Diary from Sky Range Ranch - December 13, 2018 through January 15, 2019

DECEMBER 21 – We had warmer weather last week, above freezing during the days. Michael and Carolyn got a trailer load of hay to haul to the upper place for their cows, and brought their tractor down to load it (and hauled an extra bale with the tractor). He also helped us break loose one of the round bale feeders in the bull pen that was starting to freeze down in the ice, and carried both feeders out to the hold pen with his tractor so they’d be easier for us to take them on up to the field for the cows.

Last weekend Andrea, Jim, Charlie and girls helped Emily move more of her things to the storage shed, and got her moved out of the rental house (which the landlord wants to remodel), and got her dogs and cats moved up here.

On Sunday Michael helped me take the shoes off Ed, Shiloh (she’d already lost one front shoe) and hind shoes off Sprout (I’d already taken off her fronts) and trimmed their feet.

Monday morning there were more than 100 elk on the hill above Andrea’s house, going back and forth trying to get through the fence. They had apparently been spooked by something (maybe the wolf pack that’s been in the area for several weeks) and had come through our place and were having a little trouble getting out. Our cows were fussed by all the elk and didn’t go to the hill to graze that day. A few elk were still on our hillside by late afternoon.

The elk came through again for several days and the cows finally got used to them and went to the hill to graze in spite of the elk. One elk calf stayed for nearly a week, hanging around close to Andrea’s house, and very unafraid—almost as if it felt safer near the cattle and humans.

Granddaughter Heather in Canada sent a few more photos of young Joseph (now more than a year and a half old), including one taken while he was napping in the truck.

Joseph

Joseph taking a nap in the truck

On Tuesday Jim hauled one of the feeders to heifer hill on his little trailer, so it will be there when we have to start feeding hay. It started raining that night, and turned to snow by morning. The roads were very slippery and treacherous. We were going to sort the cows (and put the young ones on heifer hill so we can feed them separately and give them some better hay) but they all went to the hill to graze so we waited a couple more days. Jim and Charlie took a bale of coarse hay from my hay shed to make beds for Emily’s dogs in the dog houses Jim fixed for them at Andrea’s place.

Yesterday it snowed a little more and I took photos around the barnyard—including the yard fence and elm tree, and snow on the willows by the bridge.

snow on sagebrush next to tractor

As I hiked around doing chores I took more photos –of snow on the big old sagebrush next to where we park the tractor, snow on the pens by the calving barn, and snow on the old woodshed behind the corral. A snowy morning is beautiful quiet and peaceful; the snow seems to muffle all small sounds and produces a quiet calm.

There’s not much grass left on the hillside by Andrea’s house, and the snow is covering up what little is left, so today we sorted the cows and started feeding hay. Lynn and I took his 4-wheeler up to the field with a little bale on it, which we scattered around by the upper gate (and a little bit on the other side of the gate) and easily sorted the young cows (first and second calvers) through the gate into the heifer hill pasture. We left the older cows in the field by Andrea’s house. There’s still some grass on heifer hill (it hadn’t been grazed this fall after haying) so we’ll let those young cows clean it up for a few days, unless the snow gets deeper.


DECEMBER 31 – Last Saturday Andrea and her friend Scott went up the creek to get a Christmas tree for her kids, and took a photo looking down on our creek valley and the top of our upper place.

view of our creek from the mountain above our place

As they started up the road from our place, they hauled a tub to leave at heifer hill on their way. Lynn took salt and mineral up there on his 4-wheeler and secured the tub to the fence so the cows wouldn’t tip it over. That afternoon he delivered a few Christmas gifts around the neighborhood and went to town to get mail and groceries and take a gift to his sister Jenelle. While he was gone I made some gifts for family (everyone gets a T-shirt with a horse or some other critter or a cartoon drawn on it).

Sunday Michael and Carolyn came down with the flatbed trailer for more hay, with chains on his truck this time, so he could make it up our slippery driveway with the loaded trailer.

