Feel Fall Comin' On

Somewhere high in the sky obscured by the building clouds a jet flies overhead, sound the only giveaway.

Buzzards gliding around in lazy circles looking for an easy meal on their southbound trip to Mexico.

The wind picks up now and then, blowing a cool breeze down the creek.

Cow bells clank comfortably in the upper feed lot.  Temperatures are dropping in the mountains and they think it's time to come home.  5 1/2 more weeks, but fall is coming.

Their bawls echo down through the valley as they hear the roar of my papa's flatbed.  Thinking they should be home and hay awaiting.

The horses idly munch away, undistrutbed by the racket and activity around them.

Everything around us says fall is here, even though it's only the first of September.

It seems as though winter may come early this year, cold and bitter.  Mother Natures' icy hand sweeping over us.

I love being home, sitting high on the hill where our house overlooks a big piece of the valley.  I love listening and feeling and pretending I'm in a simpler time.

Before our house was built here, before many of the houses were built here.  When family was family and friends were too.

In a couple weeks I'll be headed north once again.  The last time I'll leave home headed for University.

The bells still clanking and buzzards still circling...

 

XO Loves,

Me

The Old Man

Ok, so I apologize for how long it's been since my last post!  Our internet has been down for almost a week, but we got it back today!  Here's a little story I wrote the other night for my papa and I thought I would share it with all of you. I'm not a poet, and this is just a story, not a poem, so don't judge as though it were. I hope you like it!

The Old Man

As the sun comes up a man and his horse are trotting out
Cold, clean air, dog padding silently along behind
Hes as familiar with these mountains as he is the cracks in his hands
He was here, his family was here, before the roads criss-crossed the land
The pale horse hadn't been raised there, but he was as sure as the man
It was just the 3 of them, raising little dust in their search
He knew they were near, the horse and dog smelled them, the man could hear them
Their pace quickened
Finally the brush rustled, patches of black could be seen
The dog slipped quietly into the brush
The horse pulled against the bit
The man waited
There was barking and bawling and the hillside came to life, bells clanking
The man checked the pale horse and slowly began moving the cows home
He knew his situation was special
Knew his was a luxury most never know
They'd all be hoof sore by the time they covered the 15 miles home
There are no corrals, holding pens or trailers
Just a lot of wild country in between
He doesn't know where or when they'll meet
Somewhere theres his uncle and daughter doing the same thing
The mans seasoned, his horse fit, the stocky red dog tough
Together they work, waiting for home
Like every year before...

XO Loves,


Me

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

Yesterday I went to work with my cousin out in the valley.  We were supposed to move the guys cows to his winter grounds.  20 minutes before we were supposed to be there to feed, we get a call from him.  Wondering if we'd left yet, because it was pretty nasty out there.  We live over an hour away, of course we'd left!  Well Casey and I aren't the kind to be deterred by a little bad weather.  We got to the ranch and waited for the owner so we could start feeding. It was cold, but not too bad, or so we thought.  Opened the door and I felt like Mary Poppins!  Seriously, I thought Dorothy was going to blow in from Kansas!  It was hard to walk, it's not easy to buck a serious head wind.  We loaded up and headed out.  There were three bunches of cows to feed, one being the herd we were supposed to move.  Casey and I were really hoping he wouldn't cancel, but it wasn't looking good.  Feeding was a nightmare!  Hay, and dirt in my eyes like never before.  There were several times that Casey and I just fed with our eyes shut because we couldn't open them.  Every time I got off the truck the wind blew me back on my butt!  I've honestly never witnessed let alone been in, such strong winds.  When we got to the big bunch and he told us to feed, we were crushed.  A couple of the other folks who were supposed to help had called and backed out, not that there weren't all kinds of other guys that would have helped.  Our horses were in the trailer and ready to go, we still wanted to ride!  Just didn't have anywhere to go.

 So we decided to go to the little diner and have a beer.  Yea it was 11, but we were down in the dumps.  Before we finished a guy called and said he needed help feeding some big bales.  So we took off to help him, I was however, instructed to stay in the pickup.  Well fine with me, it was starting to snow, and was just cold.  After awhile I had no idea where they had gone, it was snowing hard and I couldn't see anything.  So little Miss Pippy and I just holed up in the pickup and waited.  I called my daddy and he told me it was also snowing downriver, and that if we wanted to make it home with the horses we needed to get out of there right then.  Finally the guys showed up and off we went.  It had snowed probably six inches in somewhere around three hours.  It was getting nasty in a hurry.  We only slid towards the river a couple times.  Made it home by four and got all the horses put up.  Just before dinner the power went out.  That was ok, we played cards and my daddy read us some Edgar Allen Poe(he couldn't find his Robert Service book).  We had a great time huddled around the table in the lamplight.  The power came back on about midnight.

Here are some photos I took yesterday from mid day on.

These were all taken consecutively.  It's just beautiful!




Xoxo Loves,


Me