2011 Favorites

I thought I would start off with a recape of favorite pictures from this last year. 

May:  Here we have QT.

This is one of my favorite branding shots from June.

July:  Lamoille traffic jam.

August:  TR's first day cowboying with the Cow Boss.

September:  Moving cows down the road.

October:  Don't kiss me GiGi!

November:  Taking lessons

December:  Cowboy tools.







P365 November Highlights

December is nearly half finished, and I'm still trying to figure out where November went.  Here are my favorite pictures from November!

I took this picture of TR at the Cow Boss' folks place in Idaho.  It was a dreary overcast day, and TR was our bright spot of color in his new yellow vest.  "Mom!  It's yellow just like bananas, and I do love bananas!"  There was no talking him out of it!

QT is our little cosmonaut in his Elmer Fudd hat.  I just like the expression on his face!

I look at this picture and wonder who this long legged little boy is.  If I didn't recognise the red scotch cap, I would argue that it wasn't TR.  I find myself wondering what has happened to my babies and who these boys are a lot these days.  I like this picture because even though TR looks so tall, he still isn't tall enough to see over the gate!

It is tradition in my family to get a Christmas tree by the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We go up behind my family's ranch and cut down our own.  It includes lots of hiking looking for the perfect tree, then going back to the very first tree you saw to cut down, then coffee and cookies before heading back to my mom's house for lunch.  I love this picture so much, it is my Christmas card picture this year.  Some days you just picture the picture you want in your mind, and then it happens.  QT and I were waiting at the bottom of the mountain for TR and the Cow Boss.  When we saw them coming down the road with our tree, I knew that was my picture, and if I didn't take any other pictures that day, I had to take this one.

I wasn't at the right angle with this picture.  I wanted to get the Cow Boss and the horse he was working with in the picture as well so that you could see what the boys were watching.  If you look close you can see the horse, but no Cow Boss.

P365 October

What a busy week!  I feel so far behind today I may never catch up!  We've spent the last 5 days with the in laws in Idaho weaning, picking replacement heifers, and pregging our cows.  Our herd tripled last spring when, in a momentary lapse of judgement the Cowboss and I decided to take out a loan and buy some bred cows.  Our motto:  Buy high, sell low!  Well, we wont be selling low this year, we should be able to double our loan payment this fall, and hopefully cover ourselves just in case the market suddenly drops in the next year or two!  Who else but a cowboy and his wife would use their vacation time to brave chilly temperatures and do more cow work?!!

Here are my favorite P365 pictures from the month of October.  This first one I took of the Cowboss roping at my brother and sister's place in Northern Nevada.  My sister and her husband bought this cute little guy this fall.  For just a baby, he is really willing, and what he doesn't have in knowledge, he makes up with heart.  Kind of strange seeing these white calves, in a primarily black Angus area!



I like this picture because to me to speaks fall in northern Nevada.  It is dry, dusty, and in some places drab.  There is still a little green grass, but everything has taken on that brownish color that tells me snow is not too far away.

This week is S-Curve week.  You can see the road curving in an S away from TR and QT.  It gives the viewer a place to start at, and makes you wonder what is just beyond the edge of the picture, where the road is going to take them.



It also shows fall in the Rubies.

Here is our "Fudd Filly" aka "Sadie."  It is kind of an uncommon angle for a picture of a horse.  What I like the best is that it shows her kind eye.  You don't have to see all of her to know she is a horse.  I also really like the almost sepia feel of the picture.

We have some pretty high expectations for "Sadie"  she is a potential kids horse for TR and QT.  Her breeding should make her an awesome cow horse, something they can drag calves to the fire on, and sort cattle.  As a three year old, her kindness and willingness to do what is asked of her make us think she will be perfect for the boys before too long!

I think this cabin is called The Fish Creek Cabin.  We stopped here for lunch while Elk hunting a week ago.  I love the chinking between the ties, and felt that it just begged to be photographed.



Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I would have been there at a different time of the day, or asked the Cowboss to stand up so that he wasn't partially in the shadow.  I wish it wasn't so far away, it would be a great place for some family pictures.

Lastly, last week was Circle Week.  Our challenge was to find something circular in shape to photograph for the week.  While cutting wood I stumbled across this old barbed wire (literally!).  Keeping with the fall feel, it worked perfectly as a picture.

Nothing spectacular, but these are my favorites for the month!

My Favorite Pictures From September

The Elko County Fair is my favorite time of year.  It's always been the last big hoorah before going back to school.  It also means that haying is done, and being a rancher, we have a little bit of down time before shipping calves and beginning our fall works.  Fair time is fun time, until it isn't fun anymore, and I think this little girl had her limit!

Here the Cowboss and his help our moving some heifers down the road.  Everyone is relaxed and going along.  you would never imagine just minutes before these same heifers had crashed a gate and mixed with some others!

I love how curious yearlings are.  We needed to weigh these girls, and I was kneeling just outside the corral, waiting for the cowboys to get everything through the gate.  I have the feeling that if I would have waited just a little bit longer before taking this picture, I could have got a nose on my camera lens.  TR thinks it is great fun to lay down in the pasture and wait until these heifers are right next to him trying to figure out what he is, then jump up!

Why  is she hiding behind the tire you ask?  Because that is where all good cow dogs wait while processing cattle through a chute, especially if that is where their masters sweatshirt happens to be laying!  GiGi is a "Border Rat," and while she may not know why she is chasing cows, she does chase cows, but more importantly she is loyal!

This is my favorite bit.  I love the Santa Barbara cheek pieces, and my horse likes the mouth piece.  It isnt' anything spectacular, but I like it!  These are the first pair of rawhide reins the Cowboss braided.  He thinks they are hideous, but they are mine and I will use them if I want to!

A group of my friends and I have a project we have been working on since May.  We call is P365, and our goal is to take 1 picture everyday of the year.  We have weekly assignments to keep us inspired and give each other lots of feed back on the pictures we are taking.  These are some of my favorites from September.