Having Fun!

Hey Guys,

I am still having a great time here and really enjoying myself on the ranch. Today I got a late start out there, and didn't get to the ranch until around 11am, and ended up staying until 6pm. There wasn't much to do today, but I still feel worn out from what I did do. It seems like you can put so much physical effort into one task, and you feel so accomplished afterwards. I had to dig a trench today to pipe a hose from a water vat that we have all the way down to the bottom of one of the large sheep pens so I could fill their large water vat without having to haul buckets out there every time they needed to be filled. It is getting hotter; it was in the high 50's today but it felt really hot. Back in California, when it was in the 50's, I considered that really cold, but the sky is so big here that the sun manages to find you wherever you are, and there are no trees or clouds or buildings to shade you. So I got to work in the sunshine today, and that was a nice relief. I think the animals really enjoyed it as well. All the baby goats were running around and jumping and playing all day, and all the mothers, guard dogs and puppies were relaxing and napping in the sunshine. It seems that everyone is happier when the sun is out. So I dug a trench, cleaned out all the water vats- which hold over 500 gallons of water each, built a new metal fence for a new pen to keep sheep in, moved dogs houses around to the other side of the ranch, and fed all my little animals. I also had to check heat cycles on certain females dogs to decide who to breed to which stud dog next. This meant I had to chase dogs around 35 acres until they got tired and rolled over so I could check them. But I was smart this time, and used one of our best herding dogs to chase after the guard dogs so I wouldn't have to. It worked perfectly. Auggie is a fantastic herding dog, and she is incredibly smart. I can tell her to go get that goat and just point at one and she will go and get them for me and hold them until I get over there to them. Or I can give her commands that she understands if I am trying to move a herd of sheep from one area to another. She is very smart and knows how to move the animals effortlessly. I also had to de-worm 3 litters of puppies and 3 moms. De-worming dogs is really easy; it involves drenching them with an oral syringe full of medication. You just shove it down the back of their throat so they swallow it and don't spit it up. I had to do that for 3 litters of 11 puppies each, plus their moms. It was easy to do the puppies because they are so small they don't really know what is going on so they just don't move. But the mom's are really overprotective of them, so they don't want you touching their pups. You just have to talk to the mom and give them their pup back as soon as you touch it, so they know you aren't hurting them. I usually drenched the moms first so they would know what I was doing, and they weren't as upset when I handled their pups after that. Then I got to play with the little baby Aussie puppies! They are so beautiful and today is only the second day they have ever been out of their pen and seen the whole ranch. It was so adorable to watch them venture outside their pen a few steps, and then some would run back inside. A few would take a few steps further, but most of them stayed just right around the outside of their pen. However, one named Cruiser was quite the little adventurer. He explored the whole ranch and followed me around all day. I kept picking him up to play with him and he would snuggle into my jacket and fall right asleep every time! He followed me back and forth and back and forth across the ranch all day long. Then I went over to feed the cows a treat, and he came with me. He had never seen a cow before, but he marched right up to them (there are 7 cows) and puffed himself up and started barking at them all! They were freaked out by him and started backing up. He is going to be a great herding dog, and he is really smart and attentive. He had no interest in playing with the other puppies, he just wanted to watch what I was doing and watch all the animals. It's like he instantly knew what his breed was designed to do, even though he has never seen a cow before. I noticed he was limping badly and favoring his front paw so we decided to bring him home tonight to watch him. We gave him penicillin, but I think it just might be a small cactus needle stuck in his paw. He has never walked on anything other than straw, so something just irritated his paw, but he will be fine. Plus he loved coming home and getting spoiled by me and Carrie too! He never left my side the whole time we were eating dinner and talking. He is so adorable.

We have another wwoofer coming in the middle of April. He is from either Chicago or Massachussetts, but marv couldn't remember. He seems young, but outgoing. Marv asked me to write him an email telling him what to bring and what he should be prepared for, just to make sure he is coming out here for the right reasons and doesn't expect something that isn't going to happen. Luckily I am leaving soon after that, because it will begin to be a packed house soon enough. There is already me, one other wwoofer and Carrie's son. So trying to have another person in the house will be really cramped. I am sure he will have fun here, and he seems like he knows what he is getting into, so I hope he works out for Marv and Carrie.

Tomorrow night and the night after (Sunday and Monday) I am staying on the ranch overnight to keep an eye on the sheep. There are 4 that are going to start lambing early, so we have to watch them because they are old and will have a difficult labor. I am excited to stay out there, but more excited when these ewes lamb, because then I won't have to stay out there overnight again until April 20th, and then I leave a week later. Lambing season starts April 20th, and due to breeding schedules and heat cycles, there is no way that any ewes will lamb before April 20th, so we won't have anyone to worry about. However, these 4 ewes were bred early by accident because a ram broke down a wire fence to get to them, but he was separated from them that same day. So we knew that there was only one day that was possible for these ewes to be bred, and a ewe gestation period is around 150 days, so by doing the math, we know that only these 4 ewes and no others are going to lamb this week.

Not much else has been going on here. I never really know what day of the week it is, which is fine with me. It is just amusing to me that even on a Friday or Saturday night, I am home and in bed by 9 or 10, which is what I look forward to. Back home in California, Saturday nights were the big going out night, but here I don't even care to go out any night. I work really hard all day, even on the weekends, and all I want to do is go to bed when I get home. We usually work until about 7, get home and eat dinner by 8 or 9, and then I am exhausted and want to go to bed right after. I couldn't even think about going out after that, because we have to get up early anyway, even on the weekends. It's not like there is anything to do in this town anyway. The bars are their own class of dive bars, and they are down-right terrifying. I would never go into one, and the only thing to do is drink here. I don't drink so I don't want to go into bars, and the people in the bars are creepy hicks, and all they do every day and every night is drink. Everyone knows everyone else in this town, so everyone is bored and just drinks out of boredom. It is amusing, but also sad. I could never, ever, ever live in Montana. It is beautiful and the people are extremely nice, but I couldn't live here. It actually makes me miss California! And I never thought I would say that. What I miss is California- not the people who live in it. I understand why we have a bad rap, but I do love California. The weather is amazing and there are so many things to do. Not like here, where there is nothing to do but go to an indoor water park or a bar, or you have to drive 100 miles to get to the next city with any sort of attraction in it.

I found a few new books to read on my kindle so I am going to do that now, before I go to bed. I don't have internet on the ranch so I won't be updating my blog until Tuesday night. But I will take a lot of pictures and have a lot to say when I do!

Miss you all, love you all tons.

Love,
Sam

this is Cruiser, my little buddy

He is a Red-Tri Australian Shepherd, about 12 weeks or so. He is dark red on top, with a copper red underneath and white trim. He has dark green eyes too.