We Remember

Today members of our small community gathered at the Cranfills Gap Veterans Memorial to pay our respects to those who gave their lives for our freedom.  

Their sacrifice and that of the families they left behind will never be forgotten.  

Recap #2

One of the reasons I haven’t posted as often as usual this year is because I’ve been busy working Cody and Bo and attending sheepdog trials.  They have come in rapid succession, and have given us opportunities to work on handling (me) and sheep herding skills (them).  I have previously reported on the trials we attended at Junction, Gatesville and Friona, but those weren’t all.  The end of March we participated in the Bluebonnet Sheep Dog Trial in Crawford, then on April 2 we helped out at the Texas Herding Association AKC trial at Destiny Farm outside Bertram.  Cody and Bo helped to set out sheep for the competitors.  Here, they are resting between runs and their friend, Jamie Jackson-Swanson's beautiful blue border collie Kimber, cools off.

On April 23 we were back at Destiny Farm for an American Herding Breed Association trial.  AHBA has different courses than those we usually run at Texas Sheep Dog Association field trials, so it was fun for all of us.  Cody and Bo did well in this small trial, and I was thrilled that a professional photographer, Bri Garrett of Down the Lead Photography was there to take photos.  Here are some images she captured of Cody, Bo and me.

A week later, we were in Meridian for the second Jake & Clayton Memorial trial, hosted by Jack and Vivian Christensen.  Here are some photos of several of our friends on the course.  

Jack & Gus

Jill & Dutch

Tommy & Pancho

Donna & Zin

Lindsey & Doc

Jill & Fae

On May 7, we were indoors at Hamilton’s Circle T Arena for the Ewe-Vaca Cattle and Sheep Trial.  Cody had a fifth place in one of his sheep runs and Bo took a sixth.  They competed in the Intermediate division.  Our adventure for the weekend was Cody’s and my first experience in a cattle dog trial.  Cody works our cattle on the farm, but we had never participated in a trial and we probably won’t again.  We were the last run of the day in our class and the three heifers were tired and cranky.  One of them kept charging Cody every time he got near her, and we only earned 20 points (out of a possible 90, I think) on our run.  

John took these photos of our efforts, but they are probably the only ones you'll see of us in a cattle trial arena.  I’m pretty sure we’ll stick to sheep on the trial course from now on. 

 

Our most recent herding excursion was to Mike and Stephanie Goracke’s lovely place outside Brashear in far North Texas.  In the photo below, Kathy Mazzola and one of her dogs help move the sheep from the exhaust pen back to the set-out area.

Cody, Bo and I camped out with Charly Kronberger and her four dogs in her specially outfitted Lakota “horse” trailer, shown in the background in this photo.  

Charly & Melba

A number of our friends have modified horse trailers with living quarters.   The rear section, which would normally house one or more horses, have been specially outfitted to accommodate dog kennels and herding paraphernalia.  We were super comfortable in Charly's Lakota, with plenty of room for people and dogs alike, and had a great time.  

My dogs’ handler didn’t do very well in this trial, and our scores don’t bear repeating.  We were up early Saturday for a 7 a.m. start, then took a break mid-day to enjoy a hearty lunch courtesy of our host and hostess.  

Then, we reconvened at 7:30 for runs under the lights in the small arena.  Chris Thompson and Tick were working hard to pen these sheep.

Saturday evening I gave several of our friends the chance for a good laugh.  After the evening runs, a shower and getting into our jammies, several of us moved outside to enjoy the full moon and a glass of wine.  To everyone’s amusement, I promptly fell fast asleep in my chair.  Many thanks to Donna Walker, who had the foresight to retrieve my glass of wine before I dumped it in my lap!  (Donna had great runs on Saturday evening and penned her sheep all three times.)  

Sunday morning we again ran our dogs on the big field.  The grass was lush and green...a lot different than our pastures.

Hostess and Judge Stephanie Goracke convenes a handler's meeting

Steve Ridenour Judged the ranch course

Our host, Mike Goracke & one of his dogs

Chris Thompson and Tick

Then we loaded up and headed out…me and the boys back to the farm and Charly and her dogs to the Bluegrass Sheep Dog Trial in Lexington, KY.  It was a great experience!  

                     

More Birds of a Feather

Earlier this year I posted photos of the golden-cheeked warblers that nest on the cedar-covered “mountain” on the east side of the farm.  But they’re not the only feathered friends that visit here.  In addition, each summer we see and hear the painted buntings.  From the number of calls, there are many of them, but they are so tiny and quick that we usually get only a glimpse.  They do visit our feeders, however, and with the drought here so severe, we have seen more than usual.  They are shy, though, and ordinarily feed from the back side of the feeder.  This handsome male gave me a pretty good view for a few seconds.  