Andrea decorated the Christmas tree at her house (the kids were out at Mark’s place for the first part of their Christmas vacation, so they didn’t have a chance to help with it). She took photos of the decorated tree.

Andrea's Christmas tree

The day before Christmas Lynn went to town for his physical therapy (his shoulder is getting better, little by little, and he met up with Andrea to do some shopping for her kids (school clothes, etc. for Christmas). I made more T-shirts for friends and family. I also boxed up my old chaps for Andrea, the ones that have always been a little too long for me—and they will fit her better because she is taller. When we are riding in rain or snow checking cows on the 320 in the fall, she needs something better to protect her legs going through the wet brush, to keep her legs warm and dry; her thin leather motorcycle “chaps” are not as durable, and more easily damaged by a lot of moisture.

These old chaps have a lot of history behind them; they are more than 100 years old. They were given to me about 63 years ago when I was a young teenager, by an old cowboy named Carl Enquist who had a ranch farther up the valley from ours. He was old and ill, and no longer riding horses, and he appreciated the fact that I rode a lot out on the range, looking after the cattle. He gave me his chaps, which had seen many years and many miles. They had been repaired a few times, with a new strap and buckle). They had big pockets; he used to carry a lunch when he was riding all day, and was known to have a piece of pie in one of those pockets.

I hadn’t used those chaps for a long time; I have a shorter pair I use for shoeing horses, and some lightweight chinks that I use for riding in cold or wet weather (that Michael and Carolyn gave me about 5 or 6 years ago). After Andrea and I rode a few times this fall in wet, miserable weather (and she wore her motorcycle pants) I decided she could use those old chaps, and they would make a gift at Christmas—passing along a bit of history and “horse gear” that saw a lot of action on this range a long time ago.

Christmas day we went up to Andrea’s house early afternoon, after the kids got back from their dad’s place. We had a potluck bunch of snacks and food instead of a big dinner, with lots of goodies to eat while we opened gifts and enjoyed the day. Here are some photos Andrea took as we were sitting around enjoying the day.

Charlie & Sam

Sam on Christmas

Andrea’s friend Scott was there, as well. Michael and Carolyn dropped by briefly in the evening, and Emily and her friend Greg came out to spend the evening, too. Here are a few more of Andrea’s candid photos.

Em on Christmas

Kids on Christmas

Later, she tried on the chaps I gave her, and here’s what they look like on her.

Andrea's new old chaps

The day after Christmas Lynn went with his sister Jenelle to one of her doctor appointments in Rexburg. He got up early and met her at Baker at 7:30 and they had good roads and a good trip, getting back that evening just after dark.

Michael and Carolyn got another load of hay that day, and Charlie came down and filled our wood box. Andrea checked the ice on the creek, to make sure the cows could still get to water.

The next day it was snowing, and time to start feeding the cows. Charlie and Andrea helped me haul a bunch of little bales on the feed truck from my hay shed, to stack by Sprout and Shiloh’s pens, then we loaded up a few old bales in the stackyard to feed the cows in the field by Andrea’s house.

feeding the cows

Our internet server was out of commission all day, and I was unable to send several articles to some of my editors, and had to call one of them to explain why I couldn’t meet the deadline. We learned later that Century-tel was “down” in 37 states. Fortunately they got the problem fixed by the next morning.

During the Christmas vacation Charlie had a chance to set up his new computer and here’s what it looks like. It’s a good thing he’s very computer-savvy; he was able to get it programmed and functional by himself.

Charlie's new computer

Friday Andrea and the girls left early to drive to Idaho Falls for Dani’s check-up with the orthodontist, to adjust her braces. The weather was clear and cold (nearly down to zero) and the roads were good. Lynn and I fed the cows a few more old bales from the stackyard, and took salt and mineral to them. We had to break loose the big tractor tire that was frozen down (pulling on it with the feed truck), to get it farther away from the ditch before we put the tub in it for the salt/mineral mix. Then we drove up to heifer hill and gave those young cows their first feeding of hay this winter.

feeding young cows on heifer hill

That afternoon Charlie and Jim drove to Hughes Creek to check on Russ (home from the hospital in Missoula, after his fall from his roof and breaking 6 ribs and puncturing a long). They hauled firewood in for him, and brought a load home.

Saturday it snowed some more. Andrea helped us feed the cows again, cleaning up the last of the little bales from the stackyard. That night we plugged in the tractor and the feed truck.

That evening she and the kids went to visit her friend Scott and his son Landon and she took a few photos—when Landon was showing them his computer, and when the girls were enjoying a bon fire that evening in Scott’s back yard.

kids checking out Landon's computer

Sam & Dani

Yesterday morning I did chores in a blizzard, but it quit snowing by mid-morning which was nicer for feeding the cows. Charlie and Andrea helped us, and we took one of the tarps off our stack of big round bales, so we could take a bale with the tractor to heifer hill—to put in the feeder up there for the young cows. Then Lynn and I took a bale of second cutting to the young heifers in the field below the lane while Andrea and Charlie dragged a bale feeder, with the 4-wheeler, up to the field by Andrea’s house. While Lynn and I took a big bale of straw up there for those cows, Charlie and Andrea started getting the tarp off the old alfalfa stack, and we loaded two big bales on the feed truck. We are now feeding the cows a little alfalfa hay daily, to go with their barley straw.
Some of the cows were down in the lower end of the swamp pasture when we drove up there yesterday, and I took a photo of LillyAnn and her daughter Lilly Annie.

cows in late December

This morning was cold again (7 degrees). The cows are eating quite a bit of straw in this cold weather, to generate body heat via digestion (forage breakdown in the rumen creates a lot of heat). The feed truck wouldn’t start, however, in spite of being plugged in for 6 hours, and we had to use jumper cables to get it started. It needs a new battery.


JANUARY 6 – On the first day of the New Year it was 10 below zero and only got up to 15 degrees for a high. We kept our stove going all night, and let the kitchen and bathroom sinks drip so the pipes wouldn’t freeze. The feed truck would not start, even after being plugged in for 17 hours, so we had to jumper it again, this time with the battery charger rather than have to start another vehicle to jumper it with. Lynn and I got the cows fed and Andrea chopped holes in the creek ice for the cows to drink. We put a new battery in the feed truck, and it started much better the next day. Also it wasn’t quite so cold; the low for the night was 10 above zero.

We used up all the old small bales in the stackyard, so after we got the cows fed we untarped the end of the new stack and loaded some on the truck to stack by the bull pen, and left a few on the truck to feed along with the alfalfa. Michael and Carolyn brought the flatbed trailer and loaded 10 big straw bales to take up for their cows on the upper place—to use as feed and bedding during the cold weather.

Andrea’s friend Scott and his friend Mike worked several days finishing the wall for Sam’s bedroom and it looks really nice.

new wall

Sam's new wall

Sam plans to paint a solar system on her new wall. She also has a new look; she dyed her hair back to plain blonde again.

Sam's new look

We’re trading some of our old machinery and pickup beds for part of the carpentry work; Mike enjoys repairing and restoring old vehicles and farm machinery and he was like a kid in a candy store looking at all the old junk parked here and there around our barnyard.

Dani practiced shooting her old bow and realized she’s outgrown it. Her arms are now too long for it!

Dani shooting bow

Wednesday morning Mark’s girlfriend Dawn (who has been living at Mark’s place for several years) had a heart attack and was sent by life-flight to a hospital in Idaho Falls. Mark drove down there to stay with her, and asked Andrea if Charlie could stay out at his place that night to do the chores and feed the pets. Andrea let Charlie and Sam stay at their dad’s place that night, and through this weekend (and let Dani go out there, too) even though it was Andrea’s weekend to have the kids. She felt it was more important to have them help out at their dad’s place and take care of things while he was gone. With the cold weather someone needed to stay there to keep the fire going, etc. Dawn had surgery Thursday morning, to put 3 stents in her heart, and Mark stayed with her until he was able to bring her home again on Saturday.

