Back Deck Boys

That old saying .... "boys will be boys", well in our case - our boys aren't just boys, they are back deck boys.

It started innocently enough, Elliott claimed the chair on the back deck as his own.  It was cute. It is not a big deal.  He's welcome to hang out in that chair any time he likes.  Elliott as a member of this family, is entitled to "chair time".  Besides, it is kind of nice seeing him snuggled up at night in his chair and there in the morning all comfy curled up and snoozing.

As the days grew warmer, morning and nights stayed noticeably cooler .... Murphy joined him.

Slowly and surely, bit by bit and inch by inch, they have claimed the back deck as theirs .....

Elliott in his chair and Murphy on the deck.  Murph spends most of the morning and a better part of the night - crashed out on the deck, we sleep sounder knowing he is on guard; however, not too soundly - we have to be able hear his barks in the wee hours of the morning when he is ready to come in.

Murphy sound asleep

Elliott has his is ears "on", you can bet he isn't missing a thing

Elliott's turn to settle in

Murphy thinks he might have heard something ... maybe?

Oh.  Hello.  There is someone there. I did hear something.  

Kind of comfy, hope you don't mind if  I don't get up ....

Murphy back on duty surveying his kingdom

Elliott in his chair, secure, comfortable and thinking about a nap

Hmmm. Something has caught Murphy's attention, not important enough for him to leave his spot on the deck - Elliott is listening / napping / listening

No need to get up.

They are "our back deck boys" ....!!!!

Bufo Woodhousii in the house...!!

We've got Bufo Woodhousii (a.k.a. the cutest toads ever) living, I think under the deck, and hopping all through the flower gardens and around the yard. 

Bufo Woodhousii scientific name for Woodhouse's Toad.

With all the bugs we've had in the last month or so, our yard is toad version of Country Buffet and all you can eat.  I've seen at least two of them in different spots in the yard, so I know there are at least two of them living in our yard - wooohoooo!!!  My very own bug extermination squad.

The dogs don't seem to notice them - the toads are mostly under the deck and in the flower garden or in tall grasses where they can't be easily seen.  The cats, they don't seem to give them much attention either - could be because last summer Tiggsgrr tried to eat a toad - ended well for the toad who didn't get eaten, not as well for Tiggs who spent the better part of 30 minutes pffttfffing and spitting and accckkking, trying to get toad secretions out of his mouth.

Eating bugs and mosquitoes not withstanding, isn't he/she just the cutest thing?

Kind of the the same picture, just a bit of a different angle.

http://www.enature.com/ has instructions for building a Toad Abode ... I'm all over that project!!

Already have toad pond (saucer of water nestled in the dirt in the garden) in place.

In this picture you can better where the toad carved out a hole in the dirt - uses that to scoot in and out under the deck.  And I'm thinking, hide with just the tip of their head out ... better to catch bugs with!  They have dug several indents (for lack of a better adjective) at different spots in the garden and I've seen at least one of them hunker down in an 'indent' and become "one with the dirt".  

National Western Stock Show and Rodeo - 2010

When the notice for the 2011 National Western Stock Show arrived this week I realized I'd not posted any pictures from the 2010 event - so I thought I'd post a few.....

Original Stock Yard Building

Opening flag presentation and Star Spangled Banner

Draft Horse and Mule Competition / Show

Obstacle Course Team Pulling Competition - Mules v. Draft Horses

Teams competed against each other and against the clock.  Two person teams.  Driver and stacker.  There was a set course that each team had to follow, picking up bales of hay and stacking them on the sled on the way down and off loading them and stacking them in the arena on the way back.  Points were given for time and retrieval and replacement of bales in accordance with competition guidelines ... in other words, if you didn't grab them and get them on the sled in a timely fashion and unload them neatly you were penalized.

4 Mule hitch - yes I know, I only got 2.5 of the mules in the picture.

Half a 6 mule hitch

Draft Horse Driving Competition - 2 horse hitch on a wagon

The "jewelry" these guys wore was unbelievable.  All I could think was "glad I don't have to clean and polish those harnesses ..." !  According to the announcer, the cost for the show harnesses the "performance" (v. working or pulling competition) class horses wear is about $10,000 PER horse.  Yikes!

The wagons were no run of the mill in off the farm wagons either - these babies had shocks and springs and I wouldn't be surprised if they had bells and whistles while they were at it. 

Percheron, Clydesdale, Belgian - all the draft breeds competed. There were wagons and carts, single horse hitches, 2 horse, 3 horse, 4 horse and 6 horse hitches.   I wish the arena had been a bit bigger, it was really quite a show and very impressive.

One Armed Bandit Show

Buffalo don't look like such a big deal from this angle and yes, that is two buffalo and a man standing on a mule on top of a stock trailer.

The guy in red going down the ramp off the trailer is the One Armed Bandit and he really does have only one arm.  He rides a mule and his show is all about the mule and the buffalo. 

You can see how big the buffalo are .... and he had them trained down to the last move!

Barrel Racing

The horses are moving so fast, the barrel competition seems to almost "flash" by.

