24 Hours Near Heaven

We just spent 24 hours in the closest spot we can get to heaven without actually going there. HOME!

We drove ourselves all night and through the day, stopping in Billings for a few hours that I resented but were necessary. The truck has been sporting a lovely orange check engine light for the past week so we needed to get that checked out. Fortunately it turned out to be a broken wire causing communication issues for the truck computer. Easy quick fix once they had time to get to us. And then it we had two errands and a stop at Walmart for truck groceries (we were out of EVERYTHING in here) and then the last miles to home. We arrived at 10:00 on Saturday night.

I look forward to the day I get to go to heaven! It will be wonderful and God can take me there whenever He's ready. But for now, home feels pretty close to being there, and I'll enjoy every moment I get.

 During our 24 hours near heaven, we:

Slept in our bed for 6 whole hours! Which was not near enough! But it sure felt nice!

I washed 5 weeks worth of dirty laundry ,plus all the bedding, utilizing both our washer and my in-laws! It took the whole day, and both my and my mother-in-law, but I assure you, the interior of the truck smells much better now and we have a plentiful supply of clean things to wear!

Malcolm went with his dad to an auction in the morning, and of course they found treasures to bring home.

And then in the afternoon we all met down at the summer pasture to move the pairs that were there closer to the corrals so they could be worked today.

I didn't take the camera out with me on the 4wheeler b/c I'd taken my Nikon instead of my little Cannon Elph. So no cow moving pictures. Maybe next time. I also forgot to take along my allergy medicine, and so once again I'm suffering the effects that a large herd of cows stirring up dust and pollen seem to create for me. When will I learn?

Afterwards, we went into town to eat, and then home to throw our stuff in the truck and hit the road. We left the house at 10:00pm.  Call us pathetic, but we only made it to Wibeax before stopping. That's only about an hour and a half. Malcolm had already layed down and I was going to drive as far as I could before stopping. I didn't make it far. But I wasn't going to go any further and run the risk. I was just too tired. So we slept there a few hours and then finished the trip to Fargo early this morning.

Now we're unloaded and headed to reload a short trip to South Dakota, then we'll grab a load and go to California, where we're slotted to reload sunflowers and come back to Fargo, probably by Friday.

Amid all our rushed and hurried home activities, I did manage to squeeze in some hurried quality time with the horses. Lucky me, they were all standing together, even though they are in two different pastures, so I didn't have to travel to say hello to everyone. Malcolm's parent's had told us that Gemma had darkened up considerably, but WOW!

This is Gemma in August, about 6  weeks ago. She was just starting to show signs of turning color in a few places.

And this is Gemma yesterday! Talk about a difference! It was expected, but still amazing!

She is quite the character. Still finds me a little intimidating, but if I sit down or kneel, she's immediately over to me to visit and get a scratching, and she's slowly getting used to the tall version of me. Give her a break. She doesnsn't get to see me that often!
I discovered during this visit that she likes her belly scratched as much as the dogs do, and if you scratch her rump, she'll practically sit down in your lap from the pleasure of it!



With her standing so close, its easy to see all her markings, and she has some neat spots on her legs. She wears bracelets on both her front legs. I think they are cute!

While I was busy visiting with the girls...

...the boys were in a huddle on the other side of the fence trying to figure out how to get me and that bucket over closer to them.

I did go over and visit and handed out cookies, and discovered that all three of them had been rolling and rubbing their heads in something very sticky. It was not a pleasant petting session so I ended it early. And when they realized that was all they were getting, they finally got bored enough to go on about their business of the day.

 The fall colors are starting to make their appearance. I love this time of year!

 It was kind of hard to leave home after such a short visit. We weren't real pleased about it. But we've committed to staying out till the end of October. Calves ship on Halloween, and we'll stay out till time to go home to help with that and do some other things, and rest up for another round of trucking. It is so tempting sometimes to just throw in the towel and forget it all and go home permanently, but that's not realistic. Until the time comes when we can do so responsibly, these short breaks will have to do. And we'll take as many of them as we can get.

Anyone want to take a guess at what color Gemma is going to finish up as? Originally I said buckskin, but I'm leaning more towards Grulla for now. I guess only time will tell. What do you think?