It was only 7 degrees on Thursday and our tractor barely started even though it had been plugged in all night. We used it to take an old straw bale up in the field by Andrea’s house to scatter in the brush where the cows like to bed. The willows at the edge of the field make a natural shelter, with almost a “roof” as well as a windbreak, so we put straw in amongst the willows for bedding. Here are photos of what the bedding area looks like, and the feeder where we put big straw bales for the cows to eat. The bale in the feeder was nearly gone that day.

bedding in the willow

bedding area with willow roof over it

straw nearly gone in feeder

We also took a big straw bale up to the brush in the field below heifer hill, and let those cows come down into that field, to have a better place to bed at night and get out of the wind. Andrea dragged their feeder (which was nearly empty) down to the next field, pulling it with her 4-wheeler, and we took another round bale of grass/alfalfa hay up there to put in the feeder.

Friday it warmed up a little (with a low of 14 degrees) and actually got up to 29 degrees. Michael and Carolyn hauled more loads of hay up to their place, one each day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Scott and Mike finished the carpentry work and painted the walls on Saturday, so it was a nice surprise for Sam when the kids came back from Mark’s place this evening (and had dinner here at our house).

Today was the warmest day we’ve had for quite a while; it actually got above freezing. We put a new bale in the heifers’ feeder and took a bale of straw for them to bed on. Andrea took a picture as Lynn was bringing their hay bale with the tractor.

feeding heifers Jan 6

We are enjoying this warmer weather’ it almost feels like spring! That evening I cooked dinner for everyone here at our house. Em came out late, so Andrea took a plateful of food for her, and Em ate it up at Andrea’s house while she visited with her siblings and enjoyed the attention of one of the house cats.

Em eating a late supper

JANUARY 15 – The warm weather only lasted a day. Last Monday morning it was 30 degrees at 4 a.m. and then the wind started blowing and we had some rain that quickly turned to snow as the temperature dropped. Andrea and Jim went out to help Russ (Jim cleaned his chimney—the job Russ was starting to do last month when he fell off the roof and broke his ribs—and Andrea fed his horses), and they brought home more firewood.

We had a fresh coating of snow on everything, including the old brush and little tool shed by the creek.

more snow

Tuesday morning was cold again (about 2 degrees). Lynn went to town for his last session of physical therapy for his shoulder (it is doing much better) and Andrea and I fed the cows. She moved the young cows’ feeder with her 4-wheeler, and brought their mineral tub down closer to where they bed at night, and tied it to a tree so the cows won’t tip it over. Lynn and I took a big bale to those cows that afternoon after he got home from town.

The next day was a little warmer but there was still some thick ice on the creek that we had to break so the cows cold drink. That afternoon Lynn went to town and transferred the title of our old car (a 22-year old Chevy Lumina) to Emily as an early birthday present for her; we loaned it to her this past fall but she needs something to keep driving until her old car gets fixed. This old white car, which she named “Luna” when we got it the summer of 2000—needing something dependable for Lynn to drive on the frequent trips to Salt Lake to the burn ICU to be with Andrea after her burn injury—is just a year older than Emily. She has a special bond with it, since we took her in Luna later that summer to see her mama when Andrea was finally well enough to have her little 2.5-year old daughter come visit her in the hospital.

Andrea and her friend Scott got another load of firewood that morning at Hughes Creek, and the next day Jim went down there and cut up some more wood, and helped Russ with some of his chores.

Jim recently finished a very unique lamp, which he named The Great Divide. The base of the lamp is a piece of burl wood with many contours, like a rugged mountain ridge, and he placed tiny figures on it—Indians and horses, teepees, etc.—and turquoise insets looking like streams of water. He’s hoping to find a buyer for it.

