His Hands

Big Hollow Fire

On Saturday, we got cows trailed up the east mountain.  On the way home, Earl noticed a campfire-sized puff of smoke up in the hills a little bit out of town.  He called his brother who is on the volunteer fire dept. and told him but it was already too late.  This picture was taken about 40 minutes after it started.  The wind was blowing like crazy and combined with the DRY conditions, turned that little puff of smoke into a dragon.  I cannot put into words how extremely fast this fire moved.  There was honestly not any chance of ever catching it fast enough to get it under control and extinguished!

We were on the divide north of town on our way back from Nephi.

It was hard to get a picture of the fires during the day.  The wind whipped the smoke around so much that it made it hard to see where the fire lines were.  You tell when a cedar tree went up because there would be a big burst of flames shoot out and up and then a big ball of black smoke.  We had the Salt Creek fire in 2008 that burned all the way around the north and east of town and into the same area of this fire.  After the last fire and the wet year that we had last year, the grass up in the hills was waist high and DRY.  I don't think that anything is grazed up in there except the wildlife and they didn't even make a dent on the feed during the winter.

I stayed up watching the fire until about 2am.  The winds changed around midnight and forced it back towards town and I just couldn't stop watching.  This was the sun coming up through the smoke on Sunday morning.  Our house and the whole valley was filled with smoke but at least the wind had died down.

Earl's brother, Jess fought the fire all night.  They spent a successful but scary night trying to keep the fire from jumping the Big Hollow road.  I took these pictures around 12:45pm.  The wind had started up again like crazy and the fire did get across the road and went everywhere.  You can see on the right of the picture (above) where the fire originally started.

On the left, it is on the north side of Big Hollow.  We also heard in church that the Anderson's had lost about 80 ewes in the fire. 

The fire view from Chester.  I was amazed because from Fountain Green, we could only see one small area from the fire.  Here, you can tell that it had burned all the way across the  mountains towards Fairview.

The view from north of Fairview.  Jess was working the fire over by hilltop and was able to get Earl's dad's water truck out to Fairview before it burned.  Luckily, Warren moved his sheep on the mountain early this year. 

We went to Millburn on Sunday to see if some friends from Indianola needed help getting cows out.  They had ended up gathering and herding them out in the middle of the night and then had to evacuate their brand new house and leave the other herd and horses to fend for themselves.  I cannot believe how much havoc and destruction this fire caused and I am so grateful that nobody was hurt!

There was still smoke and small flareups all over our side of the mountain yesterday afternoon but then when it got dark, we could still see the fires dotted everywhere. 

 We are in desperate need of rain!  It was a super dry winter and we have not had any rain or moisture in over 2 months.  We are not going to be able to put up any of our meadow hay and have not had nearly enough pasture to feed.  Such is the life of a rancher....

Horses

Okay, so here is a quick update from our new addition.  We turned Twinkie and babe out on the hill and then one day went out and found.......

a  little red roan filly!!! 

 We are still trying to decide on a name but are kind of leaning toward Twizzler or Twizzy.

(It's kind of our thing to name horses after candy bars or treats.) 

On a sadder note, we also lost 2 horses this spring.  On March 1, we found Pepsi dead out on the hill.  She was, of course, our high dollar cutting horse and was totally and completely amazing!!   We had even had her bred this year.  It was a pretty sad loss.

Rooster (Twizzy's dad)

Last week, Earl and Kalon had got some bulls rounded up to go turn out with the cows.  Earl was hauling them in the front of the trailer with Willy and Rooster (Earl's 3 year old colt in training) in the back divider.  The bulls got to fighting and somehow broke open the middle divider gate in the trailer.  Then, the back gate broke and spilled everything out onto the highway.  Luckily, there were no cars behind them.  Willy ended up with a broken leg and we had to put him down.  It was horrible!!!  It's pretty tough to replace a good cow/kid horse!   Rooster was pretty banged up and we have been doctoring him up.  It will be a waiting game to see if he'll ever be the same.

