July 21, 2008

Before the Branding Ever Happened

After gathering cattle from the nether regions of the ranch, the guys wanted to eat their lunches (they made their own...way to go!) and relax a minute before working the rest of the afternoon.  The kiddos were more interested in playing than eating after our long drive.  I found Halftime and Squirt up at the water tank.  What is it with kids and water???  I have to admit, I was the exact same way. Whether it was a cool stream up in the mountains, a stand of nasty swamp water across the field, or an irrigation ditch in the backyard, we were drawn to it. Water seems to hold magical qualities that are enhanced by the wonders of childhood.07 16 08_1299_edited-1

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Best cousins: Halftime & Squirt (It was Squirt's 6th B-day)

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Heading in for lunch.  They're going to at least pretend to eat before sneaking off to the tree house.

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Half Time get SO sick of posing for me....but he's a good sport!

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Who knew an old windmill could provide so much fun? Halftime, Little J, Squirt, and Tatertot

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Ready for the Olympics?  You know Half Time, your daddy was a gymnast as a kid....maybe that's what led him to break dancing?

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My boys.

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That's not a squint, it's a wink. And a fine one at that.

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What are they looking at?

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The boys found two baby bunnies under the oak trees.  It was lots of fun until Halftime started worrying about the other boys hurting the bunnies and had to order them to vacate the area.

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Auntie M's maternal instinct kicked in and she wanted to take one home...REALLY wanted to take one home.  In the end, she settled for photographing it with Honky Tonk.  (her camera takes great pictures...I'll have to find out what it is)  How do you like those "working man's"
hands? 

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At the end of the day, after Halftime sprayed the ears and rears of about 80 calves, we had to pry them out of the tree house and promised to return to Horse Springs the following week. (Halftime was not too pleased that he had spent the day working instead of playing) We sent these two home with Papa J so that Honky Tonk could ride home with us.  We didn't even come close to hitting an elk on the way home.  Phew!  Back across the state line and home just in time to feed again.

3 comments:

Michelle Ashton said...

Love the Pictures! Did you take them? They are soooo good!

Honey Girl said...

I think I took them all except the ones of Spence with the rabbits and the two cousins posing with their arms around eachother. Spence's sis took those. She took a few of the ones in the post before it too. It's easy to take good pics on the ranch...it's a lot harder to take cute ones in my messy house and yard! :) That's why you don't see any of them...people will know that we're just plain white trash :)

Tracey said...

You blog is so cute. You're pictures are amazing. We wish we had gotten to see you another time. We hung out with Troy's family the rest of the weekend.