Grrr this blogger photo thing!

I am not a computer whiz. I blunder around and happen to get a few things done. I might even be able to help my husband get out of a computer jam or two. I can email and do a search. BUT......for some reason......I can't seem to get a picture up on the blogs I am following. I have signed in signed out over and under and can't seem to figure it out. Is it just the way I see it from my computer, or do you all have me, under "followers," still as a silhouette (oh and i can use spellcheck, thankfully or you all would think I didn't get an education)??? Any help would be appreciated. I even signed up to follow my own block so it would show up under "followers" on my own blog and there is a photo there. It would sure be nice to hear that all this time there has been a photo and I just didn't now it and my panties are in a bunch for nothing. :-)

wild burros

The area of Arizona we were in was west and north of Phoenix. It was pretty, but very flat. I claim to be a flat lander but I really mean hills and coulees and trees and bluffs and stuff. This was flat, but then, way off in the distance, were Mountains, really rugged, beautiful Mountains.

We took a loooog drive one afternoon on a 30 mile loop through some amazing country. I am just so thankful that there hadn't been any rain for a week or so. For some reason I was a little flinchy about flash floods. Maybe it was the 6" or so of rain they had about 10 days before! We drove through some pretty tight spots. Coulees that had, at one point in the not to distant past, been raging with water. The county had a patrol and backhoe out fixing things, almost like it was just for us.

I have to say that one of the highlights of our trip was getting to see wild burros. The only way to top that for Jay would be to have seen some Havalinas. The wild pigs. (Not sure of the spelling and spell check didn't know what to do with what I spelled.) At one point during our drive, he slams on the brakes, I am scrambling to grab things sliding around on the dash, yelling, what, what!!! Jay finally finds his tounge and sputters "burros"! Well I couldn't see the little buggers, i looked and looked, then, there they were.
Kind of like "Where's Waldo." I was so excited. I grabbed my camera and dashed across the road. Jay is hollering there's another one. Where , I can't see it! oh there it is. Oh Oh!!! Then Jay yells "you'd better look out. Hey I think he's gonna take you!" Well how could I see that with a camera plastered to my face. He was rustling around in the brush and stomping his feet. But what the heck there was a little coulee between him and me.
Can you see the third one in the brush in the middle? He was the one getting huffy! My camera doesn't zoom in much so I was wanting to get closer but Jay and the coulee prevented that. Probably a good thing!
Oh and Jay was getting excited about all the river rock we were finding. He was willing so i had him load up some bigger ones. Beautiful. But then he worried about whether we could do that or not. I wasn't worried at all, i was planning a landscaping project for this spring. Burros and rock! hummmmm.

I am still alive, and have been living in AZ...

We decided some time ago that we were going to try to take a vacation in the winter as often as we could. We have seen our parents regretting that they didn't do more, when they could have. Isn't that the way of the rancher. Can't leave the ranch, the all consuming, ever demanding, ranch. So we started last year with a cruise to Mexico. It was wonderful, hard to come back from the sun and the sand, but that was all the more inspiration to do it again. Well, Jay has talked lots about his trip to Arizona when he was 20 or so. He has alway wanted to go again. So we packed horse trailer with horse, hay, tack, ropes and a little money and off we went.

It was sunny and warm, although it could have been warmer, and so beautiful. We had a ton of fun. We stayed with friends, in a beautiful new home, and Jay roped to his hearts content. I got to shop and run in sunny, cool, crisp mornings with no ice under foot. I brought home a ton of pictures and the front end of the tack compartment full of river rocks. In fact Jay was the one that kept seeing more rocks. But then, alas, all good things must come to an end, and so too, our trip.
Back to the Arctic North! Where the roads are slick and the snowbanks are deep. Where the wind howls and the wood stove is stoked! Going someplace warm for a few weeks sure makes one think that spring is just around the corner, but I peeked around that corner and for some reason I can't quite see it. But my house was sure glad to see me and I was glad to not be a guest any more. Home is wonderful even if it is cold.

