From the Barnyard

2015 In Review

December 29, 2015

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We had an amazing Christmas Celebration at my brother Jared’s house in Denver. He has a beautiful old house and a fun shop we could all stay comfortably in. So all four of us kids where there in one place at one time for Christmas! And dad and Aunt Kathy where there.  And all four grandkids! 

It was the biggest family get-together in a long time! 

Thank you Jared for the fun!

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While some people do nice cards and letters at this time of year, I am generally just trying to stay caught up. I have purchased my Christmas cards… but have yet to mail one. 

And as far was a letter… well I blog. So here is my 2015 Year in Review. Click on the photos to see the original blog post.

Happy New Year from Cowpoke Corner

2015 Started out with a fabulous New Year’s card with a photo my friend Ramie took of the family.

Cowgirl dresser

My Cowgirl Dresser What-Not-To-Do-Trial was a big hit this year. 

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This was one of my favorite photos I took all year. My brother Matthew and some sledding fun at the garden.

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I enjoyed showing off my beautiful and Dignified Dalmatians on this post.

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It is interesting that Sushi is becoming such a holiday staple for my family of rednecks. We made sushi for Easter and Christmas this year.

Flying

Dick and I had an adventure rounding up the bucking horses in Cody. I got some really cool shots of the process with my GoPro camera. Check them out here. 

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Aiden and Addie had a ton of fun at Rodeo Bible camp and both made the decision to be baptized this year.

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My brother Matthew invited us to meet him up on the mountain to go fishing.

Show-Goat

Or first year at the county fair was a big success and so much fun. Not to mention a great learning experience, especially for mom!

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And now that all the kids have good horses, and they’re becoming hands, we got to do more riding than ever and made some fabulous memories!

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And because you all dared me to… Spidey the spotty dog!

Painted cowgirl hat tutorial

One last crafty tutorial for the year! Addie’s Painted Cowgirl hat! 

Cowgirl dresser

And what better way to wrap up the year than with a Santa Selfie! 

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Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and my best to you in the coming year! 

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Christmas Time

December 8, 2015

sunset

Sometimes I want to do a blog post, but just what do I share?

It’s not that there is nothing to share… there is just so MUCH!

fall-horses

So I go through my photos for inspiration… and today I found some oldies.

From this fall. The mares and colts got into the wrong pasture and they were being super naughty! Would not come out of the pasture back where they belonged!

running-horses

It did make for some fabulous photos and a great chance to play with some photo editing techniques.

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But finally I got tired of playing their games and got out the big gun.

Chief!

This dog can work! 

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In just a few minutes we had the mares back where they belonged and my two helpers where tucked into the truck with me.

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The barn cats where not impressed.

To say the least.

Goats

This has been the most fabulous fall and winter weather I can ever remember! 

It was 50 degrees yesterday! And the low last night was around 35. It was minus 30 last year at this time! 

I am counting my blessings!

Puppy-cuddles

Speaking of blessings, I count these guys twice!

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Bronco is growing up to be such a wonderful pup and I am enjoying every day I get to spend with him.

I know his perfect family is out there, and they will find him when the time is right.

Do you think it will be before Christmas?

** Up date Bronco has found his home! **

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I have just a few mini/toy aussie pups that are ready for Christmas homes. Click through to see them here.

** Update all Christmas puppies have found their homes. Stay tuned for more announcements! **

Santa-Selfie

Tis the season for Santa Selfies!

Oh and!!!

I have been waiting anxiously to share this with you! I found my all-time favorite christmas movie, full length on youtube!

Thats right! Smokey Mountain Christmas for your viewing pleasure! Link below!

And while my family and I were watching that one we found a couple more treasures your family might enjoy as well. Click through to watch them at your leisure! 

mickey christmas carol
earnest

Merry Christmas!

Thank you for joining me here at the barnyard and enjoy this time of love and joy!

What is your favorite Christmas movie?

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Why we shoot deer in the wild

December 1, 2015

This one is just for fun!

A man named Curtis Long had this posted on Facebook. But it is just so funny I had to share it as well.

This is just something I could imagine my genius family doing!

(Remind me to tell you stories of my dad and Aunt Kathy skunk hunting!)

deer hunting

Why we shoot deer in the wild:

(A letter from someone who wants to remain anonymous, who farms, writes well and actually tried this)

I had this idea that I could rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.

I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it. After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up-- 3 of them. I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold.

The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a step towards it, it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope, and then received an education. The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope.

That deer EXPLODED. The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope and with some dignity. A deer-- no Chance. That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had originally imagined. The only upside is that they do not have as much stamina as many other animals.

A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope.

I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual. Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in. I didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand...kind of like a squeeze chute. I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope back.

Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when ..... I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist. Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and slide off to then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head--almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts.

The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective.

It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds. I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now), tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose.

That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.

Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp... I learned a long time ago that, when an animal -like a horse --strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.

This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run. The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.

Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head.

I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away. So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle with a scope......to sort of even the odds!!

All these events are true so help me God...An Educated Farmer

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© Erin Stiver-Henson 2013