Pumpkin Poop
So I’ve gotten snowman poop before for Christmas (2 cotton balls glued to a piece of paper) but I never knew about pumpkin poop. I found this poem online and now I am cackling!
I started to carve a pumpkin
With my carving knife and scoop.
But the pumpkin got so scared
He took a little poop.
It looked so cute and funny
Just like a candy treat.
So I’m sharing it with you now
Because you’re so sweet.
Here are some fun facts about candy corn too:
-October 30th is National Candy Corn Day
-One serving of candy corn contains only about 140 calories
-Candy corn has 3.57 calories per kernel
-More than 35 million pounds of candy corn will be produced this year. That equates to nearly 9 billion pieces — enough to circle the moon nearly four times if laid end-to-end.
-Halloween accounts for 75% of the annual candy corn production
and last but not least (and probably my favorite because I’ve eaten candy corn ’til I was nauseous)
-A cup of candy corn has fewer calories than a cup of raisins.
I hope you found room for that bit of useless yet fun knowledge, and I wish you a safe and Happy Halloween.
P.S. Don’t go home until your bag is full… of pumpkin poop!
Red Currant
Love the rich red of this currant bush! Thanks to a friend of the blog for letting me know what kind of bush this is as I’m still learning what grows out here in the hills of Wyo. 🙂
PS: They are really pretty in the snow too!
Autumn Snowfall on Squaw Mountain
The snow has pretty much melted at the ranch but the high country is white and fluffy. I captured Squaw Mountain yesterday while the snow was quietly falling. I’m happy she gets to have a cool down period after overheating this summer.
Code Red
I got a code red call yesterday from the emergency weather center letting us know that a storm was coming in and will lay down about 15 to 20 inches of snow starting last night through today. Well, it has been snowing since 4 pm yesterday but it’s only a light dusting. And today on the ranch, it is beautiful!
This is our backyard.
Here is a cottonwood leaf from those golden trees you see above.
Quickly becoming my favorite to photograph, the buck brush leaf.
These red leaves hang out with the buck brush, but I’m not sure what they are exactly. I have some images to share with you of them in the evening sunlight. They are so red and vibrant.
And as always, wheat grass sprouts among the brush and trees.
As you can see, a late autumn snow is a beautiful contrast with the colorful leaves. It is inconvenient when trying to get the entire ranch winterized before winter really hits, but the accumulation is not very much and tomorrow is supposed to be clear and beautiful. I think autumn will hold on a little bit longer. Here’s hoping anyway.
See you tomorrow with more sunny and dry shots of the autumn beauty.
Twilight Sparkle
They are forecasting snow soon, like this afternoon, but I am going to hang on to the autumn beauty as long as I can.
Quakie Trunks
I’ve shared my love of Quaking Aspens with you before, and today I’d like to do that again.
These trees are so beautiful especially in the fall. Their leaves turn to gold like the Cottonwood, but the contrast with the white trunks makes them pop from rocks and other trees.
In this little quakie forest I stumbled into, one side was chaotic with tangled limbs and leaves that have fallen all over the buck brush.
And in the other direction, the leaves were still pretty much in tact on the limbs and the green grass provided the contrast with the white trunks.
Another tidbit about the trunks- they look like they have eyes. I’ll pull some shots of them that I captured last winter where it really shows the “eyeballs” in the trunks and post them for you. They are really cool!
I hope you are having a falltastic Monday!
Buck Brush Bokeh
buck brush basking in the evening sun
Bokeh is a term in photography that refers to the blur that occurs outside of the depth of field of the image. It’s the sparkle from the points of light in the out of focus background. And the suns rays in this image coming in from the left are simply a beautiful bonus.
Fall is in full swing and I enjoyed an evening drive and hike yesterday. The wind is calm if only for a moment so I’m collecting my fall images while I can. I get excited with the change of seasons so please hang with me while I share a bit of autumn beauty in Wyoming with you for the next few posts.
♥
Beautiful Day for a Preg Check
Fall is really taking shape in this little corner of the world. I hope it is treating you well too. Here are a few shots from the past couple of days.
The guys rounded up the cattle and brought them to the corrals. It’s that time of year to test how well the bulls did.
We brought them through the meadows where the trees are golden and the grass is rich. The ladies tried like heck to stop and eat but this is winter feed, they can’t have this grass yet.
I didn’t shoot during the pregnancy tests. You should thank me for that. Instead I’m just showing you trailing through the fall color.
We started testing around 8 am and were done around 4pm. Then we trailed into the sunset to the hills behind the ranch. The cattle have had a busy few days on their hooves. The guys brought them home from the Plains, rested for two days, then an arm went up their ‘you know what’ to see if they are with calf. I know they are ready for us to leave them alone. And we will until the snow covers the ground to where they can’t get enough grub. Then they’ll come closer to the house, feast on hay bales and we’ll wait for the babies to arrive.
