Where The Buffalo Roam

One of the things I love about where we live is all of the wild life.

 And even though these bison are on a ranch, don't mistake them for a domesticated animal. That would denote characterstistics that these animals have not evolved to.

The cow, bison, are really big as they will soon calve. They are easy to spot because they are de-horned, horns removed, though I see a few that still have theirs. They could of been purchased that way or somehow missed out on the hornicure day. No, there isn't such a word except in my vocabulary but it is colorful and I like it.

 Look at those big, big round bellies.

The horns are left on the bulls. When the bulls usefulness is done, they are processed for their meat, their beautiful leather, and their skulls and horns are dried and sold for decor. I would guess that their bones are processed for fertilizer. 

Each animal has a look of their own.

  And the prairie wind gives them even more humorous character. As I look at each of these cows, I have to wonder if Jon, the owner, has a little black book. My dad did when he managed a cattle and sheep ranch. The book was full of numbers. No, not phone numbers but the tag numbers of the cows, along with a brief history. What vaccinations they'd had, their age, their calves, etc. Call it genealogy if you will. 

What some fail to realize about these bison that we locals call buffalo, is that even though these bison are on a ranch and raised, they are a wild animals. Handling them is a whole different ballgame. The post in the bison corral has large round pipe cemented in the ground. The tall fences that line the highways, are a suggestion of containment. It's probably why the pastures are HUGE to help keep them happy. Happy animals stay in their containment.

A Unexpected Visitor Down My Chimney

No, it wasn't Saint Nick that came down my chimney. This visitor was quite a bit smaller and technically it wasn't a chimney that he came down but a stove pipe. None the less,  I couldn't have been more surprised if it had been Santa Claus.

I don't know when my visitor arrived but it wasn't until I was upstairs stamping the snowmen on these paper lunch sacks that I heard this tap tap tapping. Not like a hammer and not the rattle the refrigerator makes. I was baffled but with no time to spare since our daughter and grand daughter were soon to arrive to fill the sacks with goodies for the first grade class's Christmas party, I didn't stop to investigate thinking the muffled sound had to be outside at the neighbors.

But after the sacks were ready for the popcorn, pretzels, nuts, and chocolate kisses, I headed down stairs to start a wood fire in the stove to warm our tile and hardwood floors.  

This is what flew out when I opened the stove door, yup, a woodpecker. He was tapping on the glass door of the stove.

I jumped back in surprise and then laughed until I began to wonder just how I was going to get him out of my basement. I trooped upstairs and left him to fly around as I set up the hot air popcorn popper and got out the popcorn. Two ( our daughter and I) would be better than one to try and catch this unexpected visitor and I wanted our little two year old grand daughter to see what came knocking on Grandma's door.

We both put on gloves, our coats, in case he scratched or pecked us, and we started to corner him. He of course took off in flight and I reached up and snatched him in mid-flight. Boy, was I surprised but not as surprised as our daughter who let out a squeal and then slapped her hand over her mouth. Yes, she knows better than to make such noises having been raised around livestock but she is our girly girl.

There was no way I thought I'd nab this bird this easily but I guess the skills I've gained chasing and catching chickens that get out of the chicken coop is good for birds of a different feather too. 

We let him loose and he flew off clear to the other side of town and beyond out of sight. I bet he didn't stop until he reached the trees way over yonder on the bison ranch.

I Want a Walt Disney Ending.

I've always loved fairy tales. No, not the ones about Princesses, except Cinderella. In that story there was a dog, a cat, and pretty cool mice. LOL The simple minded princesses who worry about their frills and fluff bore me to no end. These are the ones my grand daughters, especially the middle one, love to watch on DVD and have me read about. And because I love them, the girls, silly, not the stories, I Cowboy Up, as we say around here, and I read them even though it is a bit of torture for me. 

Today, as I strolled through the garden, it was clear a fairy tale had transpired during the night.  No, not the Walt Disney kind that ends happily ever after but the old fashion kind. The kind that was meant to teach little children a lesson and sometimes scare the pee waudden out of them.  

