Road Trip

 Last week DH and I took a roadtrip and drove 600 miles to check on our cows. 

Then we drove 600 miles back. Lots of miles for a couple of old folks. 

We left on Monday and got back on Thursday. The new camp man started last week and it'll be a while before he gets his feet on the ground, but other than a few phone calls about water troubles, he held down the fort. Another phone call from the electric co-op troubleshooter about power being down - something always goes awry when you try to get away. I can't even recall the last time DH and I were both away from the ranch for longer than 2 nights and that was only twice in 20 years We took our trip to Zimbabwe in 2015 and were only able to really do so because our girl had just graduated and she was able to take care of the ranch while we were away before she began her Masters program.

Our cows are a motley bunch - here's a handful of them

but most of them are dog gentle

Snack time

Calving season is one of my favorite times of the year

We're not used to these long-eared rascals

                                        

They are so cute

Cattle with a little ear do better in the area where we have them

Some have more ear than others. LOL

Brahmas are not known for their ease, but that little Brahma-X was sweet as can be. We had to move a set of them because it hasn't rained - It is incredibly brushy here and they use a helicopter to gather

It was crazy to watch the pilot practically skim the ground and maneuver on a dime to herd the cows

The boys set up a temporary loading chute

We brought Cydectin and DH poured the cows 

                                       

as they loaded onto the truck

The calves were loaded onto a couple of trailers and we had to drive through Laredo 

to move them to greener pastures

Where they were unloaded and reunited with their mamas

We've known the young man that is taking care of them for 25 years. We hadn't seen him in 20 years and it was definitely God's hand that put everything together

We are incredibly grateful for these sweet faces

 And His many blessings

Adventure Lies Ahead Quilt

 Last year our boy and his sweet wife requested a couch quilt and when I saw this wide back print in September, it became my inspiration fabric and I built the quilt around it

I pulled coordinating fabrics from my stash (one of my favorite parts of the quilting process)

                              

And cut everything after settling on a pattern: a simple 9" framed square block

                                          

Jackie and Sandy quilted it using a wheat colored thread with a design called Whisper

And I pulled this brown for the binding from my stash

                                

I know a lot of folks don't like brown, but I think it adds so much warmth to a quilt

I used a 9 x 10 block layout for a 76" x 85" quilt

We're still waiting on rain - the trees (and mesquite) are the only green anywhere

I'm just tickled with the way the fabrics from my stash and the backing worked together

I'm excited to gift this!

Skeet says a quilt made with love makes the best gift

The 1st Week in April

 Spring in our neck of the woods means wind...and lots of it (I resurrected an old photo) 

Spring rains...not so much. Green springs are rare around here. Honestly, we've had probably 4 green springs in 20 years. Our rain generally arrives in July, August, or September and even then, it's rare. 10" is our official annual rainfall, but that doesn't happen often either so we're still in Khaki Season around here. Most daylight hours are spent bouncing across pastures, feeding cattle

 fixing more leaks

And wondering why people keep mowing down our mailbox

Sigh. 

It's pretty rough looking, but it's level! LOL

DH wants to build a new one, but he said we'd probably get sued because if he builds it, it's going to do some damage to the next vehicle that hits it. Grin. So we just moved it about 12' farther off the road, closer to the cattle guard

The wind didn't blow on Sunday so we took some time to hike and hunt for arrowheads. 

DH has a built in arrowhead sensor - he often finds them when he's trotting across a pasture and on Sunday he was on his game. It was a fun way to spend some time- a little break from work. Hiking over steep sand terrain for 4 hours, wore me out - that sand is deep.

 but it was a good day

I didn't get many stitches into my current binding project that evening before I looked like Skeet

Under the Needle: March

I'm showing my age when I fuss about time passing so quickly. I read a line in the book I'm currently reading that said, "She woke up feeling 6 days older than dirt" and it made me laugh, but here we are again at the end of another month. Here's a recap of  projects I worked on this month. Let's begin with new projects because although I have no business beginning new projects, they always manage to find their way in. I've been trying to sort through and reorganize my fabric this year. I have a healthy stash (code word for A LOT) and I love shopping from it when I'm contemplating my next project. 

 I will often begin with an inspiration fabric and then pull lots of coordinates from that stash. It's one of my favorite parts of the process. That's what I did this month with a favorite print that sparked a new project. I made 65 16-patch blocks and 7 star blocks this month and stitched them into a top:

I did that again when I pulled more fabric for this project which I still haven't decided on. For now, it's just a pile of fabric that wants to be a quilt

I also cut and pieced the top for a "Corn" quilt for our granddaughter and dropped it off to be quilted. It was on my list of quilts to make this year so it gets a pass

I pieced the top (I made the blocks in February) and the binding for this quilt that I am making for our son-in-law. I still need to piece the backing.

                                     

I picked up 2 quilts from Jackie and Sandy the other day. I stitched the binding to the front of both of them so they will be my binding projects for April:

This month I finished binding this Lily and Will baby quilt that I posted about here

And I have a second bonus finish this month with this Buckaroo Quilt that I shared here other day

 I'm trying to stay focused on my 2024 list and this month I felt like progress was made. Much of April and May will find me busy elsewhere so I figured I'd still be moving projects forward if I had tops ready to hand off to Sandy for quilting.