Jackson, Montana

This is what the morning started out like... partly sunny and cool.

Bryan is sorting the steers toward me.  I have to run the cut-back gate.  The weather changed quickly to snow and lots of mud.  The good thing is that the facilities here are so good that we weighed and sorted 340 head in about an hour.  My hands were freezing!  I hadn't planned on running the gate, but John ask if I could so we gathered enough coats out of the back of Bryan's truck that I could work.

By the time the trucks arrived, it was snowing pretty darn good.

John looked like a snow cowboy!

I got some pretty good mud splashed on my face.  My jeans were covered!  

When we got back to the office in Dillon, we were dried off and warmed up.

  Judy's cat likes to sleep in her file box.  He just curled up there and napped while we chatted with John and Judy.

John has mentored Bryan for the last 26 years.  He has always had good advise and helped Bryan along.  He always sends home lined leather gloves for me and asks why I don't come up more often.  I feel very lucky to have known John Erb.

My Favorite Time of the Year

Allan and Alma have been drilling seeds in the West end of Sink Hole this week.  It is a no-till drill the tractor is pulling.  We borrowed it from the NRCS.

Hank and I gathering some cows who think they are hiding from us.

Savanna got to miss school to help us drive the cows to Avon.  She is a good rider and Skip took care of her.  Allan and Mouse are a good team also.  Allan has become a pretty darn good rider for someone who probably likes driving the tractor better.

We even got Diana, the vet to come ride with us.  She is always entertaining and a pretty good hand to have along.  She had to walk the last half mile down hill because her horse was colicky.  

Not a Teenager Any More!

My girl turned twenty!

I picked them up at 7:30 in the morning and took them to Einstein's for bagel birthday breakfast!  Sierra got new scriptures and a cute skirt outfit from us.  The last twenty years have been a joy because Sierra has been a part of my life.  I am so blessed!

Date Ride

Mathew, Chantel, Savanna, Kyle

Savanna wanted to take her friends on a horse ride so of course I wanted to take her.  We rode to the top of the West Hills and had a great view of the valley.  The boys hadn't ridden before but they got along really well.  I am always a little nervous to take new riders because I forget how easily they get nervous going up and down hills, but I didn't scare anyone too bad this time!

Jackson in the Fall

We made our annual trip to Jackson, Wyoming over Conference weekend only we went a day early.  It was nice to be able to listen to Conference the first day instead of several days later.  

This is looking South toward Snow King.  We always stay at the Parkway Inn.  It is a little older but it is still nice and homey and close enough to town to walk all over.  

We woke to a dusting of snow in the valley and at Bob's place.

The worst part was that there was a nice breeze all morning while we were weighing the cattle.  Every time I touched a fence rail my gloves got a little more wet and my hands about froze to death!

The  steers looked good--as usual.  Bob is a good care-taker and they are usually too big.

After weighing and loading the steers on the five and a half  trucks, we went into the "bunkhouse" for lunch.  Jenifer, (in the middle) makes us a nice lunch each year.  The homemade bread was to die for.  She had sliced the loaf and buttered each piece then she wrapped it in tin foil and stuck it in the over to warm--YUM!

We sat around the wood burning stove and warmed our selves.  Usually we sit outside around the picnic table- but not this year!

After a nice hot shower, we did a little shopping around town.  Bryan found me a darling sweater dress for my birthday and we enjoyed a nice drive to Moran Junction.  We couldn't go to the Park because the U.S. Government shut down and the Park was included in the closures!  Darn politicians.

I found this sign in Jackson and it rang true to me.  

The Tetons

Saturday morning we went to my favorite place for breakfast--The Bunnery.  I had a delicious quiche and brought home some sweet treats for the kids.  I missed not having them come this year!

Moving off the Forest

When October comes it is time to move the cattle  from the Forest allotment to the private.  We decided to drive them down the canyon and load them out of Keller's corrals.  The feed was short around the cabin so we will take them to another pasture.  

Alma is watching the pairs go by and Brad is following behind.

We took Dean Harrison with us.  He is well into his 80's and still riding.  It took us about two and a half hours to get the cows to the corral--just long enough for Dean.

The next day we rode around Sink Hole and gathered a trailer load of fall pairs to bring home.  The leaves were so beautiful and it was a perfect fall day to ride in.

Looking South toward the Cove.

It doesn't get better than this!

Women of Steel

My dear nieces talked me into running a relay with them.  It was in Heber and would include three 5K legs.  I was hesitant but when Courtney said she would, I decided that I would too! There were 2 teams of us and that included:  Courtney and Savanna, Nicole and Amilyn, Stacie and Katie, Kayla and Ashley W., Amber and Ashley S. and Alisha and I.  Pam and Paul were the drivers and Marge and Vickie were spectators.  Alisha ended up being our music and mascot as she got in a wreck two days before the race.  We invited Chantel to run with us and so she went with Savanna and I went with Courtney.  It was so much fun.  I felt like the old dog as I am 12 years older than all the rest of the runners, but I feel pretty good that I could keep up with them. 

 Thanks, Cossfit! 

We were the first runners and it was only about 30 degrees and foggy.  We had frost on our eye lashes and hair.  It took quite a while to warm up after this run!  It was 2. 78 miles.  I stayed right with Courtney on this leg.

We all went and stayed the night before in Heber at the Holiday Inn.  Jackson came too.  He did homework in the room while we ran.

Chantel and Savanna

Ashley and Amber dancing their way in!

Savanna also dancing!

We had the best mascot!!

This is after our last leg which was all uphill!  We gained about 400 feet in elevation and it was a good leg to be done with.

Nicole and Amilyn

The Booty Van

Amber and the Norman's came up with our costumes and theme.  I was hesitant to wear the "bum" but we did tie for first place in the costume category.

Savanna, Chantel, Bonnie, Courtney

This is how we all felt after completing 9 plus miles in 10 hours.  

Burs

I spent the summer spraying burs and thistles and now it is fall, I am cutting down the ones I missed so they don't end up in the horses manes and tails.  It is really too late for that as they are covered in them but I did get quite a few of them cut down.  These were still green so they didn't stick quite as well as if they had been dried and brown. 

Homecoming

Savanna borrowed this cute dress from the Norman's.  It looked so good on her.  

She went to the dance with Jordan Jenson from Hyrum.

For the day date they went to the church and played with Nerf guns.  They  had Old Grist Mill sandwiches and ate them at Ryan's Park in River Heights.

The Orchids were beautiful and the ribbon matched her dress perfectly!