P.S.

Notice the new quartz countertops. Don't they look great in Ann's Kitchen? Of course, she makes them look great-but we were both pleased with how well they turned out. Now she's talking re-doing my bathroom and shower. It won't be quartz but Manstone.

On another note, more rain this weekend and harvest will be getting going later this week. It's always an anxious time,waiting to get started-wheat looks good,pastures are unbelieveable for late June. We had the opportunity to host Dad and Lois at Charlie's last night for Father's Day and enjoyed the time together. Rainbow Lake and the fair will soon be here!!

This is Lake McDonald in the Park. we stayed in a cabin on the shore. Isn't it clear and like a calendar picture.

This of course, is one of several falls in the Park.

Just a re-run. Amazing how calm the water could be.

This was in the Medicine Bow mountains of southern Wyoming on Monday,our first day. Elevation wasn't all that high-8000' something-but lots of snow. It was blowing and drifting as we crossed the pass. Winters would be long.

This is for Jennifer. She wanted to see bears. Two yearlings crossed the road on the East side of Glacier when we were still in the Blackfoot reservation. Ann was 2/3 car sick but the bears got her attention. This one crossed the road and then came back for a morsel. I was tempted to toss him an oreo but was selfish and didn't want to share.

This is a view of a glacier in Glacier National Park. There is a lot of seasonal snow yet. Seeing this in August would let you see the glacier in the saddle. They say glaciers will be gone by 2030 because of global warming. Personally, I have no desire to return to the Ice Ages.

Ann's comments: We really had a great trip and got to see a lot of absolutely beautiful scenery. It is amazing what God created. My favorite picture is the one of the lake. The water was clear and a beautiful color. The pictures we chose to put on the blog all show trees, but we also drove alongside Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Dinosaur National Monument and Craters of the Moon National Monument. The Flaming Gorge area was awesome. I am awe struck just looking at some of the huge rock formations and the different colors in them. We were going to bypass Craters of the Moon but decided to see it at the last minute. We were glad we went. We both like to look at the country. It snowed quite a bit as we were going through the top of the Medicine Bow Mountains. We were just behind some hail another place in Wyoming and did get rained on some. It was definitely not hot during our trip.

We saw quite a lot of wildlife also. Many, many antelope and a few babies, the two bears, a few deer ( while we were out of the vehicle looking at the river in Glacier, a deer came out of the woods, looked at me, mosied into the river, swam across, got out looked at Bob and wandered off into the woods.), 3 elk, about 4 bald eagle nests - 2 with eagles in them, some mountain goats, geese, pelicans, some big brown bird similar to cranes with a big red thing on the top of their beak and Scottish Highlander cattle. We also saw several sheepherder wagons. I saw a couple of men on horses herding a flock of sheep. I think the men were Basque herders. We saw another flock of sheep that a man had been checking on. He was walking back to his pickup and had a couple of dogs with him. The flock of sheep were a ways away. The sheep had two guard dogs with them that stay with them all the time. The dogs were busty chasing away some large birds that they must have thought were too close to the sheep. It was interesting to see them work.

We are sure glad we took the trip and would like to go back. I don't think I would like to be a semi driver and spend all my time in a driving or riding though. It's a good thing there are all diifferent kinds of people.

to

we're back!!

