Sunday Drive

I am so glad that the weather is beginning to act a little more like spring here in Western Nebraska. Actually, we really have not had that bad of a winter this year, in my opinion. But, winter is not over yet and there is plenty of time for a blizzard or two to hit. A couple of years ago we had two Spring blizzards that really reeked havoc and we actually lost a couple of calves to the storms. I'm praying for beautiful weather for when we start to calve.

Dan the Man has been pushing back our calving season the past few years so we should start calving the end of April, beginning of May. I can't wait. The babies are so stinking cute. It is one of my favorite parts of our operation. Chicken processing is the least favorite. I also hate making chicken feed.

Today the high is suppose to get up to 73 degrees! Yippee! Sunday was also a beautiful day. Dan the Man and I decided to take a drive and get out of the house. I grabbed my camera and off we went.

We headed west into Wyoming since I was still kicking myself for not stopping in Lexington to get some shots of the snow geese. I was hoping we would find some snow geese at the Table Mountain Wildlife Habitat Management Area. So we drove there via back country roads.

I know I tell you this all the time, but there might be some new people looking at my blog for the first time, so this is for them, not you old timers. If you would like to see a full screen view of the photos, which I fully recommend, just click on the photo. To return to the blog, hit your browser's back button.

Wheat fields on top of Table Mountain. Beautiful clouds.

And just to the west of the wheat fields...

A familiar sight in Western Nebraska and Eastern Wyoming.
Minuteman Missile Silo, this one is S-5.
90th Missile Wing LGM-30 Minuteman Missile Launch Sites.

... and then more wheat fields.

Modern phone lines in WyoBraska.
This is why your internet is so slow if you are still on dial-up!

Did I mention that the roads were a little muddy?


Table Mountain WHMA


Table Mountain WHMA
Full of Canadian Geese and Snow Geese, but too muddy to walk out and get better pictures.
I plan on going back when it dries up a little, but with my luck, the snow geese
will be gone by then.


Beautiful Percheron (draft horse) posing nicely along side the road for me.


You are stunning!


One room school house.
Does anyone know the name of this school?


Dan the Man tried to do some research on the school and all that he came up
with was an article about Stanley K. Hathaway.
"The Hathaways homesteaded near Huntley, Wyoming.
He was raised on the farm near Huntley and received his primary education in the one-room country schools at Table Mountain and New Fairview, Wyoming."
Hathaway was governor of Wyoming from 1966-1975.
After retiring from the Governor’s office in 1975, Hathaway was nominated and served under President Gerald Ford as Secretary of the Interior. He was Wyoming’s first cabinet officer.

hmmm, interesting!


Dan the Man taking a peek inside.

There were church pews inside so I wonder if it was most recently used as a church building?
An old upright piano sat silently in one corner.
The west wall consisted of a chalk board that was at least 24 feet in length!



The forlorn merry-go-round sat patiently waiting for it's next passenger.


Love this picture!


The merry-go-round beckoned us to take a spin.



I couldn't go too fast with Dan the Man because
he gets motion sick at the drop of a hat!
One trip around was enough for him.


Then it was my turn.



Just in case you want to get your own merry-go-round you can contact this company!
Be sure to ask for the model "J".


Potty break, it's a double-seater, but not a double-decker.
You should never use a double-decker, but if you have to,
make sure you take the top one.
hee, hee!

This outhouse was at the school.




Once again, a day in the life of the Country Chicken Girl and her man Dan.

and they lived happily ever after...







THE END.

On the way home...

This is a continuation of my previous post, Women in Ag Conference. That one was getting just a little too long so I decided to break it up into two parts. This part is my trip back home from Kearney.

Well, the conference ended on Friday afternoon at 1:30 pm. I wish I could have stayed another night there to spend more time with Chris and Katy, but since I had the Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Market on Saturday, that was not an option.

The conference ended with a big filling lunch and the final guest speaker, Georgeann Wearin. I was ready for a nap, but instead, I had to drive all the way back across the state of Nebraska to get back where I belonged, my comfy house, with my comfy nap-taking-couch, which I was so longing for.

I fueled up the pickup and headed west on I-80. Remember how I said I was going to stop and take pictures of the snow geese if they were still at that body of water by Lexington? Well, the snow geese were there, but my heart just wasn't in the mood to stop. I was tired and on a mission to get home and change into my jammies, snuggle with my cats and oh, ya, snuggle with Dan the Man. So... I blew right past those snow geese. Lame, I know... but that's how the cookie crumbled.

Another place I was going to stop and take pictures of was Ash Hollow, just east of Lewellen. Guess what? Yep, same pitiful story. All that I wanted to do was get home. So once again I didn't stop.

