beef stew for dinner

This morning the girls and I woke up early with Scott, and got right after it, cleaning house in preparation for Scott's birthday party this weekend, and putting together a beef stew for dinner tonight.

As you can see, my kitchen does not have much floor space, and each of the girls insists on staking out one of the rugs while I'm working in there. We end up doing the kitchen shuffle, where one or the other has to get up and move when I need to stand in front of the stove, on the left, or the sink, on the right. It works out ok for everybody when I'm doing prep work on the counter in the middle. :-)

Sometimes I get fed up with the whole thing, and make them leave the kitchen. "Leaving the kitchen" means going out past the corner of the refrigerator. Somehow, though, they're very sneaky and quiet and end up back underfoot before I know it.

Lu likes to be in the kitchen, because she's our beggar. Fox really doesn't care. She'll take treats and tidbits if she's offered them, but she doesn't solicit them like Lucy does. And, I'm sure I do the bad thing by giving Lu the tidbits, like this morning when I was trimming the beef for the stew. She loved it.

Lucy also has a severe phobia about her tail being touched, grazed, stepped on, brushed, grabbed, or anything else along those lines. So, if I'm moving about the kitchen and happen to even touch the end of a few hairs, she panics and jumps up and looks at me like she just escaped a near-death encounter. I think she's sensitive about her tail because of how curly it is, because Heelers usually have straight tails.

We were making a beef stew recipe from Emeril Lagasse that's become one of my standby crockpot recipes. I've been making it for several years now, and I love the flavor and the vegetables and the house always smells so good when I get home after it's simmered all day.

And while I put the stew together and cleaned house I sipped on my usual morning coffee, but this morning I had my new Sugar and Spice creamer. Usually I just put a splash of milk in my coffee, but yesterday I finally had the time for an epic grocery trip - since I've been out of town so much it's been about three weeks since a thorough grocery trip, as opposed to just running in for a few things for a certain recipe - and while I was in Safeway I had a weak moment while walking by the special holiday flavors.

The mug is from Jamie's dad's outfitting business, when they still lived at Alcova. We have a set of them, and they're relics now that Sand Creek Outfitters is no longer in business. :-)

Tomorrow I hit the road - yet again - for a two-day annual meeting of the Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts in Worland, three hours from Casper. Yay for more driving! I think after this week Heather and I will be over the worst of it.

going for walks

 

this is what my neighborhood looks like these days. this was taken last night, and that white house is kitty corner from mine. some of the trees have lost their leaves, but it's still very pretty around town with all the fall color. for nov. 3, that's not bad! although i hear there might be snow in the forecast for mid-week next week.

lately the girls and i have been heading out for walks immediately upon my return from work in the evenings. they love it, and it's good exercise for all of us. scott has been working late this week, so he hasn't been able to come with us.

i always bring one of the puppies' balls with me, and we play fetch as we go. that way the girls get a lot more exercise than if we just walked the whole time. they both love it, and fox likes to pack the ball around, and she'll bring it over to me when she's ready to chase it again. when they play fetch together, it's a perpetual game of keep away, and i think they like that aspect more than actually chasing it after i throw it.

the first part of our walk consists of this big hill, with the picnic shelter halfway up. i'm not really sure why the picnic shelter is there, because otherwise it's just a dirt cow path and this hill with grass and sagebrush on it. 

this is the view from almost at the top of the hill, looking over the old neighborhood of casper, with downtown in the background. on the street running north that you can see, there are two vehicles parked on the left side. the back one is scott's black truck, and that's right where my house is. i love my neighborhood.

last night when foxy was packing the ball around she took it and left it in the middle of the creek that feeds one of the golf course ponds. with a bog on one side, and a steep bank on the other, i was trying to figure out how to get it back. of course, both dogs ran in the water and nosed it around, but i couldn't get them to bring it out. finally, after i robbed a nearby tree of a stick to fish it out, foxy trotted right in, grabbed it and brought it up the bank. i guess she thought i was taking too long.

