Dirty Times

 

Ever wonder what it looks like when you have an enormous dirt storm for hours and a small door on your garage gets the latch ripped off of it? Well, this is what greeted me when I went to leave for school on Monday. You can't even see through the windshield on my vehicle.

 

Meanwhile, this is what the floor in front of the outside doors at the school looked like the next morning. They hadn't been opened all weekend, but this much dirt was still all over the floor.

This is why I don't dust anymore

It just isn't worth it to dust when this is what surrounds your house at least once to twice a week.

Yes, those blurry objects in the distance (actually only about 200 yards from our house) are our cattle in the pasture and small feed-yard. The horses couldn't figure out what to do when the wind hit, so they were running around.

This is word for word what the weather warning was for us this afternoon: "Dust Storm Warning in this area til 6:00 pm MDT. Avoid travel. Check local media."

That is the type of alert that makes you laugh and groan all at the same time.

County Pride

Through the years, some of my students and I have worked on signs downtown by one of the gas stations. They have to design them and then I'll help with some of the painting and finer details. Their design has to always have something to do with our county.

This is the sign we are working on this year. It is a long process but since the weather has been nice now we are finally to the painting stage. The final painting will be a stormy sky over a prairie, with a barn, farmhouse and old pick-up in the foreground.

Here are some photos of the progress yesterday and today. These girls are pretty fun to work with.

If you can't defeat them, send them somewhere else!

What does a school in western Kansas do when they have an afternoon to do community service? Well, at least part of the teachers and kids loaded up tumbleweeds at the fairgrounds and haul them somewhere else ;-)

I'm not sure how many trailer loads they hauled off. I was with some of my students painting a sign downtown, but I know they filled about two trailers during the 10 or 15 minutes we were there. They were there working for about two and a half hours. At that pace they obviously loaded a lot of trailers. Impressive!

Meet Tiny!

There are always unusual events during calving season. Towards the end of our calving season this year, we got a big...but tiny...surprise!

This is a calf that was born about four days ago. My dad and husband were shocked at how small it is and thought maybe it was a twin. But the cow never had another calf. She is very watchful and attentive with the little guy, who is still doing fine.

Dad and I went and took some pictures of Tiny today.

 

I had Dad stand next to Tiny first to kind of show how little he is. Normally when Dad tags a calf, when it is one or two days old and he catches it and holds it by squeezing it between his knees so he can have his hands free. He can't really do that with this little guy.

 

Here is proof that he can (barely) reach high enough to get some food from his mother.

 

And, as if on cue, another little guy wandered over to give you a frame of reference for how little Tiny really is compared to the other calves. 

Dad and I were laughing when we discussed that we wouldn't brand Tiny in a couple of weeks because the brand would probably cover most of his little body! Then we also got a good laugh when we talked about putting his ear tag in...we were wondering if the tag is going to make him fall over!

Preparations continue

There is never a shortage of work at any point during the year on the farm. Even though we don't have cattle in the pastures farther away from our house, it is time to get the ponds cleaned out a little bit.

Even in dry western Kansas we do have a few ponds...but don't get your hopes up. They only have water because they are next to the windmill or pump that supplies the water to the tank. This way, the pond can fill up with the overflow from the tank in case something happens with the windmill/pump later on. The cattle enjoy being able to wade into it the pond and cool off their bellies a little bit ;-)

 

This pond would look a little more impressive if you were to have someone stand in it. It doesn't look all that deep above, but it is much deeper after cleaning it out.

 

This is our windmill that will pump the water into the tank. Once the tank gets full, the water will flow over the top of/into an overflow pipe and down into the pond through that pipe.

Farm Kid Truth

As soon as I saw this sign in Orschelin's with the baby chicks, I knew a farm kid must have named this breed.

 

I guess you might as well name them after where they will eventually end up!

Watching movies...the old school way

Anyone that knows me also knows that I LOVE making videos and editing video. It is my passion and I love learning new things about it. So, I was in heaven when my cousin and I recently found a stash of old video reels from when my mom was a child.

My grandmother and grandad did an exceptional job using the camera and watching the footage of my mother and her brothers as they were growing up is now priceless.

 

I love the projector we have been using. They don't make things with this type of quality anymore!

 

My cousin is the master at getting the reel set up...I am clueless but I sit very patiently and watch her do it ;-)

Love My Dog

I had to take my dog to the vet on Saturday and it was the first time she had traveled in the new Tahoe. Her solution to sitting in the back was pretty humorous on the way there.

Her back side is on the floor, and her front side is on the folded down seats.

 

She figured out a more comfortable solution on the way back and looks much happier ;-)

 

Can't wait to Spring!

I just LOVE the season of spring. I am sure I've said this before, but I just love being able to get outside in the perfect weather. That means not too hot, and not too cold. We were busy after church today. After we got home we worked in the garden planting potatoes and onions and sandwiched a horse ride in between.

The weather is actually bringing us a tiny bit of moisture at the moment. It rained for about a minute...which we will certainly take. My husband is more hopeful than me that we will still get some more. After years of drought, I tend to lean more towards the pessimistic side.

Here are some photos of the clouds and our garden.

 

These are the rows where we planted the potatoes and onions.

 

This is garlic we didn't find last year. It was a pleasant surprise to see it coming up, and we'll see if it yields anything. Always excited to see green!