Its just the Wild West

It is hard to believe that it is already coming up to the last week in July. Where has the summer gone? I have m last two weeks ahead of me, but that does not mean that I am slowing down.

This week we are still pushing hard on the hay. We finally got the two 150-acre pivots baled. It ended up being over 2,200 square bales. It is a picture perfect scene with the bales evenly spread over the fields and a rise of mountains in the background. It would be kind of nice if the tractor had an air conditioner instead of just blowing warm air, but hey that’s life!

I clogged up the haybine the other day. I just had to sit and start pulling grass out of the rollers. As I was doing that Will’s dog pointed out a rattlesnake that I was practically sitting on. I looked and I had cut off his tail with the mower and I even had some of his blood on my arm. I sure enough got off the ground in a hurry. That is probably the closest I have ever come to a heart attack. I was very lucky not to get bitten.

I spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday in the mountains pushing cattle. About 400 pair got out of the pasture and spread over half of the allotment. The cattle absolutely would not drive and my horse was giving me a fit on Tuesday. It doesn’t help that I offer to ride the ones that haven’t been ridden all season or need some more training on them, but I guess I have to make it interesting. It took us all day just to push the cattle 3 or 4 miles and we still lost several calves. Wednesday we went back and pushed everything up. It went much smoother and I had an awesome 6 year old mare who would do whatever I asked. Climbing up the mountains horseback is by far the best thing I have ever done and some of the best views I have ever seen. You would not believe how awesome it is up there. It is cool enough in the morning right before the sun comes up that you need a heavy jacket but it does eventually get warm in the afternoon. Riding a different horse everyday has been quite an experience too, actually its something I have grown to like.

The deer around here are everywhere. I just thought we had several of them back home. All of the bucks are congregating together and they all still have their velvets. There are several 8 and 10 points that I see every day. And the mule deer and much bigger than the white tails back home. There are also several antelopes that I see every day. And I see plenty of skunks. Yesterday I was mowing hay and I always see rabbits and the sort running ahead of me in the grass. This time I saw the grass moving but not fast enough, so I knew that I ran over whatever was there. I wondered what it was for about 15 seconds before I smelled that skunk. Talk about quickly turning off the A/C and opening the door.

Today I am headed to the lake to spend a long day in the water. It is not summer unless you spend a day at the lake. Tomorrow we have a very short day because Hyattville is having their 100th annual Old-timer’s festival; an annual summer get together of everyone who has been in Hyattville over the years. There is a picnic, parade, games, and a street dance. It’s going to be a fun weekend.