Shipping Cattle

We shipped steers on Saturday. Jason was glad to see them gone. They are a lot of extra work on top of our calving herd. They were always getting out (as a matter of fact Saturday afternoon after the trucks left the neighbors found 11 missing steers of ours), and they required a lot of doctoring. The kids and I had a fun time watching. I wondered the whole time we were there why cattle handling is so appealing (to me anyway)?

The trucks lined up on the side of the road ready to load. I think there were 13 trucks (we shipped about 850 steers).

Weighing the steers.

The buyer is sorting off the ones he doesn't want.

And loading.

It was a fun morning. I'm sure all the guys were wondering why I was there with all my kids - it's not really a spectator sport. But they didn't seem to mind and the kids and I had a great time.

Wyoming

A couple of weekends ago we went to Wyoming for Cole's ordination to the priesthood. My parents brought lots of produce from Washington and we spent all of Saturday making freezer corn, canning peaches and making peach jam (and doing some yard sale-ing).

I'm glad to see Ryder and Claire Bear are still friends. (He thinks it is so cool that her name is Claire Bear.)

Sunday morning pictures: Summer and Dallie.

Kam, Ryder, Kache, Justin, Weston, Renton, Cole, Wyatt.

Ashley, Lexi, Claire, Emma, Dallie and Summer.

Doug had the magical touch.

Thanks for the fun weekend Jensens!

The Big High and Lonesome

The Big High and Lonesome

by Baxter Black

The big high and lonesome's a place in my mind

like out from Lakeview to Burns.

Or up on the Judith or at Promontory

'bout where the U P track turns.

It's anywhere you feel tiny

when you get a good look at the sky

and sometimes when it's a'stormin'

you can look the Lord in the eye.

I stood and watched in amamzement

out on San Augustine Plain

While the sky turned as black as the curtains in Hell

and the wind come a'chasin' the rain.
And standing there watching I felt it

in the minutes before it arrived
And unearthly stillness prickled my skin

like the storm itself was alive.

When it hit, it hit with a fury

the wind with its sabre unsheathed

Led the charge with the scream of a demon;

the storm was barin' its teeth,
The thunder cracked and the sky split apart

with a horrible deafening roar
I felt like a fox in a cage made of bones

in sight of the hounds at the door.

The blackness shook like a she-bear.

The lightning blinded the sun
The rain fell like bullets around me

scattering dust like a gun!

It was over as quick as it started

leaving it peaceful instead
The only sound was the beat of my heart

pounding inside of my head.

I took off my hat too shaken to move

afraid of making a sound

I felt like a man on the head of a pin

with nobody else around.
But the sun was already sparkling

in raindrops still wet on my face.
The big high and lonesome is only God's way

of putting a man in his place.

This was the view to the east as I left home to get Kache from school yesterday. It seems like the storms always split and go around us.

The storm to the south. I was envious of the rain everyone was getting.

Then on our drive home we saw this storm and we were hopeful that it was going to hit our place.

As we got closer to home the cloud got more ominous. This was at the mailboxes (about 15 minutes from home) and the rain was just about to hit. I made it another mile before I had to put it in 4-wheel drive.

By the time I made it to our driveway I could see blue skies, but the rain was still coming down pretty good.

Our driveway looked more like a crick than a road.

We got home to Jason trying to get the water away from the house. He had been out hauling hay when the storm hit. He said it only lasted 20 minutes, but we got almost an inch of rain. Our neighbor 2 miles north said it just sprinkled at his house.

I didn't even realize we were going to be having rain or I would have brought the clothes in off the line.

All that rain yesterday made for a pretty view for our drive to school this morning.

The weather in the Plains never ceases to amaze me.

First Day of School

We survived Kache's first couple days of school. He was a little nervous the night before school started, but when we got to school he was fine. It is a long day for him (and me). The drive to school is 45 minutes. We really like his teacher.

The night before the big day. (Dallie got those Dora jammies from Claire and she loves them.)

Kache's chair. I ask him everyday who he sits by but he doesn't remember any names.

Ryder asks a couple times a day where Kache is. We'll be on the way home from dropping Kache off and Ryder will ask where Kache is. This will be a big adjustment for Ryder and I. Ryder lost his buddy. He will play outside or in his room for a few minutes and then come ask me where Kache is and then he will just follow me around for a while. I lost my right-hand man; my babysitter, bug catcher, spider killer, etc. Hopefully we'll be able to adjust to our new life.

Nothing

I think we've been busy, but I can't remember what we've been busy doing. I guess it is all just the usual - kids, yard work, town, laundry, church lessons, talks, music, doctoring cattle, moving cattle, etc.

Dallie and Kache playing piano.

These funny birds chase each other. But it's really funny when they take off after a cat.

The kids had bicycle races the other day. Dallie always won.