Hound Dog Invasion

Last week our girl blew through here on Wednesday. She dropped off her 2 hound puppies, spent the night and headed to the mountains for a 2 day national symposium on Applied Reproduction Strategies in Beef Cattle. She spent Thursday night with her grandparents, drove south 2 hours to tend to the final details in getting her Masters Thesis published, spent 2 nights there, and then headed back to the ranch for a few days before heading 7 hours back East, dropping off her pups, attending a meeting, and driving another 4 hours west for an overnight farm visit. Good thing she's young! And loves her job! She posted this the other day:

I get a lot of folks asking me some variant of the same question: "So what exactly do you do at *****?" Which is fair, because my job isn't run-of-the-mill. I actually can't do what I get to do, anywhere else in the country. And the answer can be long-winded because I do, and get to do, a very wide array of things. But the primary focus of my job, and the BEST part of my job is consulting with producers face to face. I get to go out and meet landowners, ranch managers, and aspiring cattlemen and women, learn about their families, their goals, their struggles, and their livelihoods. I get to drive around and admire gullies and creeks, cattle and quail, native grass and cottonwoods. I get to help people become better stewards of their land and their animals, and perhaps most importantly, I get to learn from them...their mistakes, their experiences, their successes. I get to hear their STORY, and perhaps become a part of it. Sometimes I have a big impact, often I can have a small impact, and occasionally I'm really not needed at all. But I'm thankful for a company that allows me to spend some of my days like I did today, with coworkers I respect and enjoy, doing something as rewarding as this.

And while she was traipsing around the country, Skeet and I hosted Harvey and Huckleberry:

                          

Skeet's been walking me about 5 miles every morning - that means he runs at least 10 miles:

                           

We had good company last week:

                           

It's hard to fuss about walking out the door at 6 a.m. when you are soon thereafter greeted by views like this:

                            

The pups begin chomping at the bit the moment they sense a walk is imminent. Skeet pretty much has the run of the place - he runs wild and free although he sticks close to wherever we are, but he still goes ballistic when he knows a walk is forthcoming.

                                                     

And 'walk' isn't really in his vocabulary. I walk. He BOUNDS.

                         

and flies everywhere when we're on our walk-a-bouts. He's a very chill and laid-back dog until he sees my hiking boots come out. So, Skeet's the rocket:

                         

Huck's the otter of the bunch:

                         

And Harvey's the lovable comedian:

                          

On Monday evening, storms danced all around us and our girl captured this glorious shot as we soaked in the cool air and refreshing scent of rain in the desert:

                        

It's a pretty good way to close out a day. Just ask a hound dog: