February 2010

It has been a month since I made a posting to our ranch life blog. I wish I could say that it was because I have been spending allot of time in the great outdoors in the wonderful February/ springlike weather we have had in the past month. I will have to say that this February has been as beautiful as any in recent memory. Looking back over the month, I think we had two to four days with morning frost here at the ranch. Most days were covered with sunshine by late afternoon even though many days started out with gray, sometimes rainy and foggy weather conditions. Except for the few days with frost, our low temperatures have been in the mid to upper 30’s with high’s ranging from lower 40’s to mid-60’s. The grass has begun to turn green, growing in the pastures, on the bluff and horses have been pecking at the grass nibblets between morning and afternoon hay feedings. Everyone here is in good flesh for this time of winter.

Today was another gloriously beautiful day with sunrise coming through our bedroom window at 7:00 sharp. Skies were clear all day with afternoon temperatures near 60. This evening we had a very clear, not colorful sunset at 5:15 sharp as I was looking out our bedroom window. We now have a full 13-hours of functional daylight everyday. Today our downriver neighbor Robert came up and horseback rode (see video attached) with Kittee, as I felt like I should hold off from horseback riding another day or so while recouping from my 3-week-old chest/head cold.

Kittee and I started this month with high hopes of horseback riding every chance we could get. It worked well that way for the first week of the month, then I started getting sick with a chest cold, which turned into a chest/head cold, then Kittee got it. This last week of the month I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, so Thursday I went to the doctor and got some medication to clear/clean the mess out. Kittee began to improve on her own Wednesday. As this weekend came around we were both doing much better, health wise.

This month we spotted our first robin in Rusty’s keep on February 7th, and a week later we heard Redwing Blackbird songs from the tumbling muster weed field across the road. Throughout the month we have had flocks of Canada geese and ducks flying overhead many times a day, the ringneck pheasants cocks have been crowing throughout the days from the brush and bunch grass, and lately in the evening the owls begin their mating hoots to each other. Last evening I spent out with the mare herd after dark, watching the full moon rise and petting the girls all around me. Except for the morning foggy chills, it has been very much like early spring and the fruit growers in the valley have become quite concerned about their fruit trees and a way too early budding season now developing. Smokey has also found plenty of gopher mounds to keep an eye on for fresh meat during the past week or so.

During the past couple of weeks of feeling bad, and days being chilly and damp, night still being long… there was something on the FaceBook ditty, that provoked a lot of old family pictures to come to surface. I posted a number of photos to my Faceback album and I think three of my favorite are...










Grandparents
in '51


















Parents in '48

The McKids in '64

and the McKid's home in N.C. probably in April in bloom

During this month of illness, Kittee and I have had a chance to watch quite a few videos, some from the public library, some borrowed from friends, some bought from a local video store going out of business.

One that I was quite intrigued with was Unlocking The Mystery Of Life -- a study into Darwinism and intelligent design. Looking at natural organism’s rotary motors that spin at 100,000 rpm, and the complexity of DNA. If you can find this DVD, try to get a chance to watch it. It will give you allot to ponder on... How did this world happen to be??? I don't think it was by chance and chemistry, coming together in a warm briny cesspool spinning through the universe. A very interesting video presentation of natural facts.
Also in our video watching we borrowed from a friend two really good PBR story videos --
8 Seconds and Cowboy Up, both really good stories and
8 Seconds is the true story about the life of Lane Frost.


Now with three weeks of being "under-the-weather" during our beautiful February, I have spent the last two day "raking" around the ranch pastures and garden, and see the work I have cut out for me in the month of March. Hoping that winter doesn't come back around and bite us in the butt, with all the outdoor work and play I need to catchup on. This is a quick shot of the driveway daffodils this day 28 February.

Let me not forget to mention the stonefly hatch we are having around the ranch this week. Today I encountered quite a few stoneflies while at the riverside arena, and then when I got back to the house I found more stoneflies around the back porch, sitting on the picnic table. 'Tis also the season for the spring stonefly hatch...
























And that the way it has been around the ranch this February 2010 --
Dale