There are 2 fields I work at. This one is called 3 Mile. It is in St. George about 1.5 hours South of Beryl.
Ground shot of part of the field.
Taken from hill at water tank.
Road to water tank where water for field comes from.
The field is right at the base of the mountains. There is a lot of legend and history that goes with this little “valley”. When I get the full story, I will post it.
Cindy
I have added a guest book to my site. Could you take a moment and sign it when you visit my site.
The link can be found on the upper right by the Gallery link.
Thanks
Cindy
Well, I finally found enough nerve to saddle Dusty in the Round Pen, as in not tied or being held. He was a perfect angel, and I am soooo proud of him!
You can see the lead rope laying on the ground. Things were going so good again today, that I decided to do up the rear cinch also. I also put his bridle on with the bit and no reigns. Below is a picture of the results of the rear cinch. This escapade lasted maybe 1/2 way around the round pen and was done.
The next picture is what he looked like the rest of the ground work out. Totally at ease and comfortable.
Looks good in his gear doesn’t he? 
Cindy
My boy is finally growing up. He is about 2 1/2 yrs. old now and really growing. He measures about 15.3 hands now. (a hand is considered to be about 4.5 inches) compared to 14.1 when he came to us.
His manners are improving a lot also. I had the saddle on him one day last week for the first time. He almost fell asleep while I was moving it around and taking it off and putting it back on. I didn’t cinch it up though, I didn’t want to ruin the “moment”. I look at saddling for the first time close to a baby taking its first steps.
The picture below is Dusty with a Bareback pad on. I used that for a couple reasons: it is a lot lighter and easier to get on and off him: he can’t hurt it or himself it he rolls with it: AND, it has a cinch that holds it on. I put it on him and cinched it up and he just stood there like a perfect gentleman.
We then went out into the round pen for some ground work exercises. He bucked a little but he does that all the time when we first get in the pen, so I can’t directly attribute it to the pad. It did slide back a little further than he wanted it and kicked at the cinch with his back feet. So I stopped him and reset it. I would have liked to let him buck and get used to it being back that far, but I was afraid it would slide down over his rump and get tangled in his back feet. We will work on the rear cinch when I can have someone here to help me. But it was a big milestone for he and I. That means riding for the first time isn’t that far away.
I’m not real sure I will be the one to get on him the first time. I can’t afford to break any bones at my age. We will cross that bridge when the time comes.
hum, seems like my mom mentioned something like this would happen eventually.
Cindy
It took us a few days, but the green house is finally up. It has been up about a month or maybe a little more. We were a little late to fully utilize it it this year, but mom is playing round in it seeing how she wants it set up. Next year we should be able to start seeds and flowers in it. We have some tomato plants in tree containers right now and they are doing great, no need to worry about cool nights.
We may actually get red tomatoes this year by being able to keep them in the GH. Our growing season is pretty darn short here. You chance loosing plants all the way up to the 2nd week of June. Last year we lost our plants that we did get to grow due to frost one night in the middle of September. We had them covered and tucked in an still lost them.
Anyhow, here is a shot of the Green House, nicknamed Mom’s Play House.
We used the tiller and turned up the area in front and tried to make an area for flowers. First the wind blew the seeds hither and yon, then the critters proceeded to eat what did manage to sprout. So that area is a lost cause this year, but look out next year. Mom will have a flower garden to be proud of.
Cindy
Just when we think we have seen all the wildlife the area has to offer, another pops up its head.
This is a weasel in our front yard, using a chipmunk hole to hide in, if you call that hiding. We also have one in the barn. Supposedly they will help the chippy population. We weren’t told that though before we eliminated him. Didn’t want him messing with our chicks. The one in the barn has full permission and blessing to eliminate all the chippies and pocket gophers it can find in the field.
Kinda cute isn’t he?
Cindy
Here are the little guys, a little more grown up. The “roos” are starting to “RoosterDoodleDo” now and getting earmarked for the freezer.
Hopefully we will be left with 20-25 Hens-a-laying long about September sometime. There are 35 of those feathered things now.
Remember the day we picked them up? To refresh your memory, it is the first picture.
I have been trying to get a decent picture of a dust devil since I started this blog. The really good, well defined ones also seem to fall apart before I can get the camera. This one was a little different. It’s not exactly well defined, but it will show what they look like and what they can gather.
Cindy
Since I am a little behind in posting, I will try to catch up posts in order of occurrence.
I guess the place to start is the shearing of the sheep. This was a neat thing to watch, but a little hard to capture in a picture. It was also a little bit of a shocker when Chiquita got sheared.
She was one of our yearling bottle babies that was going to be the matriarch of our herd. Best laid plans of a bunch of city gals. Oh well, live and learn I guess.
It turned out that our matriarch hopeful wasn’t really a she after all. To make things a little worse, she wasn’t a he either. No, I haven’t been drinking really. She/it couldn’t have lambs, or make lambs. So after a good laugh, the guy doing the shearing made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. He offered to trade the 63.00 shearing job for Chiquita. Bev called me at work to see what I wanted to do. I immediately said “tell her I said goodby”
The guy that sheared her/it renamed her/it Bruce and loaded her/it in the truck. He was going to fatten her/it up for a couple weeks and take her/it to market.
All I could think of after seeing them shaved, was how much cooler they were going to be during the heat of the summer.
And it was an enlightening experience. Next time we will try doing it ourselves and see how they look.
Now we also have 3 bags of black sheep wool to market somewhere. We are working on that also. There is a market somewhere, we just need to find it.
Cindy
