Early Morning Starts, Summer is ON

The last three mornings have started very early. Wednesday the alarm was set for 3:45, Thursday we woke up at 3:20 (even though the alarm was set for 3:45) when 2 of the cowboys that were going out first pulled in, and today (friday) the alarm was set for 3:00, and Brian was out the door about 3:10. These early mornings remind us a little of concrete work in the summer! The heat is on in full force, and the cows need to be moved up into the mountain allotment. It is taking multiple days to clear the cows out of the allotment they are in now that covers several square miles. Because they are currently on the BLM land, there are rules that direct how long (and how many cows) can be in any one place for a specified period of time.

Moving that far can be hard on the cows, especially if they were to do it in the heat of the day. That's why the team has been working so early. The harder it is on the cows, the more stress, the less weight they gain, and the less money is made....everything is all connected.

The silver lining though this morning; Brian watched the sun come up from the back of a horse, standing on the ridge line waiting for there to be enough light to start his circle. I wish I would have been there....I can just imagine the picture, a silhouette with a pale pink sky behind him....all that would have been missing is his faithful cow dog Sue in the foreground. She was home sleeping today.

I've been working on a painting project this week down at lower clover. After scraping, washing, and caulking the double wide manufactured home, I'm now about half way done with the main painting (rolled on). I'll probably finish that this next week and do all the brush work the week after that.....you can't rush these things. (I only work a half day at a time usually, and rarely 2 days in a row.....I'm a little spoiled.) One day last week while I was painting I had a little helper. In the picture with me is 4 1/2 year old Kenna. Her family is friends with our ranch managers and came for a visit for a few days. They were staying at lower clover, and Kenna wanted to come out and help me paint. When I told her to ask her mom, and that she needed to put on some clothes she could paint in, she looked at me in my overalls and said so sadly, "but I don't have any of those". Luckily they found something that would work, but she was excited to have a bandanna and white sunglasses to match mine. When their family left a few days later, Kenna told Ricarda "I'm gonna miss your house because I'm gonna miss the lady that comes to do your painting"....

This last picture is from early in the week, Brian and Jake in the shop building/welding new headgates for irrigation canals.