this is one of the golf course ponds that the girls discovered. yes, they did smell like pond scum upon returning to the house, but they sure liked it. and this was about at the farthest point of our walk, and they were hot and panting, so they loved getting in the water for a drink.

i'm not used to such tame antelope! this group is very curious, though, and even started following after us as we walked. our dogs don't chase game or small animals, which is nice, so they notice the antelope, but don't try to chase them. there's one decent buck in there. i'm sure he knows he's safe from the hunters as long as he stays with the golfers. i like the long shadows cast by myself and the two pups in this photo. you can tell which one is lucy by the curly tail shadow. :-)

there's a lot of juniper on the sagebrush hill where that picnic shelter is, and i'm seriously thinking about going back and robbing some branches off this one with the berries. i've always wanted to make a wreath out of juniper boughs with the blue/purple berries.

here's the girls trotting along behind me on the cow path. we thoroughly enjoy our walks. :-)

then, when we get home, they're ready to rest and sleep the rest of the evening. it's a very good arrangement!

foxy was sleepy, too. being typical high-energy heelers, the walks are great for them, and hopefully getting in the habit of daily walks will keep them from going stir-crazy this winter. i'm not sure if the golf course clears paths of snow, but i'd like to keep going up there. if it snows too much, we'll have to detour around on the street to get there, instead of going up the hill.

on another note, here's our wood stove in the front room. we haven't lit it yet, and yesterday the stovepipe expert came to make sure it was all good. turns out, it isn't. we need a greater length of double-walled stove pipe up by the ceiling, so i talked to scott about it and the stovepipe guys are coming back today to give an estimate on labor and materials to do it for us, since scott's pretty busy these days.

walk in the woods

tonight after work scott and i loaded the pups and went up on the mountain for an evening walk. it was a wonderful evening, especially for oct. 20. we brought one of their dog toys to play fetch as we walked on the trails that serve as cross country ski paths in the winter.

we got our wedding party invites in the mail yesterday! i'm very pleased with the printing job, and we handed out/sent the first of them today.

yesterday i also called on our real wedding rings which we ordered mid-august, and they should be done right before scott's birthday in a month.

i also scheduled the chimney sweep/inspection appointment for the wood stove, and he can't come for two weeks.

and, i found out that i don't need a birth certificate to get my social security card changed, and therefore all my other records - bank account, drivers license, mortgage, etc. i'd already sent off for a new birth certificate, but i suppose it's best to have one on hand, and one that i can find.

the new look

well, folks, i mentioned that scott and i purchased a new tv the other evening. yes, the one where we were supposed to go to dinner date and a movie, but i worked too late at the office and it ruined the movie plans. instead we went tv shopping. :-)

so here it is, in the tv area, and scott kicked up and obviously enjoying himself watching the pbr performance on sunday afternoon. we also got a blueray player and an antenna, so it's really a luxury for us. up to now, i haven't even had local channels available, and i have to note that i've never bought a tv in my life. the last two were freebies, and as good of quality as freebie tvs will be. i still can't bear to cough up the money for any cable or satellite - i just don't watch tv enough to justify the expense. scott mentioned perhaps this winter, when it's dark and cold, he would pay for some sort of tv service.

lucy likes the new rug, and it even looks like it's her natural environment. :-) actually, she was just really tired from running around up at the ranch and coming back in with scott.

and fox is so tough, she doesn't need a rug.

and she's nuts. she likes to sleep upside down, and she enjoys her sleep more than any other pup i've seen, with frequent stretches and grunts and groans and contented sighs.

you can see a small rubber tire on the floor there beyond her. i made a trip to ross over the weekend, as the dogs were getting low on chew toys, and i found them five new things - and none with stuffing! that's what they get when i get tired of picking up all the fluff balls. and, ross is an ideal place to get dog toys, because they're cheap, and when one set gets worn out i can just go pick up a new variety.