Our Little Corner of the Storm

The storm that hit a good share of Montana, hit us too, here on the Musselshell River. (it followed us to Billings and back) Friday Jay and I decided we needed to go to Billings and get some things done. Should we take the pickup or car, he asks....? I said I had my stuff in the car, but only to remind myself that if we took the Pickup, I need to get my stuff in the car transfered. I was NOT implying that we should take the car...........! I really didn't think that we would get that much weather but..... In Roundup about 10:30 am it started snowing and we hadn't even got to Billings yet. It snowed and snowed! (jay is cussing) I wanted to get the important things done like insurance and groceries and get for home, but no........! We had to stop and see if Lawdog Hatters could reshape Jay's hats, get Jay's physical, renew Jay's CDL, and get some whisky, and filters for the pickup that we should have drove on this now, really snowy day. It was about 5:30 pm when we left Billings. I called Cedar (son) who went skiing with the Ross school kids and teacher. They had just left Showdown. I was worrying. We got to Winnett about 7:30 pm. Roads were bad and visibility was too. From Winnett, east the roads got worse. Blowing and drifting and we were in a car. (more cussing) No snowplows to be seen. We got to Mosby, finally, only 6 miles to go. Jay, who has a thing about mail, just had to stop and get ours. The driveway was pretty deep with snow. Barely made it out. (said something under his breath) We pushed snow the whole 6 miles home. Couldn't get up our hill. I walked up and got the PICKUP, drove down to the car, we unloaded groceries and finished our trip in the PICKUP! Called Cedar. 8:30pm. They were in Lewistown eating pizza. Kids. They just have no fear or common sense. In the end, all were safe and sound.

And then there is Malori, in Costa Rica, swelteringly hot, working on a tan and spanish, oblivious to our snowy plight!

Needless to say, I have no snow pictures because for the next two days I didn't stick my head out of the house door.

Its time to get back at it

exercise that is. I drove out to the county road yesterday to avoid all the ice in our drive. I thought that was kind of dumb at first but then i told myself that people in the "big cities" do it all the time. Drive somewhere to exercise. So i drove a half mile out so that i could avoid all the ice still around. In the end, i didn't really feel all that dumb. I felt good about getting out and moving and happy with myself for having gotten around the road block I had put up for myself. I walked farther that usual to make up for missing the driveway. My trusty companions were confused. They were sure i had my walking clothes on but I was getting in the pickup. w'sup?? Magpie was barking and telling me to get out of the pickup. I loaded them in the back, because a walk without the dogs just wouldn't be the same. Mag was just so happy to be going somewhere. Jay was a little confused when he got home tho. I wondered if he would notice the tracks coming out, going across the county road, pulling into the approach there and then backing out and going back into our drive. Sure enough, that was the first thing he asked. Did I go somewhere in the pickup? He notices that but never notices a new hair cut or new clothes. ( well maybe that is a good thing)

Cedar's Mother's Day Present!

Almost 4 years ago, our son, Cedar, who was in college and living in Billings, decided it was time to get a pet. Did he go to the shelter, or look for a free one? Oh, no! He had to have a certain kind. After a long search, he came up with this corgi. Of course I fell in love instantly, but he would pack her back and forth to Billings and everywhere he went. I baby sat a time or two, but for the most part he had her with him all the time. He named her Maggie/Magpie.

Cedar calls her a chick magnet. and she is! At all the ropings he had her around, the girls would flock. Of course there seemed to be a problem eliminating the girls that are too young.

