Dodged the bullet

Ug, there is nothing worse than looking out one's window and seeing the cattle where they shouldn't be. In this case, they were in the wheat field. Ack!

Yes, three members of the brat pack had jumped over the admittedly bad fence right into the sweetest, most tender grass they could imagine. Kids in a candy store!

Don was away from home, so I marshaled my remaining troops and armed them for battle.

I stationed Older Daughter at the gate to keep the other cattle from sneaking into this fabulous candy store.

Meanwhile Younger Daughter and I shooed some seriously reluctant yearlings out of the goodies.

The Brat Pack looked inclined to hop right back over the (admittedly bad) fence, so we decided enough was enough. Until we could get the fence repaired, everyone was going back into the pasture. Cattle drive!

"Aww, mom!"

And that's where the critters stayed for the next week. Until Friday night, when we had a storm to beat all storms and the poor beasties were out in some of the heaviest rain I've ever seen, without access to shelter in the barn. Friends who lived only a couple miles away reported quarter-sized hail, though thankfully we didn't get any.

So when another storm cell of similar intensity loomed yesterday, Don and I knew it was time to hastily repair the fence and let the cattle back into the driveway area with barn access.

According to the Doppler radar, we only had about twenty minutes to get ready before we had that storm cell on top of us again, so Don and I leaped to work.

We ran a sturdy two-strand wire and Don secured it firmly to the corner post.

Then he ratcheted it tight until it was high-tension.

Then we started threading wire from the fence top to the high-tension wire, similar to what we did a couple weeks ago on other fences.

Meanwhile we watched the storm cell pass to the west of us -- we dodged the bullet!

Still, we needed to get that fence mended, so I didn't mind. Mending fences is an ever-lasting chore on a farm.

The typewriter song

A reader sent me a link to "The Typewriter Song."



What a hoot! This will make you smile.

Random pix

I've been super dooper busy in the last few days, so rather than writing something intelligent and insightful, I'll just post a few random pix.

Brit, our horse, taking advantage of some sunshine.

Thor is curious about human barns.

So is Brit.

A shaft of evening sun lights up virga over the butte.

I just happened to notice this little tableau and thought it was a revealing snapshot of what we read around here.

Major looking casual.

A raven in the wheat field.

This hummingbird (I think it was a black-chinned, but not sure) perched on a wire and stayed and stayed, grooming itself. I took these photos through a window so as not to disturb it, so I enhanced the colors.

Chickens pecking at a cantaloupe rind.

"What?"

Peaceable kingdom.

Matilda grooms Raven.

Lily and her bull calf, Atlas.

Quiet afternoon in the barn.

I've been doing a lot of hard work in the tire garden.

Here's proof.

Older Daughter scrubbing out the stock tank.

My little oak trees are doing beautifully.

I just transferred all the containers of baby oaks out to the garden.

My garlic is looking beautiful.

And the blueberries are SO much happier since I transplanted them into the raised bed.  Look at all those little growing berries!

Okay, we've got a problem. All these ladies are taking dust baths in the corral, where I just planted the corn last week.

Shoo!

I chased them out with a sprinkler.

Let's play!

Look how good the wheat field looks!

Younger Daughter's fish tank, her prize for memorizing the Declaration of Independence last year.

We had an absolute gully-washer of a thunderstorm roll through this evening.  It poured and pounded and drenched and drowned us for about forty-five minutes.

Pretty sunset.