What were Crissy and Kate doing?

You saw Patrick fishing and Sam at Woodbine. Their sisters, Crissy and Kate were in Montana having a good time as well. After spending the 4th of July in Yellowstone National Park, they greeted Sammi with their holiday attire, on the 5th they attended the Absarokee Days BBQ Cookout and helped in one of the booths, Crissy, after a long hike, is seen in the doorway of an old cabin on the Johnson Place, and of course a sleep out in the barn with Nana Marty and the horses. Kate could be found in one of the arena's almost every day, this day it was on Sapphire.

Woodbine, our favorite place

One of the most scenic places in our area is Woodbine, where as the snow melts the water spills out of the Beartooth Mountains and forms the Stillwater River. In the spring the water is fast and furious, the fish are hiding in the rocks from the rapid water flow, the temperature of the water is cold and you want to stay away from the flow. (Come back in August if you want to fish). Picture s of the gorge are beautiful, we then added Marque Teegardin and his son, Sam, from Alpharetta, Georgia posing on a boulder near the rapids. Suddenly, Marque was behind the rock they were sitting on, grasping to get out of the flow and the cold water. Marque did escape and was later seen with his wife Dana and Sam in a more friendly setting.

What makes a happy rancher?

An abundance of moisture. It started several months ago, mositure, more mositure, and at the correct intervals. What does this mean to a rancher? The best pastures and hay crops in years. What evidence do we have? The Montana Bureau of Mines has monitored our well for the past 7 years. Our well has averaged 56 feet from the surface of the ground to the top of the water for the entire period of time. 3 months ago it was 45 feet, an increase of 11 feet of water in our well. The spring tank in one of our pastures has been full for the last 5 months with no signs of weakness, the Davidson Creek (you never heard of this one) has flowed thru our property for over 4 months. The result of this is more hay and pasture than Marty and I have ever experienced. This grass is shoulder high, you cannot see our Great Danes when we take them for a walk in the pastures. The picture of the round bales is just some of the 60 that our neighbors have baled for themselves in our fields. This is equivalent to our total hay crop in 2008. The other picture is our hay crew that had just finished putting over 1200 bales of hay into our shed . . . . and we still have 5 fields that need to be harvested.

Where do we get the crew? Our neighbor, Theo Yanzick, cut and baled the hay. The 3 young men pictured here are members of the Absarokee High School football team who are getting in shaped for the upcoming season. Josh Royce and Cameron Rice on the right side of the picture had just finished picking up and putting 900 bales into our shed in the last 24 hours. Jordan Rice and cousin Baily Osterberg helped on the final 300 bales.

Happy Days in Montana, a great harvest.

Jump Grover jump

It started 7 years ago, he was know as "stud muffin", then a young stallion who eventually sired 8 foals, he started training as a cutting horse but the testosterone was controlling his every move, he was gelded and in the last 18 months he has been returning to the role of an athlete. He started jumping during the winter plus started to learn the rules of dressage. On July 18th he competed for the first time in dressage and started jumping in public. He won his first blue ribbon with Wendy Bleacher in the saddle and Johanna Kern took him over the jumps. His buddy, Doc, also was shown by Marty at the show in Bozeman.