This son/dog relationship lasted for about 6 months. Cedar lived on a busy street. He came home from work one day and she was missing. Five days, miles walked, and one add in the paper later, he got her back. Some man at the Catholic church had found her. Cedar was lucky once. Then he left her with some friends at the Horse Palace in Laurel. I got a call from a vet, saying that someone had picked up a corgi on the interstate and had dropped her off with them. She had a rabies tag which led them to ME. Cedar was lucky twice. Needless to say, I suggested Maggie say with me for a while. Three and a half years later, I still have her. I consider her a Mother's Day present for the rest of her life! Me, just plain lucky!
Maggie has been a source of endless entertainment. Watching her run is just plain funny every time. It never gets old. And of course with those short legs she can't quite keep up with the other dog. She loves to go with us when moving cows. I have to be careful and pick short rides because she just can't last like the border collie. But she has cow in her. She loves working.
She is my constant companion. If I am in the house she follows me everywhere. I am always being entertained by her antics. When it is time for a little exercise, she absolutely can not wait to get going. And if I forget something and go back in the house to get it, she goes nuts! Its like, " come on lady, get your _ _ _ _ together!"
Yes, she is my dog now, It took about a year for her to not lay at Cedar's bedroom door, waiting for him, but now when Jay lets her in in the morning she races down the stairs, bumps the bedroom door open, and greets me with a little ruff and lick! I think Cedar was right, Maggie is a chick magnet. She sure sucked me in!

Almost a Week Under the Southern Skies

Well, my youngest bird has flown the coop. Ventured out on her own. In places far away. Malori, 20, soon to be 21, is studying abroad this semester, in Costa Rica. Her Major in Spanish with a minor in International studies. She picked a small sunny beach town, in Central America, for her school of choice. Not sure why...?? She left Friday afternoon, to try her hand at boarding planes, keeping track of all her stuff in airports during long layovers, and landing in 93 degree weather in Liberia, Costa Rica. Then she had to find her ride for the 2 hour drive to Samara, (afore mentioned small, sunny, little beach town). She then had to pay for her ride in foreign currency and not get duped. All of this on not more than an hour's sleep. (it is now Saturday afternoon) To top it all off she has to walk into a house where she is to stay, meet these total strangers and communicate. Well at that point is just wasn't happening. Not one spanish word came out. Her host family thought she couldn't speak one word!!! Poor Mal! When she unpacked and calmed down, things started coming back and she was fine, until the ATM machine ate her card. (She has since gotten it back) She has now forgotten how bitterly cold it is up north and is basking in the sun, on warm beaches, in a mumu with a hat and sunglasses and knee socks, her hair is hopefully, no longer blond but a deep shade of the native black. Hope she still remembers the phone number up here in the arctic north...........

Here is Malori, Christmas day, dreaming of warmer days in Costa Rica with her new luggage by her side.
And a shot of Malori, practicing what she plans on doing in Costa Rica. HAHA

Meet Rupert

I am finally back at it. Things on the Woodford Ranch have been busy and trying. But I find I have a few minutes before Jay comes and gets me for a bit of fencing. I wanted to introduce you all to one of the "Drop Off" pets. You know, when your kids think they need company and companionship but want to practice on an animal first. Well here is Malori's smallest "drop off." Her other "drop offs" have 4 legs and whinny.

His name is Rupert. I have taken care of him on several occasions, (and I am just assuming the "he" part.)

Not sure why it is when kids get to college they think they need to have an animal. At least this beta only needs feeding every few days, which leaves plenty of time for weekend get-a-ways and track meet traveling for my busy college student. Not a high maintenance pet. But still, for those extended stays, Mom gets him. My biggest worry, it how she gets this little guy from Billings, home. I'm sure there is a car seat somewhere that is made especially for fish tanks, but we can't afford one. The last time Mal brought him home, she, at one point, hit the brakes and he went tumbling off the seat and upside down on the floor board.
You can see a kink in one of his bottom fins in the top pic. I think that is the result of his tumble. Can you imagine all those pebbles crashing around! Yikes. And the noise!

His food container has a bright red lid. I wonder if the manufacturer did that on purpose, because when I pick it up, he gets all excited, comes straight at me, puffs up and shoots for the surface. I swear he knows its dinner time.

I'll have him for quite a while. Mal is in Costa Rica for school this semester. I am bonding with a fish!

Mal has been making noises about getting a dog, a Great Bearenese Mountain dog (sp)!!! Enough is enough! I said the only thing I could think of. I told her I thought that kids did this, "practice on animal" thing to get ready for having kids one day. Stopped her cold. She got a panicky look on her face, visably turned green, and stammered "sick Mom." I of course was laughing!