Just another year in paradise is all.
In a Cow Pile…
…sprouts a tiny mushroom.
Mother Nature’s magical fruity bodies of fungus are coming up everywhere on this rainy, chilly Monday.
Tis the Day Before the Hunters
Did you see the hunters moon this week? It was so beautiful. It is the first full moon after the harvest moon and is named this because it is ideal light for the hunter to hunt and stockpile food for the winter.
I love fall but I dislike hunting season. It opens tomorrow. All year, I get watch these young bucks grow up and graze our meadows only to have them shot and then hung on the wall as a trophy. I knew coming into the ranching lifestyle that hunting was part of it, but that doesn’t mean I like it.
So I whispered to these guys yesterday during my hike,
“Run, hide yourselves. You will be hunted soon”. Obviously they didn’t get it because I saw them this morning in their usual spot.
But hopefully they will hunker down in some tall grass and stay quiet until the gunfire ceases.
This girl can only hope. Until then, I shall accessorize in orange.
Over & Out,
Leah
me and mantis
praying mantis meditating on the door handle of the shop
The menfolk are out gathering cattle and trailing them home from the plains today. I took off my cowgirl hat and put on my beret to work at the art gallery today. Patrick isn’t the only person of many hats out here.
So me and the mantis are praying for the guys and cows safety. They started out at 4 this morning and will be home by dark. We hope.
Weaning Calves
We woke up at 3:30 am and left the ranch at 4:30 in the a.m. We arrived at the Laramie Plains by 6 and made our way into the pasture where the cows were waiting.
The cowboys saddled up and waited for it to get a little lighter.
There were plenty of riders so I decided to stay with the trucks at the corral to watch the sun rise and wait for them to bring in the cattle.
And what a beautiful sunrise it was.
Not long after, the cattle started my way. I heard the moos way before I saw them.
All paired up, still with milk on their lips, the babies followed momma toward the paneled corral.
The cowboys and cowgirl got them in the panels and then discussed the game plan.
They checked the panels to make sure nobody was bustin’ out.
And the cattle waited impatiently for their instructions.
Step one is to sort out the momma cows. Step two is to separate the steers from the heifers and count each group. And step three is to load them on separate trucks.
This little booger got away and gave the cowboys a run for their money. They had to rope her and lead her back to the corrals.
The calves looked good, were big enough to wean and were trucked to their new homes.
We brought a few of the smaller calves home and for the last few nights, I’ve gone to sleep listening to them bawl for momma. It takes about a week for everyone to get over the separation anxiety. The momma cows are still up on the Plains and they spent several days by the panels waiting for their babies to come back. Yesterday was the first day I noticed the calves are calm and are finally comfortable in their new surroundings and their strict diet of hay and water.
You can see more pictures of this day by clicking any picture above or going straight to the gallery on my website here: http://www.leahyetter.com/111005shipping/ .
The cows will be trailed home later this week and then we check them for babies in the belly. Stay tuned for that beautiful experience. Just kidding. I’ll probably put the camera down and just take inventory.
Hello Fall
Your 70mph winds this morning makes my desk shake and the windows rattle.
Just please save some golden leaves on the trees so that I can have one more photo shoot before the white stuff falls from the sky.
Yours regardless,
Leah
Got Milk
We had a successful shipping of the calves yesterday. Well, to the cowgirls and cowboys it was successful. But the cows and calves don’t feel the same. This little guy finished his last breakfast with momma before he was whisked away to be weaned and taken to a new owner. Growing up is tough but it just happens.
We’re going back to check the momma cows and make sure they haven’t jumped the fence looking for their babies. At least they have new ones in their bellies. I’ll share more on the gather tomorrow.
it’s that time again
I am loving this beautiful fall weather! It’s a little bittersweet however, as this is the time of year for a lot of change…happens every year. The leaves are turning, the days are getting shorter, and we are preparing to wean our calves off of their mothers. Tomorrow, cowboys and cowgirls will saddle up and gather the herd. We’ll sort the calves from the cows and the young ones will be shipped to a new home. The cows will come back home with us in a week or so. But never fear, they have new babies in their bellies and we’ll be calving them out before they know it.
I of course will document and report back to you in a couple of days. See you soon.
Big Horn Sheep- the Ram
Whenever we drive highway 34, my face is glued to (or hanging out of) the window looking for big horn sheep. I’ve seen rams in the wild before, but they are always so far away. But at the Game and Fish, a few of them have a cozy home and a lot of land to roam. And I was lucky enough to capture some shots of them on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
I am so fascinated by these creatures. I could stare at them all day long. They were curious and didn’t scatter when I got close to the fence, giving us time to enjoy our little photo shoot.
Uprooted Magnolia 
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