Well the skunks are back, Megan’s mom got up around 1:30 am one morning and looked out her door and there was a skunk eating the left over cat food. Seems it likes the brand we buy. The neighbors still has our trap and caught and disposed of one more. That I believe makes 7 skunks gone since December. Now it is March 24th about 9:30 at night, Megan and I come home from our weekly get together with friends at the Pig Farm. We watch survivor and American Idol etc... show's on the big screens. This place the Pig Farm started years ago by our neighbor as a club house for the guys. It has been remodeled into a very nice I would say 20 X 25 foot club house with a kitchen net at the back end with a bathroom. Anyhow we do a lot of things there mainly watch the reality shows and play cards. This particular night I told Bill (who owns the Pig Farm) that I needed my trap back as we had spotted a skunk eating the cat food. I told him I would get it tomorrow as it was dark and I did not want to find it then. So Megan and I head home. Well at the farm we have an old garage that holds the gas lawnmowers and gardening tools. This has become Fred our 20 lb cat’s home since we moved down and every night we lock him in there so he won’t wander off or get hit on the road. As we pull in where we park the pickup I let Megan out first so she does not have to worry about tripping over the tractor which is parked next to the pickup. As she is getting a sack out of the back seat of the truck I see a skunk come running out of the garage where Fred sleeps. I hollered at Megan so she could see the skunk. I park the truck, run another sack from the back of the truck to the house grab the only two 410 shotgun shells I could find,the 410 shotgun and my spot light as I had an idea the skunk ran into my irrigation pipe. I cautiously looked in one end of the pipe and could see Pep Pee La Pew at the other. I had two pieces of pipe stuck together so I pulled them apart to make it easier to get at this guy. I picked the pipe up on my end so the skunk would have to slide out of the pipe on the other end. If you have ever tried to hold a pipe 25 ft long high enough in the air in one hand a shotgun in the other and hope you could see with the spot light laying on the ground, this is very cumbersome to say the least. I can hear the skunk clawing up to my end of the pipe so I hoist it almost vertical in the air from my end but did not see the skunk. So I set down the shot gun and pick up the spot light bring the pipe down so I can shine it in the end, yep the skunk is still in there, so I pick up the shot gun rest the pipe on my shoulder and shine the light at his end. I drop the pipe so it bounces on the ground hoping to bounce the skunk out. It did not work so then I see that I have put his end next to a valve and he can’t get out of it. I thought of just point the barrel down the pipe and shooting it, but this is old PVC pipe and it would probably not be good for irrigating anymore. I pick the pipe up as high as I can and drop it again in the dirt. I shine my light down the pipe and I can see the spray heading my direction so I quickly put it down. When the fog cleared, I was fortunate not to have the stench on me; I looked again and he was gone. I searched the field but could not see the little stinker again. At least not to night, tomorrow I will get the trap and we will see if it comes back and I can entice it into the trap to be disposed of someplace away from the house. Some day I am going to be a great trapper, like Jim Bridger, Liver Eating Johnson and the rest. I watched one of the survival shows and they caught a skunk in a snare, then they had the courage to eat it. I don’t think I will do that; I can eat a lot of strange things but skunks defiantly not going to be one. Stay tuned for more adventures of Life on the Farm.

Wild Animals on the farm

Did I tell you we are into skunk hunting down here on the farm? Well it is pretty exciting you know. I knew there were dangers in skunk hunting so I take ever precaution when perusing those stinking little varmints. We have captured and disposed of 5 skunks since I have been here, 4 at the neighbors where we have them on video tape coming out from under a house and going into the trap. It is kind of neat, but getting them out of the trap can be a problem. In comes the Calvary, the county has a lady that all she does is dispose of skunks in peoples traps. She does not haul them off anywhere she just disposes of them right where the trap is next to his house. Boy is that a delightful aroma for a few days. There is no special way to dispose of them no matter what technique you use something is going to stink. I prefer to catch mine out in the field way behind the house for disposing. The other night I was irrigating and went to check on the water, now I should have known to take the 410 shotgun with me but did not think about it. as I am traveling down a boarder checking on the progress of the water I noticed eye shinning in my head lights. I sped up to see what it was and low and behold three skunks were running away from me. The adrenalin started to pump the gas started to flow into the carburetor on my four wheeler and the chase was on for about 10 yards when I remember I did not have the 410 with me only a shovel and I could not swing it as I am right handed and the gas is on the right hand side so I was doomed to be sprayed if I were to actually catch the slowest of the three so I backed off and watched them fat little bodies run. I went back out later and took the 410 with me but of course I did not see any skunks again. Now I have to get my trap back from the neighbor as they are all on our farm now and trap here. Did you know that the skunks down here like Louisiana Hot Sauce covered Sardine’s? That seems to be the bait of choice. We tried everything else but the like the hot sauce. I will keep you all posted on my hunting adventures of the skunks as I get better at it. Stay tuned for more Skunk Hunting on the Farm.

Mac the Wonder Dog: Got cows? Got birds? Mac is the dog for the job.