 

This is one of those tales. It is the story of Goldilocks And The Three Bears. Mind you that MY Goldilocks is not blond haired and wearing a cute little yellow dress. How do I know? Well, Goldilocks wasn't wearing any shoes and she left prints in the garden.   

 She tip toed over to the cabbage and declared this one too hard,

 This one tasted better, but still..., too soft.

 And this one was just right and she ate it all gone. Grrr....!!!

 Though I didn't catch a glimpse of her, I know what Goldilocks looks like. She is a soft brown with black shiny hooves and she appears in the dark of the night. She visits my garden every year and her tastes are predictable. She loves the strawberry plants. The ones I've been fertilizing faithfully and trying to establish a new bed with.

She loves the bean plants, and when the squash are big enough, she loves to nibble a little on this one and then on that one too.

But the worst part of the my fairy tale is that, horrors of all horrors, Goldilocks is early this year, several weeks early. I'm not ready for Goldilocks and I've just started to get produce from my garden.

But what should I expect? The buck Pronghorn are already gathering does into a harem as if it were fall already. And, the buck dairy goats are bu...bu... bu...ing and the does a flagging their tails with enthusiasm, "Here I am. Pick me." because they are already in heat. Yup, things have been fast forwarded this year. The deer have come back to town.

What does that mean for fall and winter? I'm growing uneasy and I'm afraid for my garden and my winters stores I glean from it.

"What ever will I do I wonder? I know. I'll put on my white hat, that's what."

 "What?", you say. Don't you remember that in the old black and white western movies, the good guy always wear a white hat and the bad guys a black one. That's so you knew the difference between good and evil. Well, if this good guy wants something to eat this winter, she had better go outside to get the electric fence up before she heads out tomorrow on the father and daughters camping trip.

No, I'm not willing to share. Call me stingy but I believe faithfully in the fairy tale about the Little Red Hen and I believe that you reap what you sow and if you don't sow, you don't get to reap the benefits.

I also don't want to be the cricket that fiddles away his days and doesn't get his food storage in for the winter and nearly starves. 

Yes, Mother, I was listening when you read the stories at my bedside and yes, I have learned to share -- a little bit-- but not with the deer. As far as I'm concerned, the good Lord provided plenty of grass this year for them and they can just go and reap that harvest and leave my garden (that I wheel barrowed two stock trucks of manure on to and... sowed and... weeded and...watered, and now want to harvest) alone. 

Besides Mother, the deer didn't ask me for nothing, so they are stealing and you made me take that candy bar back to the store and beg for forgiveness. Then I had to earn the money that it cost because you had to pay for it since I had already nibbled on it. 

Yes, I'm hoping for a Walt Disney ending for me and that I teach the deer a lesson and scare the pee waudden out of them with my solar electric fence.

Fawns and Flowers

 The Pronghorn Antelope fawns are closer to the road now where we can fully enjoy them. When they are first born, the doe tucks them far back in the fields away from prying eyes.

And while the fawns are bedded down in the grass relaxing, the grown bucks are in their own groups of exclusively males. Despite the hot days, the larger males are chasing the young bucks making sure they know who's boss come fall. Then dominance will basically be established and the does going to the stronger, older, and more aggressive bucks. 

 Note in this photo the older doe in the front and the condition of her hair, her fawns behind her, and then her yearling doeling in the far back. You can sure tell who's body is under the most stress by how slick their coats are. Also look carefully and you will see tiny little horns on the mother doe just above her eyes. Some have them and some don't. I wonder if it makes a difference if they were a twin and their twin was a male for that would raise the testosterone levels in the uterus.

In cattle with twins, if one is a male and the other a female then the testosterone levels will be high in the uterus. The result will be a Freemartin. In other words, a female who has a 98 percent chance of being sterile.

