Pushing Wind in Wyoming

Last Saturday morning we delivered a load of sand in Sidney, and then headed home to camp out a couple of days waiting on the next load.

Well, a couple days turned into several because the farmer was waiting on paperwork. So we took care of some home chores, played and relaxed, and tried to stay warm. Saturday and Sunday were nice, but by Monday the temperatures had plummeted into the frigid ranges. On Tuesday, Malcolm and I went out to get some bulls in who had gone wandering onto a neighbors land and we went ahead and brought in the adult horses too. All the water holes in that pasture had frozen due to the extreme cold, so there was no use in them being out there.

Everyone looked pretty good, but they were all happy to get to the water tank and then the hay. Dawn, much to my consternation, still has milk! I weaned Gemma more than 2 months ago, and thought surely Dawn would be dry by now! There's not much of a bag though, so hopefully she's getting close.

Reba, my sweet girl who loves me, does NOT love the other horses. She seems to have assumed the roll of "mom" to Gemma, even though Reba herself is not yet 2 years old. She doesn't like other horses to come near her "baby" and also wasn't too thrilled with them being in her castle and eating her hay or drinking from her water tank. I still had Dawn on a lead when Reba decided to let Dawn know she was getting to close. I wasn't even thinking, and that's my fault. I should have been watching and expecting it. Anyway, Reba suddenly whirled around and feet flew. She wasn't aiming for me, but my arm got in the way. And I'll not be making that mistake again. It's true that experience is the best teacher.

and this is 4 days after the kick, so it's faded a bit

We finally got the go ahead to load on Thursday. This was the closest load we've ever gotten from home. It was only 36 miles to the southeast. We took a load of organic wheat to Platteville, CO and delivered Friday morning. Then we spent the better half of the day trying to get reloaded with organic corn about 60 miles away.

We stopped last night just shy of the Wyoming state line, and slept. Then got up and had breakfast in Laramie before heading west.

We're taking our time getting to CA, kind of hoping the storms over the Wasatch and Sierra Nevada ranges blow themselves out before we get there. We'd prefer not to have to chain up this weekend! In the mean time, it's still a little slick in spots out here in Wyoming...

...and as usual the wind was blowing going over Elk Mountain. No surprise there. I think it always blows on that stretch of road!

It makes for some challenging driving at times. Gusts suddenly shove us from the side and Malcolm has to hold the wheel at an odd and uncomfortable angle almost the whole way across, fighting to stay in our lane.

Today was a good day though on Elk Mountain. Despite the strong wind, we only saw one wreck and though it looked really ugly, it didn't appear there were any serious injuries.

I had a fun surprise waiting for me this morning when I opened my email! Dreaming, Doc and Pippin over at Living a Dream awarded my blog the Liebster Award! I am so honored that she selected my blog as one of her 5 to pass the award to, and also touched that she feels like we've become "dear" friends through blogging! I feel the same way about her and several others. Blogging has opened a world of friendships for me and I hope it's done the same for you! .

Liebster means “dearest” in German, and the award is intended to help up-and-coming blogs get the attention they deserve. Here are the rules:



1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.


2. Link back to the blogger who gave the award.


3. Pick five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.


4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs

I'm passing this along to these five dear bloggers whose blogs have touched and enriched my life.

1. Michaele at Sprout 'n' Wings Farm. She is always up to something fun, whether it be crafting, cooking, or playing with her critters. And she and her lovely daughters are always off on some fun adventure!

2. Valerie at A Garden of Thoughts.  She is another of my dearest blogger friends, and would be even if she wasn't my mom, because her blog is so much fun to read! Gardening, chickens, and wonderful recipes! (plus a little peak at what's going on with my family back home in TN).

3. One of my newest buddies whose real name I still don't now, but her blog is MTWaggin. Three main reasons why I enjoy her blog so much: (a) she's in Montana, (b) she has naked dogs like mine as well as a beautiful standard poodle, (c) she posts lots of beautiful pictures of her naked dogs and her poodle having the time of their lives in Montana!

4. Shirley at Ride a Good Horse. I'm bending the rules a bit for Shirley because I'm supposed to pick blogs with less than 200 followers and Shirley has 208. However, she definitely fits the "dearest" description. She his been a consistent commenter on this blog for a long time, a great horse mentor to me, and now also a good facebook friend. I first "met" Shirley through Sunday Stills, and continue to admire and enjoy her photographs of her Canadian Mountains and her beautiful horses.

5. Meagan at My Lens On Life.  Lots of wonderful recipe ideas, beautiful pictures, and she's always up to something fun!  This is my sister who is a new mommy, a wonderful cook, a self taught photographer who does some beautiful work, and all around cool person to know and read about!