Might as well celebrate Mass while we’re at it. 

Lee and Peg generously donated one of the cows to our cause, and the biggest of the two on top of that. That cow weighed in at 1140lbs. What makes this significant is that last month I sold the old John Deere. Trying to be a good steward, I like to tithe. The check I received for the tractor was $11,400. The check I cut to some charities just this morning, prior to our meeting up, at 10% of that was $1140. And on average, I buy cows at a buck a pound. Coincidence? I don’t think so. God can’t be out done in generosity. 

Seeker

 Let the light of truth dispel the darkness of error.

           https://youtu.be/_NtYFrsinSg         

Spring Storm

Every snow storm I've seen come into this country comes in sideways. It was no different on Saturday. We've been praying for moisture, so we can't complain in which form it comes. This spring storm pretty much shut the town down for the weekend.

Fortunately we're prepared for any weather condition.

The drifts just kept piling up. That was really the biggest obstacle to normal operations. 

Sunday morning had all roads out of Gillette closed. Which grounded me from my normal mission circuit. 

I was, however, able to get out and check on things in the afternoon. Neighbors banded together in digging each other out.

The horses managed pretty well.

Got a little western getting down to the cows though. 

Thier only beef was that they wanted hay. Thanks be to God for windbreaks. They are essential in this country.

Back in business. 

Spring storms can be wild in Campbell County. Ones like this are not uncommon. Anyone who was around remembers the spring storm of 1984. We are all super grateful for the moisture. I'm guessing about 10-12" of snow on the flats and around 1.25" of moisture overall. Hopefully, any calf and lamb casualties we're minimal. Think from here on out will be more specific in our prayer. Lord, please send RAIN. 

Mixed Herd

This year’s herd is coming together quite nicely. Not like your typical all black herd though. More like an old school mixed herd. Heck, maybe we should breed them.

I had a buddy bid on some from the sales ring. There we gained another little Hereford, two reds, and two blacks. Then we picked up two more blacks from my brother. 

Luke’s hand Ernesto helped me load. 7 cows was a pretty good haul for White Horse. 1st up, 1st down. 

 

One big happy family. 

It’ll be fun to see how these girls fill out. They’re all light, so there’s weight to be gained. Thank God it’s raining! On to the next one…

Farming

Springtime in the Big Horn Basin is heavy farming season. And it is no different on the Gooseberry. After moving our pivot sprinkler, one corner that it already missed turned in to about two acres. So decided to plant it with some horse hay.

Many farmers would like to keep the plow out of the ground because of the work it takes to follow them up. But they still do have their place. 

Before we got going this spring, Dad put new shares on the 4 bottom. 

Luke also hauled over some finely fluffed fertilizer. 

Pretty sandy on our place, but our little corner tilled up real nice. 

We even drug a leveler around to make for a nice seed bed. 

Grass/alfalfa is the combination of choice. We mixed it 50/50. Beings everything is under irrigation, the right kind of grass that will regrow for three cuttings is necessary. Orchard grass should fit the bill. 

Uncle Chris let us borrow his drill. 

You know your really a rancher playing farmer when you sow your seed with a farmhand. 

After we drizzled the seed on the ground, we ran around and covered it lightly with a roller harrow. 

Bring it.

We pushed through to get the crop in in time for a storm that's coming through. Hopefully that'll get it started. Next up is getting water to the corner. Where there's a will there's a way. Irrigating is essential in this area, and thank God for it. Man was created to till the soil. And oh how good it feels to do so. 

Breaking of the Bread

The road to Emmaus is the Mass. 

           https://youtu.be/yX_9Bne3ew4