03 Wednesday Feb 2016
Posted in Arizona, cowboy, horse, ranch, Uncategorized
When I was back in Tucson a couple of weekends ago, I found these pictures of our old ranch near Wilcox (the O-bar-O). I thought I’d share so I could see these pictures and not forget.
This must have been a rainy year because the grass looks good and the stream is running.
27 Wednesday May 2015
Tags
Bayito, cows, Flagstaff, horse, Memorial Day, Memorial Day weekend, ranch
My sister called me the other day and told me about the National Day of the Cowboy celebration coming up on July 25, 2015. She wanted me to come to Flagstaff and Prescott and write about. That sounds great, but I am going to Flagstaff later in the summer so I can’t go in July, too.
A few days later, I sent her this picture of me cutting calves last Saturday with my horse on my friend’s ranch.
I sent my sister that photo and told her that last Saturday was National Day of the Cowgirl! (It was for me, anyway!)
My horse Bayito looks really good. He lost all his shaggy winter hair and I could move the cinch in a notch. Did he loose a little of his hefty girth or did all that hair just make him fatter? (He is a fat horse, I won’t deny it.)
He loves to chase after the cows and make them behave. See how his ears are pinned bacK? He is very serious. Those calves had better not misbehave around Bayito.
Here he is on the round up taking a break for a photo. He really just wants to eat grass.
I’m wearing that Carhartt flannel shirt in May on Memorial Day weekend because it was 48 degrees in the mountains last Saturday. Yes, in the mountains outside of San Diego! It was freezing (and drizzling). My sister just gave me that shirt last week and I thought I would not wear it until next December — well, I was wrong!
(Also, to my newphew, do not make fun of my helmet.)
Our kids were so cold they sat in the car and waited. I told them to watch when the cows we rounded up came through the gate. I remember round ups from growing up and hundreds of cows and calves moving in a great dusty herd down the road toward the barns. I forgot that we were only rounding up about 40 cows and cavles. I don’t know if the girls even noticed the cows coming in! However, they were very taken in by a new born calf on spindly legs. Some things never change!
18 Wednesday Feb 2015
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It’s been a busy six weeks for us at home, in the garden, and in the great outdoors. The heat wave brought the nasturtiums, the apple blossoms and sweet peas. Out in the mountains, the spring-like weather produced a great crop of ticks. Yuck!
My veggie garden is growing well, and the peas are sending up their tendrils across my net that was only meant to protect them from the birds while they were seedlings. Too late for me to take the net off. That is their trellis now.
My daughters have been fighting over garden space, each claiming the other has “the best” spot. I am strategically using this battle to help me accomplish things in the very short amount of time that we have. My oldest daughter, who got the “best” spot, weeded an unused corner of the yard and turned an empty planter into a beautiful vegetable garden. She probably planted everything too close together but that’s how you learn. (See picture below.)
My youngest, who is nearly nine, was so mad that I gave away the premium garden bed (which isn’t true), that she volunteered to pull all the old lettuce that was going to seed out of another raised bed so she could claim it as her own. Brilliant! I then gave her seeds, and now I have two more vegetable gardens planted!
January was rose pruning and I’ve posted so many rose pruning photos over the years that I won’t bore you. It is always a huge job but I managed to get it done in two weekends. I’m into speedy gardening right now with the horse, volleyball, dance, carpooling kids around and all the other things we have going on.
With Bayito (my horse), I have had a fast lesson in the ticks of Southern California, de-wormer and herbal insect control. I bought so much natural bug repellent–marigold spray, essential oils, Skin-So-Soft and other stuff, that I bet my horse is the best smelling mammal in Campo, California! I am really into doTerra essential oils right now and the Terra Shield insect repellent smells good and appears to be working. We can all use it.
The days are spring-like but we need rain. I also need some new cowboy boots!
Here are some of the shots of the new gardens, the old fairy garden, the apple tree and our chickens, who started laying again. Hooray! Scroll to the end for a late Valentine’s Day gift from the garden.
Below are photos of my snap peas:
Apple blossoms:
One of my veggie beds–I never seem to eat the lettuce fast enough:
New vegetables my youngest daughter planted:
Old garden that the nine-year-old doesn’t think is good enough–she hates the Borage growing all over her fairy garden but she doesn’t want me to remove it:
Here is my late Valentine to you — French radishes from my garden and French wine! What a great combo! Sorry it’s a few days late…
01 Thursday Jan 2015
Posted in horse, New Year's resolution, ranch
Every Christmas since I was a little girl I dreamed Santa would bring me a horse.
Even as an adult I glanced into the back yard Christmas morning hoping my husband, who is known in my book as being generous and wonderfully over the top, would figure out how to give me a horse.
And if you read my blogs from this year, you will know that I went to a colt sale in Arizona where my husband was sure I bought a colt. (I did not, althought I wanted to.)
That said, I knew it was impossible, impractical and not something my husband would ever really do…not really in my realm of possibilities with all the other responsibilities we have.
For whatever cosmic reason, at the end of November, my dad decided to give me his horse Bayito…
You might say, wow, why does your dad have a horse? If you read my blog, you will know that he is a third generation rancher and farmer. Since we sold the ranch 15 or so years ago, his horse has lived on a neighboring ranch where he was used by a friendly cowboy to round-up cattle.
It might be one of those serendipitous events or some kind of chain reaction that I can’t explain. Or maybe it was this blog and writing about it!
(And also, it was my friend Audrey who decided to get a horse for her kids).
My dad is friends with Audrey’s dad who is also a rancher, here in California and suddenly, there was a place for the horse and two families to ride him. And my dad trusts them with his horse, probably more than he trusts me with his horse.
So one cold day in December, my horse arrived from Arizona. The horse hauler picked him up on the ranch near Douglas, Arizona where my dad was waiting to say goodbye.
It was sort of bittersweet, I’m sure, to let go of the one thing left of our ranch and our cattle raising days. Bayito did not want to leave. After an hour of trying to get him in the trailer, with ropes and apples and other encouragments, he heaved a sigh and walked in to begin the journey to his new life here in California.
Here is “Bayito,” loosely translated, I think that means Brownie in English. His registered American Quarter Horse name is Tru Tru Holey Sox!
I am very happy and my only New Year’s resolution is to take care of and ride Bayito!
So if you are dreaming of owning a horse, it can happen one day, even in an unexpected way. Keep dreaming and maybe one day your dream will come true.
Happy New Year!
Thanks, Dad!
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