Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend flew by at lightning speed, and we crammed as much stuff into it as possible. Here are some snippets of our 4 day weekend.

My son and my husband woke up early to go gather the last few cows that needed to be hauled to summer pasture while the girls and I went out for a breakfast date.

We got our little old 4-wheeler running like a champ, so the kids spent a day riding it while we irrigated.

We replaced the floor in the old stock trailer with new lumber that was milled from wood that came off last year's fire.  We applied several coats of linseed oil and turpentine mixed together. Then we put the rubber mats back over the top.  Hopefully the new floor will last for many years to come.

 Here's the end result. You could 2-step on it if you wanted to.

 After church on Sunday, I went for a lovely and peaceful ride, and the kids spent the afternoon riding as well.

  My old dog tried to follow me behind my horse for about an acre, and then gave up and went for a swim in the irrigation water, instead.  He's been paying for it for two days now. He's so crippled up that we've been having to medicate him and help him stand in the mornings.  Somehow, I think it was well worth the stiffness for him to get the chance to frolic through the water. He doesn't get many opportunities to frolic anymore since we retired him from his duties to live the house-dog life.

The calves are still growing like weeds. We'll be branding them in two weeks.

Nothing goes to waste around here. My husband cut the  rotten ends off of the old trailer flooring, and used the remaining  good wood to make a new loading chute in one of the pastures.  We've got a lot of work to do here, but the new design is coming along nicely. I think it will make life much easier when it's completed.

On Monday, we spent the day re-planting a bunch of the garden.  We had HORRIBLE weather this weekend. First we had high winds with gusts over 60 mph, and then it dropped down to 25 degrees one night and froze all of our little squash plants, green beans, cucumbers, and a bunch of flowers that budded out in the yard.  It was so aggravating because we  carefully covered them all and they still froze anyway. We drove by entire fields of corn that were 4 inches high and completely dead.  Such is life on the mountain.  We all re-plant when mother nature throws us a curve ball. By Monday it was 85 degrees and calm again.  A while ago, I told you that gardening on this mountain is not for the faint of heart, and I meant every word of it.


That's our weekend in a nutshell.  Exhausting, but deeply satisfying. We were all asleep before our heads hit the pillow each night, and in my opinion, that's the best kind of rest!



Nell