yes, still sitting in my meeting in buffalo. i think they're just about done, talking about some changes to the weed and pest control legislation right now, but nothing i'd write about for the newspaper. one more topic to go after this, and then it's back home i go.

good things in the mail

my rug came yesterday! while i was in pendleton i found this one at a rug vendor for less than half of regular price, so i bought it, after assurances that it can stand up to dog traffic.

lucy approved. she immediately sat on it and started bringing dog bones over to enjoy. now the rug is downstairs so it'll hopefully uncurl and lie flat before i replace the green one in front of the couch.

the green one has served its purpose well, for the price of it - less than $20 at big lots here in town. before it's completely worn out i'll move it somewhere else and use the heavier bucking horse one in front of the couch.

i took this pictures late in the evening after we got back to town from the ranch. we were supposed to go antelope hunting, but *someone* forgot their license at the house and didn't realize it until we were halfway to the ranch.

fox loves to kick her back legs out behind her when she's focusing hard on chewing things up.

yesterday my necklace with my brand in it also came in the mail, which scott ordered for me at pendleton, and we also got a wedding card from my grandma. it was one of those good mail days. :-)

now i'm waiting for one more package of things i ordered in pendleton, and then i think that's it. i shopped more there than i have everywhere in the last year.

the kids play together so nicely

when i'm out in the yard in the evenings and mornings i usually let the pups out with me, and the cats like to go outside and sit on the porch or poke around the yard.

these photos here are a very common occurrence, both inside and outside of the house. the girls love to wrestle, and sometimes it gets out of hand with barking and snarling, whereupon they both get yelled at and they take a brief time-out.

and this is link. he doesn't wrestle.

he doesn't even offer to referee.

but you can bet he keeps a close eye on them, and if lucy so much as glances his direction on the way by, she's sure to get a hiss and snarl.

but the pups don't let his non-participation dampen their enthusiasm.

and at least link has a good excuse to be grumpy. and notice lexus isn't anywhere to be seen. she lays pretty low when the dogs are on the loose. she's not as defiant as link, and thus she also doesn't get the harassment that link does.

it's one big happy family. :-)

the weekend

the two days of this weekend were pretty busy, as my plans changed friday, with heather taking care of the chris ledoux dedication event in kaycee, so i left the office mid-afternoon friday to pack up some clothes and the puppies and retrieve my horses before heading up to the association.

turns out retrieving the horses was a several-hour affair, as friend jake had kicked them in the pasture up top of his rimrocks, and they're in a rowdy band of horses that's fond of running. let's just say the pups and i walked a lot. i did finally catch up to them, got them haltered and tied them to the hooks in my truck bed and trotted them back to the house to get the trailer, which, of course, had fallen off its chock block.

the faithful pups. for some reason foxy likes to sleep stuffed down around the center console, instead of stretched out in the back with plenty of space.

lucy's favorite thing is sitting on my lap and looking out the window.

i arrived at the association just as the sun set, and started watching 'yes man' until all the others got back from looking at pathfinder dam, which has been quite the draw over the last week. after not spilling for 26 years, and now spilling at a rate of 6,000 cubic feet per second, it's quite the novelty.

saturday morning we got an early start. our task was to gather a group of cows in a pasture and move them up on top of the rim - the same group of cows we'd brand the next day - so that another group could be trailed through the lower end to another pasture.

most of the cows were in this meadow, but we still had to ride around and check the corners and holes to gather the odds and ends. this meadow is in an area cut straight through by the oregon trail. you can still see the ruts heading up one of the bigger draws. it's something else to stand on those ruts and look around and imagine riding through there in a wagon with a team...

scott, jamie and i started out riding together.

jamie and i didn't know we were on a guided trial ride until we stopped on this hill and scott started pointing out all the mountain ranges :-)

scott and jamie in the bottom, waiting for a small bunch to catch up.