This is Rooster's worst injury a week later...he has plenty more but this is the one we're worrying about.

So, we are out a saddle and 3 horses but as my dad said, "At least it stayed in the barn and not the house".  So true!  We have been blessed in so many other ways and if this is the worst loss that we face, then we will be okay!

Twinkie's filly

On Thursday morning, March 22, hubs sent me a picture message on my phone of our new little addition.  This wasn't a planned colt...it was an accident of not getting a stud colt cut soon enough.  So, we really had no idea of when it would make it's appearance.   Twinkie has had a colt before but it was about 14 years ago when my brother-in-law owned her. 

Twinkie's first foal was a palimino paint but it looks like this one is going to take after her dad who's a red roan.

The red roan in the back on the left is her dad, Rooster.  He is next on the list to be broke this spring...

We are now working on deciding on a name.  It's kind of tradition to name foals after candy or candy bars.  Some of our ideas have been; Cupcake, Gingersnap or Ginger, Sugar, Pixie Stix,  Simba (Chansy's suggestion) and Dave (also Chansy's idea- from Despicable Me).

Short legs....

I know exactly how my boy feels....but I still couldn't help laughing...He was pretty mad at me by the time he finally got on.  In all fairness to me, I offered to help him on and he insisted on doing it himself and he did!

A Day (or two) in Our Life!

PART 1

The hubs called me yesterday and asked if we could come down and help him move some cows after the boys got out of school.  Dally had gone with him all day and they'd already been riding all day.   Oh, and by the way, could I grab the brands, meds, generator, and gas and maybe we'd get the heifer's calves branded and them turned out as well.  The boys were not thrilled with the after  school surprise I cracked over them when I picked them up!

So, we met Earl, saddled an extra horse, put Hayes and Chansy in the feed truck, and me on the four wheeler to go where no horse or man wants to go.  Okay, let me just put in here that the gates on the place where we were moving them from are not very strategically placed....at all!  We surprisingly didn't have too much trouble getting them all rounded up and pushed to the alfalfa bale on the back of the feed truck.  Then we came to the gate.  The first of the herd went through pretty good.  The middle of the herd went okay, even the last of the cows.  But then, there we were stuck with 15 head of calves, no mammas, two little kids on horses, a big cowboy on a young worn out horse that had both worked cows all day, and me and my palomino "stallion".  WHAT A MESS!!!  The calves broke and went every which way EXCEPT through the 14 foot gate right in front of them.  The cows were heading the wrong way down the road towards the highway and we were all chasing calves.   After getting all but the last 2 out a different gate on the other side of the field, Earl ended up halving to rope and drag the final 2 out the gate.  SUCCESS... for a minute. 

 We got the herd headed up the road in the right direction and ended up with 2 of the heifer calves with us.  Earl got one cut back and we trailed the other one to the different pasture where he was roped and trailered back to his momma.  In the meantime,  heading up the road, a big calf decided that he just down-right did NOT want to go and jumped 2 fences and with his tail straight up in the air headed cross country.  At this point, my sweet "patient" (heeeheeee) man told me to go back and get the truck and trailer.

 

We got the cows moved and had to go back for "Jumper".  Earl's horse was spent so he and I took the four wheeler and left the kids to watch the gate.  We loaded a couple of panels in the trailer and then went after the calf.  Earl sat behind me with his rope swinging and caught that calf with his first loop as I was gunning 25 mph alongside it.  I was so impressed (and relieved) and that calf got thrown in the trailer with the panels and got a first class ticket to his new digs for his amazing jumping abilities!

PART 2

This was the next project.  The cow hasn't been a really healthy cow anyway through her short life but she got bogged down in the marsh and we discovered her yesterday.  Earl had doctored her on Saturday but she had definitely been in there a few days.  We grabbed the feed truck, a cable and chain and headed out on the rescue mission. 

Yep, you probably guessed it.  The cable was too short and we got the truck stuck.  Luckily, we had the 4-wheeler and buzzed back to the yards and got the tractor and some more cable. 