Last week I said that we were planning a trip without a destination and so we did. It was really a great time together to just go without a real plan and to see where we went and were God led us that day. We started out Monday morning and drove to Colo.Springs for Ann to look and order new quartz countertops. Garmin was great as the place was a hole-in-the wall in an industrial area but she took us right there. Of course, that took at least 2-3 hours but one of the men and I got to talking fly fishing so it wasn't all that bad. The countertops will actually be put into place the end of this week. Then we headed north up I-25 and then headed towards Rawlins and Ann drove for awhile and she decided to take this state highway through the Medicine Bow mountains. It started snowing and blowing and the road had snow piled up higher than the trailblazer on the shoulders. Anyhow we ended up in Saratoga, Wy. for the night. It was a pleasant place and we enjoyed one of the best steak dinners we've had in quite awhile. (steak dinners are sure expensive-wonder where the beef that we raise goes-it doesn't bring that much when it leaves our place). Tuesday we headed north from Rock Springs and turned west-southwest toward Idaho Falls,Id. After getting a warning ticket in Wy. I had to pay a little more attention to the road as it followed the Snake River(a big river by our standards). We then headed north through Hailey (spent the night there-ate Mexican-didn't compare to Charlies)and the next morning drove through Ketchum (next to Sun Valley)-serious money-really serious money. One of the highlights of the trip came that morning as we crossed a divide and came to the headwaters of the Salmon River with a fantastic view of the Sawtooth range to the west and no people. Anyhow Ann called ahead and got us reservations in Glacier Park for that night so we had a destination to reach that day. up through western Montana along the west side of the Flathead Lake and fantastic fertile farmground and orchards. Very pretty-barns were painted,no junk cars in the yard, fences kept up. saw a couple of cow elk in a farmers wheat field. The cabins we stayed in were on Lake McDonald-lakes there were crystal clear-and we drove out of the Park to eat at a high volume place (not great). Next day we drove in as far as we could on the going to the sun road (14 miles) and marveled at the turquoise rivers-seriously they are a shade of blue you never see in Colorado-and then drove about 150 miles around the south end of the Park to the east side and in as far as we could go and hiked to some falls on the upper Milk River. Drove out and up another road to view some glaciers. It was hard to discern which were glaciers and just seasonal snow as there was a lot of snow on yet. They consider their season to start June 15 in the Park and normally the Going to the Sun road would have been open. Saw Rocky Mountain goats on a mountain side 1/2 mile above us and 2 yearling black bear cubs outside the park on the Blackfoot reservation. Homes were pretty junky and unkept on the east side. Then we drove east to Shelby,Mt for the night. I had thought I wanted to drive across northern Montana but changed my mind after seeing Shelby. We headed south the next day and drove down the west side of Yellowstone and the Tetons through the Madison River valley. Awesome-thats where Dick and I are going flyfishing next summer and maybe we'll let Ann and Jo come along. Spent the night in Pinedale,Wy and had another good expensive steak dinner by a lake. Next morning Ann woke up and said she was ready to to home-I agreed and so we headed south to Rock springs. Somewhere she got the idea to go by Dinasour National Monument in NE Co. so we drove to Vernal,Utah and then headed east. The Monument and Green River canyons and were nice to see but there wasn't much to do unless you drove way into the monument so we spent about 1/2 hour at a visitors center and headed east across northern Co.(new country for me) I remember coming south through some of NW Co in the '60's with the camper on the '59 Ford. Maybelle, Craig and east on 40 to Steamboat(very crowded-road and sidewalks) down to Silverthorne and I-70 then east through Denver and home. Made it about 12:15 am after 813 miles and 15 hours-a long day. We drove 3240 miles with no trouble except I hit an antelope in SW Wyoming Saturday morning with minor damage except to the antelope. Ann has pictures we will try to share and she may add her thoughts. It did rain most of the week while we were gone which will really help finish the wheat. Harvest is several days away and it's about time to turn out bulls and get ready for harvest. I know this is lengthy but I felt the need to update you while it is fresh in my mind. Bob