this is when we had the cows bunched and headed in the right direction.

after they were in the right area of the pasture we took a break before riding back down to the trailers.

the larson's cows moved through the bottom after we had everything else out of the way. the larsons, members of the association, run a stock contracting business, raising bucking bulls and horses. the bucking stock cows and calves summer at the association, as well as some of the horses. donna larson is harry vold's daughter. harry vold is well-respected among stock contractors and has been in the business for years.

our trailers were parked down at willow springs, a stage stop and key watering point for the oregon trail. it used to have three springs, and a journal entry on a little plaque said it had flowers and trees and was an oasis. no longer so, and all that's left is this tree and the foundation for the stage stop.

after getting the cows put where they needed to be on saturday scott and i left the ranch, swung by pathfinder so i could get some photos of the spillway and stopped for ice cream and a six-pack of bud light lime in alcova before heading to casper. in town i cleaned up and we headed to meet bob and becky at a favorite mexican restaurant - not sure how to spell the name - before heading to the short go of the college national finals rodeo. i had four tickets from the roundup, and scott used one and our meeteetse friends buck, shelly and their grandson courtney used the other three. they were also staying up at the association and helping with cows over the weekend. i got in on my media pass, and bob and becky had purchased their own.

after the rodeo scott helped me load up the roundup's newspaper stands, and we dropped them off and picked up some branding irons from trav's house, so by the time we got back to the ranch it was 11 and i went straight to bed, and was awakened to clouds and mist at 4:30 saturday morning. we were doubtful about the weather at that point, but ate breakfast and saddled and loaded the horses and headed back out to the pasture to bunch the cows again.

when we got to the edge of the rim the view looking off was kind of pretty. the big lump on the right is the west end of casper mountain.

here's the temporary corral set up for the branding, still lush with green grass.

the meeting of the minds. the pile of old fence posts was brought along for the branding fire.

my truck and bob's were the first in place as corral braces.

after an hour or so the fog and clouds did burn off, and the range up there was really pretty. it's very open and empty up there. i took this picture as april and i were riding our circle to close in on the cows. speaking of april - she had a fling with bob's redneck stud colt over the weekend - intentionally, on my part - and we'll see if she takes. i'm really hoping she does, because that's a pretty good match. still don't know the status on jazz, and won't know for a while yet.

got the cows bunched and headed toward the corral, with horse trailers set up as wings to funnel them inside.

the photos are a little crooked, as they were taken at a high trot or lope.

then we took some time to sort some cows out of the pen to make a little more space. scott and fiddler were in charge of roping escapee calves, of which there was one.

they brought the wayward calf back to the pen.

jamie's son kolby and buck's grandson courtney supervised the operation.

the fire was set up in the middle of the corral, and the vaccine cooler, eartags and other supplies were added to the mix.

jamie was kind enough to take some photos of me and scott when we got toward the end of the day.

i started out vaccinating, but soon paired up to wrestle calves most of the day. most of the time i wrestled with either bob or scott. this is their friend ryan, who works for a nearby ranch and came over once they'd finished up some lamb docking earlier in the day.

time to coil up the ropes. it was a long day, with inexperienced wrestlers and only two ropers. we could have used a few more hands, but it got done slow but sure, and the sun was shining and there was a slight breeze to keep the dust and bugs away and the temperature down, so it really wasn't all that bad. sure beats sitting in town, and there's nothing i would have rather done with my weekend.

the last task was sorting out the riff raff that must have come through a hole in the fence. then we loaded all the horses and equipment up, took down the panels and headed down to the ranch house for bbq beef dinner. i left my mares up there since it was late in the day and i still needed to do some work at the roundup office before heading home, and putting them back at jake's would have added another hour and a half. scott looked after them for me, so i left and finished up my stuff and headed to the house for a shower and went straight to bed.

it was a busy weekend of work, but full of sunshine and good company and rodeo and cows and horses, and it can't get much better than that.