The mission was a success and everyone just got a little muddy.  The cow surprised us by jumping right up just as I was taking off the chain.  She's in pretty bad shape so guess who has a new bummer calf to feed AGAIN.

Anyway, we rolled into the homestead at dark and after chores and a supper of cold cereal, CRASHED!

(We didn't get the heifer's calves branded, the Moroni, or Seely herds moved like he'd planned)

Part 3

RAIN....Today, I after I dropped the boys off at the school for their field trip to Salt Lake to the zoo, I headed to Chester again.  I then proceeded to spend the next 5 hours straight brush-dragging in the tractor.  I had the best little help though!  Chansy never made a complaint.  We even missed lunch.  She had Woody, Jessi, and Bullseye to help entertain her.  She was amazing! 

 After I finished, I had to hit the store and the bank before we headed home. 

 I did have to cancel my piano lesson (sorry, Amber) but it was a great day and I didn't have to stay home!!!

Disclaimer:  There is a really fine line that I cross when I take pictures when we're working cows.  Usually, I just have to sneak out the camera and snap on the run because I can't stop what I'm doing.  So, don't be too critical of my chaos...  Love Ya All!

Also, I would like to add that not one swear word crossed my lips in the entire two days.  Heck, I had a great time!!!  Oh, I did tell Chansy that it was okay to call cows dumb even though we can't say that about people.  LOL.

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day was really a special one!  All of my family was together for the first time in a really, really long time!  It was even better that we were all at my house.  I am so grateful to them for giving me such a special, memorable weekend.   We worked hard but we had a lot of fun while we did it.  They are all so good about where to crash when they come here too.  Thanks everyone....I love you!!!

All the cousins...it was a struggle to get everyone to look at the camera so, yes,  this was the best picture.

Spring

Okay, okay, it's definately time for an update.  Or two.  Or...well...you get my drift.  Winter vacation is definately over for me!   This has been a different winter for me as I have stayed home a lot.  With the gas prices climbing so steadily this last little bit, it hasn't been as convienent for me to run down to the cows or go help feed as much as I have done in the past.  I've made it my rule to be home when the boys get out of school and it was too far for Earl to run me back home at 3pm everyday and then go back to Chester for the rest of the day.  We run our cows 9,13, and 17 miles away so the gas really adds up fast!   Earl also had a big change this winter.  On top of feeding 400 head of cows and all other responsibilities he took a side job working in a  diesel mechanic shop and learned a lot.

So, I guess that is why I say I had a vacation but it sure doesn't seem like I accomplished much!  Spring is trying to get here. We have had a couple of bummer calves, a couple of Uncle Joe's bummer lambs, a surprise of baby rabbits and three unexpected puppies. I was able to give one pup to the neighbors (BLESS THEM!!!!) We have now added Hayes' show lamb to the backyard as well.

On to branding...We branded last weekend with the help of my family and some great friends! It is literally the highlight of my year!! Everyone is so willing to travel and spend time and work hard! The food is pretty good too!

Dally, me, and Hayes at the table.  Earl and Dad are behind us doing the work...

The "Nut" girl.... usually we don't save the nuts because it is so much work for ME to clean them but this year we did and had a fun nut fry with some friends.  Well worth the effort.  Thanks, Lar, for all that time spent on the front porch with me with dull knives!

Dad and Twix- I absolutely LOVE this picture!!

 Jared catching a calf.

 Kalon dragging a calf in.  Bless his heart, he tried and tried all morning to heel a calf but just couldn't get it done.  So, his wonderful dad took his rope and caught some small calves for him to dally and drag to the forks.  Earl was all grins and so was the Bear!!!

Dad bringing a calf in.

The Seely crew

          Jared, Taytum, and Cash

My wonderful sisters!!!!

Kalon and Hayes also gave shots this year and it was such a big help!

They still seem so young to me but they are definately growing up.

Love....The Bailey's