Maybe in Pronghorn Antelope the female just develops horns. Now don't go a quoting me on this because my mind is just a wondering trying to come up with answers to a question swirling around in there and definitely no fact.

 My Nasturtiums are blooming in light yellows and a few deep oranges. Next year I'll have to plant a much larger grouping now I've gotten my feet wet with the project and my confidence raised. My end goal is to try some of seeds at the green stage pickled like you would Capers and some to the blacker stage where they are dry and supposedly taste like black pepper. Plus, enough to re-seed a crop for the next year. I figure that just might be quite a few Nasturtiums. Some of you might have the answer for me. The leaves are also edible and are suppose to give a peppery taste to salads. I'll have to give them a try.

I brought home daisies from my mom's yard a small clump of them. In her patch they've taken off and filled the whole bed. Hence, the reason for a small clump. I do hope they take off as I don't mind plucking volunteers just as long as they volunteer. Not even Russian Olive trees volunteer here. We have had four in our yard for 29 years and not a single start. Where as over the mountain, where my mom lives, they have gone to great expense recently to try and clear the land of them. They've spread crowding everything else out. A law was passed in that area against the planting of them.

I can hear that my washing machine has quit so I'd best hurry and get a another load on the clothes line. And a goat appraiser from Iowa, I believe, is due to arrive this afternoon to appraise Anne and Micheal's herds. I'm chief goat holder and gopher in this deal.

So I'd best hurry and finish my food for the meal afterwards. Hi, ho, hi, ho, it's off to work I go.

Hunters and the Hunted

My camera has reached the end of its memory. I've got to clear it so I can keep snapping away. I do have yaks arriving tomorrow and it would be a crime if I couldn't take lots of pictures.

 So I'll let you peek at some of the photos I've been taking the past couple weeks. This is Cally, our calico barn cat who is extremely loose moralled. Yes, Cally fits in cuddle time for every male in the neighborhood. How do we know this? Well, every batch of kittens is a melting pot of colors and types, Siamese, tabby, gray, black and white, you name it. This means that we hear a chorus of toms serenading her and fighting over who she admired most.


This sadly also means that she has already had her first batch of kittens and they have not survived the cold. She does this every spring.

 Cinders here is a real lady and only has a batch or two of kittens a year. They are always a carbon copy of herself and I think she must only be friendly with the black tom that comes around now and then. She is my partner in the chicken coop at night. I spotlight a mouse who is pilfering the grain and she rounds it up removing it permanently.

 Percy here has just started hunting with me when Cinders isn't around. I feared he was a worthless bum but I've slimmed him down a bit and he's begun to hunt.

This is Sue, a male. Now don't kid me too badly but I truly thought this wild kitten was a female and when it became apparent he wasn't. It was too late, the name had stuck. OOOPS!! He lost his leg when he was two and now this hero of mine is seven. The oldest cat we've ever had at the corrals. As you can see by his rough appearance, he is one tough hombre.

 These are a few of my favorite bird. This is the Horned Lark. Horned because he has a feather that stickes out on each side of his head.

 And someone asked me what a Meadow Lark like. Well, here it is. I've done my best but this bird does not let anyone up close. It  makes the most beautiful sound in the springtime. It's flight reminds me of a ducks. It beats its wings very rapidly because its body in large in proportion to its wing size. It does glide much better than a duck though. 

You do not see a Meadowlark or a Horned Lark in town because they are a strictly prairie bird. We are blessed to have our home with its backside to the open countryside, for we can frequently listen to its call. 

 We see this bird, the yellow headed blackbird, a great deal at the corrals but not in our yard for it never comes into town. The black birds and the red winged black birds are in our yard and all over so why does this cousin not come?

We keep a bird feeder on a metal pole in our backyard for birds are truly one of our favorite things and our cat who is an excellent hunter can't climb it to get to them. Hence, our cat and the birds co-exist nicely. And with the bird feeder, we have a natural way of knowing if a big storm is coming. The birds empty the seed out in record time, filling up their tummies before holing up. Small storm, then they take their sweet time. 

