The Tumblin' Tumbleweed

The tumbleweeds have returned!  Not that they really left, though.  Yeah, it's messy when it comes to fences and such.  Some fence post are leaning in the weight of the weeds.  But there's really nothing we can do.  Sadly. 
Some people think, "Fire?"  And the answer to that question is a huge "No."  It would get rid of the weeds, yes, but also burn up the whole country while doing it.  The weeds burn in seconds and a huge amount of heat is let out, but if the wind happened to pick up, the burning tumbleweeds would lite everything they touched, and as dry as it is, everything would burn. 
So, I guess we will just live with them for a while and be awaiting their departure.  Whenever that might come.  

Dad said that from a distance these pesky weeds look like stone fences.  And they do.

We were out checking our cattle the other day and I took a few photos; partly for our own sake and to put on the blog, so I hope you enjoy seeing our livelihood.  

An oil rig near by had a leak in their water hose and these photos show you what happened when the water sprayed everywhere on one cold night.  The consistence of the frozen water resembled man made snow.  Fairly interesting I thought.  And it made pretty pictures.  : )

Bird Taxidermy



The finished product.  

 

I did it!  I successfully mounted my first bird ever!  I am quite proud of the outcome; plus I get to look at a bird whenever I'm in my office.    

 

The back of the finished product.

 
This pigeon was hatched last year, but for some unknown reason, it died young; the reason for no feathers.  I placed it in our freezer for such a time as this and just now got to it.  I looked up bird taxidermy quite a few times and read up a little about it, then I found an easy way (http://www.instructables.com/) to skin and stuff the bird, and I tried it.  It only took me one day, and I found it really fun!  Now there's talk in our house about me doing more critters.  We'll see what happens.  : )

Snow Days

One of our perfect views.

As the pictures show you, we have received a wonderful amount of snow.  This past week we had gotten up to 8+ inches and it came almost every day of the week.  It was so pretty!  But, yes, it was very cold too; getting down to -3 degrees once.  Thankfully, we have heat and were able to make it through the cold spell, although it is not totally through... 
 

My dog, Tonzo.

 
On Saturday night we had a freezing fog/frost come in and coated everything with a prickly layer of ice.  It was such a beautiful sight!  No harm was done, but in some places the trees were sagging with the weight of the frost.  Even thought it was Sunday morning and we had to go to church, I bundled up and took the time to take a few pictures.  
 

 

 

 

We sold our goats last week to our great pleasure!  It was past time to sell them.  So, now we are just waiting for our remaining 4 to kid.

We have been sledding lately, which has been a lot of fun.  The snow was great on the days after it came, but it was melting and our best spots were getting muddy.  But this evening, while we were coming back from checking our four nanny goats, it began snowing again.  I have mixed feeling...1) stay cold and snow a lot or 2) get warm and say good bye to the snow and hello to green grass come spring.  What to do!

Keep warm.  From the ranch...  : )