Aren't you glad I made a continuation of the previous post so I could tell you all the things that I did not do?

By the time I made my way down HWY 26, my butt was going to sleep, since I had only stopped once to visit the rest area. The sun was getting somewhat close to setting so I decided that I could at least stop at Chimney Rock. If it was a gorgeous sunset and I didn't stop, I would really be hating myself.

It was a little windy, imagine that? (Inside joke for those who know about the wind and Nebraska) It was also a little chilly so I knew I wouldn't last long. I stopped at the visitor center and snapped a few pictures and then took the "scenic drive" up to the cemetery and took a few more.

The pictures are not spectacular, especially since the sunset was not too impressive, but with a little photo editing, I don't think they turned out all that bad.

Remember that you can click on the photos for a full screen view of them, just hit your browser's back button to return to the blog.

This view is from the visitor center.



This view was taken up by the cemetery.
And of course I did a little photo editing.


Another view up by the cemetery.



I think headstones are interesting.

When Dan the Man and I went to Mexico several years ago,
we were walking somewhere and we went past a cemetery.
I wanted so badly to go inside and look at some of the headstones
and take pictures of a few, but Dan the Man would not have anything
to do with that. He was certain we would be beaten, robbed and left for dead
if we were caught in a cemetery in Mexico! I am sure that would not have
been the case, but now-a-days, I'm not too certain...



This headstone had fallen of it's base.
Actually there were several that were in this condition.


The last picture I took since I was starting to get cold
and I was longing for home sweet home.

For those of you not familiar with Chimney Rock, it is one of the most famous landmarks on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails. It is beautiful how it towers up out of nowhere on the prairie. Chimney rock was one of the field trips we took as school children. I don't remember what grade we were in when we went there, but I do remember one fact. That fact being that the Native Americans called the rock "Elk Penis." It was also a lot taller when I was a child. It has been hit by lightening several times since then and has also eroded away over the years.

Read more at the Wikipedia page on Chimney Rock National Historic Site.


When I got home, Dan the Man and Skyler were just sitting down for a gourmet dinner of frozen pizza. Luckily I was not hungry, so I opted to skip dinner. I put on my jammies and slippers, grabbed a blankie, a nice hot cup of coffee and the nearest kitty and curled up on the couch and watched tv.

Home sweet home.

Woman In Ag Conference

I'm trying to catch up on some things that I had meant to blog about a while ago. I am going back chronologically in my pictures and am going to write a few posts that I meant to write earlier, but just haven't done. I'm not sure exactly why I haven't had time. This is suppose to the the slow part of our season.

Any way, first on the agenda is the Woman in Agriculture Conference in Kearney that I took part of on February 17th and 18th. Platte Valley Bank of Morrill generously offered to pay my way to the conference, including lodging and the conference fee, and I graciously accepted. Heck yes, a chance to get out of dodge for a few days, see son #3 (Chris & Katy, his girlfriend), eat food that is prepared by someone other than moi, stay in a hotel and watch HGTV on CABLE TV. You betcha!

The conference started on Thursday morning, so I went down Wednesday. Kearney is about 290 miles from home, a little south and a whole lot of east of here. The thing about Nebraska, is that it is a long way across our state. Mind you, we live 4 miles from the western border of Nebraska, almost in Wyoming. It's about 660 miles to Omaha, which is on the eastern border of Nebraska. One good thing about I-80 and traveling across the state is that I think we have nice rest stop facilities along the interstate! When I go east I take HWY 26 to Ogallala and then get on I-80 and continue east on the interstate. I love the drive along HWY 26. If I would have had more time, I would have stopped and taken pictures of some of my favorite places like Ash Hollow, but I didn't on the way there. I did make one stop on the way back. I'll share that in a bit.

Along the way, I saw tons of Canadian geese, not an unusual sight for Nebraska, especially since my route followed the North Platte River. I also saw a enormous flock of snow geese by the Museum of Military Vehicles just outside of Lexington. That pond that is just to the west of that helicopter was just chuck full of snow geese. I told myself that if the snow geese were there on the way home, I would stop and take a picture of them.

I "borrowed" this picture from the museum website. Those of you who have driven I-80 have seen this helicopter. I wonder how many of you have actually stopped at the museum? I know that my friend/neighbor has stopped with her kids, because I saw pictures on Facebook. Looks interesting, but not THAT interesting to stop and do by yourself.



As I was making my way across this great state in which I have lived 25 of my 45 years I thought about the countless times I have traveled this road. It seems as if not much has changed. My favorite houses along the way are still there. (I love looking at houses, do I have a house fetish?) If you travel with me sometime I will point out each one along the way. There are a few new ones that have been built in recent years and some of my old favorites have gotten face-lifts! I love following the North Platte River and crossing it along the way.