Bison On The Plains

Some of you will remember that we have two bison herds near town and today as I had all the kids home sick, we took an indirect route to the corrals by way of the buffalo since they were on the gravel road across the highway from town.

No matter how many times I see them, I thank the Lord for how blessed I am to have such a wonderful view. One where the buffalo, deer, and the antelope roam free. Well, kind of free for the pastures are huge and the owners have learned you either open the gates as the buffalo migrate through or they open them themselves. This is the same ranch we saw seven head of elk last summer. Twenty miles in two different directions from us we are sometimes able to see elk grazing on the plains.

I could never, ever, be a city girl.

For it is sites like these that renews my soul and gives me peace.That's why I love to photograph so much. I just wish I had more lenses.More knowledge of what I was doing for there is so much more I want to capture. And my skills are so inadequate in capturing the grandier of these beasts. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This is one of the bulls just before he picked a fight with the one below.

And in the back seat our youngest was yelling, I can't see.

So I lifted her out of her car seat so she could see better and that ended my photographing. But what better thing to do on a snowy, cold April day when your feeling sick than to bundle up and go and look at the bison, the antelope, and check on baby goats. It just has to make you feel better. Photos of the antelope and kid goats are yet to come.

Brenda's Photo Challenge (Frozen)

Brenda's Photo Challenge has started up again. I love photography as you can probably tell so once more I've joined the challenge. This time the theme is Frozen. Some of these photos are from last year and some this winter. Enjoy!This Pronghorn fawn was in the back yard last year.Funny thing is, this year there aren't any Pronghorn antelope in town and last year there were scads. Five Mule Deer are munching on trees and bushes instead. Why the switch, I don't know but the vegetation is appreciating the fewer numbers.

Got to love hoar frost as it decorates everything with spikey jewels.
We had quite a bit of it this winter.One must not forget the bison that roam just north of town for they are another thing that makes our county unique. We have the most Pronghorn antelope of anywhere in the world and thousands of head of bison. Winter wouldn't be complete without home-made goat cream cherry ice cream yum!!!
Did you know that more ice cream is consumed in the winter months than in the summer?

Now head on out and visit Brenda's photo challenge to see what others put in their blogs under the frozen category. http://brendaphotochallenge.blogspot.com/



This might be especially nice for those of you WAY down south who are sweating through the summer months. It just might cool you off.

Honk! Honk!

The sound of honking is much more pleasant when it's done by a Canadian goose rather than by a car. And around here the photographing isn't good very often and so when the going is good, you had better get going. That's partly why I've been spending a fair amount of time with the camera in front of my face. The country will soon enough turn parched yellow and photographing will move from the countryside to the garden. If I ever get it planted. Yes, I'm taking a quick break before heading out to plant onions, beets, etc. The munchkins are soon to arrive and then nothing gets done. So while I have a brief moment, I'll show you a few of the pictures I took at six this morning just after I dropped my husband off to get on the bus to go to work.

The Canadian geese are in the town's pond, man made of course since there is very, very few natural water areas.From photographing today, I can see I need to read the manual and get some things down better.

Still, the photos are pretty good and I wish you could see a larger picture because you'll have to look closely behind the goose to see the fish leaping out of the water.
I must of taken a hundred photos at least and loved every minute studying the behaviors of the birds. I could have easily become a biologist.
There's something about zooming in and focusing that allows you to observe in an intimate way. I think it is the blocking out of distractions and you see and notice things that you've never discovered before.Tomorrow, I'm going to do it all over again if the weather permits and then I'm going for a walk around the pond. Today, I photographed antelope, some silky chicks of the neighbors, and tried unsuccessfully to capture some kitten on film so to speak though cameras don't have film anymore. To capture the wilder kittens, I'll need to do a little arranging to make that one happen. The yearling antelope and silky photos I'll show you later but for now hi ho, hi ho, it's off to planting I go.