Peekaboo Fawn
Now you see me.
Now you don’t.
I feel so lucky that this little fawn and it’s mother have taken up residence in the front meadow.
Have a wonderful weekend my friends.♥
After the Rain
A creepy crawly insect was enjoying the flavor of this coneflower/black-eyed susan. (the internet has confused me as to what kind of wildflower this is)
Ladybug glistening on turkey foot grass out back.
When I looked up from my spot in the tall grass, I saw the elusive jackrabbit. These little guys are so hard to photograph because they move so fast. I mean as soon as I spot one, poof, he’s gone. But this guy stuck around long enough for one click.
summer haze and a staring contest
We had a hard rain yesterday. And with a hard rain comes lightning strikes causing more fires. Colorado has it way worse than we do but we are fighting our share.
Patrick and I trailed cattle on horseback yesterday morning and could smell the smoke the entire time.
Once the sun came out after the rain yesterday evening, the smog over the hills was so thick.
But on to happier thoughts, the bucks are growing their antlers and are still in the velvet.
Just look at this happy family.
We had a staring contest. I won because they took off quickly after I shot this. Bambi and father ran together for a while until they found mom again.
Antelope Calves
I spotted this cutie yesterday evening when I got home after a busy day in town.
Deer fawns aren’t the only young ones bucking happily through the meadows. Baby antelope are running around here in two’s (the cow usually has twins). This calf was getting ready to stand up because it saw it’s mom and sibling across the road but froze when I pulled up.
The doe has a gash in her front right leg. She seems to be taking good care of her babies but she’s got to be hurting. She could have gotten caught on a fence, gotten kicked, who knows how this happened. But it looks like she’ll heal up and be back to normal soon. They let me get a few shots before taking off.
Have a relaxing Sunday my friends and stay cool. It’s hot out there!
Lashes
She stood so still while watching me walk down the dirt road. I think she thought I didn’t see her.
Little does she realize, I captured her forever.
Pardners from the East
Our crew from back east took charge a couple of weeks ago and branded the last batch of calves.
They led the mothers and calves out of the calving pasture,
over the hill,
along the fence line,
and into the branding pen.
They sorted the mothers from the calves and led them out of the corral.
Reagan and Marley were great spectators.
These guys were also in the audience. They snorted and stared and were as grumpy as ever.
And then the roping began.
Tommy and Hillbilly worked hard and did a great job of bringing the calves in so they could be vaccinated and branded quickly.
Once they were down, the ground crew swooped in and had them up and at’em in no time.
A couple of days later, the cowboys and cowgirls led the herd up the hill so they could wait for the trucks to take them to the Laramie Plains
One little one tried to get away but Patrick and Jack guided him to the rest of the herd.
They went right in to the corral, with the encouragement from those on horseback, and waited.
———————-
On the last day of their visit, Marley’s mom and sister went shopping so we decided to have a photo shoot.
Marley was a fantastic model and we had a blast taking her “cowgirl portraits”.
We dodged a few raindrops and had moslty cloudy skies. But the sun popped out every now and then and we were dolloped with some lovely light.
All in all it was a great visit and even though we put them to work, I hope they enjoyed it!
Click here for more images from these shoots. 🙂
Peace is a Mother’s Love
I spotted our little fawn a few mornings ago hopping and frolicking in the tall grass by the house.
Bambi would quickly check in with mom for a bath…
…and a scrub behind the ears.
There is always time for a suckle.
She spotted me on the porch so she told the little one to take off and hide for the day.
Bambi is getting bigger so traveling with mom is happening more and more. I’ve seen them by the river and in the meadows further out. But she does check in beside the house every once in a while. Such peaceful beauty just outside the front door makes my heart melt.
I hope this mid-week case of motherly love helps you get through the week. We’ve had our fair share of fires and then wind in the form of funnels so we sure could use some comfort from mother nature… for the rest of the summer please ma’am. 😉
Terror on the Flats
I was driving home from town after picking up some groceries and had my eye on the sky. It was dark and spooky and I just figured it was from the mountain fire burning near Laramie Peak. I thought maybe we’d get a sprinkle or two and that was it. Patrick left town after me and was about 6 or 7 miles behind. As I went through the entryway of the ranch, Patrick called and asked where I was. I told him “at the entryway” and he said go to the main house and take cover in the basement, there is a tornado on the Mule Shoe Ranch Flats. I looked to my right and saw this:
He said he was turning around to go back to that ranch and take cover in their barn. I kept driving, pushing my little Honda hard on the rocky road. Scared, breathless and full of anxiety, I stopped for another shot.
The wind started to blow harder and I could hear the roar of this funnel in the distance. Even though this was a couple miles away, the sound of it was clear and was kind of like a constant thunder roll.
I stopped for another shot and then pushed the pedal to the floor and ran inside our house to get my kitty cat.
I put Matilda in her carrier and went to the main house and watched to see if it was getting close to us. It didn’t make it to the ranch. This was the first time when shooting an event that I’m glad I didn’t get a close up.
Once I knew we were safe, I took Matilda back home and watched the storm move all around us.
It was a spooky hour in the afternoon, we are all okay and I’m so glad no one was killed. There was some structural damage closer to town and one injury but not a serious one. I heard this morning that a cow as killed. It could have been worse and I’m thankful that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
We had these storms in Georgia but I was fortunate enough to always sleep through them. I’ve never been this close to actually see the funnel. And out here, as a friend of mine pointed out, you can see a storm miles away and have time to take cover. Some towns aren’t so lucky.
If you were in or around Wheatland yesterday and want to share your tornado experience, please do so in the comments. Or any of you out there, if you have a storm story, share it. I’d love to hear from you all.
Godspeed Wheatland. Thinking of you who were closely affected.
Three’s Company
Or a crowd.
I wonder what these two ladies are discussing. Perhaps fighting over the handsome gentleman on the limb above. Perhaps gossiping about him. What do you think? Leave your caption in the comments! 🙂
Rope’em and Choke’em
Not really any choking going on, but plenty of roping.
Patrick had to put a little scare into this calf trying to get away from the herd. Even though momma is at the top of the hill and he’s taking him to her, his one track mind wants him to go back to the last place he sucked.
The last of the cows were trucked to the Laramie Plains this morning. It’s so dry here but there is plenty of grass and water up there so they will have a happy summer of grazing and lounging.
These past few months have been a lot of work for me and Patrick and I’ve been cowgirlin’ more than photographerin’ (I know that’s not a word but it feels like one today). We have a crew out from back east so I’ve been able to sit back a little more and document the action rather than be right in there with it. We’ve been herding cattle and chasing calves and we had a successful branding.
AND finally…drumroll please…..
…the last heifer to calve gave birth a week ago. Yes, our last calf of the bunch has finally arrived. Patrick says “she’s holding on to that calf like it’s money”. She was as big as a bus that last week and we are so grateful the calf came out okay. We’re done with calving for the year so maybe we’ll catch up on some sleep this summer. Ha! A girl can dream of zzz’s can’t she?
Uprooted Magnolia 
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