Stand around my little buckaroo for my tail of a wonder dog. Mostly I wonder what he will do next. Any how the story goes like this. I had been feeding the horse both morn and night as my friend Bill is on vacation and he usually comes to check on the horses and feeds at night. Things had been going fairly smoothly and nothing exciting was happening. Then on Friday evening about 6:00 I went to feed the horses, they come a running to the hay pile except Drifter the Bay 3 yr old. He just stands out in the pasture. So I load hay into the wagon that pulls behind the 4 wheeler (oh did I forget to tell you that we bought two 4 wheelers from a rancher friend of ours who could afford new ones, these two are not in the best of shape but they run barely) and head out to the pasture to feed the horses away from the hay pile. I go to Drifter and he limps real bad, I could not see any damages to his leg nor could I feel any, but he was tender to the touch on his pastern that’s between his hoof and forelock. I just happened to have a piece of rope with me so I put it around his neck and led him back to the catch pen we have set up. I put him in there until I could get back in the morning to look at his leg better in the light. His hock looked swollen, so watched it for a while then I put some horse lineament on it. He stayed in there until Monday, when I let him out as he seemed to be walking better. But back to the wonder dog Mac. We got Mac 3 years ago in June, our son Lewy and his wife Jessica bought us this wonder dog after another great dog Gordo passed away. Mac is all puppy; going on 3 years old and weighing in at 110 pounds of love. You have all seen the pictures of Mac and T bone our steer with each other and the bond that has grown between them. Well every morning when I feed T bone gets special calf chow for his growing bones to keep him strong and happy. As we all know a happy beef gives us good meat. Anyway T bone is usually out by the horses in the morning in the hay pasture. After Mac and I feed the horses it is a race back to the house and barn to see who gets there first I guess. But especially for T bone as his calf chow is waiting. But he follows; chases; gets chased by Mac and it is a grand old time. Well Sunday night the 22 of February, I went to feed the horses and I did not see T bone in the pasture so I assumed he was back at the barn getting a drink of water. When I pull up to the hay pile I see the two free horses running and bucking and chasing T bone. Now how he got over there I had no clue and it was getting too dark to check fences, all I know was I had to get him back to his side and luckily into the barn yard. My first thoughts were I would need to go get my saddle and rope and play cowboy and rope and drag him home, but then I would have to try and stop my horse from running around ; bucking and jumping just so I could saddle him and catch or herd T bone where he needed to go. What happens is my wonder dog shows up and T bone sees Mac and comes a running to see if he wanted to play also I guess any ways here he come. So I thought Mac will come if I call him and if Mac comes then T bone is sure to follow. I opened the gate as I had fed the horses and they were to busy eating to worry about getting out or chasing T bone anymore. Jumped on my 4 wheeler gassed it through calling Mac to come with me and we zoomed through, low and behold here comes T bone, I get off to close the gate behind him when he gets through, but no he stops half way through and back up. So I talk gently to him (calf whisperer taught me this trick) and try to circle around behind. The wonder dog is no where to be seen, so I thought this is going to be an all night thing pretty soon, I called Mac and he pokes his head out from behind the water trailer. T bone see’s Mac and puts his head down and runs through the gate, finally trapped. But then I remembered he knew how to get out somewhere and I didn’t know his spot. I pondered and thought I will see if he will follow us back to the barn at night even though we do not feed him calf chow at night. I took off, Mac being hungry takes off for the barn, I call T bone and keep calling his name, I look back and he is following me, then all of a sudden there is a black blur goes by me. It was T bone he saw Mac making the corner around the fence heading to the barn and he was off. I had to gas the 4 wheeler to catch up and close the gate before he saw he had no treats in his bucket. So now Mac is not only a certified great bird dog, he is a good cow dog also. So I fed them both extra chow last night just to say thanks and looked to heaven as I know who really helped me get everyone home safe.

Spring time in the Winter of New Mexico

Well I have to tell you the weather here is pretty nice compared to Montana. It has been in the mid 70's for two days and near 76 tomorrow. Know wonder it does not snow here in the high desert it is to stinking warm. There have been some drag out the winter coats and gloves but not like home. Speaking of home we had an offer on our house and countered and they accepted it. Now we are just waiting for the next step. Today I was out back checking on T bone who is now 44 inches at the shoulders and of course Mac follows me into the pen. T Bone takes a shine to Mac and starts to chase him around the pen. Mac tires out and goes and gets a drink, TBone comes over and starts licking on Mac, Mac seems to enjoy it and stands there and let himself be washed by TBone. I have enclosed some pictures of it. I also got the fence done around the pens as far as I could go. It is the fence that John started Lewy continued and Dad finished. It looks good for a bunch of hack welders. Well take care our Friends we miss you all.

Christmas in New Mexico

Well we sure did not have the cold and snow like home but we did have a grand time. Lewy, Jessica, Eli, John and his girlfriend Tanja were all here for Christmas. It was a special one as last year we were in the hospital with Megan. But it was a great year and everything is good to go. We enjoyed them all especially Eli, he had a grand old time. He rode the Bobcat (skid steer), drove grandpa's truck, learned how to put the key in the ignition, rode his first horse and played and loved on everyone. Lewy put up an electric fence in our bottom 17 acres so we put the horses down there. John started to put up a pipe fence around the corrals, we did general clean up of trash. Hey they wanted something to do so I put them to work. Jessica set us up with quick books so she can keep me out of trouble with the tax man. I can tell you that after a week with them all being gone, I truly miss them very much. I especially miss having my breakfast with Eli at 5:00 am. Megan and I hope you New Year is bright, healthy and truly happy.

New addition

Well we went and done it. We bought our first steer. We named him Tbone as that is what we hope to eventually get from him is prize tbones and other great meats also. He is a Brangus breed weighed in at 300 lbs when we brought him home. Our goal is to put another 900 lbs on him. Right now he is a little shy and misses his buddies but he has the three horses next to him for company.

To all my friends and relatives I just want you to know that it does indeed snow in southern New Mexico. This was Tuesday the 9th at 7:00 am. Quite nice as the feild need some water of some kind. I hope it keeps it up most of the day.