Jim's lamp - The Great Divide

closeup of lamp base

Thursday and Friday were quite warm—barely freezing at night, and up to 40 degrees during the day. We didn’t have to worry about ice in the horse tubs or on the cows’ drinking holes at the creek. I wrote a letter of condolence to one of our good friends in Montana who lost her husband to kidney problems. We met those two wonderful people in Salt Lake when Andrea was having physical therapy after her burn injury and he was also having physical therapy from an earlier burn injury. Some of the folks we met through our shared experiences with burn survival became very dear friends—like family.

Thursday morning Andrea helped Lynn and me load up some small bales to haul to the bulls (to feed them for the next week or so) and after we fed the cows she went to town to talk to Dani’s teachers about her eye problems; Dani is having trouble reading because of her eyes and will be seeing an eye specialist next month.

These past few days I’ve been working many hours checking the page proofs for the third edition of my book Storey’s Guide to Raising Horses, and putting in updates from the 2nd edition (that came out 10 years ago). The new edition will come out later this year. The 4th edition of my book Storey’s Guide to Raising Beef Cattle (which I updated earlier this year) came out a couple months ago and this is what the new edition looks like. It includes many new photos, all in color this time.

new cattle book

A few days ago Jim sawed out a few trees in the stackyard that were leaning toward the end of our old stack, and got them out of the way so we can get to that end to load the old alfalfa bales and old straw.

trees gone from back end of stack so we could get to it

The next day Andrea and Scott got a huge load of firewood (on truck and trailer) and Jim helped Lynn and me get into that old haystack to load alfalfa bales on the feed truck and take a bale of barley straw to the cows’ feeder and a bale of old straw up to the cows for bedding. Jim spread it around in the brush where they bed while Lynn and I fed a big round bale to the young heifers and took a bale up for the young cows to put in their feeder.

Sunday was cold again and windy. Andrea helped me feed the cows. I cooked a big dinner for everyone that evening, when the kids got home from Mark’s house, and Emily came out for dinner, too.

Yesterday was very cold—10 degrees and snowing—and this morning the temperature was below zero. Andrea helped me feed the cows their small ration of alfalfa (for extra protein) and a few small grass bales. They are eating a lot of straw in this cold weather. We’ll have to plug the tractor in tonight so it will start in the morning—to take another big bale of hay to the young cows’ feeder and perhaps another big bale of straw to the older cows.

Today is Sam’s birthday (she’s 16), and Emily will be 21 on Saturday. We’re planning a double birthday dinner/party for the two of them this weekend.

***

If anyone wants to purchase some of my books, most of my horse and cattle “how to” books are available from Storey Publishing. I have some my other books on hand, if anyone wants signed copies. These include my book about Andrea’s fight to survive horrendous burn injuries the summer of 2000, and the unexpected detour we all took--a journey that profoundly affected our lives:
Beyond the Flames – A Family Touched by Fire. ($19 for paperback, or $25 for hardback, plus $4 postage).

For anyone interested in some of the adventures over the years with our cattle and horses, and stories about life on the ranch, here are some of my other books:
Horse Tales; True Stories from an Idaho Ranch, Cow Tales; More Stories from an Idaho Ranch, & Ranch Tales: Stories of Dogs, Cats and Other Crazy Critters.
Signed copies can be purchased for $24.95 each (or $70 for all three books) plus postage ($3 per book, or $7 for all three books)

book series

Book orders can be made by phone (208-756-2841) or mail (Heather Thomas, P.O. Box 215, Salmon, Idaho 83467)

I also have some of my father’s books left. They are now out of print and hard to find. These are collections of some of his best meditations and bits of spiritual wisdom, and include By the River of No Return, Wild Rivers and Mountain Trails, Sagebrush Seed, The Open Gate, and Short People Need a Tree to Climb. These books by Don Ian Smith can be purchased for $12 each (plus $2 postage for one book, $3 postage for 2 to 4 books) or $50 for the whole set (and $4 postage).