An Illustrated Recap of November...

...because it would take too many words to tell it all. Well, there will be a few words, maybe quite a few, but I'll keep it to a minimum as best I can. You know how "wordy" I can get sometimes.

We were home for a little more than 3 1/2 weeks.

There were some early mornings...

...and some late nights.



 After our trip to Helena to pick up Reba and Fancy, the next big event was rounding up cows...

...sorting in the corrals...

...and loading the calves up to go to their new homes.

 Over the course of 2 1/2 weeks, we hauled cattle 4 days, taking calves to the scale in town, the rest of the calves to the sale barn near Belle Fourche, hauling "open" cows to the sale another day, and bringing home 4 loads of bred cows from summer pasture. In all, we ran about 1200 miles just shufflin' cows around from place to place.

 Aside from cow business though, there were other things going on. Friendships were formed....

...some more reluctantly than others.

And old friendships were rekindled. Judy from Loves Ranch Life and More made the trip to Baker to have lunch with me one day, and on another day my mother-in-law and I went to a neighbor's for a short visit and to get some of her wonderful home made soaps.

I just love these soaps from Pure Prairie Soap, and the lady who makes them is a delightful person! I was so glad to finally meet her and get to visit, and my mother-in-law enjoyed getting to catch up with a friend.

Back at home, there were crafting successes....

...and cooking failures.

my sister's carrot cake runeth over. Delicious taste, stinky mess in my oven!

 Injuries were mended...

...and lots of pampering of the princess commenced to make her feel better.

And just because the calves were shipped and another years "crop" was in the bag, that didn't mean outside work was over. Maintenance is an on going chore, and often requires some creativity. My caption for this picture? How many men does it take to change a light bulb?

  The answer? Two! If they have a bucket of tools, a step ladder, a semi trailer, a tractor to lift them up, a woman to run the tractor, and a dog to wait patiently in the warmth of the tractor and out of the wind. Smart girl! Some chores take team effort, no matter how small they may seem.

 We also made time for some outdoor recreation while the weather was still nice! A motor had been recently acquired and fitted to the S.S. JMBAR Cruiseship, so we had to take it out for a test run before it all got packed up for the winter. It sure beats rowing!

 And of course, Gemma got a few lessons worked into her busy schedule. The dog and I are her best buds! She's even started to whinny at me when she sees me coming and meets me half way.

 It's sweet, but I sure hope our friendship doesn't take on similarities to her bond with Lucy. I had a surprise opportunity to catch my future cutting horse (?) at work. I'm not sure her play partner was enjoying the game as much as she was.

I appologize for the racket. I was standing at the gate where all the mama cows were congregated looking for their missing calves. They sure can raise a ruckus!

The last week at home, my mother-in-law and I made a total of four trips to Belle Fourche, SD for Paris's leg injury. That's about a 3 hour drive there and another three hours back. So we had lots of visiting time. We also discovered a neat quilting shop and a very pleasant coffee house across the road. On Friday we had our last vet appointment during which I became concerned that Paris couldn't come with us after all. The vet needed to change her splint bandaging once a week, and there were already sores forming on her leg. Turns out hairlessness is a disadvantage when your wearing a cast!

I was very frustrated because I'd been counting on taking her with us, and now it didn't look promising. BUT...our home town vet whom we adore (but who isn't set up for the little guys yet, thus our trip to Belle Fourche) had Malcolm and I, and Paris, come to her home on Sunday, where she spent an hour going over the process of taking off the dressings, medicating the sutures, and re wrapping and splinting the leg. I was leery of being responsible for it, but she assured us that we could do it without problems, and also reassured me that the splint is actually just a secondary support. In fact, if the sores persist or get worse, we're to take the splint off and leave it off. All that metal in her leg (see earlier pictures in this post) is what's actually supporting her while the bones heal. And it all gets to stay in there too. Little Paris and her new bionic leg.

The last days at home provided some beautiful scenery...

...to be enjoyed from the window as I baked cookies for the girls, wrapped Christmas presents, and gathered our things together for re-packing the truck.

It was a busy home time, lots of work, a little play, a few traumatic moments, but even with problems and being tired, it was just good to be home!

We left Monday morning, loaded near Timber Lake, SD and headed south towards Colorado.

 Leaving home is always a bit bitter sweet. We hate to leave, and yet by the end of these long breaks, we feel compelled to be productive again. Home time was great, but really, it's not so bad being back in the truck.

 Especially knowing in a few weeks we'll have more time off, and this time it will be for a Tennessee Christmas! We haven't seen my family since April, and we haven't had a Tennessee Christmas for a couple of years. I CAN'T WAIT!

Mom's beatiful garden under a rare TN snow last winter