His mate, and at least one other pair are frequent visitors, and a bit later they should bring the family as well.  

A special treat this year has been seeing this amazing blue grosbeak.  He has only visited a couple of times that I know of, but he is breath-taking.  

The grosbeak is 6 to 7.5 inches long, with a very thick bill and wide buff or cinnamon wing-bars.  They are said to be common through Texas and much of the southeast during breeding season, but this is the first year we have seen them.  

Grosbeaks forage mostly on the ground on a diet of insects and seeds.  This one and his mate picked up seeds under our feeders.

Another summer visitor that we hear and see often is the summer tanager.  Like our native northern cardinals, he is red, but a little more orange than the cardinal.   This year we have seen tanagers flitting among the trees, but I haven’t had a good opportunity to photograph one.  This photo is from a couple of years ago.

Not nearly so colorful, but just as interesting are our Bewick’s (pronounced like “Buick”) wrens.  This species is common here, but east of the Great Plains it is uncommon and declining.  We are fortunate to have these busy little birds as neighbors.  They are year-round residents, and raise a number of babies in our nest boxes each year.  This mom (or dad…they look alike to me) has a tasty grasshopper for the babies. 

 

In looking for images of our less frequent feathered friends, I realized that I take few pictures of some of our other residents, like the cardinals, tufted titmouse and Carolina chickadees.  I’ll try to add some photos of those in the future.  

 

Recap #1

It has been a busy late winter and spring…so busy that I haven’t posted about a lot that has been going on our lives.  So here goes.

Once our barn with its twin RV hookups was complete, we were ready for company.  I mentioned earlier that our first guests were Steve and Gail Dixon, full-time RVers we have known since 2008 when we attended our first Heavy Duty Truck Rally in Hutchinson, KS.  They arrived in early February, just before this year’s snow/ice storm, thank goodness.  The Dixons spent two months with us…Gail full-time and Steve in two-week increments between scheduled trips to pilot cargo between the US and points east.  

We had good fun around the neighborhood, shopping and just hanging out.  We considered putting this beauty on our wish list, but didn't think it was bright enough!

Gail especially liked getting acquainted with our cows and our friend's pigmy Nigerian goats.  She was also a great help with chores, including the installation of our protein "lick tub" for the cows.

In day trips to Waco, we checked out Homestead Heritage, where we visited a blacksmith shop, woodworking shop, pottery studio and other attractions,

and the Waco Mammoth National Monument.  If you're in the area, be sure to visit.

Before they left, we made sure Gail and Steve had a taste of the "real" Texas Mexican food (including Texas-size margaritas) at Ay Jalisco in nearby Meridian.

After the Dixons departed for points north and east, we had a short visit from good friends and fellow RVers, Rick and Linda Lorentz.  We have known Rick and Linda for a number of years, and have camped together many times…first at Custer’s Gulch RV Park and Campground in Custer, SD, and at various other locations where we met up for a few days. We had some great walks at the farm...

 

as well as good meals, like this one at Oma Leen's in nearby Walnut Springs. 

The food and drink were excellent; I think my favorite (other than the blueberry margarita) was the Pulpo, made from locally-sourced octopus.

We enjoyed our short time together, and look forward to another meet-up later this year.  

Easter fell this year on April 17.  We celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, as well as a visit from Brian & Debi and Gage and his friend, Gabby.  The weather wasn’t quite as windy as it has been most of this year, and Brian was able to fly his drone over the property for a bird’s eye view of Goat Hill Farm.  The drone (sadly, it doesn’t have a name) also followed us and made a video of our walk around the farm.  When it was done, upon command it landed on the exact spot on top of the Kawasaki mule from which it took off.

A very useful device; it makes beautiful videos.  (Brian also gave me a short lesson on flying the small drone he and Debi gave us for Christmas.  I managed to fly it inside the barn and outside in the parking lot, only crashing into a tree once.  Fortunately, Brian was able to retrieve it without damage.)

Here are a few more photos of their visit.  With Gage’s and Gabby’s dogs, we had a full complement…as many dogs as people.  

Gabby again tried to pet a cow, and was finally successful with one of the heifers who was distracted by food.  (Our cattle are very gentle, but always move away when we try to touch them.)

Huey and Zelda had great fun being farm dogs for a couple of days,

and Rue gave everyone lessons in barking at squirrels.

We tried for a group photo, but weren’t entirely successful. 

But everyone had a great time and we look forward to their next visit.  (Hopefully with Mallory and Daniel as well as Myles.)

But RV friends and family haven't been our only visitors.  Our long-time friend, Jimmy Joe Jacks, Michal's Hamilton classmate for almost all her growing-up years, paid us a visit a few weeks ago.  We enjoyed some fine visiting and porch-sitting,

and did our best to decrease the turtle population on our upper stock pond.  It was a great weekend.