Mutton Bustin'

Mutton Bustin' cracks me up.  It is a competition for kids.  The competition by both age and weight, with I believe for the safety of the sheep, weight being the deciding factor.  I want to say the weight limit is 57 pounds and the age limit is 7 - and if I'm not exactly right, I'm close.   They strap miniature bronc bustin' helmets on to the kids, lift them up and put them face down hanging on as well as they can on the back of an unshorn sheep and cut the sheep loose in the arena.  Who ever hangs on longest wins.  The kids are lucky if they hang on for 2 or 3 seconds - most don't make the count of two.  No sheep are harmed in the running of this event, the kids and the crowd have a blast!

Bronc Riding

This particular horse and cowboy were pretty darn funny .... you know how on the TV they always show broncs and bulls bustin' out of the chutes, the ride seems to begin even before the gate is swung open?  Well, not for this cowboy.

Gate swings open - cowboy is ready, horse is on break.

Another second passes and the cowboy is raising the reins kicking his heels .... "come on brother - we've got a show to do, wake up and move!!!"

Horse gets the idea

Appearing none to happy to be nudged from what seemed to be a relaxing break in the chute, I can almost hear the horse thinking, "You want a ride brother, I'll take you on a ride ....!!"

Which just goes to prove - you can put a horse in a chute, but you can't make him buck until he is good and ready.

Steer Wrestling

Hmmm. They call it steer wrestling, looks more like steer "tipping" to me

I think the steer won this go-round

Rodeo Clowns

Check out INSIDE the barrel ....

Barrel seems to have sprouted cowboy hat and feet ...

Equines and Bovines

The End - for now.

Bull SNAKE .... !

Cutting through the field to see the horses the other morning I heard a hiss and the grass rattle, turned to look and there was a bull snake with his head pulled back and his mouth open.  If I hadn't known we had bull snakes on the ranch and that they weren't poisonous - I would have been back in the yard in a single bound.  As it was, I hot footed it back to the house .... to get the camera!

When I heard we had bull snakes on the ranch and that they were our friends (rodent and rattle snake control), I'd did some research.  I learned that bull snakes try to imitate rattlers (noise and ferocity); however, do not use venom to kill their prey. 

And I realized that on my walk through the pasture, I'd frightened him as much as he'd frightened me.
A couple of weeks ago I found a discarded snake skin in the same general area, I'm thinking this is the snake that grew out of the skin I found.  Looked to be about 3 or 4 feet long.

Bull snakes coloring and camouflage is amazing

Can you see the snake in the picture below?

Here he/she is ....

The snake in this photo ....?

Right here!

Pretty cool - huh?!!!

In case you are wondering - when I go walking, I now pay a little more attention (translate to: keep an eye out for snakes) to what is on the ground ... after all, you never know what you are going to find!

New (to us) Bee Tree

So we've got several bee trees that we know of on the ranch .... two huge dead logs down by the shooting shed pasture and one monster live tree near the pond that the bees live in.  Near as we can tell, they live there year round and just do their thing.  We're glad to have them, with the decline in the general population of bees, we think we're pretty lucky to have one much less three fairly substantial bee trees.

Regarding our bee population, I think we are holding our own. This summer we rather let the lawn "go to flower" and I spotted maybe a half dozen different types and sizes of bees, which in and of itself, I thought a very cool thing and it confirms we've got a variety of bees in the neighborhood.

Anyway back to my picture.  In the wind storms about a month ago, we lost two huge cottonwoods - as the second one fell it "rearranged" one of the trees across the creek - one of our standing dead cottonwoods.  Not a big deal, the standing dead tree was still standing and eventually - maybe some birds will have to relocate - totally manageable.  The tree was still standing pretty solid which to meant there wasn't immediate danger to the horses or resident birds or the other trees in the area.  No big deal - just keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't become a danger - we're all good.  Then one night I was cutting through the creek and saw a huge brown patchy splotch on the dead tree .... what the heck?!!  Really?  What now?  See ppicture below.

The tree is tall enough and the splotch far enough up (maybe 20 - 30 feet) that even with my glasses it wasn't clear what it was, so I got out the camera .... I love my camera!

Bees .... holy cow! The big splotchy spot was bees coming out of the tree.

Sorry, I can't help myself ... Bees, it be bees coming out of that tree!

My apologies to anyone who pulled a muscle groaning as they read that line ....

Evidently this isn't just a bee tree, it is a huge gigantic eenormous whopping big bee tree.  It seems that when the cottonwood across the creek fell and rearranged the bee tree, it rearranged the bee's living quarters and they had to spill out on to the outside of the tree while they made repairs - at least that is my guess.  Over the last weeks the splotch of bees outside the tree has changed shape and color (I believe to be an indicator of the quantity of bees outside the tree) and slowly but surely reduced in size.  As I type, I have a clear view of the creek bee tree and the splotch is barely noticeable.  While they were in "overflow" / "renovation" mode, they didn't bother the horses or the other animals or the me (cutting weeds in the field around their tree or when I cut through the creek) - I have to think they were perhaps more concerned with getting their quarters in the tree restored to livable space.  The other note - the bees share their tree with birds, I now we've got flickers that live in that tree, although much closer to the bottom than where the bees live. 

In my opinion it was all very cool.... and at the same time, kind of freaky.  When you think about how many bees there are per square inch there to make up this mass of bees (good gravy - look at that picture, I'm guessing the clump of bees is at minimum an inch thick and the main clump maybe 3-4 feet long) .... and how many more are in the tree - yikes!  That's a lot of bees!