Oh wait, this isn't a post about driving across the state of Nebraska...

So anyway, I arrived at the hotel in which the conference was located and also in which Platte Valley National Bank had so graciously put me up for the next two nights in. I checked in and moseyed on down to my bunk for the night. Oooo, nice! So this is the Holiday Inn in Kearney! Oooo, I like! Fancy-schmancey! You can click on the link to check it out if you want to. I took a few pictures of my room for you, but didn't get any of the lobby.

Oooo, comfy! Ooo, la, la, I like those little sash things on the pillows.
Cute, cute, cute way to dress up a pillow without a sham.
Keeping idea for future decoration possibilities.

Are you serious?
I can choose between "soft"...

... or "firm" pillows?
I may never want to go back to the ranch!

ooo, nice big screen!
Is there HGTV?
Yes, SCORE!!!!

Bathroom
psst... notice the phone to the right of the mirror?


"Hello, this is room 121 and I ran out of toilet paper.
Could someone please bring me some?"
hee, hee
What do you need a phone in the bathroom for?


Me taking a picture of me in the bathroom!

After I got settled in I called Chris to let him know that I made it to Kearney. Before I came, we had made plans that I would take Chris and Katy out to dinner that night, since it was the only meal that was not going to be provided for me through the conference. So, I went over to Chris' place to meet him and Katy.

It does a mother's soul so much good to walk into her son's, single, living alone, no roommates, apartment and to find it so nice and clean! All those years of boot camp upbringing and household chores really must have sunk in... either that or dear Katy cleans up after you, dear son!

We went to a nice Italian place for dinner, can't remember the name of it, so I can't do a review of it and besides I didn't take any pictures of it. I didn't want to embarrass Katy with the obsessive, compulsive picture taking. I really like her and don't want to scare her off. Hee, hee!

After dinner it was back to the hotel for a swim in the pool and a soak in the hot tub. I was so full from dinner that I didn't think that I wanted to swim so I told Chris and Katy I would just go with them and sit by the pool. But after watching them go down the slides, I was headed back to the room to put on my suit and join the fun!

The Slides!
The green one was open and the yellow one was enclosed.
I don't think I've ever done a slide where you are enclosed in it.
It was freaky fun and fast.
I can't remember which one was faster,
but I hit the back of my head as I was coming down one of them
because I was going soooo fast!
I might have even screamed like a little girl...
I don't remember because it was so scary fun!

Here comes Katy, so fast the camera couldn't focus on her!

Up goes Chris.
There were tons of stairs to climb.
By the time I got to the top, I needed a break,
not only because my legs were tired of climbing
but because I was so dizzy from going around and around in a spiral.


Here comes Chris!
He's so fast it looks like he might slide right up and over the side of the slide!
Be careful Christopher!


Chris and Katy exiting the pool.
Katy in shock at how fast the slide was!

I didn't make the kids take a picture of me.
You can thank me for sparing you the embarrassment of seeing
me in a swimming suit!

Had I not had to climb those stairs to slide down the slide, I would have done it way more times than I did. It was fun. After the slide, we went to the whirlpool. Ouchie mama, man was it hot at first, but after we adjusted to the hotness, it felt oh so good!

When we were done swimming and boiling in the hot tub we headed back to the room where Chris and Katy watched a little HGTV with me and then took off. I managed to stay up half the night watching HGTV and around 3 am I woke-up and turned off the television. Dan the Man would never let me do that at home! We don't even have cable or satellite television, let alone a tv in our bedroom.

The conference was held right in the hotel so I didn't have far to go. The first morning started out with registration, delicious caramel sticky rolls, a guest speaker and various workshops.

The first guest speaker was Gloria Schaefer. What a wonderful speaker to open the conference! She was funny, encouraging and genuine! I didn't get a picture of her because I didn't have my camera with me.

We then attended three workshops of our choice the rest of the day, one before lunch and two after. The workshops were numerous and hard to chose between. From business feasibility, to estate planning, parenting, computerized farm records, genetics of beef cattle, to landscaping... The workshop I enjoyed the best was called "Livestock Producers, PETA, HSUS: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Animal Welfare?"

They provided us with dinner, which was very good, followed by entertainment by the Kearney Area Barbershoppers 1733 Chorus. It was kind of ironic that the entertainment was a barbershop chorus since Dan the Man and I had just listened to the Sugar Valley Barbershop Chorus at a valentines day dinner that our church put on. I love barbershop chorus music. I think I like it so much because my stepfather was in the Sugar Valley Barbershop Chorus for as long as I can remember. He had a beautiful big booming voice and loved to sing. He use to sing to my mom all the time. I will always associate the song "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" with barbershop choruses.