Goings On 2

Time to update on our goings on for the past few days. Crops are planted, calves are branded,road ditches are mowed, yards are mowed and we are planning to make a trip to the dump tomorrow. Progress,Progress (with a capital "P").. Things are considerably less pressing than a couple of weeks ago. We've had some great spring rains and things are really green and lush. It's almost hard to believe that western Kansas can be so beautiful. I was riding pastures last week checking cows and there was actually water running out of hillsides in places. Yesterday we finished up branding with help from Jason and a friend Mike, and Russell. Gwen and Paige and Lane showed up later in the morning and we had a great lunch together courtesy of Ann and then Paige and I moved cows and calves back to where they needed to be and then we just pleasure rode for awhile. I showed her a couple of old dugout home sites on our place and tracks from the trail drives in the 1870's from Texas to Nebraska that still show up. Gwen mowed in the drizzle and took Lane to the creek and they picked some wildflowers for Ann.
Milo is coming up and the feedlot is completely empty. Life is great!!
We plan to attend a wedding in Hays Saturday and then think about leaving for the anniversary trip that Ann is planning. Still no definite destination though. What shall we do?
Harvest will start sometime around the 25th or sooner and wheat looks good. That will be here soon. I hope to replace some wooden feedlot fence with pipe and cable so we can have a project to work on for awhile.
Ann actually has been home mostly for awhile. She has a teacher inservice Thursday and Friday and is planning a kitchen remodel job(replacing countertops and maybe a shower(no-Bob doesn't do well at things like that). That's all folks and check in for an update on the trip destination. Bob

P.S.

I bought Ann a new Traegar smoker and grill for Mothers day and birthday. Guess what? Apparently the fan motor is defective as it keeps throwing breakers. We had planned to put a pork loin on to smoke and cook before we left for church. That's out the window now. We are disappointed in not being able to use it this weekend. Bob

Free kittens!! Any takers?

Ann now has 9 kittens in the garage. The first litter is about 10 days old and the other litter was born this afternoon. The mothers are two of the orphans she raised last spring after the mother disappeared. There is still one potential mother to bear fruit as well. Maybe she'll have 6!
I am amazed at how well the dogs have handled being moved out of their tire and straw beds. Nessa (my dog) gave me one of those-what's next,boss-looks awhile ago. She even shares her food (if she isn't looking). Hoover (Ann's lab) would like to mother them.
On another note,Paige did well at league track today with personal bests and new school records in both the 800 meter and the 1600 meter runs. Her goal was to set new league records but was off by about 3 seconds. A 7th grade boy from Leoti set a new league record in the 800 that had been good for 26 years-suppose the colleges will be taking note of him.
We had some more rain this week (not a lot) and several foggy and misty damp days. Corn is all in the ground but slowly coming up because of the cool weather. We have been busy shipping cattle and will load our last years calves Monday morning. The market isn't too great and we sold to a new buyer this year so I'm somewhat apprehensive about the return. We get a nice bonus for selling them as verified source cattle which means they can be sold to the Japanese market and hope that the quality premiums are there as well. The wheat looks great and everything is green. I heard on older fellow (older than me) say that's it's so green it hurts your eyes. It's great.
We are planning a 40th anniversary trip probably in early June. Any suggestions? I'm leaning to the Mogollon Rim country of Arizona that was told about in the Zane Grey novels. I think Ann would go about any where if she can get me to leave. Wheat is starting to head which means harvest around the 20th of June-be here soon, won't it? --Bob---

Frog chorus

Hey-for the first time this spring we, too have a frog chorus. Guess it warmed enough today for them to rise to the top. We had 3.20'' over the weekend and 1.20" last weekend. Things will green and grow now. The ranch had 1.90" last weekend and 3.50" this weekend. Roads dryed a lot today but are rough. The wheat will grow fast with the warm weather promised and grass is already greening and growing. We do give thanks for the blessing of the rain. This country depends so much on rainfall , it seems that we are always asking for rain. Calving is slowing as spring progresses and we need to be planning to brand calves and get turned out to grass. Corn planting is right away as well and we have 27 miles of fence to go around and have very little done. Anybody looking for something to do for a few days? We are about ready to sell last years steer calves. They will weigh around 1250#-can you gain nearly 4# a day for a year?
We had a young newly married ( as of today) Mennonite couple ask to rent our south house for awhile. I was'nt excited about having more to do but we agreed to let them move in next week.
We expect to visit Dad in the hospital tomorrow in Garden City and I am sure Ann has plans for at least some shopping while there. I get to go to the dentist Wednesday for a cleaning and checkup but I think I broke a tooth on the atomic fireballs the grandkids were feeding me last weekend. It seems those are hard to find but when I pickup a sack I get to overindulging. Bob