Photos 80-81: A Cowboy Needs a Cow

A cowboy needs a bovine like a sailor needs a plank,

Like a blister needs a toehold, like a robber needs a bank...

A cowboy, friends, without a cow is moon without the earth,

As macho and heroic as a whithpered lithper's curth...

I say a cowboy needs a cow; they're joined at the hip,

Politicians and reporters have the same relationship...

So, to those who think I'm whining, that I'm pitiful and sad,

That I'm just another loser throwing good love after bad,

It's not all that one-sided, as I've learned in therapy,

'Cause my cow finally admitted that she really needed me.

-Baxter Black

Photo 79: Watchin'

Horses are funny creatures that have personalities, just like you and me. This is one of my hubby's young horses that he's riding-this was her second year branding. She's been calved on for two seasons as well. Even after all that, she is very expressive in the way that she does her job. I find it fun to watch her.

Photo 78: Western Skies

The wind has picked up again today and brought with it some awesome drama! The coolest thing about living in this valley is the passing spring storms. We usually don't get anything out of them, but the view is breathtaking! I'm a cloud person-I love them!! Today's clouds were no exception.

One of my favorite Chris Le'Doux songs is called Western Skies. I don't have friends in Nashville or play the guitar, but I do love living in the middle of nowhere, something a lot of people don't understand.

"My Nashville friends think I'm strange

to make my home out on the range.

They think it's nothin' but a god-forsaken land.

'Why don't you bring your guitar and family

and move on down to Tennessee?'

Well I just smile cuz they don't understand.

But if they ever saw a sunrise on a mountain mornin'

or watched them cotton candy clouds go by,

they'd know why I live beneath these Western Skies."

Photo 77: Taking Care of Sick Babies

It has been a bad year for sick calves. We're coming to the end of this year's calving season, but there never seems to be an end to the sickness. 

Photo 76: Clearing Fog

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

-Carl Sandburg

Photo 75: Sound Asleep

Photo 71-74: Branding Fun