The best part of the Kearney's group program was when they sang Lee Greenwood's song "Proud To Be An American." I love that song and always get a huge lump in the back of my throat when I hear it. When they sang the final chorus of "And I’m proud to be and American, where at least I know I’m free. And I wont forget the men who died, who gave that right to me. And I gladly stand up, next to you and defend her still today. ‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land, God bless the USA" the whole entire room stood up. Wow, it was almost too much for this military mom to handle and I had to bite my lip to keep from crying.

The next morning consisted of breakfast and another guest speaker, Lynette Brown. Oh my gosh, she was hilarious! She told stories of her farm life as a wife of a dairy farmer. She refers to her husband as "Farmer Brown." Sounds like Farmer Brown and Dan the Man are very similar in many aspects. Hee, hee.

Lynette Brown

After Lynette's speech we had two more workshops and then lunch. The conference was closed by Georgeann Wearin. Some of you who live in Western Nebraska might know her. She is from Hyannis, NE and is a free-lance writer with regular columns in the Scottsbluff Star Herald and The Fence Post. I loved her and could relate to her stories on so many levels!

Georgeann Wearin


This was the 26th Annual Women in Ag Conference.
There around 400 women in attendance.
There were a few, like maybe 5 women there who had attended
every one of the 26 conferences. Wow!


The only down side of the conference...

Notice the expiration date on these chips
that were served for snack one day.

What a fun two days. Thank you Platte Valley Bank!

Geez... that was a marathon post. Are you still with me? Who wants to hear about the drive home?

I don't see anyone holding up their hand, so I guess I'll save those pictures for another post.

The End, and aren't you glad?!

Ride that Pony, Ride!

I absolutely love the history of the Panhandle of Nebraska. This metal silhouette of a pony express rider is located between Chimney Rock and Bridgeport along HWY 92. Dan the Man and I were on our way to Bridgeport for a informational meeting concerning networking with other growers and producers; learning about an on-line Wyoming Food Cooperative; and other stuff that is right up our alley. The meeting took place the end of February. It was a beautiful day for a drive. A drive that I think many take for granted. There is so much beauty here on the prairie, but one has to have an open mind and an active imagination also comes in handy.

Did you know?

• The fastest Pony Express trip was 7 days and 17 hours. The trip delivered President Lincoln’s inaugural address from St. Joseph to Sacramento.
  
• Early Western legends Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok were Pony Express riders.
  
• About 400 horses were used during for the Pony Express. Among the breeds were Morgans, pintos and mustangs.
  
• Riders were paid $100 to $125 per month. The prevailing wage for at the time for unskilled labor was about $1 per day.

For a link to a page that will allow to enlarge this photo of the pony express route, click here. When you are done with that page and want to return to the blog, just hit your browser's back button.

Guess you could say we've come a long way with our email and tweets! Makes you wonder what communications will be like in another hundred years!

The Lone Survivor

I have a few pictures waiting to be blogged about.

This is one such picture.

One lonely sunflower who somehow eluded it's certain fate when the combine came down this row. Amazing how it held strong and hard while all of its comrades were destroyed.

But now look at you mighty one... all alone in a desolate field,

no one to talk to, just you and the birds.

Behind the Scenes, Stop Dorking Around Danny

Believe it or not, Dan the Man often likes to be a smart-alec just to ruffle the Country Chicken Girl's feathers.

Case in point:

Country Chicken Girl: We should take our picture since we look so nice for a change.

Dan the Man: Do we have too? We don't have time.

They didn't really have time, but the Country Chicken Girl knew it would only take a few seconds to snap a picture.

Country Chicken Girl: It'll only take a second. Stand here so I can setup the camera on the tripod and we can use the timer.

Country Chicken Girl sets up the tripod and gets the camera ready. She pushes the shutter button and goes to stand next to Dan the Man. As they are standing there, Dan the Man is trying to tickle the Country Chicken Girl. The camera clicks and the picture is taken.

Dan the Man: We'd better take that again. I think I had a dorky look on my face.

Yep, that would be a dorky look!

Notice Dan the Man's right hand trying to
tickle the Country Chicken Girl
Take #1

Country Chicken Girl: Well if you weren't trying to be a smart-alec, you would not have had that look on your face. You look like the little trouble-maker in the grade school class picture who was holding up his fingers, giving the girl in front of him bunny ears. We don't really have time for this!


Disgusted at Dan the Man's childish behavior, the Country Chicken Girl gets the camera ready again.


Country Chicken Girl: Now don't goof it up this time. We don't have time to take pictures all morning long. We should be leaving by now.


Dan the Man: Yes dear.

Take #2

And they lived happily ever after...