Buford

Meet Buford. He is a cowboy's best friend in the evenings when you are waiting to wrangle the horses and having nothing to keep you busy because you have already spent about 7 hours in the saddle that day. He is made out of an old milk crate, lawn mower wheels, a plastic steer head, a board, some sucker rod and a whole lot of welding.

One person catches his horns and then pulls him along. Then someone tries to catch is legs which is sucker rod attached to a board. If the first person misses then the second the other cowboys get a chance to rope the legs. When the person that is healing or roping the legs catches them he then moves into the spot of catching the head.

It helps pass the time in the evenings and helps a cowboy improve his roping skills

A Day back in Norway

These ladies are harvesting herbs.

It is harvest time in Norway. They are able to raise many types of foods. The main produce this time of year is lettuce, carrots, turnips, brussel sprouts and apples. In the hydroponic

hothouses they raise roses, tomatoes and cucumbers. At this time of year when it is starting to get dark early the hot houses have such a bright glow and can be seen from a distance.
The PICTURE ABOVE shows a machine that is used for harvesting lettuce. It goes along and cuts the head right off at ground level and then put the lettuce up on a belt.

These are apples that were on my apple tree right outside my kitchen window. There are not really sweet but not really too sour either. We have a good friend that when he came over he would reach out through my window a pluck an apple right off the tree.

Because the agriculture land of Norway is a very small percentage they really work hard to use it in the most efficient way. This field has several different kinds of lettuce. The crates at the end will be used to store the harvest until it is taken back to the warehouse and prepped for sale.

These are also crates. They are shown here collapsed. They are stackable . The produce is put into them and then they are stacked on top of each other not crushing the produce. The crates are also used for transporting the goods to the stores. I have inherited a couple of these crates and I love them. They don't take up much space in the vehicle because they stack but they hold alot of stuff.

The produce here is always so fresh and you can see why. It doesn't take many days to go from the field to the store.

My Cowboy Nephew

This is my wonderful nephew who came to help us with roundup this weekend. He a true cowboy through and through!! I loved having one on one time with him. It was a real rare treat for me.

His horse was trying to eat his sandwich

Not sure what he is thinking about here!!

He is my hero for always opening and closing gates for me.
It is a good think he is a muscle man!!

Sure do love you musty!!!

Covering Hay

In Norway they cover their hay like this...

At the ranch they cover their hay like this...

My Dad had connected a rubber strap to the tarp and is hooking it into the hay bale strings.
Both ways of doing it are interesting and alot of work. But the hay does need to be protected from the winter elements in order for the hay to be healthy for the cattle.

A Roundup Day

During the fall, the cattle start to come off of their summer range. They have a sense of knowing when winter is in the air. There always seems to be some of the cattle that want to stay up in the mountains. That is where we cowboys and cowgirls come into play. We ride and ride looking for the strays that don't want to come down.
Justin is getting ready by putting on his chinck.

Justin is a true cowboy at heart. He came over to the ranch (I might mention that his skipped school on Friday to come be with us.) He is a great cowboy and I am sure glad we had his help.

This is Dan my brother and Justin coming up a trail. Notice the snow in the background.

This is to prove that I really did come home for roundup and rode a horse. I rode Susan's horse. My colt hasn't been rode since August. My Dad and husband didn't want me to ride the colt for fear I might get hurt. So I obeyed.

Here is the work crew taking a lunch break. We have had beautiful weather. We have spent about 5 hours riding the first day. Today we rode about 4 hours. My bum is so sore tonight. Thank Heavens we will take the day off tomorrow. But Monday we have to go back out. We are minus 4 bulls.

An Evening Drive

One of my Loves
When I am here in the Valley with my family one of the most favorite things that I love to do it take a drive with my Dad. We love to just get in the pickup and drive around and look at different things. I love the things that he points out to me and the stories that he shares. Over the years I have learned many things about the valley and about my Dad.
We were coming along a dirt road just as it was starting to get evening. The sun was just setting and across the road came several deer. They were coming down out of the mountain to graze for the evening in this farmer's field. There were several in the field. Then my Dad said "look across the road" and here is what we saw.

There were about 14-16 total counting them on both sides of the road. Dad and I both agreed that that made the whole evening. We were glad to have been right there at that time.

Wandering again

I have wandered back to the ranch. When I left the ranch this summer Steve promised me that I would spend more time back here with my Dad. I have such a good husband that allows his wife to wander off so much. We will be rounding up cattle, putting tarps on haystacks and who knows what else!! So I will be sure and take lots of pictures and give you a post daily of my wanderings

What's my Story?

While Steve and I were on a weekend get away trip to a little village we came across this boat!!
We took these pictures and talked about what the story was behind this boat. Where has it been? Why was it abandoned? What happened to it's family? Steve said "Shauna it you ever start your blog you should use this as a contest!! The winner will have their story posted on my blog. you story tellers here is your chance to shine!!
SO, email me (sjwnorway@ hotmail.com) and tell me the what you think the story is behind this boat?!?!?

Wandering to Scotland

I decided I wanted to wander to be loved by my Aunt and Uncle so I took a bus

a plane

and a train
It was a great long weekend we saw some beautiful country side

Visited the village of Melrose. We had lunch at a wonderful little restaurant, bought some scarves and just enjoyed the village.

I love these red phone booths. I would love to have one in my yard. As you drive through Scotland they are everywhere and out in the middle of no where.

This is Melrose Abbey. I took the picture because of the country side as the back ground.

This is the original home of Sir Walter Scott. The grounds were beautiful. But the thing I was the most impressed with were his libraries. He had ceiling to floor bookshelves loaded with books. There were two separate libraries. He was truly an amazing and talented man.
One of the things that I am so impressed with about Scotland is that they work so hard to preserve many of the old properties and allow the public to visit them.

This is a great place. Unc and Auntie were just driving on a Saturday and ran across this place. Simple Simon pies. They are a pastry pie with all kinds of wonderful things inside. One day I had a lima bean and brie cheese pie. The next time I had a beef with carrots, potatoes, and onions. These pies are Heavenly!!!! They have set up this bakery in an old steading (converted cowbarn).

My Uncle took this picture at the Braemar Highland Games. It is the perfect picture of a perfect Scotsman. I love this picture also because it shows the older generation and the younger generation together. When ever I hear bagpipes now I get tears in my eyes because of the love that I have for Scotland.